PREFACE
The great Danish philosopher and religious thinker, Soren Kierkegaard, once wrote, “It is the sign of a good book when the book reads you.”
You hold in your hands such a book-one that has not only become a classic in the self-help field, but also has that rare ability to relate to your problems, sympathize with them, and then advise you on their solutions as a wise old friend would.
Still, I must warn you.
Success Through a Positive Mental Attitude will do nothing for you. If you truly wish to change your life for the better, and are willing to pay a price in time and thinking and effort to reach your goals-and if you’re not kidding yourself-then you hold in your hands a diamond plucked from a beach of pebbles, a road map to a better future, a valuable blueprint that will enable you to completely restructure your future.
I speak from experience. Many years ago, through my own stupidities and faults, I lost everything that was precious to me- my family, my home and my job. Nearly penniless, and with no guidance, I began to wander the country, searching for myself and for some answers that would make life bearable.
spent much time in public libraries because they were free- and warm. I read everything from Plato to Peale, seeking that one message that would explain to me where I had gone wrong-and what I could do to salvage the remainder of my life.
I finally found my answer in W. Clement Stone’s and Napoleon Hill’s Success Through a Positive Mental Attitude. I have employed the simple techniques and methods found in this classic for more than fifteen years, and they have provided me with riches and happiness far beyond anything I deserve. From a penniless vagrant without a single root, I eventually became the president of two corporations and the executive editor of the finest magazine of its kind in the world, Success Unlimited. I also wrote six books, and one of them, The Greatest Salesman in the World, has now become the best-selling book for salespeople of all time; it has been translated into fourteen languages and has sold more than three million copies.
None of these things would have been accomplished without the daily application of the principles of success and living that I found in Stone’s and Hill’s classic. If I could accomplish what I did starting from ground zero, just think what you can do with all you have going for you already.
We live in a strange and fast-moving world; each day a new false prophet arises preaching his own brand of happiness and success attainment. Like hula hoops and pet rocks they will all disappear quickly as they appeared, and when the fog lifts, the truth of Stone’s and Hill’s book will still be changing the lives of thousands yet unborn.
Do you really want to change your life for the better?
If you do, Success Through a Positive Mental Attitude can be the luckiest thing that has ever happened to you. Read it. Study it. Read it again. Then get into action. It’s all very simple, really, if you make up your mind to work at it.
And wonderful things will begin happening to you. I should know.
W.CLEMENT STONE
INTRODUCTION
Every inspirational, self-help action book, including this one, should be evaluated by what happens to you, the reader, as a result of the book’s power to motivate you to motivate yourself to desirable action.
By this standard, Success Through a Positive Mental Attitude is reputed to be one of the outstandingly successful inspirational, self-help action books of this century. It has inspired countless thousands of men, women, and teenagers to acquire good physical, mental and moral health; seek happiness; pursue wealth and reach for high goals or other objectives that do not violate the laws of God or the rights of their fellow men.
Something wonderful is going to happen to you-if you are ready. To prepare yourself to be ready, understand clearly Andrew Carnegie’s observation that all achievement, all earned riches, have their beginning in an idea!
Before proceeding further, I’d like to give you a background of my co-author. Dr. Napoleon Hill.
Think and grow rich. Think and Grow Rich, the book by Napoleon Hill, has motivated more persons throughout the world to acquire wealth and succeed in their careers than any book written in the twentieth century. Its author was born in poverty in a log cabin in Wise County, Virginia, on October 1883, and he passed away in Greenville, South Carolina, on November 8, 1970.
As a boy, young Hill was blessed, inspired and motivated to high achievement by his calm, patient stepmother who loved him dearly. It was she, who motivated “a problem child” to develop character and motivate himself to work hard to become educated and an achiever.
Wanamaker, George Eastman, John D. Rockefeller, Thomas A. Edison, Theodore Roosevelt, Albert Hubbard, J. Ogden Armour, Luther Burbank, Dr. Alexander Graham Bell and Julius Rosenwald.
And Hill did earn his own livelihood-by applying many of the principles he learned from Carnegie and the men he interviewed. And in 1928, he completed the eight volumes of The Law of Success- books that motivated thousands to acquire wealth or to become outstanding achievers.
On the recommendation of Senator Jennings Randolph of West Virginia, Napoleon Hill became an adviser to two Presidents of the United States: Woodrow Wilson and Franklin D. Roosevelt. He influenced certain decisions they made that affected the course of American history.
When, exactly twenty years after the interview with Andrew Carnegie, The Law of Success was published, it had a worldwide impact. Seven years later, while be was an adviser to Franklin D. Roosevelt, he began writing the manuscript for Think and Grow Rich. It was published in 1937. More than ten million people have read the book.
A profitable discovery. In 1937, Think and Grow Rich was given to me by Morris Pickus, a well-known sales executive, sales counselor and lecturer. The philosophy in so many respects coincided with my own that I sent the book to every one of my sales representatives throughout the United States. (At that time, I owned and operated Combined Registry Company, a national sales organization that specialized exclusively in the sale of accident insurance.)
