Last updated on September 11, 2024
“The Science of Success” is my personal and summarized collection of notes of Napoleon Hill’s most influential books — including the timeless classic “Think and Grow Rich“.
Hill got his wisdom from Andrew Carnegie — one of the most successful industrialists of his time. Carnegie entrusted Hill with the mission of sharing the science of success through his books.
Carnegie — even though the richest man alive at his time — gave all his money away before passing on as he believed (as explained in The Gospel of Wealth) that true success is not just in amassing riches but in using it to benefit others too.
The goal of this summary is to make it easy (for all of us) to understand and follow the 17 proven steps needed to achieve our life goals.
Read (or watch below) “The Science of Success” carefully and with an open mind — as this might change your life too — just as it has for me and millions of others.
What you'll learn:
Step 1: Know what you want
The 1st step in “The Science of Success” is to know what you want. By knowing what we want, we can better prepare to actually get what we want.
These are the highlights for the most important step:
- If you don’t know what you want, how will you get it?
- Plan how you’ll get what u want
- Keep your mind free from doubt and fear that you won’t get what you want
- You’ll get what you want when you provide the service or value equivalent (i.e. lose 10 kilos equals to 7000 calories per kilo)
- No such thing as something for nothing (nothing is free)
- You should give before you receive (give up bad habits, give services, give up drinking/smoking, etc)
- Cause and effect (do/give and receive)
- If your mind is undisciplined then write down daily your goal to keep u focused (if disciplined, then no need)
- Give money where it will do more good than harm
- Having money means nothing if you don’t know how to use it
- Those who make their money (and do not inherit it) learn how to use it in the process
- Not many are willing to assume great responsibilities (this is why most just work and get paid less)
- U can get as rich as you are willing to work (solve bigger problems = get more money)
- Be indispensable, assume responsibilities, do more of what is required
- The service you provide, and the quantity of the service you provide, as well as the mental attitude in which your service is provided set your pay (in other words, do it better, do it bigger, and be in a better mood)
- Most want to simply keep their existing job (they have set their own limitations)
- There is no lack of opportunity, only lack of imagination and willingness to assume responsibility and take massive action
- Greatest asset of young people is the thirst for knowledge and willingness to earn it
- Luck will get you only so far (you need motivation to truly succeed)
- Build your personal power with these 10 traits:
- Have a goal
- Make decisions fast
- Be honest
- Control your emotions
- Be useful
- Try to learn a lot about your profession
- Be tolerant
- Be loyal to friends/family and God
- Always try to learn more
- Use your imagination
Step 2: Find others who want the same thing
The 2nd step in “The Science of Success” is to find other people who want to achieve the same goal. By teaming up with others, we increase our chances of success exponentially.
These are the highlights for this important step:
- Work with others in a spirit of harmony
- We r creatures of habit and motive (nobody does anything without a motive)
- Use the alphabet of success (9 motives) to influence other minds:
- Love
- Sex
- Money
- Self-preservation
- Freedom
- Fame/recognition/power
- Life after death
- Anger (jealousy)
- Fear (FOMO)
- Choose people who are efficient and have a positive mental attitude
- No need to know everything urself (ur job is to keep them motivated/inspired to do/become their best)
- Ur major purpose in life shouldn’t just be money accumulation but developing men/women too (money comes as a natural reward)
- No single mind is complete
- To achieve greatness u need 2 or more minds working in harmony towards the same goal
- When u blend 2 minds u get a universal mind (positive if both minds are positive or negative if one or both are negative)
- Use the education of others
- Schooling doesn’t guarantee success (or failure)
- Knowledge is just potential power (unless applied)
- Knowledge is not education (education comes from within by growing through use)
In Business
- Use the knowledge and experiences of others
- Form a mastermind group by doing this:
- Find a goal
- Select group members
- Find motive for the members
- Take action and stay active (follow a definite plan, at a definite time, towards a definite goal)
- As the leader u need to work the most (and become indispensable)
- Do not talk about the group outside of the group
- You need to work (not all the minds in the world can bring u success without work)
- Don’t tell, show (if u r going to do something, just do it – then show the results)
In Marriage
- Choose ur mate wisely:
- Talk freely about what u want to do (professionally) and how u want to do it
- Don’t cheat (cheating starts by lack of interest in what ur mate does)
- Have a mutual understanding of the family income, expenses
- Take nothing for granted
