Category Archives: Napoleon Hill

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Positive Mental Attitude

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Positive Mental Attitude

Note: I thought that this time of year is the best time to talk about Napoleon Hill’s description of Positive Mental Attitude. The holiday season is hectic unless we take steps to prevent that.  If we head into the holiday season with a positive mental attitude I guarantee that this holiday will be different from others. Try it out….

A positive mental attitude is basic to all achievement. Having set out on your self-study toward a more successful way of life, begin by considering your habits of thinking. Your mental attitude determines your reaction to whatever situation confronts you. You act favorably or unfavorably constructively or destructively, positively or negatively. Our mental attitude defines our personality. Men and women of great achievement have learned the art of keeping their minds positive. They have learned the art of keeping their minds directed to that which they desire from life.

You have to make choices – choices that determine their destiny. It is as though at birth they were given two sealed envelopes, each of which contained orders by which their lives were to be governed.  One envelope would contain a long list of the blessings the individual could enjoy if he recognized the power of his own mind, took possession of it, made it positive, and directed it carefully to others. The other envelop would contain an equally long list of the penalties the individual must pay if he did not recognize this power and use it constructively.

Our mind is the only thing we can control.  Either we control it, or we relinquish control to other forces, and our minds and our wills become as chips in a puddle of water, being swept one way, then another and never coming to any satisfactory conclusions, easily falling prey to any negative wind that blows.

Without control the mind loses its powerful effectiveness and is as a withered arm. With control, exercise, and direction, the mind gains power.

Any situation that confronts man must be dealt with. There is no such thing as not reacting  to a situation. The situation is fact. Whether the situation is positive or negative depends on your reaction. The wise individual reacts in a consciously thoughtful manner, beneficial to his particular situation. He makes the choice of reacting thoughtfully, with purpose and in the manner most suited to his best interests. This is mastery of a situation. The positive thinker is aware of this choice. the positive thinker is a realist.

Achievement is a result of controlling the mind. Practice insures control at all times. Even when the situation seems disastrous, there is the possibility of a positive attitude. Every adversity carries with it the seed of an equivalent of greater benefit.

How you meet adversity, what you make of it and what you allow it to take from you or give to you are determined by your mental habits. All experiences will do something FOR you – or something TO you.

From: Napoleon Hill; Succeed and Grow Rich Through Persuasion

Use your Gratitude Journal every day during this season! See what benefits gratitude can give to you.

Terrie

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Instructions For Applying Concentration

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Concentration is defined as “the habit of planting in the mind a definite aim, object or purpose, and visualizing the same until ways and means for its realization have been created.”

The principle of concentration is the medium by which procrastination is overcome. The same principle is the foundation upon which self-confidence is predicted.

The object of concentrating on a definite aim is to train the mind until it forms the habit of focusing upon the object of that aim.  By focusing upon one’s definite aim through concentrated effort and attention, this habit comes to influence the subconscious mind so that it picks up the mental concept of that aim and translates it into its physical counterpart through the most practical and direct methods available.

Every person makes use of the principle of concentration whether he realizes it or not. The person who permits his conscious mind to dwell upon the negative thoughts of fear, poverty, ill health, and intolerance, thereby  applies the law of concentration and sooner or later the subconscious mind will pick up these suggestions and act upon them and translate them into their counterparts.

Instructions for applying concentration:

1. Master and apply the principles of auto-suggestion by following the habit of giving orders to your subconscious mind, mixing your thoughts with one or more of the positive emotions and repeating your orders over and over. Keep up this procedure until you get satisfactory results, remembering that eternal vigilance is the price of mastery in this effort.

2. Empty your subconscious mind of all other thoughts. After a little practice you will be able to focus your mind entirely upon any subject that you please. The act of focusing upon one subject and keeping your mind upon that one subject is concentration.

3. Hold your thoughts to the object of your concentration with a burning desire for attainment of whatever object you have in mind. When concentrating upon your Definite Purpose do so in perfect faith that you will realize the object of that aim.

4. When you find your conscious mind wandering, drive it back and force it upon that subject again and again until you have developed such perfect self control that you can keep out of your mind all other thoughts.  Mix emotions or ‘feeling’ with your thoughts when concentrating; otherwise they will not be recognized by your subconscious mind.

5. The principle of concentration may be best applied when one is in an environment of silence where there are no counter attractions or noises of any disturbing nature. The best time for concentrating is after one has retired at night, for then the number of distractions is minimized.

6. Your subconscious mind can best be reached and influenced when you concentrate in your conscious mind upon an idea, plan or purpose in a spirit of intense enthusiasm, for the reason that enthusiasm arouses your faculty of creative imagination and puts it into action.

When you first start your practice of concentration, you may not experience the feeling that you are in communication with a superior intelligence, but in time if you develop the habit of regular concentration, you will be thoroughly cognizant of the fact that a superior intelligence is influencing you.

