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.