Law Of Success: Part II

 

Welcome to the second part of this special three part series commemorating the 21st Century Edition of Napoleon Hill's landmark work, “Law of Success,” in which he reveals the 17 Principles of Success based on his 25 years of research studying the lives of over 500 of the world’s greatest achievers. (To read the first part, look in the archives for "Law of Success: Part I").

 

Principle # 6: Imagination

 

“Imagination is the workshop of the human mind and creative power of the soul,” as Mr. Hill states. “First comes thought; then organization of that thought into ideas and plans; then transformation of those plans into reality. The beginning, as you will observe, is in your imagination.”

 

In his book, Hill explains that there are two types of imagination: synthetic imagination and creative imagination. Synthetic imagination involves rearranging old ideas into new combinations that produce new solutions. Stimulating creative imagination involves a repetition of highly emotionalized thoughts that can be combined with visualization, meditation, and prayer focused on a main goal or purpose or the solving a difficult problem, and then surrendering the thoughts to infinite intelligence to come up with new ideas, combinations, and plans.

 

Artists, inventors, and even entrepreneurs frequently use some combination of both types of imagination.

 

For example, writers will often intentionally stop writing in the middle of an uncompleted paragraph at a particularly challenging point in the plot and “sleep on it.” During the rest of the night their subconscious mind, through the powers of creative intelligence, will work on the solution, and by “sleeping on it,” the writer will come up with a better story than if he or she merely hammered at the keys until it was finished.

 

Artists will often times, leave a work in progress for a few hours or even days to come back and look at it with “a new set of eyes” or a new perspective, in other words.

 

Entrepreneurs will often brainstorm and write down all the ideas, challenges, and available solutions and resources concerning a challenge or problem and then “forget about it.” They might go on vacation for an extended period of time. On returning, or even while they’re on vacation, new ideas spring up that help solve the problem.

 

Note: I will break routine and go for a long hike or camping.

 

To further develop your imagination, study yourself; find out you personal motivations that drive you forward on certain tasks while avoiding other tasks like the plague. Study other people and their behaviors as well. If you want to know what the other person will do (whether a customer, boss, employee, partner, or competitor), use your imagination to put yourself in their shoes.

 

What would you do if you were that person? By being able to look from another’s perspective, you not only help build your imagination muscles, you also help build bridges.

 

Tip: Something that has helped me with getting into other people’s shoes is by understanding SocialTriggers. This guy knows his stuff. Derek has helped me figure out a lot about how people tick.

 

Principle # 7: Enthusiasm

 

Enthusiasm comes from the Greek root “entheos” which literally means God within. Enthusiasm is the vital force that impels action. Great leaders not only act, they inspire others to action from their own enthusiasm, which becomes highly contagious.

 

“It’s not so much what you say as it is the tone and manner in which you say it that makes a lasting impression,” Hill adds.

 

I can remember a few years ago (more than I care to mention), while living in Arizona, I worked two jobs. Job 1 was for a hotel, while job 2 was for an athletic club. The level of work that I did was about the same at both. I went above and beyond in both.

 

The difference was, that in the hotel job, I had issues because I had worked years prior in landscaping and there was a situation where late one night there was a sprinkler head that had popped off. Rather than just report it to the grounds keeper and allow it to just keep running, I fixed it; a 10-minute fix versus hundreds of gallons of water in the street.

 

Anyway, grounds keeping manager expressed that he felt I was trying to take his job and began a campaign to get me terminated from my position, which HR couldn’t actually find anything to get rid of me on because I was a good employee, but following the perspective of the manager instead of viewing the whole situation, they began working toward forcing me to resign.

 

Now, job 2, working at the same time as job 1, I used the same work ethic. In this job, I saw a problem that I could fix; I fixed it and reported on the problem and what I did, just as I did in job 1.

 

The difference is that in job 2 I received employee of the year after only working there 4 months, $500 bonus, an award, and public recognition at the company party in front of 300+ employees and managers.

 

What is the take away here? Job 1 saw employees as an ‘expense’ and therefore a liability when a manager felt his job was on the line, while with job 2 all of the management saw their employees as ‘investments’ and worked to keep them happy, knowing that it would reflect through the employee to other employees and customers.

 

Like I always say, your customers should be your second biggest raving fans, your employees should be your first.

 

The companies that will turn out to be champions in this new information based economy are the ones that treat their customer service and sales staff as VPs of Customer Relations.