Bingo! I hit the jackpot, for I made a profitable discovery. I found a working tool that would motivate sales representatives to motivate themselves to increase their sales and profits-and something more: to acquire wealth through responding to an inspirational, self-help action book.
“Now, what has relating the story about Carnegie, The Law of Success and Think and Grow Rich to do with Success Through a Positive Mental Attitude?” you ask. My answer: “If it were not for each of them, the manuscript for this book would not have been
written. But it was written, and it was first published in 1960 by Prentice-Hall, Inc.
Think and Grow Rich contains the basic principles of Andrew Carnegie’s philosophy-those contained in The Law of Success-and Napoleon Hill’s philosophy and experiences, as well as stories about many people who acquired wealth and success after reading the eight volumes of The Law of Success. Success Through a Positive Mental Attitude combines all these in essence, and has something more. It tells specifically how you can use the greatest machine that was ever conceived a machine so awesome that only God Himself could create it. This machine is a human computer; it is your brain and your nervous system, from which the mechanical computer was designed.
Success Through a Positive Mental Attitude instructs you on what to do and how to do it when it comes to tapping and using the powers of your subconscious mind. Where have you been taught to constructively use, neutralize, control or harmonize with your passions, emotions, instincts, tendencies, feelings, moods and habits of thought and action? Have you been taught how to aim high and achieve your goals regardless of the obstacles? If your answer is “No.” you will be taught these things if you read and then apply the principles in Success Through a Positive Mental Attitude.
Results are what count. Over the last 16 years, more than 420,000 hardbound copies of Success Through a Positive Mental Attitude have been printed. Our readers have had such phenomenal results in changing their lives for the better, meeting life’s problems courageously and bringing their desires into reality that I was delighted when arrangements were made for Pocket Books to publish the paperback edition, for the books published by Pocket Books reach hundreds of thousands. And my chief goal, and Napoleon Hill’s, was to motivate multitudes of people to free themselves from the slavery of their undesirable thoughts, habits and actions and to help them seek and acquire the true riches of life by fulfilling desires that don’t violate the laws of God or the rights of their fellow men.
Freedom from the bonds that enslaved them. In the preface by Og Mandino to this edition of Success Through a Positive Mental Attitude, you read:
I speak from experience. Many years ago, through my own stupidities and faults, I lost everything that was precious to me-my family, my home and my job. Nearly penniless, and with no guidance, I began to wander the country, searching for myself and for some answers that would make life bearable….
nd blu I finally found my answer in W. Clement Stone’s and Napoleon Hill’s Success Through a Positive Mental Attitude.
Og Mandino is now famous as a lecturer and author of The Greatest Salesman in the World and other self-help books. And Norman Vincent Peale and other well-known authors have told me many times how they have inspired others to high personal achievement by quoting illustrations and principles from Success Through a Positive Mental Attitude.
I was recently invited to dinner at one of Washington’s famous restaurants by a friend. Jimmy, the waiter, rendered the most pleasant and effective service I have ever gotten at any fine restaurant in any part of the world. After dinner, as my party was leaving the restaurant, Jimmy asked me aside and said, “May I take half a minute of your time?”
“Certainly.” I responded.
“I just wanted to tell you that Success Through a Positive Mental Attitude saved my life,” he said.
Another man, Ted G., told me: “When I was on the Lee Phillips Show, you said you were going to change my life. Well, you did, and here’s a list of the changes that took place in five years: I went into business, and I m doing very well: two of my daughters graduated from college, and one is still attending a private college (previously I had no funds for college education for them); I purchased a condominium with a swimming pool, golf course, etc.: I’ve had beautiful vacations: and much more! Many thanks again for Success Through a Positive Mental Attitude. It is always on my night table and I consider it one of my valued possessions.”
A doctor who practices in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on two occasions when I met him said, “I thought you would be interested in knowing that one of my most effective prescriptions to certain patients with psychosomatic illnesses is a special one. I prescribe a book: Success Through a Positive Mental Attitude.”
While there are several thousands of experiences that could be related, the greatest testimonial can be your experience when you learn and apply the principles in this book.
Special instructions. When you read this book, read it as if the authors were your personal friends and were writing to you-and you alone. Underscore sentences, quotations and words that are meaningful to you. Memorize self-motivators. Keep in mind that this is a book to motivate you to desirable action.
Abraham Lincoln developed the habit of trying to learn from the books he read, the people he met and casual events. These gave him ideas for reflection. And thus he was able to relate, assimilate and use ideas as his own.
You too can convert your creative thinking, artistic talent, knowledge, personality and physical energy into success, wealth. health and happiness. This book more than tells you how: it motivates you to try.
Look for the message that is applicable to you. When you recognize it. Pay attention! Get into action! To direct your mind into desired channels, try to answer each question at the end of each chapter during your thinking and planning time.
