Napoleon Hill’s 17 Principles

It was Napoleon Hill who said, “Whatever the mind can conceive and believe, the mind can achieve.” 

Principle #1 - Definiteness of Purpose
Definiteness of Purpose is the starting point of all achievement.  All individual achievement begins with the adopting of a definite major purpose and a specific plan for its attainment.  Without a purpose and a plan, people drift aimlessly through life.

Develop a Definiteness of Purpose:

• You should have one high, desirable, outstanding goal and keep it ever before you.
• Determine and fix in your mind exactly what you desire.
• Evaluate and determine exactly what you will give in return.
• Set a definite date for exactly when you intend to possess your desire.
• Clearly define your plan for achievement.  Write out precisely and concisely exactly what you want, exactly when you want to achieve it, and exactly what you intend to give in return.
• Each and every day, morning and evening, read your written statement aloud.

Principle #2 - Mastermind Alliance
“No man can become a permanent success without taking others along with him.”

The Mastermind principle consists of an alliance of two or more minds working in perfect harmony for the attainment of a common definite objective.  Success does not come without the cooperation of others.

Establish a Mastermind Alliance:

• Your mastermind alliance can be created by surrounding yourself or aligning yourself with the advice, counsel, and personal cooperation of several people who are willing to lend you their wholehearted aid for the attainment of your objective.
• You can create a mastermind alliance with your spouse, friend, or co-worker.  Once a mastermind alliance is formed, the group must become and remain active.  The group must move in a definite plan, at a definite time, toward a definite common objective.

Principle #3 -  Applied Faith
Faith is a state of mind through which your aims, desires, plans, and purposes may be translated into their physical or financial equivalent.

Applied faith means action – specifically, the habit of applying your faith under any and all circumstances.  It is faith in your God, yourself, your fellow being – and the unlimited opportunities available to you.

Faith without action is dead.

Faith is the art of believing by doing.

Principle #4 – Go the Extra Mile

Render more and better service for which you are paid, and do it with a positive mental attitude.  Form the habit of going the extra mile because of the pleasure you get out of it and because of what it does to you and for you deep down inside.

It is inevitable that every seed of useful service you sow will multiply itself and come back to you in overwhelming abundance.

Principle #5 – Pleasing Personality

The attitudes you transmit to others will tell more about yourself than the words you say or how you look.

Your personality is your greatest asset or your greatest liability, for it embraces everything that you control: mind, body, and soul.  A person’s personality is the person.  It shapes the nature of your thoughts, your deeds, your relationships with others, and it establishes the boundaries of the space you occupy in the world.

It is imperative that you develop the habit of being sensitive to your own reactions to individuals, circumstances, and events and to the reactions of individuals and groups to what you say, think, or do.

Positive factors of a pleasing personality include tolerance, common courtesy, alertness, tactfulness, personal magnetism, sportsmanship, sincerity, sense of humor, and patience.

Principle #6 – Personal Initiative

“There are two types of men,” said Andrew Carnegie, “who never amount to anything.  One is the fellow who never does anything except that which he is told to do; the other is the fellow who never does more than he is told to do.  The man who gets ahead does the thing that should be done without being told to do it.”

Personal initiative is the inner power that starts all action.  It is the power that inspires the completion of that which one begins.

It is, in fact, self-motivation.  Motivation is that which induces action or determines choice.

Principle #7:  Positive Mental Attitude
A positive mental attitude is the right, honest, constructive thought, action, or reaction to any person, situation, or set of circumstances.

It allows you to build on hope and overcome the negative attitudes of despair and discouragement.  It gives you the mental power, the feeling, the confidence to do anything you make your mind up to do.  It is the “I can … I will” attitude applicable to all circumstances in your life.

A positive mental attitude is the catalyst necessary for achieving worthwhile success.

Principle #8:  Enthusiasm
Enthusiasm inspires action and is the most contagious of all emotions.

Enthusiasm is faith in action.  It is the intense emotion known as burning desire.  It comes from within, although it radiates outwardly in the expression of one’s voice and countenance.

Enthusiasm is power because it is the instrument by which adversities and failure and temporary defeats may be transmuted into action backed by faith.  The flame of enthusiasm burning within you turns thought into action.

• To become enthusiastic about achieving a desirable goal, keep your mind on that goal day after day.  The more worthy and desirable your objectives, the more dedicated and enthusiastic you will become.
• Enthusiasm thrives on a positive mind and positive action.  The key to controlling your enthusiasm:  Always give it a worthy goal to focus on and once you have channeled it toward a goal, it will carry you forward.

Principle #9:  Self-Discipline
If you direct your thoughts and control your emotions, you will ordain your destiny.

Self-discipline begins with the mastery of thought.  If you do not control your thoughts, you cannot control your needs.  Self-discipline calls for a balancing of the emotions of your heart with the reasoning faculty of your head.

Self-discipline is the bottleneck through which all of your personal power for success must flow.  We have the power of self-determination, the ability to choose what our thoughts and actions will be.

