Organized planning

Prequote – “Tell the world what you intend to do, but first show it.”

Once an idea has been formulated, it cannot be activated without a definitive plan. Your achievement can be no greater than your plans are sound. According to Mr. Hill “no man is ever whipped until he quits – in his own mind and no one can succeed without temporary defeat. When defeat comes, accept it as a signal that your plans are not sound.”

This chapter was very list driven. It starts out describing the process of building a Master Mind Group (MMG) and the importance of selecting the proper participants. It then concentrates on the qualities of a good leader and the major causes for leadership failure. It closes by reviewing why people fail to meet their potential, the importance of taking a self-inventory and a description of the components that should be included in this inventory.

Because of the nature of the content, I will hold my personal comments to a minimum and focus on the specific information Mr. Hill has so professionally articulated.

In the development of a plan, Mr. Hill believed that:

• To be of success, the paln must be faultless, and
• You must have the advantage of the experience, education native ability and imagination of other minds. No individual has all that is necessary to ensure the accumulation of that which you want without the cooperation of other people.

Therefore you must decide who to bring into your “Master Mind" Group (MMG). Mr. Hill believed that this was accomplished by:

1. Allying yourself with a group of as many people as may be needed for the creation and carrying out of your plan
2. Before forming the group, decide what advantages and benefits you may offer the individual members of your group in return for their cooperation. No one will work for inadequate compensation.
3. Arrange to meet with the members of your MMG at least twice a week until you have jointly perfected the necessary plan
4. Maintain harmony within the group. The Master Mind principle cannot obtain where perfect harmony does not prevail.
5. Once this group has been aligned, validation of the plan through constant testing and assessment are necessary. If the first plan does not work, replace it. Continue this process until you find a plan that does work.

Most fail because of a lack of persistence in creating new plans. No one can succeed with a plan that is not workable. Temporary defeat is not permanent failure. It just means the plan was not sound.

In developing the MMG, Mr Hill believed that you should only select those who do not take defeat seriously. As with any group, there will be those who decent and/or quit. It is at this point that the group needs a leader. You must decide if you are that leader or if you will abdicate the responsibility to one of the other members of the group. Most great leaders began as followers. They became great leaders because they were intelligent followers.

There are those that lead by consent and those that lead by force. Only those that lead by consent will have staying power and get the group to glean the power produced through cooperative synergy. The following are the attributes that Mr. Hill believed were important in a great leader:

1. unwavering courage based on knowledge of self and one’s occupation
2. Self-control – The man that can not control himself can never control others
3. Sense of Justice
4. Definite of Decision – without it, he shows he is not sure of himself
5. Definiteness of plans
6. Habit of doing more than is paid for – one of the penalties of leadership is the necessity of willingness to do more than is required of followers
7. Pleasing personality
8. Sympathy and understanding
9. Mastery of detail
10. Willingness to assume full responsibility
11. Cooperation – Leadership calls for power and power call for cooperation

In contrast, the following are the ten most common failures in leadership:

1. Inability to organize details
2. Unwillingness to render humble service – Willing to perform any service they would request of others.
3. Expectation of pay for what they know as opposed to what they do with what they know
4. Fear of competition from followers – More pay will be received from directing what others do than could ever be paid for ones own labor
5. Lack of imagination
6. Selfishness – A good leader gives praise to followers
7. Intemperance
8. Disloyalty
9. Emphasis on the “authority” of leadership – Leadership by force
10. Emphasis on title

This discussion of leadership took Mr. Hill to a introspective review of individuals and the determinants of success. He first reviewed the QQS system. This stands for:

Quality of service - attention to detail if the most efficient manner possible

Quantity of service – Rendering all the service that you are capable of at all times with the purpose of increasing the amount as greater skill is developed.

Spirit of service – This is the habit of agreeable, harmonious conduct which will induce cooperation from associates and fellow employees

The most important of the three is the Spirit of Service. A pleasing personality sometimes makes up for a deficiency in quality or quantity. Nothing however can be successfully substituted for pleasing conduct. The go-getter has been supplanted by the go-giver.

