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I don’t know much more than you about Henry Ford, the industrial giant and tycoon who brought affordable cars to the masses in the early 1900s, but I spotted this revealing quote in his 1922 autobiography, My Life and Work: “The natural thing to do is to work — to recognize that prosperity and happiness can be obtained only through honest effort. Human ills flow largely from attempting to escape from this natural course.” What an obvious yet startling statement. It seems to me that most people want to avoid work. They are seeking magic powers or special other worldly favors in order to do just that. Whenever I offer a Law of Attraction oriented product, the public loves it. Yet whenever I offer a productivity product, they shun it. After seeing this result over and over again for years, I realized that people want fairy dust and magic wands. They prefer to sit and visualize rather than get up and create something. Obviously, I’m not against mind power, visualization, Law of Attraction, or most of the other tools and toys we have. They all have their place. They all assist you in achieving and attracting your desires. But you have to do something in this world. As Ford noted, we have to work. “Work,” to me, is following your passion in a way that serves others. One reason I’ve authored so many books, audios, DVDs, courses and more is I’m not afraid to work. Yet too many self-helpers say “I attracted my result and didn’t DO anything!” Come on. You always do something. It may not have been “work” in the sense of extreme activity, or in the traditional sense of expending energy, but you did something to bring about the result. You had to. Life is a co-creation. I remember the creator of the hit movie The Secret bragging that her movie became a success without her “doing” anything to make it happen. I found it hard to imagine that she overlooked all the things she did to make the movie get noticed, right down to hand picking 24 guests (including me) to be in the movie — nearly all having a list of fans and followers. They promoted the movie for her, but she did the work of putting them into the movie. She took action. She continues to take action today, by mailing her list of Secret fans to keep the relationship with them going. That comes in handy when she promotes her next book. Again, work — or better stated, action — is virtually always needed. I learned how to work as a laborer on the railroad, starting at the age of five years old. (No lie.) When I moved to Houston in the late 1970s, I managed to get day jobs as a laborer for temp agencies. Today I still work, but it isn’t with my back. It’s with my mind. Because I love what I do, and feel it is my life calling, it never feels like “work.” It’s far wiser to reflect on what you want to do, and then add the magic amulets, spells and potions to that desire. But to do just the latter, you’ll most likely struggle. I have no idea if Henry Ford was metaphysical or even psychological. I doubt it. I know he had his own quirky ideas about society, but I’m only interested in his ideas about attracting money. He sure knew the value of work. He preaches it over and over again in his 1922 autobiography, stating that work is the secret to success. Businesses today need to become acquainted with Henry Ford’s advice for making money. I was impressed to see that Ford wanted to build a car that would never break down. (!) He felt true serving was helping a family by building a car they could depend on. He felt one car, that lasted a lifetime, would be the best. No need for planned obsolescence or yearly model upgrades. (Tell Apple that. Or most any other modern business.) And Ford felt if his car ever broke down and needed service, the manufacturer should take care of the problem, not the owner. I like this guy. He also tried electric cars in the early 1900s, but shunned them for the same reason they aren’t ideal today: too heavy and not enough power. (Remember, both Nerissa and I drive electric cars, so I know of what Ford speaks.) Henry Ford basically felt that if you served people, the money would follow. His big motivating “why” — the ideal that drove him — was to create a system that kept people employed making cars that the masses would love. As I am reading his autobiography, a few insightful quotes jump out: “I refuse to recognize that there are impossibilities. I cannot discover that any one knows enough about anything on this earth definitely to say what is and what is not possible.” “Everything can always be done better than it is being done.” “Money is only a tool in business. It is just a part of the machinery.” “Money, after all, is extremely simple. It is a part of our transportation system. It is a simple and direct method of conveying goods from one person to another. Money is in itself most admirable. It is essential. It is not intrinsically evil. It is one of the most useful devices in social life. And when it does what it was intended to do, it is all help and no hindrance.” Don’t be afraid to work. Remember, following your passion isn’t “work” if it’s your passion. Add visualization and other Law of Attraction mind technologies to the passionate serving of others, and you have a formula for modern day success. In short, action is the alchemy that transmutes ideas into reality. I’ll repeat that – Action is the alchemy that transmutes ideas into reality. Finally, here is Henry Ford’s creed: (1) An absence of fear of the future or of veneration for the past. One who fears the future, who fears failure, limits his activities. Failure is only the opportunity more intelligently to begin again. There is no disgrace in honest failure; there is disgrace in fearing to fail. What is past is useful only as it suggests ways and means for progress. (2) A disregard of competition. Whoever does a thing best ought to be the one to do it. It is criminal to try to get business away from another man--criminal because one is then trying to lower for personal gain the condition of one's fellow-men, to rule by force instead of by intelligence. (3) The putting of service before profit. Without a profit, business cannot extend. There is nothing inherently wrong about making a profit. Well-conducted business enterprises cannot fail to return a profit but profit must and inevitably will come as a reward for good service. It cannot be the basis--it must be the result of service. (4) Manufacturing is not buying low and selling high. It is the process of buying materials fairly and, with the smallest possible addition of cost, transforming those materials into a consumable product and distributing it to the consumer. Gambling, speculating, and sharp dealing tend only to clog this progression. Now get to work. PS — Remember: Forget money and focus on service. Henry Ford knew this. So did Nick D’Aloisio, 17, who reportedly received close to $30 million for a news-reading iPhone app named Summly that he developed and then sold to Yahoo. D’Aloisio says money was not his motivation when developing Summly. How many more clues do we need that money comes from passion and serving, not greed and manipulation?
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