Napoleon Hill's First Affirmation Given to Him by Andrew Carnegie

Here is the story of the first affirmation that Napoleon Hill used.  This affirmation was given to him by Andrew Carnegie at the time he received Carnegie's 20 year assignment to create a philosophy of personal achievement.  Had it not been for this affirmation, he probably never would have written "Law of Success," "Think and Grow Rich" and his other great books.  Had he not learned to take possession of his own mind, he never would have attracted fortune, fame, and happiness into his life.  We never would have heard of him.

This is a great example of how someone used an affirmation to transform his thoughts, his inner game, from doubt to belief.  And how that belief sustained him until his achieved his goal.

In Napoleon Hill's Own Words...

This is an extended quote from his "Science of Personal Achievement" audio program:

Mr. Carnegie said, “Well, Napoleon, 20 years is a long time and I have given you a pretty tough assignment, and you have accepted it. I want to warn you now that you’re going to have many temptations along the way, long before you complete your 20 years of research to quit, because that’s the easiest thing that a weakling can do, is quit. I don’t think you’re a weakling. If I had thought so, I would not have given you the opportunity. But I do know that you need something to bridge over your temptations to quit, if and when they do come.  I’m now going to give you a formula that will enable you to condition your mind so thoroughly that nothing in the world can stop you from going ahead and completing the task to which I have assigned you.”

I was taking all this down in shorthand. He said, “I want you to write very slowly and I want you to underscore every word that I speak now. And here’s the message that I want you to repeat to yourself, at least twice a day – once just before you go to bed at night and once just after you get up. Looking at yourself in a mirror…you’re talking to Napoleon Hill now, mind you. And here’s what you say to him:

(Editor's note:  below is the affirmation in bold type.  I point this out because some people have emailed me asking me to identify the affirmation.)

‘Andrew Carnegie, I’m not only going to equal your achievements in life, but I’m going to challenge you at the post and pass you at the grandstand.’

And I threw my pencil down and I said, “Now, Mr. Carnegie, let’s be realistic. You know very well I’m not going to be able to do that!” At that time, Mr. Carnegie was rated as a billionaire – probably the first and maybe the only billionaire this country has ever created as far as I know. He said, “Why, of course, I know you’re not going to be able to do that, unless and until you believe it! But if you believe it, you will.” He said, “Let me ask you to do this. Try it out for 30 days. Will you do that?” I said, “Yes, that’s a reasonable request, I certainly will.”

"I Knew Dog-Gone Well it Wouldn't Work"

But I had the fingers on both hands crossed. I knew dog-gone well it wouldn’t work. The idea of a youngster, in his early 20’s, promising to equal and outdo the achievements of a man who had reached the stage of a billionaire. Why, it was so ridiculous, it wasn’t even funny. It even scared me. I thought Mr. Carnegie had lost his mind. I came very near to walking out on him. It was just something that was too good to be true. But I promised, and when I got back to Washington – my brother and I had an apartment – and I went to look over this formula, I didn’t want my brother to know what a big fool I had made of myself, because I had some news to break to him that was not going to be good anyway. I had agreed to pay the expenses of the two of us through school and I was going to have to tell him that I was dropping out and that he would have to earn his own way.

"You Darn Liar, You Know Very Well
You're Not Going to be Able to do That"

I went into the bathroom and I closed the door real tight, and I got real close up to the glass and almost whispered this formula.  As I turned around – in my mind’s eye – I saw the real Napoleon Hill standing there, and I said, “You darn liar, you know very well you’re not going to be able to do that.” Only ‘darn’ was not the word I used. It was a much more definite and stronger word. I felt like a fool, like a thief, going through a thing like that – a farce. And that’s just what it seemed like. But I said, “Well, after all, you promised Mr. Carnegie, go ahead and try it.”

"Why Don't You Change Your Mental Attitude About This?"

For the first week – just about the first week – I had the attitude or feeling like I was doing something foolish. Then all of a sudden, about the beginning of the second week, something inside of me said,

“Why don’t you change your mental attitude about this? Do you realize that Andrew Carnegie is the richest man in the world; that he is known all over the world as the best picker of men in the world; and if he chose you, to do a job like this, he must have found something in you that you didn’t know was there. Why don’t you change your mental attitude?”

I started to change my mental attitude. If I hadn’t have done so, I wouldn’t be talking to you today, and I wouldn’t be talking to millions of people in this and other countries of the free world through my books, if I hadn’t changed my mental attitude and become positive instead of negative.

I started to repeat this in earnest, and by the end of the month, I not only believed I’d catch up with Mr. Carnegie, but I KNEW that I would excel that man.  And believe you me, when I tell you that I have long since achieved that objective. I’ll tell you why I’ve achieved it. Mr. Carnegie made not over 20 or 25 millionaires at the most. The millionaires that I have had the privilege of making, they’re legion – they’re all over the world.

That’s not the main claim for my having outranked Mr. Carnegie. I have brought men and women together in the spirit of understanding that didn’t exist. I’ve helped men and women to find themselves in all walks of life. I have saved men and women from suicide by helping them to find themselves. I have done for the world, things that Mr. Carnegie never did do. And not only that, but what I have done has been recorded, it’s been tested, it’s been taken to a free world and it’s going to benefit millions of people who are not yet born.

Napoleon Hill, "The Science of Personal Achievement"

So Now What About You?

Are you willing to set aside your doubts like Napoleon Hill did and use affirmations to improve your life?  Or are you going to surrender to doubt and cynicism?  What will continued doubt, cynicism, and negative thinking cost you if you don't change?  If you want to achieve the success you desire, you have to change your mental attitude.  Your inner game of success.

This one story may be worth thousands of dollars to you--maybe even more--if you learn and apply the lessons it contains.  Are you willing to try?  Only you can make that decision for yourself. 

Reclaim Your Personal Power

I believe that we each have within us more power than we can possibly imagine.  Through a lifetime of conditioning, many of us have come to believe the exact opposite.  We allow our perceived limitations--our limiting beliefs stop us from achieving our full potential.  Isn't it time for a breakthrough in your life?  All breakthroughs are created from the inside out.

The answer you are looking for may be in front of you right now.  If you think my 488 Power Affirmations will help you get started, just click the link below to own and download my 488 Power Affirmations recordings.  What better way to start the new year than by spending the holidays listening to affirmations?

How to Get My 488 Power Affirmations Recordings

The purpose of these affirmations is to reverse negative conditioning and remind ourselves of the truth of who we are and what we are capable of.  To replace our limiting beliefs with empowering beliefs.  To reclaim our personal power that is our right as human beings.  And to remind us at the deepest level of our beings so that we reclaim our power as a matter of automatic habit.

Sincerely,

PowerAffirmations.com
whmarshall@earthlink.net