by Napoleon Hill
Available in 122 free installments
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Isaac Newton used his power to think and he made a discovery. To see mentally is to think. He found the answers he was looking for; the earth and the apple attracted each other, and the law of attraction of mass to mass applies to the entire universe.
Newton discovered the law of gravitation because he was observant and sought the answers to what he observed. Another man, because he exercised his powers of observation and acted upon what he perceived, found happiness and great wealth.
Newton asked himself questions. The other man sought expert advice.
He became wealthy because he accepted advice. In Toba, Japan, in the year 1869, when he was just eleven years old, Kokichi Mikimoto continued his father's business as the village noodle maker. His father had developed an illness that prevented him from working. The youngster supported his six brothers, three sisters, and his parents. In addition to making the noodles daily, young Mikimoto had to sell them. He proved to be a good salesman.
Mikimoto had previously been tutored by a Samurai who taught:
Exemplification of true faith consists of acts ofkind-ness and love for one's fellowmen, not mere formal prayers uttered by rote.
And with this basic PMA philosophy of positive action, Mikimoto became a doer. He developed the habit of converting ideas into reality.
At the age of twenty he fell in love with the daughter of a Samurai. The young man knew that his future father-in-law would not bless his daughter's marriage with a noodle maker. Therefore, he was motivated to harmonize with this known power. He changed his occupation and became a pearl merchant.
Like many persons who achieve success in any part of the world, Mikimoto kept searching for specific knowledge that would help him in his new activity. He, like the great industrialists of our day, sought help from a university. Professor Yoshikichi Mizukuri told Mikimoto of a theory of one of the laws of nature that had never been proved.
The professor said: "A pearl is formed in an oyster when a foreign object, like a grain of sand, is stuck in the oyster. If the foreign object does not kill the oyster, nature covers the object with the same secretion that forms the mother-of-pearl in the lining of the oyster's shell."
Mikimoto was thrilled! He could hardly wait to get the answer to the question he asked himself, "Can I raise? pearls by deliberately planting a tiny foreign object in the oyster and letting nature take its course?"
He converted a theory into a positive action once he learned to
see.
Mikimoto had been taught to see by that university professor. And then he used the power of his imagination. He engaged in creative thinking. He used deductive reasoning. He decided that if all pearls were formed only when a foreign object entered the oyster, he could develop pearls by using nature's laws. He could plant foreign objects in the oysters and force them to produce pearls. He learned to observe and act and he became a successful man.
Now a study of Mikimoto's life indicates that he employed all the 17 success principles. For knowledge doesn't make you successful. But application of the knowledge will. Action!
Many of the ideas which come to us as we learn to see with fresh eyes will strike others as bold. These ideas can either frighten us or, if we act on them, make our fortunes. Here is another true story of pearls. This time the hero is a young American, Joseph Goldstone. He sold jewelry to Iowa farmers, door-to-door.
Then one day in the heart of the Depression he learned that the Japanese were producing beautiful cultured pearls. Here was quality, and it could be sold at a fraction of the cost of natural pearls!
Joe "saw" a great opportunity. In spite of the fact that it was a Depression year, he and his wife, Esther, converted all their tangible assets into cash and set out for Tokyo. They landed in Japan with less than $1000 ? but they had their plan and lots of PMA.
They obtained an interview with Mr. K. Kitamura, head of the Japanese Pearl Dealers Association. Joe was aiming high. He told Mr. Kitamura of his plan for merchandising Japanese cultured pearls in the United States, and asked Mr. Kitamura for an initial credit of $100,000 in pearls. This was a fantastic sum, especially in a period of depression. After several days, however, Mr. Kitamura agreed.