- Devote 1 hour per week to discuss important family topics
- Sex cannot replace discussion
- Sex must be kept on a high pedestal of romance (and keep the fire of romance burning)
- Love + sex = elixir of life
- Never stop growing (it’s the only way for ur spouse to respect u)
In Work
- Choose the people u work with wisely (and everyone u interact on a daily basis as u’ll imitate them eventually)
- Only interact with those that can benefit you (financially and spiritually) – the rest avoid tactfully
- Treat the world (business and real) as ur school room to learn (and benefit) from others and their knowledge/experiences
- Don’t envy the better ones (better job, better life, better health, better car, better marriage, better anything) – just learn from them
- U can catch more flies with honey than salt (u get what u reward for)
In Education
- Be forever a learner (never stop seeking specialized knowledge and experience related to ur major goal)
- Choose ur books carefully (as u choose ur food) – books help u grow mentally
- Random reading/chatting is a waste of time (put emphasis on material/discussions related to ur major goal)
- Expand your circle (friends and acquaintances) – they might come handy
Step 3: Be likable (develop a pleasant personality)
The 3rd step in “The Science of Success” is to become the kind of person that people wanna be around. By having a pleasant personality, you increase your chances of success since every human interaction is based on trust and emotions.
These are the key takeaways from this crucial step:
- Make it ur duty to develop a positive mental attitude (pay attention to everything. From ur tone and voice and expression of ur face to the posture of ur body, the words that come out of ur mouth, and every thought u make)
- A bad mental attitude will:
- Dampen ur enthusiasm
- Kill ur initiative
- Make u uncooperative
- Kill ur imagination
- Make u unreasonable
- Cost u friends
- Make u enemies
- Cost u sales/customers/trials/patients
- Nobody wants to be around people with a negative mental attitude (no matter ur skill, wealth, knowledge or anything else)
- To be likable understand and apply all these 8 traits:
- Be flexible as a chameleon (harmonize with ur environment)
- Be honest (don’t be a yes man – say your opinion respectfully)
- Make decisions fast (and don’t change them all the time)
- Be polite to everyone (those above and beneath u)
- Control ur tone of voice (practice in the mirror until u can convey any feeling)
- Smile (to dramatize speech)
- Control ur expression of ur face (master salesmen can tell a lot just by looking at one’s expression)
- Say and do the right thing at the right time (timing is everything)
- Avoid all these 26 traits:
- Talking with offensive tone of voice
- Speaking when u shouldn’t (out of turn)
- Interrupting others
- Using “I” too much
- Asking rude questions (to impress others)
- Adding intimate topics to the conversation (when it’s embarrassing others)
- Going somewhere uninvited
- Bragging
- Showing your bling bling
- Calling at inconvenient hours
- Keeping ppl on the phone meaninglessly
- Writing to ppl without a reasonable excuse
- Giving ur opinion when not needed (especially on unfamiliar topics)
- Openly questioning others
- Saying no to requests arrogantly
- Talking badly about ppl in front of their friends
- Criticizing those who disagree with u
- Talking about ppl’s pain in front of them
- Correcting others in front of others
- Complaining when someone declines a favour
- Relying upon friends for favours
- Using offensive language
- Showing dislikes openly
- Talking negatively
- Criticizing others (religions, governments, etc)
- Being too open with strangers
- Stay open (to new ideas, facts, knowledge, opinions, etc)
- If not, then you’ll:
- Make enemies instead of friends
- Stop learning/growing
- Not use ur imagination
- Not be self-disciplined
- Not think clearly
- Not access infinite intelligence
- Be direct and honest
- Develop a good sense of humor (don’t take urself and life too seriously)
- Believe in God (infinite intelligence) and u won’t lose ur way
- Be fair with others
- Use the right words (words are God’s special gift to man)
- Control your emotions (the keyboard of life — rate urself on all and see how u take control over time)
- These are the 7 negative emotions:
- Fear
- Jealousy
- Hatred
- Revenge
- Greed
- Superstition
- Anger
- These are the 7 positive emotions:
- Love
- Sex
- Hope
- Faith
- Desire
- Optimism
- Loyalty
- Pay attention to those talking to you (be a good listener)
- Learn to express urself confidently when talking with others (speak with confidence) by doing this:
- Know ur subject
- Say what u wanna say and then shut up
- Educate urself beyond ur main topic (expand ur horizons)
- Give a fuck about others (unselfishness)
- Be humble (fuck ur ego)
- Be able to put together all the above to express good showmanship
- Win without boasting, lose without crying
- Shake hands properly (firm handshake, not like a soft dick)
- Control ur sex energy
Step 4: Have faith in yourself (and let God — infinite intelligence — guide you)
The 4th step in “The Science of Success” is to believe that you can get what u want. God (infinite intelligence) is here to guide you. By believing in yourself, you can start moving towards the right direction.
