Page 17 - Napoleon Hill Think and Grow Rich Full Book | Success Learned

Failure comes to those who indifferently allow themselves to become FAILURE
CONSCIOUS.

16

NAPOLEON HILL THINK AND GROW RICH

The object of this book is to help all who seek it, to learn the art of changing their
minds from FAILURE CONSCIOUSNESS to SUCCESS CONSCIOUSNESS.

Another weakness found in altogether too many people, is the habit of measuring
everything, and everyone, by their own impressions and beliefs. Some who will
read this, will believe that no one can THINK AND GROW RICH. They cannot
think in terms of riches, because their thought habits have been steeped in pov-
erty, want, misery, failure, and defeat.

These unfortunate people remind me of a prominent Chinese, who came to Amer-
ica to be educated in American ways. He attended the University of Chicago. One
day President Harper met this young Oriental on the campus, stopped to chat
with him for a few minutes, and asked what had impressed him as being the most
noticeable characteristic of the American people.

"Why," the Chinaman exclaimed, "the queer slant of your eyes. Your eyes are off
slant!" What do we say about the Chinese? We refuse to believe that which we do
not understand. We foolishly believe that our own limitations are the proper meas-
ure of limitations. Sure, the other fellow's eyes are "off slant," BECAUSE THEY
ARE NOT THE SAME AS OUR OWN. Millions of people look at the achievements
of Henry Ford, after he has arrived, and envy him, because of his good fortune, or
luck, or genius, or whatever it is that they credit for Ford's fortune. Perhaps one
person in every hundred thousand knows the secret of Ford's success, and those
who do know are too modest, or too reluctant, to speak of it, because of its sim-
plicity. A single transaction will illustrate the "secret" perfectly.

A few years back, Ford decided to produce his now famous V-8 motor. He chose
to build an engine with the entire eight cylinders cast in one block, and instructed
his engineers to produce a design for the engine. The design was placed on paper,
but the engineers agreed, to a man, that it was simply impossible to cast an eight-
cylinder gas engine block in one piece.

Ford said, "Produce it anyway." "But," they replied, "it's impossible!" "Go ahead,"
Ford commanded, "and stay on the job until you succeed no matter how much
time is required."

The engineers went ahead. There was nothing else for them to do, if they were
to remain on the Ford staff. Six months went by, nothing happened. Another six
months passed, and still nothing happened. The engineers tried every conceiv-