Success is what we want for ourselves.

Success stories can illuminate our way to success.

Success stories inspire us. They teach us. Hope is given by these illustrations. Our enthusiasm is stirred. Success stories tell us about the realization of the desires, dreams and imaginations of others who go before us. Other’s successes help us believe that we too can be a success. These stories show us the success factors of others.

Ten success factors dominate each success story that follows.

I HAVE A DREAM
Debbie’s story goes like this. As a 20-year-old she had a dream to start a restaurant that sold only cookies. No ordinary banker would give her funding because she had no money, experience, education, nothing to indicate that she could become a success story. Every banker turned her down. She kept up hope because anyone who sampled her cookies ate every bite. Her success story continued on because of persistence. Finally one person believed in her dream and helped set up her first store. She set high standards of only the best ingredients and keeping cookies on the shelf for less than two hours. The cookie store became a success and took off. Mrs. Fields Cookies are sold world wide now. The success story of Debbie shows the power of a Dream.

BURNING DESIRE
Edwin C. Barnes’ story illustrates how his dream of being a business associate of the great inventor Thomas Edison was the consuming desire of his life. He grew his dream past hope. He did not know Thomas Edison, nor did he have the money to get a ticket to travel to see him. Leaving behind everything, he traveled on a freight car, and stood before Edison the first time looking like a tramp. Mr. Edison gave him some menial work because Edwin Barnes conveyed the impression that he was determined to get what he had come after. He remained ready. His success story continued on because of persistence. An opportunity arose in an unsuspected way. A queer looking machine the Edison Dictating Machine made all Edison’s salespeople reluctant. Barnes knew he could sell the newly invented machine, and he did. He was so successful that Edison gave him a contract to distribute and market the machine nationally. The success story of Edwin Barnes demonstrates Napoleon Hill’s first success principle – Burning Desire. The success story of Edwin Barnes illustrates the dream that became a burning desire.

FAITH
Mahatma Gandhi shows the power of Faith in the success story of the century. Gandhi had no money, no home, no orthodox tools of power such as armies, ships, armaments, yet he wielded immense power. That Power? “HE CREATED IT OUT OF HIS UNDERSTANDING OF THE PRINCIPLE OF FAITH AND THROUGH HIS ABILITY TO TRANSPLANT THAT FAITH INTO THE MINDS OF TWO HUNDRED MILLION PEOPLE.” stated Napoleon Hill. He coalesced that many people to move in unison. That is the success story of the power of faith. The success story of Gandhi shows a big dream that became a burning desire that was funded by Faith.

IMAGINATION
One of the most respected horse riding coaches in America is Jane Savoie. Before coaching the USA equestrian Olympic team in 2000, she was competing at screening trial with a new horse that was young, did not have the strength to do what was necessary and they had not practiced enough to build a relationship and strong communications, but Zapetero was a top horse. She couldn’t imagine a perfect test because of these limits, so instead she focused her Imagination by visualizing the awards ceremony, seeing herself riding Zapetoro in the victory lap. Her success story continued on because of Imagination. “Mentally zeroing in on our desired results as if they were already in existence was a significant factor in our success. It was important to focus on a positive outcome as a foregone conclusion rather than allow my rather vivid imagination to conjure up failure pictures. My mind could then supply the means to achieve my goal by helping me to ride skillfully and effectively.” She and Zapetero led the lap of honor when the results were in. The success story of Jane shows how Auto-suggestion is powerful. The secret of the success story of Jane is that her dream of being a riding champion was a life-long burning desire, funded by faith in herself, and amped up by powerful uses of imaging and auto-suggestion.

“Following his childhood dream of drawing comic strips, a young man was advised by an editor in Kansas City to give up drawing. He kept knocking on doors, only to be rejected. Finally a church hired him to draw publicity material. Working out of an old garage, he befriended a mouse who ultimately became famous. The man was Walt Disney, his dream was Disney World, and his friend was Mickey Mouse.” He imagined a place where families could have fun together. Along the way he drew his friend Mickey to cartoon success. His success continued on because of persistence. Many people have played in of Disney World and Disney Land. Imagination is a key factor in the success story of Walt Disney. We can all see the power of Disney’s dream that was a burning desire funded by Faith, illustrated through Imagination that it could happen.

