STEP 4: SPECIALIZED KNOWLEDGE: PERSONAL EXPERIENCES OR OBSERVATIONS
To turn your burning desire into reality, you will need specialized knowledge of the service or product you intend to exchange for your future wealth. If you need more specialized knowledge than you can or want to personally possess, you can bridge the gap with the help of others who have that knowledge. Andrew Carnegie said he did not know, and did not want to know, anything about the technical end of the steel business. He used others who had the knowledge he needed for manufacturing and marketing steel. Formal education is not necessary to success. Thomas Edison had only three months of it and Henry Ford had less than six years, but they both managed to do well financially.
During World War I, a newspaper called Ford “an ignorant pacifist.” Ford sued it for libel. Since truth is always a defense to libel, the newspaper attempted to prove at trial that Ford was ignorant. He was asked a lot of questions about a lot of different subjects, including, “How many soldiers did the British send over to America to put down the Rebellion of 1776?” To that question, he replied, “I do not know the exact number of soldiers the British sent over, but I have heard that it was a considerably larger number than ever went back.” When Ford finally got tired of this line of questioning, he said, “If I should really want to answer the foolish question you have just asked, or any of the other questions you have been asking me, let me remind you that I have a row of electric push-buttons on my desk. And, by pushing the right button, I can summon to my aid men who can answer any question I desire to ask concerning the business to which I am devoting most of my efforts. Now, will you kindly tell me why I should clutter up my mind with general knowledge for the purpose of being able to answer questions when I have men around me who can supply any knowledge I require?”
Key Point No. 19: Knowledge without organization or use is not power.
Key Point No. 20: Specialized knowledge is a cheap and plentiful resource. It pays to know how to purchase knowledge.
First, decide what type of specialized knowledge you need and why you need it. This will depend mostly on your ultimate goal. Next, you need reliable sources of useful knowledge. Some important sources are:
1. Your own experience and education.
2. The experience and education of others willing to share theirs with you.
3. Colleges and universities.
4. Public libraries.
5. Special training courses (night school and home study).
As you acquire knowledge, organize and use it to form a practical plan to achieve your ultimate goal. Successful people never stop acquiring specialized knowledge related to their field or business. Knowledge without a purpose has no value. Otherwise, a college education is nothing but miscellaneous knowledge. If you think you need additional education, ask reliable sources: (1) whether you actually need any additional education for your purpose; and, (2) if yes, then where is the best place to get it.
Successful people never stop acquiring specialized knowledge in their fields. Those who are not successful made the mistake of assuming their education ended when they finished school. The truth is the best lesson to be learned from school is how to obtain more specialized knowledge when we need it for the rest of our lives. However, do not waste your time or money acquiring specific knowledge that you do not need.
STEP 5: IMAGINATION: THE WORKSHOP OF THE MIND
All our plans are created in our mind’s imagination. All desires take shape and are turned into action with the help of imagination. We can create anything we can imagine. Since the beginning of time, never has our world been as full of rapid change as it is today to help stimulate our imagination. Unfortunately, most of us merely know we have an imagination, but we have not yet fully developed it.
Through our creative imagination, we receive our “hunches” or “inspirations” from the universe out there or from other individuals’ or people’s imagination. But this only works when you have a strong enough desire. The creative faculty of imagination becomes stronger, more alert, and more receptive to new ideas through development by repeated use. All great artists, entrepreneurs, and leaders have become great because they took the time to develop their creative imagination.
What you are attempting to harness is the most basic law of nature. Science has proven that the entire universe is made of only two things: matter and energy. Desire is thought impulse, and thought impulses are forms of energy. Therefore, you are gathering to your side the same powerful stuff that nature has used to create the very universe! The secret to great riches is not a secret after all because nature reveals it in everything around us!
Don’t be discouraged if you don’t understand all this. Keep studying it. Absorb what you can. Use your imagination as much as you can to form your plans and begin carrying them out. But, keep an open mind to new ideas that pop up from your imagination as you go and try to work them into your plans. Write down all ideas that come from your imagination and save them, whether you eventually use them or not. Let your mind ponder all new ideas, without dismissing them immediately because you think they are too silly, common, costly, or otherwise impractical. You may find something useful in them even if you reject the overall idea. In this way, you will be encouraging and strengthening your growing powers of imagination.
Frank W. Gunslaulus was a young preacher when he began his ministry near the stockyards of Chicago. At college, he saw the shortcomings of the established educational system and had a great idea for reforming education in America to let students “learn by doing.” The only problem was his new school would cost one million dollars. He had no idea where he could find that much money. Every night, he took that question to bed. And, every morning, he woke with it on his mind. He took it with him wherever he went. He kept puzzling over it until it became his obsession. He knew one million dollars was a lot of money, but he also knew that the only limits to achieving anything we want in life are the ones we place on ourselves. So he kept thinking.
He wracked his brains to find a way to raise one million dollars to carry out his plans. Most people would have given up after saying, “My idea is a good one, but I can’t do it because I’ll never have the necessary money.” But not him.
One Saturday afternoon, he realized he had been doing nothing but thinking for almost 2 years. Suddenly, he was tired of it and wanted to take action. He made up his mind that he would have the million dollars by one week! He had no idea how, but he simply decided he would get it somehow within that short time frame.
The moment he made that decision, things changed quickly. Somehow, he felt certain he would have it. He had the feeling the money had just been waiting for him to make that important decision. He immediately called the newspaper and told them he was giving a special sermon the next morning called “What I Would Do if I had a Million Dollars.” He got right to work on the sermon, which was easy because he had envisioned this dream for 2 years. When he went to bed that night, he felt happy because he could see the million dollars already in his possession.
In the morning, he went to the bathroom, read his sermon, and prayed on his knees for his sermon to reach someone who would provide the needed money. While he prayed, he again felt the money waiting for him as long as he kept actively moving toward it. He was so excited that morning that he forgot his notes at home and didn’t realize it until he was standing in the pulpit ready about to give his sermon. As it turned out, that was the best thing that could have happened because his words flowed freely and more passionately from his heart. He talked about what he would do if he had a million dollars in his hands. He described the great educational institution he would organize for young people that would not only develop their minds but also teach them practical skills.
When he finished his sermon, he sat down in the pulpit. Then, a man near the rear of the church rose from his seat and approached the pulpit. He held out his hand and said, “Reverend, I liked your sermon. I believe you can do everything you said you would if you had a million dollars. To prove that I believe in you and your sermon, if you will come to my office tomorrow morning, I will give you the million dollars. My name is Philip D. Armour.” He was the founder of Armour and Company, the giant meatpacking company in Chicago, IL. Gunslaulus went to Armour’s office the next morning and had the million dollars in his hands less than 36 hours after he decided on a plan to get it! He used the money to found the Armour Institute of Technology (now the Illinois Institute of Technology).
Key Point No. 21: No need to explain success. No acceptable excuse for failure.
