A Definite Chief Aim

 

Insights from Napoleon Hill for Building Muscle, Gaining Strength, or Getting in the Best Shape of Your Life

     “I don’t know why it is that when a man decides what he wants, the whole universe seems to come to his aid to see that he gets it.” ~Napoleon Hill

Napoleon Hill, the inspiration for this post.

     Whatever you may think of the man personally—his Wikipedia page, for instance is, let’s just say, less than flattering—Napoleon Hill had some great insights.  But of all his “lessons” that should be learned, one of them is more important than any other.  And based on the title of this post, I am, of course, talking about having a Definite Chief Aim.

     In his book “Secrets of Self-Mastery,” popular New Thought author Mitch Horowitz has this to say about the importance of this one thing:  “I often say that if you take only one message from Hill and the larger body of work that developed around his ideas, make it the cultivation of an impassioned, concrete, and actionable aim toward which you orient your existence.  Nothing will do more to heighten your abilities and ensure your progress… In selecting an aim, you must be starkly self-honest.  The driving force behind the pursuit of an aim is passion.  It cannot be faked.  Without emotion at your back, you will not be able to sustain the energy and fortitude needed for success.  You will get bored, you will drift—and you will fail.”

     With that little intro out of the way, let’s look at how to apply this to your training, and how it could be the one thing missing from your program, and, therefore, preventing you from achieving the results you really want.  First, let’s talk about how to pick a definite chief aim…

     The most important thing, as far as selecting your Definite Chief Aim goes, is to be exact and to make sure that your goal is lofty.  That’s right!  This must be something lofty that you want more than anything else in the whole wide world, especially when you are coming up with a lifetime goal as your Definite Chief Aim.  There are times when your aim will change, true, and if it changes, that’s fine, especially if you are not entirely honest with yourself about what it is that you want.  And there will be times when you will have a Definite Chief Aim that is more short-term and temporary.  For instance, if you’re obese, and you need to lose weight—for yourself, for those that you love, and so that you can live a long life to spend time with those very loved ones—you may have a Definite Chief Aim of losing 50, 75, or even 100 pounds or more.  This will obviously not be a lifetime goal, so if something very short term such as this is your goal, then give it all you’ve got for six months to a year, and you will achieve this goal.  But for a lifetime, or at the very least, a very long-term goal, you do need something lofty, possibly even extremely so.

     Around twenty years ago, when I was in my late 20s and early 30s, I had one Definite Chief Aim.  I wanted to be the strongest powerlifter on the planet in my weight class.  And, with all honesty, I can say that there is a possibility that I could have achieved that goal if I wasn’t derailed by some brutal injuries—at which point I had to change my Definite Chief Aim (but more on that a little bit later).  And while I may not have become the strongest 181-pound powerlifter in the world, I did eventually squat and deadlift approximately 3 and a ½ times my bodyweight in competition, and bench press double my bodyweight (I was never a strong bench presser), before having to quit due to the aforementioned injuries.  And, here’s the lesson I want you to take from this particular paragraph: I would NOT have been as good a powerlifter as I was—even if I didn’t achieve my goals—if I wouldn’t have set such damn-lofty goals in the first place!

     Every great—truly great—strength athlete, bodybuilder, or physique competitor has this mindset, even if they don’t make it to the very top.  Because, without it, you simply won’t go far.  You must dream big, and you must believe that you are capable of achieving those lofty-as-hell dreams.

     But don’t just take my word for it.  Here’s another man that applied this philosophy, and he changed the history of martial arts, of martial arts cinema; hell, of martial arts itself: Bruce Lee.  Lee, inspired by the words of Hill, wrote down his own Definite Chief Aim.  And lofty doesn’t even begin to describe his Aim!  Please keep in mind that he wrote this down before he became the international superstar that we all know to this day.  Here was his Definite Chief Aim:

     “I, Bruce Lee, will be the first highest paid Oriental superstar in the United States. In return, I will give the most exciting performances and render the best of quality in the capacity of an actor. Starting 1970 I will achieve world fame and from then onward till the end of 1980, I will have in my possession $10,000,000. I will live the way I please and achieve inner harmony and happiness.”

     Bruce Lee knew exactly what he wanted, and, if you don’t know much about the star, trust me, he gave his everything to make the above Aim come true.  Of course, he didn’t achieve everything that he wanted when he wrote that in the late ‘60s—he died in 1973—but I think there can be little doubt that he would have achieved that, and more, if he would have lived.  And that’s another thing: you can’t worry about the cards that Fate might deal you.  I couldn’t do anything about my injuries that were due more to my genetics than to anything else.  Bruce Lee couldn’t do anything about the rare cerebral edema that would kill him due to a genetic reaction to medicine.  But what is outside of your control is besides the point, and isn’t what you need to focus on.

