HAVE CONFIDENCE IN YOURSELF
BY NAPOLEON HILL

When Thomas A. Edison believed he had discovered the means by which a machine records and reproduces the sound of the human voice, he called in a model maker, gave him a rough pencil drawing of his idea and asked that a working model be built.

The model maker looked at the drawing for a moment, then exclaimed,“Impossible! You’ll never make that thing work.”

“What makes you think it won’t work?” Edison asked.

“Because no one has ever made a machine that could talk” exclaimed the model maker.

Edison could have accepted the verdict and given up his idea of a talking machine. But his mind didn’t work that way.

“Go ahead,” Edison demanded, “and build the model just like this drawing, and let me be the loser if it doesn’t work.”

The man who backs his ideas and plans with selfconfidence always has the advantage of those who give up and quit at the first signs of defeat.

The model was completed and, to the great surprise of the model maker, it worked on the first test.

The first words spoken into the machine were, “Mary had a little lamb, it  followed her to school one day.” When the playback reproduced the words in a high pitched, squeaky sound, Edison grinned broadly and gave the machine another line which rounded out the rhyme—“and this day sound recording is here to stay.”

Success doesn’t crown the person who sells himself short through lack of self-confidence. But it does favor the person who knows what he wants, is determined to get it, and frowns at the word impossible.

It would be a wonderful asset to boys and girls graduating from high school if they were required to do two things before being granted their graduation certificates.

First, they should be required to write out a clear description of their definite chief aim in life and the plan by which they intend to attain it.

Secondly, they should be required to commit to memory their aim and the plan for its attainment and repeat it one hundred times on final examination day, closing with these words—“regardless of the price I have to pay and the obstacles I may need I will carry out my plan and reach my goal because I believe I can.”

Education is not worth much, regardless of how many degrees one may have  attained, unless it has taught one to believe he can do anything he makes up his mind to do.

One of the most successful insurance sales managers in America requires each of his salesmen to spend five minutes before a mirror every morning before starting to work, looking at himself and saying, “You are the greatest living salesman and you are going to prove it today, tomorrow and always.”

And by prearrangement with the sales manager, the wife of each of these salesmen sees him off to work at the door each morning with this message, “You are the greatest salesman living and you will prove it today.”

It is significant that these salesmen are leading all others in their field, which is insurance—said to be something which has to be sold, but never is voluntarily bought.

The subconscious section of the human mind is an imponderable miracle with
unlimited powers that each individual may contact and direct to any desired end. Yet the method by which one may direct it is so simple that many people discount its workability.

Briefly stated, the subconscious can be directed by simply talking to it and giving it orders as if it were an invisible person standing ready with the power and the willingness to do whatever is requested of it.

The subconscious has one very peculiar trait, it believes everything one tells it, and acts accordingly. It not only believes and acts upon one’s spoken words, but more astounding still, it believes in and acts upon one’s thoughts; especially those thoughts which are highly emotionalized with either faith or fear.

The subconscious is also very amenable to the repetition of thoughts and spoken words. This trait is fortunate because it is the simple means by which one can put the subconscious to work in his behalf for any desired purpose. It also explains why the person who allows his mind to dwell upon poverty and failure and ill health, and all of the things he does not want, is plagued by getting just these.

Every successful person has a system for conditioning his mind to feed the subconscious with aims and purposes of his own choice, and to do it is so intensely that it has no opportunity to attract to him anything he does not desire. The technique of the system is unimportant as long as it conveys to the
subconscious, by repetition of one’s desires, a clear description of what is wanted.

Source: Success Unlimited,September 1967, pp. 33-34.

HUMILITY
Napoleon Hill

MANY PEOPLE think of humility, one of the principal ingredients of a pleasing personality, as a negative virtue. But it isn’t. It’s a powerfully positive one.

Humility actually is a force that man can put into operation for his own good. All of his greatest advances— spiritual, cultural, or material—have been based on it.      

It is the prime requisite of true Christianity. With humility, Ghandi set India free. And with its help, Dr. Albert Schweitzer is creating a better world for thousands of Africans.      

