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.
