ACCURATE THINKING 679is observed as faithfully when it brings temporary disadvantage as
it is when it brings outstanding advantage. Using Accurate Thinking,
they know that by the law of averages they will more than regain, at
some future time, that which is lost when the result of applying this
standard is to their own temporary detriment.
You must understand that it requires the staunchest and most
unshakable character to become an accurate thinker, for there can be
a certain amount of temporary penalty attached to Accurate Thinking.
But the compensating reward is so overwhelmingly greater that you
will gladly pay this penalty.
COMMENTARY
Napoleon Hill was able to refine his philosophy of personal achievement and
write Law of Success because Andrew Carnegie introduced him to the leaders of
business and industry in such a way that they were prepared to share with him
the secrets of their success. But he also wrote from his personal experience. As
the following story demonstrates, at an early age Napoleon Hill proved that he
himself was a person of unshakable character.
As told by author Michael Ritt in A Lifetime of Riches, in 1902 after Hill had
been promoted to chief clerk at one of Rufus Ayers' coal mines, the manager of
the mine and his brother, who was cashier of a bank owned by Ayers, had gone
on a drinking spree. At one of their later stops at a hotel, the brother dropped a
loaded revolver he was carrying and it discharged, killing a bellboy.
Hill heard the news almost immediately and went to the hotel. He learned
that the brother had left the bank the previous day and hadn't returned. Rushing
to the bank, Hill found the vaults open and money scattered everywhere. He then
wired the news to Ayers, who told him to count the money and charge Ayers' own
account for any shortage. He counted it, found that no money was missing, and
informed Ayers. Impressed by Hill's honesty, Ayers instantly promoted him to
replace the manager-making this nineteen-year-old the youngest manager of
a mine, and in charge of three hundred and fifty men.