Sometimes talking to people, you really have to wonder if they know where they are going. Even some life insurance agents, small business owners and entrepreneurs lose sight of where they are going. We are all guilty sometimes of our day to day routine and business duties that we can lose track of our end game. I am not speaking about goals for the week, month or year. I mean, where are you going? As far as what is your end game? Or as Napoleon Hill calls it your definite chief aim.
Every self-help book, program or recording talks about the importance of setting goals. Goal setting is important, but I am speaking of something larger than our goals. I am talking about the end. What does the end look like? When you are ready to retire from working, what does that look like? This is probably one of the scariest thoughts in people’s lives, but it should be one of the most exciting to think about. Think of it as asking which interstate highway to take without telling the person where you are going? Take any highway you want, they all lead somewhere. Napoleon Hill noted in Law of Success in 16 Lessons that every successful person he studied had a definite chief aim or an end in sight. If you don’t know what that is, there is literally nothing to drive you to success. Or your new found success will be diminished or short lived without a definite chief aim in mind. Let’s explore Hill’s philosophy of definite chief aim.
Learning the first lesson from Hill about a definite chief aim will without a doubt align your head, your heart and your hand working in perfect harmony towards a definite chief aim or end game so no time is wasted on meaningless effort towards tasks that are in a wrong direction. It will keep you from making bad decisions that can lead you or your organization astray. Try this exercise. Sit down in a quite space and really think about what the end looks like. Is it to sell your business for $XXX or hand your business down to a family member or work until you die. Any idea is great, but you must have that idea in mind in order to truly succeed. Your definite chief aim is paramount in the direction you are going. Once you have this in place, you now have purpose. It drives you, steers you and completes you with every goal you set. It is the guide line needed to keep you on track with all of your decisions. Just like no one can run a business without goals, no one will have a fulfilled life without their definite chief aim.
“Your definite chief aim in life should be selected with deliberate care and after it has been selected it should be written out and placed where you will see it once per day, the psychological effect of which to impress this purpose upon your subconscious mind so strongly that it accepts that purpose as a pattern or blueprint that will eventually dominate your activities in life and lead you, step by step, toward the attainment of the object back of that purpose.”—Napoleon Hill
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Tim Wilhoit is owner/principal of Your Friend 4 Life Insurance Agency in Nashville, TN. He is a family man, father of 3, entrepreneur, insurance agent, life insurance broker, salesman, sales trainer, recruiter, public speaker, blogger and team leader with over 27 years of experience in sales and marketing in the insurance and beverage industries.
So very true
The timing was perfect, thank you for this article!
Sam and Regina, I appreciate your kind words. Glad you enjoyed it.
Great Post, Tim. My definite chief aim will get some attention this week. Your post has brought this front and center for me. ‘Beginning with the end in mind’ or looking at my ‘definite chief aim’ is getting reviewed. Thank you!