The SECRET Of Napoleon Hill REVEALED! - Posted by Nimesh Patel

Posted by John Behle on March 29, 2006 at 19:34:43:

Yes, that is what that group and many others specialize in. It is basically group dynamics and support that is very effective. Not the same strategy as 12 step groups, it’s quite different. Even though most of the groups are not focused on finances, personal development manifests itself in better financial circumstances, greater energy, less fear, etc. My most successful students have been the ones that took my advice and focused on these areas as well as their finances.

As an educator, it has always been difficult to work my hardest to give someone all the “tools” and knowledge needed for success and yet not see them get the results. That is part of what convinced me there had to be more. I could see the differences in students. One could take the information and fly and another did nothing. Much of the time it was the most intelligent ones that did nothing. It might be the most personable ones or those with the most knowledge. The one I think is going to be a superstar goes nowhere and someone else comes along that I felt would go nowhere - that excels. And it’s not just a bad judge of character. Though now I would probably rate them differently with what I know.

The SECRET Of Napoleon Hill REVEALED! - Posted by Nimesh Patel

Posted by Nimesh Patel on March 26, 2006 at 11:18:37:

Ok everyone, here it is (I will include the page references and the exact wording directly from Mr. Hill’s book Think and Grow Rich so NO ONE CAN STATE IT IS MY PERSONAL OPINION).

Here we go folks: From Think and Grow Rich, turn to the section "A Word From The Author?, page XIII. He states “In every chapter of this book, mention has been made of the money-making secret which has made fortunes for hundreds of exceedingly wealthy men whom I have carefully analyzed over a long period of years”. Now, let’s turn to page 49, the chapter Authosuggestion and under the section “See and Feel Money In Your Hands”. “Remember, therefore, when reading aloud the statement of your desire, that the mere reading of words is of no consequence- unless you mix emotion, or feeling with your words. Your subconscious mind recognizes and acts only upon thoughts which have been well-mixed with emotion or feeling. THIS IS A FACT OF SUCH IMPORTANCE AS TO WARRANT REPITION IN PRACTICALLY EVERY CHAPTER, BECAUSE THE LACK OF UNDERSTANDING OF THIS IS THE MAIN REASON THE MAJORITY OF PEOPLE WHO TRY TO APPLY THE PRINCIPLE OF AUTOSUGGESTION GET NO DESIRABLE RESULTS”.

WOW, you get it folks??? The secret that Napoleon Hill talked about “clicked” because of a fantastic other book I read called “Excuse Me, Your Life Is Waiting, The Astonishing Power of Feelings” by Lyn Grabhorn. In a nutshell, Lyn states that you can attract your desire to your physical reality by adding FEELINGS/EMOTIONS to your positive thoughts.

Mr. Hill repeats that message several other times in this book: that you must add feelings/emotion behind your desires. Read the section on The Subconscious Mind. The SECRET that Napoleon Hill talked about is to add FEELINGS/EMOTIONS behind your thoughts and you will attract your desire into your reality!!!

Re: The SECRET Of Napoleon Hill REVEALED! - Posted by Michael

Posted by Michael on March 29, 2006 at 01:03:41:

I do not believe you are correct. Your belief that the main idea, or secret, in Hill’s book has to do with having emotion behind your thoughts of success, presupposes that the book’s audience was familiar with the idea that thoughts can control your destiny.

Although Hill was not the first to write about this idea, it was new to most Americans, so your idea of the secrect is not broad enough to be understood by the intended audience.

Also, as a matter fact, he does state the “secret” is in every chapter, not “practically” every chapter. Two different meanings.

What I believe the “secret” or thesis to be is:

“Whatever your mind can conceive and believe it can achieve.” --Napoleon Hill (1883-1970)

The SECRET Of Napoleon Hill REVEALED! - Posted by Bill H

Posted by Bill H on March 27, 2006 at 23:20:24:

PERSISTENCE

"Nothing in the world can take place of persistence.

Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent.

Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb.

Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts.

Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent."
Calvin Coolidge

Argue your limitations and they are yours forever - Posted by John Behle

Posted by John Behle on March 27, 2006 at 19:40:57:

Interesting post Nimesh. Thanks for sharing that. I took a few moments to share some of my thoughts on the subject and I am posting it here because it is on the same topic, but not necessarily a response directed right to you or your post, just my thoughts and experience about the subject.


