Carnegie Reveals His Secret FormulaIn 1883, while Carnegie was at the peak of his career, a boy was born to a poor family in a log cabin in the mountains of Virginia.It would be another 10 years before this boy would own his first pair of shoes, and 12 years before he saw a railroad train.Yet, this young man would one day become the advisor to presidents and mentor to millions. His name was Napoleon Hill."I discovered why my father named me Napoleon. I had a great uncle by the name of Napoleon Hill who was a multimillionaire. My father expected that he would leave some of his money to me on account of my having his name."But when the will was read, when I was 14, he had left out the entire branch of Hills from where I came. And I think that was the greatest favor that anybody ever did for me, because having had no inheritance, I had to go to work and learn to make my own money. The second great favor that someone did for me came from Mr. Andrew Carnegie."While in his early twenties, and working his way through college as a part-time reporter, Napoleon accepted an assignment to interview Andrew Carnegie — the wealthiest man in the world — and write an article about him.Carnegie, who was known as a great picker of men, saw something in young Napoleon that intrigued him.Without Napoleon knowing, Carnegie tried a little experiment. During the interview, Carnegie carelessly tossed his secret formula for success at young Napoleon.Then he sat back in his chair, with a merry twinkle in his eyes, and watched to see if this young man had brains enough to understand the full significance of what he had said to him.Napoleon grasped the concept right away but was unprepared for what the canny Scotsman had up his sleeve.Carnegie had finally found the person he was looking for. Now, at 73, he wanted to do more than just give away his money. He realized the potential good that his formula could do for others.He answered Napoleon's questions for three hours. When the time was up, Carnegie said:"This interview is just starting. Come on over to the house and we'll take it up after dinner."Napoleon was glad that he said "come on over to the house.""If he had said go over to the hotel and come back tomorrow morning, I'd have been broke because I had just about enough money in my pocket for the train ticket back home."After dinner, we went into the library and he talked about the necessity of passing on to future generations the sum total of what men like him had learned by a lifetime of trial and error. He said it was one of the sins of the ages that this knowledge was buried with great men when they died."Nobody had ever organized this information and made it available to the man on the street."Napoleon couldn't understand why Mr. Carnegie was wasting his time on a cub reporter like him. He was curious and kept his ears open and mouth shut.Carnegie went on to describe his philosophy — and formula for success — and explain what it would do for coming generations.Then he said:"Now, I've been talking to you for three days about this new philosophy. I've told you all that I know about it, about its possibilities and its potentials. I wish to ask you a question which you will please answer with a simple yes or no."If I commission you to become the author of this philosophy, give you letters of introduction to people whose help you'll need, are you willing to devote 20 years to research, because that's about how long it will take, earning your own way as you go along without any subsidy from me ... yes or no?""What would you have done if you had been sitting there in front of the richest man in the world, with about enough money in your pocket to pay your way back home, who had propositioned you to go to work for 20 years without compensation or without a subsidy? I knew I couldn't do it. I was certain of it. [Note: the reason why Carnegie asked him to do it without compensation will be clear in one of the following chapters.]"Isn't it strange that when you put an unusual opportunity before a person, the chances are 1,000 to 1 that his mind jumps to the 'no can do' part of it immediately."I didn't know this at the time, but I learned about it later. Mr. Carnegie made up his mind that when he put the question to me he would allow me only 60 seconds in which to say yes or no."Sixty seconds, that's all. I didn't see it, but he was sitting there with a stop watch behind his desk timing me, and it took me exactly 29 seconds to make up my mind that I would accept."Then, as Napoleon was about to leave, Carnegie said to him:"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."Carnegie gave Napoleon a sentence to repeat — once at night and once again every morning.He told him that by repeating this simple sentence, Napoleon would never quit until he succeeded.This sentence, based on Carnegie's success formula, had the power to keep a person on track until he or she succeeded at whatever the person chose to do. Nothing could stop a person who repeated this sentence.At the time, Napoleon was puzzled by it. But as he started his research, it all made perfect sense ... and Carnegie's genius was evident.
Comments