These are the highlights for this key step:
- Take control of your mind (remove negative thoughts)
- Believe u can achieve ur goals
- Reach God through prayer
- Reach your subconscious mind through imagination
- All the answers are within you (consult urself)
- Sit and meditate (get in-tune with God – infinite intelligence)
Step 5: Do whatever it takes (be ur best self)
The 5th step in “The Science of Success” is to become the best version of yourself. By doing your best, your chances of success increase dramatically.
These are the key takeaways from this major step:
- Provide a better service (more quantity and more quality) than what u r paid
- Use ur mind (not ur hands)
- Make ur self indispensable to those u serve
- Do not work by the click when it comes to business
- Do not look for easy jobs and short hours (no such things exist)
- Deliver more than you promise
- Education is not the same as schooling (education comes through self development and use of the mind)
- Knowing where to get knowledge and how to use that knowledge is more important than knowledge itself
- Doing is more important than knowing
- Practical experience is more important than a college degree
- Do more than what u r paid for (if ur employer doesn’t appreciate it then leave)
- Eventually everybody ends up where they belong
- The place u hold in this world depends entirely upon the quantity and quality of the service u provide as well as the mental attitude in which u provide the service with (in other words, do a good job, do it in big scale, with a smile in your face)
- Do more, do better than what is normal
- Ask and u shall receive (ask by doing before receiving)
- Benefits of doing more than what u r paid for:
- Eventually u’ll get more and equivalent to the service provided
- U’ll develop self initiative (which is essential to success)
- U’ll develop self reliance (equally important to success)
- U’ll rise above all the others who do just enough to get by (mediocrity is everywhere, excellence is rare)
- U’ll avoid drifting (going wherever aimlessly)
- U’ll build ur purpose (knowing where u wanna go)
- U’ll develop an attractive personality (be likable)
- U’ll be indispensable (they’ll need u)
- U’ll have/keep ur job/business
- It’s the best way to promote urself to better roles, better pay
- U”ll build ur imagination (so u can create plans and achieve ur goals)
- U’ll build ur mental attitude (so u’ll be likable and have a better chance of succeeding with people)
- Others will trust u
- U can do so without asking anyone’s permission
- There are only 2 types of people that won’t succeed (those who can’t follow orders and those who can’t do anything more)
- Break the rules when necessary (with sound judgement)
Step 6: Take planned action (and be a self-starter)
The 6th step in “The Science of Success” is to get going. All the planning in the world won’t do any good if no action is taken.
These are the key takeaways from this important step:
- Don’t waste time
- Don’t just take action out of necessity but on ur own free will
- Use ur own initiative to become indispensable (and end up with a better role and better pay or even ur own business)
- These are the 31 traits of good leadership:
- Know where u r wanna go and have a plan to get there
- Be motivated enough to keep doing whats necessary until u reach ur goal (in other words, is ur passion equal to the task?)
