U.S. Andersen - On Success

Success is a constant vision in the mind of modem man, who envisages it always as a pinnacle of wealth where he sees himself surrounded by large homes, motor cars, yachts, servants trips abroad, and plenty of time to enjoy himself. "What obtains these things?" asks modern man, and he answers quickly "Money." So off he sets with his battle cry ringing, "Make money!" It is little wonder that from this absurdly false premise he scarcely is able to obtain enough to pay his bills. The only people who make money are those employed in the various governmental minting houses; the rest of us earn it. We earn it by providing our fellow beings with services or products which are both needful and useful. Our fellows make a like effort in our behalf; we exchange goods and services. Since it would be extremely difficult for a man to carry a steer to Detroit to exchange for an automobile, money has been devised to represent both of them. We go through our days exchanging our services for the services of our fellows and the exchange of money represents nothing more than the exchange of services. Success is not the result of making money; making money is a result of success, and success is always the fulfillment of the individual in productive effort that betters the welfare of mankind. Modern man has got the cart before the horse. He sets out to make money when in truth he should set out to be of service. Create! Build! Serve! Those are the commands of nature. Follow them, and you will find there is no limit to the prosperity and abundance of the universe. He who sets out simply to make money, sets out to accumulate money. Since acquisitiveness provides no noticeable service to mankind, our incipient moneymaker has defeated himself at the start. This is not to say that he may not, for some period of time, actually accumulate a certain amount of money; but he is certain not to be surrounded indefinitely with prosperity, for his premise is not to give but to get, and the law of mutual exchange will catch him sooner or later and exact the utmost farthing of his "getting." Uell Stanley Andersen (also known as U.S. Andersen and Uell S. Andersen) (September 14, 1917 – September 24, 1986) was an American football player and self-help and short story author during the 1950s and 1960s. He is best known for his book, Three Magic Words. In Three Magic Words, Andersen makes the argument that the physical world is derived from the mental. He argues that a sustained mental image, if backed by faith (i.e. a belief that the image is real, or will become real), will become reality.