PDF Summary:The Law of Success, by Napoleon Hill

In The Law of Success, Napoleon Hill—best-selling author of Think and Grow Rich—demystifies what it takes to achieve success.

Hill’s advice in the book, published in 1928, is based on one key premise: Your subconscious mind creates your life experiences according to your recurrent thoughts. These habitual thoughts train your subconscious mind to either work in alignment with your goals (creating successful experiences) or in opposition to them (creating unsuccessful experiences). Therefore, the only way to achieve success is to align your habitual thoughts with what you want to achieve and retrain your subconscious mind to work in your favor.

This guide explores Hill’s thoughts on how your subconscious mind influences your success. You’ll come away:

• Understanding how your subconscious mind influences all of your thoughts, behaviors, and experiences—determining your ability to achieve success
• Knowing how to consciously align your thoughts and behaviors with what you want—thus, retraining your subconscious mind to create successful experiences

Additionally, we’ll supplement Hill’s thoughts with research, advice, and actionable ideas from psychologists and self-improvement practitioners.

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Hill suggests some practical methods to realign your habitual thoughts and, in doing so, to prime your subconscious mind for success. We’ll cover his methods in a five-step process:

1. Adopt a positive attitude.
2. Define a specific goal.
3. Create affirmations and visualizations.
4. Take constructive actions to achieve your goal.
5. Build a supportive team.

Step #1: Adopt a Positive Attitude

The first step toward retraining your subconscious mind to create success is to adopt a positive attitude. Hill explains that your attitude toward life determines the nature of your habitual thoughts—whether they’re negative or positive—and the overall impression they make on your subconscious mind. This impression then influences whether you move toward or away from success.

The more negative your attitude, the more negatively you think about your life. These negative thoughts leave a pessimistic impression on your subconscious mind—causing it to connect only to the parts of higher consciousness that reflect your pessimism. As a result, your subconscious mind creates experiences that reinforce your negative thought patterns and discourage you from moving toward success.

Conversely, the more positive your attitude, the more positively you think about your life. These positive thoughts leave an optimistic impression on your subconscious mind—causing it to connect only to the parts of higher consciousness that reflect your optimism. As a result, your subconscious mind creates life experiences that reinforce your optimism and encourage you to move toward success.

(Shortform note: According to Shawn Achor (The Happiness Advantage), your attitude impacts your ability to achieve success by influencing your perception of your experiences rather than the experiences themselves. He explains that, when you have a positive attitude, your positive expectations train your brain to perceive opportunities in adversity and make the best out of your experiences. This helps you overcome challenges and setbacks as you move toward success. On the other hand, when you have a negative attitude, your pessimism blocks you from perceiving opportunities and trains your brain to shy away from challenges. This stops you from moving toward success and leaves you feeling powerless to improve your situation.)

Hill suggests that you can adopt a positive attitude by practicing seven methods.

1) Focus Only on What You Want to Experience

Doing this will help you overcome any feelings of worry or anxiety. For example, if you want to improve your financial situation, instead of dwelling on your current debts, focus only on the feeling of financial stability that you want to experience.

(Shortform note: In contrast, some psychologists suggest that focusing on unwanted experiences can help you approach life more positively. This is because, without experiencing what you don’t want, you wouldn’t be able to distinguish among your experiences, recognize what satisfies you, and consciously move toward what you do want.)

2) Appreciate What’s Going Well in Your Life

Taking time to think about experiences you’re thankful for keeps you focused on what you like about your life and how lucky you are.

(Shortform note: Though the benefits of appreciation and gratitude are well-known, it can be difficult to focus on what’s going well when times are especially tough. Psychologists suggest overcoming this difficulty by establishing a daily gratitude practice, such as keeping a gratitude journal. This creates a habit of thinking grateful thoughts. Some self-help practitioners also suggest using visual reminders to trigger thoughts of appreciation. For example, use a gratitude quote as your screensaver or place a picture of something you really appreciate where you’ll see it most often.)

3) Think About Others the Way You Want Them to Think About You

This will inevitably improve the way you behave toward the people in your life, which, in turn, will positively influence the way they perceive and behave toward you.

(Shortform note: While Hill argues that your thoughts about others should mirror how you want them to think about you, Louise Hay (You Can Heal Your Life) argues that you need to think about yourself the way you want others to think about you. According to Hay, all the people in your life reflect your opinion of yourself: If you don’t like yourself, you send out emotional signals that make others not want to like you. Practicing self-love affirmations (for example, “I love myself”) improves the way you view yourself and the emotional signals that you send out—causing others to reflect these positive emotional signals back to you.)

4) Reframe Criticisms and Setbacks as Opportunities to Improve

Reframing criticisms and setbacks as opportunities to improve will train you to focus on what you can control (your thoughts and behaviors) to make the best out of any situation.