- Work with other like-minded ppl towards the same goal (one man cannot achieve greatness)
- Don’t neglect ur own efforts (u need ur own efforts, own initiative, and own judgement — nothing can replace this)
- Be disciplined (without discipline nothing great can be achieved)
- Be persistent (Finish what u start)
- Always look for new and better ways to reach ur goal (use ur imagination)
- Make prompt/fast decisions
- Act on facts (not on fiction)
- Get excited and get going (control ur enthusiasm)
- Stay just and fair
- Keep an open mind at all times
- Do more than ur subordinates
- Use tact and diplomacy
- Listen more, talk less
- Pay attention to details
- If u fail, try again
- Don’t worry about criticism
- Control ur social habits (drinking, eating, etc)
- Don’t bite the hands that feed u (stay loyal to urself, associates, etc)
- Be honest (to those u deserve it)
- Know the 9 motives (love, sex, money, self-preservation, freedom, self-expression, life after death, anger, fear/fomo)
- Be likable (good salesmanship, sympathy, pleasing to others)
- Laser focus on one thing and one thing only (at a time)
- Learn from mistakes (urs and others)
- Take responsibility of ur subordinates mistakes
- Give credit where is due
- Use the golden rule (treat others as u want to be treated)
- Be positive at all times
- Take responsibility for all tasks in ur team
- Put first things first
- Not everybody wants to be a leader
- Everybody does something because of a motive (financial gain the most powerful/common to start with)
- The motive of wealth pushes one to develop leadership skills
- Once financial security is achieved then other motives come into play (personal achievement, recognition, praise)
- There are some hoarders (just piling up money with no use) but most ppl get motivated by thinking how to use their wealth (self-expression)
- Carnegie’s motive was always to make men more useful (to themselves and to others)
- Accumulating riches is not the important part. The important is to know what to do with it (improve the world and the life of others)
- Personal achievement > personal riches
- To build wealth u need brains, experience, personal initiative, and the desire to build and create
- If it works keep doing it (if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it)
- Greedy employers don’t last (competition takes them out)
- Once u have ur major goal, u need to start taking action at ur own will (personal initiative)
- Any plan is better than no plan (if initial plan is weak, then change/improve)
- Don’t wait for the perfect plan or the perfect time
- The time is always right for those who know what they want and take action
- Most bystanders (those who do nothing – only look) give out their opinion freely (avoid them like the plague – use ur own initiative instead)
- Free opinion boys will try to stop u from using ur own initiative – avoid them at all cost
- Grab every opportunity to match ur ambition with ability and u’ll get ur price
- Planned action requires 5 steps:
- Know what u want
- Know how u’ll get what u want
- Take action and don’t stop until u get what u want
- Team up with others who want the same thing and will take action towards achieving it
- Never stop taking action on ur own initiative
- Leader: makes a plan and takes action on their own initiative
- Follower: never takes the time to carefully make a plan and never takes action without being told
- Genius: a normal person with a burning desire to achieve a specific goal
- Schooling ≠ Education
- Education: using ur brain to get what u want without violating the rights of others
- Schooling: storage of knowledge
- Knowledge means nothing. It’s what u do with it that matters
- Content: in present (with what u already have)
- Satisfied: never (so u keep pushing for more)
- No motive (personal desire) = no initiative
- Don’t desire material things only (spirituality is important too)
- Do to others whatever you would like them to do to you (golden rule)
- Stay humble (don’t think u r that important)
- The purpose of the greats is to serve others
Step 7: Imagine the end goal (visualize urself already in that position)
The 7th step in “The Science of Success” is to use your imagination. Visualize yourself already in ur ideal position, acting as if u already solved your target problem (achieved ur goal).
Here are the key takeaways from this undervalued step:
- Two forms of imagination: creative (through the subconscious to bring up original ideas) and synthetic (mixing/rearranging old ideas)
- Creative imagination has the power to reveal solutions to any problem and reassure u that it’ll work
- If u use ur imagination as motivation, u’ll never stop trying until u find solution to ur problem (whatever that might be and no matter how long it takes)
- Know ur problem and be determined to solve it
- Clear ur mind of fear, doubt, and self-imposed limitations by developing a burning (obsessional) desire to solve ur problems (get what u want – reach ur goal)
- Once u clear ur mind u’ll reach the state of mind of Faith (so u can be in direct contact with God/infinite intelligence – where all solutions to all problems exist)
- Use the power of ur subconscious mind: feed it with the problem and let it spit out to ur conscious mind a plan to get to the answer
- This is how to use ur subconscious:
- Have a clear picture of ur problem/goal
- Fix ur mind on the end goal (imagine ur problem solved)
- Keep thinking about it until it becomes an obsession (thought habit)
- Once u have a conscious plan start working on it immediately
- Don’t stop until u succeed
- U need to be determined and persistent to solve ur problem (reach ur goal – get what u want)
- Motive is the beginning of all desires (what’s ur y?)
