Napoleon Hill
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THE LAW OF SUCCESS Teaching, for the First Time in the History of the World, the True Philosophy upon which all Personal Success is Built.
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Lesson Seven - ENTHUSIASM
I GAVE a beggar a dime with the suggestion that he
invest it in a copy of Elbert Hubbards Message to
Garcia.
ENTHUSIASM is a state of mind that inspires and arouses one to put action into the task at hand. It does more than this - it is contagious, and vitally affects not only the enthusiast, but all with whom he comes in contact. Enthusiasm bears the same relationship to a human being that steam does to the locomotive-it is the vital moving force that impels action. The greatest leaders of men are those who know how to inspire enthusiasm in their followers.
Enthusiasm is the most important factor entering into salesmanship. It is, by far, the most vital factor that enters into public speaking. If you wish to understand the difference between a man who is enthusiastic and one who is not, compare Billy Sunday with the average man of his profession. The finest sermon ever delivered would fall upon deaf ears if it were not backed with enthusiasm by the speaker.
HOW ENTHUSIASM WILL AFFECT YOU
Mix enthusiasm with your work and it will not seem hard or monotonous. Enthusiasm will so energize your entire body that you can get along with less than half the usual amount of sleep and at the same time it will enable you to perform from two to three times as much work as you usually perform in a given period, without fatigue. For many years I have done most of my writing at night. One night, while I was enthusiastically at work over my typewriter, I looked out of the window of my study, just across the square from the Metropolitan tower, in New York City, and saw what seemed to be the most peculiar reflection of the moon on the tower.