(Shortform note: One way to achieve this type of reframing is to ask solution-oriented questions. For example, instead of asking, “Why did they leave a bad review?” or “Why didn’t I make the sale?” ask, “What three things can I accomplish this quarter to improve feedback and generate more sales?”)

5) Overcome Your Fears

Making an effort to overcome your fears will empower you to pursue what you want with a greater sense of ease and enthusiasm.

(Shortform note: While Jay Shetty (Think Like a Monk) also argues that overcoming fear is essential to maintaining a positive state of mind, he explains that you must get to the root of your fear before you can overcome it. Though your fears may appear to relate to a specific subject, they often arise from a broader, unconscious fear. He suggests that you should keep asking why you’re afraid of something so that you can identify what you truly fear. For example, you’re afraid of taking action toward your goal. Why? Because you’re worried about failing. Why? Continuing with this line of questioning will provide clues about what specific actions you can take to resolve your fears.)

6) Avoid Anything That Inspires Negative Thoughts

Steering clear of anything that might trigger negative thoughts makes it easier to focus your attention on the more positive aspects of your life.

(Shortform note: While it’s important to protect yourself from toxic people or situations, attempting to avoid all negative people or things can inadvertently create negative outcomes. This is because it limits your exposure to experiences that will help you grow, learn, and move forward. For example, avoiding all criticism from others prevents you from identifying and improving weaknesses that stand in the way of your success. On the other hand, facing and dealing with seemingly-negative things can create positive outcomes—because it develops resilience, problem-solving skills, and emotional intelligence.)

7) Eliminate Habits That Harm Your Mental or Physical Health

Identifying and replacing unhealthy habits will resolve many of your concerns. For example, if habitual overspending causes you to worry about your finances, saving your money will improve your bank balance and alleviate your financial stress.

(Shortform note: According to Tony Robbins (Awaken the Giant Within), you’ll find it easier to eliminate harmful habits if you tackle them one at a time. He explains that if you try to change all of your habits at the same time, you’re more likely to focus on how difficult it is, feel overwhelmed, and resign yourself to staying in the same situation. On the other hand, committing to change a single habit allows you to effectively focus your energy and produce successful results. These positive results encourage you to feel more confident about your ability to take control of your behaviors and motivate you to improve all of your habits.)

Step #2: Define a Specific Goal

While you work on cultivating a positive attitude, define a specific goal that you want to achieve. This will help you create a clear vision of what will make you feel successful, and it will give your subconscious mind a clear direction to move toward.

(Shortform note: Robbins (Awaken the Giant Within) expands on how defining a specific goal contributes to success. According to him, the more specific you are about what you want, the easier it is to imagine the benefits of achieving it—these positive expectations increase your motivation to take proactive steps forward. In addition, your goal-specificity allows you to plan and prepare for potential obstacles, which improves your chances of overcoming setbacks and helps you maintain momentum toward what you want.)

Focus on Your Natural Talents and Interests

Hill offers advice for defining your goal: Focus on using your natural talents and interests. He explains that this will improve your chances of successfully achieving your goal in two ways:

1) You’re more likely to enjoy pursuing a goal that genuinely interests you. Your enjoyment will motivate you to take action to achieve your goal, which will increase your productivity and allow you to gain momentum with little effort.

2) You’ll be able to leverage your existing skills and knowledge, which will help you make progress more quickly and effectively than if you try to develop new abilities from scratch.

Hill claims that these two benefits will inspire you to think positively about achieving your goal. These thoughts will leave a positive impression on your subconscious mind that will train it to work in alignment with what you want to achieve.

Intrinsic Motivation Is Key to Achieving Success

Many psychologists and self-improvement authors mirror Hill’s argument that focusing on natural inclinations is key to maintaining a positive attitude and achieving success. One idea underlies this argument: That all behavior is driven by the need to fulfill one of two motivation types—intrinsic or extrinsic.

Intrinsic motivation comes from within: You accept your needs and feel comfortable expressing them by engaging in activities that provide internal satisfaction or fulfillment. For example, you want to be an entrepreneur because you enjoy your work and aren’t worried about how others judge you. Because doing this work fulfills your inner needs, you find it easy to maintain a positive attitude and achieve success.

Extrinsic motivation comes from your environment: You ignore your needs in favor of seeking acceptance from others by engaging in activities that encourage external rewards. For example, you want to be an entrepreneur because you think it will garner admiration and financial success. However, because doing this work doesn’t fulfill your inner needs, you struggle to maintain a positive attitude and make progress on what you’ve set out to do.

