Alexander FIELD
Oga Mandino
17 Laws of the World's Greatest Success
Introduction
All people dream of happiness and wealth. But wealth doesn't often go hand in hand with happiness. Money and position in society open up enormous opportunities for a person. However, neither money nor power have ever been able to protect a person from illness, disasters and sudden death. Look through the biography of any rich man: there are almost more sad days in it than joyful and bright ones. So is it possible to be rich and happy in this world?
Not only is it possible, it is the duty and calling of every person. So says Og Mandino. His books, which sold millions of copies, influenced more than one fate. What amazing stories could be told by people who, with the help of Og Mandino’s books, were able not only to change their lives for the better, but to achieve everything they dreamed of!
Og Mandino has discovered the secret of Greatest Success. The kind of success when a person not only becomes rich, but also finds personal happiness and peace. Any book by Mandino radiates an aura of this happiness. That is why the parables of this extraordinary author not only inspire - they raise consciousness to that height from where the path to Success is clearly visible.
But where does this path begin? What are his first steps? What exactly needs to be done to climb the ladder of success every day, step by step? How often the greatest inspiration is broken by these simple questions! Inspiration disappears and disappointment immediately appears. No, not in the book, but in myself: how could one mistake fiction for reality? But is this fiction? Maybe. But what about those not at all fictional, but living people who claim that it was Og Mandino’s books that helped them achieve their Greatest Success? So, are these books true after all? So, the laws of well-being discovered by Og work? Undoubtedly. But only when the theory is supported by practice.
You will not find practical exercises in any of Og Mandino's books, although in each of them he describes the rules for success. But these rules are more a matter for thought; they are very difficult to directly implement. Perhaps this is why, in addition to his writing, Og Mandino devoted a lot of time to lectures and seminars. In his lectures and seminars, he revealed the practical aspects of his philosophy of success. Those who were lucky enough to hear the master personally have truly achieved considerable heights in this life. What about the rest? The most talented and persistent managed to find practical application of the laws that Mandino discovered; the rest were forever disappointed in this path.
But there is a path, and it really leads to Success! This is exactly what it means - with a capital letter! Towards Success, which combines wealth, happiness, love, creativity, relevance, fertility, energy and health - everything that any person dreams of.
This book contains over a hundred affirmations and practical exercises based on the Laws of Success proposed by Og Mandino. All these practices are used in business seminars, psychological consultations, and motivational trainings. But they are designed primarily for individual use. They are created for anyone who, inspired by Mandino's books, seeks to implement his rules of success.
Og Mandino's success workshop: from spiritual to material
Mandino understood: the only guarantee that well-being and success were constant and did not depend on any external factors was a person’s internal self-development. Happiness is unshakable only when a person becomes rich not only externally, but also internally. Mandino attached enormous importance to moral principles. The hero of each of his books is, first of all, a righteous man, for whom wealth is only a means to make the world a better and brighter place. Without a spiritual component, there can be no true wealth, Mandino argues. He rejects any methods of enrichment that involve theft, deception or fraud. Such wealth is like dry leaves: the wind will blow and carry them away. Finding incorruptible wealth, which is not afraid of any external disasters, is possible only by professing certain moral principles. On these principles, Og Mandino created his Laws of Success. Therefore, do not be surprised that most of the exercises in this book are aimed specifically at spiritual improvement. These exercises consist of affirmations that you will need to read several times throughout the day. (Affirmations are statements aimed at setting the mind to develop the necessary spiritual qualities.)
Most of the affirmations in this book come from texts by Og Mandino. You need to read them out loud or silently, but always in a quiet place where you can fully concentrate on the Master’s message. Don't neglect affirmations. They will give you the necessary energy to realize your dreams. In addition to affirmations, you will also find practical exercises here. By doing them, you will move step by step closer to your Greatest Success.
To do this workshop you will need two thick notebooks. One of them is a diary, in which the pages of days are lined by hour. It is advisable to buy a diary without numbers: otherwise you will have to start the workshop in the new year, or write from the middle of the diary, and this is not very convenient. It’s better to fill in all the numbers yourself. The New Year for you will begin from the day you begin the workshop. The other book is just a notebook with margins. If the margins on the pages are not marked, do it yourself. In a diary you can write in small handwriting, but in a notebook you need to write large, legibly, leaving a large gap between the lines - so that later, when looking through the notes, you can write down the thoughts that came to you a few days after the practice.
So, are you ready? Then forward - to wealth and prosperity! Like a wise mentor, this book will guide you step by step towards your personal Greatest Success.
The First Law of Greatest Success
LIVE THIS DAY LIKE IT'S THE LAST DAY OF YOUR LIFE
1. Affirmation
"This day is all I have"
This day is all I have, and these hours are my eternity. By wasting today, I may be crossing out the last page of my life. Therefore, I must cherish every hour of today, because it can never happen again.
