Truthful Living
Page 10
If you want favors bestow favors!
If you want trouble, “start something” and you’ll find it! This is in accordance with the “Law of Harmonious Attraction” through the operation of which we get exactly what we give!
The human race is selfish! We favor others because they have favored us. We speak well of others because they have spoken well of us, but just let us hear of an uncomplimentary remark that someone, whom we had until then held in the highest of esteem, makes about us, and instantly our opinion concerning that person changes.
It is not only a sure indication of your bigness, but a mighty good sign that you are a diplomat and a salesman when you indicate a willingness to forgive the man who has been unkind toward you. The greatest punishment you can mete out to a person who had done you an injury is to meet him with a smile and a glad handshake at the first opportunity. You can change a lifelong foe into a warm and loyal friend in ten seconds if you will first eliminate from your heart all feelings of hatred and revenge and then make that foe feel that you think well of him. I know this can be done for I have tried it, not only once but on several occasions.
The surest way to defeat your adversary who approaches you in a spirit of anger is to reply in a calm tone, and in a spirit of friendliness.
I do not know why it is, but I DO KNOW THAT IT IS – that all obstacles in life’s pathway vanish instantly before the person who can FORGIVE AND FORGET – the person who can love instead of hate!
If you have not learned to really see the good there is in everyone, even the person who has unjustly offended you and imposed upon you, you have overlooked the greatest of all powers for success. Learn to love the person who has wronged you, if for no other reason than the fact that this will give you strength and power that will place you head and shoulders above that person.
If you strike back in thought and in deed every time a person wrongs you, that person is lowering you to his level. He is bringing you down to his plane. He is dominating you. His will power is the stronger of the two. On the other hand, if you refuse to pollute your mind and discolor the beauty of your soul just because someone else has done so, you possess infinitely greater wisdom than the other person, and, in turn, you will wield infinitely greater power than he could.
To control others, you must first learn to control yourself!
One of the curses of humanity is the lack of self-control – the disposition to strike back every time some other person gives us cause for offense. But for Intolerance the world would be a thousand years ahead of our present state of civilization!
Take those chips off your shoulders! They have no place in this twentieth-century civilization. They belong to the stone age. Uncontrolled tempers have stood between millions of men and a higher and bigger success.
“Whom the gods would destroy they first make mad.”
I do not recall whose philosophy this is, but I DO KNOW that it is sound.
Of course, you ought to know the truth of these principles as well as I do, but if perchance you should doubt them, in part or in whole, just try them out. Go to the person who has been in the habit of passing you by with his nose tilted in the air at a forty-five-degree angle, step in front of him, hold out your hand, and make him shake it! Let him see by the sparkle in your eyes and the grip of your hand that you mean it. The chances are that his under jaw will drop, his mouth will fall open, and he will stare at you in amazement. He will clearly see that you are a bigger man than he is, and in the secret depths of his heart he will want to emulate you.
AND THE VERY NEXT TIME HE MEETS YOU, HE WILL!
“If you want favors bestow favors!. . .This is in accordance with the ‘Law of Harmonious Attraction’ through the operation of which we get exactly what we give!”
– Napoleon Hill
He will not let you “outdo” him in politeness. He may not reason the matter out in just this way, but that is what will take place in his mind whether he is conscious of it or not.
I tell you, my friends, you are creating your own atmosphere wherever you go. You are making people admire you – you are making them want to serve you and do your bidding, or you are causing them to dislike you and to shrink away from you. Whichever it is, you are the person responsible for it.
Make your thoughts right and your acts will be in harmony with your thoughts. If your outward acts are right, they will attract people to you.
Suppose that you are an employee and you feel that your employer has been unkind to you and unappreciative of your services! Man alive! Can you not see that you have the whip in your own hands and that you make him cringe in the dust at your bidding?
HOW?
Now I ask you to answer that for yourself. Think it out and then try it. As a mere suggestion for a beginning, suppose that you start in and for a few days do more work and better work than you have been in the habit of doing. If you are supposed to get to work at 8:30 and leave at 5:30, change your hours during this experiment and get there at eight and leave at six. Do, not only the things that you are supposed to do, but go out of your way to do the things that you are not supposed to do. Go to your employer when you have a few minutes of spare time and ask permission to take on a few additional responsibilities. Of course, I will admit that he will stop and look at you in amazement, and possibly he will ask you to repeat to make sure that he understood you, but you do this and then make good on whatever additional work he gives you to perform.
Proceed along this line for a week or so. If you have been in the habit of speaking slightingly of your employer, change your attitude, and during this experiment speak of him in the highest of terms. Speak of him often. Let him know that you are speaking of him in this complimentary manner. Let your fellow workers know it. If you will make an honest experiment such as this, you will see a miracle before long. Your employer will begin to show partiality toward you. He will go out of his way to say a kind word to you.
