BELIEVE AND ACHIEVE

By W. Clement Stone
Publisher: Napoleon Hill Associates Creative Sdn Bhd

FORTY-ONE years after Napoleon Hill's historic meeting with Andrew Carnegie the American steel industrialist, another man walked into Hill's life.
Clement Stone was 50 years old when he met Hill who was then 69 and semi-retired. Hill was enjoying the fruits of his labour from a lifetime of lecturing and writing. Stone was the head of his enormously successful insurance company called Combined.
The meeting between Hill and Stone took place in Chicago at a Kiwanis Club. The organiser thought it would be interesting to arrange the meeting of the two of the best minds in America. It triggered a collaboration of works that spanned over a decade.
They found in each other a common ground that success can be achieved if only a person believes in his own abilities and in his own potential to achieve success regardless of the odds stacked against him.
Their combined efforts were seen in a long series of "Positive Mental Attitude" lectures held all over America. One of the keys to the success of their long association was enthusiasm. To keep the zeal burning and alive in the hearts and minds of their audiences, Stone and Hill founded the magazine called Success Unlimited.
Stone's Believe And Achieve also has 17 principles, much like Hill's earlier work The Master Plan To Success. Many of the principles mirror Hill's success formula. However, Stone has given this book a more contemporary flavour.
Stone discusses case studies of Americans who rose from poverty to enjoy the lifestyle of the rich and famous, among them country singer Merle Haggard who emerged from San Quentin Prison to become one of America's best-loved singers; talk-show host Larry King who was fired from his job, sank deeply into debt and almost gave up on life until he decided to claw his way back to the top; and Carl Perkins, the man who overheard a boy telling his girlfriend at a dance party to "stay off his
suede shoes".
Perkins couldn't forget the conversation and later wrote the song Blue Suede Shoes that was made famous worldwide by Elvis Presley.
Stories like these give Believe And Achieve a very real touch of credibility that readers will find most endearing.
What Hill wrote about decades ago in his Master Plan to Success has been expanded and elaborated upon by Stone to suit modern times. The formula is still there. It has been finetuned and some minor touches have been added and adjustments made.
This book is a moral booster for those who may have been lamenting that life has often left them holding the short straw. Stone's self-help guide should be the "kick-in-the-behind" that procrastinators and laggards need urgently to propel them to the forefront of the rat race.
In the process, those who abide by Stone's principles will learn that it is much better to associate with those people who are optimistic and enthusiastic and it's often wiser to budget your time and money.
In the final chapter, Stone has this to say to his readers: "In order to attain any goal in life, you must first learn to recognize, relate, assimilate and apply principles from what you see, hear, read, think, or experience.
"When you read an inspirational, self-help book, for example, you will not receive any benefit from the words unless you study, understand, comprehend, and apply the principles it sets forth." There you have it, now you have no more excuses.