The Law of Success. Napoleon Hill
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a written copy of your statement of your definite chief aim. With this exception, however, you are explicitly instructed to keep the object of your chief aim to yourself. The world is full of “Doubting Thomases” and it will do your cause no good to have these rattle-brained people scoffing at you and your ambitions. Remember, what you need is friendly encouragement and help, not derision and doubt.
If you believe in prayer you are instructed to make your definite chief aim the object of your prayer at least once every twenty-four hours, and more often if convenient. If you believe there is a God who can and will aid those who are earnestly striving to be of constructive service in the world, surely you feel that you have a right to petition Him for aid in the attainment of what should be the most important thing in life to you.
If those who have been invited to join your friendly alliance believe in prayer, ask them, also, to include the object of this alliance as a part of their daily prayer.
Comes, now, one of the most essential rules which you must follow. Arrange with one or all of the members of your friendly alliance to state to you, in the most positive and definite terms at their command, that THEY KNOW YOU CAN AND WILL REALIZE THE OBJECT OF YOUR DEFINITE CHIEF AIM. This affirmation or statement should be made to you at least once a day; more often if possible.
These steps must be followed persistently, with full faith that they will lead you where you wish to go! It will not suffice to carry out these plans for a few days or a few weeks and then discontinue them. YOU MUST FOLLOW THE DESCRIBED PROCEDURE UNTIL YOU ATTAIN THE OBJECT OF YOUR DEFINITE CHIEF AIM, REGARDLESS OF THE TIME REQUIRED.
From time to time it may become necessary to change the plans you have adopted for the achievement of the object of your definite chief aim. Make these changes without hesitation. No human being has sufficient foresight to build plans which need no alteration or change.
Side note: “Yes, he succeeded—but—he almost failed!” So did Robert Fulton and Abraham Lincoln and nearly all the others whom we call successful. No man ever achieved worth-while success who did not, at one time or other, find himself with at least one foot hanging well over the brink of failure.
If any member of your friendly alliance loses faith in the law known as the “Master Mind,” immediately remove that member and replace him or her with some other person.
Andrew Carnegie stated to the author of this course that he had found it necessary to replace some of the members of his “Master Mind.” In fact he stated that practically every member of whom his alliance was originally composed had, in time, been removed and replaced with some other person who could adapt himself more loyally and enthusiastically to the spirit and object of the alliance.
You cannot succeed when surrounded by disloyal and unfriendly associates, no matter what may be the object of your definite chief aim. Success is built upon loyalty, faith, sincerity, co-operation and the other positive forces with which one must surcharge his environment.
Many of the students of this course will want to form friendly alliances with those with whom they are associated professionally or in business, with the object of achieving success in their business or profession. In such cases the same rules of procedure which have been here described should be followed. The object of your definite chief aim may be one that will benefit you individually, or it may be one that will benefit the business or profession with which you are connected. The law of the “Master Mind” will work the same in either case. If you fail, either temporarily or permanently, in the application of this law it will be for the reason that some member of your alliance did not enter into the spirit of the alliance with faith, loyalty and sincerity of purpose.
The last sentence is worthy of a second reading!
The object of your definite chief aim should become your “hobby.” You should ride this “hobby” continuously; you should sleep with it, eat with it, play with it, work with it, live with it and THINK with it.
Whatever you want you may get if you want it with sufficient intensity, and keep on wanting it, providing the object wanted is one within reason, and you ACTUALLY BELIEVE YOU WILL GET IT! There is a difference, however, between merely “wishing” for something and ACTUALLY BELIEVING you will get it. Lack of understanding of this difference has meant failure to millions of people. The “doers” are the “believers” in all walks of life. Those who BELIEVE they can achieve the object of their definite chief aim do not recognize the word impossible. Neither do they acknowledge temporary defeat. They KNOW they are going to succeed, and if one plan fails they quickly replace it with another plan.
Every noteworthy achievement met with some sort of temporary setback before success came. Edison made more than ten thousand experiments before he succeeded in making the first talking machine record the words, “Mary had a little lamb.”
If there is one word which should stand out in your mind in connection with this lesson, it is the word PERSISTENCE!
You now have within your possession the pass-key to achievement. You have but to unlock the door to the Temple of Knowledge and walk in. But you must go to the Temple; it will not come to you. If these laws are new to you the “going” will not be easy at first. You will stumble many times, but keep moving! Very soon you will come to the brow of the mountain you have been climbing, and you will behold, in the valleys below, the rich estate of KNOWLEDGE which shall be your reward for your faith and efforts.
Everything has a price. There is no such possibility as “something for nothing.” In your experiments with the Law of the Master Mind you are jockeying with Nature, in her highest and noblest form. Nature cannot be tricked or cheated. She will give up to you the object of your struggles only after you have paid her price, which is CONTINUOUS, UNYIELDING, PERSISTENT EFFORT!
Side note: Neglecting to broaden their view has kept some men doing one thing all their lives.
What more could be said on this subject? You have been shown what to do, when to do it, how to do it and why you should do it. If you will master the next lesson, on Self-confidence, you will then have the faith in yourself to enable you to carry out the instructions laid down for your guidance in this lesson.
Master of human destinies am I!
Fame, love, and fortune on my footsteps wait.
Cities and fields I walk; I penetrate
Deserts and seas remote, and passing by
Hovel and mart and palace—soon or late
I knock, unbidden, once at every gate!
If sleeping, wake—if feasting, rise before
I turn away. It is the hour of fate,
And they who follow me reach every state
Mortals desire, and conquer every foe
Save death; but those who doubt or hesitate,
Condemned to failure, penury, and woe,
Seek me in vain and uselessly implore.
I answer not, and I return no more!
—INGALLS
Lesson Three. Self-Confidence
“You Can Do It if You Believe You Can!”
Before approaching the fundamental principles upon which this lesson is founded it will be of benefit to you to keep in mind the fact that it is practical—that it brings you the discoveries of more than twenty-five years of research—that it has the approval of the leading scientific men and women of the world who have tested every principle involved.
Skepticism is the deadly enemy of progress and self-development. You might as well lay this book aside and stop right here as to approach this lesson with the feeling that it was written by some long-haired theorist who had never tested the principles upon which the lesson is based.
Surely this is no age for the skeptic, because it is an age in which we have seen more of Nature’s