Each one of us must discover this road for himself! No one can discover it for us.
But there is a rule to follow which leads us to this discovery. It is this:
Look upon the world as a mirror in which you may see an exact reproduction of your true self, just as you are. Having this true likeness as a model, you can so reshape yourself that you will look to the world just as you wish to look. That’s the first step.
Now, draw a picture, in your imagination, of the person you desire to be. If your desire is strong and persistent, you will soon see yourself resembling this imaginary picture which you have drawn. You will reflect this picture in those around you and they, too, will see it.
Let us suppose that you wish to become a successful salesman. You wish to have your customers see in you a magnetic personality. You wish them to follow your suggestions. You wish them to purchase your wares and come back for more. You wish to retain their friendship. You wish them to have faith and confidence in you.
How are you going to bring about this condition? Why, that’s easy to answer!
First, you are going to understand that the world sees in you just what you really are. You are going to understand that the way to build other people up so they will admire you and have confidence in you is first to build yourself up so you will admire and have confidence in them!
You are going to understand that other people “sense” thoughts, moods, and feelings, and when you understand this early, you are going to think only such thoughts and have only such feelings toward others as you wish them to have toward you.
Just as surely as the electric vibrations travel out from this wireless sending apparatus and are caught and registered on a properly attuned instrument thousands of miles away, so are your thoughts “sensed” and registered by those with whom you come in contact.
Skepticism begets skepticism – hatred begets hatred – doubt begets doubt – and just as surely does love beget love – and faith beget faith.
An employee hates his employer and immediately his every act and his every facial expression telegraphs his thoughts to the employer and his fellow employees.
An angry person, so science has discovered, throws off enough poison with every breath he expels to kill a guinea pig. Anger and hatred not only pollute your mental machinery, but they poison your physical body as well. Just as a drop of aniline will color a whole barrel of water, so will an angry thought show itself in your every act and in your very face. It will not stop there, but it will reach out and inoculate those around you.
Until you learn to see something good in every human being both friends and foes, you’ll never discover the Road to Happiness!
When doubt, worry, fear, skepticism, hatred, and distrust creep into your mind, the Road to Happiness becomes invisible.
GITOMER NOTE: Negative thinking and negative expressions block creative thinking and positive thought.
You are searching for this Great Highway, right now! Before you look any further, first decide just where you wish it to lead you. Picture in your mind the objective – the final goal you are striving to reach. Then, through the power of strong desire, concentrate all your efforts on that objective until you reach it.
Remember, the Road to Happiness leads in only one direction, and that is through the field of service to humanity! The Road will be brighter and traveling easier if you take others with you on your journey.
Your Road to Happiness may lead you into a successful business or profession. It may lead to a Sales Managership, a Corporation Presidency or a partnership, but remember that you can shorten the distance through useful service to humanity.
Cordially and sincerely yours,
Napoleon Hill
80 East Randolph Street
Chicago, U.S.A.
GITOMER’S THOUGHTFUL ACTIONS
HOW TO IMPLEMENT THIS LESSON
As you can see and learn from this lesson, as you look at yourself and for yourself, everything is a choice. You choose which road you take, and who you seek to become. My recommendation is choose the road that leads to what you love. And surround yourself with people who support you and think the same. Hill deals eloquently and insightfully on the choices between happy and unhappy. Choose happiness and positivity as your number one objective, and everything else will fall into place. Also note that this (maybe by coincidence) is “lucky” lesson 13. Why? Because the harder you work at what you love, the luckier you will become.
“The road that leads to happiness has its beginning so close to where you are this very moment that you may not see it. The beginning is in your heart and brain, where you may lay hold of it if you will!”
– Napoleon Hill
“To become a successful man is to develop mentally. You cannot stand still or retrograde, and stay in this business. It just naturally won’t let you! You have to continue growing.”
– Napoleon Hill
Lesson Number
14
“LUCK versus P-LUCK!”
(An after-the-lesson visit with Mr. Hill)
GITOMER INSIGHT: This is a 100-year-old true story that could have happened yesterday. And it could have happened to you, IF you were willing to take action. Read this carefully and ask if the hero could have been you.
A few weeks ago a young man was riding home in the smoking car, on an Illinois Central Railroad train.
The car was “dingy” as most smoking cars are, and poorly lighted, as all Illinois Central suburban cars are. Only three dim yellow gaslights were burning. A porter came through the car and turned out one of these.
Twenty-five or thirty businessmen were seated in the car trying to read their evening papers. The action of the porter made them angry – naturally! You could see that, from the expressions on their faces.
One big, red-faced, hale, and hearty red-faced fellow who sat in the seat with the young man, said to him, “Too bad somebody doesn’t do something about these poor lights.” “Yes,” said the young man, “it is too bad, isn’t it? Well, tomorrow somebody will do something about it!”
