Week 8

The Greatest Re-Program: Scroll I and the Power of Being a Habit Slave

I’ve been diving deep into The Greatest Salesman in the World again—a book that’s been one of my favorites for over 35 years. Going back through these scrolls, especially with the focus of my current program, is giving me new insights and experiences.

The first scroll, Scroll Marked I, doesn’t waste time on sales techniques. It’s a total foundational reset. It demands one thing: “Today I begin a new life”.

If you want to be truly great, whether in sales (where Og Mandino focuses) or in achieving your Definite Major Purpose (DMP), you have to drop the old skin. You have to stop clinging to the bruises of failure and the wounds of mediocrity that have piled up over the
years.

This isn’t just some motivational saying; this is the prerequisite for everything else. You’re shedding the “concrete” that society, parents, and teachers poured over your potential, and stepping into the vineyard of wisdom planted by the wisest pros who came before
you.

The Real Secret: Become a Slave to Good Habits

I always come back to the core lesson of this first scroll: the only fundamental difference between those who fail and those who succeed lies solely in the difference of their habits.

This is massive, and it’s why habits are so essential when developing a new program in your mind. Scroll I lays down the first law we must obey: “I will form good habits and become their slave.”

Think about it: As grown men, we are all slaves to our habits. We have surrendered our free will to accumulated habits, past deeds, and impulses. We are ruled by a hierarchy of tyrants like appetite, passion, greed, and, worst of all, habit itself.

The Scroll is telling us that if we must be a slave, we should choose our master wisely. The solution isn’t to fight slavery, but to exchange a bad master (bad habits, old programming) for a good master (new, constructive habits).

I know personally that when we create habits that serve our life—whether for health, finances, or relationships—these habits will truly enhance our life and make us fruitful. This process is about creating the necessary behavior to accomplish your purpose.

It means recognizing that bad habits are the unlocked door to failure, while good habits are the key to all success. It’s about designing the life you want by choosing your behaviors.

Experience is Overrated—Trust the Principles

In my own journey, having a mentor or guide has been huge. What would take me much longer to learn on my own, I learned quicker with a guide. This ties directly into the scroll’s critique of relying purely on experience.

The scroll says that time teaches all things “to he who lives forever,” but we don’t have that luxury. It calls the value of experience “overrated, usually by old men who nod wisely and speak stupidly.”

Ouch! Why the harsh assessment? Because experience is comparable to fashion—what works today might be unworkable tomorrow. Only principles endure. The principles in these scrolls are the map that will lead you to greatness, unencumbered by the weight of meaningless experience.

Having a guide helps us stick to those enduring principles so we don’t get frustrated and quit. Like learning how to spin cast in a fast-flowing river, following a mentor’s instruction (the principle) prevented me from creating a serious “bird’s nest” (failure) in my reel
(life).

The MKE Method: Programming Your Subby

Now, how do you actually install these new habits? This is where Mandino’s instruction aligns perfectly with everything I’ve learned about rewiring your mind. It requires
repetition.

The method is ridiculously simple, but it demands discipline: You must read each scroll for thirty days in a prescribed manner before moving to the next. This three-a-day reading schedule—once silently upon rising, once silently after lunch, and once aloud before bed—is the hidden secret of accomplishment.

Why the repetition? Because it drives the words deep into the subconscious mind. When I talk about writing a new program, I’m talking about feeding “subby” the message. The repetition ensures the words seep into that “mysterious source which never sleeps, which creates my dreams, and often makes me act in ways I do not comprehend.”

If I can vividly imagine or see it, it has a chance to materialize, especially since “subby” can’t tell the difference between what is vividly imagined and what is real. This constant repetition is how we align our inner voice and focus on getting our DMP right.

The awesome part is the immediate result: your vigor will increase, your enthusiasm will rise, and your desire will overcome every fear you once knew. You’ll become happier because you’ll actually believe success is possible.

Eventually, those actions commanded by the scrolls will become easy, and through constant repetition, they become a pleasure to perform. This is the definition of a good habit. My exercise habit, for instance, has served me well since my youth because it became automatic.

The Final Oath: No Quitting Allowed

The journey is uphill, and I know that anything worthwhile is likely uphill. The voice that screams “quit” is always there. But the commitment made in Scroll I is an oath: do not break the habit of daily reading for even one day.

The few moments spent daily are a small price to pay for the resulting happiness and
success. You have to dig in and focus. Working on your inner self is hard work—like performing surgery with no anesthetic.

But if you embrace the process, the scrolls will warm your life, turn your dreams into reality, and you will walk into the new life you have imagined.

Today my old skin has become as dust. I will walk talk old men and they will know me not, for today I am a new man, with a new life. I’m fully in till the change comes about!