- Imagination is usually applied by:
- Knowing what u want
- Be around others who want the same thing and are willing to do what it takes to get it
- Doing more than u r paid for
- Having faith that what u want can be achieved
- Taking planned action
- Let ur kids express their thoughts as this develops their imagination
- Every great salesman uses their imagination
Step 8: Control urself (head and heart)
The 8th step in “The Science of Success” is to control yourself. This includes both ur head (thoughts/logic) and ur heart (emotions/feelings).
These are the top highlights from this valuable step:
- Controlling ur mind (thoughts) is the most important step to achieving any goal
- Emotions rule the world (rule ur emotions, rule ur world)
- Control and direct both positive and negative emotions
- 7 positive emotions:
- Love
- Sex
- Hope
- Faith
- Enthusiasm
- Loyalty
- Desire
- 7 negative emotions:
- Fear
- Jealousy
- Hatred (prolonged)
- Revenge
- Greed
- Anger (temporary)
- Superstition
- Newly acquired riches and newly acquired power requires careful watching (to avoid hurting oneself)
- Put a leash on the negative emotions and guide the positive emotions towards a definite goal
- Budget ur time (avoid non-essential activities)
- Don’t waste time by procrastination (don’t wait)
- Control ur food, drink, sex, and spare time (and everything else will fall in place)
- Wishing and day dreaming mean nothing (everyone wishes, few take action)
- Don’t try to get something for nothing (u’ll end up disappointed)
- Learn to balance both matters of the heart and reasoning of the head
- Love and sex are the 2 most powerful emotions (God intended for us all to fall in love and reproduce – not just reproduce like animals but build our social skills as well)
- Head = reasoning (thoughts)
- Heart = emotions (feelings)
- Self-discipline = balancing ur head and heart
- Ego= whole person (soul n body)
- For matters of the heart (emotions) run them by ur head too (logic)
- Let ur ego guide (and balance) u by choosing whether to listen to ur head or heart depending on the occasion (so that u don’t overreact or overthink things)
- U and only u can decide who and what you become in life
Step 9: Control ur thoughts (control ur habits)
The 9th step in “The Science of Success” is to control ur thoughts which translate into habits. By controlling your thoughts, you control your habits, and thus u control your life.
These are the key takeaways from this life-changing step:
- Thoughts have intelligence
- Our thoughts are the only thing we can have full control of
- Don’t leave ur mind open to negative people (it’s contagious)
- Self-discipline is required for all members of the mastermind (so they can control their thoughts)
- Definite goals = definite thought-habits
- U need a burning desire to achieve something (and to stay away from negative thoughts of urs and others)
- Emotions will power u to take action on ur own initiative
- Emotions turn into habits
- Choose ur emotions —> choose ur habits —> choose ur life
- U can get out of a bad habit by starting a positive one (in the opposite direction)
- Form a habit by doing something voluntarily for a few weeks then subconscious takes over (and the habit is fixed/formed)
- Fix ur habits —> take control of ur mind
- Behind every habit there’s a motive
- Clear motive + strong emotional desire = self-discipline
- Top 10 benefits of controlling ur thoughts:
- Be the master of ur mind (control ur emotions at will)
- Get shit done (without delays)
- Work with a clear plan
- Stimulate the subconscious mind (to get better results)
- Learn to depend on urself
- Learn from others
- Make more money
- Find solutions (and not problems)
- Stay healthy (mind power leaves no room for self-pity or imaginary illness)
- Have peace of mind (and permanent happiness)
- Success = ordered life
- Ordered life = controlled thoughts (and habits)
- Work = thought power put to action
- Work u enjoy = better results than work u hate (or don’t enjoy)
- Power of thought = mental dynamite (control ur thoughts, control the explosive, control the damage/failure)
- Guesswork + wishful thinking = not accurate sources of info
- Those who use their brain power to hurt others, soon hurt themselves
- When u do something because u want to, the results are much better (than when u do it by force)
Step 10: Learn from mistakes (urs and others)
The 10th step in “The Science of Success” is to learn from everybody’s mistakes, not just yours. By not accepting defeat and pushing even harder to improve ourselves is a surefire way to get what we want.
