The All-important Fourth Law
A person may have chosen his goal. Having it may have aroused tremendous ambition to
achieve it. He may have started out educating and training himself for its
accomplishment, and he may even have good health and still make little or no progress
toward its realization.
After all, success is accomplishment. It is DOING. They say any old dead fish can
float downstream, but it takes a live one to swim up. An inactive person will not
accomplish. Accomplishment is DOING.
Now comes an all-important law.
The fourth success-law, then, is DRIVE!
Half-hearted effort might carry one a little way toward his goal, but it will never get
him far enough to reach it.
You will always find that the executive head of any growing, successful organization
employs drive! He puts a constant prod on himself. He not only drives himself, he drives
those under him, else they might lag, let down and stagnate.
He may feel drowsy, and hate to awaken and get up in the morning. But he refuses to
give in to this impulse.
I remember the struggles I once had with this situation. It was during one of my “Idea-
Man” tours as a magazine editorial representative at age 22. I was having quite a struggle
with drowsiness. Yet I acquired the habit of sleepily answering the morning telephone
call and promptly going back to bed and to sleep. Then I bought a “Baby Ben” alarm
clock which I carried with me. But I found myself arising to turn off, then plunging back
into bed. I was too drowsy to realize what I was doing. I was not sufficiently awake to
employ willpower and force myself to stay up, get under the shower and become fully
awake and alert. It had become a habit.
I had to break the habit. I had to put a prod on myself. I needed an alarm clock that
couldn’t be turned off until I was sufficiently awake to get going for the day.
So one night at the Hotel Patton in Chattanooga, Tennessee, I called a bellboy to my
room. In those days the customary tip was a dime. A half dollar then had about the same
effect that a $20 bill would have today. I laid a silver half-dollar on the dresser.
“Do you see that half-dollar, son?” I asked.
“Yes Sir!” he answered eyes sparkling in anticipation.
After ascertaining that he would be still on duty at 6:30 next morning, I said,” If you
will pound on that door in the morning at 6:30, until I let you in, and then stay in this
room and prevent me from getting back into bed until I am dressed, then you may have
that half-dollar.”
I found those bell-boys would, for a half-dollar tip, even wrestle of fight with me to
prevent my crawling back into bed. Thus, I put a prod on myself that broke the morning
snooze habit and got me up and going!
Often workmen never rise above whatever job they may have because they have no
drive. They slow down, work slowly, poke around, sit down and rest as much as they can.
In other words, they must have a boss over them to drive them, or they would probably
starve. They would never become successful farmers -- for a farmer, to succeed, must get
up early and work late, and drive himself. That is one reason so many must work for
others. They cannot rely on themselves -- they must be driven by one of more energy and
purpose.
Without energy, drive, constant propulsion, a person need never expect to become
truly successful.
A person may have chosen his goal. Having it may have aroused tremendous ambition to
achieve it. He may have started out educating and training himself for its
accomplishment, and he may even have good health and still make little or no progress
toward its realization.
After all, success is accomplishment. It is DOING. They say any old dead fish can
float downstream, but it takes a live one to swim up. An inactive person will not
accomplish. Accomplishment is DOING.
Now comes an all-important law.
The fourth success-law, then, is DRIVE!
Half-hearted effort might carry one a little way toward his goal, but it will never get
him far enough to reach it.
You will always find that the executive head of any growing, successful organization
employs drive! He puts a constant prod on himself. He not only drives himself, he drives
those under him, else they might lag, let down and stagnate.
He may feel drowsy, and hate to awaken and get up in the morning. But he refuses to
give in to this impulse.
I remember the struggles I once had with this situation. It was during one of my “Idea-
Man” tours as a magazine editorial representative at age 22. I was having quite a struggle
with drowsiness. Yet I acquired the habit of sleepily answering the morning telephone
call and promptly going back to bed and to sleep. Then I bought a “Baby Ben” alarm
clock which I carried with me. But I found myself arising to turn off, then plunging back
into bed. I was too drowsy to realize what I was doing. I was not sufficiently awake to
employ willpower and force myself to stay up, get under the shower and become fully
awake and alert. It had become a habit.
I had to break the habit. I had to put a prod on myself. I needed an alarm clock that
couldn’t be turned off until I was sufficiently awake to get going for the day.
So one night at the Hotel Patton in Chattanooga, Tennessee, I called a bellboy to my
room. In those days the customary tip was a dime. A half dollar then had about the same
effect that a $20 bill would have today. I laid a silver half-dollar on the dresser.
“Do you see that half-dollar, son?” I asked.
“Yes Sir!” he answered eyes sparkling in anticipation.
After ascertaining that he would be still on duty at 6:30 next morning, I said,” If you
will pound on that door in the morning at 6:30, until I let you in, and then stay in this
room and prevent me from getting back into bed until I am dressed, then you may have
that half-dollar.”
I found those bell-boys would, for a half-dollar tip, even wrestle of fight with me to
prevent my crawling back into bed. Thus, I put a prod on myself that broke the morning
snooze habit and got me up and going!
Often workmen never rise above whatever job they may have because they have no
drive. They slow down, work slowly, poke around, sit down and rest as much as they can.
In other words, they must have a boss over them to drive them, or they would probably
starve. They would never become successful farmers -- for a farmer, to succeed, must get
up early and work late, and drive himself. That is one reason so many must work for
others. They cannot rely on themselves -- they must be driven by one of more energy and
purpose.
Without energy, drive, constant propulsion, a person need never expect to become
truly successful.