It seems to me that the beginning of a new year is a great time for salespeople to be reminded how fatal negative influences are, along with how to avoid them. To accomplish this I’m reaching back eighty years ago to Napoleon Hill’s Think and Grow Rich.
Since it is now in the public domain, I’m re-printing the last half of his Chapter 15, for my next two posts, in the hope that you will get your head back in the game from the holiday season.
Remember Hill’s word choices are old school early 20th century.
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To protect yourself against negative influences, whether of your own making, or the result of the activities of negative people around you, recognize that you have a WILL-POWER, and put it into constant use, until it builds a wall of immunity against negative influences in your own mind.
Recognize the fact that you, and every other human being, are, by nature, lazy, indifferent, and susceptible to all suggestions which harmonize with your weaknesses.
Recognize that you are, by nature, susceptible to all the six basic fears (poverty, criticism, ill health, loss of love, old age, and death; discussed by Hill early in chapter 15), and set up habits for the purpose of counteracting all these fears.
Recognize that negative influences often work on you through your subconscious mind, therefore they are difficult to detect, and keep your mind closed against all people who depress or discourage you in any way.
Clean out your medicine chest, throw away all pill bottles, and stop pandering to colds, aches, pains and imaginary illness.
Deliberately seek the company of people who influence you to THINK AND ACT FOR YOURSELF.
Do not EXPECT troubles as they have a tendency not to disappoint.
Without doubt, the most common weakness of all human beings is the habit of leaving their minds open to the negative influence of other people. This weakness is all the more damaging, because most people do not recognize that they are cursed by it, and many who acknowledge it, neglect or refuse to correct the evil until it becomes an uncontrollable part of their daily habits.
To aid those who wish to see themselves as they really are, the following list of questions has been prepared. Read the questions and state your answers aloud, so you can hear your own voice. This will make it easier for you to be truthful with yourself.
You have ABSOLUTE CONTROL over but one thing, and that is your thoughts. This is the most significant and inspiring of all facts known to man! It reflects man’s Divine nature. This Divine prerogative is the sole means by which you may control your own destiny. If you fail to control your own mind, you may be sure you will control nothing else.
If you must be careless with your possessions, let it be in connection with material things. Your mind is your spiritual estate! Protect and use it with the care to which Divine Royalty is entitled.
You were given a WILL-POWER for this purpose.
Unfortunately, there is no legal protection against those who, either by design or ignorance, poison the minds of others by negative suggestion. This form of destruction should be punishable by heavy legal penalties, because it may and often does destroy one’s chances of acquiring material things which are protected by law. Men with negative minds tried to convince Thomas A. Edison that he could not build a machine that would record and reproduce the human voice, “because” they said, “no one else had ever produced such a machine.” Edison did not believe them. He knew that the mind could produce ANYTHING THE MIND COULD CONCEIVE AND BELIEVE, and that knowledge was the thing that lifted the great Edison above the common herd.
Men with negative minds told F. W. Woolworth, he would go “broke” trying to run a store on five and ten cent sales. He did not believe them. He knew that he could do anything, within reason, if he backed his plans with faith. Exercising his right to keep other men’s negative suggestions out of his mind, he piled up a fortune of more than a hundred million dollars.
Men with negative minds told George Washington he could not hope to win against the vastly superior forces of the British, but he exercised his Divine right to BELIEVE, therefore this book was published under the protection of the Stars and Stripes, while the name of Lord Cornwallis has been all but forgotten.
Doubting Thomas’s scoffed scornfully when Henry Ford tried out his first crudely built automobile on the streets of Detroit. Some said the thing never would become practical. Others said no one would pay money for such a contraption.
FORD SAID, “I’LL BELT THE EARTH WITH DEPENDABLE MOTOR CARS,” AND HE DID!
His decision to trust his own judgment has already piled up a fortune far greater than the next five generations of his descendants can squander. For the benefit of those seeking vast riches, let it be remembered that practically the sole difference between Henry Ford and a majority of the more than one hundred thousand men who work for him, is this – FORD HAS A MIND AND CONTROLS IT, THE OTHERS HAVE MINDS WHICH THEY DO NOT TRY TO CONTROL.
Henry Ford has been repeatedly mentioned, because he is an astounding example of what a man with a mind of his own, and a will to control it, can accomplish. His record knocks the foundation from under that time-worn alibi, “I never had a chance.” Ford never had a chance, either, but he CREATED AN OPPORTUNITY AND BACKED IT WITH PERSISTENCE UNTIL IT MADE HIM RICHER THAN CROESUS. (Croesus was a Greek king known by all in the ancient world for his personal wealth)
We will continue with Part II of this post next time.
————-Who Wouldn’t Want an Edge? ————
I don’t pretend to be a Napoleon Hill, but after 40+ years in the selling universe I have written a book for sales people that just might make the difference between making it in sales or not. The best part is my unconditional money back guarantee, which in over 4 years NOBODY HAS EVER made good on. Just sayin’. See what it’s all about here.
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