فصل دوازدهم

CHAPTER TWELVE

In which the young man learns

about happiness and life

TO HELP AND SUPPORT YOU,” the Instant millionaire told his young student, “I’ll give you an-other more general formula. You’ll derive enormous benefits from it throughout your life. It will transform you inside and out. In fact, it will enable you to ac-quire true wealth — which isn’t only the acquisition of material possessions. True wealth is much broader than that.

“Your money formula will allow you to achieve and probably even surpass your financial objectives. But during your search for wealth, never lose sight of the fact that if you lose happiness, you lose every-thing. The pursuit of money can easily turn into an obsession preventing you from enjoying life. And as the saying goes: ‘What shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his soul?’ Money is an excellent servant but a tyrannical master.” “Do you mean that happiness and money can’t coexist?”

“Far from it, but you must stay very alert not to lose your perspective. One of the richest men in the world, John D. Rockefeller, was so preoccupied, so crushed by the weight of his worries, that by the age of fifty he was a little old man. His stomach was so out of order that all it could stand was bread and milk. He lived in constant fear of losing his money and being betrayed by his associates. Money had become his master. He couldn’t enjoy it anymore. In a way he was poorer than a simple office clerk who could enjoy a good meal.” “At the same time that you’re dangling wealth in front of my eyes,” said the young man, “you manage to frighten me as well.”

“That’s not my intention, though,” replied the millionaire, “and the formula I’m about to give you will help you avoid the trap many fortune-seekers have fallen into. People who are still basically poor work relentlessly to achieve their ends. The first money they earn triggers their deep-seated ambition, and causes them to crave more and more. And when they start earning big money they become afraid of losing it.

“It is a formula devised by the famous physician Emile Coué for patients in his clinic: Every day, in every way, I’m getting better and better. Repeat this formula aloud fifty times, morning and evening, and as many times as you can during the day. The more often you repeat it, the greater the impact it will have on you.” The young man found himself thinking that the man sitting next to him was the first truly happy man he had ever met in his life.

“Most people want to be happy,” said the millionaire, “but they don’t know what they’re looking for. So inevitably they die without ever having found it. Even if they did find it, how would they recognize it? They’re exactly like the people searching for wealth. They truly want to be rich. But when you ask them abruptly how much they’d like to earn in a year, most of them are incapable of answering. When you don’t know where you’re going, you generally get nowhere.” This made perfect sense to the young man. It was so disarmingly simple, he wondered why he’d never thought of it before. He’d never taken the time to clearly describe what he wanted, to really think things through. He vowed then and there that in the future he would do a lot more thinking, and reflect upon the things that mattered in his life. That would probably prevent a lot of mistakes.

“Happiness, of course, has been defined in count-less different ways,” the millionaire said. “For each of us, even for those of us who have given it much thought, it translates into a wide variety of things. But I’ll give you the key to happiness. With this key you will be able to know beyond a shadow of a doubt at any time of your life if you are happy, if you are doing what it takes to make you happy. Ask yourself this: If I were to die tonight, could I tell myself at the instant of my death that I had accomplished everything I had set out to do that day?

“When you have done exactly what your inner self feels you should do each day, you will feel free to leave the world each day. To be perfectly sure that you are doing what you should be doing, you will have to do what you love doing. People who don’t do what they enjoy are not happy. They spend their time daydreaming about what they would like to be doing. And when people aren’t happy, they aren’t ready to die at a moment’s notice.” “I’ve barely started living, and here you go talking to me about death as if it were just around the corner,” the young man said.

“I admit this philosophy may seem morbid at first. And yet it’s a philosophy of life, one hundred percent. Those who never do what they really enjoy doing, who have given up their dreams, so to speak, belong to the living dead. To really understand what I mean, ask yourself that question and answer it with total sincerity. If you lie, you’ll only be lying to yourself, and you become the loser in this game. If you knew you were going to die tomorrow, wouldn’t you change your plans for today? Wouldn’t you do something else with your life rather than what you’ve been doing up to now?” “I’m sure I would.”

“You’d probably start by making the necessary arrangements: you’d make a will, if you hadn’t already, and say goodbye to your family and friends. But let’s suppose that all of these tasks took only one hour. What would you do with the remaining twenty-three? Ask that question of everybody you know. Their responses will invariably fall into two categories. Unhappy people who don’t enjoy their lives will tell you that they’d do something totally different. Why on earth would they continue doing something they hated if they had only twenty-four hours left to live?

“Those in the second category,” he continued, “and unfortunately they’re the minority, would do exactly what they normally do every day of their lives. Why would they change anything? Their work is their passion. Isn’t it quite understandable they would do it until their time was up? Bach belonged to this category. One his deathbed he was correcting his last piece of music. But you don’t have to be a genius to want to work until the end. Each of us in our own way and in our own occupation can become a genius, even if unrecognized as such by society. To be a genius simply means to do what you enjoy doing. That is the true genius of life. Mediocrity is never daring to do what you love, for fear of what others will say or for fear of losing your security.” “A security that is an illusion more often than not, isn’t it?” asked the young man.

