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Over the years, I have read thousands of books, articles, newspapers, and listened to hundreds of speeches and lectures about all kinds of mumbo-jumbo. A topic that has always intrigued me is 'What does it take to truly be successful?' I'm talking about 'How does one really pull himself up from his boat straps?' 'How does one go from rags to riches?' 'Is there a general set of circumstances one needs in his environment?' 'Is it a combination of quality characteristics within an individual?' 'Do you have to know the right people?' 'Do you have to be lucky?' 'If you have to be smart, why do I know people right now who are less intelligent than me but who are twice as rich?' I've been researching these questions, and many others like them, to finally come up with a definitive list or combination of skills that I believe to be most important for one to achieve their business dreams, no matter what they may be.

There are three primary 'ingredients' that I have discovered to be absolutely vital for your success. The great thing is that you have most of these ingredients right inside of yourself. You just have to bring them out, cultivate them, and use them.

1. The first necessity is earning your own Luck.

Okay, okay! I know what you rationalists out there are saying: 'There is no such thing as luck!' This is positively not true! I will prove it to you over the course of these lessons!

I have always been fascinated with the idea of luck, i.e. good fortune. I have always wondered why it befell some more than others. Over the years, I have had the privilege to get my hands on several very, very hard to find books (many that have been out of print for decades). I have learned that the majority of the content you find in today's most popular positive thinking books has already been covered in books printed back in the 1920's, or earlier.

One of the best (rare) books that I've been fortunate enough to get my hands on is a tiny little blue book called The Kybalion. It is a book on Hermetic Philosophy. Hermetic Philosophy is not Greek Philosophy, but in truth, Ancient Egyptian Philosophy. History tells us that Greek disciples traveled to Ancient Egypt during Ancient times to be educated and initiated into what was called the Mystery Systems. Egypt is accredited as the birthplace of Hidden Wisdom. All nations across the Earth have borrowed from their knowledge. This includes the ancient civilizations of India, Persia, Chaldea, Medea, China, Japan, Assyria, ancient Greece and Rome, and other ancient countries.

The great founder of this philosophy was known as the 'Master of Masters,' Hermes Trismegistus (meaning 'thrice great,' 'the great-great,' 'the greatest great'). He is said to have lived three hundred years in the flesh (take it with a grain of salt)! The best Christian authorities regard him as a contemporary of Abraham of the Christian Bible. Some Jewish traditions go so far as to claim that Abraham acquired (was taught) some of his mystical knowledge from Hermes. The Egyptians deified him making him one of their gods called Thoth, the Great God of Wisdom. Years later, the ancient Greeks made him one of their many gods, calling him Hermes. That is what he is popularly known as today.

Although the teachings have deteriorated over thousands of years, even to this day, traces of the Hermetic teachings can be found in all lands, among all religions. I don't want to bore you with a long history lesson so I'll get on to explaining what all of this has to do with Luck in the next lesson.