Napoleon Hill, Author of Think & Grow Rich

Is there a formula for success that anyone can follow to be successful in their life and work, and achieve their goals and dreams?

That’s the question Napoleon Hill famously decided to answer.  In the early 1900’s, acting on the suggestion of Andrew Carnegie, Hill interviewed 500 wealthy and successful people, many of them millionaires, to see if he could determine what, if anything, they had in common.

You might recognize the names of some of the people he interviewed. Many were the most famous people of his time, including Thomas Edison, George Eastman, Alexander Graham Bell, Elmer Gates, Henry Ford, John D. Rockefeller, Charles M. Schwab, William Wrigley Jr., F. W. Woolworth, William Jennings Bryan, Theodore Roosevelt, William H. Taft, Woodrow Wilson and Jennings Randolph.

After years of interviews, research and learning from the most wealthy and successful people of America and the world, Napoleon Hill boiled down their experiences, and the reason for their success, to a simple Formula for Success.  Here it is:

Napoleon Hill’s Formula for Success

1. You must have a specific goal.
2. You must have a specific time to achieve your goal.
3. You must write it down.
4. You must develop a plan to achieve your goal.
5. You must decide what kind of price you’re willing to pay.
6. You must think about reaching your goal every day.

Have you ever observed this formula at work in your own life, whether you really understood it at the time or not?  I know I have.  Whenever I’ve followed these principles, I’ve had greater success in achieving my goals.  And when I didn’t follow them, I lost sight of my goal and got frustrated.

Somehow, there’s great power in clarifying exactly what you want, when you want it, and knowing what price you’re willing to pay to get it.  And there’s power in writing it down and developing a plan to achieve it.

When I’m muddy about what I want, when I don’t write it down or make a plan to achieve it, and when I don’t think about it every day, the goal gets forgotten.  When I don’t decide what price I’m willing to pay, I get stressed-out, and life gets out of balance.

Are you struggling to achieve a goal or make change in an area of your life?  Then be clear, be specific, write it down, make a plan, agree upon the cost, and think about it every day.

You might also like:

• How to do the right things that lead to success
• How to clarify your priorities
• Think You’re Too Young, Old, or Late to Achieve Your Dreams?

Jillian Michaels - one of my weight loss coaches

My number one New Year’s Resolution for 2010 is to lose weight and live a more healthier lifestyle. My specific goal is to lose 30 pounds in order to be in my “ideal” weight range by August of 2010, when I turn 40 years old.

The good news is that I know how to lose weight and live healthier. Then again, we all do, don’t we?  Putting it into practice is another matter.

In my case, I’ve already been a big fat loser, having lost 70 pounds about 14 years ago. I did it the old fashioned way: I exercised more and ate less.

Since then, exercising regularly and making healthy food, snack and beverage choices on a regular basis has been a challenge for me at times. The biggest reason: I haven’t always stayed motivated to do it or been willing to pay the price.  And I ended up gaining back about 20 pounds.

This year I’m going to lose 30 pounds by following these ten steps for success in achieving New Year’s Resolutions:

1. Turn the resolution into a goal by specifically identifying what I want and when I want to accomplish it: I want to lose 30 pounds by August 31, 2010.
2. Be specific in setting the goal – write it down: I just did!
3. Be realistic in expectations and deadlines: I think this goal is realistic.  To lose 30 pounds in eight months means I need to lose about 4 pounds a month (or 1 pound per week).  Years ago, when I lost 70 pounds, I averaged a weight loss of 2 pounds per week.
4. Identify resources or tools that can help: I’ve been a member at my local YMCA for years, so I have a lot of resources there at my disposal, including exercise equipment and personal trainers.  In addition, my wife and I have started using Jillian Michaels – 30 Day Shred video as part of our workout routine at home (Jillian is one of the trainers on The Biggest Loser).  Lastly, we’ve been using Tosca Reno’s Eat Clean Cookbook: Delicious Recipes That Will Burn Fat and Re-Shape Your Body! at home for meals.
5. Identify obstacles that could keep me from achieving my goal and potential solutions: Three big obstacles immediately come to mind:  1.  I love to drink Coke.  2.  I eat out a lot at lunch time.  3.  I travel frequently, which means I eat out for 3 meals a day when I’m away from home, and I don’t often exercise.  My potential solutions are to drink more water and less Coke, bring a lunch from home more often, and make better food choices when I do eat out.
   
