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How to Make Practical Use of Imagination

Napoleon illustrated how the use of imagination can yield great fortunes by sharing 2 powerful stories where great riches were accumulated. The first story he shared was titled The Enchanted Kettle which told the story of how Coca-Cola was first formed! A young drug store clerk was bartering with an old Doctor who had an old style kettle, a big wooden paddle and the recipe for Coca-Cola. The clerk paid the doctor $500 (his entire life savings) for the kettle and recipe and took a giant leap of faith in what he had just purchased.

The clerk never did conceive the idea himself, yet he was able to add a magical ingredient that the Doctor never could have conceived… Imagination! I’m sure we are all well aware of how successful Coca-Cola has been in the past 100 years. A huge fortune has been made all from which started as an idea in a young drug clerks mind.

The second story, What I Would Do If I Had a Million Dollars, is about Doctor Frank W. Gunsaulus, a man with a vision to become head of an educational institution where students would be taught through ‘doing’ as apposed to the traditional methods of teaching.

This story highlighted an important message which Napoleon didn’t emphasize yet it hit me like a ton of bricks. Dr. Gunsaulus was a philosopher as well as a preacher, he had a burning desire to begin his work, yet he lacked one thing… $1 million dollars that would be spent setting up this educational facility.

Napoleon takes up the story…

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 in one’s own mind.

Being a philosopher as well as a preacher, Dr. Gunsaulus recognized, as do all who succeed in life, that 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 its 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 procure the necessary million dollars.” That is exactly what the majority of people would have said, but it is not what Dr. Gunsaulus said.

“Ah well, my idea is a good one, but I cannot do anything with it because I never can procure the necessary million dollars”

How many times have we all been in that situation??!

You’ve received an inspired idea, your palms have gotten a little sweaty, you’re feeling really excited by where this new idea may lead … and then … your thoughts start to kick in …

• Who do you think you are?
• Don’t be so stupid
• Be realistic
• Do what you know
• You can’t earn money doing what you enjoy
• You’ve got financial responsibilities
• Get real…

Great idea but you’ve come to a brick wall. How you react when you see that brick wall will ultimately determine your success or failure.

This is why having a “success consciousness” is so important. If you don’t have the right mentality how could you ever expect to create what you’ve been dreaming about? If you’re willing to curl up at the first sign of a problem, how could you ever expect to achieve anything great?

Applying Napoleon’s 13 principles will lead you to great achievements – but you will have to put the work in, and actually apply the principles if you truly desire your ticket to successful living.

Back to our story then …

The time had come for ACTION!

I 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.’

In just 36 hours after making the decision, Dr. Gunsaulus had organized a sermon, attracted the right people to the event and had met someone willing to give him the $1 million required. He went on to found the Armour Institute of Technology, named after Phillip D. Armour the gentleman who provided Dr. Gunsaulus with the money.

If that’s not an inspiring story, then I don’t know what is!

What dreams have you had lingering on for a while?
What definite plan can you formulate just like Dr. Gunsaulus did?
When will you make the decision?