Success is to get what you want; and success is an effect, coming from the application of a cause. Success is essentially the same in all cases; the difference is in the things that successful people want, but not in the success. Success is essentially the same whether it results in the achievement of health, wealth, development or position; success is achievement, regardless of the things achieved. And it is a law of nature that similar causes always produce similar effects; therefore, since success is the same in all cases, the cause of success must be the same in all cases.

The cause of success is always in the person who is successful; you will see that this must be true, because if the cause of success were in nature, outside the person, then all similarly situated people would be successful. The cause of success is not in the individual's environment, because if it were, all people within a given radius would be successful, and success would be entirely a matter of neighborhood; and we see that people whose environments are practically the same, and who live in the same neighborhood show us all degrees of success and failure; therefore, we know that the cause of success must be in the individual, and nowhere else.

It is therefore mathematically certain that one can succeed if one discovers the cause of success, and develops it with sufficient force, and applies it correctly to one's work; for the application of a sufficient cause cannot fail to produce a certain effect. If there is a failure somewhere, of any kind, it is because the cause was not sufficient or was not applied correctly. The cause of success is some power within you; you have the power to develop any power to an unlimited extent; because there is no end to mental growth; you can increase the strength of this power indefinitely, and so you can make it strong enough to do what you want to do, and to achieve what you want to achieve.