Episode #173 – The Napoleon Hill Success Formula for Animal Health and Veterinary Professionals, Part 4
Julea: Welcome to “The Animal Health and Veterinary Employment Insider,” brought to you by The VET Recruiter. In this podcast, Stacy Pursell, Animal Health Executive Recruiter and Veterinary Recruiter and founder and CEO of The VET Recruiter, provides insight and practical advice for both employers and job seekers in the Animal Health industry and Veterinary profession. The VET Recruiter’s mission is to help Animal Health and Veterinary Employers hire top talent, while helping animal health and veterinary professionals attain career-enhancing opportunities that increase their quality of life.
In today’s podcast episode, we’ll be talking more about the Napoleon Hill success formula for Animal Health and Veterinary professionals. Hello, Stacy, and thank you for joining us today.
Stacy: Hello, Julea. It is great to be here!
Julea: Stacy, we’ve discussed the advice of Napoleon Hill for the past three weeks, but we have more to talk about, is that right?
Stacy: That is right! And that is one of the reasons I enjoy discussing Napoleon Hill so much, because he does have much wisdom and a lot of things to say about being successful.
Julea: For those in our listening audience who may not know, Napoleon Hill was an American self-help author, and he’s best known for his book Think and Grow Rich, which is among the 10 best-selling self-help books of all time.
So far in this podcast series, we’ve explored two of the most important ingredients for success, which are character and hard work. We’ve also addressed “going the extra mile,” having a cheerful attitude and a positive outlook, and being persistent. Then last week, we discussed the correct mindset that a person must have to set themselves up for success. Stacy, what’s the topic for this week?
Stacy: As I stated during last week’s episode, Napoleon Hill’s advice falls into two basic categories. The first category involves the successful mindset, the correct way that a person has to think before they can act. As you mentioned, that’s what we discussed last week. The second category involves actions, those things that people must do to be successful. Today, we’ll be talking about these actions.
Julea: Sounds good. Where would you like to start?
Stacy: I would like to start with a quote by Napoleon Hill, of course! That quote is as follows:
“It’s a sure thing that you’ll not finish if you don’t start.”
This is a quote that’s all about taking action and being proactive. Most people, at the end of their life, don’t regret the things they did. Instead, they regret the things they did NOT do. And when it comes to taking the actions that will help a person become successful, the first step is to make the decision to take action. The second step is to take that action! You might think that’s a foregone conclusion, but it isn’t.
For many people, their biggest obstacle is themselves. They think about a situation too much or they analyze it too much, and it paralyzes them. That’s called the “paralysis by analysis syndrome.”
Julea: What causes that Stacy?
Stacy: Once again, it’s fear. People are afraid of making a mistake or doing the wrong thing. What happens is they exaggerate the possibility of a mistake in their own mind, or they overestimate what will happen if they make a mistake. In other words, they conjure up the worst-case scenario in their minds. They make two fatal assumptions.
Julea: What assumptions are those Stacy?
Stacy: First, they assume that they’re going to make a mistake. And second, they assume that when they make that mistake, the worst possible thing that could happen WILL happen to them.
Julea: No wonder they paralyze themselves and don’t take any action.
Stacy: Exactly! This was even a problem during the candidate-driven market that we were experiencing until just recently. Even though the economy was positive, and the market was red hot for talent, there were some candidates who did not want to take action because they were comfortable with the status quo.
Now, some professionals are telling me they don’t want to consider other opportunities because they are NOT comfortable. They say that it’s not a good time to make a move because of the COVID-19 virus. But you can’t have it both ways. The bottom line is that people will always come up with an excuse for why they don’t want to be proactive and do the things they need to do to be successful.
Julea: That reminds me of the Wayne Gretzky quote, “You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.”
Stacy: Yes, that’s right Julea! And I do not know much about hockey, but I know that quote is true. Wayne Gretzky knows it, and Napoleon Hill knew it, as well.
And another quote by Napoleon Hill illustrates the importance of taking action and being proactive.
Julea: Which quote is that?
Stacy: That quote is:
“A goal is a dream with a deadline.”
Napoleon Hill understood that while it’s good to have goals—and to have dreams, too—both are useless unless there is a timetable and the person is ready to take action to meet their timetable. You can have all the dreams you want, but if you don’t take any action, then that is all they’re going to be: just dreams.
Julea: And I like the deadline part of that quote. Napoleon Hill seems to be saying that it’s not even enough just to take action. A person also has to set a deadline so they take enough action and make a certain amount of progress.
Stacy: Yes, that’s right! This is why it’s so important to be proactive. That means to take action before you’re required to take action and to take enough action to get the job done. The opposite of being proactive is being reactive, which means that you act in response to the things that happen TO you.
