Phew…reviewing Hill's 13 principles to help guide you to a successful life was the longest blog series presented on this site. Spending the summer examining the 13 principles was worth the 15 weeks devoted to it don't you think? If you have no idea what I’m talking about, I hope you’ll go back to the first blog at the beginning of the series, "Fuel Your Desire and Live Your Dream". If you prefer to move forward into a recap of Hill's principles, take a look at the summary below for why each is crucial to turning your mindset and life around to be the success you were born to be.

Hill's 13 Principles

Each blog topic in the series follows the order Hill presented the 13 principles in his book, Think and Grow Rich.

1. Desire

There are things we all need, things we all want and things that burn deep within our soul that we can’t let go of. Many people don't pursue what they desire, but the fire within them needs to be stoked before they can achieve anything. The same is true for you. You're not going to get anywhere in life unless you make the things you choose to pursue a huge priority.

2. Faith

Hill first talks about thoughts and emotions eventually manifesting as reality. After all, if you don’t believe something can be done and that you can do it, how are you going to get anything done?

3. Auto-Suggestion

If you’re going to turn things around and be a success, you’ve got to start believing it and internalizing it as truth. You are what you think, so think about yourself as a success!

4. Specialized Knowledge

You have a skill set or knowledge base that makes you different from others. What makes you special? Can that be built upon and be the foundation upon which your success starts?

5. Imagination

Two kinds of imagination exist: synthetic and creative. With synthetic, you’re simply improving upon the idea of another; with creative, you are creating a new product, service or idea. Which kind of imagination to you think most successful people have? If you guessed creative, congratulations! You're right.

6. Organized Planning

If you drive from one coast to the other in the United States, you’ll follow a map because if you don’t, you’ll likely get lost or sidetracked. Even if you eventually find your destination, you'll have wasted a lot of time, energy and resources by not following a plan. The same is true with your journey toward success. If you don't develop a plan for how you want to succeed, you won't achieve success as quickly as you'd like.

7. Decision

Too many people in this world suffer from the inability to make prompt decisions. It’s been proven the most successful people take the information they have at hand and figure things out quickly. Therefore, you've got to build the confidence and self-discipline to make decisions within timelines given by others or those you set for yourself.

8. Persistence

So you failed. Big deal. Everybody fails. But people who look at failure as a learning experience and pick themselves up and try for success, again and again, are those who finally reach it. Quitters aren’t winners.

9. Power of the Mastermind

The people we surround ourselves with have immense influence and impact on our success. Why not try to surround yourself with a group that has experience and similar goals? Participating in a mastermind group will help you achieve your goals much faster.

10. Transmutation

Our most dominant thoughts are pieces of energy that will eventually become a physical reality. You can’t control transmutation, so it makes sense to think positive, healthy thoughts of success instead of negative, self-destructive thoughts of failure.

11. The Subconscious Mind

If you can begin to understand how your subconscious mind operates and learn how to harness the vast amount of power it has, success will find you.

12. The Brain

Your brain is the engine that drives your entire train of thought. How so many interesting pieces of the brain operate together is a miracle. Understanding this marvel is a must if you’re going to use it to get the success you desire.

13. The Sixth Sense

You get feelings that you can’t explain, also called intuition. Unfortunately, you may ignore the importance of your inner voice. If you learn how to listen, you may be startled by how often your inner voice tells you the correct things. The trick is learning how to block out the rest of the world and focus on that Sixth Sense.

Becoming A Success

Success is like a snowflake in that no two of us are going to define it the same way. For you, it may be having a job that makes a difference in the world or being the first person who graduates from college in your family or being filthy rich or incredibly famous.It doesn’t matter exactly what your definition of success is because no one idea of it is more valuable than another. Thankfully, all types of success are possible. One of the best ways to reach the success you desire is to follow the 13 principles listed above.Think clearly, purposefully and creatively. Attach to those idealized thoughts your passionate desires to have them made manifest, and have faith that it shall be so. Add to your belief the firm intent that your beingness and actions will cause the ideals to be made real.And enjoy your success … you deserve it!

As a life coach and mentor, I help people direct their lives toward achieving their desired careers and overall happiness through self-awareness, self-discipline, and self-respect. I'd like to work with you, too. Just send me an email, and together, well come up with a plan to help you live the kind of life you desire.To catch up on my series about how Napoleon Hill's 13 principles help you live the life you desire, start here: "Fuel Your Desire and Live Your Dream."