Concept
Definite Chief Aim
A definite chief aim is Napoleon Hill's name for one clear, written goal with a deadline and a statement of what you will give in return, kept in view every day so that effort stops scattering across many half-wanted wishes.
Hill built Think and Grow Rich on what he called definiteness of purpose. Most people, he argued, want money in general and so never organise themselves to get any amount in particular. His remedy was concrete: decide the exact amount, decide what you will give for it, set a date, write a plan, start at once, and read the statement regularly. Strip away the mystical framing and the core holds up well. Decades of goal-setting research, led by Edwin Locke and Gary Latham, found that specific, challenging goals usually produce better performance than vague intentions such as doing one's best. A written goal also makes it easier to notice when daily choices drift away from it. What does not hold up is the promise that fixing the goal guarantees the result. A definite aim directs effort; it does not replace skill, a market or luck.
A real-life example
Emre, a junior accountant in İzmir, has wanted to 'save more' for three years and has nothing to show for it. He writes one line instead: 60,000 lira in a separate account by next December, paid by taking two extra bookkeeping clients on weekends. He tapes it inside his wardrobe. In March he turns down a costly trip because the line is in front of him every morning.
How to use it
- 1Write one financial aim with an exact amount and date, and the work or saving you will give in exchange for it.
- 2Keep it short enough to read in ten seconds and put it where you see it daily.
- 3Check each month whether your spending and your hours actually moved toward it, and adjust the plan rather than the goal.