Humility is an absolute essential to the type of personality you need to achieve personal success, no matter what your goal. And you will find it even more essential after you have reached the top. Without humility you will never gain wisdom; for one of the most important traits of a wise man is the ability to say “I was wrong.”      

Without humility you will never be able to find what I call the “seed of equivalent benefit” in adversity and defeat. Every adversity or defeat, I have found, carries with it something to help you overcome it—and even rise above it. For example: R. G. LeTourneau started in business as a garage operator, failed at that, and went into the contracting business. He was a sub-contractor on the Hoover Dam project when he ran into an unexpected strata of hard stone.

He lost everything. Le Tourneau didn’t try to blame others or the forces of nature for his losses. He took responsibility himself. After each setback, he found comfort in prayer. It was while praying for guidance that he found the “seed of equivalent benefit” from his last defeat. He’d go into the business of manufacturing machines which could move any kind of earth or rock.      

As result, Le Tourneau earth-moving machinery is now in use throughout the world. LeTourneau has four plants and his personal fortune runs into millions.

To express gratitude for the help he received in turning defeat to victory, Le Tourneau now gives most of his income to churches and devotes much of his time to lay preaching.

Sometimes, humility turns defeat into spiritual blessing.      

In 1955, I visited Lee Braxton, Whiteville, N.C., on the very day he discovered he had suffered a heavy financial loss due to the negligence of an associate.     “Your loss has been a great blessing if it leaves you gifted with humility of the heart and gratitude for those riches you still possess. With it, you can be more successful than ever,” I told him.      

Braxton’s face lighted up with a broad smile. “That’s right,” he said. “I hadn’t thought of it that way.”      

Later, I received a letter from Braxton and he said his income has climbed to an all-time high, more than making up the loss he suffered. Humility is a positive force that knows no limitations.      

Source: Success Unlimited, March 1961, p. 31.

If you got something useful out of this, let us know by commenting below or emailing me.

Terrie

Your subconscious mind
Judith williamson 

Your subconscious mind is a powerful mental magnet. Napoleon Hill’s Philosophy of Success works more efficiently when you engage your subconscious mind in the learning process. Always advanced for his time, Dr. Hill recognized that our conscious mind was merely the tip of the iceberg.      

More advanced and more directly useful to students of success is the subconscious mind. This greater mind can be accessed through positive affirmations, meditation, repetition and visualization. Visual images can accelerate the manifestation of personalized goals and objectives.

Dr. Hill’s famous epigram: “Whatever the mind can conceive and believe, the mind can achieve” works in conjunction with the subconscious mind. By repeating this famous saying, one becomes convinced that individuals can dream, affirm, and manifest personalized goals.

Dr. Hill states that: “You may voluntarily plant in your subconscious mind any plan, thought, or purpose which you desire to translate into its physical or monetary equivalent. The subconscious acts first on the dominating desires which have been mixed with emotional feeling, such as faith.”

The subconscious mind is the seat of the emotions and responds to either positively or negatively charged emotionalized ideas. The thinker controls the thoughts – good or bad; however, the subconscious mind programs the outcome.      

How does this work? Simply put, the subconscious mind is like a fertile garden. Seeds of greatness or seeds of despair can be sown. Sowing seeds of greatness will yield a garden full of beautiful outcomes, while sowing seeds of despair will yield the opposite.

As soon as a person understands that “thoughts are things,” the process can begin. Good thoughts can be planted in the subconscious mind and positive results can be harvested and likewise bad thoughts can be planted and a crop of negative results will grow. Utilizing this process, it becomes obvious that success is achieved through a combination of good thoughts combined with good actions.      

By controlling one’s thoughts, a person can control his destiny. Dr. Hill states that: “Everything which man creates begins in the form of a thought impulse.”      

A thought aligned with strong emotion has a quicker gateway to the subconscious mind than simply a thought without the attachment of an emotionalized feeling.      

Comparing emotionalized thought to the yeast that causes bread dough to rise, Dr. Hill explains that emotion is the action element that transforms thought into action.      

