Napoleon Hill
Author of Think and Grow Rich
Early self-help author whose 1937 classic Think and Grow Rich taught generations to pair a clear goal with persistence and a plan.
“Whatever the mind of man can conceive and believe, it can achieve.”
Listen to story & lessons
The story
Napoleon Hill was born in 1883 in a one-room cabin in Wise County, in the mountains of southwest Virginia. His mother died when he was nine, and his stepmother, Martha, became the steadying influence of his childhood. She encouraged the restless boy to put his energy into reading and writing, and as a teenager he began working as a reporter for small local newspapers. Writing would become both his trade and his way out of poverty.
Hill later told the story that a 1908 assignment to interview the steel magnate Andrew Carnegie changed his life, and that Carnegie challenged him to study hundreds of successful people and organize their habits into a practical philosophy. Historians have not been able to confirm that meeting, and parts of Hill's early career were messy, including failed businesses and ventures that drew accusations of fraud. What is clear is that for two decades he wrote, lectured and interviewed business figures, collecting the ideas that became his eight-volume course The Law of Success, published in 1928.
In 1937, in the middle of the Great Depression, he published Think and Grow Rich. Its message landed with readers who had lost jobs, savings and confidence: success begins with a burning desire, a definite purpose, a written plan and the persistence to keep going. The book became one of the best-selling self-help titles ever written, with tens of millions of copies sold, and it shaped generations of writers and speakers on personal achievement who came after him.
In his later years Hill worked with insurance executive W. Clement Stone, co-writing Success Through a Positive Mental Attitude in 1960 and lecturing widely, and he set up the foundation that still carries his name. He died in 1970. His life is a reminder to keep both the inspiration and the caution: his ideas about purpose, planning and persistence have helped many people, while his own story shows that ambition works best when paired with honesty, patience and a plan you can actually follow.
Accomplishments
- Published Think and Grow Rich in 1937, one of the best-selling self-help books of all time.
- Wrote The Law of Success (1928), an early multi-volume course on personal achievement.
- Co-authored Success Through a Positive Mental Attitude (1960) with W. Clement Stone.
- Inspired the Napoleon Hill Foundation, which continues to publish and teach his work.
Top 10 lessons
- 01
Start with a definite major purpose.
Hill believed scattered effort rarely builds anything lasting. Choose one main aim for this season of your life, something specific enough that you would know when you reached it, and let it guide how you spend your time and money.
- 02
Turn desire into a written, specific goal.
Vague wishes stay wishes. Write down exactly what you want, the amount or outcome, and what you are willing to give in return. Reading that statement often keeps your attention pointed in one direction.
- 03
Back your goal with a concrete plan and a deadline.
A goal without a plan is only a hope. Break your aim into steps, set a date for the first ones, and start now even if the plan is imperfect. You can improve the plan as you learn; you cannot improve one you never begin.
- 04
Build unshakable belief through repetition.
Hill taught that repeating your goal to yourself builds confidence and focus. Belief does not replace effort or skill, but it helps you keep showing up and makes it easier to take the next action when doubt appears.
- 05
Persist long after others would quit.
Most people stop at the first serious obstacle. Hill saw persistence as the habit that separated people who reached their goals from those who did not. Expect setbacks, adjust the method, and keep the purpose.
- 06
Form a mastermind group of allies.
No one succeeds alone. Gather a small group of people who share effort, knowledge and encouragement toward a goal. Meeting regularly with capable, honest allies multiplies what any one person can do.
- 07
Go the extra mile in everything you do.
Do more and better work than you are paid for, consistently and with a good attitude. Over time, this habit builds reputation, trust and opportunities that rarely come to people who only do the minimum.
- 08
Decide quickly and change your mind slowly.
Hill noticed that successful people tended to make decisions promptly once they had the facts, and to stick with them. Gather information, decide, and act, rather than letting indecision and others' opinions stall you.
- 09
Keep a positive mental attitude.
Your attitude affects how you see problems and how others respond to you. Choosing to look for solutions, keep your temper and stay hopeful is a skill you can practice daily, especially when things go wrong.
- 10
Look for the seed of opportunity in every setback.
Every failure or disappointment, Hill wrote, carries the seed of an equal or greater benefit. After a setback, ask what it is teaching you and what new door it might open, instead of only counting the loss.