Imagination · “Feel It Real”
Wattles' Certain Way
Get what you want by acting on things ‘in a Certain Way’: form a clear mental image of the definite thing desired, hold it with unwavering faith and constant gratitude, and back it every day with efficient action in your present business — impressing the image on Formless Substance while doing today’s work well.
Form a clear, definite image of exactly what you want. Hold it daily with firm faith and deep, continual gratitude that it is already coming. Then act in the Certain Way: do all of today’s work, efficiently and completely, where you now stand — moving toward the image with the expectation of receiving. Think creation, not competition.
What it is
Wallace Wattles’ The Science of Getting Rich claims there is a “Certain Way” of thinking and acting that produces wealth as reliably as a science.
Its engine is a tight loop: hold a clear mental image of the definite thing you want, charge it with unwavering faith and deep gratitude, and back it daily with efficient, purposeful action in your present occupation.
Crucially — and unlike purely imaginative methods — Wattles welds visualization to work: you impress the image on the creative “Formless Substance” while doing “all that can be done each day” in the place you now stand.
It is the practical, action-anchored member of the imagination/assumption family.
The Method
- Form a clear, definite image. “You must have a clear mental picture of what you want.” Vagueness fails; know specifically the thing, the sum, the situation. “You cannot transmit an idea unless you have it yourself.”
- Hold the image with faith and purpose. Keep the picture steadily, with the intention to realize it and the faith that it is already on its way. “Hold with the firmest faith that your desire is being realized.” Doubt is the leak.
- Charge it with gratitude — the key practice. Wattles makes gratitude central: “The grateful mind is constantly fixed upon the best. and tends to become the best.” Give thanks, deeply and continually, for the good already coming. Gratitude keeps you connected to the source and out of competitive, fearful thought.
- Impress the image (your daily sitting). Contemplate the clear picture with faith and thanksgiving until it is firmly fixed, “giving thanks that it shall be yours.” Do this until the image is settled and the gratitude genuine.
- Act in the Certain Way — now, where you are. “By thought, the thing you want is brought to you; by action you receive it.” Do every day’s work efficiently and completely; “do all that you can do today,” put your whole mind into present action, and act with the unshakable expectation of receiving.
- Stay out of the competitive mind. Think in terms of creation, not competition — there is enough; act to give every person more use-value than the cash-value you take. (Sourcing note: quoted phrases are from The Science of Getting Rich; the numbered structure is an attributed paraphrase.)
Source & Lineage
Wallace Delois Wattles (1860–1911) was an American New Thought writer influenced by Hegel, Emerson, and Swedenborg. The Science of Getting Rich (1910), his best-known work, later inspired Rhonda Byrne’s The Secret.
His “Certain Way” fused New Thought metaphysics with a strong, practical insistence on present action.
Common refinements
Image without action. Wattles is blunt that visualization alone fails; the image must be married to doing today’s work fully and well.
- Skipping gratitude. Gratitude is not decoration here — it is the mechanism that keeps faith alive and the mind on “the best.” Drop it and faith decays into anxiety.
- Competitive thinking. Scheming to take from others re-installs lack; think creation and added value.
- Hazy wants. “Get rich” is too vague; specify the definite thing.