Confucius on learning

Confucius said there were 3 ways to learn:

1. Trial and error (operations)
2. Imitation (tactics)
3. Meditation (strategy)

If you were the only human being on Earth, then trial and error would be a good policy.

However, imitating people that you consider successful is probably a better strategy, to avoid the frustration of failure after failure.

The best policy, however, is to reflect upon the principles used by successful people. For Napoleon Hill, it's first and foremost about desire.