6. Enlist the support of a mentor or accountability partner who will encourage you to toward the achievement of your goal: As I just mentioned above, my wife and I working out together and we’re enjoying healthy meals at home as a family.
7. Set aside a specific time each week to work on your goal: We get up at 6:00 am Monday – Friday to workout together.
8. Virtualize your success – imagine what your life would be like, in vivid detail, when these goals are achieved:   I have created a vivid picture in my mind of what I would look like after I’ve lost the 30 pounds and how good I will feel when I achieve this goal.
9. Keep track of your time invested and progress made – you must inspect what you expect. I’m going to weigh myself each week and keep track of my eating and exercise using an iPhone app called Lose It!
   
10. Plan to reward yourself when the goal is accomplished: That’s easy – I’m going to go out and have a big meal to celebrate!  Just kidding…Actually, my reward will be to go out and buy a new wardrobe!  It’s a reward of necessity.

Now you know my New Year’s Resolution and what I’m going to do to make it a reality.  Please go down to the comment box below and tell me what your New Year’s Resolution is, and what you plan to do to accomplish it.

And while you’re at it, subscribe to my blog so we can stay in touch and encourage each other toward greater success in 2010.

You might also like:
Nine of the Most Popular New Year’s Resolutions
How to Achieve Your New Year’s Resolutions
Nine Reasons Why You’ll Never Achieve Your Dreams

Recently at Life Compass Blog, we’ve been talking about how to improve your success in achieving New Year’s Resolutions for 2010.  Here are ten tips that can help:

1. Turn your resolutions into goals by specifically identifying what you want to accomplish and when you want to accomplish it.
2. Be specific in setting your goals.  Write them down.
3. Be realistic in your expectations and deadlines.
4. Identify resources or tools that can help.  For most goals, “there’s an app for that.”
5. Identify obstacles that could keep you from achieving your goal, and potential solutions.
6. Enlist the support of a mentor or accountability partner who will encourage you toward the achievement of your goals.
7. Set aside a specific time each day or week to work on your goals.
8. Virtualize your success – imagine what your life would be like, in vivid detail, when these goals are achieved.  Begin to act now like you’ve already achieved them.
9. Keep track of your time invested and progress made.  You must inspect what you expect.
10. Plan to reward yourself when each goal is accomplished.  It doesn’t have to be expensive or a big deal, but plan to reward yourself when you accomplish your goal.

A little thought and planning right now will help to propel you forward toward the successful achievement of your 2010 New Year’s Resolutions.   Why not get started in changing your life today?

I can’t believe this is the first week of November, can you?  Where has the year gone?

Remember those New Year’s Resolutions you made back in January, or those things you said you were going to do differently this year?  How’s it going so far?

We all know that New Year’s Resolutions are easy to set, but they’re often difficult to fulfill without a plan.  If you haven’t achieved your New Year’s Resolutions or goals for 2009 yet, I believe there’s still time!

You might not be able to complete them all in the two months that remain of 2009, but you can definitely make some solid progress on the ones you decide today are the most important to achieve.

Two months ago, on September 1, I shared 5 Steps to Achieve Your Goals by Year’s End.  Give it a read, and decide today to finish strong in 2009!

At Life Compass, I enjoy sharing resources I’ve discovered that can help you achieve your goals and create more work-life balance.