There is great power in positive affirmations - when applied correctly.

Saying “I am going to be a millionaire next year” a hundred times a day does little. Picturing yachts and adding emotion to the statement can produce some better results, but not by much.

There is more to it than that. Not to discount the incredible power of affirmation in any way, but there are other ingredients. The challenge is they are hard to explain on paper. It’s something that is easiest demonstrated in a training room environment.

The problem is PMA (Positive Mental Attitude) is the tip of the iceberg. Our conscious mind has some power, but it is insignificant in comparison to the weight, momentum and direction of our sub-conscious or un-conscious mind.

All the affirmations in the world can do little if inside someone doesn’t believe they can be wealthy or deserve wealth. Over time it can have some effect on the subconscious, but it’s slow and low.

There’s more to those Napolean Hill studied than having a positive attitude and using conscious programming. There is a deeper inner belief. It grows over time, it has a lot to do with environment, it can be changed, but it is un-believably powerful. Taking someone off the street and trying to positively program their conscious minds will do little.

But, it does have power. If it is directed at and designed to reshape those inner beliefs. A couple great examples I like. One was a program designed to help people with the challenge of alcohol overuse. It had an extremely high success rate and low recidivism. The secret? For twenty minutes a day the participants visualized themselves living a normal life.

Another example I like. A controlled study in an experimental way. They took three groups and tested them at the start and the end of the several week time period with basketball “free throws”. Group A practiced for twenty minutes a day. Group B was the control group and did not practice or improve.

Group C was what was interesting. They sat in a chair at the free throw line and visualized making baskets. Of the three groups, the control group of course did not improve. The group that practiced improved by 18% and what is interesting is the group that “Visualized” improved by almost exactly the same amount.

Visualization is wonderful with things like that. But, it has a hard time over-riding our internal programming. It is far more effective to do it in conjunction with other things. Especially since we most of the time do not know our internal programming. It runs and rules us moment by moment and day by day, yet we may be totally unaware of what it really is.

We have things called “Self Defeating Behaviors” an excellent book if you can find it is called “Eliminating your Self Defeating Behaviors” by a well known psychologist whose first name is all I can remember at the moment - Jonathon (I think it might be Chamberlain). I’ll go see if there are any used copies on Amazon or something updated. Basically, the premise is discovering and dealing with the self defeating behaviors (SDB’s) that influence our actions. The part of the iceberg under the surface that we don’t see or may not even know about. He has some very effective techniques to discover and deal with them.

A giant influence is our LIMITING BELIEFS. These are beliefs that can be as simple as “I’m not good at sports or math or whatever”. We may be conscious of them or not. But, they can have deep roots. When it comes to business, wealth, achievement and success, they can get in the way in almost an insurmountable manner. What happens is when people get out of their comfort zone and up against one of these beliefs they will most of the time find a way to prove the belief right. Much of the time that ends up in self sabotage. Someone starts making money and then loses it - because those beliefs are so strong and real to our subconscious that they MUST be right. The must be validated. Silently, secretly our conscious helps set us up to prove those beliefs. Thus you end up with someone that might be brilliant and knowledgeable yet a financial ZIGGY. Great ideas, great failures. Someone always does them in. They hook up with partners or trust someone that crashes the plane so to speak.

I love the statement “Argue your limitations and they are yours forever”. It can be so easy to see sometimes. You’ll see people argue loud and strong how they are no good at math or something like that. It both shows what their limiting beliefs are and reinforces them. Until we discover, somewhat understand and deal with the limiting beliefs, all the “surface work” like PMA seminars or even affirmations are fighting against a large and firmly entrenched force.

We have a comfort zone that is hard to break out of. When people try to break out they usually use that as an opportunity to sabotage. I HATE new year’s resolutions. They are such a setup for failure to most people. I used to laugh through much of January. I would lift weights 6 days a week two hours a day. The first two weeks of January I would have to adjust my schedule to come real early, real late or something because there would be so many new faces at the gym. The attendance would double or triple. Yet, two, three or four weeks later - they are all gone. Once in a while someone broke through and a new face stayed. Most broke their resolutions and went back to their same old day to day. No one should set a goal that they don?t keep. No one should set a goal that is un-realistic. Each goal set and not achieved adds to the burden of limiting beliefs and failure that gets in the way of achievement.

