How Napoleon Hill's Success Principles Actually Work!

He was a popular American author.

He wrote the book Think and Grow Rich.

He's Napoleon Hill, and here are his top 10 tools for success. A definite purpose must be accompanied by a definite plan for its attainment, followed by appropriate action. Now, you have to have a purpose, you have to have a plan, and you have to start putting that plan into action. And ladies and gentlemen, it's not too important that your plan be sound. It is in fact not too important, because if you find that you've adopted a plan that's not sound, that's not working, you can always change. You can modify your plan. But it is very important that you be definite about what it is you're going after, what your purpose is. That must be very definite.

Learn to adjust yourself to other people's state of mind and difficulties so as to get along peacefully with them, and to refrain from taking notice of trivial circumstances in your relations with other people by refusing to allow allow them to become controversial incidents. Great people always avoid small incidents of controversy when possible.

If you want the mind to pick up an idea and to form a habit so that the mind will automatically act upon that idea, you've got to tell the mind what you want over and over and over again. No end to it. When Mr. Coue came over here some years ago with his famous formula, "Day by day in every way I'm getting better and better," he cured thousands of people, but a very great number more than that he didn't cure. And I wonder if you would know why. There was no desire, there was no feeling put into that statement. You might just as well blow in the wind as to make a statement unless you put some feeling back of it. Unless you believe it.

Procure a neat pocket-sized notebook or something on the order of this one here, loose leaf affair. And on page 1, write down a clear description of your major desire in life, the one circumstance or position or thing which you will be willing to accept as your idea of success. And remember before you begin writing that your only limitations are those which you set up in your own mind or permit others set up for you. And 2, on page 2 of your notebook, write down a clear statement of precisely what you intend to give in return for that which you desire from life. And then start in right where you stand now to begin giving. And 3, memorize both of your statements—what you desire and what you intend to give in return for it—and repeat them at least a dozen times daily. And always end your statements with this expression of gratitude for the blessings with which you were gifted at birth.

Any dominating desire, plan, or purpose which is backed by that state of mind known as faith is taken over by the subconscious section of the mind and acted upon immediately. I don't know for sure, ladies and gentlemen, but I suspect that there's a relatively small number of people in the world at any one time who understand the principle of faith, who really understand it and know how to apply And even if you do understand it, if you don't back it up with action and make it a part of your habit life, you might just as well not understand it. Because faith without deeds is dead. Faith without action is dead. Faith without absolute positive belief is dead. I don't know how you're going to get any results through believing unless you put some Action back of that belief. And incidentally, if you tell your mind often enough that you have faith in anything, the time will come when your subconscious mind will accept that. Even if you tell your mind often enough that you have faith in yourself. Had you ever thought what a nice thing it would be if you had such complete faith in yourself that you wouldn't hesitate to undertake anything you wanted to do in life? Had you ever thought what a benefit that would be to you?

Your personality determines whether people are attracted to you or shy away from you. It is the show window in which you display your character to the world, and it is the one thing which distinguishes you from all other human beings. It is your trademark by which people recognize you, and it is the thing which determines your success or failure in selling yourself through life. Therefore, you should see your personality just as others see it. So you may improve it where it needs improvement.

If you would sit down and put an hour-by-hour account of the actual work that you put in each day for one week, and then an hour-by-hour account of the time that you waste that you could devote to anything you want to if you wanted to badly enough, you're going to get one of the shocks of your life. We're not efficient. You know, we have about 8 hours to sleep and about 8 hours to earn a living, then have 8 hours of free time. But you can do anything that you want to with here in this country where we live. And then definiteness of purpose makes one more alert in recognizing opportunities related to the object of one's major purpose, and it inspires the courage to embrace and act upon those opportunities. And now we all see opportunities almost every day of our lives which, if we embrace them and acted upon them, could benefit us. But there's something in us that we call procrastination. We just don't have the will, the alertness, the determination to embrace opportunities when they come along. But if you condition your mind with this philosophy, you'll not only embrace opportunities, but you'll do something better. What could you do better than embrace an opportunity? Make the opportunity.

That's the idea. Success is something which has to be planned, and success is something which has to be earned in advance. True, there is such a thing as luck, but just remember that luck is something you can create for yourself if you know the rules and follow them just as I give them to you. Remember too that success in the higher brackets of achievement is something that can be had only by taking others along with you. And the best definition of success which I know is this: success is the knowledge with which to get whatever you want from life without violating the rights of others and by helping others to acquire it.

The very minute that you decide upon something, you know that's what you want, you know you're going to do it, all of these negatives that have been bothering you, they pick up their baggage and get out. They just move out. They can't live in a positive mind. Can you imagine a negative frame of mind and a positive frame of mind occupying the same space at the same time? Could you imagine that? No, you can't, because it can't be done. And did you know that the slightest bit of a negative mental attitude is sufficient to destroy the power of prayer? Did you know that the slightest bit of a negative mental attitude is sufficient to destroy your plan, whatever it is you're doing, carrying out your definiteness of purpose? You have to move with courage, with faith, with determination in connection with carrying out your definiteness of purpose.

Whatever the mind can conceive and believe, the mind can achieve. Isn't that a profound statement? You will notice that it says nothing about the need for education. But simply that whatever your mind can conceive and believe, your mind can achieve. Now, if you want evidence that the mind can achieve whatever the mind can conceive without the benefit of formal education, you only have to remember that Thomas A. Edison conceived the idea of becoming an inventor and lived to become the world's greatest scientist in the field of invention. With only 3 months of common school education. Thank you so much for watching.

I made this video because business asked me to. So if there's a famous entrepreneur that you want me to profile next, leave it in the comments below and I'll see what I can do. I'd also love to know which of Napoleon Hill's top 10 rules you love the most. Leave it in the comments. We're going to join in the discussion. Thank you so much for watching. Continue to believe, and I'll see you soon.