Joe’s Goals is a free and simple online tool you can use for tracking your goals.  Here’s a description from the Joe’s Goals website:

Joe’s Goals is a simple yet powerful tool to make tracking your goals the easiest part of accomplishing them. Use the simple single page interface to setup daily goals and track them with just a click. Watch your daily score to gage your success and use negative goals (or vices) to confront and overcome bad habits that finally need to get the boot. Share your success with your friends and family or post your personal score badge to your blog or MySpace page. Add as many Goals as you want and update them all from a single interface.

Check out Joe’s Goals and see if it might be right for you.  You’ll find it at www.joesgoals.com.

Remember all those New Years Resolutions you decided to make on January 1, 2009?  All those things that you hoped would be different this year? Or those goals you had hoped to achieve?

How’s it going so far?  It might seem hard to believe, but we’re already into September!  If you’ve achieved or are making steady progress toward the goals you set in January, congratulations!

If you’re not achieving the success you had hoped to achieve by this time of the year, I have good news for you.  There’s still time!

Here are 5 Simple Steps You Can Take TODAY to Finish the Year Strong…

1.  Pick the top 3 or 4 things you just HAVE to be, do, have by the end of the year.

2.  Make a simple plan to achieve them.  Just think it through, step by step.  What needs to happen first?  Then what’s next?  And what’s next after that?

3.  Decide how much time and money you’ll need to dedicate for these goals. You might also have to think of some trade-offs, or things that you’ll need to stop doing, or change how you do, if you’re going to be able to get done these 3 or 4 top goals.  For example, you might need to cut back in some areas in order to focus on these goals.

4.  Identify people or resources that can help. Who are the people who can help you achieve these goals?  Ask them for help, or to hold you accountable.  What tools or resources do you need in order to achieve these goals?  Get them and get going.

Remember, late November and the entire month of December are busier times of the year for many.  If that describes you, then make a plan to get these top 3 or 4 things done by the end of November.

5.  Virtualize Your Success. Your mind is a powerful ally in achieving success.  But it is also your worst enemy.  To successfully achieve these goals, you must virtualize your success.

First, Imagine how great you’ll feel at year’s end, knowing that you’ve accomplished your goals.  Second, use the power of your mind to envision how your life is different once these goals have been achieved.  Third, see yourself, in your mind’s eye, taking each step that is needed in order to achieve your goals. Fourth, envision the goal being completed.

Engage in this virtualization process every day.  It’ll help you stay motivated and will retrain your subconscious for success, propelling you toward the successful achievement of your goals by year’s end.

Welcome back to Life Compass, where I’m sharing my Ten Pillars of Lifestyle Design.  Congratulations on making it to the end!  Here’s what we’ve covered so far in the first nine Pillars:

• Pillar #1 – Start Your Master Dream List.
• Pillar #2 – Envision Your Preferred Future.
• Pillar #3 – Clarify Your Life Purpose.
• Pillar #4 – Evaluate Your Current Reality.
• Pillar #5 – Reveal Your Personal Values.
• Pillar #6 – Set Well-Defined Goals.
• Pillar #7 – Create Your Plan of Action.
• Pillar #8 – Identify People or Tools that Can Help.
• Pillar #9 – Visualize Your Success.
  

In this post, we’ll cover the final Pillar, Pillar #10 – Review and Track Your Progress.

A wise person once said, “What is expected must be inspected.”  The point here is that we need to set aside a regular time to inspect or check the progress of our targets or goals.

This is another area where many people fall short in achieving success.  They set out with the best of intentions when they make their goal, but if they don’t visualize their success on a regular basis (Pillar #9) and set aside a time to review and track their progress, they lose sight of the goal and it gets forgotten.

I recommend you set aside at least an hour every week to review and track your progress.  Maybe you choose a time at the beginning of the week or maybe toward the end.

Go over your Master Dream List and add any new ones that come to mind.  Then review your life purpose, values, and Plan of Action.  Are you on track with the goals and deadlines you set?  Have you set aside enough time in your week to accomplish the goals that have the highest priority?  Do you need to adjust your deadlines, or set aside extra time in order to complete them?  Have you achieved any goals that you can celebrate this week?

