4 Steps Essential for Success

1. A definite purpose backed by a burning desire for its fulfillment.
2. A definite plan, expressed in continuous action.
3. A mind closed tightly against all negative and discouraging influences.
4. A friendly alliance with one or more persons who will encourage [you] to follow through with both plan and purpose.

-- Napoleon Hill

The goal, as he says, is to make these four steps habit. No matter what we do on a day-to-day basis, dealing with the humdrum of everyday life, we need to make sure that we have these four elements constantly working for us. We need to take the time to set them in motion and then help them pick up steam.

Jim Collins in "Good to Great" describes a giant flywheel that takes the great effort of a constantly applied "push" to get the flywheel to begin to move. The pushes can't be sporadic or intermittent, the push needs to be constant and continuous. Only then will the flywheel begin to move. And the more pressure is applied continuously the faster the flywheel will turn. Eventually the flywheel will begin to whip around at high speeds based on its own accord and the energy you've invested in to the push.

This same philosophy applies, I believe, to the four steps essential for success. There has to be constant and continuous effort to make the four steps part of the every day. They don't work if you come back to them on the occasion of a burst of energy or epiphany. They need to be part of the fabric of your every day life.

Do not forget them in the din of the everyday - put them at the top of your list of daily activities. Water them and watch them grow in to the success you want.

Overcoming Fear

Fear, the worst of all enemies, can be effectively cured by forced repetition of acts of courage. - Napoleon Hill

I love this statement - the truth in it is astounding. I recall the fear I had, and sometimes still have at standing up for myself. A small act of courage perhaps, but no easy act for me. When I was younger my mom fought all my battles for me; this lead to me ducking many difficult situations later in life because I was incapable of effectively dealing with them. I never had to in the past.

I still get uncomfortable in confrontations, but I am less worried about the outcome now. Why? Because my wife forced me to repeatedly act with courage in sticking up for myself and our family. She doesn't let me get pushed around, but instead of fighting the battles for me she forces me to stand up for myself. I love her so much for her actions. She has helped me diminish the fear of confrontation and honesty by forcing repetition on me. It is the best medicine.

Fear will always be there, but if you can force yourself to overcome it by repeatedly engaging in acts of courage you will be able to diminish its hold on you and relegate it to one of those fleeting emotions that you have sound control over.

It's Been a Long Time...

Wow, I have really neglected my personal blog - which is never a good thing. I have been consumed with blownmortgage.com. I've posted over 200 times there since its inception a few months ago. I am also now a contributor to Bloodhound Blog and am a paid blogger for the new Loan.com blog. Oh, and I also started up our company's blog at blog.newdaytrust.com.

A lot of blogging. I've been reading a lot lately too and Monday I'll be posting some more of my Napoleon Hill learnings over the last few weeks.

Desire

"The starting point of all achievement is desire. ... Weak desires bring weak results, just as a small amount of fire makes a small amount of heat." - Napoleon Hill

When it comes down to difficulties (and successes) there are really only two options: 1. stand up for yourself and what you believe in or 2. pack up and go home. There isn't much else. The desire to choose yourself, to choose your success is the key to success; and it is the key to prevailing over temporary set backs. The desire to succeed, to enjoy the things in life you want to enjoy is the power that keeps the successful moving forward towards their goals in spite of great difficulties.

The weak pack up and go home. They accept what life gives them as their fate. They accept this with out any attempt to change it. The lack of desire to improve their situation is in equal proportion to the lack of power they feel to change it. Weak desires produce weak results.

Without a goal, and with out the burning desire to achieve that goal you are at the whim of the world and nature. You accept what life gives you, good or bad, because you refuse to persist to the end state you desire. Giving up because things get difficult is the surest way to failure. There is hardly a man of wealth that didn't pay for his rewards in sheer persistence in overcoming obstacles along the way.

Desire, coupled with unwavering persistence is the only way to meet your goals.

Any Road

If you don't know where you are going, any road will take you there. - Anon.

The world has the habit of making room for the man whose words and actions show he knows where he is going - Napoleon Hill

Every book that I have read about self-improvement, business improvement or any other type of book that talks about how to improve a situation always starts with a defined end state. What is the goal of all of this work and exertion. If you don't know it, can't see it in your head, and don't have it clearly defined, there is no possible way that you can work efficiently towards it.

And with all I know, I still don't know enough to have my personal plan written. I don't recall my end state that I am striving for. I have written it before, but it has spent too much time in a desk drawer for it to come clearly to my head. I need to rewrite it, post it up where I can clearly see it every day, and make it a living document that I revise occasionally to keep in tune with my desires.

In Michael Gerber's E-Myth Revisited he talks about having a "primary aim" which is a broader life-goal that should help steer the efforts of your life, your work, and the business you own. He contends that if you don't know what you want, how can your business give it to you? It is so true. If you don't know each morning what you are waking up to accomplish any path that suits your fancy for the day will work. In the end you'll walk in circles, sideways, backwards, all the while wondering "Why aren't I getting anywhere in life?" when the answer is clearly "I have no where I'm trying to get to."