The Prosperity & Wealth Bible. Kahlil Gibran

using it in your business. For Worry is the name given by the Devil to his choicest brand of smelling salts and the more you get into the habit of using them the more you come to know what Hell is really like. Here’s an antidote for Worry —

      Smile, Smile, Smile — Smile!

      For where Smiles are, Worry is not. Worry is just plain poison. It is the most treacherous of poisons for it not only eats into the finest powers of your mind and life but it spreads and radiates like a contagious disease. Worry can do no harm in the atmosphere of cheer, great faith, hope — Work.

      Work, Work, Work — Work.

      How useless Worry is — how foolish! Realize but this and you will very soon banish it and forever abhor it. Can you think of a single instance where Worry rendered you a service? Well, then, get rid of it.

      Smile, Smile, Smile — Smile!

      Worry never did and never will bring anything to pass. It never earned a cent and it never helped a human being. But if you keep busy, if you are continually seeking to render some service, you will never have time nor inclination to Worry.

      Work, Work, Work — Work.

      Grouchers

      Who are they that are the chief Hinderers and Obstructors of the Race — Thieves? No. Anarchists? No. Idlers? No. Grafters? No. Who then? Just these — the Men and Women with a Grouch.

      Be too Busy for a Grouch.

      Par the Fellow with the Grouch is the Fellow with a glass of Prison in his hand who will pour it down your throat if you let him. But you will escape him if you will only —

      Be too Busy for a Grouch.

      A Grouch never helped anything or anybody. And he never failed to do Harm. The Big Man with a Grouch becomes at once a Little Man.

      Be too Busy for a Grouch.

      Suppose the Grouch does irritate you, suppose he does try to get you off your Guard, suppose he does try to make you “Look Cheap,” suppose he does attempt to “Get your Goat.” Look him in the eye. Then knock him into smithereens with a 60 h. p. 20th Century model Smile — and Pass On to your Work and your Business.

      Be too Busy for a Grouch.

      Man-Afraid-Of-His-Job

      We are all a bunch of Job holders, no matter the name by which we are known in our work. To work is to be dignified, whether we use a shovel or a pen. There is but one worker in all the drama of work who dishonors the whole profession. He’s The-Man-Afraid-Of-His-Job. Get this into your Head —

      YOU are “The Man Higher Up!”

      If you will but be this, from this minute you will grow and gather Power. For The-Man-Afraid-Of-His-Job is the man who fears somebody else above him, behind him, alongside of him. He has no Independence for he is all Dependence.

      YOU are “The Man Higher Up!”

      Results take care of themselves. First be YOURSELF. You may lose your Job. But what of it? You will have then gained a bigger one — Master of Yourself. Cromwell once said that “A man never rises so high as when he does his best not knowing whither he goes.” And Emerson says: “Why should we import rags and relics into the new hours?’’ Keep busy.

      YOU are “The Man Higher Up!”

      Believe it and proceed. Honor your Job — be it ever so humble — and it will Honor you. Be Positive. Dissolve partnership with The-Man-Afraid-Of-His-J ob. Go at your work with the belief that you alone know best your own work and you’ll find that it won’t take long for others about you to realize for a fact that —

      You ARE “The Man Higher Up!”

      Encouragement

      If you would step into some great seat of Power and Plenty, some day, just get into the Habit of Patting people on the back — with a real Pat of Encouragement.

      Give away your own Success.

      There is nothing in all the world so stimulating as to feel the thrill of Hope coloring the cheek of some fellow to whom you have just given the Grip of Grit.

      Give away your own Success.

      Even a Race Horse goes better after a pat on the Nose. The Boot Black gives you a better Polish if you remember to Smile while he Shines. Half the wrecks of life are strewn along the Gutter of Failure for no other reason than this — starved for want of Encouragement.

      Give away your own Success.

      There are no “Favored of Destiny” Successes. The only Winners are the Favored of Encouragement. The Smile, the hearty Hand Clasp, the sterling Cheer — the cup of Crystal Water — these are the things that make Men, mold Commerce and start to humming Cities and Nations. If you like to Whistle, teach the art to somebody else who doesn’t know how.

      Give away your own Success.

      And, by the way, it is the greatest Fun in all the world! The next fellow to you right now, whoever you are and wherever you are, is just as Human as you are. Turn your pockets of Encouragement inside out. Keep them empty by giving their contents away — for they will always be full. And, if these little talks help YOU from day to day, get the knowledge to the fellow who wrote them. It will Encourage him.

      Will

      John Stuart Mill once said that “a Character is a completely fashioned Will.” Which suggests as the greatest task in life — the training and building of the WILL.

      Think, not merely, but ACT the Think.

      For that is the only sure way to the educated Will. To act with decision, firmness, and promptness when an Emergency arrives is to feed nourishing food hourly to the Will. The weak Will is the starved Will.

      Think, not merely, but ACT the Think.

      Note the Strong Man. He sees a thing to do and immediately DOES it. The thing may look trivial. It may even seem the work of some other fellow. But without hesitancy, as though dispute was greater than the task, the Strong Man gets the thing Done — so that he may have Time for other and Bigger things.

      Think, not merely, but ACT the Think.

      The Tragedy of the ten-dollar-a-week Shop Girl, the fifteen-dollar-a-week Clerk, the out-of-a-job Grown Man, is the Tragedy of an untrained Will. The late E. H. Harriman once said: “I am not a ten per cent man!” Which was his way of saying that he was Master of his own Will and a King among Doers.

      Think, not merely, but ACT the Think.

      Of all things To-day that you should not abandon, are the things you least desire to do. For Will building is to do the menial, if necessary, the hum-drum, maybe. But doing everything to a finish as best you can. Knowing full well that a daily mastery of the Little Things worthwhile makes easy and natural the doing of the Big Things when they come around.

      Think, not merely, but ACT the Think.

      Harmony

      Get in Tune!

      We learn our greatest Lessons from Nature. At any hour glance at her Wonders — her Grass, Flowers, Trees, Birds, Rocks. What is the most impressive thing about all these things? This — silent Harmony.

      Nature wastes nothing. She quarrels with no one. She dissipates not. Her Team Work is perfect. All her Laws mesh in perfect Harmony. There are no discords.

      Get in Tune.

      Where there is no Harmony, there is no Progress. Elbert Hubbard gave some great advice when he said: “Get in Line or else get Out!” This ought to be the Motto of