The greatest success authorities in the world share their most treasured success secrets. Each powerful lesson will bring you closer to your life’s goals: • How to conquer the ten most common causes of failure • How to make the most of your abilities • How to find the courage to take risks • How to stop putting things off • How to build your financial nest egg • How to look like a winner • How to take charge of your life • And much more in fifty memorable presentations by the greatest success authorities. Dean of this unique University of Success is Og Mandino, the most acclaimed self-help writer of this generation. The faculty he has assembled includes such celebrities as Dr. Wayne W. Dyer, Dale Carnegie, W. Clement Stone, Napoleon Hill, George S. Clason, Nena and George O’Neil, Dr. Joyce Brothers, Michael Korda, Lord Beaverbrook, Dr. Norman Vincent Peale, and many more winners in life.
WHY SUCCESS IS SO DIFFICULT
We are, each of us, a miracle. Within every one of us, the pilot light of hope never dies. Mechanics, executives, salespeople, students, models, writers, carpenters, computer operators, store owners, entrepreneurs, fruit pickers, stockbrokers, housewives—all of us, to some degree, indulge in the same dreams and wishes—to be free from want, to live in a finer home, to owe no one, to drive that sleek new automobile, to eat in an elegant restaurant now and then, to vacation in exotic places, to have a few items of designer clothing in our wardrobe, to send our children to the best of schools.
Why not? Haven’t we been told, since birth, that we live in a land of unlimited opportunity?
Why not? The answer is obvious, but painful. The vast majority of us have absolutely no idea how to begin to make our dreams come true! Undoubtedly you already have all the tools necessary to create a magnificent life, but what good are they … if you don’t know how to use them? And how can you build a life worth living without any plans or blueprints?
Not once—neither in primary school nor junior high school nor high school, not even in the most hallowed halls of higher learning—were you ever instructed on the simple techniques of setting goals, of motivating yourself and others, of dealing with adversity, of eliminating self-defeating habits, of using time profitably, of practicing the power of choice, of developing self-confidence, of doing the things you are afraid to do, of generating enthusiasm at will, of organizing your life, of accumulating wealth, of getting people to give you what you want, of looking like a winner, of guiding your children, of handling stress, of counting your blessings … and so much more. That you have managed to survive at all is a tribute to your courage and faith.
And yet, though we hang on, our shortcomings haunt us. We are made vividly and painfully aware of them every time we turn on a television set or pick up a newspaper or magazine. Bravely we try to ignore the affluence and success of so many others but we are forced to admit, if only in our darkest moments of introspection, that Hendrik van Loon was correct when he wrote, “In history as in life, it is success that counts.”
Well—is it too late for you to reach for that brass ring or make a run for the roses? Should you crawl into your dusty little corner of self-pity and just let the world pass you by? No! Never!
YOUR GREATEST ASSET
Let us take inventory. Did you possibly learn anything during those formative years of schooling that might help you to change your life for the better, if you were to begin today, regardless of your age, your skills, your background, your color, your financial condition, or your opinion of yourself? Just one thing, if you stop to think about it and that one thing may be all you need!
Listen carefully as the great English essayist, historian, biographer, and philosopher, Thomas Carlyle, explains.
If we think about it, all that a university or final highest school can do for us, is still but what the first school began doing—teach us to read. We learn to read in various languages, in various sciences; we learn the alphabet and letters of all manners of books. But the place where we are to get knowledge, even theoretic knowledge, is the books themselves. It depends on what we read, after all manners of professors have done their best for us. The true university of these days is a collection of books!
According to Carlyle’s specifications this volume you are holding is a “university of success” since it contains a choice collection of the wisdom, techniques, and principles from the greatest books in the world of success literature. Here you will discover nuggets of pure gold, waiting only for you to reach out and claim them as your own. Here you will be taught by men and women whose messages have withstood the tests of time and practicality and whose principles work.
Please remember, you need not accept or attempt to use all of the hundreds of success ideas and techniques you are about to learn. Just one may be all you need to work wonders in your life and career. All that is required of you, in this place of learning, is an ability to read plus—a burning desire to make something more of your life. And don’t even be too concerned if the flames of that desire give off little heat as you begin your studies. Their temperature will rise, gradually, as you begin to realize how much you can still accomplish in the years ahead.
