Part I Both good habits and bad habits have great power
Good habits guarantee one invincibility while bad habits make one fall down from the throne of success. Napoleon Hill thought Paul Getty’s quote made sense.
There was one time when Getty smoked heavily. One day on the journey to French for holiday, he stayed at a hotel. It began to rain at night, with the ground muddy. Having driven quite a few hours, Getty was extremely tired. After dinner, he went back to his room and fell asleep. But on early morning Getty was awaken all of a sudden. He wanted to have a cigarette, so he switched on the light and reached out for the cigarettes at his pillow, but there was none. He got up and searched his pocket, still found nothing. Then he searched his baggage, and he felt disappointed again. He knew the bars and restaurants had closed at that time. It was impossible to call in the impatient doorman. The only way to get the cigarette was to put up his clothes and go to the railway station, which was six blocks away.
It didn’t seem optimistic, for it was raining outside. His car parked in the garage, some distance away from the hotel. Moreover, when he checked in, he had been reminded that the garage was closed at midnight and opened at 6 a.m. the next morning. There was no possibility to call a taxi at the moment.
Obviously he had to walk in a rainy darkness if he was in great need for a cigarette. The desire for smoke kept afflicting him. So he got out of bed, took off pajamas, put on clothes and got ready to go out. As he was reaching for the raincoat, he suddenly burst into laughter for his stupidity. He felt how ridiculously he behaved.

Standing there, Getty was thinking a so-called intellectual businessman, who believed he had enough wisdom to order others, should leave the cozy hotel at midnight and walk away a few blocks for cigarettes in the heavy rain.
For the first time in his life, Getty noticed he had early formed a bad habit, that is, he could give up the most comfort for a bad habit. It seemed the habit didn’t do any good to him. So he became awake and made a decision at once.
He decided to walk to the table and throw the package of cigarettes away, then changed back his pajamas and went back to the cozy bed. With a kind of contented relief and even sense of victory, Getty turned off the light and closed his eyes. As it rained outside, he fell into deep sleep which he had never had before. Since then, he had never had a cigarette, nor had he want to smoke.
Getty said he didn’t mean to blame those habitual smokers, but he often recalled that evening. He just wanted to make it clear that he had almost been imprisoned by the bad habit.
Doing one thing often is easy to form a habit, the power of which is irresistible. But we should not ignore the buffer capacity lying within human. Since one has the ability to form a habit, he is sure to be able to give it up.
Some say, strangely, it is hard to form a good habit but a bad one is formed unconsciously. Actually that is not the case. It all depends one’s perseverance. Anyway habit is after all habit, so it is unreasonable to say bad habits are easier to form than good ones.

It is only a matter of time for the quickness or slowness in movements. One can make a practice of being punctual or late.
A person of punctuality will always appreciate the benefits of the habit whether in dating or meeting or any other promises. If you are late for dinner, you will bring inconvenience to the host and other guests. You may become unpopular for this reason, and thus you will be no longer invited again.
Napoleon Hill believes punctuality is a specially valuable asset for businessmen. As the old saying goes, time is money. In modern times, the proverb makes more sense than before. Modern enterprises make every minute count. The directors and senior officials are busy working full time, for they have no spare time to waste, as for the production lines.
Punctuality is invaluable virtue for businessmen. The most promising merchants and companies are sure to be punctual in the booking, replying and delivering, providing service, paying money and debts. If the order cannot be received on schedule, customers may not choose you again.
Frugality is another nurtured habit. For people who are naturally frugal, it brings more chances to success than others. But for those who make a practice of being frugal, they only care about cutting down in expenditure and cost. In today’s competitive business society, even economization in small expenditure could save much, which may cause difference between profits and deficits.
Any businessman who begins to manage his career will make a valuable practice of reviewing his reasoning before making a decision. The final examination may only need several minutes or seconds, but bring great benefits. It gives a chance to collect thoughts and think about why he has made such a decision. A seemingly simple process is actually very practical. This is true of those world-famous actors. Before they make their appearance on the stage, they will always close the playscripts and reexamine their roles with which they are very familiar.
Napoleon Hill is positive about “the secret to form the habit”. He thought anyone would clear up his thoughts calmly one minute before the final decision.
Another habit should be that anyone who wants to succeed in business must face important things with a light mind. Successful businessmen can relax themselves and calmly accept adversity which they are faced with. They always stay in a state of thoughts and reactions, ready to develop new opportunities, understand and resolve new problems and situations at any time.

