the art of getting rich | Page 4

two
men are in the same locality, and in the same

business, and one gets rich while the other remains poor, it

shows that getting rich is not, primarily, a matter of

environment. Some environments may be more favorable than

others, but when two men in the sam
e business are in the same

neighborhood, and one gets rich while the other fails, it

indicates that getting rich is the result of doing things in a

Certain Way.




And further, the ability to do things in this certain way is not

due solely to the possession
of talent, for many people who

©Copyright 2006 The Secret LLC


All rights reserved.




have great talent remain poor, while others who have very little

talent get rich.




Studying the people who have got rich, we find that they are an

average lot in all respects, having no greater talents and abilities

than ot
her men. It is evident that they do not get rich because

they possess talents and abilities that other men have not, but

because they happen to do things in a Certain Way.




Getting rich is not the result of saving, or "thrift"; many very

penurious people
are poor, while free spenders often get rich.




Nor is getting rich due to doing things which others fail to do;

for two men in the same business often do almost exactly the

same things, and one gets rich while the other remains poor or

becomes bankrupt.




From all these things, we must come to the conclusion that

getting rich is the result of doing things in a Certain Way.




If getting rich is the result of doing things in a Certain Way, and

if like causes always produce like effects, then any man or

woman
who can do things in that way can become rich, and the

whole matter is brought within the domain of exact science.




The question arises here, whether this Certain Way may not be

so difficult that only a few may follow it. This cannot be true, as

we have
seen, so far as natural ability is concerned. Talented

people get rich, and blockheads get rich; intellectually brilliant

people get rich, and very stupid people get rich; physically

strong people get rich, and weak and sickly people get rich.




Some degre
e of ability to think and understand is, of course,

essential; but in so far as natural ability is concerned, any man

or woman who has sense enough to read and understand these

words can certainly get rich.




Also, we have seen that it is not a matter of e
nvironment.

Location counts for something; one would not go to the heart of

the Sahara and expect to do successful business.




Getting rich involves the necessity of dealing with men, and of

being where there are people to deal with; and if these people

©Copyright 2006 The Secret LLC


All rights reserved.




ar
e inclined to deal in the way you want to deal, so much the

better. But that is about as far as environment goes.




If anybody else in your town can get rich, so can you; and if

anybody else in your state can get rich, so can you.




Again, it is not a matt
er of choosing some particular business or

profession. People get rich in every business, and in every

profession; while their next door neighbors in the same vocation

remain in poverty.




It is true that you will do best in a business which you like, and

which is congenial to you; and if you have certain talents which

are well developed, you will do best in a business which calls

for the exercise of those talents.




Also, you will do best in a business which is suited to your

locality; an ice
-
cream parlor
would do better in a warm climate

than in Greenland, and a salmon fishery will succeed better in

the Northwest than in Florida, where there are no salmon.




But, aside from these general limitations, getting rich is not

dependent upon your engaging in some
particular business, but

upon your learning to do things in a Certain Way. If you are

now in business, and anybody else in your locality is getting

rich in the same business, while you are not getting rich, it is

because you are not doing things in the sa
me Way that the other

person is doing them.




No one is prevented from getting rich by lack of capital. True,

as you get capital the increase becomes more easy and rapid;

but one who has capital is already rich, and does not need to

consider how to become