"Think And Grow Rich", Napoleon Hill

And in less than 10 hours I’m back and better than ever. Now, where was I:

Organized planning: Without a plan you have no purpose. If you tend to “go with the flow” you go wherever the flow takes you. What about becoming a proactive instead of reactive person? Taking responsibility for the everything that happens throughout your course of existence can benefit you enormously in achieving what YOU want and not someone else.

Have you ever experienced a situation where you aren’t achieving what you want to so you blatantly drop your shoulders and give up? Obviously! I’m human. What’s really cool about this chapter is the way it placed one of my thoughts into a definite sentence. A couple months ago, if I can recall correctly in around February, I was selling fruits, specifically gala apples, bananas, pineapple slices, Jamaican apples and fruit cups to the students at my school. However, based on the arrangement to make the selling ‘legal’ I cut a deal with the head of the environmental club to sell on behalf of them and I cut them some of the profit, around 40% (that’s so much). I had a desire to earn money in school, saw the opportunity when the environmental club was in need of a fruit supplier and jumped right in. Then after three weeks I came to a halt. Persons were wondering why I “stopped” selling and I was loosing a lot of money and this and that. Again, I love how the book phrased it, “If the first plan which you adopt does not work successfully, replace it with a new plan; if this new plan fails to work, replace it in turn with still another, and so on, until you find a plan which does work.”

Who said I gave up on the IDEA? My negotiating skills were poor: I should have balled that 40% down to 30% or 25% since I was doing everything - coming up with the capital, sourcing the goods, doing the accounting, selling the goods and taking delivery of the goods. All the club did was hold out their hand and collect money at the end of the week. With that being said, the effort I was putting in didn’t feel worth it. However, I still believe in the idea I just need to change the plan which I already have in mind: Selling fruits to institutions surrounded by health-conscious people such as the gym and places with canteens such as high schools that meet the target customer pool, persons who would be interested in gala apples and grapes. While at Wolmers I was selling the grapes by pre-order, but it did not do well due to mediocre marketing, and I was walking around selling the gala apples as singles. Now, the plan is to sell the entire box of 175 apples to the institutions at a markup of what I bought the box for OR I buy the box, make them sell it on my behalf and we split the profit 70/30. The grapes can still be on a pre-order basis, but better marketing needs to be done.

I don’t remember where I read it but it said something along the lines of, “the only persons who doubt or ridicule you when you try something new are the people who have doubts in themselves or have never tried because they are scared and lack courage. Would a millionaire ever laugh at you for starting a business? No. Why? Because he/she has been there and understands the challenges and struggles one has to go through, traversing through mental adversity to finally take the first leap of faith knowing that they won’t have everything going smoothly or know everything to do well, but the courage it takes to make such a decision is priceless. Never listen or pay attention to anyone who tries to discourage or put you down when he/she lacks experience.

The Major Attributes of Leadership:

• Unwavering Courage

• Self-control

• A keen sense of justice

• Definiteness of decision

• Definiteness of plans

• The habit of doing more than paid for

• A pleasing personality

• Sympathy and understanding

• Mastery of detail

• Willingness to assume full responsibility

• Cooperation

Forms of leadership: - leadership by consent of and - leadership by force (dictatorial)

The Ten Major Causes of Failure:

• Inability to organize details

• Unwillingness to render humble service

• Expectation of pay for what they “know” instead of what they do with that which they know

• Fear of competition from followers

• Lack of imagination

• Selfishness

• Intemperance

• Disloyalty

• Emphasis of the “authority” of leadership

• Emphasis of title

The chapter also talks about how to apply for a position and how to get the exact position you desire.

The causes of success in marketing services effectively and permanently : “QQS” - quality plus quantity plus spirit of cooperation.

The quality and the quantity of service rendered, and the spirit in which it is rendered, determine to a large extent, the price, and the duration of employment.

Some MAJOR causes of Failure:

• Lack of a well-defined purpose in life

• Lack of ambition to aim above mediocrity

• Insufficient education

• Lack of self-discipline

• Ill health

• Unfavorable environmental influences during childhood

• Procrastination

• Lack of persistence

• Wrong selection of mate in marriage

• Wrong selection of a vocation

This chapter goes in depth with the analysis of self as well but when your’e ready you can check back the chapter and refresh the memory.