 

These organizations will have a HUGE competitive advantage by investing just a fraction of the money (money that would normally be lost to poor service) towards paying above industry average rates to retain quality customer service professionals, investing in their professional development, teaching basic human relations skills, and helping to create a better work environment and see employees who go above and beyond as investments and not threats.

 

Principle # 8: Self-Control

 

Staying on this vein, Hill points out that self-control directs your enthusiasm. A wise businessman will keep cool when others are hot. As Hill says, “Those who control themselves usually boss the job” or, in other words, Self-Control = Leadership.

 

It’s amazing how much more business one can drum up and how many more happy customers one can get by simply counting to ten, taking a couple of deep breaths, and thinking of something pleasant for a few seconds before making or taking an important call or going into a meeting.

 

Never retaliate against those who offend you. Be a leader by being a person of poise and self-control.

 

Principle # 9: The Habit of Doing More Than Paid For

 

“Giving people a little more than what they expect is a good way to get back more than you’d expect” - Robert Half

 

Again, going above and beyond. We get back in life what we give. By getting into the habit of always doing more than you’re paid for, you will meet with opportunities for expansion, advancement, and promotion at every turn of the corner. (You might not get these opportunities immediately with your current employer; but eventually competitors could take notice and will gladly provide you with plenty of opportunity if your employer will not).

 

Napoleon Hill offers numerous real-life examples of ordinary people reaching extraordinary heights of achievement and success using this one principle alone in his book on success, “Law of Success: The 21st-Century Edition.”

 

Principle # 10: A Pleasing Personality

 

Mr. Hill says that a pleasing personality is a person that attracts. It’s all about your character and how you carry yourself. Are you dressed for success as it relates to your field? Do you speak with self-confidence? Are you someone that genuinely likes to be friendly to everyone around you?

 

Do you offer a firm handshake and a warm smile, or a limp, ‘dead fish’ handshake with a rigid, forced smile? Or have problems looking someone in the eye when speaking to them?

 

The best way to develop a pleasing personality is to show a real interest in other people.

It’s so much more FUN and PROFITABLE to have a pleasing personality!

 

Principle # 11: Accurate Thinking

 

“The facts, just the facts, ma’am” – Sgt. Friday in Dragnet (if you are old enough to remember that show)

 

Don’t believe everything you read in the news. Much of it today is propaganda and agenda-based partial truths. It doesn’t matter which political side you are backing, or anything like that, it’s just that the news used to be about facts and now it is interlaced with editorials projected as news.

 

Get into the habit of basing your decisions on factual information and avoiding gossip, rumors, hyperbole and conjecture. Always remember that partial truth means that some of it isn’t true. Make sure that you get all of the facts before making decisions based on the information, or worse yet, passing the information on to someone else.

 

Even common day practices that are widely accepted can be based on wrong assumptions. For example, in the middle ages, bloodletting was a common practice that was believed to help cure a variety of illnesses. It was a common belief among doctors that bad blood caused disease and so they bled patients for every imaginable ailment under the sun. This crude and ineffective medical ritual continued for 2,500 years until it was discovered that germs, not bad blood, were responsible for disease.

 

Imagine people willingly allowing someone to put leeches on them to remove their blood, that is disgustingly gross and the thing that nightmares are made of.

 

I think we need a new name for 21st Century bloodletting. I think we need to add the term moneyletting to the dictionary.

 

If someone makes a sweeping statement that raises doubts, you can ask this person the question that Napoleon Hill likes asking: “How do you know?”

 

We haven’t even begun to scratch the surface of accurate thinking. But to get to the heart of Hill’s main idea, accurate thinking is about separating the important facts from the unimportant ones and I would add to that and say that, whenever possible, emotion should be removed from the equation.

 

In politics, campaigns get to illicit negative emotional responses from people to turn them against their competition. The same concept is used in advertising; ads trying to make someone think that they will be better, healthier, stronger or happier with their product.

 

I hope you enjoyed Part II of this “Law of Success” series. Part III is just around the corner, keep an eye out for it. 

 

In the meantime, share these principles with your peers, discuss the concepts and teach other people what you’ve learned. There’s no better way to learn than by teaching others.

 

If you haven’t already, I’d highly recommend getting a copy of Napoleon Hill’s classic bestseller: “Law of Success: The 21st-Century Edition.” It really is a great read and I rank it in my personal top 10 list.

 

To get your copy just visit here or visit your local library.