• Self-discipline is perhaps the most important function in aiding an individual in the development and maintenance of habits.  Self-discipline enables a person to fix his or her entire attention upon any desired purpose and hold it there until that purpose has been attained.
• If you do not control your thoughts, you do not control your deeds.  Think first and act afterward.  Self-discipline is the principle by which you may voluntarily shape the patterns of your thoughts to harmonize with your goals and purposes.

Principle #10 – Accurate Thinking
Truth will be truth, regardless of a closed mind, ignorance, or the refusal to believe.

• You can learn from your own experiences as well as those of others when you learn how to recognize, relate, assimilate, and apply principles in order to achieve your goals.

• Learn to separate facts from fiction or hearsay evidence.  Learn to separate facts into classes – important and unimportant.

• Be careful of others’ opinions.  They could be dangerous and destructive.  Make sure your opinions are not someone else’s prejudices.

Principle #11 – Controlled Thinking
Keep your mind on the things you want and off the things you don’t want!

Controlled attention is organized mind power.  It is the highest form of self-discipline.  It is the act of coordinating all the faculties of the mind and directing their combined power to a given end or definite objective.

• When you voluntarily fix your attention upon a definite major purpose of a positive nature and force your mind through your daily habits of thought to dwell on the subject, you condition your subconscious mind to act on that purpose.

• The person who controls his or her own mind may control everything else.  Keep your mind busy with thought material that may be helpful in attaining the object of your desire.

Principle #12 – Teamwork
Teamwork costs so little in time and effort, and it pays huge dividends.

Teamwork is harmonious cooperation that is willing, voluntary, and free.  Whenever the spirit of teamwork is the dominating influence in business or industry, success is inevitable.  Harmonious cooperation is a priceless asset that you can acquire in proportion to your giving.

Teamwork, in a spirit of friendliness, costs little in the way of time and effort.  Generosity, fair treatment, courtesy, and a willingness to serve are qualities that pay high dividends whenever they are applied in human relations.

• Teamwork produces power.  The power produced by teamwork made by willing cooperation will endure as long as that spirit of willingness prevails.

• Teamwork builds individuals and businesses and provides unlimited opportunity for all.

• That which you share will multiply; that which you withhold will diminish.

Principle #13 – Adversity & Defeat
Every adversity you meet carries with it a seed of equivalent or greater benefit.

Defeat may be a stepping-stone or a stumbling block according to your mental attitude and how you relate to it yourself.  It is never the same as failure unless and until it has been accepted as such.

Many so-called failures represent only a temporary defeat that may prove to be a blessing in disguise.

Your mental attitude in respect to defeat is the factor of major importance that determines whether you rise with the tides of fortune or misfortune.

• Individual success usually is in exact proportion to the scope of the defeat the individual has experienced and mastered.

• Remember:  The worse that can happen to you may be the best thing that can happen to you if you don’t let it get the best of you.

Principle #14 – Creative Vision
Only an open mind can grow.

Our greatest gift is our thinking mind.  It analyzes, compares, chooses.  It creates, visualizes, foresees, and generates ideas.  Imagination is your mind’s exercise, challenge, and adventure.  It is the key to all of a person’s achievements, the mainspring of all human endeavor, the secret door to the soul of a person.

Creative vision may be an inborn quality of mind, or an acquired quality, for it may be developed by the free and fearless use of the faculty of imagination.

One of the ways to increase your flow of ideas is by developing the habit of taking study time, thinking time, and planning time.

Principle #15 – Health
A sound physical health is dependent upon a positive mental attitude.

You are a mind with a body.  Inasmuch as your brain controls your body, recognize that sound physical health demands a positive mental attitude, a health consciousness.

To maintain a health consciousness, one must think in terms of sound health, not in terms of illness and disease.  Remember, what your mind focuses upon, your mind brings into existence.

• To maintain a positive attitude for the development and maintenance of a sound health consciousness, use self-discipline, keep your mind free of negative thoughts and influence, and create and maintain a well-balanced life.

• Follow work with play, mental effort with physical effort, and seriousness with humor, and you will be on the road to good health and happiness.

Principle #16 – Budgeting Time & Money
The successful person budgets time, income and expenditures, living within his means.

Time and money are precious resources, and few people striving for success ever believe they possess either one in excess.  Understanding how you use them is an important part of evaluating your progress toward success and analyzing what may be holding you back.

Learn to budget your time to the important tasks and your money to those things related to your definite purpose.

Don’t waste your time or your money.  Ten percent of all you earn is yours to keep and invest.  Like any good business, budget your money, and use your time wisely toward the attainment of your objectives.

Principle #17 – Habits
You are where you are and what you are because of your established habits, thoughts, and deeds.

All of us are ruled by habits.  They are fastened upon us by repeated thoughts and experiences.  We create patterns of thought by repeating certain ideas or behavior and making them permanent.