Then he stood up and made a little talk to his fellow passengers, telling them of the conversation he had just had with the man who shared his seat. He wound up suggesting that they all join in a movement to “do something” about the poor lights.
Right then and there was born a Citizens’ Committee, with the young man as leader and Chairman.
The next day the young man called the President of the Illinois Central Railroad Company (by invitation) and made vigorous representations to him concerning the poor lighting system of his railroad car. The President refused to promise immediate relief.
That night four men were stationed at every downtown station of the I.C.R.R., and 20,000 passengers received handbills, calling for the assistance in forcing better service.
The next day letters were addressed to Aldermen in the city of Chicago, calling for their cooperation in passing suitable ordinances for the improvement of lighting systems on I.C.R.R. trains operating within the city limits.
By the end of the week Governor Lowden had been interviewed by this young man, for the purpose of enlisting his aid, through the State Public Utilities Commission, in improving lighting systems on I.C.R.R. trains operating in the State of Illinois.
The Chicago Tribune and the Chicago Daily News, two of the largest daily papers, took up the fight against the Illinois Central Railroad Company.
Through letters, telephone calls, and personal visits, men and women who use the Illinois Central Railroad trains got into communication with this young man and promised to cooperate with him.
A Citizens’ Committee called on him and invited him to become a candidate for the State Senate.
He became known overnight almost, to the two and a half million people who constitute the population of the City of Chicago.
One of his admiring friends called him on the telephone and said – “Congratulations on account of your good luck!”
Ye gods! Luck!!
This admiring friend left off one letter. It was p-luck instead of luck. He merely used his “think box” instead of his wishbone.
When that big red-faced fellow, who shared his seat in the smoking car that night, looked up and sighed – “someone ought to do something about it,” this young man agreed with him. But he didn’t stop by merely agreeing – he decided to be that “somebody.”
Friend, this narrative is worth remembering, because someday you’ll have your chance to be “that somebody.”
When opportunity bangs at your door so hard that she almost breaks in the panels, do not say “somebody ought to do something about it!” Instead, say, “I’ll be that somebody myself.”
And you can do it!
The young man that I refer to stands at the threshold of a roadway that leads into politics, if he chooses to enter this field.
Not by luck, but because he “made an opportunity” out of what would have seemed to the average man only idle gossip, by a fellow passenger.
The young man I refer to is an advertising man. Through his work in this field he has learned to analyze men and things. His mind has become keen and alert for detecting opportunities.
This is one of the beauties of the great work you have begun. It teaches you to be analytical. It gives you a quick grasp of environment. It causes you to unconsciously study cause as well as effect.
It makes of you a keen student of human nature. It enables you to sense the “opportune” time for action. It causes you to become enthusiastic over everything you undertake. It gives you self-confidence, hope, faith, persistence, and stick-to-it-iveness.
To become a successful man is to develop mentally. You cannot stand still or retrograde, and stay in this business. It just naturally won’t let you! You have to continue growing.
You are glad that you began this course. You have already seen a big improvement in yourself. So have I. So have all of us who are guiding you over the rough spots. We have grown in proportion to the extent to which we have helped you grow.
One of these days you will be a successful Sales Manager. You will own your own home. You will drive your own automobile. Your family will have all the necessities of life and many of the luxuries. You will have a neat little bank account that will constantly grow.
Then some big red-faced fellow will come along and say – “Isn’t he lucky!” Oh yes, “he was lucky” all right. When you hear of it you’ll say – “poor simp” – and drive on to the bank to deposit your day’s “income.”
Cordially your well-wisher,
Napoleon Hill
Director of Education
George Washington Institute
Chicago
GITOMER’S THOUGHTFUL ACTIONS
HOW TO IMPLEMENT THIS LESSON
Doer or non-doer – which one are you? Forty years ago I was riding in the car with one of my most admired mentors: Mel Green, Founder of Advance Process Supply. At the time, Mel had the most successful textile equipment and supply business in the world. I was lucky enough to have befriended him, and, through the value I offered him, be treated like a son. It was early in the freezing cold Chicago winter morning. Sleet was blowing sideways as we headed for a morning breakfast meeting. Mel had just finished launching an ink product that was so successful they couldn’t produce it fast enough. I said, “Mel, you’re amazing. Everything you touch or produce turns to gold. You’re the luckiest person I have ever known.” Without a second of hesitation he responded with words of wisdom I call on every day, “Jeffrey, hard work makes luck.”
If you’re looking to succeed beyond your wildest dreams, the formula is simple:
“Find something you love, believe that you will succeed, and work harder than you believe possible. The result will take you all the way from success to fulfillment.”
– Jeffrey Gitomer
“Watch your helpers, then, to see that they do not fail you. Imagination has already done part of his work. Desire has performed his part. But you ought to watch Enthusiasm, Self-Confidence, and Concentration. If they fail you, your building will suffer.”