LIVE THIS DAY LIKE IT’S THE LAST DAY OF YOUR LIFE.
This is the first law of Greatest Success. Some may find it too abstract. For some it’s too gloomy. To some it is completely incomprehensible. Indeed, applying this law to real life is not very easy. However, let's try - right now.
Imagine: you know for sure that at midnight, with the onset of a new day, you will die. How would you live this day? What will your imagination draw for you?
Open your weekly journal and write down:
Date of. Exact time.
Exercise “Today at midnight I will die.”
Now, in the second notebook (we’ll call it “clean” for convenience), write down in detail how you would live your life today if you knew for sure that this was the last day of your life.
Ready? So what did you write down?
Let me guess. Some people will try to complete all the most important things, in their opinion. Others, on the contrary, will leave everything and stop doing anything at all, they will simply watch and listen to what is happening around them, try to absorb this world, “breathe before death.” Still others will go to great lengths in order to at least finally experience all the pleasures that earthly life offers. The fourth will plunge into memories and begin to take stock of life. Do you have your own version? Great, then you are a person far from stereotypes.
But whatever you write down will be both true and false. True - if this day really was the last in your life. But absolutely wrong according to Og Mandino's law. And the law invites you to live this day as if it were your last. As if - means, conditionally. You cannot know for sure that you will die tomorrow. Under no circumstances can you. Even the terminally ill hope for healing. Even someone sentenced to death waits until the last moment for an acquittal. This means that you can only accept the conditionality of your death. That is, you can die tomorrow, the day after tomorrow, and in a year, and in half a century. But at the same time, every day allotted to you should be lived as if it were your last. And how to behave in this case?
Alexander FIELD
Oga Mandino
17 Laws of the World's Greatest Success
Introduction
All people dream of happiness and wealth. But wealth doesn't often go hand in hand with happiness. Money and position in society open up enormous opportunities for a person. However, neither money nor power have ever been able to protect a person from illness, disasters and sudden death. Look through the biography of any rich man: there are almost more sad days in it than joyful and bright ones. So is it possible to be rich and happy in this world?
Not only is it possible, it is the duty and calling of every person. So says Og Mandino. His books, which sold millions of copies, influenced more than one fate. What amazing stories could be told by people who, with the help of Og Mandino’s books, were able not only to change their lives for the better, but to achieve everything they dreamed of!
Og Mandino has discovered the secret of Greatest Success. The kind of success when a person not only becomes rich, but also finds personal happiness and peace. Any book by Mandino radiates an aura of this happiness. That is why the parables of this extraordinary author not only inspire - they raise consciousness to that height from where the path to Success is clearly visible.
But where does this path begin? What are his first steps? What exactly needs to be done to climb the ladder of success every day, step by step? How often the greatest inspiration is broken by these simple questions! Inspiration disappears and disappointment immediately appears. No, not in the book, but in myself: how could one mistake fiction for reality? But is this fiction? Maybe. But what about those not at all fictional, but living people who claim that it was Og Mandino’s books that helped them achieve their Greatest Success? So, are these books true after all? So, the laws of well-being discovered by Og work? Undoubtedly. But only when the theory is supported by practice.
You will not find practical exercises in any of Og Mandino's books, although in each of them he describes the rules for success. But these rules are more a matter for thought; they are very difficult to directly implement. Perhaps this is why, in addition to his writing, Og Mandino devoted a lot of time to lectures and seminars. In his lectures and seminars, he revealed the practical aspects of his philosophy of success. Those who were lucky enough to hear the master personally have truly achieved considerable heights in this life. What about the rest? The most talented and persistent managed to find practical application of the laws that Mandino discovered; the rest were forever disappointed in this path.
But there is a path, and it really leads to Success! This is exactly what it means - with a capital letter! Towards Success, which combines wealth, happiness, love, creativity, relevance, fertility, energy and health - everything that any person dreams of.
This book contains over a hundred affirmations and practical exercises based on the Laws of Success proposed by Og Mandino. All these practices are used in business seminars, psychological consultations, and motivational trainings. But they are designed primarily for individual use. They are created for anyone who, inspired by Mandino's books, seeks to implement his rules of success.
Og Mandino's success workshop: from spiritual to material
Mandino understood: the only guarantee that well-being and success were constant and did not depend on any external factors was a person’s internal self-development. Happiness is unshakable only when a person becomes rich not only externally, but also internally. Mandino attached enormous importance to moral principles. The hero of each of his books is, first of all, a righteous man, for whom wealth is only a means to make the world a better and brighter place. Without a spiritual component, there can be no true wealth, Mandino argues. He rejects any methods of enrichment that involve theft, deception or fraud. Such wealth is like dry leaves: the wind will blow and carry them away. Finding incorruptible wealth, which is not afraid of any external disasters, is possible only by professing certain moral principles. On these principles, Og Mandino created his Laws of Success. Therefore, do not be surprised that most of the exercises in this book are aimed specifically at spiritual improvement. These exercises consist of affirmations that you will need to read several times throughout the day. (Affirmations are statements aimed at setting the mind to develop the necessary spiritual qualities.)
