Climb the Hill: Gitomer followed Napoleon

I owe my positive attitude to Napoleon Hill. During one year of daily, four-hour intensive sales and positive-attitude training back in 1972, I was fortunate enough to expose myself to his success principles.
Each day one of the eight guys on my team had to give a book report on a chapter from “Think and Grow Rich.” Since there were only 15 chapters in the book, we reviewed it in its entirety every three weeks. We went through the book more than 15 times in one year. I felt like I had memorized it.
And somewhere during that year, something clicked. I realized that by adopting the fundamental Hill principles, and adapting them to my life and family, I could achieve and maintain a positive mental attitude. I became an achiever and a believer – and have never lost that belief.
I identified with Hill’s philosophy. It became part of the fabric of my thoughts, my outlook on life, and my expressions to others – both written and verbal.
Who do you identify with?
What do you identify with?
Whose principles do you follow?
How dedicated to achieving and maintaining a positive attitude are you?
Napoleon Hill’s success principles are timeless, and there’s a reason. Actually there are 11.5 reasons and all of them create an atmosphere and environment conducive to learning and succeeding:
1. He’s gentle, and his words are gentle.
2. He’s insightful, and his principles are sound and time tested.
3. His writing is easy to read, understand, and apply.
4. He’s on target with what’s wrong and what’s weak.
5. He’s on target with how to make it right and strong.
6. His wisdom is right on the money.
7. His ethics ring true and genuine.
8. He reinforces his advice with real-world examples.
9. He encourages you to do it.
10. He has faith that you can achieve.
11. He warns you of outside influences that will be jealous of your endeavors.
11.5 He has a track record that includes tens of millions of success stories.
A thousand people have come and gone claiming to be personal-development gurus – all of them quote Hill and reference him as their inspiration.
Here are a few selected quotes of Napoleon Hill to get you stated:
&#8226 All achievements, all earned riches, have their beginning in an idea.
&#8226 All the breaks you need in life wait within your imagination. Imagination is the workshop of your mind, capable of turning mind energy into accomplishment and wealth.
&#8226 Any idea, plan, or purpose may be placed in the mind through repetition of thought. &#8226 Before success comes in any man’s life, he’s sure to meet with much temporary defeat and, perhaps some failures. When defeat overtakes a man, the easiest and the most logical thing to do is to quit. That’s exactly what the majority of men do.
&#8226 Big pay and little responsibility are circumstances seldom found together.
&#8226 Cherish your visions and your dreams as they are the children of your soul, the blueprints of your ultimate achievements.
&#8226 Create a definite plan for carrying out your desire and begin at once, whether you are ready or not, to put this plan into action.
&#8226 Desire is the starting point of all achievement, not a hope, not a wish, but a keen, pulsating desire which transcends everything.
&#8226 Do not be discouraged if you fail a few times.
&#8226 Education comes from within; you get it by struggle and effort and thought.
&#8226 Effort only fully releases its reward after a person refuses to quit.
&#8226 Everyone enjoys doing the kind of work for which he is best-suited.
&#8226 Fears are nothing more than a state of mind.
&#8226 First comes thought; then organization of that thought, into ideas and plans; then transformation of those plans into reality. The beginning, as you will observe, is in your imagination.
&#8226 Great achievement is usually born of great sacrifice, and is never the result of selfishness.
&#8226 Don’t wait. The time will never be just right.
Napoleon Hill has stood the test of time, and has remained the icon of Positive Mental Attitude. No one ever says a bad word about Napoleon Hill.
If you asked people to make a list of the top five most positive books in the world, “Think and Grow Rich” probably wouldn’t top every list – but I guarantee it would be somewhere on every list. Pretty remarkable for an 80-year-old book.
Hill’s book is a gift. You give it to yourself first. Become a believer by taking action, and seeing the results. then begin to share the gift with others. &#8226

Jeffrey Gitomer is the author of “The Little Red Book of Selling,” and “The Little Gold Book of YES! Attitude.” President of Charlotte-based Buy Gitomer, he gives seminars, runs annual sales meetings, and conducts Internet training programs on selling and customer service at www.trainone.com. He can be reached at (704) 333-1112 or e-mail to
salesman@gitomer.com.