BUT – AND HERE IS THE CRUX OF MY WHOLE STORY OF THESE TWO FIRMS – THE MAJORITY OF BUSINESS FIRMS ARE LOOKING FOR MEN WHO HAVE PLENTY OF “AMBITION.” Do not worry because one firm is afraid of the ambitious man. The very fact that such a firm is afraid of him is, in itself, strong evidence of weakness on the part of those who manage the firm.
While I was Advertising Manager of the younger firm of which I have written, I had three young men in my department. I put them on notice that someday one of them would get my position, and I commenced training them for my job. I told them that the man who “made good” first would get the place, if my recommendations would help any. My Secretary landed the prize. He is still with that firm, making more money than the average man of his age receives. I did not discourage “AMBITION” for fear of losing my job. I encouraged it so that someone would grow to be big enough to push me out of the rut and into a bigger position. That is what happened. I have no patience to speak of with the man who is so narrow that he is afraid to inspire “AMBITION” in his fellow workers. Show me a man who believes he has a corner on the details connected with his job and I will show you, in the same person, a man who will never develop beyond petty selfishness.
I beseech you not to fall into the habit of neglecting to cultivate your “AMBITION.” You will need something more than mere services with which to succeed. You will need that ever-alert little matter which is the subject of this lesson. But, I must here give you a word of warning – do not let your ambition become a selfish one! The greatest object over which to develop ambition is the desire to serve our fellow men. We cannot serve them if we are jealous of them.
Remember, also, that AMBITION is a contagious thing. If you give it to the world, the world will give it back to you in increased measure. But keep it unto yourself and you will lose it. It will take wings and fly!
Ambition finds expression in a thousand different forms. It is the foundation which underlies all invention, art, music, industry, commerce – nay, the very foundation upon which the progress of the world has been built. Within the present generation, we have seen it expressed in the most wonderful inventions the world has ever known; the automobile, the telephone, the wireless, the submarine, the X-ray, and the aeroplane.
AMBITION was the very warp and woof out of which these things were constructed. Ambition leads us to think, and when we begin to think, the nebulous problems in the world’s evolution begin to become clarified and simplified. BE AMBITIOUS IF NOTHING MORE. OTHER THINGS WILL TAKE CARE OF THEMSELVES.
Your earnest friend,
80 East Randolph St.
Chicago, U.S.A.
GITOMER’S THOUGHTFUL ACTIONS
HOW TO IMPLEMENT THIS LESSON
The key to Ambition is personal drive tied to attitude, self-belief, and determination to succeed – NO MATTER WHAT. The good news is that most people do NOT possess this formula. You now have it and the wisdom to boot. Substitute the examples that Hill offers for your own ambitions. Put a few Post-it® notes on your bathroom mirror as both a reminder and inspiration to “never, never, never give up” (Winston Churchill). You are the master of your fate, and the captain of the team to achieve your dreams.
“AMBITION is a contagious thing.”
– Napoleon Hill
“If you give it to the world, the world will give it back to you in increased measure. But keep it unto yourself and you will lose it. It will take wings and fly!”
– Napoleon Hill
“Education comes from within; you get it by struggle and effort and thought.”
– Napoleon Hill
* * *
*1 $600,000 equals $8,800,000 today.
*2 $6,000 equals $88,000 today.
*3 $1,500,000 equals $22,000,000 today.
Lesson Number
7
ADVERSITY: A BLESSING IN DISGUISE
(An after-the-lesson visit with Mr. Hill)
GITOMER INSIGHT: When it all goes wrong. . . At the end of failure is the beginning of success, but most people are wallowing deep in self-pity and anger, and fail to see the Golden Ticket right in front of their face. It’s up to YOU and your self-determination to get it going again. Hill’s positive perspective on adversity will give you hope and answers to whatever befalls you on your way to success. Read to succeed.
Friend, do not become discouraged, disappointed, and disheartened if the seemingly cruel hand of fate knocks you off of your feet! Maybe the blow will prove to be the greatest blessing that ever came your way.
