Life is a game, and the player opposite you is TIME. If you hesitate before moving, or neglect to move thoughtfully and decisively, your pieces will be wiped off the board by TIME. You are playing against a partner who will not tolerate INDECISION!
Think and Grow Rich is one of the few books I have lost count of the number of times I have read and listened to the book. It is by far one of the most influential book have ever read as it contains lost of wisdom and insights; each look or reading of the books makes the point clearer.
Think and Grow Rich was first published in 1937 by Napoleon Hill during the Great Depression, and it has sold more than 15 million copies to date. The book was the suggestion of one of the richest men in the world at the time, business magnate Andrew Carnegie.
Think and Grow is based on the Author Napoleon Hill’s twenty years study of successful individuals in that era such as Andrew Carnegie, Henry Ford, Thomas Edison, George Eastman, Theodore Roosevelt, Elbert Hubbard among others. His study is distilled as 13 principles contained in the book as the “Philosophy of Achievement”. They are:
- DESIRE : THE STARTING POINT OF ALL ACHIEVEMENT
- FAITH: VISUALIZATION OF, AND BELIEF IN ATTAINMENT OF DESIRE
- AUTO-SUGGESTION : THE MEDIUM FOR INFLUENCING THE SUBCONSCIOUS MIND
- SPECIALIZED KNOWLEDGE: PERSONAL EXPERIENCES OR OBSERVATIONS
- IMAGINATION:: THE WORKSHOP OF THE MIND
- ORGANIZED PLANNING: THE CRYSTALLIZATION OF DESIRE INTO ACTION
- DECISION : THE MASTERY OF PROCRASTINATION
- PERSISTENCE : THE SUSTAINED EFFORT NECESSARY TO INDUCE FAITH
- POWER OF THE MASTER MIND” THE DRIVING FORCE
- THE MYSTERY OF SEX TRANSMUTATION
- THE SUBCONSCIOUS MIND : THE CONNECTING LINK
- THE BRAIN: A BROADCASTING AND RECEIVING STATION FOR THOUGHT
- THE SIXTH SENSE:THE DOOR TO THE TEMPLE OF WISDOM
SUCCESS REQUIRES NO APOLOGIES, FAILURE PERMITS NO ALIBIS.
Here are my favourite take-aways from reading Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill:
Desire: The Starting point of all achievements
When a man really DESIRES a thing so deeply that he is willing to stake his entire future on a single turn of the wheel in order to get it, he is sure to win.
- Every human being who reaches the age of understanding of the purpose of money, wishes for it. Wishing will not bring riches. But desiring riches with a state of mind that becomes an obsession, then planning definite ways and means to acquire riches, and backing those plans with persistence which does not recognize failure, will bring riches.
The method by which DESIRE for riches can be transmuted into its financial equivalent, consists of six definite, practical steps, viz:
- First. Fix in your mind the exact amount of money you desire. It is not sufficient merely to say “I want plenty of money.” Be definite as to the amount. (There is a psychological reason for definiteness
- Second. Determine exactly what you intend to give in return for the money you desire. (There is no such reality as “something for nothing.)
- Third. Establish a definite date when you intend to possess the money you desire.
- Fourth. Create a definite plan for carrying out your desire, and begin at once, whether you are ready or not, to put this plan into action.
- Fifth. Write out a clear, concise statement of the amount of money you intend to acquire, name the time limit for its acquisition, state what you intend to give in return for the money, and describe clearly the plan through which you intend to accumulate it.
- Sixth. Read your written statement aloud, twice daily, once just before retiring at night, and once after arising in the morning. AS YOU READ– SEE AND FEEL AND BELIEVE YOURSELF ALREADY IN POSSESSION OF THE MONEY.
If you truly DESIRE money so keenly that your desire is an obsession, you will have no difficulty in convincing yourself that you will acquire it. The object is to want money, and to become so determined to have it that you CONVINCE yourself you will have it.
FAITH: VISUALIZATION OF, AND BELIEF IN ATTAINMENT OF DESIRE
- FAITH is the head chemist of the mind. When FAITH is blended with the vibration of thought, the subconscious mind instantly picks up the vibration, translates it into its spiritual equivalent, and transmits it to Infinite Intelligence, as in the case of prayer.
- ALL THOUGHTS WHICH HAVE BEEN EMOTIONALIZED, (given feeling) AND MIXED WITH FAITH, begin immediately to translate themselves into their physical equivalent or counterpart.
- Your BELIEF, or FAITH, is the element which determines the action of your subconscious mind. There is nothing to hinder you from “deceiving” your subconscious mind when giving it instructions through autosuggestion, as I deceived my son’s subconscious mind.
FAITH is a state of mind which may be induced, or created, by affirmation or repeated instructions to the subconscious mind, through the principle of auto-suggestion.
AUTO-SUGGESTION : THE MEDIUM FOR INFLUENCING THE SUBCONSCIOUS MIND
AUTO-SUGGESTION is the agency of control through which an individual may voluntarily feed his subconscious mind on thoughts of a creative nature, or, by neglect, permit thoughts of a destructive nature to find their way into this rich garden of the mind.
AUTO-SUGGESTION is a term which applies to al1 suggestions and all self-administered stimuli which reach one’s mind through the five senses. Stated in another way, auto-suggestion is self-suggestion. It is the agency of communication between that part of the mind where conscious thought takes place, and that which serves as the seat of action for the subconscious mind.
