Page 138 - Napoleon Hill Think and Grow Rich Full Book | Success Learned

NAPOLEON HILL THINK AND GROW RICH

POVERTY is attracted to the one whose mind is favorable to it, as money is attract-
ed to him whose mind has been deliberately prepared to attract it, and through
the same laws. POVERTY CONSCIOUSNESS WILL VOLUNTARILY SEIZE THE
MIND WHICH IS NOT OCCUPIED WITH THE MONEY CONSCIOUSNESS. A
poverty consciousness develops without conscious application of habits favora-
ble to it. The money consciousness must be created to order, unless one is born
with such a consciousness.

Catch the full significance of the statements in the preceding paragraph, and you
will understand the importance of PERSISTENCE in the accumulation of a for-
tune. Without PERSISTENCE, you will be defeated, even before you start. With
PERSISTENCE you will win.

If you have ever experienced a nightmare, you will realize the value of persistence.
You are lying in bed, half awake, with a feeling that you are about to smother. You
are unable to turn over, or to move a muscle. You realize that you MUST BEGIN
to regain control over your muscles. Through persistent effort of will-power, you
finally manage to move the fingers of one hand. By continuing to move your fin-
gers, you extend your control to the muscles of one arm, until you can lift it. Then
you gain control of the other arm in the same manner. You finally gain control
over the muscles of one leg, and then extend it to the other leg. THEN- WITH
ONE SUPREME EFFORT OF WILL- you regain complete control over your mus-
cular system, and "snap" out of your nightmare. The trick has been turned step
by step.

You may find it necessary to "snap" out of your mental inertia, through a simi-
lar procedure, moving slowly at first, then increasing your speed, until you gain
complete control over your will. Be PERSISTENT no matter how slowly you may,
at first, have to move.

WITH PERSISTENCE WILL COME SUCCESS.

If you select your "Master Mind" group with care, you will have in it, at least one
person who will aid you in the development of PERSISTENCE. Some men who
have accumulated great fortunes, did so because of NECESSITY. They developed
the habit of PERSISTENCE, because they were so closely driven by circumstanc-
es, that they had to become persistent.

THERE IS NO SUBSTITUTE FOR PERSISTENCE! It cannot be supplanted by
any other quality! Remember this, and it will hearten you, in the beginning, when
the going may seem difficult and slow. Those who have cultivated the HABIT of
persistence seem to enjoy insurance against failure. No matter how many times
they are defeated, they finally arrive up toward the top of the ladder.