When the dark clouds of despair have darkened the pathway of life’s progress, just remember that behind each cloud is a silver lining, if you only learn how to see it!
Two men established and built up an enormously successful commercial institution. They owned the stock in the company about equally. One of the men, who had lots of initiative, began selling off some of his stock, thus enjoying for personal use a large amount of ready cash from the proceeds.
His associate in the business, who didn’t possess quite so much initiative, wanted to sell some of his personal stock that he might also enjoy some ready cash. But not a dollar could he sell. He appealed to his partner who was finding a ready market for his stock, requesting him to dispose of his stock. But the partner refused. This refusal resulted in a serious disagreement between the two men, which finally ended in a complete dissolution of their business relations.
Now let us see what happens! The one who could not find a market for his stock was the fortunate one in the final crisis. The one with the ready initiative, who sold his stock, sold with it his voice in management of the business. When the climax was reached in their disagreement, the one who couldn’t sell his stock naturally had, BY FORCE OF CIRCUMSTANCES, the control of the business, so he used his power to his own salvation and to the great detriment of his associate, by voting him out of the Presidency of the corporation and voting himself into that office.
The fact that he couldn’t sell his stock was A BLESSING IN DISGUISE.
A young man who was President of a corporation, which was making a great deal of money, trusted his banker too far by borrowing money for expansion purposes. The banker wanted this young man’s interest in the corporation, because he knew the young man was making money and the banker happened to be dishonest. In the 1907 Roosevelt panic the banker saw his chance and closed him out. It seemed like a dark day for the young man. All was lost. But watch the roulette wheel of destiny as it spins around by the force of the hand of fate! His loss forced him to go back to the practice of law. This brought him in touch with a million-dollar corporation which employed him at a salary of $5,000 a year; a salary which he wouldn’t have thought of accepting from an outsider while he was in control of his own business. This brought him to the middle west, and likewise in touch with the “big opportunity” of his life.
So his loss proved a blessing in disguise, for it literally drove him into a greater success.
A young bank clerk was discharged on account of his habit of drawing pictures and sketching mechanical parts of automobiles during business hours. The loss of his job was quite a shock to him, for he supported his mother and two sisters from his small earnings.
The loss of his bank job was the greatest blessing that ever came to him, for six months later he invented an automobile part which made him a fortune. He is now President of one of the largest automobile accessories companies in America. His clerks are all supplied with desk pads and pencils, with instructions to do all the automobile drawing they wish, and to submit to him any new ideas for improvements of automobile parts. Any of their ideas which he uses are paid for extra, at one hundred dollars each.
John D. Rockefeller discharged one of his faithful employees who he thought went too far in the exercise of his duties, in making an unauthorized financial transaction for Mr. Rockefeller in his absence, even though the deal netted Mr. Rockefeller several thousand dollars in cash.
A blessing in disguise! This man, who had been honest and faithful, but not wel
l paid, was immediately employed by one of Mr. Rockefeller’s rivals, at a handsome salary. He now holds a high official position with the rival company.
Every change in one’s environment is for a purpose. That which seems like a disappointment and ill “luck” usually is a blessing in disguise. If we do not carefully study cause and effect in all that we do and all that comes our way, we may never discover when and where our apparent failures in reality are blessings.
Stop and take inventory of your own life record and see if you cannot find evidence which will support this! Take an inventory of the lives of those you know intimately and see if the same is not true!
Then, when you become discouraged; when your destiny seems doubtful, and life’s pathway is fraught with many thorns of disappointment; when the rough and rugged hand of fate spins the roulette wheel of fortune so hard that the little pointer goes past your number, just remember that there is a bigger stake awaiting you, if not in your present environment, then later on, in some other “game” in the sphere of human accomplishment!
Therefore, hang on!
THE HAPPIEST MOMENT OF MY LIFE
I am going to tell you about the happiest moment I ever experienced. This little narrative will not end as you imagine it will, nor as you will believe it ought to, in all probability.
