Sound Wisdom Blog
Empathy Can Help You Wake Up Wealthier by Alyson Van Hooser
Headlines everywhere are claiming that empathy is an important LEADERSHIP skill. But that’s not quite right. It’s a necessary SUCCESS skill. If we choose to change our mindset regarding empathy, it might just be the catalyst for a more successful future for you!
The Golden Age by Jim Stovall
We human beings are too often plagued with what I would call “Greener Grass Syndrome.” This syndrome involves looking back in time and declaring a point in history as “the good old days” or projecting into the future and declaring “someday things will get better.” In reality, the only point in recorded history that matters to you and me is the current immediate moment we are living right now.
Achieve Everything You Want by Sam Silverstein
What if I told you that accountability was at the center of achieving everything you ever wanted? Does accountability really seem that powerful?
Here’s the thing—what happens to us is based on the actions we take. Those actions are determined by what we believe. What we believe about people will determine the level of accountability that we have. And what we believe is at the very heart of determining what we achieve. Let’s discuss.
How Do You Define “Success”? An Exclusive Excerpt from Napoleon Hill’s Think Your Way to Wealth by Napoleon Hill
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!
Delayed Gratification by Jim Stovall
There is not one simple overriding key to success. Instead, there are a number of keys that make success possible. However, one of the most significant concepts among the keys to success is that of delayed gratification. Olympian Peter Vidmar said, “Don’t sacrifice what you want most for what you want now.” Few things in life that are worthwhile come easily or are attained quickly.
Enthusiasm by Napoleon Hill
ENTHUSIASM is a state of mind that inspires and arouses one to put action into the task at hand. It does more than this—it is contagious, and vitally affects not only the enthusiast, but all with whom he comes in contact.
Enthusiasm bears the same relationship to a human being that steam does to the locomotive—it is the vital moving force that impels action. The greatest leaders of men are those who know how to inspire enthusiasm in their followers.
Enthusiasm is not merely a figure of speech; it is a vital force that you can harness and use with profit. Without it, you would resemble an electric battery without electricity.
How to Get What You Want by Earl Nightingale
A very wise man once said, “If you can tell me what you want, I can tell you how to get it.” He was a wise man because he knew that the problem with people is not their ability to achieve what they want. The great majority of people who are dissatisfied with their lives, who feel the world is passing them by and that they are not getting anywhere, are not suffering from a lack of ability—far from it. They are suffering from not having decided where they want to go.
Small Details and Big Results by Jim Stovall
Rarely do we ever make a 100% improvement. We, instead, make one hundred 1% improvements. It’s the small details that produce tiny margins that can make all the difference. If you think about why you do business with the companies and individuals you choose to spend your money with, many times you will realize that their products and services may be no different than their competitors, but you chose them because of some small gesture or minor convenience they offer that made all the difference to you.
Definiteness of Purpose by Napoleon Hill
Desire is the factor that determines that your definite purpose in life shall be. No one can select your dominating desire for you, but once you select it yourself, it becomes your definite chief aim and occupies the spotlight of your mind until it is satisfied by transformation into reality, unless you permit it to be pushed aside by conflicting desires.
Just Say “No” by Jim Stovall
Unless we learn how to say “no” to the things that are wrong for us in our personal and professional lives, we won’t be able to say “yes” to the right things. Our lives are a constant struggle between the elements of time and money. Typically, we start out as young adults and have very little money but a lot of flexible time. Then, based on our efforts, later in life we often find ourselves with a lot of money and far less free time.
How’s the World Treating You? by Earl Nightingale
We live in a world of words. We have a word for everything, and some of these names and labels mean a great deal to us. Words such as “love,” “happiness,” “success,” “achievement,” “joy,” and “ability” describe conditions all of us want, but there is one word that controls them all. That is, there is one word that describes a condition that will bring us all of these things or keep us from getting any one of them.
The Most Important Thing by Earl Nightingale
Ask yourself: “What’s the most important thing on earth as far as a human being is concerned?” I think it is truth. Truth is knowledge, and truth is honesty. To the extent that a person has knowledge and honesty, they are rich. Mirabeau once said: “If honesty did not exist, we ought to invent it as the best means of getting rich.” Shakespeare wrote: “To be honest as the world goes, is to be one man picked out of ten thousand.” Both of them were right.
Freedom and Success by Jim Stovall
Freedom is an often-misunderstood word. We all grasp the concept of being able to do what we want to do and when we want to do it, but our ideas of freedom often get confused when we think of other people’s liberty, particularly when it relates to those with whom we disagree. The great American patriot Thomas Paine, said, “He who would make his own liberty secure must guard even his own enemy from oppression.”
Our Changing World by Earl Nightingale
Never before in the history of humankind has it been so necessary as it is today for us to develop a new awareness of ourselves with respect to our changing world. We need to face the fact that in the world of tomorrow, jobs will be radically different; many will be eliminated entirely. What can we do about it? We can take the advice of the former president of the University of Chicago, Robert M. Hutchins: “We can learn!” If we refuse to learn, if we insist on acting like machines, we may find ourselves idle tomorrow.
Pre-crastination by Jim Stovall
Our lives are the accumulated total of the things we do, not the things we thought about doing, meant to do, wanted to do, or were going to do when we got time. Procrastination kills dreams, success, and goals. For years, I thought the ideal would be to do everything on time and when I had it scheduled. Then, I discovered pre-crastination. Expert sources tell me that there are over 300,000 words in the English language. Regular readers of these columns in newspapers, magazines, and online publications around the world know that there are occasions when the supply of words in the English language is not sufficient for me, so I create a new word.
How to Thrive in Unprecedented Times: An exclusive excerpt from Napoleon Hill’s Freedom from Your Fears
If you are experiencing a difficult time, it might seem impossible to bring yourself to a place of hope. And to that Hill would say—you shouldn’t. Hoping and wishing are indicative of a lack of faith and inaction. Instead, you should refocus your thoughts on the certainty that you will rebound and achieve your definite chief aim. All you need are new plans, which you can conceive by visualizing the fruition of your desires and instructing your subconscious to find a means for claiming what has already been made available to you. Understand that everything you want most in life is yours for the taking; you are being held back only by your fears, indecision, and lack of proper plans for obtaining what you desire.
“The Art of Concentration” by Napoleon Hill
Your ability to train your memory, or to develop a desired habit, is a matter solely of being able to fix your attention on a given subject until the outline of that subject has been thoroughly impressed upon the “sensitized plate” of your mind.
The Most Crucial Trait for Success Is Also the Most Underdeveloped One: An exclusive excerpt from Napoleon Hill’s Self-Confidence Formula
What is the most crucial trait for determining an individual’s success in life?
Desire?
Definiteness of purpose?
Faith?
A positive mental attitude?
What if there were a quality whose presence energized all these other success requisites—and whose absence rendered them innocuous?
The Mystery of Life by Jim Stovall
In psychological studies of happiness and satisfaction, researchers found that people with predictable and mundane lives were unhappy, but, ironically, people with some of the most adventurous and unpredictable lives were also unhappy. As in most things, the researchers found that people with a moderate amount of adventure combined with periods of stability were found to be the happiest and most fulfilled.
How to Get the Exact Position You Desire by Jennifer Janechek
Seven steps to your dream job
In Think and Grow Rich, Napoleon Hill informs readers that “your achievement can be no greater than your plans are sound.” The sixth “step to riches,” then, is organized planning. In order to attain your life purpose—or what Hill terms your “definite major purpose”—you must create and implement plans characterized by definiteness.