The Science Of Getting Rich
By
Wallace D. Wattles
#3 There Is A Science Of Getting Rich
THERE is a Science of getting rich, and it is an exact
science, like algebra or arithmetic. There are certain laws which govern
the process of acquiring riches; once these laws are learned and obeyed
by any man, he will get rich with mathematical certainty.
The ownership of money and property comes as a result of
doing things in a certain way; those who do things in this Certain Way,
whether on purpose or accidentally, get rich; while those who do not do
things in this Certain Way, no matter how hard they work or how able
they are, remain poor.
It is a natural law that like causes always produce like
effects; and, therefore, any man or woman who learns to do things in
this certain way will infallibly get rich.
That the above statement is true is shown by the
following facts:
Getting rich is not a matter of environment, for, if it
were, all the people in certain neighborhoods would become wealthy; the
people of one city would all be rich, while those of other towns would
all be poor; or the inhabitants of one state would roll in wealth, while
those of an adjoining state would be in poverty.
But everywhere we see rich and poor living side by side,
in the same environment, and often engaged in the same vocations. When
two men are in the same locality, and in the same business, and one gets
rich while the other remains poor, it shows that getting rich is not,
primarily, a matter of environment. Some environments may be more
favorable than others, but when two men in the same business are in the
same neighborhood, and one gets rich while the other fails, it indicates
that getting rich is the result of doing things in a Certain Way.
And further, the ability to do things in this certain
way is not due solely to the possession of talent, for many people who
have great talent remain poor, while other who have very little talent
get rich.
Studying the people who have got rich, we find that they
are an average lot in all respects, having no greater talents and
abilities than other men. It is evident that they do not get rich
because they possess talents and abilities that other men have not, but
because they happen to do things in a Certain Way.
Getting rich is not the result of saving, or "thrift";
many very penurious people are poor, while free spenders often get rich.
Nor is getting rich due to doing things which others
fail to do; for two men in the same business often do almost exactly the
same things, and one gets rich while the other remains poor or becomes
bankrupt.
From all these things, we must come to the conclusion
that getting rich is the result of doing things in a Certain Way.
If getting rich is the result of doing things in a
Certain Way, and if like causes always produce like effects, then any
man or woman who can do things in that way can become rich, and the
whole matter is brought within the domain of exact science.
The question arises here, whether this Certain Way may
not be so difficult that only a few may follow it. This cannot be true,
as we have seen, so far as natural ability is concerned. Talented people
get rich, and blockheads get rich; intellectually brilliant people get
rich, and very stupid people get rich; physically strong people get
rich, and weak and sickly people get rich.
Some degree of ability to think and understand is, of
course, essential; but in so far natural ability is concerned, any man
or woman who has sense enough to read and understand these words can
certainly get rich.
Also, we have seen that it is not a matter of
environment. Location counts for something; one would not go to the
heart of the Sahara and expect to do successful business.
Getting rich involves the necessity of dealing with men,
and of being where there are people to deal with; and if these people
are inclined to deal in the way you want to deal, so much the better.
But that is about as far as environment goes.
If anybody else in your town can get rich, so can you;
and if anybody else in your state can get rich, so can you.
Again, it is not a matter of choosing some particular
business or profession. People get rich in every business, and in every
profession; while their next-door neighbors in the same vocation remain
in poverty.
It is true that you will do best in a business which you
like, and which is congenial to you; and if you have certain talents
which are well developed, you will do best in a business which calls for
the exercise of those talents.
Also, you will do best in a business which is suited to
your locality; an ice-cream parlor would do better in a warm climate
than in Greenland, and a salmon fishery will succeed better in the
Northwest than in Florida, where there are no salmon.
But, aside from these general limitations, getting rich
is not dependent upon your engaging in some particular business, but
upon your learning to do things in a Certain Way. If you are now in
business, and anybody else in your locality is getting rich in the same
business, while you are not getting rich, it is because you are not
doing things in the same Way that the other person is doing them.
No one is prevented from getting rich by lack of
capital. True, as you get capital the increase becomes more easy and
rapid; but one who has capital is already rich, and does not need to
consider how to become so. No matter how poor you may be, if you begin
to do things in the Certain Way you will begin to get rich; and you will
begin to have capital. The getting of capital is a part of the process
of getting rich; and it is a part of the result which invariably follows
the doing of things in the Certain Way. You may be the poorest man on
the continent, and be deeply in debt; you may have neither friends,
influence, nor resources; but if you begin to do things in this way, you
must infallibly begin to get rich, for like causes must produce like
effects. If you have no capital, you can get capital; if you are in the
wrong business, you can get into the right business; if you are in the
wrong location, you can go to the right location; and you can do so by
beginning in your present business and in your present location to do
things in the Certain Way which causes success.