Most of the affirmations in this book come from texts by Og Mandino. You need to read them out loud or silently, but always in a quiet place where you can fully concentrate on the Master’s message. Don't neglect affirmations. They will give you the necessary energy to realize your dreams. In addition to affirmations, you will also find practical exercises here. By doing them, you will move step by step closer to your Greatest Success.
To do this workshop you will need two thick notebooks. One of them is a diary, in which the pages of days are lined by hour. It is advisable to buy a diary without numbers: otherwise you will have to start the workshop in the new year, or write from the middle of the diary, and this is not very convenient. It’s better to fill in all the numbers yourself. The New Year for you will begin from the day you begin the workshop. The other book is just a notebook with margins. If the margins on the pages are not marked, do it yourself. In a diary you can write in small handwriting, but in a notebook you need to write large, legibly, leaving a large gap between the lines - so that later, when looking through the notes, you can write down the thoughts that came to you a few days after the practice.
So, are you ready? Then forward - to wealth and prosperity! Like a wise mentor, this book will guide you step by step towards your personal Greatest Success.
The First Law of Greatest Success
LIVE THIS DAY LIKE IT'S THE LAST DAY OF YOUR LIFE
1. Affirmation
"This day is all I have"
This day is all I have, and these hours are my eternity. By wasting today, I may be crossing out the last page of my life. Therefore, I must cherish every hour of today, because it can never happen again.
Mandigo Og
Mandigo Og
The world's greatest merchant
Og Mandigo
THE WORLD'S GREATEST MERCHANT
"One of the most inspiring and fascinating books I have ever read."
Normal Vincent Peal.
you can change your life
thanks to priceless wisdom,
reached us through millennia
in ten ancient scrolls
Books by Og Mandigo
"The Ministry of Christ"
"Akabar's Gift" (with Buddy Kaya)
"The World's Greatest Miracle"
"The World's Greatest Trader"
"The World's Greatest Secret"
"The World's Greatest Success"
"Oga Mandigo University of Success"
This book is respectfully dedicated to
to the great merchant
V. Clement Stone
who has combined love, compassion and a unique trading system into a living philosophy of success that inspires thousands of people every year, discovering great joy, the source of mental and physical health, mental harmony, strength and wealth.
PUBLICATION HISTORY
Until 1973 35 publications
Edited by Bantam - March 1974
Until January 1983 - 37 editions.
The World's Greatest Salesman is one of the most inspiring and entertaining books I have ever read. I understand why she received such brilliant recognition."
Norman Vincent Peal
"Finally, a book on sales and trading that can please veteran and newbie alike! I just finished reading The World's Greatest Salesman for the second time - the book is too good to be limited to just one read - and with all I say with sincerity that this is the clearest, most sensible and most useful manual for _training_ the trade that I have ever read."
F.V. Errigo, manager. American Trade School Park, Davis and Co."
I never miss a book ever written about trading, and I think they are all covered by Og Mandigo in his "The World's Greatest Trader." No one will be an unsuccessful trader if he follows these rules, and no one will become truly great without them; But in addition to laying out the rules, the author did something more - he wove them into the fabric of one of the most enchanting stories I have ever read."
Paul J. Meyer, President, Institute for Success Motivation, Inc.
"Every salesman should read The World's Greatest Trader. It is a good book to keep by your bedside or on your living room table, to be studied when necessary, to be turned over from time to time, to be imbued with it little by little. This is a book for an hour and for years, a book you turn to again and again, like a friend, a book of moral, spiritual and ethical guidance, a never-ending source of comfort and inspiration."
Lester J. Bradsham Jr., former dean of the Dale Carnegie Institute for Communication and Relationships
“The greatest merchant in the feast” amazed me. This is, without a doubt, the greatest and most moving story I have ever read. It is so good that I would associate two rules with it: firstly, you should not put it down without finishing it, and secondly, every person who trades in anything (and we are all like that) should read it."
Robert B. Hensley, President of a Kentucky insurance company
"Og Mandigo's masterful storytelling captures your attention and enraptures you. The World's Greatest Salesman is a book with a passionate appeal to millions."
Roy Garn, Executive Director of the Emoshl Appil Institute
"There are few men with the gift of writing with which Og Mandigo is blessed. The ideas expressed in this book reveal the importance of trade to the whole world."
Saul Polk, President of Polk Bros., Inc.
