|
Countless
millions worldwide have benefited from Napoleon
Hill's work. Now it is your turn.
1.
Definiteness of Purpose.
The
starting point of all achievement, Definiteness of
Purpose--knowing what your goal is, knowing what you
want--fills you with a success-consciousness and
protects you against failure.
Exercise:
Decide on a major goal in your live--either personal
or professional. How much time will you give
yourself to achieve this goal? How will you
know that you achieved it? Is your success
measurable? Attainable? Write out your
goal in a clear, concise, positive manner.
Transfer it to a 3 x 5 card; place it in your office
and home where you will see your goal several times
a day.
Successful
people move on their own initiative, but they know
where they are going before they start.
2.
Master Mind Principle.
The
coordination of effort between two or more
people in a spirit of perfect harmony in order
to attain a specific objective.
Exercise:
Keeping in mind the steps for creating a
Master Mind group given below, list the people
who can help you reach a goal, as well as the
ways in which each can help you.
*
Adopt a definite purpose with an objective to be
attained by the alliance
*
Determine what appropriate benefit each member may
receive in return for his cooperation in the
alliance, and see that he/she gets it
*
Establish a plan through which each member makes a
definite contribution
*
Ensure that harmony prevails in the group
*
Remember that your watchword is definiteness of plan
and purpose
*
Calculate the number of individuals in the group by
the nature of the purpose to be attained
No
person can become a permanent success without taking
others along with him or her.
3.
Applied Faith.
A
state of mind through which your aims, desires,
plans and purposes are translated into their
physical or financial equivalent.
Exercise:
What affirming statements, what beliefs do you feel
you must have faith in before you can reach your
goal? These statements can refer to yourself,
your fellow citizens, or the universe (and
accompanying creator/s) at large.
You
can do it if you believe you can.
4.
Pleasing Personality.
A
pleasing personality helps you master the major
cause of failure--the inability to get along with
people harmoniously.
Exercise:
List the elements of a pleasing personality in which
you most need to make improvement. What steps
will you take to make these changes? How will
changing them help you to reach your goal?
Your
personality is your greatest asset or
liability. It embraces everything you
control: mind, body, and soul.
5.
Going the Extra Mile.
Rendering
more and better service than you are paid to render,
doing it all the time and doing it with a pleasing,
positive attitude. Exercise:
In the process of achieving your goal, and with the
list of your "master minds" in mind, what
"extra miles" might you consider
going? What might be the anticipated results
of these extra efforts? The
most successful people are those who serve the
greatest number of people. 6.
Personal Initiative. The
inner power that starts all action; the power that
inspires the completion of all that one begins. Exercise:
What actions can you take today, right now, to move
toward your goals? How about tomorrow?
What actions will be needed then? Outline your
planned movement toward your goal, beginning each
step with the words, "I will. . ."
Be specific. No
people are free until they learn to do their own
thinking and gain the courage to act on their own
personal initiative. 7.
Self-Discipline. The
ability to control our thoughts and emotions,
self-discipline is the only thing in life over which
you have complete, unchallenged, and unchallengeable
control. Exercise:
Using the "I will. . ." statements
outlined in #6, visualize in your mind that you are
doing each one. Imagine yourself going through
whatever it takes to successfully complete each
step. How does it feel? What do you
notice as possible obstacles? What parts were
easy? What ones were difficult? Direct
your thoughts, control your emotions and ordain your
destiny. 8.
Controlled attention. The
highest form of self-discipline, the act of
coordinating all your mind's faculties and directing
their combined power to a given end. Exercise:
What resources can you use for research as you plan
your strategy for achieving your goals? What
affirmations would be most helpful if they were
placed in your mind for your subconscious to
remember? You
can keep your mind working for you, even while you
sleep, with controlled attention. 9. Enthusiasm. A
contagious state of mind that not only helps you
gain the cooperation of others but, more
importantly, inspires you to draw upon and use the
power of your imagination. Exercise:
It is always important to choose the most positive
language-- with yourself and with others.
Demonstrate that by writing ten statements about
potential obstacles that begin negatively, e.g.,
"I'm afraid that. . ." or "I doubt
that. . ." or "I don't think that. . .
." End each statement with a reason for
your belief or doubt. Now transform that into
a positive statement by rewriting each statement,
replacing "I'm afraid" or "I
doubt" with "I can" or "I
will." Once again, give your reasons for
holding these new enthusiastic and positive
beliefs. See the difference being positive in
word choice can make? Real
enthusiasm comes from within, and is faith in
action.
