Qualities such as persistence, working hard, and having integrity are all important if you are to succeed. Yet all of these will not assure your success. The first step to success begins in our thought process. When Napoleon Hill put the three words, “Thoughts are things” at the beginning of the all-time bestseller, Think and Grow Rich! in 1937, he was stating an essential fact of the success process that he had discovered during his 20 years of research...
You have been disappointed, you have undergone defeat during the depression, you have felt the great heart within you crushed until it bled. Take courage, for these experiences have tempered the spiritual metal of which you are made—they are assets of incomparable value. Remember, too, that all who succeed in life get off to a bad start, and pass through many heartbreaking struggles before they “arrive.” The turning point in the lives of those who succeed, usually comes at the moment of some crisis, through which they are introduced to their “other selves.” If you give up easily, become disenchanted when your goals are blocked and think that you must wait until all conditions are favorable and your progress appears easy, you will be very unlikely to go far in today’s fast-paced world...
To overcome obstacles and hardships, steadiness in one’s progress and a determination to succeed must always be present. Remember what writer Elbert Hubbard said, “The greatest mistake you can make in life is to be continually fearing that you will make one.” If you give up easily, become disenchanted when your goals are blocked and think that you must wait until all conditions are favorable and your progress appears easy, you will be very unlikely to go far in today’s fast-paced world...
It has been said, “Nature holds for each of us all that we need to make us useful and happy; but she requires us to labor and wait for all we get.” We are given nothing of value that does not include the need for labor; and we can expect to overcome difficulties only by strong and noble work...
It has been said, “Nature holds for each of us all that we need to make us useful and happy; but she requires us to labor and wait for all we get.” We are given nothing of value that does not include the need for labor; and we can expect to overcome difficulties only by strong and noble work...
We are not just the results of fate; we are our own fate. As Proverbs says, “As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he.” We are simply our past thoughts and the sum total of the things that these thoughts have attracted to us.
In 1894 while attending a private school, Marconi read an article that suggested the possibility of sending radio waves without wires (the invention of the radio). Napoleon Hill wrote of Marconi’s dream of a system of harnessing ether in Think and Grow Rich. Marconi’s friend took him to a mental institution due to his belief of being able to send messages through the air.
How is your energy level today? Did you wake up eager to face the tasks ahead? Did you push your chair back from the breakfast table with the feeling that you were rarin’ to go? And did you plunge into your work with enthusiasm?
The motto of the Napoleon Hill Foundation is, “Making the world a better place in which to live.” If you believe that life has purpose or meaning, then you can leave a legacy that helps make the world a better place. The decisions that you make—or do not make—will help determine the type of legacy you leave behind. Whether you are part of the solutions to the cries for help or part of the problems that confront the human race will be a result of your actions on a daily basis...