Live the life YOU want to Live!

You all know that I am a raving Fan of Napoleon Hill. I subscribe to the Napoleon Hill Foundation newsletter which just shared this article today.  Some of you follow me on Facebook and my Optimist Island group. It is such a treat for me to share a daily inspirational quote to help my friends "jumpstart" their day with positive thoughts.

Enjoy the article, have a fun weekend and do something YOU enjoy!

Optimistically ~

Neil

How To Hurdle Temptation by Dr. Napoleon Hill Here's a sure-fire method to help you live the life you want to live. To develop a positive mental attitude, you must make a habit of transmuting every experience into definite action, promptly and decisively. That means you must have a definite philosophy, a clear-cut general standard of behavior, to guide your thoughts and actions under various circumstances. The most important rule you can make for yourself is this: never, under any condition, engage in any transaction which does not bring equal benefits to all persons it affects. Remember that for one person to gain, it is not necessary for someone else to lose. The only true measure of success is whether everyone concerned is benefited by it. The late Cyrus H. K. Curtis, founder of the Saturday Evening Post, defined success as "the ability to get everything one desires or needs without violating the rights of others." Through such standards of positive thinking and performance, you can achieve material success honestly, forthrightly and proudly. Let me give an example of how Curtis himself put this philosophy into action. In the early days of the Post, the business frequently was short of operating capital. But Curtis had decreed that he would not accept certain types of advertising. One Saturday, he and his son-in-law, Edward Bok, were opening mail with the hope enough money would come in to take care of the payroll later in the day. Suddenly Bok whooped: "Here it is! Enough for twice what we need!" Curtis looked at the check in the envelope and said, "Sorry, we can't accept it." It was from an advertising agency which, learning the Post was pinched, seized the opportunity to try to induce Curtis to run copy he had often rejected as objectionable. "We will operate the Post without this sort of advertising," he said, "and the time will come when this policy will pay off." And another time, when heavy debts threatened to crush the Post out of existence, Curtis' biggest creditor - a paper company - not only extended his credit but loaned him enough money to satisfy the other creditors. Thus Curtis was given a free hand to get his publication on a going basis. Many years later, another firm solicited Curtis' business by offering a lower price. Curtis rejected the offer. The company that stood by him in his day of need, he said, would count on his business in his day of prosperity - regardless of price! You will find your own decision easier to make if you have established certain standards of moral performance to which you adhere rigidly under all conditions. In a sense, you are making decisions in advance - before you actually need to make them. For you are rejecting certain courses of action as repugnant or unworthy. Thus you will find frequently, when a decision must be made, that it is one you made years ago when you resolved to live up to certain standards of behavior. Remember, that you can compromise with others - but not with yourself. Source: Success Unlimited. May 1968, pgs. 37 & 38.