“Sometimes it’s important to work for that pot of gold. But other times it’s essential to take time off and to make sure that your most important decision in the day simply consists of choosing which color to slide down on the rainbow.”
~ Douglas Pagels – Author
I was up late last night, texting with a few friends on facebook. So between a late night, and then multiple very windy rain showers waking me up last night, I slept straight through sunrise. But isn’t this rainbow from yesterday a real treat!
As soon as I finished up my post yesterday, our power company lost power again to the entire island. We were out for 3 hours, so it really put a dent in my productivity. I used the time to get ahead on the next chapter in Napoleon Hill’s book.
It’s on procrastination.
After having spent the past 13 days reading through the chapter on Organized Planning, I was hoping to see more lists. But this won’t be the case. Instead, we are offered a story. I’d like to read the chapter again today, to see if anything new pops out at me.
Don’t you think it’s kinda funny that exact number I spent on the planning chapter. 13! 13 principles to success !!!
So let me procrastinate on sharing my thoughts on procrastination for a day. Instead, let’s take a moment to summarize where we’re at at this midway point in the book.
In the preface to his book, Hill states that “Achievement, and all earned riches, have their beginnings in an idea.”
And that “Unless you are intentionally searching for the secret to riches, you cannot have it at any price. This is because the secret comes in two parts. And in order for you to get it, one of these parts must already be in your possession.” Humm …
Then, to open the book, we are confronted with Hill’s most widely known quote:
“Thoughts are Things. And powerful things, when they are mixed with definiteness of purpose, persistence, and a burning desire for their translation into riches or other material objects”
Hill then goes on to say that “More than 500 of the most success people this country has ever known told me that their greatest success came just one step beyond the point at which defeat had overtaken them. When defeat overtakes a person, the easiest and most logical thing to do is to quit. That is exactly what the majority of people do.”
But for some, the lessons of defeat will teach them how to “keep on keeping on.”
They learn the art of conveying defeats into stepping-stones to opportunity.
But what if you don’t see the events of your life as being experiences of such profound significance? And what about the young person who doesn’t yet have even minor failures to analyze? Where and how, then, do we learn the art of conveying defeats into stepping stones.
This is why Hill wrote the book. To answer those questions. To convey his answer, he’s constructed 13 principles, which work individually or as catalysts. The specific answer you are looking for may already be in your mind. Reading through these principles may be just the catalyst we need to cause the answer to suddenly come to you as an idea, a plan, or a purpose.
One sound idea is all we need!
And might I say, I think Hill’s magic has been working on quite a few of us !!
So far, we’ve explored the first 6 of the 13 principles to success. The are:
- Desire (and the 6 Step Plan to turn desire into gold)
- Faith in your Ability (and the self-confidence formula)
- Autosuggestion
- Specialized Knowledge
- Imagination
- Organized Planning
And in Organized Planning, we learned a number of critical skills and descriptions of every principle essential in planning the sale of personal services. They are :
- The major attributes of leadership
- The most common causes of failure in leadership
- A description of the fields of opportunity for leadership
- the main causes of failure in all walks of life
- The important question that should be used in self-analysis
What stands out the most for you so far?
For me, I’ve really come to understand how important it is to focus. To really have passion about something. That one thing that we pour our heart and soul into. Without that “burning desire”, this book really won’t do us much good. We’ve got to have that “something” we want to see come to life. And the greater that something is, that can aid humanity as a whole, the greater our reward. If we can dream big, this book provides us with every tool we need to put that dream into action.
As I close out my thoughts here, another beautiful rainbow has just appeared in front of me.
The pot of gold is near …. We just have to believe in it … Be obsessed over it. Now is the time. Don’t wait !! ❤
