The Greatest Salesman in the World
By Og Mandino
Only principles endure and these I now possess, for the laws that will lead me to greatness are contained in the words of these scrolls.
Principle #1 – Failure will never overtake me if my determination to succeed is strong enough.
Keep it always in mind and you will overcome seemingly impossible obstacles that are certain to confront you as they do everyone with ambition.
Never feel shame for trying and failing for he who has never failed is he who has never tried.
Principle #2 – I will form good habits and become their slave.
If I must be a slave to habit let me be a slave to good habits. My bad habits must be destroyed and new furrows prepared for good seed.
Each principle in these scrolls will drive a bad habit from my life and replace it with one which brings me closer to success. For it is another of nature’s laws that only a habit can subdue another habit.
As I repeat the words daily contained in these scrolls they will soon become a part of my active mind. Eventually I will find myself reacting to all situations which confront me as I was commanded in the scrolls to react. Thus a new and good habit is born.
Principle #3 – I will greet this day with love in my heart.
Love is the greatest secret of success in all ventures.
I will laud my enemies and they will become my friends; I will encourage my friends and they will become my brothers. Always will I dig for reasons to applaud; never will I scratch for excuses to gossip.
I will love all manners of men for each has qualities to be admired even though they be hidden.
But how will I react to the adversity of others? With love. For just as love is my weapon to open the hearts of men, love is also my shield to repulse the arrows of hate and the spears of anger.
The Greatest Salesman in the World (continued)
Page 2 of 4
Principle #4 – I will persist until I succeed.
I was not delivered into this world in defeat, nor does failure course through my veins. I am not a sheep waiting to be led to the slaughter. I am a lion and I refuse to talk, to walk, to sleep with the sheep.
I will remember the ancient law of averages and I will bend it to my good. I will persist with knowledge that each failure to sell will increase my chance for success at the next attempt.
Principle #5 – I will increase my knowledge of the world.
Within me burns a flame which has been passed from generations uncounted and its heat is a constant irritation to my spirit to become better than I am, and I will.
I will increase my knowledge of mankind, myself, and the goods I sell, thus my sales will multiply. I will practice, and improve, and polish the words I utter to sell my goods, for this is the foundation on which I will build my career… Also I will seek constantly to improve my manners and graces, for they are the sugar to which all are attracted.
I have been given eyes to see and a mind to think and now I know a great secret of life for I perceive, at last, that all my problems are in truth great opportunities in disguise.
Principle #6 – I will live this day as if it is my last.
Yesterday is buried forever and I will think of it no more. Forgetting yesterday neither will I think of tomorrow. Should I torment myself with problems that may never come to pass? No!
I will avoid with fury the killers of time. Procrastination I will destroy with action; doubt I will bury under faith; fear I will dismember with confidence.
The duties of today I shall fulfill today. I will maketh every hour count and each minute I will trade only for something of value. And if this day is not my last, I shall fall to my knees and give thanks.
Principle #7 – Today I will be master of my emotions.
All nature is a cycle of moods and I am a part of nature and so, like the tides, my moods will rise; my moods will fall.
If I bring joy and enthusiasm and brightness and laughter to my customers they will react with joy and enthusiasm and brightness and
The Greatest Salesman in the World (continued)
Page 3 of 4
laughter and my weather will produce a harvest of sales and a granary of gold for me.
Weak is he who permits his emotions to control his actions; strong is he who forces his actions to control his emotions.
If I feel sad I will laugh.
If I fear I will plunge ahead.
If I feel poverty I will think of wealth to come.
If I become overconfident I will recall my failures.
If I feel complacency I will remember my competition.
I will master my moods through positive action and when I master my moods I will control my destiny.
Principle #8 – I will laugh at the world.
I will chuckle and my burdens will be lightened; I will laugh and my life will be lengthened for this is the great secret of long life. And most of all, I will laugh at myself for man is most comical when he takes himself too seriously.
Four words I will train myself to say until they become a habit so strong that immediately they will appear in my mind whenever good humor threatens to depart from me. These four words are: This too shall pass.
And with my laughter all things will be reduced to their proper size. I will laugh at my failures and they will vanish in clouds of new dreams; I will laugh at my successes and they will shrink to their true value.
Principle #9 – Today I will multiply my value a hundredfold.
And how will I accomplish this? First I will set goals for the day, the week, the month, the year, and my life. Just as the rain must fall before the wheat will crack its shell and sprout, so must I have objectives before my life will crystallize.
The height of my goals will not hold me in awe. If I stumble I will rise and my falls will not concern me for all men must stumble often to reach the hearth.
I will always announce my goals to the world. I will always raise my goals as soon as they are attained. Yet, never will I proclaim my accomplishments. Let the world instead, approach me with praise and may I have the wisdom to receive it in humility.
The Greatest Salesman in the World (continued)
Page 4 of 4
Principle #10 – I will act now.
My dreams are worthless, my plans are dust, my goals are impossible. All are of no value unless they are followed by action. I will act now.
I will act now. I will act now. Henceforth, I will repeat these words again and again each day until the words become as much a habit as my breathing and the actions which follow become as instinctive as the blinking of my eyelids.
Only action determines my value in the market place and to multiply my value I will multiply my actions. I will walk where the failure fears to walk. I will work when the failure seeks rest. Success will not wait. If I delay she will become betrothed to another.
The Salesman’s Prayer
I will pray, but my cries for help will only be cries for guidance. Never will I pray for the material things of the world. I will pray as a salesman, in this manner –
Oh creator of all things, help me. For this day I go out into the world naked and alone, and without your hand to guide me I will wander far from the path which leads to success and happiness.
I ask not for gold or garments or even opportunities equal to my ability; instead, guide me so that I may acquire ability equal to my opportunities. Help me to remain humble through obstacles and failures; yet hide not from mine eyes the prize that will come with victory.
Spare me sufficient days to reach my goals; yet help me to live this day as though it be my last. Guide me in my words that they may bear fruit; yet silence me from gossip that none be aligned.
Discipline me in the habit of trying and trying again; yet show me the way to make use of the law of averages. Favor me with alertness to recognize opportunity. Bathe me in good habits that the bad ones may drown. Suffer me to know that all things shall pass; yet help me to count my blessings of today.
But all these things be only if thy will. I am a small and lonely grape clutching the vine yet thou hast made me different from all others. Guide me. Help me. Show me the way. Let me become all you planned for me when my seed was planted and selected by you to sprout in the vineyard of the world.
Help this humble salesman. Guide me, God.
