Napoleon Hill
Ranked #5,686 in Books, Poetry & Writing, #207,226 overall
Introduction
Biography
Napoleon Hill (October 26, 1883 - November 8, 1970) is the well known American author of the famous book "THINK AND GROW RICH", one of the earliest and most widely read books of personal-success genre. This book represents one of the best-selling books on personal development of all time. "Think and Grow Rich", together with Hill's works, examine the power of personal beliefs, attitudes and character traits and the role they play in achieving personal success. The manner in which success is achieved, for anyone and everyone with a "Burning Desire for Success", is the underlying premise in his books "Think and Grow Rich" and the LAW OF SUCCESS".
Napoleon Hill was born to an impoverished family, in a one-room cabin in Pound, Southwest Virginia. His mother died when he was nine years old and his father remarried two years later. (His step mother was to play a very strong motivating and supporting role in his later success). At age 15, Hill began writing as a "mountain reporter" for small-town newspapers in the Wise County area and later used his earnings as a reporter to enter law school, but soon had to withdraw for financial reasons.
Initiation of Research into the Philosophy of Success
In 1908, Hill met with Andrew Carnegie to interview the billionaire industrialist as part of a series of articles about famous men. During this meeting, Mr. Carnegie challenged Mr. Hill with a proposal to undertake (without pay or other compensation) the research which culminated, over a period of more than twenty years, in Hill's personal philosophy for success. It was Mr. Carnegie's suggestion that the route to success was epitomized by the many successful and powerful, businessmen and politicians throughout the United States and that research (via interviews facilitated through introductions by Mr. Carnegie) of these men would result in identification of the specifics character traits that made them successful. Having identified these traits, the common man could then develop those same characteristics so as to achieve his own success.
In the course of his research, Hill interviewed over 500 of the most successful men and women of his time, including , but not limited to: Andrew Carnegie, George Eastman, Thomas Edison, Henry Ford, Dr. Elmer Gates, John D. Rockefeller, Sr., Theodore Roosevelt, Charles M. Schwab, William H. Taft, John Wanamaker, Woodrow Wilson, F.W. Woolworth and William Wrigley Jr.. His research for this project extended over a period of more than twenty years. Mr.Hill also served as an advisor to two presidents of the United States of America, Woodrow Wilson and Franklin Delano Roosevelt
The Philosophy of Success
Hill's research culminated in his Philosophy of Success, which was initially released to the public in 1928 as the "Law of Success in Sixteen Lessons". The material was subsequently released as the best selling "Think and Grow Rich" in 1937, having similar content but with a slightly different emphasis. The Achievement formula was further detailed and published in home-study courses, including the seventeen-volume "Mental Dynamite" series until 1941.
"In his later material, Hill referred to his personal success teachings as "The Philosophy of Achievement". He considered freedom, democracy, capitalism, and harmony to be important contributing elements to the Philosophy of Achievement.. Without these important foundations, as Hill attempted to dicument throughout his writings, successful personal achievements are not possible. He contrasted his philosophy with others, and thought Achievement was superior and responsible for the success Americans enjoyed for the better part of two centuries. Negative emotions, fear and selfishness among others, had no part to play in his philosophy, and Hill considered them to be the source of failure for unsuccessful people
The secret of achievement was tantalizingly offered to readers of Think and Grow Rich, but was never explicitly identified. Hill felt discovering it for themselves would provide readers with the most benefit. He presented the idea of a "Definite Major Purpose" as a challenge to his readers in order to make them ask themselves, "In what do I truly believe?" For according to him, 98% of people had no firm beliefs, and this alone put true success firmly out of their reach" (modified slightly from Wikipedia - "Napoleon Hill").
Napoleon Hill published a number of books under the genre of personal development and/or personal success. In his various books, Hill referenced many preceding and contemporary authors for material in support of his material. In his books, he has utilized material and quotes from a wide variety of diverse sources including, but not limited to: the Bible, Major C.A. Bach, Edward W. Bok, Hugh Chalmers, Croesus, Emerson, Henry Ford, W.C. Freeman, Charles Haanel, Elbert Hubbard, Leigh Hunt, Shakespeare and Judge T. Troward, As a result of is wide appeal, Hill's Philosophy of Success has been utilized and adapted by many authors since it's release. His own books have sold millions of copies, with "Think and Grow Rich" his best known and most popular.
Literary Works
- Hill's Golden Rule magazine, publisher and editor (1919-1920)
- The Magic Ladder to Success (1930)
- unpaid advisor to U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt (1933-1936)
- Think and Grow Rich (1937) (Note: still in print in several versions, and has sold more than 30 million copies).