“That’s right. So ask yourself the question: If I were to die tomorrow, what would I do with the last hours of my life? Would I agree to go on being a shadow of my true self, lacking in self-respect, forcing myself to do something I hate? Imagine you invite a friend over to your house to help you do some chores. Would you give the dirtiest ones to your friend? Of course not. So why force on yourself tasks that you find so degrading? Why be your own worst enemy? Why not become your own best friend?” There was a moment of silence, and then the old millionaire asked the young man directly. “And what would you do if you were to die tomorrow? Would you do exactly what you’ve been doing?” “No, I wouldn’t.”

“Now, consider the following observation. Don’t you find it highly presumptuous to believe that you won’t die tomorrow?”

The young man felt troubled. The old man had often displayed an uncanny ability to see into the future — was he now announcing his imminent death? The millionaire seemed to read his thoughts.

“Don’t worry,” he said, obviously amused, “you’re not going to die tomorrow. You’ll live to a ripe old age. But allow me to pursue my line of reasoning. Don’t you find it presumptuous of people to believe that they always have their entire lives ahead of them? In many cases, death strikes out of the blue. But people create the illusion that they have lots of time ahead of them, and they constantly put off the decisions they should make. They tell themselves: ‘I’ve got time. I’ll get down to business later.’ Then old age arrives and they find they haven’t done anything yet.” “It reminds me of a saying I heard: ‘If youth only knew, if old age only could,’” said the young man.

“Exactly! The secret of happiness, therefore, is to live as if each day was your last. And to live each day to the fullest by doing what you want to do. What you would do if your hours were numbered. Because, realistically, they are. We always seem to realize this when there’s very little time left. Then it’s too late. So you must be courageous enough to act immediately. Live with this thought in mind: I refuse to die without having had the courage to do what I wanted to do. I don’t want to die with the appalling thought that society tricked me, that it got the better of me and annihilated my dreams. You must not die with the dreadful feeling that your fears were greater than your dreams and that you never discovered what you really enjoy. You must know how to dare.” “I totally agree,” said the young man, “but what happens if I’m not absolutely sure that I don’t really like what I’m doing? I don’t know of any occupation that’s completely free of hassles.” “You’re absolutely right. Even a profession that fires us up has its negative aspects. But to find out whether your job really pleases you, ask yourself this question: If I had a million dollars in the bank, right at this moment, would I continue doing the same job? Obviously, if your answer is no, you don’t like it enough. Tell me, how many people would continue in the same occupation if they suddenly became millionaires? They are few and far between. And those who would answer yes to this question are generally already millionaires. Most of the millionaires I know refuse to retire. They go on working very late in life. I’d even go so far as to say that all millionaires, at least all self-made millionaires, made their fortunes precisely because they loved their work.

“My reasoning has just come full circle,” the millionaire said. “To become a millionaire, you must enjoy your occupation. Those who stay in a job they hate are doubly penalized. Not only do they despise their work, but, worse yet, it doesn’t even make them wealthy. In fact, most people spend their lives in this strange paradox. Why? Because they are unaware of the genuine laws of success, and because of fear. They waste their lives and their chances of becoming truly rich by clinging to a type of security that is mediocre at best. They believe wealth is reserved for others, or that they don’t have the necessary talent. And why do they let themselves be tricked into believing these illusions? Because their minds are not conditioned to see reality, to see that their beliefs are an illusion. Remember the saying: ‘Character equals destiny.’ Strengthen your mind, and circumstances will yield to your desires. You will gain control over your own life.” “Have you always been happy?” asked the young man.

“No, not at all. There were times when I was absolutely miserable. The thought of committing suicide even crossed my mind. But then I, too, met an eccentric old millionaire who taught me almost every-thing I’m telling you today. At first I was pretty skeptical. I couldn’t believe this theory could apply in my case, even though he was living proof that it worked. But since I had tried all sorts of things and was still unsuccessful, and since I had nothing to lose, I was willing to give it a try. I was thirty and I felt I was wasting my life. It seemed as if things were slipping through my fingers.” “I’m sure that today you don’t regret having taken the advice.”

“He often said I could become the master of my life and control all the events taking place in it. But I never believed him; it seemed like science fiction. Then, one day, after hearing him repeat the same song over and over again, I told myself that maybe he was right. Maybe life was not what I’d always thought it was: a series of more or less unpredictable and uncontrollable events in which luck or fate ruled. Maybe it was possible that we could control our destinies if we mastered our minds. Soon I was beginning to think like that; in other words, a revolution was taking place in my mind. It happened only after I’d spent quite some time repeating to myself: Every day, in every way, I’m getting better and better.

“My mentor also taught me another formula, which in my opinion is even more powerful — at least as far as my own experience goes — and I highly recommend it to you. It’s slightly religious in nature, which puts some people off. But that’s a pity, since it has an invaluable effect on the mind. Repeating this formula has calmed me down when I felt anxious or nervous and has brought me answers when I seriously needed them. Tranquility is the greatest manifestation of power.

“Be still, and know that I am God. Repeat it every day as often as you can. It will bring you that feeling of serenity so necessary forgetting through life’s up heavals. When my mentor decided to reveal it to me, he said that of all the secrets in the world, this one was the most precious. It was his spiritual legacy to me, as it is mine to you.

“By repeating this formula, which seemed strange to me at first, I developed a new inner power. This power, which never ceased growing over the years, kept reminding me of something the old millionaire had repeated to me over and over again: I could do anything; nothing would be impossible for me as soon as I became the master of my destiny. So, little by little, I convinced myself that I could steer my life exactly where I wanted it to go. I’ve continued applying the formula and I want you to do the same thing.”