From Think and Grow Rich (available for download from 4share.com or books.google.com). Original edition is more complete and better.
Think and Grow Rich - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
A teacher, who has trained and directed the efforts of more
than 30,000 sales people, made the astounding discovery that
highly sexed men are the most efficient salesmen. The explanation
is, that the factor of personality known as “personal magnetism” is
nothing more nor less than sex energy. Highly sexed people always
have a plentiful supply of magnetism. Through cultivation and understanding,
this vital force may be drawn upon and used to great
advantage in the relationships between people. This energy may be
communicated to others through the following media:
- The hand-shake. The touch of the hand indicates, instantly, the
presence of magnetism, or the lack of it. - The tone of voice. Magnetism, or sex energy, is the factor with
which the voice may be colored, or made musical and charming. - Posture and carriage of the body. Highly sexed people move
briskly, and with grace and ease. - The vibrations of thought. Highly sexed people mix the emotion
of sex with their thoughts, or may do so at will, and in that way,
may influence those around them. - Body adornment. People who are highly sexed are usually very
careful about their personal appearance. They usually select
clothing of a style becoming to their personality, physique, complexion,
etc.
When employing salesmen, the more capable sales manager
looks for the quality of personal magnetism as the first requirement
of a salesman. People who lack sex energy will never become
enthusiastic nor inspire others with enthusiasm, and enthusiasm is
one of the most important requisites in salesmanship, no matter
what one is selling.
The public speaker, orator, preacher, lawyer, or salesman who
is lacking in sex energy is a “flop,” as far as being able to influence
others is concerned. Couple with this the fact, that most people can
be influenced only through an appeal to their emotions, and you
will understand the importance of sex energy as a part of the
salesman’s native ability. Master salesmen attain the status of
mastery in selling, because they, either consciously, or unconsciously,
transmute the energy of sex into SALES ENTHUSIASM! In
this statement may be found a very practical suggestion as to the
actual meaning of sex transmutation.
The salesman who knows how to take his mind off the subject
of sex, and direct it in sales effort with as much enthusiasm and
determination as he would apply to its original purpose, has
acquired the art of sex transmutation, whether he knows it or not.
The majority of salesmen who transmute their sex energy do so
without being in the least aware of what they are doing, or how they
are doing it.
Transmutation of sex energy calls for more will power than the
average person cares to use for this purpose. Those who find it
difficult to summon will-power sufficient for transmutation, may
gradually acquire this ability. Though this requires will-power, the
reward for the practice is more than worth the effort.
The entire subject of sex is one with which the majority of
people appear to be unpardonably ignorant. The urge of sex has
been grossly misunderstood, slandered, and burlesqued by the
ignorant and the evil minded, for so long that the very word sex is
seldom used in polite society. Men and women who are known to be
blessed—yes, BLESSED—with highly sexed natures, are usually
looked upon as being people who will bear watching. Instead of
being called blessed, they are usually called cursed.
Millions of people, even in this age of enlightenment, have
inferiority complexes which they developed because of this false
belief that a highly sexed nature is a curse. These statements, of the
virtue of sex energy, should not be construed as justification for the
libertine. The emotion of sex is a virtue ONLY when used
intelligently, and with discrimination. It may be misused, and often
is, to such an extent that it debases, instead of enriches, both body
and mind. The better use of this power is the burden of this
chapter.
It seemed quite significant to the author, when he made the
discovery that practically every great leader, whom he had the
privilege of analyzing, was a man whose achievements were largely
inspired by a woman. In many instances, the “woman in the case”
was a modest, self-denying wife, of whom the public had heard but
little or nothing. In a few instances, the source of inspiration has
been traced to the “other woman.” Perhaps such cases may not be
entirely unknown to you.
Intemperance in sex habits is just as detrimental as
intemperance in habits of drinking and eating. In this age in which
we live, an age which began with the world war, intemperance in
habits of sex is common. This orgy of indulgence may account for
the shortage of great leaders. No man can avail himself of the forces
of his creative imagination, while dissipating them. Man is the only
creature on earth which violates Nature’s purpose in this
connection. Every other animal indulges its sex nature in
moderation, and with purpose which harmonizes with the laws of
nature. Every other animal responds to the call of sex only in
“season.” Man’s inclination is to declare “open season.”
Every intelligent person knows that stimulation in excess,
through alcoholic drink and narcotics, is a form of intemperance
which destroys the vital organs of the body, including the brain. Not
every person knows, however, that over indulgence in sex
expression may become a habit as destructive and as detrimental to
creative effort as narcotics or liquor.
A sex-mad man is not essentially different than a dope-mad
man! Both have lost control over their faculties of reason and willpower.