If you stick with it, the weekly review will become one of your best allies in achieving your dream life, because you’ll have a set time to review your progress, make adjustments, and celebrate successes!

That’s Pillar #10 – Review and Track Your Progress.  I hope these 10 Pillars of Lifestyle Design have been a help to you in designing the life of your dreams.  Now the achievement of those dreams is up to you!

If you have any questions or comments, feel free to contact me!

Welcome back to Life Compass, where I’m sharing my Ten Pillars of Lifestyle Design.  Congratulations on making it this far!  Here’s what we’ve covered in the first eight Pillars:

• Pillar #1 – Start Your Master Dream List.
• Pillar #2 – Envision Your Preferred Future.
• Pillar #3 – Clarify Your Life Purpose.
• Pillar #4 – Evaluate Your Current Reality.
• Pillar #5 – Reveal Your Personal Values.
• Pillar #6 – Set Well-Defined Goals.
• Pillar #7 – Create Your Plan of Action.
• Pillar #8 – Identify People or Tools that Can Help.
  

In this post, we’ll cover Pillar #9 – Visualize Your Success.

You already possess one of the most powerful tools that will help you succeed in achieving your dreams and goals.  Master it, and nothing will stand in your way.  Ignore its power, or use it wrongly as many people do, and it will surely keep you from achieving success.  What am I talking about?  Your mind!

One of the biggest reasons people achieve success is that they regularly visualize their success.  In other words, they make time every day to create a picture, or a movie, in their mind’s eye of the things they want to bring into reality – whatever it is they want to do, have, or achieve.

Professional athletes and highly successful people use this technique regularly.  One of the most famous examples is Jim Thorpe, known as one of the greatest athletes of all time.  He was a Native American, All-American, Olympic champion, star NFL running back and Major League Baseball player.

On his way to the 1912 Olympics in Stockholm, Thorpe and his fellow Olympians sailed aboard the ocean liner Finland. As others trained on a cork track laid on a deck, Thorpe sat nearby in silence. A sportswriter named Francis Albertani asked him, “What are you doing, Jim? Thinking of your Uncle Sitting Bull?”  “No,” Thorpe said, “I’m practicing the broad jump. I’ve just jumped 23 feet eight inches. I think that can win it.”

Thorpe, who preferred visualization to actual workouts, did in fact win the broad jump event in the Olympic decathlon!  He also won three more of the 10 decathlon events en route to the gold medal. He also won four of five pentathlon events to earn a second gold.

How does visualization work?  When you visualize an outcome you want over and over again, you build “cells of recognition” in your memory bank.  This helps you become consciously and acutely aware of everything that can help you achieve the visualized outcome that you desire.

When you continuously focus on an idea or image in your mind, you program every cell in your body and mind to work toward achieving that idea or image.  Once you impress it into the subconscious part of you, it eventually becomes ‘fixed’ and you automatically attract and move towards that which you desire.

The reason athletes do this is because they want to condition their mind in such a way that the body automatically behaves the way they want it to without effort.  They become “unconsciously competent”.

The same is true for you!  If you visualize the success you want over and over again, your body will eventually automatically do whatever it must to make the image a physical reality.

Take the time to review the Goals you’ve set in your Plan of Action.  Write out a vivid, detailed description, or draw a picture, for each one.  Then review that description or picture in your mind at least three times a day.  I’d suggest morning, noon, and bedtime.

For example, if one of your Goals is to have a better relationship with your spouse and children at home, visualize yourself coming home at the end of the work day, and greeting each member of your family with love.  Visualize sitting around the dinner table having a great conversation about each person’s day.  Whatever it is that you want to see happen, see it happen first in your mind.  Make a picture, or movie, in your mind’s eye and review it over and over.  Eventually, it’ll become a reality.

That’s it for Pillar #9 – Visualize Your Success.  Next time we’ll cover Pillar #10 – Review and Track your Progress.