Text of the meditation
Dispersion is weakness; concentration is power. Things are useful and thoughts are powerful in the measure that their parts are strongly and intelligently concentrated. Purpose is highly concentrated thought. All the mental energies are directed toward the attainment of an object, and the obstacles between the thinker and the object are broken down and overcome, one after another.
Purpose is the keystone in the temple of achievement. It binds and holds together in a complete whole what would otherwise lie scattered and useless. Empty whims, ephemeral fancies, vague desires and half-hearted resolutions have no place in purpose. In the sustained determination to accomplish there is an invincible power that swallows up all inferior considerations and marches directly to victory.
All successful people are people of purpose.
James Allen (1864–1912), Book of Meditations for Every Day in the Year (1913) – public-domain text, gently modernised.
The original 1913 text is in the public domain.