The metaphor of yeast is a good one because it works slowly but uniformly; and before a person realizes it, the dough has multiplied many times over its original size. As you hand over your desires to your subconscious mind, you are planting the seeds of your desire and allowing the subconscious to take inner control and transmute your desires into reality.      

A negative thought and a positive thought cannot exist in the subconscious mind simultaneously. They cancel one another out. By focusing on the positive emotions of desire, faith, love, sex, enthusiasm, romance and hope, one can avoid allowing the negative emotions of fear, jealousy, hatred, revenge, greed, superstition, and anger to take root and destroy the positive outlook.

By disciplining the mind to only allow positive emotions to prevail, an individual conditions the mind so that negative emotions are not permitted to enter it. As the subconscious mind is given its marching orders, it also serves as an intermediary between the mind of man and Infinite Intelligence.

When a proposition is installed by a positively emotionalized thought in the subconscious mind, it next presents the message to the supra-conscious mind or Infinite Intelligence, and brings back a plan of action that when acted upon brings about the desired goal.      

In his section on Applied Faith, Dr. Hill states: “We are what we are, and where we are, because of the dominating thoughts we have permitted to dwell in our own minds.” As an individual works to clear the mind of negative thoughts, the mind is being prepared for an influx of Infinite Intelligence.

This conditioning is essential before you can acquire an active faith that will aid in assisting you in accepting the guidance of Infinite Intelligence. The subconscious mind is the gateway to Infinite Intelligence but it must be prepared as a garden is prepared before the seeds can be planted. In order to keep this gateway open, you must first mentally picture what you want.

This mental imagery combined with applied faith will begin the germination of the seed of your desire.      

Constantly remind the subconscious mind with what it is you want, by repeating short, positive affirmations in the present tense. These affirmations should be stated as if the end result has already occurred. Next, continually hold positive thoughts regarding your goal and put into action steps that will carry you in the direction or realization of this goal.

Finally, offer prayers of gratitude to Infinite Intelligence for the attainment of this goal as if it has already been accomplished. Some individuals like to call this “truth in advance.” It works because your subconscious mind operates best in the present tense. If you pray for something in the future, your subconscious mind will register the thought that this result does not need to happen now, but in some future time.

Offer expressions of gratitude and thanksgiving for what you have already received whether these things have manifested or not in your current, present reality. Infinite Intelligence will offer up a plan to you for the manifestation of your desire provided that your desire does not violate the rights of others. Follow this plan and it will lead you to your definite major purpose.

Once received, give back for what you have been given. The Universe expects a return on its investment just as you do.      

Gardeners understand this Law of Abundance when they reap the crop that they have sown. Single seeds that were sown now become multiplied many times over. A tomato does not produce one seed, but hundreds of seeds for the profitable gardener.

Nature practices the Law of Abundance. You reap what you plant in your subconscious mind – good or bad – because this fertile ground does not distinguish. Rather, it only follows your emotionalized marching orders.      

In conclusion, your mind works like a magnet and draws like things to you. Send out positive thoughts and your subconscious mind will draw rather than repel like-minded thoughts to you – riches, prosperity, health, and all the good things in life.

Conversely, negative thoughts feed and multiply upon themselves too. Condition your magnet for positive attraction, and feel the goodness flow into your life. Do not accept failure, poverty, ill-health, superstition, and all the ills of the world.

These ills do not have to be part of your life program. Rather, tune your subconscious mind like a highly receptive radio that hones in on the exact station you want to receive. Program your subconscious mind for success and you will have it. Accept nothing less.      

In the Midwestern United States, October is a prime month to begin your homework on the subconscious mind. Nature shows us her abundance via the colorful leaves, bountiful harvest, and Indian summer days.      

Nurture your subconscious mind now to deliver your most deserved gifts right on schedule by utilizing some of the following creative suggestions. Create your bountiful harvest and recognize the magnificent power within you!     

Conceive It ——- Believe It ——- Achieve It      

Judith Williamson, Director, Napoleon Hill Foundation