According to Napoleon Hill, the key to building a life that is full and rich is to follow the steps laid out in his ground-breaking book, “Think & Grow Rich”. Despite having written this book about 75 years ago, the message remains relevant even today.
Hill devoted over 20 years developing this blueprint of success, consulting many highly successful, wealthy men along the way. In the end, he narrowed down his findings into thirteen important principles.
The basic underlying principle of his success blueprint centers around the idea that we can create the life we want through the power of our mind. Hill truly believed that if we can think it, we can make it come to pass.
In one of the most well known quotes in modern times, Hill says: “Whatever the mind of man can conceive and believe, it can achieve.”
But he knew that thinking wasn’t enough. There was a lot more involved in the process. By breaking this process down into easy to follow steps, he put success within the reach of people from every walk of life.
He discovered a few basic characteristics that successful people shared.
If you truly want success, you have to know exactly what you want and then go after it. Successful people are masters at sustained persistent action. They set their mind on what they want and continue to focus on achieving exactly that. They are never satisfied with less than achieving their goal.
Hill tells the story of the daughter of a tenant farmer who approached the owner of the farm and said that her mother needed 50 cents. The owner refused and in fact at one point became quite angry. This didn’t cause the girl to run off. Instead she became even more adamant in her request. Because she didn’t waver from her initial aim, she was rewarded with the 50 cents for her mother.
Along with setting a goal, Hill noted that successful people have a burning desire to reach their goal. Desire is the fuel that keeps them motivated and moving towards their objective.
Patience and determination are equally important. You may not totally achieve your goal today or next month or even next year. But never give up. Continue to take whatever action is necessary in order to make it happen.
He uses the example of a downtrodden young man who was determined to work with Thomas Edison. Although initially rebuffed by Edison, Edwin C. Barnes refused to give up. He persisted and when the opportunity came to achieve his goal, he was ready and eventually became involved in a partnership with Edison. .
Unfortunately, quitting too soon is where many fall down. They may know what they want and they may even have a strong desire for it, but they get discouraged and give up before it happens for them.
Consider what happened to R.U.Darby. Unfortunately, he and his uncle didn’t realize that they were on the verge of finding a huge vein of gold in their mine. It seemed as if the mine was tapped out, so they sold it along with their equipment to a junk man for just a few hundred dollars. They were within three feet of a rich new vein when they gave up, turning the new owner into a rich man.
Hill also speaks about how important it is to have the right mindset. As he says, “Success comes to those who become success conscious. Failure comes to those who allow themselves to become failure conscious.”
You’ve heard the expression, failure is not an option. That is exactly the attitude that you must take if you want success. The good news is that Napoleon Hill shows us how to get rid of this self-defeating negativity and instead apply his principles of success.
A great example of this kind of determination is Henry Ford. Although he was already building automobiles successfully, he dreamed of building a V-8 engine, something which had never been done. His engineers tried to dissuade him, telling him it was impossible. He refused to give up on his idea and instead urged his engineers to keep working. And of course, eventually they succeeded.
In “Think & Grow Rich”, the secrets of achieving success are fully revealed. Whether or not you fulfill your dreams is entirely up to you. Will you use the power of your mind to turn your thoughts into things?
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