The Scroll Marked IToday I begin a new lifeToday I begin a new life.Today I shed my old skin, which hath, too long, suffered the bruises of failure andthe wounds of mediocrity.Today I am born anew and my birthplace is a vineyard where there is fruit for all.Today I will pluck grapes of wisdom from the tallest and fullest vines in thevineyard, for these were planted by the wisest of my profession who have comebefore me, generation upon generation.Today I will savor the taste of grapes from these vines and verily I will swallow theseed of success buried in each and new life will sprout within me.The career I have chosen is laden with opportunity yet it is fraught with heartbreakand despair and the bodies of those who have failed, were they piled one atopanother, would cast its shadow down upon all the pyramids of the earth.Yet I will not fail, as the others, for in my hands I now hold the charts, which willguide me through perilous waters to shores, which only yesterday seemed but adream.Failure will no longer by my payment for my struggle. Just as nature made noprovision for my body to tolerate pain neither has it made any provision for my lifeto suffer failure. Failure, like pain, is alien to my life. In the past I accepted it as Iaccepted pain. Now I reject it and I am prepared for wisdom and principles whichwill guide me out of the shadows into the sunlight of wealth, position, and happinessfar beyond my most extravagant dreams until even the golden apples in the Gardenof Hesperides will seem no more than my just reward.Time teaches all things to he who lives forever but I have not the luxury of eternity.Yet, within my allotted time I must practice the art of patience for nature acts neverin haste. To create the olive, king of all trees, a hundred years is required. An onion plant is old in nine weeks. I have lived as an onion plant. It has not pleased me. NowI wouldst become the greatest of olive trees and, in truth, the greatest of salesmen.And how will this be accomplished? For I have neither the knowledge nor theexperience to achieve greatness and already I have stumbled in ignorance and falleninto pools of self-pity. The answer is simple. I will commence my journeyunencumbered with either the weight of unnecessary knowledge or the handicap ofmeaningless experience. Nature already has supplied me with knowledge and instinctfar greater than any beast in the forest and the value of experience is overrated,usually by old men who nod wisely and speak stupidly.In truth, experience teaches thoroughly yet her course of instruction devours men’syears so the value of her lessons diminishes with the time necessary to acquire herspecial wisdom. The end finds it wasted on dead men. Furthermore, experience iscomparable to fashion; an action that proved successful today will be unworkableand impractical tomorrow.Only principles endure and these I now possess, for the laws that will lead me togreatness are contained in the words of these scrolls. What they will teach me is moreto prevent failure than to gain success, for what is success other than a state of mind?Which two, among a thousand wise men, will define success in the same words; yetfailure is always described in one way. Failure is man’s inability to reach his goals inlife, whatever they may be.In truth, the only difference between those who have failed and those who havesucceeded lies in the differences of their habits. Good habits are the key to allsuccess. Bad habits are the unlocked door to failure. Thus, the first law I will obey,which precedeth all others is – I will form good habits and become their slave.As a child I was slave to my impulses; now I am slave to my habits, as are all grownmen. I have surrendered my free will to the years of accumulated habits and the pastdeeds of my life have already marked out a path, which threatens to imprison myfuture. My actions are ruled by appetite, passion, prejudice, greed, love, fear,environment, habit, and the worst of these tyrants is habit. Therefore, if I must be aslave to habit let me be a slave to good habits. My bad habits must be destroyed andnew furrows prepared for good seed.I will form good habits and become their slave. And how will I accomplish this difficult feat? Through these scrolls, it will be done,for each scroll contains a principle which will drive a bad habit from my life andreplace it with one which will bring me closer to success. For it is another of nature’slaws that only a habit can subdue another habit. So, in order for these written wordsto perform their chosen task, I must discipline myself with the first of my new habits,which is as follows:I will read each scroll for thirty days in this prescribed manner, before I proceed tothe next scroll.First, I will read the words in silence when I arise. Then, I will read the words insilence after I have partaken of my midday meal. Last, I will read the words againjust before I retire at day’s end, and most important, on this occasion I will read thewords aloud.On the next day I will repeat this procedure, and I will continue in like manner forthirty days. Then, I will turn to the next scroll and repeat this procedure for anotherthirty days. I will continue in this manner until I have lived with each scroll for thirtydays and my reading has become habit.And what will be accomplished with this habit? Herein lies the hidden secret of allman’s accomplishments. As I repeat the words daily they will soon become a part ofmy active mind, but more important, they will also seep into my other mind, thatmysterious source which never sleeps, which creates my dreams, and often makes meact in ways I do not comprehend.As the words of these scrolls are consumed by my mysterious mind I will begin toawake, each morning, with a vitality I have never known before. My vigor willincrease, my enthusiasm will rise, my desire to meet the world will overcome everyfear I once knew at sunrise, and I will be happier than I ever believed it possible to bein this world of strife and sorrow.Eventually, I will find myself reacting to all situations which confront me as I wascommanded in the scrolls to react, and soon these actions and reactions will becomeeasy to perform, for any act with practice becomes easy.Thus a new and good habit is born, for when an act becomes easy through constantrepetition it becomes a pleasure to perform and if it is a pleasure to perform it isman’s nature to perform it often. When I perform it often it becomes a habit and Ibecome its slave and since it is a good habit this is my will.Today I begin a new life.And I make a solemn oath to myself that nothing will retard my new life’s growth. Iwill lose not a day from these readings for that day cannot be retrieved nor can Isubstitute another for it. I must not, I will not, break this habit of daily reading fromthese scrolls and, in truth, the few moments spent each day on this new habit are buta small price to pay for the happiness and success that will be mine.As I read and re-read the words in these scrolls to follow, never will I allow thebrevity of each scroll nor the simplicity of its words to cause me to treat the scroll’smessage lightly. Thousands of grapes are pressed to fill one jar with wine, and thegrapes skin and pulp are tossed to the birds. So it is with these grapes of wisdomfrom the ages. Much has been filtered and tossed to the wind. Only the pure truth liesdistilled in the words to come. I will drink as instructed and spill not one drop. Andthe seed of success I will swallow.Today my old skin has become as dust. I will walk tall among men and they willknow me not, for today I am a new man, with a new life.

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