Napoleon Hill's Keys to Success: The 17 Principles of Personal Achievement

The first batch of significant books that had the greatest influence on me in terms of attaining personal achievement includes mostly Napoleon Hill's books: - The Law of Success; - Think & Grow Rich; - The Keys to Success; - Success through a Positive Mental Attitude; - Succeed & Grow Rich through Persuasion; The others were from Clement Stone, Dale Carnegie, & Earl Nightingale. That was the early 70's when I had just started work as a young engineer. The author, Napoleon Hill, had impressed me most by his relentless dedication in spending some two to three decades of his life in pursuing & researching the success secrets of the rich & famous...with a little help from Andrew Carnegie, of course. As matter of fact, many of the famous people he interviewed were also favourite role models of mine e.g. Henry Ford, Thomas Edison, Alexander Graham Bell, just to name a few Till this day, I have never forgotten what he said: "The most powerful instrument we have in our hands is the power of our mind." I have never ceased to be fascinated by the simplicity & the potency of his ABCs of personal achievement: CONCEIVE, BELIEVE & ACHIEVE! It is certainly enlightening to note that even Stephen Covey had drew inspiration from Napoleon Hill's work even though he never made that credit. He only admitted that the 7 Habits had its origins from "200 years of success literature in the United States." That remark itself is self explanatory. Anthony Robbin's Mastery program as embodied in his books as well as his audio/video resources is no exception, even though he has been influenced in larger extent by NLP. If you look at & compare the 17 principles of personal achievement in 'The Law of Success' & /or the 13 Steps to Riches in 'Think & Grow Rich', one can obviously see the uncanny resemblance of the 7 Habits & the Mastery principles...in one way or another. At this juncture, let me outline the principal theme of each book: The Law of Success: the original course on the fundamentals of success - all the seventeen essential principles of personal achievement; Think & Grow Rich: The seventeen essential principles are reframed & condensed in terms of thirteen concrete steps to wealth creation (in actuality, this is a condensation of the Law of Success); The Keys to Success: a further elaboration of the seventeen essential principles with concrete suggestions, exercises & advice; Success Through Positive Mental Attitude: joint authorship with Clement Stone, with a further emphasis on developing a positive mental attitude; Succeed & Grow Rich Through Persuasion: joint authorship with Clement Stone, with a further emphasis on developing master salesmanship & networking; [It is pertinent to note that Clement Stone actually built his insurance business empire with these principles.] My most productive, personal learning experience from Napoleon Hill's work is the understanding - & application - of his success principle #1: D

There are thousands of self-help books out in the market and hundreds of self proclaimed "gurus" who have made a living by copying the wisdom in Napoleon Hill's books. As I went through some of those books I realized that there was not much in them that Hill had not already written about. I recommend quality over quantity. Instead of reading through many books, I recommend that you study the following works of Hill and internalize his wisdom: 1. The Think and Grow Rich Action Pack (1937) - I recommend the Action Pack edition, 2. Napoleon Hill's Keys to Success: The 17 Principles of Personal Achievement - this book, 3. Your Right To Be Rich [Unabridged] - this consists of 12 hours of live lectures covering the 17 principles, that Hill conducted in Chicago in 1954. By internalizing, I mean studying in depth - analyzing the ideas, making notes and summaries. I own more CDs by Hill, but I believe that these 3 items make the perfect study plan on the Philosophy of Personal Achievement. This philosophy is the end product of two decades of research conducted by Napoleon Hill. His research started when Andrew Carnegie (the steel tycoon who was then the richest man on earth) gave him the assignment of organizing a Philosophy of Personal Achievement. Hill, who was a poor journalist, armed with just an introductory letter from Carnegie, set out to interview over five hundred successful people including Henry Ford, Thomas Edison, Alexander Graham Bell, John D. Rockefeller, George Eastman, William Wrigley Jr. and Charles M. Schwab. Hill then revealed the priceless wisdom of his research in the form of the thirteen steps to success (in Think and Grow Rich) and the seventeen Principles of Personal Achievement (in courses and lectures he conducted). This particular book goes beyond the 13 steps in Think and Grow Rich. It covers the following 17 Principles of Personal Achievement (also known as the 17 Keys to Success): 1. Develop a Definiteness of Purpose 2. Establish a Mastermind Alliance 3. Assemble an Attractive Personality 4. Use Applied Faith 5. Go the Extra Mile 6. Create Personal Initiative 7. Build a Positive Mental Attitude 8. Control Your Enthusiasm 9. Enforce Self-Discipline 10. Think Accurately 11. Control Your Attention 12. Inspire Teamwork 13. Learn from Adversity and Defeat 14. Cultivate Creative Vision 15. Maintain Sound Health 16. Budget Your Time and Money 17. Use Cosmic Habitforce The concepts taught by Napoleon Hill transformed my life. Everything he wrote about or talked about is thought provoking. He was wise, humble and funny. His philosophy is universal; he did not mix it with religion. The riches he referred to were more than money, for the Philosophy of Personal Achievement can be applied to anything in life. Hill was well ahead of his time. "Think and Grow Rich" has a chapter dedicated to some of today's most important issues - Specialized Knowledge, Decision Making, Imagination and Organized Planning (in which he deals with Leadershi

This book is sometimes confused with The Master Key to Riches, also by Napolean Hill but it is a completely different book.Keys to success offers more in depth information on how to apply the 17 principles of success.You will learn the secrets of:* Definitness of purpose* Creating a positive attitude* Building your self-discipline* Organizing your time and energy* Cultivating creative vision* Budgeting your money* Perfecting your personality* Making good health a habit* And a whole lot moreKeys to Success is 18 chapters and 233 pages packed with powerful, life changing information. I recommend that you read this book right away with Think and Grow Rich. The mental exercises, self analysis techniques and principles as explained by Hill made a profound impact in my life and they will in yours as well.Must reading for all serious success students.

When I first saw this book in the book stores, I thought it was just another version of Think and Grow Rich. I me an how many times can Hill cover the same topics? No so. In Keys To Success Hill reveals his 17 essential principles of personal achievement, with concrete descriptions of t heir implementations.Keys To Success actually goes beyond Think and Grow Rich. A fantastic book by Napolean Hill. And a must read for all achievers.

"Napoleon Hill's Keys to Success" is one of those books that after you read it you begin to refer to the earlier part of your life as "before I read the book." Even before you finish reading it the first time, you will be a changed person - it's that incredible. I say first time because you will want to read it again and again.Napoleon Hill's books have been a treasured part of my library. I've recommended this one to others countless times. I consider Napoleon Hill to be one of the earliest "proactive thinkers" in the world. If you haven't read this book before, get ready for profound wisdom. Napoleon Hill makes it easy to understand that our thoughts are things and have God given powers, far beyond what is commonly taught by others. I can tell you from my own astonishing situations experiences that, "your success really is most definitely determined by what and how you think." You will find that this exciting book becomes a part of you. Don't hold back - let it happen. In fact, you should spend 10 to 15 minutes every morning focusing your thoughts on the truths of this book, thereby allowing them to seep deep into your subconscious mind. If you do this I guarantee this wisdom will most assuredly bring you the success and abundance you deserve.Enjoy the book and your new life!