The happiest moment of my life was not the time that I secured my first position as a stenographer at $10 a week, although I was mighty happy then. To come out of the coal mines where my work was fraught with much danger, and where I had no opportunity for self-development, was indeed a happy moment. I shall never forget when I threw down my pick for the last time, feeling and knowing as I did so, that I had shaken off the shackles of drudgery which hold millions of men’s noses to the grindstone of common labor for life.
Nor did I enjoy the happiest moment of my life the day I became Private Secretary to one of the greatest business executives in America, at a salary of $100 a month, even though I realized full well that this step meant the greatest opportunity that had ever come to me.
Neither did I enjoy the happiest moment of my life when I became Assistant to the Chief Counsel of one of the greatest corporations of its kind in the world. To be sure I felt the full value of this bigger opportunity for self-development, but I knew, intuitively, that I had not yet reached the happiest moment of my life.
Nor did I experience the happiest moment of my life when I became Advertising Manager for a million-dollar institution, at a salary of $5,000 a year. I felt good to see myself developing, and to know that I had progressed this far toward the goal of my final ambition, but the happiest moment of my life had not yet arrived. I realized how much further development I needed before I could begin to live and serve my fellow men in the manner that I had longed for years and years to be able to do. I saw my weakness and lack of development as no one else could have done. I knew there was still something missing, and even though I knew not what it was, I did know that without it I could never reach the height of my ambition.
I became President of a big corporation which prospered and made money. My portion of the profits were more than $1,000 a month. I had motor cars. I had servants. I had dress suits and high silk hats. I had a valet. Twelve thousand dollars a year will permit one to enjoy many things which one does not need, and without which one would be better off. BUT I WAS NOT HAPPY!
THEN CAME THE CRASH OF 1907 PANIC. In the twinkling of an eye my business and every dollar I had were swept away in that awful, though needless, panic of 1907. I went down to my office to remove the personal effects from what had been my desk the day before. In one drawer, I found a half-dollar. It was all that stood between me and starvation. I flipped the coin over in the palm of my hands a couple of times. Then came the full realization of what it was that I needed to make me happy. In those few moments, as I held that half-dollar before me, I saw myself being remelted and re-poured from the crucible of HARD EXPERIENCE!
THAT WAS THE HAPPIEST MOMENT OF MY LIFE!
I was happy because I had waded in pastures green until I had overeaten of prosperity. From a dollar a day, working as a laborer, to $1,000 a month, as President of a big corporation, was too much for me. I had to be rebaptized in the fire of want and hunger. I had to have a new foundation upon which to build my business structure. And as I sat there and took inventory of my worldly possessions, I realized full well that I would build that new and better foundation BECAUSE I HAD TO DO IT! There was no other way out, and the thought of this compulsory rebuilding process – a process which would make me stronger, more capable, and a happier worker in the harvest fields of life, brought joy to my heart.
That failure of 1907 was truly a BLESSING IN DISGUISE! Without it I would never have known the full value of adversity. It were better if we all experience temporary financial reverses. Without them we might grow selfish. We might forget that whatever worldly possessions we have we merely hold during a brief trusteeship called LIFE.
“Lord feed me not with overabundance, lest my belly become full and I deny thee.”
This quotation, while it may not be exact, expresses in Biblical terms a truth which I wish to convey through this narrative. The richest experience that can come to a man or a woman is that of financial reverse. The full value of such an experience will depend upon whether we accept it as a blessing or as a curse.
Your earnest friend,
80 East Randolph St.
Chicago, U.S.A.
GITOMER’S THOUGHTFUL ACTIONS
HOW TO IMPLEMENT THIS LESSON
Hill, by his own examples of failure, shows you how to react, respond, and recover from any situation – especially financial – AND how to turn it into a lesson rather than a defeat. Your turn. Make a list of your adversities to date, and how you reacted, responded, and recovered – next to each one, write what you COULD have done or SHOULD have done – then write the lesson learned. Interesting that what seemed devastating, at the time, now seems less of an issue. And that’s a lesson all by itself. Study your past challenges and adversities – those lessons will guide you to future success.