10. Imagination.
Imagination
is your mind's exercise, challenge and adventure.
It uses old ideas and established facts to reassemble
them into new combinations and to put them to new uses.
Exercise:
Two imagination exercises: First, imagine your
"ideal" life, the one in which your goal has
been reached, things are the way that you want them, you
have everything you desire. What is that life
like? Describe it in detail. Describe all
aspects of it--what you have, where you live, who you
love, etc.
Second,
imagine five alternative methods of achieving your goal;
it's always good to have several choices. Let your
imagination soar, held back by no barriers. Might
these new ideas be incorporated into your current plan
of attack?
Imagination
is the workshop of the soul.
11.
Learning from Adversity and Defeat.
Hardship
and adversity are a common language of nature in which
she speaks to all living creatures and teaches them many
things they would not learn in any other way.
Exercise:
Review your life--both professional and in the personal
realm--and recall several obstacles that have stood in
your way. Think about those obstacles and what
followed after encountering them. Remember how
many of them actually led to positive things: new
knowledge, inspiration, a "lucky" break.
Describe one of these incidents in detail.
Every
adversity carries with it the seed of an equivalent or
greater benefit.
12.
Budgeting Time and Money.
Successful
people know themselves, not as they think they
are, but as their habits have made them:
the use of time and money are the most vital
of these habits.
Exercise:
Detail the time and monetary expenses of
achieving your goals. Break down the
costs as specifically as possible. Where
will you find that time? Where will you
find the money? Will you have to deduct
time or money from other tasks or needs?
What will you do with any spare money you
have?
Tell
me how you use your spare time and how you
spend your money, and I will tell you where
and what you will be ten years from now.
13. Positive
Mental Attitude.
To
govern your life, you must be able to govern your mind,
and that is the starting point of all riches.
Exercise:
Over the next few days, review how much time you spend
on the negative aspects: complaining, gossiping,
fearing or doubting, criticizing. Make an effort
to erase these from your life. Apply the time you
save to something positive (see #12). Replace
negative words--can't, won't shouldn't--with positive
ones--can, will, shall (see #9).
Be
careful what you wish for, for you will surely achieve
it.
14.
Accurate Thinking.
The
accurate thinker recognizes all the facts of life, both
good and bad, and assumes the responsibility of
separating and organizing the two, choosing those which
serve his needs and rejecting all others.
Exercise:
Think of three statements about the obstacles you might
encounter that you now consider facts. Think hard
about the truth of each, doing research if necessary
(see #8). Are these really true? For
example, you own a company that sells beach
chairs. Your obstacle is that beach chairs sell
poorly in winter. That is a fact. But does
that mean beach chairs must sell poorly in January or
simply in cold weather? What if you found a
distributor in the Caribbean or South America? The
fact is, beach chairs could sell year round; it all
depends on how you look at the facts!
You
are what you think.
15.
Sound Physical Health.
The
key that coordinates all other principles and sets all
ideas into motion, sound health provides the
"flavor" to the good things in life.
Exercise:
For one week, keep track of everything you eat and
drink. What percentage of that is
"healthy"? What did you eat or drink
that could do you harm? What should you do away
with? During the week, did you exercise?
What sort of exercise? How many times and for how
long? And your sleep habits, how were they?
Did you get all of the sleep your body needed? Why
or why not? How could you change your lifestyle or
your schedule to incorporate a proper diet and sleep
regimen?
Good
health, a sense of well-being and a purpose for living
make any day beautiful.
16.
Cooperation.
Harmony
based on a definite motive, cooperation is the medium
through which great personal power may be attained; the
willing cooperation and coordination of effort to
achieve a specific objective.
Exercise:
Returning to your Master Mind list (see #2), think of
ways in which you might use your skills and knowledge to
help the people named there in return for the help they
can give you.
Harmonious
cooperation is a priceless asset that you can acquire in
proportion to your giving.
17.
Cosmic Habitforce.
The
cosmic habitforce is the universe's law of equilibrium,
the one natural law into which all other natural laws
resolve themselves.
Exercise:
You manifest in your life that which you think.
List eight things you would like to manifest by thinking
about them repeatedly and by truly believing in them. When
you learn to weave unpleasant circumstances into
something useful, you're on the road to success.
|
