How to Succeed

Orison Swett Marden (1850 - 1924) was an American writer, a successful hotel owner, and held a degree in medicine. His mother died when he was three years old, leaving him and his two sisters in the care of their father, a farmer, hunter, and trapper. When he was seven, his father died, and the children were moved from one guardian to another. Inspired by an early self-help book by the Samuel Smiles, Marden set out to improve himself and his life circumstances. Marden believed that our thoughts influence our lives and circumstances. He said, "We make the world we live in and shape our own environment." Although best known for his books on financial success, he emphasized that this comes as a by-product of personal development: "The golden opportunity you are seeking is in yourself. It is not in your environment; it is not in luck or chance, or the help of others; it is in yourself alone." One of the true leaders of self-help, most of what you read in modern self-help books, can be found here.