by Napoleon Hill
Available in 122 free installments
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Soon after his pilot took off, Mr. LeTourneau went to sleep. In about thirty minutes Napoleon Hill saw him take in it. After the plane landed, Napoleon Hill asked Mr. LeTourneau if he remembered writing in his notebook.
"Why no!" exclaimed LeTourneau. He immediately pulled the notebook from his pocket and looked at it. He said: "Here it is! I've been looking for this for several months! Here's the answer to a problem that has kept me from completing a machine we are working on!"
When you receive a flash of inspiration, write it down! This may be the something more that you are looking for. We believe that
communication with Infinite Intelligence is through the subconscious mind. We believe you should establish the habit of immediately writing down flashes of inspiration as they are communicated to you from the subconscious to the conscious.
Albert Einstein developed intricate and profound theories regarding the universe and the natural laws that control it. Yet he used only the simplest ? but most important ? of instruments ever invented: a pencil and a piece of paper. He wrote down his questions and answers. You Will develop your mental powers when you learn and develop the habit of asking yourself questions ? when you learn and develop the habit of using pencil and paper to write down your questions, ideas, and answers.
It is unlikely that Einstein and other scientists would have come to their successful conclusions unless they had learned from the recorded knowledge of mathematicians and scientists who preceded them. It is also unlikely that Einstein would have tried unless he had been motivated to search for universal principles after having developed the habit of engaging in thinking time and action. Do you know of any great thinker, or person of achievement, who does not make notes of ideas that occur to him?
Learn creative thinking from the creative thinker! Your Creative Power and Applied Imagination by Alex F. Osborn, of the advertising firm of Batten, Barton, Durstine and Osborn, have inspired hundreds of thousands of persons to engage in creative thinking. What is equally important, these people have been motivated to positive, constructive action. Thinking is not creative unless it is followed through with action.
Osborn, like so many creative thinkers, used a notepad and a pencil as favorite working tools. When an idea occurred, he jotted
it down. He, like other great men of accomplishment, engaged in thinking, planning, and study time.
Alex Osborn stated an obvious truth when he said: "Everyone has some creative ability, but most people haven't learned to use it."
Osbon's brainstorming methods, explained in his easily-read textbook Applied Imagination, are being employed in college classrooms, factories, business offices, churches, clubs, and in the home. Brainstorming, as developed by Osborn, is a very simple method whereby two or more persons use their collective imaginations to come up with ideas that flash from their subconscious to their conscious minds in answer to a question incorporating a specific problem. The ideas are written down just as fast as they strike the minds of the participants. No critical judgment is permitted until after many ideas are written down. Later the ideas are screened and judged to determine their practicality and value.
La Salle College in Philadelphia, and many universities throughout the country, teach well-rounded courses in creative thinking which include the methods used by creative thinkers in many phases of business and industry.
It was just such creative thinking that enabled Dr. Elmer Gates to make this world a better place in which to live. Dr. Gates was a great American teacher, philosopher, psychologist, scientist, and inventor. During his lifetime, he developed hundreds of inventions and discoveries in the various arts and sciences.
He did his creative thinking by "sitting for ideas." Dr. Gates' own life proved that his methods of brain and body building could develop a healthy body and increase the efficiency of the mind. Napoleon Hill recalls how, armed with a letter of introduction from Andrew Carnegie, he went to visit Dr. Gates at his Chevy
Chase laboratory. When Napoleon Hill arrived, Dr. Gates' secretary told him: "I'm sorry, but... I'm not permitted to disturb Dr. Gates at this time."
"How long do you think it will be before I can see him?" Napoleon Hill asked.
"I don't know, but it might take as long as three hours,"
"Do you mind telling me why you are unable to disturb him?"
She hesitated and then responded, "He is sitting for ideas?"
Napoleon Hill smiled. "What does that mean ? sitting for ideas?"