That is how most people treat goals and resolutions. They are un-realistic and held too lightly. When it comes to business and finance it can be the same way. People set goals to be a ?millionaire? when they do not really believe it and are not committed to it. They are vague, wishy washy, un-specific and UN-REALISTIC. No goal is out of range, no amount of money or success. It is only out of range for certain people at certain times. There is a way to tell. There is a way to increase our capacity for wealth. But just saying it doesn?t do it. Feeling emotional about it doesn?t do it alone. There is more.

In a seminar room I can illustrate this. In type it may only work if people are willing to pause and do the exercise. Read the next line and then pause. Notice the result and what you feel before moving on. We?ll look at a one year goal or affirmation. Repeat the affirmation.
?It is now April 1st 2007 and in the last year I have increased my net worth by One Million dollars.? What went through your head? Usually, there is a ?No Way!? There would be disbelief for most people. And, when there is disbelief, it is outside their comfort zone. It is NOT going to happen no matter how many times a day someone says it or how often they go out and test drive new Corvettes.

Whatever the mind of man can conceive and believe it can achieve. We must be able to conceive it as being possible. It has to seem real. We have to have some concept that it can happen, others have done it, there is a plan and procedure to do it. Our mind has to be able to grasp it. Believe. We have to believe it is possible for us. We have to believe we deserve it and have the capacity and ability to do it. Then and only then is it possible. So let?s try the affirmation again with a twist.

?It is now April 1st 2007 and in the last year I have increased my net worth by One hundred dollars.?. What is the inner response then? What were the thoughts that came to mind. For most people it is ?No way!? Too small, too little, not enough of a goal, not enough of a stretch.

The thing is, somewhere between ?No Way!? and ?No Way!? there is a number. There is a number that a clear thinking person can grasp, believe in, conceive as possible and commit to. That should be the goal. A number that someone absolutely knows they could do. A number that they could commit to if their life depended on it. It doesn?t matter if it seems low. That?s great, achieve it and move on. Achieve it in a month or two and have a success. Don?t chose a number that is too high and have another failure. Go from success to success.

You expand your comfort zone through realistic goal setting and what I call ?Intention?. You expand it by breaking through it in ways. That includes stretching, and risking. Taking steps that might seem intimidating or in a sense scary. Support is great for this - like a Mastermind Group. Getting to the heart of what the beliefs are that create the comfort zone and dealing with those can be powerful. There are non-real estate oriented seminars and trainings that are very good in dealing with those areas. I value my knowledge of myself, other people and the inner elements of success far more than my real estate knowledge. All the knowledge in the world will not make someone rich. Some people that are rich are truly not that smart. Yet some of the most knowledgeable and even brilliant people I have ever met have little success. What they do lack is an inner knowledge of success and themselves.

Knowledge doesn?t lead to success. Goal setting doesn?t. Positive affirmations doesn?t. There is an inner belief, drive and factor that is all important. Fighting against it is like trying to drain a large swimming pool with spoon or even a fork. Shifting it. Changing the beliefs and dealing with them can make a shift that produces immediate and immeasurable results.

There is a belief, inner drive and determination inside successful people that far exceeds any outward affirmations, positive self talk or goals. The good news is it is available to all. No one is financially crippled or limited, only their beliefs limit them. They are beliefs that can be altered towards the positive. It?s not about hard work, knowledge or even resources and opportunity. If real estate didn?t exist most successful real estate investors would be successful somewhere else. If computers didn?t exist, Bill Gates would likely have the same measure of success some other way. Yes, it?s nice to have a good plan. A good method. A good vehicle to take us towards success. Real estate provides that, but success is not about the opportunity, it is about intention.

Much Ado About Nothing (was …Napoleon Hill…) - Posted by John Sheridan

Posted by John Sheridan on March 27, 2006 at 12:12:41:

OK, so in order to succeed you have to have a positive attitude and you have to get out there and do things. But really, do you have to be Einstein to figure that out?