Sexual overindulgence may not only destroy reason and willpower,
but it may also lead to either temporary, or permanent
insanity. Many cases of hypochondria (imaginary illness) grow out
of habits developed in ignorance of the true function of sex.
From these brief references to the subject, it may be readily
seen that ignorance on the subject of sex transmutation, forces
stupendous penalties upon the ignorant on the one hand, and
withholds from them equally stupendous benefits, on the other.
Widespread ignorance on the subject of sex is due to the fact
that the subject has been surrounded with mystery and beclouded
by dark silence. The conspiracy of mystery and silence has had the
same effect upon the minds of young people that the psychology of
prohibition had. The result has been increased curiosity, and desire
to acquire more knowledge on this “verboten” subject; and to the
shame of all lawmakers, and most physicians—by training best
qualified to educate youth on that subject-information has not been
easily available.
Seldom does an individual enter upon highly creative effort in
any field of endeavor before the age of forty. The average man
reaches the period of his greatest capacity to create between forty
and sixty. These statements are based upon analysis of thousands
of men and women who have been carefully observed. They should
be encouraging to those who fail to arrive before the age of forty,
and to those who become frightened at the approach of “old age,”
around the forty-year mark. The years between forty and fifty are,
as a rule, the most fruitful. Man should approach this age, not with
fear and trembling, but with hope and eager anticipation.
If you want evidence that most men do not begin to do their
best work before the age of forty, study the records of the most
successful men known to the American people, and you will find it.
Henry Ford had not “hit his pace” of achievement until he had
passed the age of forty. Andrew Carnegie was well past forty before
he began to reap the reward of his efforts. James J. Hill was still
running a telegraph key at the age of forty. His stupendous
achievements took place after that age. Biographies of American
industrialists and financiers are filled with evidence that the period
from forty to sixty is the most productive age of man.
Between the ages of thirty and forty, man begins to learn (if he
ever learns), the art of sex transmutation. This discovery is
generally accidental, and more often than otherwise, the man who
makes it is totally unconscious of his discovery. He may observe
that his powers of achievement have increased around the age of
thirty-five to forty, but in most cases, he is not familiar with the
cause of this change; that Nature begins to harmonize the emotions
of love and sex in the individual, between the ages of thirty and
forty, so that he may draw upon these great forces, and apply them
jointly as stimuli to action.
Sex, alone, is a mighty urge to action, but its forces are like a
cyclone-they are often uncontrollable. When the emotion of love
begins to mix itself with the emotion of sex, the result is calmness
of purpose, poise, accuracy of judgment, and balance. What person,
who has attained to the age of forty, is so unfortunate as to be
unable to analyze these statements, and to corroborate them by his
own experience?
When driven by his desire to please a woman, based solely
upon the emotion of sex, a man may be, and usually is, capable of
great achievement, but his actions may be disorganized, distorted,
and totally destructive. When driven by his desire to please a
woman, based upon the motive of sex alone, a man may steal,
cheat, and even commit murder. But when the emotion of LOVE is
mixed with the emotion of sex, that same man will guide his actions
with more sanity, balance, and reason
…
The hunter who excelled during prehistoric days, before the dawn of
civilization, did so, because of his desire to appear great in the eyes
of woman. Man’s nature has not changed in this respect. The
“hunter” of today brings home no skins of wild animals, but he
indicates his desire for her favor by supplying fine clothes, motor
cars, and wealth. Man has the same desire to please woman that he
had before the dawn of civilization. The only thing that has
changed, is his method of pleasing. Men who accumulate large
fortunes, and attain to great heights of power and fame, do so,
mainly, to satisfy their desire to please women.
Take women out of their lives, and great wealth would be
useless to most men. It is this inherent desire of man to please
woman, which gives woman the power to make or break a man.
The woman who understands man’s nature and tactfully caters
to it, need have no fear of competition from other women. Men may
be “giants” with indomitable will-power when dealing with other
men, but they are easily managed by the women of their choice.
Most men will not admit that they are easily influenced by the
women they prefer, because it is in the nature of the male to want
to be recognized as the stronger of the species. Moreover, the
intelligent woman recognizes this “manly trait” and very wisely
makes no issue of it.
Some men know that they are being influenced by the women
of their choice—their wives, sweethearts, mothers or sisters—but
they tactfully refrain from rebelling against the influence because
they are intelligent enough to know that NO MAN IS HAPPY OR
COMPLETE WITHOUT THE MODIFYING INFLUENCE OF THE
RIGHT WOMAN. The man who does not recognize this important
truth deprives himself of the power which has done more to help
men achieve success than all other forces combined.