The Importance of Change: by Napoleon Hill

Below is a great article written by Napolean Hill.

“Nothing can stop the man with the right mental attitude from achieving his goal.” – Thomas Jefferson

Of the utmost significance is the fact that the Creator provided us with the one and only means by which we have broken away from the animal family and ascended into spiritual estates, where each may be the master of his or her own earthly fate. The means thus provided is the law of change. By the simple process of changing one’s mental attitude, a person can draw for oneself any pattern of life and living one chooses and make that pattern a reality. This is the one and only thing over which we have been provided with irrevocable, unchallenged, and unchallengeable powers of absolute control – a fact that suggests that it must have been considered by the Creator to be the most important prerogative of mankind.

Dictators and would-be world conquerors come and they go. They always go because it is not a part of the overall plan of the universe for people to be enslaved. It is rather a part of the eternal pattern that every person shall be free, to live one’s own life his or her own way, to control one’s thoughts and deeds, to make one’s own earthly destiny.

That is why the philosopher, who looks backward into the past to determine what is going to happen in the yet unborn future, cannot get excited because a Hitler or a Stalin momentarily basks in the light of his own ego and threatens the freedom of mankind. For these men, like all others of their ilk who have preceded them, will destroy themselves with their own excesses and vanities and their lusts for power over the free world. Moreover, these would-be stranglers of human freedom may be only demons who unwittingly serve as shock troops to awaken people from their complacency and make way for the change that will bring new and better ways of living.

Nature leads people through change after change by peaceful means as long as they cooperate, but it resorts to revolutionary methods if people rebel and neglect or refuse to conform to the law of change. The revolutionary method may consist of the death of a loved one or a severe illness; it may bring a failure in business, or the loss of a job, which forces the individual to change his or her occupation and seek employment in an entirely new field, where the individual will find greater opportunities that he or she would never have known if old habits had not been broken up.

Nature enforces the law of fixation of habits in every living thing lower than humans, and just as definitely enforces the law of change in the habits of humans. Nature thus provides the only means by which we may grow and evolve in accordance with our fixed position in the overall plan of the universe.

Thomas A. Edison’s first major adversity was experienced when his teacher sent him home after only three months in a grade school, with a note to his parents saying he did not have the capacity to take an education. He never went back to school – a conventional school, that is – but he began to school himself in the great University of Hard Knocks, where he gained an education that made him one of the greatest inventors of all times. Before he graduated from that university, he was fired from one job after another, while the hand of Destiny guided him through the essential changes that prepared him to become a great inventor. A formal schooling perhaps would have spoiled his chances of becoming great.

Nature knows what it is about when adversity, physical pain, sorrow, distress, failure, and temporary defeat overtake a person. Remember this and profit by it the next time you meet with adversity. And instead of crying out in rebellion, or shivering with fear, hold your head high and look in all directions for that seed of an equivalent benefit, which is carried in every circumstance of adversity.

Applied Faith

“Faith is the gateway through which one may draw upon Infinite Intelligence.”

Faith is a state of mind that has been called “the mainspring of the soul” through which one’s aims, desires, and plans may be translated into their physical or financial equivalents.

The fundamentals of APPLIED FAITH are these:

·        Definiteness of purpose, supported by personal initiative or action.

·        A positive mental attitude, free from negatives such as envy, hatred, jealousy, and fear.

·        A “Master Mind” alliance with one or more people who radiate courage based on faith and who are suited mentally and spiritually to one’s needs in carrying out a given purpose.

·        Recognition of the fact that every adversity carries with it the seed of an equivalent benefit, that temporary defeat is not failure until it has been accepted as such.

·        The habit of expressing gratitude for one’s blessings daily, in the form of a prayer.

To create a mental attitude favorable for the expression of Applied Faith, follow these instructions:

1) Know what you want and determine what you will give in return for it.

2) When you affirm the object of your prayers, let your imagination see you already in possession of it.

3) Keep your mind open for guidance from within, and when you are inspired by hunches, take heed of them immediately, for they may bring the answer you seek.

4) When you are overtaken by defeat, as you may be many times, remember that one’s faith is often tested in many ways, and defeat may be only your testing time; therefore, accept it only as an inspiration for greater effort.

There is no such reality as a “blanket” faith. You must have a definite objective, purpose, or desire before you can enjoy the benefits of Applied Faith.

Faith is guidance from within that will not bring you that which you seek, but it will show you the path by which you may go after that which you desire. Faith is the gateway through which you must pass in order to communicate with Infinite Intelligence and draw upon it for help. And it is the only thing that will make your prayers effective.

The Difference between Wishing and Believing

The majority of people never discover the difference between wishing and believing; nor do they recognize that there are six steps that people usually follow in using their
mind-power for the attainment of their desires. These steps are the following:

First: The vast majority of people go through life by merely wishing for things. The percentage of people who stop at wishing is estimated at 70%.

Second: A much smaller percentage of the people develop their wishes into desires. These are estimated at 10%.

Third: A still smaller percentage of the people develop their wishes and desires into hopes. These are estimated at 8%.

Fourth: A still smaller percentage of the people step their mind-power up to where it becomes belief. These are estimated at 6%.

Fifth: And yet a very much smaller percentage of the people crystallize wishes, desires, and hopes into belief, and then into burning desire, and finally faith. This percentage is estimated at 4%.

Sixth: And last, a very small percentage of the people take the last two steps, putting their faith into action by (1) planning and (2) acting to carry out their plans. This percentage is estimated at only 2%.

The outstanding leaders in every walk of life are the ones in the sixth group. They recognize the power of their own minds, take possession of that power, and direct it to whatever ends they choose. To these people the word impossible has no meaning. To them everything they want or need is possible, and they manage to get it. The only trait that differentiates them from most of the others who accept failure as their lot is that they recognize and use their mind-power for the attainment of the circumstances and things they want, while the others do not.