No man’s education is ever finished.
The man whose Definite Major Purpose is of noteworthy proportions must remain always a student, and he must learn from every possible source, especially those sources from which he may acquire specialized knowledge and experience related to his major purpose.
The public libraries are free. They offer a great array of organized knowledge on every subject. They carry, in every language, the total of man’s knowledge on every subject. The successful man with a Definite Major Purpose makes it his business and his responsibility to read books relating to that purpose, and thus acquire important knowledge which comes from the experiences of other men who have gone before him. It has been said that a man cannot consider himself even a kindergarten student of any subject until he has availed himself, as far as reasonably possible, of all the knowledge on that subject which has been preserved for him through the experience of others.
A man’s reading program should be as carefully planned as his daily diet, for that too is food, without which he cannot grow mentally.
The man who spends all of his spare time reading the funny papers and the sex magazines is not headed toward any great achievement.
The same may be said of the man who does not include in his daily program some form of reading that provides him with the knowledge which he may use in the attainment of his major purpose. Random reading may be pleasant, but it seldom is helpful in connection with one’s occupation.
Reading, however, is not the only source of education. By a careful choice among his daily associates in his occupation, one may ally himself with men from whom he can acquire a liberal education through ordinary conversation.
Business and professional clubs offer an opportunity for one to form alliances of great educational benefit provided the man chooses his clubs and his close associates in those clubs with a definite objective in mind. Through this sort of association, many men have formed both business and social acquaintances of great value to them in carrying out the object of their major purpose.
No man can go through life successfully without the habit of cultivating friends. The word ‘contact,’ as it is commonly used in relationship to personal acquaintanceship, is an important word. If a man makes it a part of his daily practice to extend his list of personal ‘contacts’ he will find the habit of great benefit to him in ways that cannot be foretold while he is cultivating those acquaintances, but the time will come when they will be ready and willing to render aid to him if he has done a good job of selling himself.
As I have stated, a man with a Definite Major Purpose should form the habit of establishing ‘contacts’ through every source possible, using care of course to choose those sources through which he is most likely to meet people who may be helpful to him.
Source: The Master Key to Riches, Chapter 7, Pages 86 – 88