“Every change in one’s environment is for a purpose. That which seems like a disappointment and ill “luck” usually is a blessing in disguise.”
– Napoleon Hill
“You can succeed in life only as you succeed in a race, by passing others.”
– Napoleon Hill
Lesson Number
8
TIME: THE MOST PRECIOUS THING IN THE WORLD
(An after-the-lesson visit with Mr. Hill)
White Rabbit:
I’m late, I’m late for a very important date.
No time to say hello, good-bye, I’m late, I’m late, I’m late.
Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland – Lewis Carroll
GITOMER INSIGHT: Why do the busiest people in the world ALWAYS have time to do important things? ANSWER: THEY KNOW THE VALUE OF TIME ALLOCATION AND UTILIZATION. Think of the most successful people you know. They are always busy ACHIEVING. Now think of the people you know that aren’t reaching their potential. Odds are they’re nowhere near maximum performance level. They blame others rather than seize opportunity. There are major answers in this lesson, but ONLY if you’re willing to invest the time in yourself. More “how” answers at the end of this lesson.
James J. Hill, the great railroad builder, has passed over the Great Divide. Mr. Hill began his career as a laborer, as you know. He was not what the world would call a success until after he had passed the fortieth milepost in life. His real career began at about thirty-eight. BUT – BETWEEN THE AGES OF EIGHTEEN AND THIRTY-EIGHT HE WAS GETTING READY FOR THE SUCCESS THAT NEVER WOULD HAVE COME HAD HE NOT BEEN MAKING GOOD USE OF HIS TIME! He had his share of it and none can say that he didn’t make good use of it. To him, TIME was the most important thing in the world.
By nature nearly all of us are lazy. We need constant prodding to keep us moving along in the line of self-development. Some of us are more lazy than
others. These are the ones who enjoy less success – the ones which the world calls failures. Others, by constant self-development, have grown to be more industrious, and these are the ones which the world calls successful. Every one of us who is able-bodied and strong-minded, but who has failed to succeed by the time he has reached the fortieth milepost, can see the man responsible for his lack of success by looking in a looking glass.
From my office, I can look out over the beautiful blue waters of Lake Michigan. Out there in the summer, scores of young people are enjoying life in sail boats, motorboats, and canoes, just as I would like to be doing. I did pretty much as those young people are doing before I reached the age of thirty, but now TIME is too precious to be devoted entirely to pleasure. I MUST WORK FOR I AM RACING TIME AND I ONLY HAVE A FEW YEARS IN WHICH TO WIN THE RACE, UNLESS I SHOULD PROVE TO BE ONE OF THOSE WHO SUCCEED AFTER FORTY!
I am afraid, however, to take a chance on this. I have now come into possession of the most precious heritage that this world has to offer me, namely: A CHANCE TO MAKE GOOD – and I must render a good account of my stewardship. Ten years ago it would have been different. I would have said, “Oh well, what’s the use of my working when I might be out having a good time,” but today I cannot spare a single one of those precious hours which belong to me.
I recently read an editorial in one of our metropolitan dailies, which further impressed upon me the great value of time. That editorial was written by one of the highest-paid newspaper writers in the world, as the editorial itself forcibly indicates. It is an editorial that every man in the world, both young and old, successful and unsuccessful, ought to read. That is why I am quoting it.
It will be especially beneficial to those who have not reached the age of thirty. It will do no harm to those who have reached the age of forty or fifty. It will be beneficial to the man who wants to learn “HOW TO SELL HIS SERVICES,” for it will show him “HOW TO KEEP HIS SERVICES SOLD.” I shall take the liberty of giving this editorial a headline which did not appear in the paper. I shall call it – HOW TO SUCCEED!
Truthful Living Page 7
