The Last Factor in “Your Personal Success Equation”

Henry Ford said “Whether you believe you can or you can’t, you’re probably right.”

As Napoleon Hill shares what he believes to be The Beginning of ALL Great Achievement, he says “Whatever a man believes to be true has a way of becoming true.”

So what does he believe to be The Beginning of ALL Great Achievement? (I left you hanging as I closed the last blog…)

The final section in the chapter just before he begins his “interview with the Devil” shares why he believes that FAITH is the beginning of all great achievement. If you’re at all familiar with the New Testament, you likely have a similar perspective to me in regards to how important faith is in our spiritual life. While I have a pretty firm understanding of the Bible, I’ve never memorized a ton of verses word for word. The one that my great uncle ingrained in me, and I remember to this day, is John 3:16

“For God so love loved the world, as to give his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him, may not perish, but may have life everlasting.”

David Schwartz dedicates the entire opening chapter of The Magic of Thinking Big to developing a strong belief in your own ability… And Hill devotes the third chapter of Think & Grow Rich to faith.

Regardless of which direction you lean spiritually or religiously, here’s where I’m going to challenge you to think about just how important faith really is in working toward ANY great achievement. You’re welcome to substitute belief or confidence here if you choose; my point remains the same…

And if you do happen to believe the message I shared from John 3:16 about, I challenge you to think about that with the secular approach Hill and Schwartz suggested. If our faith can truly open the door to everlasting life, isn’t also within reason that applying that same kind of faith would lead to remarkable achievements of all kinds in the physical realm too?

As Sharon Lechter offers a more modern perspective on various points throughout Outwitting the Devil, she shares what she calls “Your Personal Success Equation” by saying:

“Combining your Passion with your Talent and then seeking the right Association and taking the right Action are very important components for success… but it is when you combine all those components with a strong Faith in yourself and your mission that you truly have Your Personal Success Equation. ((P+T)xAxA)+F=Your Personal Success Equation”

With the last several blogs being so focused on identifying the fears that have made so much impact on each of our lives recently, then looking at several of the root causes of those fears, here’s where we turn the corner and begin to look at how we can turn this adversity into the seeds of the equal or greater benefit Hill talked about.

More on that next time!