these were the images racing across my mind. It had taken me
eleven years to get to that point.
But how do you say, "No, you'll never do it," when
someone like John asks you, especially when the essence of
what you teach is -you can do anything. Yet, how can you say
"yes," when everyone you know, with the exception of two or
three others besides yourself, cannot earn a living in the
public speaking business unless they are a celebrity. (And that
is a whole different story.)
When John Kanary finished, I told him what I had told all
the others: "Yes, you can do it, but it's tough. Make sure you
understand that, John. It's tough. You will have to do a
tremendous amount of studying, because you not only have to
know what to say, but you must also have the answers to a
thousand and one questions arising as a result of what you
say. Some of the questions will come from professional people-
medical doctors, engineers and lawyers-who, in most cases,
know what they are talking about. So you not only have to be
right, but confident as well, or you will be discredited with
your entire audience; and that only has to happen a couple of
times and you're "out of business."
You not only have to study these ideas, but you must use
them as well, or there will be no conviction in your talks. (Not
to mention the fact that you will be a walking physical
contradiction to what you teach.) It is next to impossible, for
example, to have a sick person teaching 'health'.
You must develop showmanship and voice control, and
on and on it goes. In short, John, for every one who makes it,
a thousand fail miserably."
Usually when this is explained, the person says they still
want to go ahead, but you never hear from them again. John
was no exception, in one sense-he still wanted to go ahead.
However, in every other way he was an exception. I did see
him again. I told him what to read and what to do and he read
it and did it. John read hundreds of books-he "devoured"
them. He narrated them onto tapes and then played the tapes
in the car. At his own expense, he followed me all over the
country and sat in hundreds of seminars. He wrote thousands
of pages of notes and studied them diligently.
Finally, I would have him open and close the seminars.
Then he would conduct part of a seminar himself. In the
beginning he was full of fear, he was soaking wet. Sometimes
he would be so worried about what the audience thought of
him, that he would forget everything he knew and, as you
know, an audience can be very cruel. But despite all this he
continued. (Keep in mind this was costing him money; he was
not being paid.)
John Kanary had built an image of himself doing "what I
was doing" and he would not quit. He was persistent and it
worked. It always has and it always will. Today he has earned
the respect of many of the world's largest corporations. He has
spoken in almost every major city in North America. He has
also earned more in one day than he was earning in a year
when I first met him!
So if someone with numerous degrees after their name
tells you Image-Making and Persistence don't work, just look
John Kanary up and ask him. He will tell you, "I know you can
do it, because I did it!"
Philip Nacola, a minister in Santa Anna, California,
preached a sermon on a similar idea one Sunday that I was
fortunate enough to hear when I was living there. He said,
"Keep your mind on a higher image rather than a lower
concern." I realize that is not always an easy thing to do, but it
sure pays great dividends for the person who develops the
mental strength to do it, and that is what it takes-mental
strength.
Build your image now and develop the mental strength to
hold it.
A number of years ago, prior to Napoleon Hill's death,
Earl Nightingale condensed and narrated Think and Grow
Rich onto a long-playing record. At the end of the record Mr.
Hill comes on to close the record. He said, "And now as I
stretch out the hand of friendship through time and space, let
me remind you, not to go searching for opportunity in the
distance, but reach out and embrace it right where you are."
Wattles said, "This thinking stuff, permeates and
penetrates the entire universe." They are both telling us the
same thing. So build your image now, right where you are.
Don't even wait until you finish this book. Build it now and let
the remaining pages in this book strengthen the image. You
don't even have to try, just let the image of a more prosperous
you float to the center of your consciousness. It's already here,
so let it appear.
For many years now, I have been very aware of the power
that flows through you to accomplish good in your life, when
you hold the proper image in your mind; and this great truth
has been responsible for many wonderful things happening in
my own life. Moreover, I have also seen numerous examples of
what a proper image will do in the lives of other people.
Paul Hutsey's Story
I would be remiss if I concluded this chapter without
sharing Paul Hutsey's story with you. It all began when I
received a telephone call from Charlie Beck, who was the Vice
President of Sales for the southwestern Home Office of the
Prudential Insurance Company of America, in Houston, Texas.
He invited me to speak at the company's Regional Business
Conferences, to be held in Toronto, Canada. He explained they
had four different regions and each region was coming in for
three days to the conference. (This meant that they wanted me
to work in Toronto for approximately 12 days.) Although I was
living in Los Angeles at the time, Toronto was my home town-
where I grew up. My family and friends all lived there, so
naturally the idea appealed to me. But I asked Charlie how
long I could have on the program and he said, "about an
hour." I think it is worth mentioning, at this point, that I have
not as yet learned to teach anyone much in an hour, and I told
him so. I explained that if he would give me two mornings on
the program-with each region-I would be glad to come and do
the job for him. I wanted two and one-half hours each
morning.
Charlie's southern accent was interrupted by a real deep
belly laugh as he explained that they had never done anything
like that, in the 100 year history of the company. All of their
executives had to take part in the program and so they never
gave anyone that much time. However, I stood firm. I gave him
the name of a couple of other vice-presidents in his company
whom I had worked for and I suggested that he call them, to
find out if my idea had any merit. But as I hung up the phone,
I did so rather reluctantly because I really wanted the job. I
must admit that I was somewhat surprised, therefore, when
one of Charlie's aides phoned me back to say they were "going
for it." He also told me he didn't know how I had talked Charlie
into doing it, but I was given two mornings on the program. I
made up my mind right on the spot that I was going to leave
these people with something special-and if they chose to use
it-they could literally change their lives overnight. (Not to
mention what it would do for their sales records.) I was going
to speak on the power of an image or, to be more specific, the
power of a self-image and the benefits of holding a positive
one.
