Lessons Learned from Napoleon Hill

Give your goal a compelling reason, a workable plan, and the attention it needs to become action.

Before you work on how to achieve a goal, look at how much you want it.

Napoleon Hill's Think and Grow Rich brings me back to that question. Desire is where achievement begins. If the desire is weak, the energy you bring to your commitment will be weak too.

I love self-help books, and I also love business books. Hill's work sits at that intersection: the mind, belief, and creating results.

Here are the lessons from his work that have been especially powerful for me, and how I apply them in coaching and in my own life.

Build a compelling reason

I once met a man who wanted to lose 100 pounds. I knew I could help him, but the first question wasn't about the details of weight loss. It was why he wanted it.

How strong was his desire? What was his compelling reason?

I think of desire as a fire. You can keep adding kindling until it becomes strong enough that an ordinary excuse won't put it out.

We understand this when we watch a movie in which someone needs to save their child. They don't stop because their calendar is full or because they've had a difficult week. Their reason is bigger than the obstacles.

I want you to find and develop that kind of reason for your goal. Don't skip over desire and then wonder why the actions feel optional.

Give your mind credit for the result

One of Hill's ideas I love is that the mind's ability to imagine and believe is the beginning of achievement.

We sometimes give all the credit to an action. But what created that action?

Your thoughts create your feelings, which drive your actions and create your results. The process starts in your mind.

You have the privilege of deciding what you want to believe about yourself and what's possible. No one can take that choice from you.

So begin there. What life do you want to create? Have you decided? Is your desire strong enough that you're willing to commit?

Change the plan instead of abandoning the goal

When defeat arrives, we often decide the goal wasn't meant for us.

Hill offers another interpretation: the plan needs work. You can rebuild it and continue.

Your brain may tell you that quitting is the logical response. But you're trying to move beyond what your brain currently knows. Its familiar conclusion doesn't have to be the one you follow.

You don't need the timing to be perfect or every tool to be ready. Start where you are. Work with what you have. Learn and find better tools as you go.

Once you commit to a goal, the reasons you think you can't achieve it will come forward. Those reasons become the work of the journey. They don't have to cancel it.

You don't need a huge audience to contribute

Sometimes we think if we can't have an enormous impact, we shouldn't bother having any impact.

I think about Marianne Williamson's response to people who wanted a following: find someone who needs help.

You don't need thousands of people before you can be useful. You need yourself and another person. You can do something small with great care.

That is also how I think about overdelivering. People who bring a spirit of giving and do more than the minimum create value. I've watched that contribution return to them in my business and among the people I work with.

Focus on what you're willing to give, not only on what you're going to get.

Create an imaginary council

One practice I learned from Hill was imagining a council of people who could help me achieve my dream.

Think about the people you'd invite to a board meeting if anyone in the world could be there. Who would have the insight, perspective, and experience you'd want?

Before I began my coaching business, I imagined sitting with authors and teachers whose work I admired, including Marianne Williamson, Martha Beck, and Byron Katie. I considered the questions I would ask and what they might say.

This was a visualization, not a conversation that actually happened. The insight came through my own mind as I imagined those perspectives.

What I noticed was how much encouragement came forward. I could imagine them seeing my idea as doable and supporting me in it.

You can sit down with a pen and paper and do the same exercise. Ask each member of your imaginary council what they would recommend. Notice what your mind offers when it isn't only repeating doubt.

Ask your future self for advice

Another version of that exercise is to speak with the future you who has already achieved the goal.

What would she tell you? What would she want you to understand about this moment?

Often the biggest obstacle isn't a lack of information. We can learn. We can figure things out. What stops us is doubt and the failure to keep developing our desire.

Looking from the future you've chosen can give you access to encouragement you're not offering yourself now.

Give the dream a deadline. Let it become a goal you are directing your mind toward.

Stop using other people's opinions to hold yourself back

A student once worried that not caring what other people thought would make her rude or dismissive.

I think that distinction matters. You can consider someone's perspective and use it for good. That is different from trying to control their opinion or treating their criticism as a reason to doubt yourself.

Don't use someone else's thoughts to prevent yourself from pursuing your dream.

You can decide to hold your own standards of integrity, contribute, and keep moving without requiring everyone's approval.

Take responsibility for directing your mind

I love learning because I don't want my brain to settle into only what it already knows. I want to keep giving it new ideas and asking it to grow.

That is what I take from Hill's work: choose an objective, build desire, practice belief, and direct your mind toward it.

Not merely wishing. Not waiting until someone else makes it possible. Deciding what you want and becoming the person who will work to create it.

Your mind is yours. Take responsibility for how you use it.