“You go ahead, stand still, or go backwards in life. Your objective should be to go ahead.”
~ Napoleon Hill
Good morning friends. Today, we continue on with our self inquiry and taking a long, hard look at the 31 Major Causes of Failure as listed in Napoleon Hill’s classic “Think and Grow Rich”.
I’ve already shared with you the first 15 causes. And I must say, it appears that this list pushed a few buttons out there 🙂
A number of you wrote to me expressing deep desires to make changes. This is fantastic !!!
Hill’s list must have shifted something for me too, because in the blink of an eye, I saw a business I’ve been aiding come to life on the techno-color screen of my mind, where my imagination first begins to take form.
Napoleon Hill says that when we experience these bursts of ideas that appear out of infinite intelligence we must act upon them immediately. As I thought through the first 15 causes of failure, procrastination came to mind. Before reading this book, I never would have said I was procrastinating here. I think I’ve been working pretty persistently with my client on it.
However, remember what Napoleon Hill said about Procrastination: Most people go through life waiting for “the time to be just right'” to start doing something worthwhile. The time will never be “just right”. Do not wait. Start where you stand, work with whatever tools you have at your command, and you will acquire better tools as you go along.
I’ve been waiting for my client to experience the stroke of genius. Waiting for her to get all her p’s & q’s in order!
Haha … Jokes on me! I’ve been caught in my own folly!! As Buddha says, life is a flowing river. The p’s and q’s of today, will not be the p’s and q’s of tomorrow. I need to build my client a framework in order to express this universal truth. Yesterday, I was finally able to assimilate all that she’s been saying. I was ready to stop viewing this as “her project” and instead “our project”. It took another email from a friend, and suddenly, I saw it clear as a bell. I have a knowing about how to proceed. My desire to help her get this project on the map is burning !!!!
Thank you Napoleon Hill … and to you my friends for helping me to stick with it …
This book is pure magic !!
So let’s continue on shall we …
The Final 16 of The 31 Major Causes of Failure:
——————–
- Overcaution.
— The person who takes no risk generally is left with the leftovers. - Wrong selection of associates in business.
— There’s a saying that we are the average of our 5 closest friends. Select only employers who are an inspiration, intelligent & successful. Or to quote Amy Poehler: “I want to be around people that do things. I don’t want to be around people anymore that judge or talk about what people do. I want to be around people who dream, and support, and do things !! - Superstition & prejudice.
— Superstition is a form of fear & ignorance. Successful people keep an open mind and are afraid of nothing. - Wrong selection of a vocation.
— The most essential step. You cannot have outstanding success in work you don’t like. - Lack of concentration of effort.
— The jack-of-all-trades seldom is good at any. - The habit of indiscriminate spending.
— Create savings. Money in the bank gives you a firm foundation of courage. Without it, you will live in fear of poverty and take what you are offered, and be glad to get it. - Lack of enthusiasm.
— Enthusiasm is contagious and well received. Without it, you cannot be convincing. - Intolerance.
— Intolerance means you have stopped acquiring knowledge. Open your mind !! - Intemperance.
— Overindulgence is fatal to success, particular overeating, drugs, alcohol and sex. - Inability to cooperate with others.
— This is the biggest cause of failure. Leaders will not tolerate it. - Possession of power that was not acquired through self-effort.
— Quick riches are more dangerous in poverty. Be happy if you weren’t born to wealthy parents. - Intentional dishonesty.
— If you are dishonest by choice, you will lose your reputation. - Egotism and vanity.
— A big red light telling others to stay away … Qualities fatal to success. - Guessing instead of thinking.
— Preferring to act on “opinions”, most people are too lazy to research and acquire facts. - Lack of capital.
— You must have sufficient reserve of capital to absorb the shock of your mistakes. - Anything personal you wish to share ???
At the end of his list, Hill advises us to share this list with a close friend or colleague to help us analyze ourselves. Most people cannot see themselves as others see them. You may be one who cannot ….
Knowing yourself is absolutely critical to achievement.
Just as a person selling goods needs to know his merchandise, a person marketing personal services must know him or herself.
Your value is established entirely by your ability to render useful service or your capacity to induce others to render such service. It is one thing to want money – everyone wants more. But it is something entirely different to be worth more.
Constantly work to improve yourself.
You should know all of your weaknesses in order to bridge them or eliminate them entirely.
You should know your strengths in order to call attention to them.
As if the 31 Causes of Failure List wasn’t enough, Hill then provides us with a 28 Point Self-Analysis Questionaire.
Here’s a copy of the Self-Analysis Questionaire someone was so kind to have typed up:
http://keepingitpersonal.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/SELF-ANALYSIS-QUESTIONNAIRE-FOR-PERSONAL-INVENTORY.pdf
If you are a business planner like me, you will take this very seriously. I’m going to spend some time with this, and into my annual planner it shall go. Honest inquiry should reveal whether we are making advancement against our hurdles. Hill says that we should include in our New Years Resolutions any improvements that the analysis indicates should be made.
We either go ahead, stand still or go backwards in life. Our objective should be to go ahead.
