Wallace D. Wattles was born in 1860. He was a prominent business man in the late 1800's until his death in 1911. He was wealthy, and upon his death the local town shops closed down as a sign of respect at the time of his funeral. He's known for writing two books, one in particular titled "The Science of Getting Rich". His ideas were the formation of a new kind of system of beliefs called, "New Thought".

For those not familiar, it is an old somewhat quasi-religion that subscribed to certain key ideas. These ideas are, the belief that God is an ultimate intelligence permeating throughout the whole universe, and that our thoughts can manifest themselves into our daily lives. Sound familiar? It is, because the writer of, "The Secret" was inspired by Wallace D. Wattles.

But, "'The Secret' is total quackery," you may say. I agree it is quackery, there is no doubt about that. Yet as a pragmatist I take the good and useful from the bad. When I extrapolate all the pseudoscience from this book I came with a few notes I translated into modern writing. Here I am to share them with you.

1. Thought is the only power which can produce tangible riches from the Formless Substance.

Everything in the world, including the keyboard and mouse or tablet you're reading this from was an idea that originated from someone's brain. The glass cup, table, sofa, chair, toaster, toothbrush, or the car you own. These are objects which originated from a thought, an idea. We are surrounded by real ideas, and only ideas and thoughts can make us rich. Take a look around you, see how true this is.

2. Give every man more in use value than you take from him in cash value; then you are adding to the life of the world by every business transaction.

This is a good principle to live by, if you give more than what you take in cash value, you are giving a good product or service. It's like Steve Jobs said, “If you keep your eye on the profit, you’re going to skimp on the product. But if you focus on making really great products, then the profits will follow.”

3. You must form a clear and definite mental picture of what you want; you cannot transmit an idea unless you have it yourself.

You have to have clear, and definite goals. Envision your dream life as strongly as you can so much that it becomes real in your mind. The stronger your clarity of vision the more likely you'll behave and act in ways according to your vision. You'll align yourself to make this come true. You cannot run in a direction without knowing where your destination is. But read closely, it says, "a clear and definite mental picture". The rest of the paragraph talks about literally envisioning down to the kind of table and stove and car you'll own. I want you to envision the exact home, car, lifestyle, and person you're going to be. This is what it means to have clear and definite goals.

4. You must do ALL that you can do where you are. You can advance only by being larger than your present place; and no man is larger this his present place who leaves undone any of the work pertaining to that place.

No matter what situation you find yourself in life, it's vital to do everything you can in the present moment. It's not about dreaming and hoping your goals and prospects come to fruition. No, this is about taking action, in the present moment. This means deciding on what not to focus on as well as on what to focus on. What are your current distractions? What's keeping you from your goal?

We as humans, like computers, accumulate junk and need to clean ourselves from clutter. If we want to run optimally, we should clean out our old habits, rid ourselves of our distractions and do what we intuitively know we should be doing.

As an exercise envision your future, how will you get there? Do you have lifetime goals, a one year goal, a 6 month goal or a monthly goal? These are things Wallace D. Wattles would want you to think about.