Napoleon Hill - Dream Big: Overcoming Fear and Achieving Success

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By Joel Fotinos

This little volume contains gigantic ideas. If you have dreams, then the ideas contained within can help!

Lets start with a little background information. Dream Big is a selection of some of Napoleon Hills most inspirational and motivational writings on the topic of living your dreams. Hill is most known for his bestselling book Think and Grow Rich, which has sold millions of copies since its initial publication in 1937, and continues to inspire millions of readers every year. Hill also helmed several magazines (from which some of the writings in this volume originated), as well as several more books. It has been said that Hill inspired more people to become millionaires and billionaires than any other writer in modern history.

Five of the little chapters in this book are from articles that Hill wrote approximately a hundred years ago. Three of the chapters are adapted from Hills magnus opus Think and Grow Rich, and the final chapter is material taken from his encyclopedic book The Law of Success. But all of it is aimed to show the readeryou!that there are definite steps to take in the attainment of passions and goals. Perhaps it will inspire you to go and read Hills other writings.

Its important to note that while the ideas Hill writes about are timeless, Hills writing was very much of his time. His work is easy to read, but at times the examples he uses, or the language he uses, will seem old-fashioned. This is especially true in his use of the masculine pronoun, and using the word man to describe humankind, which was the norm of his time. Weve left this intact, in the effort to keep this material as accurate to his original writings as possible.

But Dream Big isnt about Napoleon Hill, its about YOU. The ideas in this volume were chosen to give practical, time-honored advice on such important topics as finding your definite aim in life, turning failure and adversity into blessings, protecting yourself from negative influences, overcoming our own self-defeating attitudes (he calls them alibis), and overcoming fear.

There are longer books by Napoleon Hill than Dream Big, but there arent any that have more heart! I invite you to read this book like a short guide to empowerment, with advice by a life coach who wants to help you succeed. Read each little chapter, and then ask yourself which ideas most resonate with you, and perhaps write those down in the margin or in a journal. Next, ask what actions the chapter asks or inspires you to take, and write those down as well. And then take those actions!

Great success is built step by step. Let this book help you find some steps to take toward your success.

One more thing

Enjoy the journey. This book has several reminders that we arent meant to live small, scared lives. We are meant, Hill would tell us, to have a passion (definite aim) that burns a powerful flame in our hearts. That fire fuels us to wake each day with enthusiasm and make as many positive choices toward that goal as we can. We can overcome our fears, our alibis, and our procrastination.

How? Turn the page

Friend, do not become discouraged, disappointed and disheartened, if the seemingly cruel hand of fate knocks you off of your feet. Maybe the blow will prove to be the greatest blessing that ever came your way.

It has happened to many and doubtless it will happen to you, when the dark clouds of despair have darkened the pathway of lifes progress, that behind each dark cloud is a silver lining, if we only learn how to see it.

There were two men who established and built up an enormously successful commercial institution. They owned the stock in the company about equally. One of the men, who had lots of initiative, began selling off some of his stock, thus enjoying for personal use a large amount of ready cash from the proceeds.

His associate in the business, who didnt possess quite so much initiative, wanted to sell some of his personal stock that he might also enjoy some ready cash from the proceeds. But not a dollar could he sell. He appealed to his associate who was finding a ready market for his stock, requesting the associate to help him dispose of his stock. But the associate refused, suggesting that he do his own selling. This refusal resulted in a serious disagreement between the two men, which finally ended in a complete dissolution of their friendly business relations.

Now let us see what happens. The one who could not find a market for his stock was the fortunate one in the final crisis. The one with the ready initiative, who sold his stock, sold with it by so doing, his voice in the management of the business. When the climax was reached in their disagreement, the one who couldnt sell his stock naturally had, BY FORCE OF CIRCUMSTANCES, the control of the business, so he used his power to his own salvation and to the great detriment of his associate, by voting him out of the Presidency of the corporation and voting himself into that office.

The fact that he couldnt sell his stock was A BLESSING IN DISGUISE.

There was once a young man who was President of a corporation which was making lots of money. He owned automobiles, had servants and all the other luxuries which go with a successful business. He trusted his banker too far by borrowing money for expansion purposes. The banker wanted this young mans interest in the corporation, because he knew the young man was making lots of money and the banker happened to be dishonest. In the 1907 Roosevelt Panic he saw his chance and closed him out. It seemed like a dark day for the young man. All was lost. But watch the roulette wheel of destiny as it spins around by the force of the hand of fate. His loss forced him to go back to the practice of law. This brought him in touch with a million-dollar corporation which employed him at a salary of $5,000.00 a year, a salary which he wouldnt have thought of accepting from an outsider while he was in control of his own business. This brought him to the middle west, and likewise in touch with the big opportunity of his life.

So his loss proved a blessing in disguise, for it literally drove him into a greater success.

A young bank clerk was discharged on account of his habit of drawing pictures of automobiles and sketching mechanical parts of automobiles during business hours. The loss of his job was quite a shock to him, for he supported his mother and two sisters from his small earnings as a bank clerk.

The loss of his bank job was the greatest blessing that ever came to him, for six months later he invented an automobile part which made him a fortune. He is now president of the largest automobile accessories companies in America. His clerks are all supplied with desk pads and pencils, with instructions to do all the drawing of automobiles they wish, and to submit to him any new ideas for improvements of automobile parts. Any of their ideas which he uses are paid for extra, at one hundred dollars each.

John D. Rockefeller discharged one of his faithful employees who he thought went too far in the exercise of his authorized duties, in making a financial transaction for Mr. Rockefeller in his absence, even though the deal netted Mr. Rockefeller several thousand dollars in cash.