- How to Sell Your Way through Life (1939)
- How to Raise Your Own Salary (1953)
- taught Philosophy of Personal Achievement with W. Clement Stone and lectured on the Science of Success (1952-1962)
- Success Through a Positive Mental Attitude (1960)
- abridged version of Think and Grow Rich (1960)
- You Can Work Your Own Miracles - published posthumously (1971)
Summary
Napoleon Hill's books, elucidating his "Philosophy of Success" or "Philosophy of Achievement" are firmly grounded in the underlying research he undertook through interviews of many of the most successful men and women of his time. From this extensive research, undertaken of more than twenty years, he synthesized his Success Philosophy for anyone to review and evaluate. The continued success and popularity of his books, as well as its use, adaptation and incorporation in to the material of subsequent authors and self-help gurus demonstrates the universal and timeless nature of his material. His Philosophy of Success is just as applicable and relevant today as it was when first released inn 1928.
Many of the classic books in the "Personal Development" genre are available on the Integrated Success Program web-site, with additional material available on the Integrated Success Program Blog (see below).
Check out these videos of Napoleon Hill presenting his "Principles of Success":
First Seven Principles of Success
Three more Videos
Final Three videos
Napoleon Hill
Have you read "Think and Grow Rich", or any of the other books Napoleon Hill has written? What are your thoughts?
Leave a comment below.
-
-
Renee Garrison
Jan 15, 2010 @ 11:49 am | delete
- Would like to find and,have How to acheive greater sucess I lost a long time ago.Can you tell me where I can find this book? email is: rgriverrailtrolley@yahoo.com
-
-
-
Dynamic1 Jan 15, 2010 @ 12:16 pm | delete
- Renee
I went through Amazon, The Napoleon hill Foundation and a Google search and could not find a text with that title.
Regards
Rick
-
Further Reading
Additional Resources
(see below)
Recommended Reading!
Recommended Texts
Personal Development
Integrated Success Program
Further Lenses of Interest
Note, however, that there is considerably more material on both the web-site and the blog that has not been posted on Squidoo and, as such, are worth visiting for more information.
Integrated Success Program
Available Resources
Please feel free to leave your comments on this site (above) and make use of the other resources provided. I would sincerely love to hear from you, your opinions (Pro and Con) on my posts, thoughts, opinions and interpretations. I would love to initiate a dialogue in either or both of the forums.
Your input will only serve to improve this site, as well as the other resources provided.
I look forward to hearing from you.
- Integrated Success Program web-site
- WALKER ENTERPRISES has gathered many of the worlds classic, most sought after personal development, self-help, self - improvement and /or New Thought texts providing inspiration, insights, methods and/or personal success philosophies dedicated to improving your life as the initial component of our INTEGRATED SUCCESS PROGRAM. The wisdom contained in these texts is timeless, explaining why they are still so much in demand.
- Integrated Success Program Blog
- WALKER ENTERPRISES has developed the Integrated Success Program Blog in support of its INTEGRATED SUCCESS PROGRAM web-site. The blog is intended to provide supporting and background information on the many authors and their respective texts, as well as to provide a forum in which to present opinions, reviews and commentary to, and from, those seeking such information.
- Integrated Success Program Forum
- This Forum is dedicated to Personal Development in support of the Integrated Success Program web-site and the Integrated Success Program blog. The web-site contains many of the classic personal development texts, including Napoleon Hill's "Think and Grow Rich" and "Law of Success", Charles Haanel's "The Master Key System" and the inspiration books of James Allen, including "As A Man Thinketh".
The Blog site provides a forum for distributing additional material, including YouTube video clips, articles and posts, pertaining to the broad field of Personal Development.
After exploring the content available in this forum, please visit the web-site and blog for further content.
- Integrated Success Program Group on Yahoo
- This group was created to discuss thoughts, opinions and interpretations originating, in part, from the classic personal development texts (James Allen, Charles Haanel, Napoleon Hill, etc.) and other related topics of interest (i.e. Law of Attraction, Creative Visualization).
Researching the power of the mind and, more specifically, the sub-conscious mind over the past twenty years has allowed me to discover of many gems of wisdom buried in these timeless texts, as well as more recently published texts. The recent release of "The Secret" has had the result of drawing considerable attention to the "LAW OF ATTRACTION", however, I believe the process underlying its application to one's life was missing from the movie.
Contrary to the hype attending release of "The Secret", the LAW OF ATTRACTION is not a recent discovery in metaphysics, nor has it been actively suppressed by the Church or hidden societies. It simply passed into relative obscurity through the passage of time. It has been, and remains, available to everyone who searches for it and is willing to actually apply it to their lives.
The formula is available, and is, in all likelihood, well known to most. In its simplest form, it was concisely summarized as follows:
Ask and it will be given to you;
seek and you will find;
knock and the door will be opened to you.
For everyone who asks receives;
he who seeks finds;
and to him who knocks, the door will be opened
Matthew 7:7 (Luke (11:9) NIV
In short, visualize your desired outcome, then take the appropriate action to receive its manifestation. ACTION is an integral, necessary part of the three part formula to realize (manifest) your desired outcome.
Follow me on Twitter
Integrated Success Program
Rick Walker
Biography
by Dynamic1
I have been a student of personal development for over 25 years, with specific interest in the ability and latent power of the mind, particularly the subconscious.... more »
- 58 featured lenses
- Winner of 10 trophies!
- Top lens » The Power of the Sub-conscious Mind