As for your statement “THE MAJORITY OF PEOPLE WHO TRY TO APPLY THE PRINCIPLE OF AUTOSUGGESTION GET NO DESIRABLE RESULTS”, well I have a different explanation of why this is the case. Those people just weren’t the lucky ones. Yes, I said lucky.

If you have taken a course in logic then you can see the fallacy in books like Napoleon Hill’s and Norman Vincent Peale’s.

Let’s start the lesson.

You have a true statement “If A, then B”.

The statement “If B then A” is called the converse. NOTHING can be said regarding the truth of the converse. In other words, the converse may or may not be true, given that the original is true.

The statement “If not B then not A” is the contrapositive. The contrapositive IS true if the original statement is true.

So what does Hill’s book say? He says “If a person has become highly successful, then these are the characteristics they possess”. He did very thorough research, so let’s assume he got it right.

The contrapositive is, “If you don’t possess these characteristics, then you won’t be highly successful”. This is also true. I.e. sit around all day moping about how bad things are and you won’t succeed.

Now the important point, the converse: “If you possess these characteristics, then you will be highly successful”. Logically, this statement MAY OR MAY NOT be true. The truth of the original statement tells you NOTHING about the truth or falsity of this statement.

I am here to tell you that the converse is FALSE. There are many, many people in the world who apply all the same principles of success that are outined in that book. Only a very few of the lucky ones actually succeed in a big way.

Some people are honest about their success. George Lucas for example mentioned how flabbergasted he was when Star Wars took off. He said he never expected that. That’s an honest man. Someone else might have said that they “knew the time was right” and “I was sure I’d succeed”. That’s a person who is either mistaken or is a downright liar.

For more on this, read “Fooled by Randomness : The Hidden Role of Chance in Life and in the Markets” by Nassim Nicholas Taleb.

Why do I write this? Well, books like Hill’s have been known to be dangerous to some people. Especially to young people. They get all excited thinking they have found the “key to success” and that they are going to be multi-millionaires before the turn 35. Then they risk too much, and go bankrupt. Some never recover.

If any young people are reading this, please get this into your heads now - you are NOT going to have a net wealth of $10 million before you turn 40. You are NOT going to be a billionaire, ever. You should define “success” as having enought money to live a decent comfortable life and retire comfortably some time in your 60’s. A 65 year old today doesn’t even need a net wealth of $1 million to do this.

So yes, follow the principles in those books but don’t get carried away by them. Remenber, slow and steady wins the race. And if I may borrow a saying from the financial markets - “Bulls make money, bears make money, pigs get slaughtered”.

Re: The SECRET Of Napoleon Hill REVEALED! - Posted by SJO

Posted by SJO on March 26, 2006 at 13:59:49:

You are correct, Nimesh. Emotion is the fuel that fires the intention. Without it, there is little result.

Anyone who is interested in this subject (and everyone here shoud be) might want to read “The Power of Intention” by Wayne Dyer. If anyone wants to go even further down the rabbit hole, the DVD “What the Bleep do We Know” should open some new doors (at Amazon).

The whole story! - Posted by Terry Vaughan

Posted by Terry Vaughan on March 26, 2006 at 11:35:56:

I agree. This works.

The principles are outlined in detail at the following link:

http://www.creonline.com/articles/art-048.html

JP and I have been using these 3 steps for many years.

Re: Argue your limitations… - Posted by John Sheridan

Posted by John Sheridan on March 28, 2006 at 12:06:58:

John Behle wrote: “If computers didn?t exist, Bill Gates would likely have the same measure of success some other way.”

I usually agree with you John but I can’t go along with this one. If you want to expand your definition of “success” to mean “financially secure”, then I agree that Gates probably would have been able to make himself “successful” no matter the circumstances. But to say that he has some kind of magical quality that would have made him a billionaire no matter what - no, I can’t go along with that. No such magic exists.

He became so successful because he was in the right place at the right time with the right set of skills. He made the right decisions at the right time, mostly by chance. There was no way that he could possibly have envisioned the results when he incorporated “Micro-Soft” as a college-age kid. He just went along, day by day, as thousands of other small business owners do.

Once he made his lucky decisions and his monopoly got established (let’s not mince words, let’s call it what it is) it then became much easier to make good decisions from that time forward.

