This story proves the truth of that old saying, “Where there’s a will, there’s a way. It was told to me by that beloved educator and clergyman, the late Frank W. Gunsaulus, who began his preaching career in the stockyards region of South Chicago.
While Dr. Gunsaulus was going through college, he observed many defects in our educational system, defects which he believed he could correct, if he were the head of a college. His deepest desire was to become the directing head of an educational institution in which young men and women would be taught to “learn by doing.”
He made up his mind to organize a new college in which he could carry out his ideas, without being handicapped by orthodox methods of education. He needed a million dollars to put the project across! Where was he to lay his hands on so large a sum of money? That was the question that absorbed most of this ambitious young preacher’s thought. But he couldn’t seem to make any progress. Every night he took that thought to bed with him. He got up with it in the morning. He took it with him everywhere he went. He turned it over and over in his mind until it became a consuming obsession with him.
A million dollars is a lot of money. He recognized that fact, but he also recognized the truth that the only limitation is that which one sets up I one’s own mind. Being a philosopher as well as a preacher, Dr. Gunsaulus recognized, as do all who succeed in life, the DEFINITENESS OF PURPOSE is the starting point from which one must begin. He recognized too, that definiteness of purpose takes on animation, life, and power when backed by a BURNING DESIRE to translate that purpose into it’s material equivalent.
He knew all these great truths, yet he did not know where, or how to lay his hands on a million dollars. The natural procedure would have been to give up and quit by saying, “Ah well, my idea is a good one, but I cannot do anything with it because I never can produce the necessary million dollars.” That is exactly what the majority of people would have said, but it is not what Dr. Gunsaulus said. What he said and what he did are so important that I now introduce him and let him speak for himself.
“One Saturday afternoon I sat in my room thinking of ways and means of raising the money to carry out my plans. For nearly two years, I had been thinking, but I had done nothing but think!” “The time had come for ACTION! I had made up my mind, then and there, that I would get the necessary million dollars within a week. How? I was not concerned about that.
The main thing of importance was the decision to get the money within a specified time, and I want to tell you that the moment I reached a definite decision to get the money within a specified time, a strange feeling of assurance came over me, such as I had never before experienced. Something inside me seemed to say, ‘Why didn’t you reach that decision a long time ago? The money was waiting for you all the time!’” “Things began to happen in a hurry.
I called the newspapers and announced I would preach a sermon the following morning, entitled, What I would do if I had a Million Dollars.” “I went to work on the sermon immediately, but I must tell you, frankly the task was not difficult, because I had been preparing for that sermon for almost two years. The spirit back of it was a part of me!” “Long before midnight I had finished writing the sermon. I went to bed and slept with a feeling of confidence, for I could see myself already in possession of the million dollars.”
“Next morning I arose early, went into the bathroom, read the sermon, then knelt on my knees and asked that my sermon might come to the attention of someone who would supply the needed money.”
“While I was praying, I again had the feeling of assurance that the money would be forthcoming. In my excitement, I walked out without my sermon, and did not discover the oversight until I was in my pulpit about ready to begin delivering it.” “It was too late to go back for my notes, and what a blessing that I couldn’t go back! Instead, my own subconscious mind yielded the material I needed.
When I arose to begin my sermon, I closed my eyes and spoke with all my heart and soul of my dreams. I not only talked to my audience, but I fancy I talked also to God. I told what I would do with a million dollars if that amount were placed in my hands. I described the plan I had in mind for organizing a great educational institution, where young people would learn to do practical things, and at the same time develop their minds.”
“When I had finished and sat down, a man slowly arose from his seat about three rows from the rear, and made his way toward the pulpit. I wondered what he was going to do. He came into the pulpit, extended his hand and said, ‘Reverend, I liked you sermon. I believe you can do everything you said you would, if you had a million dollars. To prove that I believe in you and your sermon, if you will come to my office tomorrow morning, I will give you the million dollars. My name is Phillip D. Armour.’”
Young Gunsaulus went to Mr. Armour’s office and the million dollars was presented to him. With the money, he founded the Armour Institute of Technology. (Now the Illinois Institute of Technology)
That is more money than the majority of preachers ever see in an entire lifetime, yet the thought impulse back of the money was created in the young preacher’s mind in a fraction of a minute. The necessary million dollars came as the result of an idea. Back of the idea was a DESIRE, which young Gunsaulus had been nursing in his mind for almost two years. Observe this important fact: HE GOT THE MONEY WITHIN THIRTY SIX HOURS AFTER HE REACHED A DEFINITE DECISION IN HIS OWN MIND TO GET IT, AND DECIDED UPON A DEFINITE PLAN FOR GETTING IT! - Napoleon Hill
This story is from Napoleon Hill’s book Think and Grow Rich, published over 70 years ago. Napoleon Hill was an American author who was on e of the earliest producers of the modern genre of personal success literature.
The text of Think and Grow Rich! is founded on Hill’s earlier work, The Law of Success, the result of more than twenty years of research based on Hill’s close association with a large number of individuals who achieved great wealth during their lifetimes. Hill studied the characteristics of these achievers and developed fifteen “laws” of success intended to be applied by anybody to achieve success. Think and Grow Rich! condenses these laws further and provides the reader with 13 principles in the form of a philosophy of personal achievement.
Reflected in these principles is the importance of cultivating a burning desire, faith, auto suggestion, and persistence in the attainment of one’s goals. Hill also discusses the importance of overcoming many of the common fears that can adversely affect one’s thinking and potential.
If you have not yet read this wonderful work, download it today using the above active link. Feel free to visit my Free Books page and download other great works and great reading.
Gina
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