By Editorial Staff
There are ideas that age, and ideas that endure. In 1918, a great writer known as Theron Q. Dumont—the pen name of the mental-training pioneer, late William Walker Atkinson—published The Power of Concentration, a volume of uncommon boldness. In it he delivered a thesis so simple and uncompromising that it continues to provoke modern readers: “Every man that is willing to pay the price can be a success. The price is not in money, but in effort.”
Dumont believed that success is not a birthright, not a matter of genius, not an inheritance bestowed upon a lucky few. It is a discipline, a set of internal qualities that any person can cultivate if he or she is willing to commit themselves to the process. In a world still obsessed with talent, shortcuts, and “natural gifts,” his message feels more relevant than ever. This article explores five interlocking pillars of success inspired by Dumont’s philosophy. Each pillar stands on its own. Together, they form a blueprint for any person who intends not merely to hope for success but to create it.
The desire to be or do something: the spark that begins everything
Success begins long before any visible achievement. It starts in the invisible realm of desire—not a casual wish, not a vague preference, but a deep and persistent craving to become something or accomplish something meaningful. Dumont says it plainly “The first essential quality for success is the desire to do—to be something.”
This desire is not the romanticized passion culture sells us. It is the inward recognition that life can be more than it currently is—that one’s abilities, undeveloped though they may be, could serve a purpose if given direction.
Desire is powerful because it accomplishes three things. Desire clarifies direction. Before desire awakens, a person drifts. They may work hard, but their energy is diffuse—spent on tasks that do not build toward anything. Once desire sharpens, effort becomes organized. The individual begins to say “This is where I am going.” Desire creates the willingness to pay the price. Every meaningful undertaking demands discomfort: long hours, self-discipline, sacrifice, and ambiguity. A weak desire collapses under that weight. A strong desire endures it without complaint. Desire draws out dormant potential. A person who genuinely wants something will surprise themselves with abilities they did not know they possessed. Desire awakens imagination, initiative, and persistence.
Dumont believed that many people failed not because they lacked talent, but because they never roused themselves from apathy. He said that countless men and women, rich in ability and talent, go to waste because they never discover what they want strongly enough to chase.
To want success is to take the first step toward it—and without that step, no others matter. This perfectly matches what one of remarkable personalities the world now boasts has said. The man, Tony Robbins, has emphasized “Hunger is the ultimate driver. Hunger is the part of you that says, ‘I will not stop. I will not give up.’ Hunger will destroy your fear of failure. It is our greatest power, our greatest gift. All over the world the most successful people are the ones who have a CONSISTENT, INSATIABLE HUNGER — one that NEVER goes away. The most successful people in the world have an insatiable hunger to do more, be more, give more and create more. Your hunger determines whether you talk about the life you want to live, or take massive action to make that dream a reality. Learning how to be a driven person is the key to an extraordinary life lived on your terms.”
“Hunger is also what gets you through life’s inevitable setbacks. It’s the inner strength that will push you to keep going, even when you think you’ve failed. It’s what will make you stronger, more capable and more powerful than ever. If you have a hunger to serve something greater than yourself, you’ll never hurt for energy. You’ll never hurt for excitement. If you master how to be driven and focused, you’ll be able to push yourself beyond your limitations – because we’ll all do more for others than we’ll ever do for ourselves. That’s the beauty of being human.” For more on Robbins, click on Tony Robbins’ hardships: proof that with adversity, you are on the right path to incredible success and transformation
Knowledge acquisition: build a broad, useful mind
Once desire points the compass, the next requirement is knowledge. Dumont writes. “The man that is the best able to accomplish anything is the one with a broad mind; the man that has acquired knowledge…that is of some value in all cases.” Dumont was strikingly modern in his belief that a person must be liberal in their pursuit of knowledge—not in the political sense, but in the sense of being expansive, curious, and hungry to understand the world.
Why broad knowledge matters
Problems rarely present themselves neatly. Real-life challenges spill across disciplines. The entrepreneur needs psychology as much as finance; the craftsman needs communication as much as technique. Narrow knowledge leaves a person fragile—brought to a halt the moment they encounter something unfamiliar. Knowledge multiplies options. The more a person knows, the more tools they possess to solve problems. Knowledge transforms obstacles into puzzles and puzzles into possibilities. Knowledge builds confidence. A well-informed mind does not panic. It does not freeze. It steps forward with the understanding that it possesses resources to draw from, even if those resources were originally learned for something else.
To follow Dumont’s prescription is to become a lifelong student. Read widely. Ask questions. Seek mentors. Observe people. Study both the science and the art behind your chosen field. A successful person, Dumont insists, must be “well posted not only in one branch of his business, but in every part of it.” Ignorance is costly. Curiosity is profitable.
