Napoleon Hill's Success Masters
Page 19
As you begin to see yourself and your own journey reflected in these essays, think about advice you’ve gotten over the years. Do any of the suggestions or concepts in this book remind you of success strategies you’ve heard in your own life? If so, how?
Share some favorite quotes from the book with someone you interact with on your own success journey. How you can you explain those quotes to a mentee or someone who has coached or mentored you?
If you could have a personal chat with any of the authors in this book, what would you ask them?
If you could take any of the essays here and put your own spin on it, what would you change? How would you help apply lessons from your own life to what the Success Masters have already written?
What is something you learned in this book that you didn’t already know?
Do any of the essays spark new questions for you about your own success journey? What are they?
What advice in the book is most relatable to you? The least? Why?
What common themes do you see running through the essays?
How do those common themes apply to you?
If you wrote your own essay on success, what would it be about? Would that topic change over time?
Think about your five- and ten-year goals. Where do you want to be? What do you want to be doing? If you could assign your future self an essay to read based on those goals, what would it be? Why?
Resources
The Entrepreneur Action Item sections that accompany each selection are derived from articles and content originally appearing on entrepreneur.com. They include:
“8 Habits of Highly Effective Entrepreneurs” by Sherrie Campbell, https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/327113
“5 Ways to Rewire Your Brain to Be Positive” by Deep Patel, https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/296779
“6 Reasons Why You Need to Mastermind Your Business” by Lain Ehmann, https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/274315
“8 Keys to Coming Off as the Expert in Whatever You Sell” by Marc Wayshak, https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/295703
“What Smart Entrepreneurs Know About Problem Solving” by Dipti Parmar, https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/313089
“15 Ways to Drown Out the Destructive Voices in Your Head” by Lydia Belanger, https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/289160
“How to Live with Purpose and Stay Focused on Long-Term Goals” by Dan Dowling, https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/315502
“The 7 ‘Senses’ of Self-Development” by Sherrie Campbell, https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/331147
“This Is What It Takes to Spark Change in Your Life” by Raul Villacis, https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/325937
“Why Time Is Your Most Important Business Resource” by Chris Porteous, https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/328205
“6 Principles for Overcoming Entrepreneurial Adversity” by Martin Zwilling, https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/275571
About Napoleon Hill
Napoleon Hill was born in 1883 in a one-room cabin on the Pound River in Wise County, Virginia. He began his writing career at age 13 as a “mountain reporter” for smalltown newspapers and went on to become America’s most beloved motivational author. Hill passed away in November 1970 after a long and successful career writing, teaching, and lecturing about the principles of success.
Dr. Hill’s work stands as a monument to individual achievement and is the cornerstone of modern motivation. His book, Think and Grow Rich, is the all-time bestseller in the field. Hill established the Napoleon Hill Foundation as a nonprofit educational institution whose mission is to perpetuate his philosophy of leadership, self-motivation, and individual achievement. Learn more about Napoleon Hill at www.naphill.org.
Index
The index that appeared in the print version of this title was intentionally removed from the eBook. Please use the search function on your eReading device to search for terms of interest. For your reference, the terms that appear in the print index are listed below.
