Updated: March 17, 2023
Napoleon Hill, author of the best selling book Think And Grow Rich once said: “Patience, persistence, and perspiration make an unbeatable combination for success.”
For someone who lived his prime during the early 1900s, it’s truly extraordinary to see how one man’s teachings can still hold a lot of truth today.
In fact, read through most of today’s books on wealth, or listen to the motivational speakers of this age, and you’ll get lessons that are built from Napoleon Hill’s best-known formulas of success.
And one of them, the Three P’s of Success, which we shall talk about today.
PATIENCE
Remember the marshmallow test? It’s a strong example of how the principle of delayed gratification can benefit one’s character.
But beyond that, patience also allows us to live through life’s challenges and difficulties. It’s truly a virtue that gives us the power to wait until that right opportunity comes for us.
PERSISTENCE
Being persistent means not giving up when things keep going wrong. It is committing to your goals until you succeed.
Persistence means working for your dreams with a pin-point focus. You won’t and cannot get distracted, and you believe that each failure you get just takes you one step closer to success.
PERSPIRATION
Thomas Edison said that genius is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration. I believe it’s the same for success. Is it just a coincidence that every successful person I personally know is hardworking by nature? I think not.
Successful people create their own luck through hard work. And beyond that, they learn how to leverage their resources so they can work smarter and do even more.
Applying the Three P’s
Financial freedom is a goal we can all achieve. Are you still in the rat race? Be patient and save money every month. Build that emergency fund first before going for bigger financial goals.
Don’t let anybody tell you that you don’t have what it takes to become rich. Persist with your optimism and focus your energy each day on building your wealth.
Opportunities are abundant everywhere. Go out and seek it. Plan and take action. Work hard first, then learn to work smarter – that’s how successful people really do it.
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yeah you are really right you need to work alot for it.
for some people there’s another P, prayer. i for one believe in that but not so much that i would forget about the other 3.
we have a saying: Nasa Diyos Ang Awa Nasa Tao Ang Gawa. I think that should be reversed. it should be Nasa Tao Ang Gawa Nasa Diyos Ang Awa. filipinos should start reading it that way because far too many of us get stuck on the first part Nasa Diyos Ang Awa without actually moving forward to the second.
prayer is good to keep us grounded spriritually. it’s like meditating. but unless we observe the three Ps mentioned here, specially perspiration, which refers to doing actual work, our chances of making it big will not be good.
@iam
That’s absolutely correct, one cannot underestimate the power of Prayer. Thanks for sharing that. 😀
hi kuya Fitz.. i’ve been reading your blogs just this day.. anticipating that this will help me to become rich..hehe..
tnx.
Nice info.. the 3 P’s.
Thank you for all you simple yet direct to the point articles. Even people with zero financial knowledge will have an easy time reading and understanding the concepts and the lessons..kudos!
This article is an absolute KEEPER. Fitz, thank you very much for posting these words on encouragement for others. It could even be the short version of how my family went into financial recovery mode after the lockdowns & GCQs wound down. The three Ps along with IAM’s comment (Prayer the fourth P) in the second post is truly a formula for success. I am reminded of last year (2020) when the first lockdown became a reality. We voluntarily shuttered our family business and then the PATIENCE MODE had to kick in. After many months and the great re-opening, we learned of the death and permanent disability of a good number of clients. Still, Beautiful Bride forged ahead, this was when she went into PERSISTANCE MODE with a huge dose of the good old PERSPIRATION MODE. She continued to sign clients and opened two brand new portfolios. To paraphrase the American actor Jackie Gleason, “Recovery, how sweet it is.”