Napoleon Hill had made an important discovery that may help you, whoever you are, whatever may be your aim in life, to achieve success.
To bring success, it is not the touch of genius that some people are supposed to be gifted with. It is not good luck, influence, or wealth. The real thing upon which most great fortunes were built, the thing that helps men and women rise to fame and high position in the world is easily described:
“It is simply the habit of completing everything one begins, first having learned what to begin and what not to begin.”
Just for yourself, take inventory of the past two years, and what do you discover? The chances are about fifty to one that you will discover you have had many ideas, started many plans, but completed few or none of them.
In the series of lessons on applied psychology, you will find one explaining the importance of concentration and exactly how to learn to concentrate. You will do well to look that particular lesson up and study it over again. Study it with a new idea in mind, that of learning how to complete all that you undertake. You have heard it stated, ever since you were old enough to remember, that “procrastination is the thief of time.” But because it seemed like preaching, you paid no attention to it.
That saying is literally true!
Sticking To Definite Plan
You cannot possibly succeed in any undertaking, whether it is large or small, important or otherwise if you merely think of what you would like to accomplish and then sit down and wait for the thing to materialize without patient, meticulous effort. Nearly every business that stands out above any other similar business represents concentration on a definite plan or idea from which there has been but little if any, variance.
The automobile business is nothing more than concentrating upon a simple plan, that is to give the public a serviceable car with good mileage for as little money as possible, giving the buyer the advantage of quantity production. The same principle is valid for the success of other businesses as well i.e. adopting a definite plan and then sticking to it to the end. However, we can find a thousand failures or near-failures where no such plan has been adopted.
Only ‘Start’ Doesn’t Guarantee Success
Once Napoleon Hill was talking with a man, who was bright and a capable businessman in many ways, but he was not succeeding. The reason was that he had too many half-baked ideas and follows the practice of discarding all of them before they have been fairly tested.
Hill offered him a suggestion that might have been valuable to him, but he replied immediately, “Oh, I’ve thought of that several times, and I started to try it out once, but it didn’t work.” Note the words: “I started to try it out once, but it didn’t work.” Ah, there was where the weakness might have been discovered. He “started” to try it out.
Here is the Golden Rule: It is not the person who merely “starts” a thing who succeeds. It is the person who starts and who finishes in spite of hell! Anybody can start a task. It takes the so-called genius to gather up enough courage, self-confidence, and painstaking patience to finish.
Rarely success comes all in a bunch, or in a hurry. Worthwhile achievement usually represents long and patient service. Remember the sturdy oak tree. It does not grow in a year, or in two or even three years. It requires a score of years or more to produce a fair-sized oak tree. There are trees that will grow very large in a few years, but their wood is soft and porous and they are short-lived trees.
The person who decides to be a chef this year, then changes the mind and tries the financial business the next year, and then switches again to life insurance the third year, is more apt to be a failure at all three, whereas sticking to one of these for three years might have built a very fair success.
Way Ahead
You have energy but you are not releasing it at the throttle of action! You are not applying it through the principle of concentration to the tasks, which, if completed, would place you on the list of those who are regarded as successes.
Engage your mind & keep on searching for the best possible way of releasing this energy to take action. Find the work through which you can release this energy most readily and most willingly. You will be getting mighty near to the work in which you ought to find success. Usually, people will release the flow of action that has been stored up in their heads in connection with a task they delight in performing. This is the reason why people ought to engage in the work they like best.
Napoleon Hill shared his experience as “It has been my privilege to interview many so-called great people—people who have been regarded as “geniuses”—and, as an encouragement to you, I want to tell you frankly that I found nothing in them that you and I and all of the other “ordinary” people do not possess. They are exactly like us, with no more brains—sometimes with less—but what they had that you and I also have, but do not always use, was the ability to release the action that was stored up in their heads and keep it concentrated on a task, great or small until completed.”
Learn first to concentrate upon the little things you do—the sharpening of a pencil, the wrapping of a package, the typing of a message, and so forth. The way to attain perfection in this wonderful art of finishing all that you start is to form the habit of doing with every task you perform, no matter how small. Slowly this becomes a regular habit and you do it automatically, without effort. Progressively this will lead to the path of success. (Inspired from ‘The Lost Prosperity Secrets of Napoleon Hill’ by Napoleon Hill)
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