It’s far better to be proactive so you can influence what happens, rather than wait to see what happens and then react to it. And you certainly cannot reach your goals and attain your dreams by being reactive all the time. It simply does not work that way.
There are two more things that are necessary in terms of reaching your goals and attaining your dreams, and Napoleon Hill addressed these things, as well.
Julea: What are they?
Stacy: The first one is described in this quote by Hill:
“No one who is unwilling to make personal sacrifices achieves great success. All positive habits are the product of willpower directed toward the attainment of definite goals.”
Julea: So he’s saying that a person must be willing to make sacrifices to be successful?
Stacy: Yes, to varying degrees. There is another saying that I agree with, which is, “You can’t gain something without giving something up.” Contrary to popular belief, a person truly cannot “have it all.” If you want to experience a lot of success, you must be willing to put in the time and put forth the effort necessary to get the job done. That may mean making certain sacrifices along the way. Perhaps you don’t have as much time for social activities. Maybe you have to postpone a trip or a vacation. However, success isn’t just going to happen out of thin air. The person who is striving for that success must be willing to make personal sacrifices. If that willingness does not exist, then there’s less of a chance that person will reach their goals and experience great success.
Julea: So the willingness to make personal sacrifices is the first thing that you referenced. What’s the second thing?
Stacy: I have another Napoleon Hill quote for the second thing. That quotes goes like this:
“The best job goes to the person who can get it done without passing the buck or coming back with excuses.”
When Napoleon Hill talks about “the best job,” he’s talking about either a promotion within an organization or about job seekers who are vying for a new employment opportunity. When it comes to who gets said job, there are two main factors involved. First, the person has to get it done “without passing the buck.”
Julea: Tell us more about what that means Stacy.
Stacy: It means to shift the responsibility to someone else. In this instance, it would mean someone who wants a promotion or a new job, but once they receive that promotion or new job, they try to shift the responsibility for the job to someone else. That is obviously not a sustainable course of action.
Second, the person has to get the job done “without coming back with excuses.” That means exactly what it sounds like it means. If a person gets a promotion or a new job and they’re not able to generate the results that their boss is seeking, they should not simply provide excuses for why they failed to get the results.
Julea: Stacy, it seems like results are the bottom line.
Stacy: Yes, that is absolutely the case. An employer is looking for results from its workers, and the only thing better than getting results is getting them more quickly. As an Animal Health or Veterinary professional—or any professional, really—if you want to get the things that you want, then you must give your employer the things that it wants. In other words, you must produce the results that your employer or your boss is looking for.
Once again, it all comes down to value. We’ve discussed this numerous times on the podcast, and the reason we have it because it’s so important. You have to provide value to your employer just to stay employed. If you want to earn a raise or a promotion, then you must provide an even greater amount of value and you must provide that value in as many ways as you can.
Julea: Stacy, what do you mean by that, in as many ways as you can?
Stacy: Ideally, a professional should be good at more than just one thing. They should have multiple skills or be considered multi-talented. That kind of versatility in the workplace is more valuable to an employer than someone who is talented or proficient in just one area. And this is why continuous training and education are important. They help a person to accumulate more skills so they become more valuable to their current employer and also to potential future employers.
Julea: Stacy, we’re just about out of time, but let’s recap the advice of Napoleon Hill that we discussed today. Can you do that for us?
Stacy: Absolutely. We talked about the importance of being proactive and taking action and being willing to make personal sacrifices to enjoy success, especially if you want to reach your full potential as a professional. We also discussed not shifting responsibility and blaming other people when things don’t go well and not making excuses for yourself if you fall short. Instead, you should always strive to get the results that your employer wants so that you can increase the amount of value that you produce and that you provide to the organization.
Julea: Thank you, Stacy. Is there anything else you’d like to add before we wrap up today’s podcast episode?
Stacy: Yes. I know that some people might be wondering why we’re continuing to discuss the advice of Napoleon Hill, someone who has been dead for 50 years. I want to reiterate with the current pandemic and the possibility that we are going into a recession or possibly even a depression, this is a great time to return to the basics and the fundamentals of success. These are things that a person should be aware of and should be practicing all the time, not just when times are good. The things that we’ve been discussing represent the foundation and the building blocks for success. They are proven to work. So I hope that our listeners take these topics seriously and that they try to incorporate the wisdom that we’ve been discussing into their personal and professional lives.
Julea: Thank you, Stacy, and thank you so much for all of this great information and wisdom from Napoleon Hill.
Stacy: You’re very welcome, Julea, and thank you. It has been my pleasure, and I look forward to our next episode of the Animal Health and Veterinary Employment Insider!
Julea: That’s all for today’s show. For Stacy Pursell and everyone at The VET Recruiter, thank for your listening and we invite you to join us next time when we address more employment issues in the Animal Health industry and Veterinary profession. We hope that you’ll join us then!