If you will keep up this “experiment” long enough, you will soon learn something concerning the “Law of Harmonious Attraction.” Furthermore, you will be on the road to a bigger position or to a partnership in the business. If not with your present employer, then with some other employer who will have heard of your “strange” action. Yes, strange – so strange that it seldom happens. You will have but little competition in this experiment. But a few have tried it – just a few men such as Carnegie, Hill, Rockefeller, Schwab, Vanderlip, Harriman, Edward Bok, and a few others of their type.
“WHATSOEVER YE SOWETH THAT SHALL YE ALSO REAP.”
It is as true today as it was two thousand years ago. It will work just as well now as it did then.
Cordially and sincerely your friend,
Napoleon Hill
80 East Randolph St.
Chicago, U.S.A.
GITOMER’S THOUGHTFUL ACTIONS
HOW TO IMPLEMENT THIS LESSON
Harmonious Attraction means finding people that match your philosophy, match your ethics, have a service heart, and have long-term relationship potential. It redefines what you have come to know as “The Law of Attraction” – this is by far the easiest of lessons to implement – your actions will attract the best, if you are the best.
“We are either consciously or unconsciously creating a material condition in life that is an exact reproduction of that which we are creating in thought!”
– Napoleon Hill
“Ambition is the great weapon with which you must fight your way to the top.”
– Napoleon Hill
Lesson Number
12
HOW TO SELL YOURSELF AND YOUR SERVICES
(An after-the-lesson visit with Mr. Hill)
GITOMER INSIGHT: This is about making the ultimate sale, selling yourself. The first sale that’s made is the salesperson. If the customer, or the prospect, or the banker doesn’t buy you, nothing else you say matters. Here is Hill’s personal guide, based on his incredible communication, persuasion, and selling skills. Note the insight i
nto human nature and how significant a role it plays.
I suppose that nothing is of more interest to all of us than knowledge of HOW TO SELL OUR SERVICES for more money. First of all, to get more we must give more. In some instances we must give greater quantity. In other instances we must give better quality. In still other instances we must give both greater quantity and better quality of service.
As a general rule we do not get more for our services than the price we place upon them. No merchant ever sold a suit of clothes for $30 which was only marked $25. No man ever became a $1,800-a-year man who set his own price at only $1,200.
“If you are not in a line of business that will stand a higher price for the kind of work you are performing, you know the remedy. Get out and get into some other business.”
– Napoleon Hill
I began as a laborer at a dollar a day. Through the efforts of a man who gave me courage, inspiration, and self-confidence, I became a stenographer and went to work at $10 a week. Pretty soon ambition began to call and I boosted my price to $50 a month. I didn’t get it right away but eventually I did. Mind you, however, I didn’t get $55 – just $50 – the price I had set. Ambition began to prod me a little more, so I boosted my price tag to $75 a month. Very soon I was getting $75 – but not $80 or $90. Then I raised the price again to $100 a month, and soon I was getting exactly that amount, but no more.
Then I began to gain self-confidence pretty rapidly, so I next boosted my price to $150 a month, and soon I was getting that amount, but not any more. The next time I boosted the price to $2,000 a year and got it. Then to $2,500, and soon I was getting exactly this sum. Right along there was where I began to “find myself.” I next boosted my price tag to $5,000 a year, and within six months after I made up my mind to raise the price, I was getting just this sum.
But there is a point I would not have you miss – FROM THE VERY MOMENT THAT I RAISED MY PRICE TAG TO A HIGHER FIGURE, I COMMENCED TO BELIEVE I WAS WORTH MORE, AND TO DO MY LEVEL BEST TO BE ACTUALLY WORTH MORE! My every thought and action had a tendency toward making me more efficient every time I would raise my price.
GITOMER NOTE: $150,000 piece of advice: In January of 1996, I had just raised my fee from $5,000 per speech to $6,000. On coincidence I ran into the Business Journal publisher and friend Mark Ethridge in the Charlotte airport. He was the first to publish my column in the paper (1992) and exposed me to the world of sales and business. We were both flying to Dallas. And we were sitting together! Coincidence? I don’t believe in them. “What’s your speaking fee this year?” he asked. “I just raised it to six thousand,” I said with pride. “What was it last year?” he asked. “Five thousand,”
I said. “Are you 20 percent better this year?” he asked. “Uh, I, ah, don’t know,” I stammered. “Your fee is in your head,” he said matter-of-factly. That was January 10. I came home from Dallas and immediately raised my fee to $7,500. I gave 100 speeches that year and made an EXTRA $150K based on “internal belief.” Hill is on the money here – make it your money. I did.
When an employee commences to render better service, as a rule he or she very soon attracts the attention of those who have authority to increase salaries.
