Page 143 - Napoleon Hill Think and Grow Rich Full Book | Success Learned

12. The habit of neglecting to move on ideas, or to grasp opportunity when it
presents itself.

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NAPOLEON HILL THINK AND GROW RICH

13. WISHING instead of WILLING.

14. The habit of compromising with POVERTY instead of aiming at riches. Gen-
eral absence of ambition to be, to do, and to own.

15. Searching for all the short-cuts to riches, trying to GET without GIVING a
fair equivalent, usually reflected in the habit of gambling, endeavoring to drive
"sharp" bargains.

16. FEAR OF CRITICISM, failure to create plans and to put them into action, be-
cause of what other people will think, do, or say. This enemy belongs at the head
of the list, because it generally exists in one's subconscious mind, where its pres-
ence is not recognized. (See the Six Basic Fears in a later chapter).

Let us examine some of the symptoms of the Fear of Criticism. The majority of
people permit relatives, friends, and the public at large to so influence them that
they cannot live their own lives, because they fear criticism.

Huge numbers of people make mistakes in marriage, stand by the bargain, and
go through life miserable and unhappy, because they fear criticism which may
follow if they correct the mistake. (Anyone who has submitted to this form of fear
knows the irreparable damage it does, by destroying ambition, self-reliance, and
the desire to achieve).

Millions of people neglect to acquire belated educations, after having left school,
because they fear criticism. Countless numbers of men and women, both young
and old, permit relatives to wreck their lives in the name of DUTY, because they
fear criticism. (Duty does not require any person to submit to the destruction of
his personal ambitions and the right to live his own life in his own way).

People refuse to take chances in business, because they fear the criticism which
may follow if they fail. The fear of criticism, in such cases is stronger than the
DESIRE for success.

Too many people refuse to set high goals for themselves, or even neglect selecting
a career, because they fear the criticism of relatives and "friends" who may say
"Don't aim so high, people will think you are crazy.

When Andrew Carnegie suggested that I devote twenty years to the organization