as a child i was slave to my impulses； now i am slave to my habits, as are all grown men. i have surrendered my free will to the years of accumulated habits and the past deeds of my life have already marked out a path which threatens to imprison my future. 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 a slave to habit let me be a slave to good habits. my bad habits must be destroyed and new 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 and replace it with one which will bring me closer to success. for it is another of nature's laws that only a habit can subdue another habit. so, in order for these written words to 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 to the next scroll.
first, i will read the words in silence when i arise. then, i will read the words in silence after i have partaken of my midday meal. last, i will read the words again just before i retire at day's end, and most important, on this occasion i will read the words aloud.
on the next day i will repeat this procedure, and i will continue in like manner for thirty days. then, i will turn to the next scroll and repeat this procedure for another thirty days. i will continue in this manner until i have lived with each scroll for thirty days and my reading has become habit.