In the new book which I have just completed, entitled HOW TO SELL YOUR SERVICES, Mr. Andrew Carnegie reminds us, an article which he wrote on this subject, that to merely render good services is not enough – that we must ATTRACT ATTENTION of our superiors. Personally, I believe that a mighty good way to attract attention is to render services that are just a little better in quality and greater in amount than we are actually being paid to render.
But I will agree that this is not always sufficient. Some employers have very poor eyesight when it comes to seeing an employee’s efforts to render more and better service. Sometimes such employers must be reminded of their duty. In other instances we have to look for employers whose eyesight is better.
My plan has always been to render service which satisfied me that it was worth more money, before asking for it. If you cannot give a good reason why you should have an increase, do not ask for it. Place yourself in the employer’s position. Ask yourself what YOU would do if your employer were you and you were he. This test usually gives us a pretty accurate estimate of our own worth.
Many of us are engaged in work, the very nature of which does not permit a greater remuneration. In such cases the only thing to do is to enter a bigger field, where opportunity is broader. Look ahead one, two, three, or five years and see just what there is in the position you now hold, on the hypothesis that you will render service that is right in both QUALITY and QUANTITY. If you do not see a clear track, it may be well for you to select another field now. Do not permit yourself to become self-satisfied. Ambition is the great weapon with which you must fight your way to the top. Mark up your price tag. If you are not in a line of business that will stand a higher price for the kind of work you are performing, you know the remedy. Get out and get into some other business.
Very cordially your friend,
Napoleon Hill
80 East Randolph Street
Chicago, U.S.A.
GITOMER’S THOUGHTFUL ACTIONS
HOW TO IMPLEMENT THIS LESSON
What VALUE do you bring to others? What wisdom are you providing without expectation of return? What are you worth as a person? Is that the rate at which you’re earning? Maybe you’re not giving value or service better than you’re paid to deliver. Would you pay your rate? How can you increase your personal value you offer to your employer? Hill says time and time again to render more service than is expected of you. Are you doing more than expected? Or are you still sporting the loser’s philosophy of “They don’t pay me enough. . .” Winner or whiner? The choice is obvious to me. You? Service comes from your heart – not from your head. Service is not a policy, it’s a PERSON! Be that person and you will win in sales and in life.
“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
Lesson Number
13
DISCOVERY; THINGS, LIFE, and HAPPINESS
(An after-the-lesson visit with Mr. Hill)
GITOMER INSIGHT: Self-discovery is the underlying theme of this lesson. Hill reveals the wonder of “finding yourself” and the elements (good and bad) of what makes it happen. The revelations inside this lesson are both life enhancing and life changing, but only if you’re willing to take a close look at yourself.
The sun disappears beyond the western horizon. We press a button and create its counterpart because Edison discovered the incandescent electric light.
An operator touches a key, and with a few movements of the hand he flashes a message to a ship in mid-ocean, or to a receiving station on the other side of the earth – because Marconi discovered wireless telegraphy.
A young woman rises to a height of several thousand feet in the air, and within a few hours time she flies from Chicago to New York, a thousand miles, because the Wright brothers discovered the aeroplane.
“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.”
– Napoleon Hill
Through the discovery of the submarine we may sit comfortably upon the bottom of the ocean and watch the queer monsters of the sea.
Through the discovery of the X-Ray we may take a photograph of the interior of the human body.
Through the discovery of the automobile we can speed over the ground at the rate of a hundred miles an hour.
All these wonderful things have been discovered during the 20th Century. They were here all the time, but we hadn’t discovered them yet.
But these remarkable mechanical discoveries are by no means the greatest discovery of the 20th Century. We have m
ade one other discovery, which far surpasses all these.
We have discovered how to be happy!
This discovery was made by a little, old woman whose lease on life had almost expired. Her name was Mary Baker Eddy.
Mind you, this little, old, gray-haired woman didn’t “invent” anything – she merely “discovered” a wonderful power, which has existed ever since the first man was created.
Thanks to this discovery, we may enjoy the rights to which every normal human being is entitled, if we will!
We mention this discovery last because we believe it to be the greatest discovery of all!
What mere mechanical contraption can compare with the discovery of a power through which we may banish fear, worry, poverty, crime, and disease?
You are the equal of any human being. Your mind is bright and active. Your body is strong and healthy. Your eyesight and your hearing are perfect. You have a fair schooling. You may step into a public library and use the information collected by learned men who have gone before you, on any subject.
Yet you worry and fret over imaginary troubles which exist nowhere except in your mind! You worry for fear you will lose your position. You fret because you are not getting the salary you would like, or because your business isn’t growing as fast as it should, or because you haven’t as much money as you want.
You worry because all people do not agree with you. You fume and fuss because your employer doesn’t run his business the way you believe he should.
You despise those who do not believe as you do concerning religion. You hate your next-door neighbors because they are “foreigners,” born where your forefathers came from.
You are unsuccessful and unhappy! There are millions of others just like you, all searching for happiness, just as you are doing.
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!