It is a well-known fact that the jack-of-all-trades never achieves success. Life is so very complicated and there are many ways of dissipating energy unprofitably that the habit of concentrated effort must be formed and adhered to by all who succeed.

Power is predicated upon organized energy. Energy can only be organized through the principle of concentration. It is a fact worthy of serious consideration that all men of outstanding success in all walks of life are men who concentrate the major portion of their thoughts and efforts upon some definite purpose or chief aim.

Source: Napoleon Hill – How to Sell Your Way Through Life, Platinum Edition, 2005.

How good are you at concentrating? Has this helped any? Let us know by commenting below.

Terrie

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The Major Attributes of Initiative and Leadership

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We talked about this in November but here’s another of Napoleon Hill’s works where he describes the 10 attributes of Initiative and Leadership. They help elaborate on the Qualities of Leadership discussed in November with different wording. Take them in and use them to build your talents.

1. Know definitely what you want (your definite major purpose)

2. Build a practical plan or plans for the achievement of that which you want, making use of the counsel and advice of your Master Mind Group.

3. Surround yourself with an organization made up of men who h ave the knowledge and experience essential for carrying out your Definite Aim.

4. Have sufficient faith in yourself and in your plans to see your aim a finished reality even before you begin to carry out your plans.

5. Do not become discouraged no matter what obstacles you meet. If one plan fails to work substitute other plans until you have found one that will work.

6. Do no guessing but get the facts as the basis for all your plans.

7. Do not be influenced by others to abandon your plans or your aim.

8. Have no set hours of labor. The leader must devote to his task whatever hours are necessary for success.

9. Concentrate upon one thing at a time as you cannot dissipate thought and energy and still be efficient.

10. Whenever possible relegate to others the responsibility of details, but have a system for checking your subordinates to see that these details are accurately attended to. Hold yourself accountable at all times for carrying out all of your plans, bearing in mind that if subordinates fail, it is is you yourself who has failed.

What’s happened in your life in the past month? How has your life changed as a result of our review of the quailities of leadership.

Terrie

 

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Leadership – Interacting With Others

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Qualities of Leadership – Interacting With & For Others

* The capacity to take criticism without resentment.

* Willingness to accept full responsibility for the mistakes of subordinates.

* The habit of recognizing the merits and abilities of others.

* The habit of assuming full responsibility for any job or task undertaken.

 * Patience with subordinates and associates.

 For today, I picked the qualities of leadership that had to do with working with others.

 The first quality listed is the ability to take criticism without resentment. This is NOT easy at all. It takes cultivating. It takes realizing that the criticism is something that can be used to grow and be used to get closer to your definite major purpose.

 It’s so hard not to believe that the criticism is not directed against you as a person and doesn’t mean you’re a bad person.

 You have to learn to take the information given and use it to whatever advantage you can come up with. This may be one of the toughest leadership qualities you have to develop. But work on it.

 The other qualities listed have to do with working with others while protecting them and standing up for them. This is where you have to develop understanding of others and cultivate patience when working with them. I guess being in the Navy helped me with these qualities. The Captain of the ship always was responsible for what went down no matter whose fault it was. You cannot blame others when you’re a leader. You just accept things the way they are and look at what happened in the light of what can be improved.

 It’s human nature to want to pass the buck and put blame where it’s due. But you cannot do that and be a true leader.  This will help you stop talking about people and keep you concentrated on your work, your definite major purpose.

 Look at your life, your interactions, see how these principles apply to you.

 Let us know what you discover.

 Terrie



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Leadership – Going The Extra Mile

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Going The Extra Mile

This is one of the most important qualities of leadership for sure. It’s even more important to think about in this day and time.

How often do you feel you go the extra mile? What does “going the extra mile” mean to you? Even more importantly, what feelings did just reading that phrase generate inside of you? I mention that because even though I think that I do go the extra mile when I was writing this question to you I felt butterflies in my stomach! And I’ve done this for many years. So, there is obviously something in my past or inner soul that is stirred by this thought. Perhaps it’s the commitment that’s required because of making that statement in public. I don’t really know. I’ll have to work on it. I confess all this because I know that you might be feeling anxiety at having to even think about going the extra mile. Please, though, don’t let that stop you.

You can read about people who are successful and how they all went the extra mile. What that means is different for each person but it certainly does involve “stretching”.

To succeed you just HAVE to stretch. We’ve talked about stretching when we’ve talked about tithing. If you were having trouble stretching with tithing, you may not be ready to become a leader. Again I’m not trying to aggravate or irritate anyone but you have to be able to do what’s needed. Maybe you have to work longer or maybe you have to reach out to people in your community and help them.

A key element in going the extra mile is doing it without complaining. There is a great element of entitlement in this day and a feeling that things should be “free” or that an individual is “owed” something. You’ll have to examine your theories about that too.

When was the last time you went beyond what was expected of you? Was it something that you were able to do without even being asked? Was it something you were expected to do but you did it faster, more quickly, more thoroughly?

Tell us about it and about the thoughts and feelings you experience when writing about this.

Terrie