"Nothing is more tragic-or more common-than mental inertia. For every ten people who are physically lazy there are ten thousand others with stagnant minds. And stagnant minds are the breeding places of fear." Napoleon Hill, Law of Success

I cannot speak for anybody but myself on this idea. This one makes me extremely uncomfortable, not only on its face, but by the trailing thoughts that follow it.

I tend to believe that in general, people want much from life. I believe that they think about it often. I believe they try to do the right thing, right now. The problem is this- all they are doing is thinking about it. Usually they are not thinking good things about it either. It will tend to have a negative bent to it. Their usually is only a shortsighted vision for what is ahead. Test yourself by asking one simple question. I challenge you to be completely honest with yourself. You don't need to tell anybody of course, it is a question with an answer that will reveal your true thinking on much that takes place in your life. Your first reaction is your answer, the more you try to make excuses for why that is your answer, the more you try to blame outside influences, the deeper the roots of that particular nerve are.

That question is this: "What is your first reaction when you hear the word money?".

If you cringe in horror then you are in lack. The fear of not enough has taken root in your life to the extent that it affects every single area of it. You will never have enough to even catch up if you keep thinking this way. This shows up in all areas of your life from the car you drive to the people you call your friends to the relationship you have with God. Pull your head out of that deep dark place and look around. When you have an idea for something that you feel could be of benefit to someone, write it down. Then after that, write down the next step to make that idea a reality. Then do that next step. Wash, rinse, repeat. You will change your thought over time, not over night. Keep doing it!

Maybe you feel that you have enough, you are comfortable where you are on the income scale. Things are going pretty well. You have the things you need plus a little more and you are fine with that. Along with that comes very little drive or desire to accomplish anything else. This is where routine becomes a way of life, you show up every day to work and can't remember the drive there, you autonomously fix up dinner for the family and connect to the TV in the living room to watch other people live great and exciting lives. You probably feel stagnant. If that is you, then you may have a tougher time than the person suffering from lack. You need to find a desire to change from your comfortable habitat to an environment where you are uncomfortable with the stagnation in your life in order to grow toward your desire.

What if you think this way? I see money as a tool to get what I truly desire in life. It will help me accomplish something in my life that I could not do without it. I have plenty of ideas, businesses and projects in place that I don't worry about money on a limited scale. I desire to have changed the lives of millions and I realize that millions of people will not be changed or made better by my being broke and harboring a lack mentality. I am thinking of what I want people to say at the end of my life and I behave, act and think accordingly.


Do you cringe or have a fearful response? Is lack the dominating thought about money in your life? Do you immediately feel inadequate or undervalued in what you earn? Is there never enough money each week? Perhaps it's the other way, maybe you feel that you have plenty, more than you need. This would be a comfortable place to be I think. And, maybe you are the 1%'er who thinks a little bit differently. Do you think that money comes easy, there is plenty of it, do you see the opportunity to produce it everywhere you look? Chances are, if you are that person, you have a hard time keeping up with your mind and it's ideas.

In any case, you will need to identify what your reaction is. Then you need to decide if you really want something different. After that, you will be required to act. I said all that to get to this point here. If you have a stagnant mind, you will need to change it. You need to exercise your mind and it will grow. Just like muscle, it can be trained to get by and just hold you up or you could be some kind of ripped phenom that accomplishes all it sets out to do. You decide.

Put the blinders on.

"A real leader cannot be slandered or damaged by lies of the envious, because all such attempts serve only to turn the spotlight on the leader's ability, and real ability always finds a generous following. Attempts to destroy real Leadership is love's labor lost, because that which deserves to live, lives!" Napoleon Hill, Law of Success

If you are truly on a path towards greatness, or achieving some definite aim, you will have to be guarded against all the negative things that people will say or do to you. Most people want to "protect" you from the pain of a great failure, it is their aim to keep you safe. At least that is what they tell themselves and sometimes what you tell yourself. The sad reality of this is that their fear has it's roots firmly planted in envy. They want you to stay exactly where you are, exactly where they are. They fear that if they can't do it why should you be able too. People like the idea of people succeeding and getting ahead but only after it has already happened. They like to look back and say "I knew they could do it.". That is rarely displayed while you are in the process of succeeding. You would probably hear words like risky, dangerous, foolish, and whatever else you can think of to try and demean the efforts of another. Henry Ford is one of the greatest example of this. He was told over and over again that he would never amount to anything and that stupid "horseless buggy" would never be created much less marketed and sold. Thank God he kept focused on what he was doing, could you imagine where we would be today without his vision.

If you are blessed enough to be able to lead people in any endeavor, you must be unshakable in your resolve to complete the clearly stated objective. People will follow a true leader with these qualities to the ends of the earth. You can bet that envy and jealousy of others will try to stumble their giant steps only to be trampled on like so much of their own broken dreams. So, do what you know in your heart to be true and just, the right people will notice and they will follow.