Step #3: Create Affirmations and Visualizations

Once you’ve defined a specific goal, create affirmations and visualizations that encourage you to achieve it. Hill explains that continually affirming or visualizing yourself successfully achieving your goal leaves a positive impression on your subconscious mind. The more weight you add to this impression, the quicker you’ll convince your subconscious mind you’re capable of achieving success.

Hill recommends a three-step process for creating affirmations and visualizations to support your goal:

1) Write a short statement describing what you intend to achieve and read it multiple times a day. For example, “I intend to make 50 sales a day.”

(Shortform note: Research suggests that setting and reviewing intentions helps you make choices that initiate successful outcomes. This is because intentions force you to focus on who you want to be, and they increase your self-discipline when you’re faced with conflicting choices. For example, setting an intention every evening to improve your sales pitch the next day focuses your mind on being a successful salesperson. As a result, you know the right way to act when faced with a decision between working constructively and wasting your time on distractions.)

2) Each time you read your statement, imagine what new skills or qualities you would possess and how your life would change once you’ve achieved your goal. For example, you might imagine yourself as more relaxed and confident or in charge of a large sales team.

(Shortform note: In addition to imagining your success, feel grateful for it. According to Wallace D. Wattles (The Science of Getting Rich), imagining your desired end result and practicing gratitude before achieving it provide two benefits. First, they send a clear message to the universe (higher consciousness). Second, they keep you from becoming dissatisfied with your current life experiences. This is because when you imagine feeling grateful for something you don’t yet have, you feel positive regardless of what’s actually happening. The more positive you feel, the more likely you are to adopt the behaviors and lifestyle you imagine yourself having. )

3) Create visualizations and affirmations to support each new skill or quality you imagine yourself possessing. For example, visualize yourself interacting with your employees, and affirm, “I feel relaxed and confident about my ability to make sales.”

(Shortform note: Studies reveal that visualizations and affirmations can help you feel more positive about achieving your goal. Imagining a positive event impacts your brain in the same way that experiencing a positive event does—it creates pleasurable feelings that enhance your mood. Likewise, affirmations stimulate reward circuits in your brain that help you maintain a positive state of mind.)

Step #4: Take Constructive Actions to Achieve Your Goal

Alongside practicing visualizations and affirmations, take constructive actions to achieve your goal. This will align your behaviors with your positive thoughts and focus your subconscious mind on exactly what you need to do to make progress. Hill recommends the following three-step process for taking constructive actions to achieve your goal:

1. Break your goal down into daily tasks.
2. Create a daily schedule.
3. Expand your knowledge and skills.

Let’s explore each of these steps in detail.

1) Break Your Goal Down Into Daily Tasks

The first step toward taking constructive actions to achieve your goal is to break it down into a series of daily tasks. Hill explains that this process will help you prioritize your time and increase your productivity, which will help you build momentum toward achieving your goal.

(Shortform note: Brendon Burchard (High Performance Habits) expands on this step with in-depth advice on breaking your goal down into constructive tasks. First, write down five major steps you need to take to achieve your goal. These are big steps that require many smaller tasks to achieve. For example, if your goal is to start a business, one of your five major steps might be to develop a business plan. Then, under each of your five major steps, write down a list of tasks you need to complete to accomplish that step. For example, to develop a business plan, your tasks might include researching your target market and analyzing competitors. Finally, create deadlines for each of these tasks and factor them into your daily schedule.)

2) Create a Daily Schedule

Once you’ve broken your goal down into daily tasks, create a daily schedule to accomplish them. According to Hill, you’re more likely to complete each task if you set aside uninterrupted time and avoid multitasking and distractions.

(Shortform note: In Deep Work, Cal Newport explores how scheduling uninterrupted time improves your chances of achieving your goal. When you only give tasks partial focus—by multitasking or giving in to distractions—you interrupt your brain from accessing and applying information stored in your mind. This slows down your progress and makes your task feel laborious. On the other hand, writes Neil Pasricha (The Happiness Equation) intense, full focus helps your brain effortlessly sift through and apply information stored in your brain, speeds up your progress, and makes your task feel enjoyable—increasing your ability to achieve your goal.)

3) Expand Your Knowledge and Skills

After completing your daily task, focus your attention on expanding your knowledge and skills. According to Hill, the more you improve your capabilities, the faster you’ll achieve your goal.

Efficient Methods to Expand Your Knowledge and Skills

If you’re not sure how to effectively expand your knowledge and skills, consider adopting the following two methods.

According to Jim Kwik (Limitless), you’re more likely to retain information and expand your knowledge if you take effective notes. He provides a three-step process to achieve this:

• Before you start a learning session (for example, reading or watching a presentation), ask yourself what you’re specifically hoping to learn from it.

• Keeping your goal for the session in mind, filter through the information you’re getting and write down only what’s relevant to that goal.

• Once your session is complete, highlight the most valuable information and make an outline of the key points.