Implementation: turning knowledge into results
Desire is the spark. Knowledge is the fuel. But implementation is the engine. Dumont has written that after learning how to do something, “the next [step] is to carry it into execution.” Many dream, many plan, many study—few do. Execution is where the majority of ambitious people fall away.
Why implementation is so hard
Action exposes imperfection. Thinking feels safe; doing feels vulnerable. Acting reveals shortcomings, creates feedback, and invites failure—and most people prefer the comfort of theory to the discomfort of reality. Action requires commitment. Once you begin something, you must confront its demands. You must reorganize your life, abandon old habits, and risk disappointing yourself. Starting means responsibility. Why implementation is nonnegotiable. Because the world does not reward what you intend; it rewards what you produce.
Dumont’s philosophy rejects the fantasy that success happens suddenly or mysteriously. “Miracles’ in business do not just happen,” he has written. “They happen by sticking to a proposition and seeing it through.”
The moment you begin executing, you separate yourself from the majority. The moment you refuse to stop, you join the minority who succeed.
Untiring, concentrated effort: the discipline that builds miracles
If there is a heartbeat to Dumont’s philosophy, it lies here. He insists that the man chosen at the crucial time is usually not the genius, not the prodigy, not the gifted eccentric. In fact, “He does not possess any more talent than others, but he has learned that results can only be produced by untiring concentrated effort.” This is the philosophy of grit before grit was a buzzword.
To concentrate means to do one thing with full attention, sustained over time, with the mind refusing to wander and the will refusing to weaken. Most people never practice this. They scatter themselves, multitask themselves into mediocrity, and wonder why nothing significant gets done.
The psychology of persistence
Dumont describes a fascinating feedback loop. The successful man becomes accustomed to seeing things accomplished, therefore he expects success, therefore he attracts it. The failing man becomes accustomed to failure, therefore he anticipates it, therefore he invites it. This is not mysticism—it is practical psychology. People who believe they can succeed are more likely to persist, and persistence creates results. People who believe failure is likely give up early, and early surrender produces failure. Success is not an event; it is a habit. And habits are sculpted by repeated, concentrated effort.
About grit and timidity, Dumont is blunt. “The man that reaches the top is the gritty, plucky, hard worker and never the timid, uncertain, slow worker.” Timidity is not humility—it is self-sabotage. Uncertainty is not thoughtfulness—it is paralysis. Slowness is not caution—it is a constant postponement of one’s own potential. Success, in Dumont’s view, is the reward for the person who works when others hesitate, persists when others quit, and focuses when others drift.
The right kind of training: the lost art of developing human potential
Perhaps Dumont’s most radical idea appears through these words. “It is my opinion that with the right kind of training every man could be a success.” He even imagined a wealthy philanthropist creating a “school for the training of failures”—a place where discouraged, defeated, or demoralized individuals could regain their strength and rebuild their will. This vision is compassionate and forward-thinking. Dumont saw failure not as a permanent identity but as a temporary condition caused by misfortune, loss, bad habits, or weakened discipline.
Why the right training matters
Because people rarely fail from lack of ability. They fail from the lack of (1) guidance, (2) structure, (3) encouragement, (4) psychological tools, and (5) a supportive environment. Dumont believed that practical psychology—what we would today call mindset work, cognitive-behavioral training, and emotional resilience—could restore a person’s inner strength.
The tragedy of wasted potential
Dumont lamented that “so many men and women, rich in ability and talent, are allowed to go to waste.” Not because they want to waste their lives, but because no one shows them how to reclaim their agency. Training transforms potential into capability, and capability into success. Without training, even the most gifted individuals drift. With training, even the discouraged can rise.
What Dumont once imagined has become reality today, evident in motivational leaders like Tony Robbins, whose transformative programs now serve as modern “schools for the training of failures,” helping discouraged individuals rebuild strength, confidence, and purpose.
Success is built, not bestowed
Theron Q. Dumont’s philosophy is at once demanding and deeply empowering. He does not say success is for the lucky. He does not say success is for the genius. He does not say success is for the chosen few. He says that success is for anyone willing to pay the price—a price calculated not in money but in mental discipline, persistent effort, and the courage to direct one’s life with purpose.
The formula is clear. Desire gives direction. Knowledge gives tools. Implementation gives motion. Concentrated effort gives results. Training gives resilience and mastery. This does not constitute a philosophy of excuses or shortcuts. It forms a philosophy of empowerment. It tells us that we are not prisoners of circumstances but architects of possibility.
And it leaves us with a single, unavoidable question: Are you willing to pay the price?