How to Get What You Want written by Wallace D. Wattles.

This short treatise appears at the back of Wallace Wattles’ Science of Getting Rich. In essence, How to Get What You Want spells out the state of mind required to start you on the path to success.

How to Get What You Want is a short piece consisting of only five chapters. It contains a significant number of useful insights, all with practical applications. In this article, I will share with you the three key ideas that stood out for me.

Here are my three key take-aways, in no order of importance, from Wallace D. Wattles’ How to Get What You Want.

We all want success, yet we all define success differently. My definition of success is probably different to yours, and your definition of success is probably different to your neighbour’s definition, yet we all wake up daily and chase what we each call success.

Since we’re all chasing the same thing, in its different forms, how does you judge if you’ve been successful or not? And how do we go about guiding our kids to success since it means different things to different people?

Wallace Wattles answers these questions in the opening chapter. He says, “Success is attainment, without regard to the things attained… whether it results in the attainment of health, wealth, development or position… getting what you want is success; and success is an effect, coming from the application of a cause.”

To guide a person to success then, means helping someone apply the cause of success sufficiently and consistently. Wallace Wattles says, “The application of a certain cause cannot fail to produce a given effect. If there is a failure, anywhere, of any kind, it is because the cause was either not sufficient or was not properly applied.”

But what is the cause of success, and where can it be found?

The cause of success is always in the person who succeeds, it is not in the environment or some other external factor. To convince yourself – to believe with unwavering conviction – that you can – and you will – succeed is the first requisite of success.

As with all things, your success starts in your own mind. It starts as a thought you originate and return to repeatedly. Wallace Wattles says, “If you know that you can do a thing and you know that you know how to do it, it is impossible that you should fail to do it, if you really try… your first step must be to impress your subconscious mind with the FACT that you CAN!”

Your duty is to ensure that you think and act in a manner consistent with the success you want. If you wish to attain health, you must think and act along the lines of healthy living, regular exercise and proper diet. If your main aim is to attain wealth, you must think and act along the lines of mastering your financial affairs – you must think of saving and investing before spending, think of securing your financial future and building a solid base of assets that will bring you consistent streams of income.

To guide your actions towards the result you want, you must “First get a clear mental picture of what you want… hold the purpose to get it; do everything perfectly, not in a servile spirit, but because you are a mastermind; keep unwavering faith in your ultimate attainment of your goal, and you cannot fail to move forward.” If each one of your thoughts and actions is successful, the sum total of all your actions cannot be a failure.

Attainment is not the product of thought alone – success will never happen without action aimed towards the attainment of a definite goal.

However, you cannot wait for the conditions to be perfect, or the stars to align in your favour. You don’t need the best tools to start. You don’t even need to know exactly how events will unfold.

“To get more, you must make constructive use of what you already have. You cannot use what you have not; therefore, your challenge is how to make the most constructive use of what you already have,” offers Mr Wattles.

My understanding of this passage is that you don’t need to be great to start, but you do need to start to be great. Events will unfold as they should. You will gain better understanding of the process as you become involved in the process. You will notice opportunities and combinations that were not evident in the beginning. Through action, your vision will become clearer, and your actions will become swifter.

Dreams are necessary, but they are just not good enough.

In a world where good enough simply doesn’t cut it,

action is what makes all the difference:

Decide exactly what you want

Take massive action towards your goal

Examine the outcomes you’re getting

Adjust course if necessary.

Re-align your actions to the outcomes you seek.

Wallace Wattles concludes by saying,

“Form a clear conception of what you seek to accomplish,

but do not let what you seek to accomplish interfere with doing perfectly what you have to do now.”

Basically, he means don’t think too much without taking action.

And don’t take random, unguided action without thinking first.

Thought and act are both equal parts of the process of getting what you want.

What do you think of these ideas in How to Get What You Want?

Can you recommend any other ideas

to attain success in all its different forms?

Share your ideas in the comments below: