“No more effort is required to aim high in life, to demand abundance and prosperity, than is required to accept misery and poverty.”
~ Napoleon Hill
The 1st Principle of Success: Desire
In order for us to succeed, we must be willing to dream big, have full belief in our ability to achieve, and allow ourselves no possible way of retreat.
If we always pull up and go where the going seems easier, we will not succeed. We must be willing to back our plans with persistence – a persistence which does not recognize failure. Thomas Edison is a shining example, failing more than 10,000 times before inventing the lightbulb. He stood by his dream until finally he was driven to the discovery of the genius that slept within his brain.
“Every failure brings with it the seed of an equivalent success.”
“No one is ready for a thing until they believe they can acquire it. The state of mind must be belief, not mear hope or wish. Open-mindedness is essential for belief. Closed minds do not inspire faith, courage and belief.”
Hill interviewed some of the greatest inventors in modern history, all of whom share this quality of mind. Their product or service may be different, but the story of their success is the same: dreams, followed by failures, followed by lessons learned, then success.
Hill offers a Six Step Method for turning Desire into Gold:
1. Fix in your mind the exact amount of money you desire.
2. Determine exactly what you intend to give in return. There is no such reality as “something for nothing”.
3. Establish a definite date you intend to possess the money you desire.
4. Create a definite plan of action, whether you are ready or not.
5. Now write the plan out.
6. Very important! Read your written statement aloud, twice a day: Once upon waking, and once before retiring to bed. As you read your plan, see & feel & believe yourself already in possession of the money.
What I note here is that Hill does not say start with an idea. No. He says start by DESIRING money (or I think an object/experience of desire, which generally implies needing money). Then figure out what you offer in exchange to get it.
“These steps require no hard labor, no sacrifice, no particular education. But they do call for enough imagination to see, and to understand, that the accumulation of money cannot be left to chance or luck. You will never have riches unless you work yourself into a white heat of desire for money, and actually believe you will possess it.”
After reading this section of the book, I spent much of yesterday thinking about my life’s path. I would say this is very true of each success I’ve achieved. I did not start by desiring just money per se, but I did have that “white-hot burning desire” Hill talks about each and every time. Not having money to begin with has never stopped me. I wanted something, and the money did just magically seem to appear. All through my high school years, a poster of New York City hung on the wall above my bed. I had no clue how I would get there. But I knew very deep in my soul that I would. Hard work to keep my GPA up, along with a twist of fate, got me into Cornell University, just hours outside of NYC, where I would eventually take my first job out of college. I had met my first dream.
How about you? Spend some time today thinking about your past successes and how it related to the money you had to begin with.
At this next juncture in my life, once again, I will not sit and wait, hoping for my lottery ticket to come in. Instead, I’m working with a burning desire, a Definiteness of Purpose, to obtain a certain experience, and it requires much more liquid cash than I currently hold in my possession.
My plan is written. Is yours?
I’m going to put my Purposeful Plan on two index cards. I will place the first as my bookmark, so I will read it every day. The second will be on my nightstand. This step Hill says is crucial, and I’ve never followed this step. My plans usually go in a binder, referred to only weekly. A twice daily habit it will become !!
Affirmation: My plan will become reality. The work I will do and the changes I will make are going to provide the exact amount of money I need by May 2015 so that I may gain the next experience I desire (and I’m burning all bridges behind me to leave myself no way of retreat).
