Psychology and Achievement | Page 4

functions depend our health and comfort, our very lives.
[Sidenote: Abode and instrument of Mind]
Then, too, considered merely as part of the outside world of matter,
man's body is the physical fact with which he is most in contact and
most immediately concerned. It furnishes him with information
concerning the existence and operations of other minds. It is in fact his

only source of information about the outside world.
First of all, then, you must form definite and intelligent conclusions
concerning the relations between the mind and the body.
[Sidenote: Manner of Handling Mental Processes]
This will be of value in a number of ways. In the first place, you will
understand the bodily mechanism through which the mind operates,
and a knowledge of this mechanism is bound to enlighten you as to the
character of the mental processes themselves. In the second place, it is
worth while to know the extent of the mind's influence over the body,
because this knowledge is the first step toward obtaining bodily
efficiency through the mental control of bodily functions. And, finally,
a study of this bodily mechanism is of very great practical importance
in itself, for the body is the instrument through which the mind acts in
its relations with the world at large.
From a study of the bodily machine, we shall advance to a
consideration of the mental processes themselves, not after the usual
manner of works on psychology, but solely from the standpoint of
practical utility and for the establishment of a scientific concept of the
mind capable of everyday use.
[Sidenote: Fundamental Laws and Practical Methods]
The elucidation of every principle of mental operation will be
accompanied by illustrative material pointing out just how that
particular law may be employed for the attainment of specific practical
ends. There will be numerous illustrative instances and methods that
can be at once made use of by the merchant, the musician, the salesman,
the advertiser, the employer of labor, the business executive.
[Sidenote: Special Business Topics]
In this way this Basic Course of Reading will lay a firm and broad
foundation, first, for an understanding of the methods and devices
whereby any man may acquire full control and direction of his mental

energies and may develop his resources to the last degree; second, for
an understanding of the psychological methods for success in any
specific professional pursuit in which he may be particularly interested;
and third, for an understanding of the methods of applying
psychological knowledge to the industrial problems of office, store and
factory.
The first of these--that is to say, instruction in methods for the
attainment of any goal consistent with native ability--will follow right
along as part of this Basic Course of Reading. The second and
third--that is to say, the study of special commercial and industrial
topics--are made the subject of special courses supplemental to this
Basic Course and for which it can serve only as an introduction.
[Sidenote: A Step Beyond Collegiate Psychology]
In this Basic Course of Reading we shall show you how you may
acquire perfect individual efficiency. And, most remarkable of all, we
shall show you how you may acquire it without that effort to obtain it,
that straining of the will, that struggling with wasteful inclinations and
desires, that is itself the essence of inefficiency.
The facts and principles set forth in this Basic Course are new and
wonderful and inspiring. They have been established and attested by
world-wide and exhaustive scientific research and experiment.
[Sidenote: The Eternal Laws of Individual Achievement]
You may be a college graduate. You may have had the advantage of a
college course in psychology. But you have probably had no instruction
in the practical application of your knowledge of mental operations. So
far as we are aware, there are few universities in the world that embrace
in their curricula a course in "applied" psychology. For the average
college man this Basic Course of Reading will be, therefore, in the
nature of a post-graduate course, teaching him how to make practical
use of the psychology he learned at college, and in addition giving him
facts about the mind unknown to the college psychology of a few years
ago.

In these books you will probe deeply into the normal human mind.
You will see also the fantastic and distorted shape of its manifestations
in disease.
You will learn the Eternal Laws of Individual Achievement.
[Sidenote: How to Master Our Methods]
And you will be taught how to apply them to your own business or
profession.
But mark this word of warning. To comprehend the teachings of this
Basic Course well enough to put them into practice demands from you
careful study and reflection. It requires persistent application. Do not
attempt to browse through the pages that follow. They are worth