by Napoleon Hill
Available in 122 free installments
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Henry Ford, after he had achieved success, was the subject of much envy. People felt that because of good fortune, or influential friends, or genius, or whatever they thought was Ford's "Secret" ? because of these things Ford was successful. And no doubt some of these elements played a part. But there was something more. Perhaps one person in every hundred thousand knew the real reason for Ford's success, and those few were usually ashamed to speak of it because of its simplicity. A single glimpse of Ford in action will illustrate the "secret" perfectly.
Years ago, Henry Ford decided to develop the now famous motor known as V-8. He wanted to build an engine with the entire eight cylinders cast in one block. He instructed his engineers to produce a design for such an engine. To a man, the engineers agreed that it was simply impossible to cast an eight-cylinder gasoline engine block in one piece.
Ford said, "Produce it anyway."
"But," they replied, "it's impossible."
"Go to work," Ford commanded, "and stay on the job until you succeed no matter how much time is required."
The engineers went to work. There was nothing else for them to do if they were to remain on the Ford staff. Six months went by and they had not succeeded. Another six months passed, and still no success. The more the engineers tried, the more the thing seemed "impossible."
At the end of the year, Ford checked with his engineers. Once again they informed him that they had found no way to carry out his orders. "Keep working," said Ford. "I want it and I'll have it."
And what happened?
Well, of course, the engine wasn't impossible at all. The Ford V-8 became the most spectacularly successful car on the road, pulling Henry Ford and his company so far out in front of his nearest competitor that it took years for them to catch up. He was using PMA. And the same power is available to you. If you use it, if you turn your talisman to the right side as Henry Ford did, you too can achieve success in bringing into reality the possibility of the improbable. If you know what you want, you can find a way to get it.
A man of 25 has before him some 100,000 working hours should he retire at 65. How many of your working hours will be alive with the magnificent force of PMA? And how many of them will have the life knocked out of them with the stunning blows of
NMA?
But how do you go about putting PMA to work in your life rather than NMA? Some people seem to use this power instinctively. When it came to developing the Ford car, Henry Ford was one of these. Others have to learn. Al Allen learned by relating and assimilating what he read in inspirational magazines and books. Success Through a Positive Mental Attitude is such a book.
You, too, can learn to develop PMA.
Some people use PMA for a while but when they receive a setback, they lose faith in it. They start out right, but some "bad breaks" cause them to flip the talisman wrong-side-up. They fail to realize that success is maintained by those who keep trying with PMA. They are like the famous old racehorse "John P. Grier." John P. Grier was a thoroughbred of great promise, such promise in fact that he was groomed, trained and billed as the only horse that stood a chance of beating the greatest racehorse of all time: Man o' War.
Don't let your mental attitude make you a has-been. In the
Dwyer Stakes at Aqueduct in July of 1920, the two horses finally met. It was a magnificent day. All eyes were riveted on the starting post. The two horses got away evenly. Down the track they went side by side. It was clear that John P. Grier was giving Man o' War the race of his life. At the quarter mark they were even. The half mark. The three-quarter mark and still they were even. At the eighth pole ? neck and neck. Then in the stretch John P. Grier brought the crowd to its feet. Slowly he edged ahead.
It was a moment of crisis for Man o' War's Jockey. He made up his mind. For the first time in the great horse's career the jockey nicked him solidly on the rump with his whip. Man o' War reacted as though the jockey had set fire to his tail. He shot out ahead and pulled away from John P. Grier as if the other horse were standing still. At the end of the race Man o' War was seven lengths ahead.
But the significant thing from our point of view was the effect of defeat on the other horse. John P. Grier had been a horse of great spirit; victory was in his attitude. But he was so broken by this experience that he never really recovered. All of his races
afterwards were weak, half-hearted attempts and he never won again.
