Shop the Princeton University Press 50% off site-wide sale now through May 31st. Use code 50 at checkout to get deals on nearly all books, ebooks, and audiobooks. Add bestsellers such as Economics in America, AI Needs You, and Journeys of the Mind to your bookshelf today. Learn more at At Princeton.press/sale. Inspirational Living podcast. Today's reading was edited and adapted from The Cause of Failure and How to Overcome It by Thomas Z. Davis published in 1918. There is no bigger shurker.

Than the person who never does anything to help answer their own prayers. Opportunity is the gate that points to the way of success. If we would win the race of life that leads to the way of success, we must open the gate of opportunity ourselves. If the gate stood always open, it would not be doing the service of a gate. If the passage through the gateway were perfectly free and unobstructed, then the Who passes in would have no more credit than the one who chooses to remain without. But that is not the case. To the woman and man who overcomes barriers and surmounts obstacles, we take off our hats and acknowledge them as a victor.

The gate then is a barrier to only those who would not try to push aside the barrier, or overcome the obstacles, in the gate of opportunity. Is shown to anyone with an honest purpose who asks the way to success. It is thus yours to open. Will you do it? I certainly hope so, for you owe it to yourself to believe always that the highest and best things are not only possible, but that they are actually intended for you, that they will come to you if you but do your part. Don't quit until the hearse comes around, and remember that the person…

Who values themselves low will receive a corresponding valuation from others, eventually reducing their actual worth to the price they have fixed. The person who lacks the courage to make a start has already reached the finish. The secret is, if you think you're beaten, you are. You think you dare not, you don't. If you like to win, but think you can't, it's almost certain you won't. If you think you'll lose, you've lost. For out in the world, success begins with your will. It's all in your state of mind. You've got to think high to rise, and you've got to be sure of yourself to win the prize. Get a vision of what you want out of life.

The will to know. Use what you have to get what you want. Act now. Pr indecision is the mother of failure. Achievement of whatever kind is the crown of effort, the diadem of thought. Many opportunities pass by while people sleep on their jobs. What is a failure? It's a spur to the one who receives it right, and it makes the spirit stir to go in once more and fight. If you have never failed, it's an even guess you have never grabbed the highest rail. What is a miss?

And makes it move directly to its chosen aim. The creative energy which gives life to all has life in you and indeed is all that is life in you. It is anxious that you should realize your vision of success. It desires to live more in and through you. It is the source of your desires and it gives you easier

Terms and a longer time in which to pay for it. Why not then order a large success now? Why not envision it, lay claim to it, expect it, feel that it is yours now? Know that it is yours. Say to yourself something like this, My success is large. It consists of a fine house, a nice car, a lakeside cottage, a large and growing business, a trip abroad, and great usefulness in the world. I have already picked it out, ordered it and given the specifications. It is coming up this week and the rest is under construction. Preparation is the best prayer for success in any undertaking. So why not say this?

And feel it in the present tense and enter at once into the actual enjoyment of it. Decide that you will open all the gates of opportunity and attain a large success. It is never too late to start. Moses was over 80 before he started to lead the Israelites to the Promised Land. Cato learned Greek after he was 80. Socrates learned to play musical instruments after he was 75. Plutarch began the study of Latin when over 70. Franklin was over 50 when he began his philosophical studies. Picasso was over 30. When he began the study of short story writing and became one of the greatest short story writers of all time. Don't think it wasted time to submit yourself to any influence.

Which may bring upon you a noble feeling. Her character is more valuable than intellect. Person who has the power to do something that will lift humanity. Does not do it. Robs the world of that which God intended to give the world through them. So do all the good you can.

By all the means you can, in all the ways you can, in all the places you can, at all the times you can, to all the people you can, as long as you can. It's up to you what becomes of you. You must find in yourself the grit and energy that brings success. You can get the skill. If you bring to the task a steadfast will, no one is beaten till they give in. Hard luck can't stand for a cheerful grin. The person who fails needs a better excuse than the quitters whining, Oh, what's the use? For the one who quits lets their chances slip just because they're too lazy to keep their grip. The person who sticks to it.

Goes ahead with a shout, while the one who quits joins the down and out. Lastly, let me say that there is nothing so kingly as kindness, nothing so royal as truth. I am glad that we live in a world that is placed within the reach of everyone. The material that it takes to make the key that will unlock the door of the treasure house. You scan history, you'll find that the world has selected for its highest positions people coming from the most obscure places and The next person may be you I hope that everyone listening to me now will gather together. The material it takes to unlock the door that shuts you away from all the things which are intended to make you happy. Remember that life without and never.

Is like entering a diamond mine and coming out with empty hands. But it takes a lot of ambition, a perfect self-control. And some grim determination if you want to reach a goal. It takes a great deal of striving and a firm Life, however we may view it, is no simple parlor game. Its prizes call for fighting, for endurance and for grit, for a rugged disposition, and I don't know when to quit. You will find it.

May take a blow or give one. You must risk and you must lose, and expect that in the struggle, you will suffer from a bruise. But you mustn't shirk or falter, if a task you once begin. Face the battle. That's the only way to win. Then finally is You look back on your life, you'll discover what real winning was all about. You'll find the moments that stand out above everything else are the ones where you did things in a spirit of love.

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