- THOUGHTS WHICH ARE MIXED WITH ANY OF THE FEELINGS OF EMOTIONS, CONSTITUTE A “MAGNETIC” FORCE WHICH ATTRACTS, FROM THE VIBRATIONS OF THE ETHER, OTHER SIMILAR, OR RELATED THOUGHTS.
- A thought thus “magnetized” with emotion may be compared to a seed which, when planted in fertile soil, germinates, grows, and multiplies itself over and over again, until that which was originally one small seed, becomes countless millions of seeds of the SAME BRAND.
- Any idea, plan, or purpose may be placed in the mind through repetition of thought. This is why you are asked to write out a statement of your major purpose, or Definite Chief Aim, commit it to memory, and repeat it, in audible words, day after day, until these vibrations of sound have reached your subconscious mind.”
We are what we are, because of the vibrations of thought which we pick up and register, through the stimuli of our daily environment.
The Subconscious Mind
- The subconscious mind, (the chemical laboratory in which all thought impulses are combined, and made ready for translation into physical reality), makes no distinction between constructive and destructive thought impulses. It works with the material we feed it, through our thought impulses. The subconscious mind will translate into reality a thought driven by FEAR just as readily as it will translate into reality a thought driven by COURAGE, or FAITH.
The subconscious mind takes any orders given it in a spirit of absolute FAITH, and acts upon those orders, although the orders often have to be presented “over and over again, through repetition, before they are interpreted by the subconscious mind.
SPECIALIZED KNOWLEDGE: PERSONAL EXPERIENCES OR OBSERVATIONS
THERE are two kinds of knowledge. One is general, the other is specialized.
- General knowledge, no matter how great in quantity or variety it may be, is of but little use in the accumulation of money. The faculties of the great universities possess, in the aggregate, practically every form of general knowledge known to civilization. Most of the professors have but little or no money. They specialize on teaching knowledge, but they do not specialize on the organization, or the use of knowledge.
- KNOWLEDGE will not attract money, unless it is organized, and intelligently directed, through practical PLANS OF ACTION, to the DEFINITE END of accumulation of money. Lack of understanding of this fact has been the source of confusion to millions of people who falsely believe that “knowledge is power.” It is nothing of the sort! Knowledge is only potential power. It becomes power only when, and if, it is organized into definite plans of action, and directed to a definite end.
- This “missing link” in all systems of education known to civilization today, may be found in the failure of educational institutions to teach their students.
KNOWLEDGE will not attract money, unless it is organized, and intelligently directed, through practical PLANS OF ACTION, to the DEFINITE END of accumulation of money.
- An educated man is not, necessarily, one who has an abundance of general or specialized knowledge. An educated man is one who has so developed the faculties of his mind that he may acquire anything he wants, or its equivalent, without violating the rights of others.
IMAGINATION:: THE WORKSHOP OF THE MIND
The imagination is literally the workshop wherein are fashioned all plans created by man. The impulse, the DESIRE, is given shape, form, and ACTION through the aid of the imaginative faculty of the mind.
“TWO FORMS OF IMAGINATION
The imaginative faculty functions in two forms. One is known as “synthetic imagination,” and the other as “creative imagination.”
“SYNTHETIC IMAGINATION:– Through this faculty, one may arrange old concepts, ideas, or plans into new combinations. This faculty creates nothing. It merely works with the material of experience, education, and observation with which it is fed. It is the faculty used most by the inventor, with the exception of the who draws upon the creative imagination, when he cannot solve his problem through synthetic imagination.
CREATIVE IMAGINATION:– Through the faculty of creative imagination, the finite mind of man has direct communication with Infinite Intelligence. It is the faculty through which “hunches” and “inspirations” are received. It is by this faculty that all basic, or new ideas are handed over to man.
Generally speaking, an idea is an impulse of thought that impels action, by an appeal to the imagination.
ORGANIZED PLANNING: THE CRYSTALLIZATION OF DESIRE INTO ACTION
No individual has sufficient experience, education, native ability, and knowledge to insure the accumulation of a great fortune, without the cooperation of other people. Every plan you adopt, in your endeavor to accumulate wealth, should be the joint creation of yourself and every other member of your ”
“Master Mind” group. You may originate your own plans, either in whole or in part, but SEE THAT THOSE PLANS ARE CHECKED, AND APPROVED BY THE MEMBERS OF YOUR “MASTER MIND” ALLIANCE.
If the first plan which you adopt does not work successfully, replace it with a new plan, if this new plan fails to work, replace it, in turn with still another, and so on, until you find a plan which DOES WORK. Right here is the point at which the majority of men meet with failure, because of their lack of PERSISTENCE in creating new plans to take the place of those which fail.
DECISION: THE MASTERY OF PROCRASTINATION
- It is characteristic of people who have but a smattering or a veneer of knowledge to try to give the impression that they have much knowledge. Such people generally do TOO MUCH talking, and TOO LITTLE listening. Keep your eyes and ears wide open– and your mouth CLOSED, if you wish to acquire the habit of prompt DECISION.
- Those who talk too much do little else. If you talk more than you listen, you not only deprive yourself of many opportunities to accumulate useful knowledge, but you also disclose your PLANS and PURPOSES to people who will take great delight in defeating you, because they envy you.
A man whose mind is filled with fear not only destroys his own chances of intelligent action, but, he transmits these destructive vibrations to the minds of all who come into contact with him, and destroys, also their chances.
All the best in your quest to get better. Don’t Settle: Live with Passion.
2 Comments
Pingback: 50 Audiobooks Listening Challenge 2021. – Lanre Dahunsi
Pingback: 100 Books Reading Challenge 2020 – Lanre Dahunsi