Scripting · “You Assign the Meaning”
Norvell's Master Motive
Write a clear list of what you want, anchored by one dominant aim, and review it regularly with expectancy.
Choose one dominant aim — your Master Motive. Under it, write a clear, specific, positively-stated list of what you want. Review it regularly with calm expectancy, let it steer your attention and effort, and revise it deliberately as things change. The clarity and review do the real work; the list does not summon wealth on its own.
What it is
Anthony Norvell taught that scattered, half-formed wants get nowhere; the deeper mind needs a definite assignment. In The Million Dollar Secret Hidden in Your Mind (1963) he urges the reader to “Build a Strong Master Motive” — one clear, dominant aim — and to make the things you want explicit.
The written form of this is a list of desires organized around that master motive: you put your goals in concrete words, keep one central aim at the head, and return to the list regularly with a sense of expectancy.
This is Norvell’s version of the “definite chief aim” / written-goal tradition that runs through the prosperity literature. The act of writing forces precision (the same precision the mental movie needs), and the regular review keeps the aim active in attention.
Norvell, characteristically, frames the reviewed list as instructions handed to a cosmic-creative power; the dependable part is the ordinary discipline of clear, written, frequently-revisited goals.
The Method
(Attributed paraphrase; “Master Motive” is Norvell’s / the publisher’s phrasing.) 1. Name your Master Motive. Identify the one dominant thing you most want — the aim that organizes the rest. Norvell wants this single and strong, not a tie among many.
- Write the list of desires. Under that aim, write out the specific things you want — money figures, conditions, achievements, relationships — in plain, concrete language. Specificity matters: a sum, a role, a defined result.
- State them positively and as intended outcomes. Write what you want, not what you want to avoid.
- Review the list regularly, with expectancy. Read it over (Norvell ties this to the daily picturing/affirming routine), holding the settled confidence that you are moving toward these things.
- Let it guide attention and action. Use the list to decide where effort goes and to recognize relevant opportunities and ideas — the “Receiving Station for Great Ideas” stance.
- Revise deliberately, not restlessly. Update as goals are met or genuinely change; don’t rewrite the central aim on a whim.
Source & Lineage
From Anthony Norvell, The Million Dollar Secret Hidden in Your Mind (1963; Tarcher/Penguin reissue 2012), where “Build a Strong Master Motive” is one of the book’s headline methods.
The written-goal practice belongs to the broad New Thought / success-metaphysics stream — Napoleon Hill’s “definite chief aim,” the later goal-card and ideal-scene methods — which Norvell rendered into accessible lecture-hall form.
Common refinements
Too many co-equal goals. Without a true Master Motive, attention diffuses; pick the one that leads.
- Vague entries. “More money” or “success” can’t direct behaviour; quantify and concretize.
- Filing and forgetting. The review is what keeps the list working; an unread list is inert.
- Expecting the list to act for you. Writing and reviewing is a planning and attention tool, not a transaction with the universe; the work and the money still have to be earned.