5 Principles Everyone Seeking Success Should Be Using

After spending thirty-two years learning the key principles for success in business from the people who have shaped my life for the better in my early years and continued to do so throughout my sales career.

“W. Clement Stone shared his belief in the power of optimism in three books that continue to be read today: Success Through a Positive Mental Attitude (co-authored with Napoleon Hill), The Success System That Never Fails, and The Other Side of the Mind (co-authored with Norma Lee Browning). 

I had the privilege of reading, studying and using his excellent principles for success aswell as using the self-motivators recommended by W Clement Stone such as “When the Going Gets Tough, the Tough Get Going” or “Every Adversity has the Seed of an Equivalent or Greater Benefit” follow by the statement “DO IT NOW” and act on the statement.

I will now share with you five of the seventeen success principles I would have used throughout my life and believe you will achieve true success through these principles if acted upon once you have set your goals.

W Clement Stone believed this was the most important principle for success in life aswell as business, as without a positive mental attitude you will not even start any of the other principles. W Clement Stone refers to this principle as PMA and it was his tag line when he registered his company on the New York Stock Exchange.

A positive mental attitude is the right mental attitude in any given situation or in starting any endeavour provided it does not violate the laws of god or man.

The opposite to PMA is NMA and that is why this principle is vital for you to use and live by if you are to achieve your ambition in life.

“Your attitude controls your life. But the good news? You control your attitude. Attitude creates the way you feel about people and situations. Your actions are a result of your attitude—which in turn creates a reaction from others.” You can read more about PMA by going to the article in Success https://www.success.com/it-takes-a-positive-attitude-to-achieve-positive-results/

2. Definiteness of Purpose

Both Hill and Stone agreed that this principle should follow PMA as it is the principle where you will now set out on your journey toward a definite aim, that you are determined and certain you will achieve. That is why it is called definiteness of purpose; definiteness is the key word in this principle. It is very important that you get passionate and even obsessed about your aim whether it is a 12-month, 2 year 5 years or longer, as it is your passion and determination regardless of obstacles, that will ultimately make the purpose a reality.

“Understanding and defining your DMP will enable you to live how you want to live. No amount of self-help books and inspirational stories can inspire you to bring a change unless you don’t know what the change you seek actually is.” 

3. Creative Vision

If you are to set a definite purpose for yourself, it is important to be able to visualise that purpose and possibly be able to live the dream before it becomes a reality. For example, you want to purchase a new car, what is the make of the car? What colour is the car? How will you fee when you pick up the car. When you set a major purpose for yourself, visualise having possession of that which you desire, as that will drive on the passion and determination for achieving your definite major aim in life.

“When we think about our lives and how we wish to live, we need to make an effort to incorporate and nurture creativity daily. Because it can help you be successful. Think of innovators like Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Mark Zuckerberg, Thomas Edison and Leonardo da Vinci; they accomplished great things with their lives and affected the lives of people all over the world. What sets high achievers, such as this group, apart from the rest of us?” 

This principle as far as I am concerned is key and just as important as PMA. When you hit a stumbling block and it seems like the end of the road those with PMA will seek solutions to their problem instead of giving up. The positive person would look at a wall and say that it can be broken down and then move on towards the ultimate aim, where as the person with NMA would look at the wall as a barrier and then give up.

A story was told about a gold miner who was doing very well and digging lots of gold out of the ground, but eventually they came to the end of the vein of gold. The miner sold his equipment to a scrap dealer for very little money and moved on.

The scrap dealer looked at solutions and hired an expert to examine the site to see if the gold was really gone or were there more to be got. Apparently, a foot from where the previous miner stopped was a much larger vein of gold than the previous minor had found. The scrap dealer put the machinery to work and started digging for gold. The message here is be solution driven, have the attitude that there are always two solutions to every problem. The scrap dealer benefited from looking for solutions to the problem. There is a saying that a quitter never wins, where as a winner never quits.

“We all face adversity from time to time, but some of us are able to flourish when things get difficult, while others seem to struggle getting out of bed in the morning. Successful people have found a way to jump hurdles and navigate around roadblocks that would stop others completely.”

As a sales agent I was thought to keep my mind on what I want and off the things I did not want. In my case it was focusing on achieving the sales targets I had set as a salesman, instead of focusing on the rejections I was getting from those who did not want to purchase the insurance policies I was selling.

For example, if I had a ratio of 1 to 4 it meant that I would get 15 no answers for every 5 yes answers, so it would have been easier to focus on the no answers due to the fact they outweighed the yes answers.

 Here is a self-motivator I would use to stay focused “for every no answer I am getting closer to the yes” followed by the statement DO IT NOW and act on the statement straight away.

Mr Stone trained us to repeat the following statement any time we felt like drifting toward the negative “Keep your mind on the things you want and off the things you do not want” This worked once you changed your thinking from NMA to PMA. It is all about positive reinforcement, which comes from your inner self.

“Until we have learned to take care of the little opportunity’s life brings our way, we will never master the disciplines for becoming happy and prosperous. The major accomplishments in life begin with the mastery of the small disciplines.” 

Conclusion

Learn and use the principles researched by Napoleon Hill as they are as relevant today as they were when Hill interviewed the top Entrepreneurs of the time and got from them the key principles that resulted in the success they achieved. Do not put off to tomorrow what you can do today, as a negative mindset will build procrastination and eventually will lead to failure.

Like us on Facebook and follow us on twitter www.2upskill.com Charlie Mernagh is Director of Sales Training & Management Development at 2upskill.