From the book (Think and Grow Rich) by Napoleon Hill
If you are one of those who believe that hard work and honesty, alone, will bring riches, perish the thought! It is not true! Riches, when they come in huge quantities, are never the result of HARD work! Riches come, if they come at all, in response to definite demands, based upon the application of definite principles, and not by chance or luck. Generally speaking, an idea is an impulse of thought that impels action, by an appeal to the imagination. All master salesmen know that ideas can be sold where merchandise cannot. Ordinary salesmen do not know this-that is why they are “ordinary.
Are you working too hard?
I feel bad for a lot of the people who feel that working harder is going to help them reach their goals. Don’t get me wrong, I haven’t reached all of my personal and business goals; I’ve had a lot of setbacks and disappointments in life, but I’ve learned that working “hard” simply doesn’t work. In fact, by working harder and not smarter we actually lower our chances of reaching our goals. I sometimes get offended when people say that I’m “working hard”.
So what is “working hard”. My definition of working hard is: To spend over 6 hours per day on actions that have never resulted in happiness. One example of this would be working overtime for a company that you don’t love to work for. Another example is working over 6 hours per day in a field in which you have no passion.
I’ve spoken to a lot of happy-successful people and I’ve read about happy-successful people. I don’t recall any of them reaching their goals by simply working harder; they all worked smarter! They all had solid plans! *Remember, being successful is more about being happy than it is about being wealthy.
I can recall one happy-successful person that I know; he was my 3rd broker. Everytime that I saw this guy he had that “rich man” smile on his tanned face. Although he had a brokerage in Michigan that brought in over $50,000/month, he also had a real estate operation in Arizona that brought in even more money. The thing that impressed me most about him is that he only spent about 7-10 days (or less) in Michigan each month, then he’d be back off to Arizona to go make some real money and have some real fun!
I modeled my own life and business after his business concept; he is one of the reasons I decided to go virtual with my business. I would watch and study him from afar, and I would ask myself: “how can I set my own hours, travel frequently, make money, and spend a lot of time with family and friends?” The answer didn’t come overnight, so I never stopped asking the question until it did.
Today, the question that I ask myself is slightly different. Today the question is: “How can I schedule more free time, travel more, make more money, and spend more time with family and friends?” Working smart starts with asking the RIGHT questions. Most people are not happy because they ask the wrong questions; they think that they can duplicate exactly what others have done in order to be happy. What they don’t understand is that happy-successful people are using a formula that can not be seen with the naked eye.
The good thing is that anyone can duplicate the formula by asking the right questions and studying the right people. We have to stop thinking that we’ll be successful and happy by working harder and longer at a job that we don’t love, and the sooner the better!
~Matthew
Food for thought…..
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