Success Through a Positive Mental Attitude

 

The central idea of Success Through a Positive Mental Attitude (PMA) is simple yet transformative:

Your mental attitude — positive or negative — determines whether you succeed or fail.

Napoleon Hill and W. Clement Stone argue that PMA is not only the deciding factor in business success but also the key determinant in every aspect of life — from health and happiness to wealth and relationships.

The book outlines 17 principles of success, all of which must be applied with a Positive Mental Attitude (PMA) to unlock your full potential.

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Chapter 1: Meet the Most Important Living Person

In this opening chapter, Hill reveals that the most important person you will ever meet is yourself.

Each person carries an invisible talisman:

• One side marked PMA (Positive Mental Attitude)
• The other side marked NMA (Negative Mental Attitude)

This invisible talisman determines your destiny. PMA attracts success, health, happiness, and wealth, while NMA repels them, creating failure, misery, and defeat.

The Story of S. B. Fuller

Hill illustrates this principle through the life of S. B. Fuller, a man born into deep poverty in Louisiana.

Despite his humble beginnings, Fuller’s mother refused to accept poverty as destiny. She told her children that they were poor not because of God, but because they never desired to be rich.

That single idea — the belief that poverty was a state of mind — transformed Fuller’s life.

Through hard work and positive mental attitude, he rose from being a farm laborer to a successful businessman.

Key Lessons

 to achieve their goals.

“Turn your invisible talisman to the PMA side — and you will begin to change your world.”

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Chapter 2: You Can Change Your World

Hill emphasizes that you are the architect of your own life.

When you apply PMA along with the 17 success principles, you can transform your circumstances and achieve any goal.

The 17 Success Principles

1. Positive Mental Attitude
2. Definiteness of Purpose
3. Going the Extra Mile
4. Accurate Thinking
5. Self-Discipline
6. The Mastermind Alliance
7. Applied Faith
8. A Pleasing Personality
9. Personal Initiative
10. Enthusiasm
11. Controlled Attention
12. Teamwork
13. Learning from Defeat
14. Creative Vision
15. Budgeting Time and Money
16. Maintaining Sound Physical and Mental Health
17. Using Cosmic Habit Force

Hill explains that these principles are not inventions but discoveries, derived from studying hundreds of successful people throughout history.

Key Takeaway

When you combine these principles with a Positive Mental Attitude, success becomes inevitable.

Without PMA, even the best principles cannot help you.

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Chapter 3: Clear the Cobwebs from Your Thinking

Hill introduces the concept of mental cobwebs — the negative thoughts, emotions, and false beliefs that clutter our minds and distort our ability to think clearly.

“You are what you think — but what do you think?”

He challenges readers to examine whether their thoughts are orderly, clean, and constructive.

To think accurately, one must rely on reason — the science of logical thinking — and eliminate emotional confusion, prejudice, and negativity.

Key Insights

• Negative habits and emotions act as cobwebs that block progress.
• Accurate thinking requires discipline, clarity, and objectivity.
• Logic and self-reflection help clear the mental fog that leads to poor decisions.

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Final Thought

Napoleon Hill’s timeless message is that success begins within.

By turning your mental talisman toward PMA, and by practicing the 17 principles with faith, effort, and persistence, you can transform not only your circumstances but also your entire destiny.

“Whatever the mind of man can conceive and believe — it can achieve.”

— Napoleon Hill