CONCENTRATION 733in one form or another, by all groups that are founded on the philoso-
phy of optimism.
The magic key offers an irresistible power that all may use. It
will unlock the door to riches. It will unlock the door to fame. And,
in many instances, it will unlock the door to physical health. It will
unlock the door to education and let you into the storehouse of all
your latent ability. It will act as a passkey to any position in life for
which you are suited.
Through the aid of this magic key we have unlocked the secret
doors to all of the world's great inventions. Through its magic powers
all of our great geniuses of the past have been developed.
Suppose you are working in a menial position and desire a better
place in life. The magic key will help you attain it. It will unlock
prison doors and turn human derelicts into useful, trustworthy men
and women. It will turn failure into success and misery into happiness.
This magic key is-Concentration.
Now let me once again define concentration as I use the term.
It means the ability, through fixed habit and practice, to keep your
mind on one subject until you have thoroughly familiarized your-
self with that subject and mastered it. It means the ability to control
your attention and focus it on a given problem until you have solved
that problem. It means the ability to throw off the effects of those
habits you wish to discard, and the power to build new habits. It means
complete self-mastery.
Concentration is the ability to think as you wish to think, the
ability to control your thoughts and direct them to a definite end,
and the ability to organize your knowledge into a plan of action that
is sound and workable.
You can readily see that in concentrating your mind on your
Definite Chief Aim in life, you must also cover many closely related
subjects that blend into each other and complete the main subject on
which you are concentrating.