Part 6 · Attention Is a Muscle · points 24–29 of 34 in this Part

The photograph drill

Look until you know it. Then build it behind closed eyes.

6 numbered points · 2 study questions · 2 min read

The one line to keep

Look until you know it. Then build it behind closed eyes.

Take a photograph to your seat. Study it for at least ten minutes — the eyes, the features, the clothes, the hair, every detail. Then cover it, close your eyes, and rebuild it mentally. If your copy is faithful, you are making real progress; if not, do it again. This is only soil preparation. Haanel notes too that a single idea, in a receptive, well-ordered mind, can be worth millions.

Why this matters to you

Ten minutes on a single object is not a small task. It is the exercise that rebuilds the mind a hard year has scattered.

Study questions for this sublevel

Haanel put a review question at the end of every part. Answer out loud first — the recall is what moves it into memory.

58. How may it be acquired?

By faithfully practicing the exercises in this System.

59. Why is this so important?

Because it will enable us to control our thoughts, and since thoughts are causes conditions must be effects; if we can control the cause we can also control the effect.

Your progress in this sublevel

Next sublevel →

Checking what is saved…

Haanel's own words — points 24–29

Quoted exactly from The Master Key System (1912, public domain). The translation above is ours; this is his.

In order to cultivate the power of attention, bring a photograph with you to the same seat in the same room in the same position as heretofore. Examine it closely at least ten minutes, note the expression of the eyes, the form of the features, the clothing, the way the hair is arranged. In fact, note every detail shown on the photograph carefully. Now cover it and close your eyes and try to see it mentally. If you can see every detail perfectly and can form a good mental image of the photograph, you are to be congratulated. If not, repeat the process until you can.

This step is simply for the purpose of preparing the soil. Next week we shall be ready to sow the seed.

It is by such exercises as these that you will finally be able to control your mental moods, your attitude, your consciousness.

Great financiers are learning to withdraw from the multitude more and more, that they may have more time for planning, thinking, and generating the right mental moods.

Successful businessmen are constantly demonstrating the fact that it pays to keep in touch with the thought of other successful business men.

A single idea may be worth millions of dollars, and these ideas can only come to those who are receptive, who are prepared to receive them, who are in successful frame of mind.

Put it to work

This week's exercise

The Photograph Drill (Part Six)

Bring a photograph to your usual seat.

See all steps

Sit with it

Guided stillness timer

The sit is the whole foundation of the course: still body, watched breath, no phone. Pick five minutes if fifteen feels like a hill.

Open the timer

Keep going

1Mind is the only thing that produces effectsThought is the cause; your nervous system is the machine that turns it into effects.2The instrument and its wiringEvery thought lights up brain cells: faint at first, easy with use.3Attention: the faculty that decides everything ⚠Attention is the most important faculty you have — and it is trainable.4The photograph drillLook until you know it. Then build it behind closed eyes.5Where the power comes fromSuffering has two sources: disease in the body and anxiety in the mind.

Part 6 · Attention Is a Muscle

Motivation arrives after attention, not before

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