The Ultimate Power of Just One Thing

In the Letter of Transmittal for Week Twelve of The Master Key System, Charles F. Haanel writes that

[T]he time and thought which most persons waste in aimless effort would accomplish wonders if properly directed with some special object in view.

Are you the constant flitterer, jumping from one goal to another?

Do you have one plan today then another the next?

Do you approach life in a happy-go-lucky kind of way?

Is your vision for your future fuzzy? vague? non-existent?

If so, then let’s review points #1-9 of Week Twelve.

1. There is no purpose in life that cannot be best accomplished through a scientific understanding of the creative power of thought.

2. The power to think is common to all. Man is because he thinks. Man’s power to think is infinite, consequently his creative power is unlimited.

3. We know that thought is building for us the thing we think of and actually bringing it nearer, yet we find it difficult to banish fear, anxiety, or discouragement, all of which are powerful thought forces and which continually send the things we desire further away, so that it is often one step forward and two steps backward.

4. The only way to keep from going backward is to keep going forward. Eternal vigilance is the price of success. There are three steps, and each one is absolutely essential. You must first have the knowledge of your power; second, the courage to dare; third, the faith to do.

5. With this as a basis you can construct an ideal business, an ideal home, ideal friends, ideal environment. You are not restricted as to material or cost. Thought is omnipotent and has the power to draw on the Infinite bank of primary substance for all that it requires. Infinite resources are therefore at your command.

6. But your ideal must be sharp, clear-cut, definite; to have one ideal today, another tomorrow, and a third next week, means to scatter your forces and accomplish nothing; your result will be a meaningless and chaotic combination of wasted material.

7. Unfortunately this is the result which many are securing, and the cause is self evident. If a sculptor started out with a piece of marble and a chisel and changed his ideal every fifteen minutes, what result could he expect? And why should you expect any different result in moulding the greatest and most plastic of all substances — the only real substance?

8. The result of this indecision and negative thought is often found in the loss of material wealth. Supposed independence which required many years of toil and effort suddenly disappears. It is often found then that money and property are not independence at all. On the contrary, the only independence is found to be a practical working knowledge of the creative power of thought.

9. This practical working method cannot come to you until you learn that the only real power which you can have is the power to adjust yourself to Divine and unchangeable principles. You cannot change the Infinite, but you can come into an understanding of Natural laws. The reward of this understanding is a conscious realization of your ability to adjust your thought faculties with the Universal Thought which is Omnipresent. Your ability to cooperate with this Omnipotence will indicate the degree of success with which you meet.

What Haanel writes in these points describes one of the “keys” to success.

It was the “secret” to which Napoleon Hill referred in his incredible book Think & Grow Rich.

It was the main idea that The Master Key Workbook tackles.

It’s the “secret to life” that Jack Palance imparted to Billy Crystal in the movie City Slickers.

(If you have trouble viewing this video, please click here.)

If you couldn’t watch the video, here’s what was said.

While on horseback, Jack Palance turned to Billy Crystal and asked, “Do you know what the secret to life is?”

After Billy Crystal shakes his head, Mr. Palance raised his hand and showed one finger.

“This,” said Palance. “One thing. Just one thing.”

You have to find your “one thing.”

Your one thing is that which you want to do — your one main, over-riding goal.

When you define that, when you make your choice and take a stand, then everything else will begin to fall into place.

Choose it.

Define it.

Visualize it.

Work for it.

Attain it.