Exploring Leadership Soulutions

The majority of people permit relatives, friends, and the public at large to so influence them that they cannot live their own lives, because they fear criticism.

~ Napoleon Hill, Think & Grow Rich (1937)

There is no substitute for persistence! It cannot be supplanted by any other quality! Remember this, and it will hearten you, in the beginning, when the going may seem difficult and slow.

Those who have cultivated the habit of persistence seem to enjoy insurance against failure. No matter how many times they are defeated, they finally arrive up toward the top of the ladder. Sometimes it appears that there is a hidden Guide whose duty is to test men through all sorts of discouraging experiences. Those who pick themselves up after defeat and keep on trying, arrive; and the world cries, “Bravo! I knew you could do it!” The hidden Guide lets no on enjoy great achievement without passing the persistence test. Those who can’t take it, simply do not make the grade.

~ Napoleon Hill, Think & Grow Rich (1937)

Those who talk too much do little else. If you talk more than you listen, you not only deprive yourself of many opportunities to accumulate useful knowledge, but you also disclose your plans and purposes to people who will take great delight in defeating you, because they envy you.

Remember, also, that every time you open your mouth in the presence of a person who has an abundance of knowledge, you display to that person, your exact stock of knowledge, or your lack of it! Genuine wisdom is usually conspicuous through modesty and silence.

~ Napoleon Hill, Think & Grow Rich (1937)

Poverty and riches often change places. The Crash taught the world this truth, although the world will not long remember the lesson. Poverty may, and generally does, voluntarily take the place of riches. When riches take the place of poverty, the change is usually brought about through well-conceived and carefully executed PLANS. Poverty needs no plan. It needs no one to aid it, because it is bold and ruthless. Riches are shy and timid. They have to be “attracted.” Riches are shy and timid. They have to be “attracted.”

Anybody can wish for riches, and most

People do, but only a few know that a

definite plan, plus a burning desire

for wealth, are the only dependable

means of accumulating wealth.

~ Napoleon Hill, Think & Grow Rich (1937)

Persistence is a state of mind, therefore it can be cultivated. Like all states of mind, persistence is based upon definite causes, among them these:-

1. Definiteness of purpose. Knowing what one wants is the first and, perhaps, the most important step toward the development of persistence. A strong motive forces one to surmount many difficulties.
2. Desire. It is comparatively easy to acquire and to maintain persistence in pursuing the object of intense desire.
3. Self-reliance. Belief in one’s ability to carry out a plan encourages one to follow the plan through with persistence. (Self-reliance can be developed through the principle described in the chapter on auto-suggestion.)
4. Definiteness of plans. Organized plans, even though they may be weak and entirely impractical, encourage persistence.
5. Accurate knowledge. Knowing that one’s plans are sound, based upon experience or observation, encourages persistence; “guessing” instead of “knowing” destroys persistence.
6. Co-operation. Sympathy, understanding, and harmonious cooperation with others tend to develop persistence.
7. Will-power. The habit of concentrating one’s thoughts upon the building of plans for the attainment of a definite purpose, leads to persistence.
8. Habit. Persistence is the direct results of habit. The mind absorbs and becomes a part of the daily experiences upon which it feeds. Fear, the worst of all enemies, can be effectively cured by forced repetition of acts of courage. Everyone who has seen active service in war knows this.

Before leaving the subject of persistence, take inventory of yourself, and determine in what particular, if any, you are lacking in this essential quality. Measure yourself courageously, point by point, and see how many of the eight factors of persistence you lack. The analysis may lead to discoveries that will give you a new grip on yourself.

~ Napoleon Hill, Think & Grow Rich

We who stand on the side-lines of Life see the overwhelmingly large number who go down in defeat, never to rise again. We see the few who take the punishment of defeat as an urge to greater effort. These, fortunately, never learn to accept Life’s reverse gear. But what we do not see, what most of us never suspect of existing, is the silent but irresistible power which comes to the rescue of those who fight on in the face of discouragement. If we speak of this power at all we call it persistence, and let it go at that. One thing we all know, if one does not possess persistence, one does not achieve noteworthy success in any calling.

~ Napoleon Hill, Think & Grow Rich