These are the main takeaways from this super important step:
- At one point, everybody fails (with no exception)
- Every defeat comes with a hidden benefit (if u learn from it and try to improve)
- Never accept defeat as an easy excuse to failure (keep pushing forward)
- Defeat is temporary (just a test if u got the balls to get what u want)
- Defeat is pain. And pain is nature’s way of telling u that something’s wrong and needs improvement. So, use pain to ur advantage
- Be disciplined enough so when u fail u pick up ur balls and rearrange ur plans (if necessary) to keep pushing forward
- Let your “will to win” be bigger than any defeat/circumstance
- Stick to positive thoughts (yes, even when facing defeat) so that ur subconscious doesn’t get used to negative ones
- Monitor ur mental attitude (mood) during a defeat (if positive, then all good. if negative, change it now)
- Train ur mind to see defeat as a push to become better
- Any dominant thoughts u have will become a habit (so choose accordingly)
- Never accept poverty (create a plan and get going)
- Success is nothing more than a habit
- Don’t gift money, gift knowledge
- Paradise and poverty do not mix
- Most people suffer from inferiority complex (because of fear of poverty)
- Wealth alone won’t make u happy if those around u are in serious need
- Poverty is a state of mind. So u can’t change someone just by gifting money/things (it needs to come from within)
- To change others u need to inspire them to use their minds, be creative, and serve others (in exchange for what they want)
- Wealth needs to be earned, not given (otherwise it’s impossible to make the most out of it)
- The highest aim of any human is to happy (another state of mind)
- By going after what u want, u’ll find happiness as u progress
- It’s in our human nature to build and create, express ourselves, be wealthy, and happy
- Having money means nothing, if u don’t know what to do with it (and how to help others)
- Don’t just give money away with no reason, but try to inspire others help themselves
- The only safe way to acquire anything is through self-effort
- Gifting will only make people soft and weak (dependent)
- Help others organize their own minds
- Charity = encourage others to think of success and not worry of defeat
- There is humility in accepting help from others (so make sure u do ur best before asking for free money)
- Humans were not meant to stay idle but to use their mind to think (otherwise they can’t be happy)
- Reformation can happen through guided activity (even by force if necessary) until the right habits are formed
- Children accept whatever conditions their parents accepted (if parents accepted poverty, then most probably kids will too)
- If u focus on success, then every defeat won’t matter
- These are the 45 common causes of failure:
- Do not drift through life
- Physical deformation/disability at birth (the only one we can’t control but still can be overcome)
- Do not stick ur nose into other ppl’s affairs
- Do not avoid preparation/schooling
- Do not overindulge in food/drink/sex
- Do not avoid personal development
- Do not aim for mediocrity
- Do not neglect ur health (eat properly and exercise)
- Avoid bad influences during childhood
- Don’t stop until u finish something u started
- Don’t keep a negative mental attitude
- Don’t let ur emotions out of control
- Don’t desire something for nothing (gambling)
- Avoid indecision
- Don’t let the 7 basic fears take control (poverty, criticism, ill health, loss of love, old age, loss of liberty, death)
- Don’t neglect the right mate selection
- Don’t be overly cautious (both in business and personal relationships)
- Don’t rely on chance alone
- Avoid bad associates/friends
- Don’t neglect choosing ur profession
- Don’t neglect mastering ur concentration
- Don’t spend like crazy (make a budget based on income and expenditures)
- Don’t avoid budgeting ur money and time too
- Don’t let enthusiasm take over
- Don’t keep a closed mind
- Don’t become uncooperative when working with others
- Don’t try to get rich and powerful by stealing (without doing the work needed)
- Don’t neglect loyalty (where it is due)
- Don’t let vanity and egotism get out of control
- Don’t be so selfish
- Don’t base ur opinions and plans on anything other than facts
- Don’t neglect vision/imagination
- Don’t neglect working with others who want the same thing (and are willing to do the work to get it)
- Don’t neglect infinite intelligence (God)
- Don’t neglect ur word selection
- Don’t talk without thinking
- Don’t be greedy, jealous, and revengeful
- Don’t be lazy (don’t waste time)
- Don’t talk bad about others
- Don’t neglect the power of thought
- Don’t wait to be told to take action (use ur own initiative)
- Don’t be afraid to rely on yourself
- Don’t neglect developing a pleasing personality
- Don’t be a pessimist (believe in urself, God, others)
- Don’t neglect building ur will power (control ur thought habits)
- All the above can be taken care of once u have a clear goal and the will power to carry out the plan to get it
- Self-discipline simply means that u won’t accept defeat (just take it as an excuse to do/be better)
- Every time u raise form defeat, u become stronger