Additionally, Take on Unrelated Challenges and Responsibilities

In addition to taking constructive actions to achieve your goal, Hill recommends taking on extra challenges and responsibilities unrelated to your goal. For example, offer to complete additional projects at work or provide support to your colleagues. Hill explains that consistently going above and beyond what you need to do will impress upon your subconscious mind the idea that you’re capable of successfully taking on more responsibilities. Additionally, Hill claims that this proactive behavior will benefit you by:

• Broadening your knowledge and skill set. This will help build your self-confidence, and it will also inspire new ideas and insights that will help you achieve your goal.
• Demonstrating your value to others. People will notice and appreciate your efforts, and this will create opportunities for advancement and success.

(Shortform note: While it’s true that taking on extra work can help you feel more capable, broaden your transferable skills, and lead to new opportunities, be aware that increasing your workload in this way comes with risks. First, it doesn’t always create tangible results, such as promotions. Second, people may begin to expect your extra help and fail to recognize or appreciate your efforts. Third, expanding your skillset can cause you to lose focus on your primary goal. Fourth, overextending yourself can lead to burnout. Career experts suggest that you can minimize these risks by distinguishing between the type of extra work that will benefit you—for example, by directly contributing to your skill set or network—and the type that won’t.)

Step #5: Build a Supportive Team

Once you’re comfortable taking daily constructive actions, build a supportive team to help you achieve your goal. Hill argues that you’re more likely to achieve success when you work with a team than when you work on your own. He explains that when a group of people collectively work toward a goal, their combined knowledge, expertise, and resources allow them to achieve much more than they could on their own. Teamwork has three primary benefits:

1. It creates a hive mind.
2. It provides social reinforcement.
3. It generates better ideas and decisions.

Let’s explore each of these three benefits in detail.

1) Supportive Teams Create a Hive Mind

According to Hill, sharing a purpose with others aligns the conscious thoughts of each mind, creating a telepathic link between the subconscious minds of everyone involved. This telepathic link enables each individual within the group to access and leverage the knowledge and expertise of every other member of the group.

(Shortform note: While Hill’s idea about a hive mind might sound like something from a science fiction movie, there is some evidence to support it. Some cognitive psychologists have created virtual reality experiments to examine a phenomenon known as social cognition. The idea behind social cognition is that each individual mind gains a certain amount of information about a social situation. However, when two minds meet and interact with each other, they can gain more information than the sum of their parts. So, it turns out that two heads actually are better than one.)

2) Supportive Teams Provide Social Reinforcement

Hill claims that sharing progress with others invites positive feedback and support. This positive attention inspires feelings of enthusiasm that boost the self-confidence and motivation of everyone within the team.

(Shortform note: While social reinforcement can provide support and useful feedback, it can also reduce your motivation to achieve your goal. Psychological studies find that social reinforcement can make you feel like you’re making progress even when you’re not. This feeling of progress feels good but it’s based on a false sense of achievement that causes you to lose sight of what you need to do to move forward. For example, receiving positive feedback about your plan to achieve your goal makes you feel like you’ve made progress even though you haven’t completed a single constructive task toward it. This false feeling of progress ends up diminishing your drive to achieve your goal.)

3) Supportive Teams Generate Better Ideas and Decisions

According to Hill, sharing ideas with others invites objective and constructive feedback that drives continual improvement. It also stimulates the imagination of each individual in the group—inspiring new, potentially successful ideas.

(Shortform note: Be aware that not all teams will meet your needs: Research shows that a team’s size influences its ideas and decisions. According to studies, smaller teams are more likely to generate better ideas and decisions than larger ones. This is because large teams of seven or more members are more susceptible to groupthink (the tendency to conform to the opinions of the group) and confirmation bias (the tendency to interpret information in a way that reinforces existing preconceptions). On the other hand, small teams of three to five members are more likely to seek out diverse opinions and challenge preconceived notions. This prevents groupthink and confirmation bias from taking hold, resulting in more creative ideas and objective decisions.)

Hill suggests that you’ll benefit most from a team with diverse experiences and perspectives. Include people who will offer you encouragement and support, as well as successful mentors who will offer you constructive advice. Don’t include anyone who might discourage you from achieving your goal.

(Shortform note: It’s true that collaboration offers many benefits: With the right team, it provides support and diverse perspectives that inspire new ideas and encourages accountability. In particular, having a mentor on the team can offer numerous benefits for both mentors and mentees—the relationship encourages strong communication skills that increase self-confidence and self-awareness. However, to be effective, collaboration of any sort needs to be mutually beneficial. In Goals!, Brian Tracy suggests evaluating what you can offer to your team—developing relationship skills such as patience and attentiveness ensures that you benefit your team as much as they benefit you.)