INTRODUCTION
The Real Secret of Success

This is a wonderful time to be alive. It has never been more possible for more people to accomplish more of their goals in all of human history. And if anything, it is only going to get better in the months and years ahead. Your job is to fully participate in what economists are calling “the golden age” of mankind.

In our world, everyone wants to be happy, healthy, thin, and rich—preferably, as quickly and as easily as possible. Throughout history, in response to this almost universal demand for immediate gratification, countless people and organizations have offered enticing formulas, special techniques, esoteric strategies, and secrets for achieving success and happiness without effort.

Every year or two, someone comes along with a book like The Secret, suggesting that there is a quick and easy way to be happy and make a lot of money. According to The Secret, all you have to do is to think and visualize positive thoughts and you will attract into your life all the good things you want. This idea appeals to people who are unwilling to do the hard work that is necessary to achieve anything worthwhile.

The real secret of success, however, is that there are no secrets. There are only universal principles and timeless truths that have been discovered and rediscovered throughout the ages. Happiness, health, and prosperity do not occur by accident. They are the result of deliberate design and are subject to the iron Law of Cause and Effect.

This law says, “For every cause, there is an effect.” It also says, “For every effect, there is a cause or causes.” This means that if you do certain things, you get certain results. The Bible says, “Whatsoever you sow, that also shall you reap.” Sir Isaac Newton wrote, “For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.”

Here is a simple rule: If you do what other successful people do, over and over again, nothing can stop you from eventually getting the same results that they do. Conversely, if you don’t do what other successful people do, nothing can help you. Success is not an accident. It is not a matter of luck but of design. It is simply a matter of cause and effect.

The Great Discovery

Perhaps the greatest discovery in human history—the foundation principle of religion, philosophy, metaphysics, and psychology—is that thoughts are causes, and conditions are effects. This means that your thoughts create your reality. You do not see the world as it is but rather as you are. Everywhere you look, you see yourself. In a larger sense, your outer world is a mirror of your inner world. Whatever you think on the inside will be reflected back to you on the outside. If you want to know what is going on inside a person, just look at what is happening to him or her on the outside.

This Law of Correspondence—“Your outer world corresponds to your inner world”—is inviolable, at least over time. You can never acquire and hold something on the outside, for the long term, that you have not prepared for and earned on the inside.

You have heard it said that to succeed, you must have what it takes. Well, what it takes is the mental equivalent on the inside for what you want to acquire or experience on the outside. For you to change your outer world, you must change your inner world. As Goethe said, “To have more, you must first be more.”

In other words, to create a different life, in any area, you must become a different person. You must learn and grow and have the necessary experiences that give you the wisdom and insights to live a wonderful life. And there are no shortcuts.

This brings me to a metaphor for success that I have shared with thousands of people all over the world for many years. When I describe this metaphor, every successful person I have ever spoken to has said, “That is exactly the reason that I am successful today.”

Life Is a Journey

Over the years, I have flown back and forth across the country and around the world many times. One day I learned a remarkable fact: when you fly in any airplane headed for any destination, you will be off course 99 percent of the time! Because of unavoidable conditions such as updrafts, downdrafts, crosswinds, turbulence, storms, lightning, and the earth’s magnetism, the plane will be off course throughout the journey.

However, when the plane takes off from Los Angeles bound for New York, the pilot will come on the loudspeaker and say something like, “Ladies and Gentlemen, thank you for flying our airline. Our flight today will take approximately five hours and twelve minutes, and we will touch down at LaGuardia Airport at twenty minutes to six in the afternoon. Have a nice flight.” And sure enough, five hours and twelve minutes later, the plane lands at LaGuardia, right on the minute, just as predicted.

The point is this: In life, you will be off course most of the time. No matter how carefully you plan and organize in advance, your life will be a series of two steps forward and one step back. From the time you start on your journey of life toward your destination, you will have to make continual course corrections. You will have to start, stop, go left or right, move under or over obstacles, and often retrace your steps. These are the essential experiences you require to become the kind of person you need to be to achieve any kind of lasting success.

You Need a Flight Plan

A wise man once told me, “Success is goals; all else is commentary.” To achieve greatly, you need clear goals, plans, and schedules to get from wherever you are today to wherever you want to be in the future. You need a flight plan that you file before you begin and that you use to guide you on your journey. You must then have the courage to “take off,” to step out in faith with no guarantees of success. On your journey, you must be prepared to make continual course corrections. And especially, you must resolve in advance that you will keep going until you reach your destination.

The Real Secret in Action

The most sophisticated guided missile, which will fly unerringly to its target, must first be launched. It must be fired into the air. It must be in motion toward its target before the guidance mechanism can begin functioning.

In the same way, before you can use all your remarkable powers and abilities, you must launch as well. You must take the first step. You must take action. You must overcome your fears of failure and potential disappointment. You must move out of your comfort zone into your “discomfort zone.”

The real secret of success is that life is like a long-distance airplane journey. You must first determine where you want to go, board the plane, and then take off toward your goal, knowing in advance that you will be off course 99 percent of the time. And once you begin, you must be prepared to make continual course corrections until you arrive at your destination.

Let the Flight Begin

There are twelve steps you can take on your journey toward greater happiness, health, and prosperity than you have ever enjoyed before. By following these steps, you can take complete control of your life, activate all your mental powers, become the person you want to become, and increase the likelihood that you will reach your destination on schedule. Here they are.