At the conclusion of the program for one of the regions, a
gentleman came up to me and said it was imperative he talk to
me. He said he had a problem, and he felt I had the answer to
the problem, because he was impressed with the ideas I had
explained during the seminar presentations. There were
approximately 200 people in each one of these conventions
and I explained to this man that many of the people wanted to
talk to me, but I did not have the time to talk to everyone
individually, since I was only one person. I also explained to
him I had another appointment and had to leave immediately
to be there on time. Still, he was persistent, so I agreed to
meet him the following morning in the coffee-shop for
breakfast.
I can remember our meeting as if it were yesterday. The
two of us sat down, just inside the door of the coffee-shop at
the Hyatt House Hotel on Avenue Road. As soon as we sat
down, he started talking. He informed me that he had to tell
me something about himself, so I could understand his
problem. He said he did not want me to think he was bragging,
but it was necessary for me to have this information.
He began by telling me he was a "good man," and I
already knew that about him, just by looking at him. I could
"feel" it about him. He then went on to explain he had worked
for Prudential for more than 20 years, had been in
management for all but two of those years, and he concluded
by saying, "I'm a good manager." Next he stated he had a good
record, good people, and he was well-respected by the
executive staff of this company. No sooner had he uttered
those words than Charlie Beck and Dick Merrill, the Senior
Vice-President from Houston, came walking in. They came
over to our table, congratulated Paul on his year, exchanged a
few words with us and then went to their own table. Paul and I
sat down again and resumed our conversation. He said, "They
meant what they said." I knew it was true; it wasn't mere
flattery. It was a sincere, merited compliment that Paul had
received from his two senior executives. Finally, he said, "Now,
this is my problem.
I run a district office in Wichita, Kansas. Out of over 500
offices Prudential has, our office stands in 175th place. Now,"
he said, "that's not bad, nothing to be ashamed of." And it
wasn't-it was a fairly good standing. He then said, "My
problem is, I know we are good enough to be in the top 100,
and we're not. Every year I go for it, but I never seem to make
it." At that moment I knew what the cause of Paul Hutsey's
problem was. I explained to him that he was letting the sales
sheet dictate the image he was holding in his mind. He saw
himself as being number 175, and he was doing his utmost to
move into the top 100. He worked hard, he worked with his
people and, as he explained previously, he had good people. I
showed Paul that it was imperative he see himself in the top
100, regardless of what the sales sheet said. In other words,
he had to act as if he were already in the top 100. He had to
become mentally what he wanted to be on the physical plane.
He also had to learn how to communicate this idea to his
entire staff.
Suddenly, I started to see the lights go on in Paul's mind.
We talked for a while longer, and I explained as much as I
could about the mind to him-how it worked and especially
about the power of holding the proper image there. Paul
thanked me for the time I had given him and returned to
Wichita, Kansas. As his region moved out of the Hyatt House,
another one moved in. But about a day or so later, I received a
long-distance call from Wichita, Kansas, and it was from Paul
Hutsey. He wanted to know where I would be holding seminars
when the conferences were completed. I told him I would be in
southern Illinois for Prudential's mid-western home office. He
then asked if he could join me and travel with me for two or
three days. I explained to Paul that I had already made a deal
with Charlie Beck to do our entire series of seminars for the
whole of the southwestern home office, and one of the sites
chosen was Paul's town-Wichita, Kansas.
Nevertheless, since we weren't going to be there for at
least six weeks, he explained that he wanted to join me
immediately. So, at his own expense, he flew some 600 miles
to spend three days with me. We went together from Lichfield,
Illinois, to LaSalle, Illinois. We spent hours talking as we were
driving from one city to another, and he sat in the seminar
and took copious notes, all day long. In the evening we would
spend more hours conversing.
Finally, Paul returned to Wichita and started to apply
these ideas. Specifically, he started to work with the proper
image and, as a result, the sales started to climb. For some
strange reason Paul's superiors saw fit to move him from
Wichita, where he had been for a number of years, to
Pittsburgh, Kansas, where the district office stood in 163rd
position. This certainly didn't seem like a very fitting reward
for all the effort he had advanced on the Company's behalf.
Still, Paul accepted the move as a challenge, and a mere six
months later the district in Pittsburgh, Kansas, stood number
11 in the entire Prudential Insurance Company! Each year,
Prudential recognizes the top fifty-two districts, which is the
top 10%, by awarding them a citation. The Pittsburgh district
had not had a citation in nine years. But just a short six
months after Paul Hutsey took over the helm, they were in the
top 2%. Just two years later, they missed the number one spot
by a matter of a few percentage points. Today, Paul Hutsey is
Vice-President of Sales in Houston, Texas, for the
southwestern territory. Clearly, he is a man who learned well
the awesome power of an image held in the mind. If you were
to talk to Paul Hutsey today, he would be quick to tell you that
he will never let present results dictate the image that he holds
in his mind. Rather, he holds the image of what he wants and
then acts as if he already has it.
Paul Hutsey is, without question, one of the best
examples you will ever find when it comes to the subject of
"building an image in the mind" and then executing it. He has