I’ll say it again, to imply that there is some kind of “magic” that can make you highly successful is a dangerous idea. It can make people take too many risks and go off the deep end. A better approach is, do what you like to do. That is what Gates was doing, he was doing what he had a passion for. Do that, and if the money comes then so much the better. But spend your life chasing the “almighty dollar” and you are likely to end up very unhappy, very broke, or both.

Re: Much Ado About Nothing (was …Napoleon Hill…) - Posted by RogerTX

Posted by RogerTX on March 28, 2006 at 20:08:27:

John, I’ll agree with you except for one thing. The people that made were not necessarily lucky, they were highly intelligent or geniuses in the area they chose. They also probably didn’t know it.

That’s why they all say “if I can do it anyone can do it.” They’re wrong. World class athletes are the same way. They are genetically predisposed to success in some area. I’m a much better runner than average and it took several years to find that out. I also know I’ll never approach world class no matter what I do.

Investors that make it big are superbly talented at what they’re doing. They make nearly all the right calls all the time. The only way to know is to try. I do know that if I only achieve half my mentor’s success I’ll be doing a whole lot better than I am now.

Can any of us make it big? I don’t know. But trying to will let us know. I’m certainly going to find out for myself.

If there is a cookie cutter approach to certain riches and it is easy and requires little effort, then we’d all be rich. They’d be teaching it in grade school. A lot of it is that it takes more work than the average person is willing to do. There is some luck involved and you need to be able to see it and take advantage of it. That’s genius.

Re: Just sooo typical - Posted by SJO

Posted by SJO on March 28, 2006 at 01:00:48:

Of course, this is the common analytical frame of view. My friend, I hope you will realize that this “modern” 21 century society knows so little about this universe…

Every age of man thinks they have found all the answers. Back in our early history, 99% of paople “knew” the earth was flat. There is so much we still don’t know.

But if you want to feel that you personally know all the answers, good luck with that. The rest of us will strive to evolve beyond our current (2006) limitations.

Have fun with your secure and fully explained life.

Re: Much Ado About Nothing (was …Napoleon Hill…) - Posted by W.F

Posted by W.F on March 27, 2006 at 17:39:33:

>>If any young people are reading this, please get this into your heads now - you are NOT going to have a net wealth of $10 million before you turn 40. You are NOT going to be a billionaire, ever. You should define “success” as having enought money to live a decent comfortable life and retire comfortably some time in your 60’s. A 65 year old today doesn’t even need a net wealth of $1 million to do this.>>

I am glad young people like Bill Gates didn’t get the chance to read this post, otherwise he would have stayed in school, got himself a high-tech job, settled for a million dollar net-wealth and we can’t use the computers the way we are now.

“10 Million net wealth” you described as a goal can be dangerious too, especially if you have no cash flow. Buying 30 million worth of real estate with 20 million debt can accomplish , but cash flow management can be challenging.

W.F

Re: Much Ado About Nothing (was …Napoleon Hill…) - Posted by Brian

Posted by Brian on March 27, 2006 at 14:44:38:

And this is why I play the lottery.

Re: Argue your limitations… - Posted by John Behle

Posted by John Behle on March 28, 2006 at 15:58:08:

I didn’t mean to imply some sort of magic. Successful people in all fields tend to have the same qualities. Some have gone from one form of investment to another and had similar success. I don’t know Gates, so that might have been a poor example to use. But I do know successful people in various fields and there are inner qualities that are similar. A million other people might have been put in the “lucky” time, place and position as Gates and not been successful. And, I don’t equate success with finances solely. Gates achieved financial success, but I don’t like the tactics, ethics and procedures he used.

But, be it athletes, financial wizards, great salesmen or what have you - there are common factors. They go beyond knowledge, beyond opportunity, beyond positive thinking. Some of the same drive you might see in Gates early years (like through the movie “Pirates of Silicon Valley”) I see in others. I have a friend I started out skiing. Her boyfriend and I couldn’t help laughing as she floundered around the slope. She was headed towards the Olympics in Figure Skating, but ripped a ligament slipping on ice in a parking lot. Her ankle would never cut it in skating, so she took up skiing and became the world champion for almost a decade. She told me one time one of her motivations was to spite me. Kind of like Gates with IBM or Steve Jobs.

