Think and Grow Rich

by Napoleon Hill

to discover how many of these causes of failure stand between you and success. 1. UNFAVOURABLE HEREDITARY BACKGROUND. Little, if anything, can be done for people who are born with a deficiency in brainpower. This philosophy offers but one method of bridging this weakness - through the aid of the Master Mind (see page 193). Observe with profit, however, that this is the only one of the 30 causes of failure that may not be easily corrected by any individual. 2. LACK OF A WELL-DEFINED PURPOSE IN LIFE. There is no hope of success for the person who does not have a central purpose, or definite goal, at which to aim. Ninety-eight out of every hundred of those whom I have analysed had no such aim. Perhaps this was the major cause of their failure. 3. LACK OF AMBITION TO AIM ABOVE MEDIOCRITY. We offer no hope for the person who is so indifferent as not to want to get ahead in life, and who is not willing to pay the price. 4. INSUFFICIENT EDUCATION. This is a handicap that may be overcome with comparative ease. Experience has proven that the best-educated people are often those who are known as ‘self-made’ or self-educated. It takes more than a university degree to make one a person of education. Any person who is educated has learned to get whatever they want in life without violating the rights of others. Education consists not so much of knowledge, but of knowledge effectively and persistently applied. People are paid not merely for what they know, but more particularly for what...