A
ABC priority system
accountability
action planning
adversity. See also challenges, facing; obstacles, overcoming; problem-solving
affluence
attitude
B
belief
brainstorming
Branson, Richard
breathing room
C
cause and effect. See also compensation
challenges, facing. See also adversity
affluence and
answers to problems in
goal-setting for
groupthink, avoiding
happiness and
lifelong learning for
risk and reward in
challenges, sharing
change
characteristics of effective entrepreneurs
choosing your path
collective mind
collective problem-solving
commuting time
compensation
about law of
cause and effect and
dualism and
mentorship as
networking as
confidence
connectedness
courage
creating
curiosity
D
dead vs. quick
direction, sense of
disagreement
discouragement
disagreement and
exit strategies and
giving up and
perfectionism and
perseverance and
seriousness and
strategies for overcoming
doctor mindset
dualism. See also compensation
E
early rising
education
effectiveness
80/20 Rule
Emerson, Ralph Waldo
enthusiasm. See also positivity
entrepreneur defined
environment
exit strategies
expert positioning
F
fear
percent rule in sales
finances, managing
financial independence
flexibility
focus
follow-through
forgetting
freedom
G
Gates, Bill
Gestalt Therapy (Perls)
giving up
goal-setting
groupthink
H
habits
Hall, Lacy
happiness
Harvey, Paul
health, prioritizing
I
ideas, bringing to life
imagination
important vs. urgent tasks
imposter syndrome
intelligence
inventorying needs
investments
J
journaling
K
“Kierkegaard, the Self and Ethical Existence” (Stack)
Kohe, J. Martin
L
Lakein, Alan
law of attraction
learning, lifelong
Libermann, Nate
lightening up
living beyond means
living within means
lunch time
M
Maslow’s hierarchy of needs
meditation
memorized peacefulness
mentoring
mindfulness
money, role of
N
needs
actions honoring
change and
goal-setting and
identifying
inventorying
strengths and
negativity
networking
Nightingale, Earl
O
obsession
obstacles, overcoming. See also adversity; probl
em-solving
opportunities, problems as
optimism
organization
Owens, Jesse
P
Paddock, Charlie
Parkinson’s Law
path, choosing
Peale, Norman Vincent
P.E.P. (persuasion, enthusiasm and pitching)
perfectionism
perseverance
perspective
positioning as expert
positivity
prioritizing
problems as part of life
problem-solving. See also adversity; Story of The Other Wise Man
belief and
breaking down problems into steps
collective
cultural impact on
problems as opportunities
subconscious
thinking through problems
procrastinating
production
Psychology of Winning
Q
quality
quick vs. dead
quitting too soon
R
recognition
relationships
relaxing
resiliency
resource sharing
“Rest of The Story, The” (radio program)
rising early
risk and reward
rocks, collecting wisely
S
salespeople, thinking like
scheduling
security
self, sense of
self-awareness
self-care
self-development mindset
self-discipline
self-esteem
self-government
self-obsession
self-regulation
selling
everybody is in sales
expert positioning in
idea of America
optimism
self-discipline
seriousness
service-mindedness
simplicity
sleep
social entrepreneurship
socializing
solving problems. See problem-solving
Stevenson, Robert Louis
stimulation
Stone, W. Clement
Story of The Other Wise Man, The (Van Dyke). See also problem-solving
strategizing
strengths and needs, connecting
success defined
successful entrepreneurs, characteristics of
T
technology
“think” process
thinking through problems. See also problem-solving
time management
identifying wasted time
important vs. urgent
learning to do less
maximizing your time
perfectionism and
prioritizing
procrastination and
as a stressor
time off
to do lists
transition time
U
urgency, sense of
urgent vs. important tasks
V
Van Dyke, Henry
visionary mindset
visualization
W
waiting time
Waitley, Denis
walking away
wasting time. See also time management
winning
writing things down
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ebook ISBN: 978-1-61308-396-3
LAYING THE GROUNDWORK
Before you get to know all of the many ways you can make passive income work for you, we are going to talk about some of the basics behind the power of passive income. Let’s start with the name of it—passive income. The word “passive” sometimes gets a bad rap. We are urged to be active participants in our lives, not passively let life happen to us. That’s a fair point, and it’s a useful rule to follow. After all, you are the driver of your destiny, and only you can make success happen. However, when it comes to making money, there is a power in doing so passively. In other words, getting the most bang for your buck with the least effort. Wouldn’t it be great to have an income stream (or two, or three) that, once set up, brought in money for you while you were doing other things? Of course! Think of the time you could spend doing what you like with the people you love if you had an income stream that was doing most of the work for you. That’s the power of passive income!
The amazing thing is, huge numbers of people don’t know that passive income even exists. If you’re one of those people, you work hard for your money, and in order to have more money, you think you may have to work even harder. Since there’s a good chance that’s how you see things right now, try making a radical change in your perceptions—let’s call it a paradigm shift. It’s more than just changing the way you earn money or gain income. It’s a transformation in the way you see money itself. It’s seeing wealth and success in entirely new ways.
