Creative Vision
by Napoleon Hill
Creative Vision, expressed by men and women who have been unafraid of criticism has been responsible for the civilization of today as we know it. It has also been responsible for the scientific inventions of modern times which have led first to the steamboat age during the days of Robert Fulton; then the railroad age, then electrical age, the steel and iron age, the department store age, the skyscraper age, the automobile age, the airplane age, the age of plastics, and finally the atomic and space age.
Creative vision inspires men to pioneer and to dare to experiment with new ideas in every field of endeavor. It is always on the lookout for better ways of doing man’s labor and supplying man’s needs.
Creative vision is a quality of mind belonging only to men and women who follow the habit of going the extra mile, for it recognizes no such thing as the regularity of working hours, is not concerned with monetary compensation, and the highest aim is to do the impossible.
This quality, more than all others, gave us Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Paine, George Washington, Abraham Lincoln and many other great statesmen who laid the solid foundation for our way of life.
And it gave us Thomas A. Edison in invention, Henry Ford in automobile transportation, Orville and Wilbur Wright in the development of the airplane, James J. Hill in railroad pioneering, F.W. Woolworth in chain store merchandising, Andrew Carnegie in the development of the steel industry, Charles M. Schwab in the same industry, John D Rockefeller, Sr., in the refinement of crude oil, and many other American industrialists who pioneered our system of free enterprise through the trial an error method, and developed it to the point at which it is today.
Creative vision may be an inborn quality of the mind, or it may be an acquired quality, for it may be developed by the free and fearless use of the faculty of the imagination.
There are two types of imagination:
(a) Synthetic imagination, which consists of a combination of previously recognized ideas, concepts, plans or facts arranged in a new order, or put to a new use.
(b) Creative imagination, which has its base in the subconscious section of the mind, and serves as the medium by which basically new facts or ideas are revealed through the faculty of the sixth sense.
It is known that any idea, plan or purpose, brought into the conscious mind repeatedly and supported by emotional feeling, is automatically picked up by the subconscious section of the mind and carried out to its logical conclusion by means of whatever practical media are available.
Understand this truth and it will be clear why you should adopt a definite major purpose and begin at once to carry it out. The understanding of this truth will also reveal one of the major benefits of the mastermind principle, as a master mind alliance in operation inspires the use of the imagination and leads to the development of creative vision.
Creative vision is definitely and closely related to that state of mind known as faith, and it is significant that those who have demonstrated the greatest amount of creative vision are known to have been men with a great capacity for faith. This is both logical an understandable when we recognize that faith is the means of approach to Infinite Intelligence, the source of all knowledge and all facts, both great and small.
Sound character is built of sterner stuff than complaints
The great leaders of this and past generations began their careers in the humblest of capacities. By the application of some combination of the seventeen principles of individual achievement, each one promoted himself to the goals he had set his heart upon, and none of them complained of the lack of opportunity.
Andrew Carnegie began as a bobbin-boy in a textile mill, at wages of fifty cents a day. Charles M. Schwab began as a stagecoach driver and worked later as a day laborer in the steel mills of Pennsylvania.
Henry Ford began as a stationary engineer for an electric light and power plant. Edison began as a newsboy and later took up telegraphy.
John Wanamaker began as a clerk in a retail clothing store. F.W. Woolworth began in a similar capacity, in a hardware store. And many former Presidents of the United States began in equally humble positions.
The list could be extended until it would include practically every great leader America ever produced, each and every one of whom began his career under circumstances far less favorable than those which are enjoyed by the majority of workers in industry today, and at far less wages.
So it makes little difference where a man begins. The important thing is: Where is he going? What motive has he to inspire him to give him the best that is in him? Is he willing to go the extra mile, or does he allow his hammer to hang in the air, the blow only half struck, when the whistle blows? Which does he watch the closer, the clock or the sign of an opportunity to make himself indispensable by the quality and quantity of service he renders?
These are the questions which every ambitious man should ask himself. And he should be in a position to answer them. The man who has creative vision can answer them. He knows where he is going. He knows what he desires of life, and he knows that life never permits anyone to get something of value for nothing without eventually paying more for it than it is worth.
The man with creative vision knows that he can succeed only by helping others succeed, and he knows also that it is not necessary for another man to fail in order that he may succeed.
The man with creative vision produces results instead of alibis. If he makes mistakes, as all men do, he is not afraid to accept the responsibility for them, and he never tries to shift that responsibility to another man.
He makes decisions quickly, but changes them just as readily when he discovers that he has made the wrong decision. He has no fear of others, either of higher or lower rank than himself, for he is at peace with his own conscience, is fair with his fellowmen, and honest with himself.
These are some of the traits of character of which creative vision is born.
These are plain words, but men of sound character and creative vision relish plain speaking.
One of the common weaknesses of most of us is that we look with envy at the men who have attained noteworthy success, taking stock of them during the hour of their triumph without taking note of the price each had to pay for his success. And we erroneously believe that they owe their success to some sort of pull, luck or dishonesty.
Personal achievement, power, fame, and riches: each has a definite price, and the man with creative vision not only knows the price but is willing to pay it.
The man with creative vision understands the benefits of sharing his blessings, his experiences and his opportunities with others, for he recognizes that only by this method can he attain and enjoy enduring prosperity, happiness and the respect of other men.
The man with creative vision also understands that combined creative vision of several minds, directed toward a definite end in a spirit of harmony, is the very heart of the master mind principle and that this type of creative vision is a tremendous source of power.
Source: PMA Science of Success by Napoleon Hill Pages 401, 402, Pages 418-420.
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