SPECIALIZED KNOWLEDGE
Henry a grocer during the depression shows how Specialized Knowledge helps success. Finding himself with no job, he took some accounting coursework to augment bookkeeping experience he already had and went into business for himself. He did contract bookkeeping for over 100 small merchants, including the grocer that he had previously worked for. His success story continued on because of persistence. He set up modern bookkeeping equipment in a light truck and was so successful that he had a whole fleet of these portable offices to service his customers. He found himself paying 10 times more in taxes than he formerly was paid as an employee. Adversity gave this man opportunity to launch the success story of his life. He took a dream combined it with faith in himself, persistence, and added specialized knowledge to become the success story of his life.

ORGANIZED PLANNING & DECISIONS
While Dr. Frank Gunsaulus was going through college, he developed the burning desire to become the head of a college where people would learn by doing. He began to plan a new college, calculated the costs to start. One Saturday afternoon, trying to figure our how to get the money, he made the Decision it was time to act. He decided he was going to get the million dollars he needed in a week. The next day, he let the papers know that he would be preaching on the topic “What I would do if I had a million dollars.” Then he began writing the speech – which was easy because he had been planning it for more than two years. He slept with a deep sense of confidence.

The morning arrived. He knelt and asked that this sermon touch someone who could contribute the money. When he arrived in the pulpit, he discovered his speech had been left at home, and so he opened his heart and spoke from his soul imagining himself talking both to the audience and to God. He told all the details of his educational dream, and the plan he had for helping people learn practical things while they were also developing their mind. When he finished, Philip D. Armour arose from the back and walked forward extended his hand and said I believe in you and believe you can do everything you said you would. Come to my office tomorrow, and I will give you the million dollars. The success story of Dr, Gunsaulus is an example of Organized Planning and illustrates shows how a decision can compel success. This young preacher converted his dream, that became a burning desire. This coupled with his imagination allowed him to manifest one million dollars within 36 hours of his decision to act. His faith in a supreme power along with confidence in himself fueled the completion.

PERSISTENCE
W.C. Fields found himself out of work and money in the depression. His way of making a living in vaudeville no longer existed. Plus he was past 60. He volunteered to work for free in a new field called movies because he was so eager to make a comeback which did happen. Persistence was a key factor in the story of his life.
Persistence is evident in the success story of Fannie Hurst who came to New York in 1915 to make fortune writing. The Saturday Evening Post sent her 36 rejections before it became interested in one of her stories. She pounded the sidewalks of New York for four years before getting her break. And then when money came, it came in a flood. The success story of both of these artists shows dreams funded by faith and persistence.

MASTERMINDING
“When two or more people coordinate in a spirit of HARMONY, and work toward a definite objective they place themselves in a position, through that alliance to absorb power directly from the great universal storehouse of Infinite Intelligence” said Napoleon Hill as he describes the success story of Henry Ford. Ford overcame illiteracy, poverty and as he allied himself with Thomas Edison and other great people, he rapidly achieved the success story of his life. The success story of Andrew Carnegie also shows the use of Masterminding.

Mrs. Fields Cookies, Walt Disney and the Edwin Barnes’s stories illustrates the power of your Dream. Edwin Barnes and Gandhi show Burning Desire.  Faith is a strong component of the success story of Dr. Gunsaulus, Edwin Barnes, and Gandhi. The very active step of Imagination and Auto-Suggestion are vital to the success stories of Jane Savoi, Walt Disney, and Jack Nicklaus the golfer. When these success factors are in place, then Decisions, Organized Planning, and Specialized Training are the practical steps to be taken, as in the success story of Henry the grocer, and the success story of Dr. Gunsaulus and Henry Ford. Persistence – keeping on keeping on – is particularly evident with Thomas Edison, who tried 10,000 ways before he was successful with the filament in the light bulb. None of us are successful in a vacuum. We need contact with Infinite Intelligence and with a group of like minded people. Masterminding was essential for Andrew Carnegie, Henry Ford. Napoleon Hill used an imaginary group of wisdom leaders to propel his own success.

What are your success stories? The success you have achieved probably contained some of the factors highlighted in these success stories. Success stories repeatedly illuminate the characteristics necessary for success.

1. The route to success usually begins with a dream of some kind.
2. That dream becoming a burning desire.
3. Faith mixed with the burning desire fuels the success story.
4. Imagination combined with 5. auto-suggestion moves around the conscious mind to activate the subconscious into the success story.
6. Persistence, 7. Specialized Knowledge, 8. Organized Planning, and 9. Decisions provide the tools for the success story.
10. Master Minding gives a quantum leap to success stories.

Each of these 10 success factors presented by Napoleon Hill in Think and Grow Rich are part of the blueprint to success. You will find these common themes in the success story of most anyone. Now return to other places on this website to learn the success story of other people, and how to develop these qualities in you.

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