How Do You Define “Success”? An Exclusive Excerpt from Napoleon Hill’s Think Your Way to Wealth by Napoleon Hill

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The following is an exclusive excerpt from Napoleon Hill’s Think Your Way to Wealth, an official publication of the Napoleon Hill Foundation.  

HILL: How would you define “success”? 

 CARNEGIE: My definition of success is this: the power with which to acquire whatever one demands of life without violating the rights of others. 

HILL: But Mr. Carnegie, is it not true that success is often the result of “luck”? 

CARNEGIE: If you would analyze the definition of success that I just provided, you would see that there is no element of “luck” in it. Individuals might come by opportunities by mere chance or luck, but when opportunities are encountered this way, people have a way of falling out of them just as easily as they fell into them. In order to hold on to an opportunity, there must be Definiteness of Purpose! 

HILL: Mr. Carnegie, in your definition of success, you used the word “power.” You said that success is achieved through “the power with which to acquire whatever one wants.” Can you further explain what this power consists of? 

CARNEGIE: Personal power is acquired through a combination of individual traits and habits, some of which will be explained as we explore the other sixteen principles of achievement. Briefly, let me share the ten qualities of personal power: 

1. The habit of Definiteness of Purpose 

2. The ability to make prompt decisions 

3. Soundness of character (intentional honesty) 

4. Strict discipline over one’s emotions 

5. Extreme desire—to the point of obsession—to render useful service 

6. Thorough knowledge of one’s occupation 

7. Tolerance on all subjects 

8. Loyalty to one’s personal associates and faith in a Supreme Being 

9. Enduring thirst for knowledge 

10. Alertness of imagination 

Anyone may develop these traits—traits that lead to the development of a form of personal power that can be used without “violating the rights of others.” That is the only form of personal power that an individual can afford to wield.  

This is an exclusive excerpt from Napoleon Hill’s Think Your Way to Wealth, available now from Sound Wisdom and the Napoleon Hill Foundation. Originally published in 1948, Think Your Way to Wealth presents all seventeen principles of success as they were first described to him by Carnegie and other high-achieving individuals. Discover a master plan for success based on the original interviews with steel magnate Andrew Carnegie that inspired Napoleon Hill’s bestselling books Think and Grow Rich and The Law of Success.