With all that has been conveyed so far, it is interesting that most people fail to attain that which they strive for. This is one of life’s biggest tragedy’s. Mr. Hill identified thirty one reasons for personal failure. However, the 31st was a catch-all for anything that was not included in the first thirty. They are:

1. Unfavorable heredity background – there is but little if anything that can be done for people who are born with a deficiency in brain power
2. Lack of a well defined purpose in life
3. Lack of ambition to aim above mediocrity
4. Insufficient education – Education consists not so much of knowledge, but of knowledge effectively and persistently applied
5. Lack of self discipline – Control all negative qualities
6. Ill health
7. Unfavorable environmental influences during childhood
8. Procrastination – Most of us go through life as failures cause we are waiting for the right time to act
9. Lack of persistence – Good starters not good finishers. Quit at first sign of failure
10. Negative personality – Will not induce cooperation
11. Lack of controlled sexual urge – sex energy is most powerful of all stimuli that move people to action. It must be controlled and converted into other channels
12. Uncontrolled desire for something for nothing
13. Lack of a well defined power of decision – Indecision and procrastination are twin brothers
14. One or more of the six basic fears
15. Wrong selection of a mate in marriage
16. Over caution – As bad as under caution. Those that take no chances must take what is left
17. Wrong selection of associates in business – We emulate those whom we associate most closely
18. Superstition and prejudice – Superstition is a form of fear and a sign of ignorance
19. Wrong selection of a vocation
20. Lack of concentration of effort
21. Habit of indiscriminate spending
22. Lack of enthusiasm
23. Intolerance – Usually means that one has stopped acquiring knowledge
24. Intemperance
25. Inability to cooperate with others
26. Possession of power that was not acquired through self effort
27. Intentional dishonesty
28. Egotism and vanity
29. Guessing instead of thinking
30. Lack of capital

All these years later, the quote at the end of this sdction in still relavent and in my mind, priceless insight. It should be read and understood by all. Mr. Hill stated, “You must know your strengths and weaknesses. It is one thing to want money – everyone wants more – but it is something else entirely to be worth more. Your financial requirements or wants have nothing to do with your worth. Your value is established entirely by your ability to render useful service or your capacity to induce others to render such service. “

To assist those that take this quote to heart, Mr. Hill provided a listing of 28 questions that can be used for an annual self analysis. Answering the questions is easy and will provide you with your perception of the truth. It becomes more difficult and exposing when coworkers and family are requested to validate your perceptions.

The 28 questions are:

1. Have I attained my goals for the year?
2. have I delivered service of the best possible quality?
3. Have I delivered in the greatest quantity possible?
4. Has the spirit of on conduct been harmonious and cooperative?
5. Have I permitted the habit of procrastination to decrease my productivity and if so, how much?
6. Have I improved my personality?
7. Have I been persistent in pursuing my plans?
8. Have I reached decisions promptly and definitely?
9. Have I permitted any one or more of the six fears to decrease my efficiency
10. Have I been over or under cautious?
11. Has my relationship with associates been pleasant? If not, has the fault been mine?
12. Have I dissipated any of my effort through a lack of concentrated effort?
13. Have I been open minded?
14. In what way have I improved my rendering of service?
15. Have I been intemperate with my habits?
16. Have I expressed any form of egotism?
17. Has my conduct toward associates been such as to induce them to respect me?
18. have my opinions and decisions been based on guesswork?
19. Have I followed the habit of budgeting my time?
20. How much time have I devoted to unprofitable effort?
21. How may I re-budget my time and change my habits to be more efficient?
22. Have I been guilty of any conduct that was not approved by my conscience?
23. In what ways have I rendered more service and better service then I was paid?
24. Have I been unfair to anyone?
25. If I had been the purchaser of my services, would I have been satisfied?
26. Am I in the right vocation?
27. Has the purchaser of my services been satisfied?
28. What is my present rating on the fundamental principles of success?

There is but one method of accumulating and legally holding riches and that is by rendering useful services. No system has ever been created by which men can legally acquire riches through mere force of numbers, or without giving in return an equivalent value of one form or another. The system does not and cannot promise something for nothing because the system, itself, is irrevocably controlled by the law of economics, which neither recognizes nor tolerates for long, getting without giving.