Napoleon Hill

The Master Key To Success

Principle 2: The Master Mind Principle

We come now to the second of the 17 principles, which lead to the master key with which you may open the door to the attainment of your definite major purpose in life.

This principle of success is called the mastermind principle.

I want you to understand the nature of the mastermind principle, because you must use it before you can take possession of the master key.

An understandable definition of the mastermind is this:

It consists of two or more people who work in perfect harmony for the attainment of a definite purpose.

Now here are some interesting facts about the mastermind which give you an idea of how important it is and how necessary that you embrace this principle and make use of it in attaining success in your chosen occupation.

First of all it is the principle through which you may borrow and use the education the experience the influence and perhaps the capital of other people in carrying out your own plans in life.

It is the principle through which you can accomplish in one year more than you could accomplish without it in a lifetime if you depended entirely upon your own efforts for success.

And I have heard well-informed Bible students say that the first known application of the mastermind or that which existed between the Nazarene and his twelve disciples.

One fact I am absolutely sure. When you form a true mastermind alliance with others and worked with them in a spirit of perfect harmony you can draw freely upon the spiritual forces within you in carrying out your plans and desires.

I also know that the mastermind principle can give you absolute protection against failure provided all this, that your purpose in using this principle is beneficial to all whom you influence.

In my research while organizing the science of success I had the collaboration of practically every outstanding successful man this country has produced during the past 50 years and I can tell you definitely that their success was due in the main to

their knowledge and application of the mastermind principle.

I wish also to call your attention to the fact that our great American Way of life and our unmatchable system of free enterprise have been built upon the mastermind principle.

The greatest document ever conceived by the mind of man is a perfect example of the mastermind principle in action - it is the Declaration of Independence.

And the best evidence of the importance of maintaining perfect harmony in a mastermind alliance may be found in the fact, that the 56 men who signed the Declaration of Independence knew full well, that it might turn out to be either a license of freedom for all mankind or a death warrant which would cause each of the signers to behave.

Now let us see how the mastermind principle has brought success to people whom we all know.

First consider when Kate Smith began her career as a singer she had difficulty in earning enough a from her singing to pay our living expenses. And she perhaps never would have made the her singing pay if she had not discovered and applied the mastermind principle which gave her access to the master key to success, when she formed a mastermind alliance with Ted Collins. And according to a report I saw in Reader's Digest Kate Smith has earned upwards of 13 million dollars and she is still in the upper brackets of income.

I remember when Edgar Bergen and that cute little block of wood known as Charlie McCarthy used to play anywhere they could get an engagement and I rather suspect that often all they got for their services was a meal. But Edgar Bergen is a smart man in the field of entertainment so he formed a mastermind alliance which introduced him and Charlie to millions of people by radio and television and I suspect he is not concerned about money and in longer.

And you may be surprised when I tell you, that the great Ford industrial empire started with the formation of a mastermind alliance between Henry Ford and his wife. At the beginning of his career Henry Ford was shy and lacking in self-confidence. It was Mrs. Ford, who inspired Henry Ford with the faith and the courage to go ahead with the perfection of his horseless carriage, although his relatives and the neighbours generally tried to discourage him from wasting his time with the contraption as they called it.

4. The Federation of states known as the United States of America is the richest and the most powerful nation civilization has yet produced. And the secret of our strength and riches consists in our form of government through which all our states function in a spirit of harmony based on the mastermind principle through a central federal government located at Washington

And now a word to you personally if you work for a salary or wages. You have a marvellous opportunity to promote yourself into a higher income and a more responsible position by forming a mastermind alliance with your associate workers including the management.

In my next visit I will give you further instructions on how to apply the mastermind principle so as to increase your own income and promote yourself to a higher position with the full cooperation of your management.

Yes, that is correct. I will show you how to write your own price tag picture on wages establish your own working hours and give yourself financial independence.

There is no such thing as something for nothing.

Everything, including your personal success, has a price that must be paid.

And the only price you are requested to pay for the present is the effort necessary to do three simple things that I have suggested.

Now before you begin to take the three steps I have suggested there is one important fact I wish to you to remember and it is this:

Control your mental attitude and make yourself friendly and agreeable with everyone with whom you are closely associated, if you expect friendly cooperation and return.

Indifference cannot create a mastermind Alliance for you. A negative mental attitude can bring you nothing but failure.

Remember always: you are where you are and what you are because of your mental attitude in which you relate yourself to other people.

Remember also: your mental attitude is the one and the only thing over which you have complete control.

Success is something, which has to be planned, and success is something, which has to be earned in advance.

True, there is such a thing as luck, but just remember that luck is something you can create for yourself, if you know the rules and follow them just as I give them to you.

Remember too, that success in the higher brackets of achievement is something that can be had only by taking others along with you

And the best definition of success which I know is this:

Success is the knowledge with which to get whatever you want from life without violating the rights of others and by helping others to acquire it.

There is a known formula for the attainment of success and it is as definite and certain as are the rules of mathematics or the principles of science.

My purpose in these visits is to bring you that formula in simple terms that you can understand and apply, but I can never give you that for which you are not ready.

If you are ready to advance into the higher brackets of success you will recognize this fact by your willingness to follow these simple instructions I shall give you as we go along.

If Kate Smith had not been ready for success when she formed the mastermind alliance with Ted Collins he couldn't have brought her success.

This thing called success is a very profound and interesting thing because the line of demarcation between success and failure is so slight that it is often hard to tell where one ends and the other begins.

For example in my association with the late Henry Ford I recognize that he had thousands of people working for him who had much more education than he more magnetic personalities more ability to make friends and a much better chance of succeeding than Mr. Ford when he was working for wages.

But Mr. Ford had one simple quality that others who work for him did not possess. The same quality I will clearly describe for you in my future visits with you.

Meanwhile I would be interested in knowing if you can describe this one simple quality Henry Ford possessed, which made him the greatest industrialist this nation has ever produced.

In my next visit I will give you a definite clue as to the success quality which helped Henry Ford's Freddie's influence throughout the world and to make himself richer than Croesus despite the fact that he had only a meager common school education

Until then please be of good cheer, will you, and just remember that your only real limitation is the one you accept and to set up in your own mind.