Two people presented with the same opportunity and even with equivalent education may have radically different results. There are important and essential inner qualities and beliefs. That isn’t to say one is better than another or imply “magic” or some kind of super race.

One person can believe they deserve wealth and success and another believes they don’t. One sees themselves winning and another has become used to not succeeding. One over time has been programmed by environment, others or even themselves to believe they can do anything and another believes deeply internally that they can’t.

We run the programming we have just like a computer. Some might begin with a little advantage because they were “set up properly” by family, friends, etc. Someone else may have had some hard knocks and invalidation instead of validation. It can be changed, just like you could wipe a bad piece of software off of a computer and replace it with something that works properly.

I’ve worked with thousands of real estate investors. I’ve seen their success, failure or even lack of an attempt to try. I’ve also worked with thousands of people in all areas of life and businesses in a different way. I have been deeply involved in programs to help people who are anxious to change. I’ve seen over and over and over the inner beliefs that hold them back as well as many that surpass them and move on. I’ve seen massive changes in a very short period of time whereas in real estate I have seen people stuck for decades with no progress or running the same cycles and up and down results over and over.

There’s no magic, but there ae inner elements that are absolutely essential to success.

Have to agree. - Posted by Drew

Posted by Drew on March 28, 2006 at 12:25:33:

Gates’ fortune was cemented for him when IBM decided to let him retain ownership of the operating system for their machines–MS-DOS. IBM incorrectly thought that the money would be in the hardware, not the software.

In the end, the hardware became a commodity and the software held the real competitive advantage. Thus, Gates has achieved success as much from IBM’s strategic error as from his own efforts.

Re: Much Ado About Nothing (was …Napoleon Hill…) - Posted by John Sheridan

Posted by John Sheridan on March 28, 2006 at 20:30:00:

RogerTX wrote: “I’ll agree with you except for one thing. The people that made were not necessarily lucky, they were highly intelligent or geniuses in the area they chose. They also probably didn’t know it.”

I claim that they were geniuses AND they were lucky. There are plenty of geniuses that do not succeed big.

RogerTX wrote: “Can any of us make it big? I don’t know. But trying to will let us know. I’m certainly going to find out for myself.”

I have no problem with that - certainly, go ahead and try. Just make sure that you take rational, reasonable risks and do not think that your “hard work” and “perseverance” are going to justify unreasonably high risk. That’s what “crash and burn” stories are made of.

Re: Just sooo typical - Posted by Michael

Posted by Michael on March 29, 2006 at 24:44:46:

You and Larry both do not understand the point of John’s post, and I see nothing where he thinks he has all the answers. He is simply pointing out that there is an element of success that is beyond anyone’s control, not that one cannot improve themselves. The idea that most people can become hugely successful because they will work hard and follow some success formula is naive and illogical. Alot in life is random.

However, we are here to try to better ourselves. We may not end up with ten million, or even want to, but hope is not rational, although it may be a necessary part of the human condition. Just don’t take foolish risks.

Do pink elephants really parade? - Posted by Drew

Posted by Drew on March 28, 2006 at 12:16:18:

Let me guess. You watched “What the Bleep Do We Know,” and you thought it represented a valid point of view?

Have fun trying to live in a world where your enlightened existence is unencumbered by the contraints of rational logic. I’ve always wondered about the pink elephants–let us know once you’ve met them.

Re: Just sooo typical - Posted by John Sheridan

Posted by John Sheridan on March 28, 2006 at 05:31:32:

SJO wrote: "But if you want to feel that you personally know all the answers, good luck with that. "

I don’t know where that came from. Certainly I don’t know everything. But that does not mean that I know nothing.

You just like to hear people say that you can become a multi-millionaire in a few years. They make you feel good and you want believe them. When someone like me comes along with a dose of reality, suddenly we are “smug know-it-all’s” or whatever other derogatory term is fashionable at the time.

Re: Much Ado About Nothing (was …Napoleon Hill…) - Posted by MIke

Posted by MIke on February 20, 2007 at 16:37:07:

Negetive people like you are the ones that will never be happy or see the light of their happiness manifested into reality. I hope you struggle all your life the way your trying to make others do.