Right now, for example, perhaps you see wealth in terms of a dollar amount. Let’s consider a quick scenario. Say Mr. Smith has $20 million, so he’s wealthy. Mr. Jones is $20,000 in debt, so he’s the opposite of wealthy. But a number is just a number—it’s not true wealth (or lack thereof). For our purposes here, we’re going to ask you to take the price tag off wealth. Instead of thinking in terms of thousands or millions or billions, we’re going to be talking about freedom and fulfillment and creativity. That doesn’t mean you’re not going to be making more money—because you definitely are. However, you’re going to make that because you’ve learned how to see money very differently than before.
KNOW YOUR “WHY”
In this book, we’re going to be asking and answering a lot more “what” questions than “why” questions. For example, we’re going to talk about what you can do to start an online business or what you’ll need to develop income from real estate. But here at the start there are a few why questions that need to be answered. Once you’ve got those answers in place, the tools and tactics of passive income will be a lot more effective.
So, ask yourself why you want more income. For a lot of people, that may seem like a foolish question. Wanting more money is just hardwired into us, isn’t it? It’s like the old saying: You can’t be too thin or too rich. But if you think about it, money is never really an end in itself. The desire for wealth is something different from just wanting to hold a lot of bills in your hand. For some people, money means access to material possessions, whether it’s a big yacht or fine watch or just a nice house to live in. For others, wealth means security. It’s not having to worry about how you’re going to pay the mortgage or fund your children’s education. All those things are very worthwhile expressions of wealth.
THE NEW MEANING OF WEALTH
For our purposes, however, we’re going to suggest a slightly different way of thinking of wealth. At least initially, your goal in creating passive income will not be the same as the other financial objectives you set for you
rself. In one word, what we’re going to achieve here is freedom—freedom from the need to keep earning more, working harder, and trying to sell your time to the highest bidder. The passive income streams you create are going to relieve that pressure. Once the pressure is relieved, you’ll have much greater freedom to make key decisions in your life—both financially and in every other area.
Right now, you may be in the position of having to take every assignment that comes along. For good reason, you may be unwilling to think about making a job change or a career transformation—because you’re worried about missing a paycheck. In your heart, you may still have larger financial hopes and dreams, but right now you’re in bondage. You’re tied to the time-for-money framework, and within that framework, your options are very limited. Creating passive income will take you outside that box. Bondage will be replaced by freedom. Instead of just meeting your financial needs, you’ll begin to make your own financial choices.
This is an extremely important point, so let’s make sure we’re clear about it. It’s great to have lofty, long-term financial goals—but it’s going to be hard to achieve them if your single income stream goes to just maintaining the lifestyle you have now. Passive income streams will give you the liberty to pursue your goals more aggressively. It’s certainly true that the passive income ideas we’ll be talking about can themselves become major income sources—but initially they are sources of freedom. They’ll give you the freedom to look at the big picture of your financial life, to see the opportunities, and to act on them immediately.
FIND YOUR FREEDOM
By now you’re probably starting to see that the concept of passive income is a major viewpoint shift. Within the time-for-money equation, most people spend their whole lives trying to achieve a big income. They think a big income will make them rich. But a big income is worth little if expenses are just as big. People who are still working harder and harder to sell time for money are not really living the life of wealthy individuals, no matter how big the numbers are.
This leads to a second shift in viewpoint. We’ve said that our initial goal for passive income is financial freedom. If you’re like most people, this is a goal that will be attained incrementally over time. You may not be able to quit your day job immediately—you may not even want to quit it—but as your passive income increases, your dependence on your day job will decrease. Ultimately, of course, passive income can liberate you from needing to work at all. You may still choose to work, but that’s very different from needing to.
But here’s the point: Whether this happens will depend not only on the amount of your passive income, but on how you spend it. To help understand this, there’s a well-established principle of workplace behavior called Parkinson’s Law. This principle states that the time needed to complete a particular task will expand to fill the time available. If people have a two-week deadline to complete a report, the vast majority of them will take two weeks to do it—not because they need that much time, but because that’s how much time they have. If they had a week to do the report or if they had a month, they would get it done in that time, too.