– Napoleon Hill
Lesson Number
15
IMAGINATION, DESIRE, ENTHUSIASM, SELF-CONFIDENCE, AND CONCENTRATION
(An after-the-lesson visit with Mr. Hill)
GITOMER INSIGHT: These title words are all great, and all-encompassing individually. Hill manages to intertwine them and goes deeper into the challenge of what you are made of as he defines each word. What’s at your core, and how can you improve your principles and desires to achieve greater heights and success? And to fully understand the genius of this lesson, a closer look must be taken at the times in which they were written: 100 years ago. “Mental drive” was at the core of Hill’s teachings and achievements – no computers, no airplanes, no TV, no smartphones, and not many paved roads. Napoleon Hill stood at the threshold of personal development and leadership, and challenged everyone he met to get better, get happier, get focused, work hard, and know in your heart-of-hearts and mind-of-minds, that you’re going to win.
I suspect that these are five of the greatest words in the English Language. They are the brick and mortar out of which you may build a successful career.
Imagination is the architect through which you will draw plans for your success building.
Desire is the foundation stone with which you must start your success building.
Enthusiasm is the dynamic force which will keep your architect at work. It will permit no delays until your plans are drawn to the finest detail.
Self-Confidence is the boss-carpenter that will keep your other forces at work.
Concentration is your contractor and builder – the overseer of the boss-carpenter and all the other forces – the purchaser of materials and supplies.
Your building has been started. You have called it Success. Now watch out to see that no cheap materials are used, and that all your forces perform honest, efficient work.
You have the last word. And who are you? Why are you the owner of the building, when completed? You are the person who pays the bills for the materials and the labor which go into this new building you are constructing.
You are the final overseer of the whole job.
Watch your helpers, then, to see that they do not fail you. Imagination has already done part of his work. Desire has performed his part. But you ought to watch Enthusiasm, Self-Confidence, and Concentration. If they fail you, your building will suffer.
This is an important building that you have begun. It’s no mere wood-shed. It ought to be a permanent building, and it will be if you’ll be careful of its construction. It will bring you an income that will supply you with all that you need or can use in this world.
It will provide you with the four material possessions which nearly every normal person wants, namely –
A home built on a little spot of ground that you can call your own.
An independent income in a business you can call your own.
A bank account that will grow into a nest egg for use when you are ready to quit active business.
An automobile.
Oh, yes! And there is something else which your Success structure will provide, if you build it properly and that is –
AN OPPORTUNITY TO SERVE HUMANITY AND MAKE THAT PART OF THE OLD GLOBE WHERE YOU PASS ALONG A LITTLE BETTER THAN YOU FOUND IT!
Don’t be a quitter! Anybody can be that, and many people are. When you lay down on the job, the boss-carpenter and the contractor and builder become indifferent and the other forces go on strike.
You’ve got to complete this building. There’s a good reason why you must complete it. Maybe several of them. I can’t tell you just what these reasons are. Perhaps the gray-haired mother who brought you into the world. Perhaps some sweet-faced little codgers of your own – already here or to come. Perhaps the sweetheart for whom you have been waiting. Maybe all these put together.
You can complete this building, and y
ou will! You are not going to allow any negative forces to creep in, slip a bit into your mouth, and harness you to a toilsome clerkship.
You are going to harness yourself to only one thing just now, and that is Ambition! It will drive you to complete that wonderful building you have begun. It will not allow you to stand still, turn back, or quit.
It is only the weakling who permits the devils and imps to creep in and rout his self-confidence and ambition!
You are no weakling!
The personal Analysis examination which you passed successfully and with a high average, has told me this. I know more about you than you imagine I do.
I know you are not the type which gives up in despair. If you had been, you probably wouldn’t have been admitted for this course. No, you are no quitter!
I believe this, with all my heart. I shall continue to believe it.
Now you be sure to think as well of yourself as I think of you!
You are entering a great profession – one that has by no means reached the apex of its greatness. There is an economic reason for the existence of the profession which you are entering. As a builder of sales and merchandising plans, you will be no human parasite. The money you earn will not be taken away from what someone else has already produced. It will be your share of what you have helped to create.
The economic distribution of the world’s merchandise is one of the big problems of your time. It is becoming a bigger problem as competition increases.
The part which you play in solving this great problem may be no small part. That, however, will depend upon how well you develop your co-workers – Desire, Imagination, Enthusiasm, Self-Confidence, and Concentration.
As you go through this course, we will teach you all we can concerning the mechanics of Success. We will teach you to use that wonderful laboratory reposing in your head. Then, within a short while you will be able to draw upon this laboratory for all the constructive sales plans and ideas that you need.
Truthful Living Page 11
