“No is a word on your path to Yes. Don’t give up too soon. Not even if well-meaning parents, relatives, friends, and colleagues tell you to get a real job. Your dreams are your real job”
— Joyce Spizer, Author

Think and Grow Rich
by Napoleon Hill

If you haven’t yet read Think and Grow Rich, by Napoleon Hill, I highly, highly recommend you find a copy. This is a classic book about the power of positive thinking when it comes to financial success.

The book opens with the sentence “Truly, “thoughts are things,” and powerful things at that, when they are mixed with definiteness of purpose, persistence, and a burning desire for their translation into riches, or other material objects.” When you understand the idea that almost everything around us is a manifestation of an original idea, you see the power of this books’ premise, that there is a “secret” that is the foundation of all success.

Over twenty years, Hill studied the examples of a number of successful individuals, and he has distilled his research into this “how-to” book, first published in 1937. He points to the example of Andrew Carnegie and the “Carnegie Secret,” which is never explicitly mentioned but is similar to the film “The Secret” where thoughts become things… ideas become reality.

The book has sold over 30 million copies since its first publishing, and there are probably multiple copies in your library or bookstore for you to peruse. It’s a quick read and a book that you will read at different stages along your path to glean a different understanding.

Here are the 13 principles that Hill outlines for you to follow in your quest for success:

Desire
Faith
Auto-suggestion
Specialized Knowledge
Imagination
Organized Planning
Decision
Persistence
The Master Mind
The Mystery of Sex Transmutation
The Subconscious Mind
The Brain
The Sixth Sense

How are you feeling? Are you feeling energized? Do you feel like your energy is rising?

We’re on day 15 of a thirty-day series on increasing our skills to focus our energies, and I’m hoping that as you work through the activities each day, you find some more clarity, focus, and attention on what matters MOST to you.

Today, my equation for you to consider is this:

P + E = R

Persistence + Enthusiasm = RESULTS!!!

Persistence is one of the best ways that you will achieve your success: as you keep at it, and you intensify your actions towards keeping at it, you realize that any obstacles that show up are simply reminders to you about your level of commitment.

“Challenges are well-disguised opportunities,” said Carol Williams, who heads the largest African-American-owned media agency in the country. She’s built her company into a $400 million marketing firm that helps clients like Cingular Wireless, Allstate Insurance Co., Frito-Lay Inc., and The Proctor & Gamble Co.

She explained that “I have gone over, around, under, and through anything that looked like an obstacle… From the time I was a very young kid, I was inundated with forces that told me what I couldn’t do as a black and as a woman,” Williams says. “I love kicking it in the butt.”

When we are persistent and we add enthusiasm, the world becomes our playground. Enthusiasm comes from enthousiazein, which means to be inspired, as well as from entheos, “God within”.

We are literally abuzz with energy and passion when we exhibit enthusiasm about the task at hand. Our projects turn into exciting opportunities, and each day brings us renewed hope and inspiration.

When we’re enthusiastic about creating something new, or finding a solution to a problem, or developing an answer to a situation, or meeting the perfect person, or germinating a fantastic idea, we find opportunities and answers everywhere.

Develop your PERSISTENCE, demonstrate ENTHUSIASM, and exult in your RESULTS.

Monica S. Flores is an author, educator, and speaker.

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