A wise businessman, like a qualified football player, keeps a light state of mind. When a player passes the ball, if by accident, it falls into the rival’s hand, he won’t become flustered. This is true of businessmen. In fierce business competition, he won’t fluster when emergence appears. Instead, he will make quick reaction and have ways to deal with it. He may run forward with the ball tightly held in his arm, or turn around alertly in case the rival comes over.
Some businessmen had the early possession of the inherent impetus, but most of them need constant examination again and again before they realized it in the end.
He who wants to be successful must know the great power of habits. He also knows he must make constant efforts and stay alert to those bad habits, which may break good habit. Meanwhile, he should form a good habit which is beneficial to his pursuit.
Part Two Success is the reward of good habits
One of Napoleon Hill’s good friends, a successful man, Auge M., once put forth a psychological hint to cultivate good habits. He asked his students to say to themselves,
“ Today is the start of my new life and I will strip off old clothes which were early covered with failure.
“ Today is a reborn day for me. Vineyard is my birthplace. Welcome to taste my fruit.
“ Today, from the high and fruitful grapevine in the vineyard, I will pick up sapiential fruits, which are planted from generation to generation by those most respectable in my career.
“ Now, I will taste these fruits and swallow down every seed, making the newborn power burgeon in my heart.
“The career I choose is full of opportunities, never of failure and disappointment. Those people, who have failed, if piled up like human pyramid, must be higher than pyramid.

“But I belong to those successful people, I won’t fail. That is because I have in my hand a direction map, which leads me out of the complicated and confusing sea, away from surfy sea surface, and into the successful side. The past is nothing but a dream.
“ My struggle won’t end with failure, for like pain, it is not suitable for my life. In the past, I accepted it, for I needed to temper myself; I refuse it now, for I have improved my ability and intelligence, which will guide me out of darkness and into brightness and happiness. There a golden apple is only part of my reward.
“ if one can live forever, he can learn much, but I can’t. So what I learn is limited. I should learn tolerance, because God always acts step by step. It takes one hundred years to create olive flowers. I am nothing but a small onion. I used to live humbly, but now I don’t want to. I want to become an olive tree. Actually I must succeed ( more specifically, to become an orator or a scientist etc. )
Firstly, a good habit is the key to success.
If you have no knowledge or experience in great career, and often stay in a state of ignorance and even once fell into abyss of self-pity, how should you form a good habit? Actually the answer is easy. You just begin your journey with no knowledge. That is because God has given you more knowledge and instinct than any other animal in the virgin forest. What is different is that humans estimate too much about their experience.
To tell the truth, experience is the sum of lessons, but one must sacrifice much time to get it. Moreover, when humans realize the knowledge, its value is falling behind. As a result, people may die when they become experienced. Besides, experience works only at one time. That is, the treasures which are effective today may lose work tomorrow.
Only principles which you have grasped may be invariable, for all these that lead you to success are written here. They will guide you to success and avoid failure.
As a matter of fact, the difference between those who have failed and those who have succeeded lies in their different habits. A good habit is the key to success while a bad one is the key to failure. So the first principle to obey is to form a good habit and carry it out with great efforts. When you were a kid, you might have impulse of emotion for some trivial things. In the past days you also had some time dominated by emotions, environment, greed and habits, among which habits are the most severe. You must destroy all of the bad habits and prepare to sow seeds of hope and success in the new field. Napoleon says, “It is better to speak loudly to yourself that you will form a good habit and carry it our wholeheartedly.”
Then how to complete the difficult cause? To get rid of the bad habits in you life and form a good one to help you towards success. The formation of one habit can stop the occurrence of another.
Secondly, custom is the second nature.
What is the use of good habits? Actually here hides the secret to human instinct. When you repeat these words every day, they will quickly become part of your heart. More importantly, they will slip into your heart and become eternal source of wonder, creating environment for you and doing unbelievable things.
When you are completely absorbed in these words, every morning you will wake up from the dream with vitality that you have had never before. You feel energetic and enthusiastic. The desire to meet the new world will make you overcome all fear, and you will live happier than you imagine.
Thereafter you find you have means to deal with everything. You discover in surprise you can apply them with ease. Practice makes perfect, so any difficult means will become easy to grasp after being exercised many times.
Thus a good habit is formed. When a habit becomes easy after constant practice, you will have a liking for it. Once you like to do it, you will be willing to do it often. That is man’s nature. When you do it often, it becomes a habit and you are enslaved by the habit.
Thirdly, today is the start of my new life
Now you should say to yourself with earnest, “today is the start of my new life, and nobody can prevent me from growing. I can’t bear not reading these books even for a day. Because there is no way to remedy the lost and I won’t replace it with anything else and I have made a practice of insisting on reading every day. Actually several minutes spent on the new habit gets nothing else rewarded but some happy smile belonging to you. ”

When you are reading these words in the book, you must not ignore any word or simplify any sentence in case you pay no attention to the meaning. The sapiential grapes have been squeezed into a bottle. With the unuseful leavings deprived, what remains is only sincere truth. Drink up following my instructions; never waste a mouthful, because that is the seed to success.
Today, your old appearance have died with wind, so you should stride forward with your chin up among the mass, no matter whether they recognize you, because you are a human being with a new life.
Repeat these psychological hints to yourself constantly and you will cultivate a good psychological habit.