Thought-Force in Business and Everyday Life

Thought-Force in Business and Everyday Life is a book by William Walker Atkinson, first published in 1900. In plain, practical lessons drawn from lectures, Atkinson teaches how cultivated thought, concentration and personal magnetism can be applied to get results in work, negotiation and everyday relationships.

The book reads as an early self-help manual for professionals and entrepreneurs: exercises in will-power, concentration and “thought-vibrations” are presented alongside concrete advice about personal presentation, influence in interviews and shaping the success-mindset needed for business. The tone is pragmatic rather than mystical, aiming to turn mental training into usable skills for career advancement and effective leadership.

Placed firmly in the New Thought tradition, the work helped popularise ideas that later fed into modern positive-thinking and Law-of-Attraction literature. Atkinson — a prolific early-20th-century writer on mental science and personal development — packages metaphysical concepts as techniques you can practise: visualization, directed suggestion, and the deliberate cultivation of a confident “I-am” attitude to attract cooperation and opportunity. The result is a short, energetic handbook that appeals to readers seeking vintage self-help, practical mental training, and historical perspectives on influence and persuasion.