“I just read The World's Greatest Salesman without stopping. The concept is original and clear. The style is intriguing and charming. The message is inspiring and moving.
Each of us, regardless of our position or profession, knows what it is to bargain with ourselves, and first of all, a person needs to learn this in order to find personal happiness and peace. This book, if carefully read, perceived and comprehended, can help any of us become one of us?
Dr. Louis Bienstock Rabbi, Sholom Synagogue, Chicago
"I like the story... I like the style... I like the book. All merchants and their families should read it."
B. Clement Stone, President of the American United Insurance Company
"In my opinion, Oga Mandigo's The World's Greatest Trader will become a classic. I have published hundreds of books over the years, but Oga Mandigo's energetic message has become part of my very being. I am proud to be the publisher of this book."
Frederick W. Fell
CHAPTER FIRST
Hafid paused in front of the bronze mirror and, looking at his reflection in the shiny metal, muttered: “Only his eyes kept him young,” he turned away and slowly walked to the end of the hall. He shuffled first between columns of black onyx supporting gilded and silvered ceilings, then past carved tables of supkus and ivory.
Decorations made of tortoiseshells inlaid with precious stones glittered on the couches, sofas and walls, and brocade with the most skillful patterns shimmered. Huge palm trees in bronze vessels framed a fountain with plaster nymphs, and flower vases trimmed with jewels rivaled their contents in attractiveness. Not a single visitor could doubt that the owner of the palace is indeed a very rich man.
The old man passed the indoor garden and went to his warehouse, $!?> which stretched behind the mansion for five hundred paces. Erasmus, the chief treasurer, waited hesitantly at the entrance.
Hello, Mr.
Hafid nodded and silently moved on. Erasmus followed him and his face clearly expressed concern at the owner’s unusual offer to meet him in this place. Near the platform, Hafid paused to look at the goods being taken off the loaded carts, carried into separate tents and counted.
There were fine linens and wool, parchment and honey, carpets and oil from Central Asia; glass, figs, nuts and balm from these places; fabrics and medicines from Palmyra; ginger, cinnamon and valuable minerals from Arabia; grain, paper, granite, alabaster and basalt from Egypt; tapestries from Babylon, paintings from Rome, and statues from Greece. The air was thick with balsam, but old Hafid, sensitive to smells, could also detect the aroma of sweet raisins, apples, cheese and figs.
Finally he turned to Erasmus.
Old man, how much do we have in our treasury now?
Erasmus turned pale.
Total, master?
I have not made a final count, but I believe there are at least seven million gold talents.
And if all the goods in my warehouses and shops were turned into gold, how much would it be?
The inventory for this season is not yet completed, sir, but I would add at least another three million talents.
Hafid nodded.
Don't buy any more goods. Without delay, begin making preparations to sell everything that belongs to me, I want to turn everything into gold.
The treasurer opened his mouth, but could not make a sound. He staggered as if struck, and when he was finally able to speak, he said with difficulty:
I don't understand, sir. This was our most successful year. Each store reported an increase in revenue compared to last season. Even the Roman legionaries have now become our customers, for didn’t you sell two hundred Arabian stallions to the procurator of Jerusalem in two weeks? Forgive my insolence, I don’t often ask about your orders, but I don’t understand this...
Hafid smiled and gently shook Erasmus' hand.
My faithful friend, can you remember the first order you received from me when you started working here many years ago?
Erasmus frowned for a moment, then his face cleared.
You commanded me to separate half of the income from our treasury every year and distribute it to the poor.
Didn't you consider me reckless then?
I had a bad feeling, sir.
Hafid nodded and pointed in the direction of the platforms with goods.
Now do you see that your fears were unfounded?
Yes, sir.
Then do not rush to judge my decision until I explain my intentions to you. I am already old and my needs are unpretentious. $!? needs are never unpretentious. Am I unpretentious, my needs are few?> My beloved Lisha, after so many happy years, was taken from me, and therefore I wish to distribute all my wealth to the poor of this city. I will leave myself just enough to complete my life without hassle. I want you, in addition to disposing of our property, to prepare the necessary documents to transfer ownership of each of my shops to the person who managed it. I also desire that you divide among the managers five thousand gold talents as a reward for many years of faithful service, so that they can stock their counters with whatever they want.
Erasmus started to speak, but Hafid stopped him with a gesture.
Don't you like this distribution?
The treasurer bowed his head and tried to smile.
No, sir, I just can't understand your train of thought. You sound like a man whose days are numbered.
It's in your nature, Erasmus, to worry about me before yourself. Don't you think what will happen to you when our trading empire falls apart?
We were comrades for many years. How can I now think only about myself?
Hafid hugged his friend and replied:
This is not necessary. I ask you now to transfer fifty thousand gold talents into your name and beg you to stay with me until I fulfill the promise I made a long time ago. TO...