ISO THE PRINCIPLES OF SELF-MASTERY95 percent of all who were analyzed were failures and only 5 percent
were successes. (Here the term failure means they had failed to find
happiness and the ordinary necessities of life without almost unbearable
struggle.) Perhaps this is about the proportion of successes and failures
that might be found if all the people of the world were accurately ana-
lyzed. The struggle for a mere existence is tremendous among people
who have not learned how to organize and direct their natural talents,
while the attainment of those necessities, as well as the acquiring of many
of the luxuries, is comparatively simple among those who have mastered
the principle of organized effort.
One of the most startling facts brought to light by those 16,000
analyses was the discovery that the 95 percent who were classed as failures
were in that class because they had no Difinite Chiif Aim in life, while the
5 percent of successful ones not only had purposes that were difinite but
they also had difinite plans for the attainment of their purposes.
Another important fact disclosed by these analyses was that the
95 percent constituting the failures were engaged in work they did not
like, while the 5 percent constituting the successfUl ones were doing what
they liked best. It is doubtful whether a person could be a failure while
engaged in work he or she liked best. Another vital fact learned from the
analyses was that all of the 5 percent who were succeeding had formed
the habit of systematically saving money, while the 95 percent who were
failures saved little. This is worthy of serious thought.
One of the chief objects of this course is to aid you in performing
your chosen work in such a way that it will yield the greatest returns
in both money and happiness.
Take your measure; make a self-analysis. If you will answer each of
these questions truthfully, you will know more about yourself than the
majority of people. Study the questions carefully, come back to them
once each week for several months, and you will be astounded at the
amount of additional knowledge of great value to yourself you will have