by Napoleon Hill
Available in 122 free installments
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Many persons have the habit of procrastination. Because of it, they may miss a train, be late for work, or even more important ? miss an opportunity that could change the whole course of their lives for the better. History has recorded how battles have been lost someone put off taxing desirable action.
New students in our PMA Science of Success course sometimes state that the procrastination habit is the one they would like to eliminate. And then we reveal to them the secret of getting things done. We give them the self-starter. We may motivate them by telling them the true story of what the self-starter meant to a war prisoner in World War II.
What the self-starter meant to a war prisoner. Kenneth Erwin Harmon was a civilian employee for the Navy at Manila when the Japanese landed there. He was captured and held in a hotel for two days before he was sent to a prison camp.
On the first day, Kenneth saw that his roommate had a book under his pillow. "May I borrow it?" he asked. The book was Think and Grow Rich. Kenneth began to read. As he read, he met the most important living person with the invisible talisman imprinted with PMA on one side and NMA on the reverse.
Before he started to read it, he had the feeling of despair. He fearfully looked ahead to possible torture-even death ? in the prison camp. But now as he read his attitude became one inspired by hope. He had a craving to own the book. He wanted it with him during the dread days ahead. In discussing Think and Grow Rich with his fellow prisoner, he realized that the book meant a great deal to the owner.
"Let me copy it," he said.
"Sure, go ahead," was the response.
Kenneth Harmon employed the secret of getting things done. He swung into immediate action. In a fury of activity he began typing away. Word by word, page by page, chapter by chapter. Because he was obsessed with the possibility that it would be taken away at any moment, he was motivated to work night and day.
It was a good thing that he did for within an hour after the last page was completed, his captors led him away to the notorious Santo Tomas prison camp. He had finished in time because he started in time. Kenneth Harmon kept the manuscript with him during the three years and one month he was a prisoner. He read it again and again. And it gave him food for thought. It inspired him to: develop courage, make plans for the future, and retain his mental and physical health Many prisoners at Santo Tomas were permanently injured physically and mentally by malnutrition and fear ? fear of the present and fear of the future. "But I was better when I left Santo Tomas than when I was interned ? better
prepared for life ? more mentally alert," Kenneth Harmon told us. You get the feel of his thinking in his statement: "Success must be continually practiced, or it will take wings and fly away."
Now is the time to act.
For the secret of getting things done can change a person's attitude from negative to positive. A day that might have been ruined can become a pleasant day.
The day that might have been wasted. Jorgen Juhldahl, a student at the University of Copenhagen, worked one summer as a tourist guide. Because he cheerfully did much more than he was paid to do, some visitors from Chicago made arrangements for him to tour America. The itinerary included a day of sightseeing in Washington, D. C, while he was en route to Chicago.
On arriving in Washington, Jorgen checked in at the Willard Hotel, where his bill had been pre-paid. He was sitting on top of the world. In his coat pocket was his lane ticket to Chicago; in his hip pocket was his wallet with his passport and money. Then the young man was dealt a shocking blow!
While getting ready for bed, he found that his wallet was missing. He ran downstairs to the hotel desk.
"We'll do everything we can," said the manager.
But the next morning the wallet had still not been located. Jorgen Juhldahl had less than two dollars change in his pockets. Alone in a foreign country, he wondered what he should do. Wire his friends in Chicago and tell them what had happened? Go to the Danish embassy and report the lost passport? Sit at police headquarters until they had some news?
Then, all of a sudden, he said: "No! I won't do any of these things! I'll see Washington. I may never be here again. I have one precious day in this great capital. After all, I still have my ticket to get me to Chicago tonight, and there'll be plenty of time then to solve the problem of the money and the passport. But if I don't see Washington now I may never see it. I've walked miles at home, I'll enjoy walking here.
"Now is the time to be happy.