     Before we get around to the possibility of changing your Definite Chief Aim, and, yes, this is something that you may have to do at some point, let’s discuss something else that’s important when choosing your Aim: absolute, total, and, if need be, downright ruthless honesty about what it is that you want.  You will NOT achieve your goals if it isn’t something that you absolutely, completely, totally, and truly want!  And, believe me, some people can be completely dishonest with themselves about what it is that they want more than anything else.  Sometimes, people select something that they think they want—perhaps it’s an “altruistic” aim, or it’s something that they know others expect of them—but don’t want to face the thing that they really want because they are afraid to make it known (to family, to friends, to their very self) because they don’t believe their Definite Chief Aim to be a worthy, noble, or totally “good” goal.

     This will not work.  

     Here is author Mitch Horowitz again on just this subject:  “I sometimes use this exercise:  imagine that a genie offers to grant you your fondest wish—but on one condition: you must be completely sincere about what you want, or you will lose everything.  It seems like a fearsome gambit; but, in some regards, this is the same bargain that life offers us.  We receive something very close to what we most desire—if we want it badly enough and if it offers the emotional center of our being.  But if we deceive ourselves about what we really want, or fail to act on it, we either spin in circles or decline into listlessness.  You may want to argue with this.  I challenge you to scan your own life and that of your intimates; contrast your and their ideas with present circumstances.  If you plumb the true depths of your wishes across long stretches of years you will begin to see a congruency between desire and circumstance.  At least those circumstances over which we have control.  And it can be unsettling.  This is why self-honesty is so vital.”

     So don’t fool yourself.  Be entirely honest with yourself about what it is that you want.  You don’t owe this to anyone else.  This goal isn’t for anyone else.  And you should not care if others won’t see your goal as “noble” or “true.”  You don’t have to live your life for anyone but you and your God.  On this point, don’t get me wrong, if you believe God is calling you to something, truly calling you, then you must do the will of God.  Think of this as your truest, deepest self calling out to your conscience, and this is something that you must be honest about, but don’t fool yourself into believing that God—or your highest Self—is calling you to something if you don’t believe it with 100% of your heart and mind.

     Lastly, let’s discuss the possibility that you might have to change your Definite Chief Aim, and reasons that you should do so—and reasons that you shouldn’t.

     The first reason you may need to change your Definite Chief Aim is the one mentioned in the last few paragraphs.  If you weren’t entirely honest with yourself about what you want, then be honest and change your Aim to what it is you really, truly want.  And it must be something that you want with the entirety of your being.

     You may have to change your Definite Chief Aim, as well, if it’s not something that you are capable of attaining.  My powerlifting goals of 20 years ago might have been lofty, that’s true, but they were also at least somewhat realistic.  Even when I first started training, I was stronger than anyone else that I knew at the gym.  If I had a Definite Chief Aim, on the other hand, of being something such as an elite marathon runner, I would never have achieved that goal—even if I would have gotten significantly better at running.  Why?  Because I’m not genetically predisposed to be good at events that require a lot of slow-twitch muscle fibers.  It’s just not gonna happen.  So be honest not just about what you want, but what you are truly capable of achieving.  If you want it, and you believe that you can achieve it, however, then go for it with everything that you have within you.

     You will also need to change your Definite Chief Aim if “life” gets in the way, and prevents you from achieving what you set out to do.  With my powerlifting career, I knew once I had a couple of surgeries that there was little chance of me being the strongest 181-pounder on the planet.  In fact, even if I could have recovered from my injuries, I would have had to change my Definite Chief Aim because I was nearing 40, and age eventually catches up with the athlete, no matter how elite they may be.

     As you age, don’t be afraid to change your Definite Chief Aim.  You may want to shift from a “strength” or “muscle-building” goal to a “health” or “longevity” goal.  It should still be highly lofty, but it should also be realistic and respect one’s age, and, therefore, what one is able to attain.

     Let me add one more thing before we end this: you should only have ONE Definite Chief Aim at a time—that’s what makes it definite and chief.  If you have multiple goals, you will disperse your energy, and won’t achieve either of your goals.  Focus on one thing, and only one thing, at a time.  This will ensure that your energy isn’t dispersed over multiple domains.

SOURCES:

“Secrets of Self-Mastery: Inspired by the Teachings of Napoleon Hill” by Mitch Horowitz, courtesy of the Napoleon Hill Foundation, published by Gildan Media, 2022