Think and Grow Rich

Think and Grow Rich

by Napoleon Hill

When you begin to read Think and Grow Rich, you will observe that riches begin with a state of mind, with certainty of purpose, with little or no hard work. You and every other person ought to be interested in knowing how to acquire that state of mind which will attract riches. As soon as you master the principles of this philosophy and began to follow the instructions for applying those principles, your financial status will begin to improve, and everything you touch will begin to transform itself into asset for your benefit.

Think & Grow Rich is probably the most famous success book of all time it was written in 1937 by Napoleon Hill. The principle of the book is simple; richness begins with a state of mind. If we want to get rich we must first change our minds so that we become as Napoleon Hill calls it money conscious. He says that we must literally think ourselves rich. The term riches in his context can be any form of wealth like money, happiness, healthy relationship, business, success, etc. Napoleon Hill takes 20 of his precious years to complete this book and he made some important principles which any one can follow the principles to become successful in his life.

Burning Desire –

To become successful in life every person should have one goal in his life and for completing that goal he should have a burning desire to accomplish it. It is very simple a goal that you want to achieve it could be anything like losing weight, gaining muscles, getting rich, becoming a movie star, becoming a fitness model, etc.

You have to select any one goal in your life because desire is the first step in the success journey. You can’t do any work until you have a burning desire in you. Without any enthusiasm, you will not be encouraged to do any work. Many people say that they know what their desire is and what they have to do to get it. Just wanting you cannot get the desired results in a working area. In order to succeed in any work, first of all you have a strong blazing desire in your heart so that it encourages you to take action in that direction. When you take action in some direction with the will power you will automatically get result in that direction. In this principle the author had showed the difference between wanting and ‘Intense desire’. Wanting means when you wish something to get in your life but you are not full of confidence that you will get or not. On the other side intense desire means when you have full faith that you can achieve your destination one day. Like Edwin C. Barnes had a strong desire to do business with Thomas Edison. Barnes had thought of partnership with Thomas Edison heartedly. By thinking that he became wealthy. He had nothing at the beginning. At that time he only knew that what he wanted and he had the determination to stand till he gets what he wanted.

Faith –

When there is a strong desire to get something in mind then due to that desire, there is a firm belief in the mind. In order to fulfil any desire you must have unwavering faith that it is possible and you will continue to find it. When you have strong faith in the fulfilment of your desire, then you work in that direction and that desire begins to take shape. Those who think that they are not worthy of love whether it is in their subconscious mind they find themselves bonded in a relationship that often gets spoiled or broken. This is due to deep negative perception laying in their mind. Our perception is very powerful and it always proves to be true for us. If you have a desire and you want to fulfil it then you should have believe in the heart that it will be fulfilled. If you find it difficult to believe in unbroken faith, then you have to frequently repeat that you can find what you want, and your wish will be fulfilled. To repeat something again and again is called affirmation. When you repeatedly repeat any affirmation in your mind, that matter will set in your subconscious mind and you start to feel it real. Repeating something repeatedly becomes your unbroken faith in it.

Auto Suggestion –

There are millions of people who believe that they are cursed because they are poor and unable to live in failure because some mysterious power is working against them, and they have no control over them. Because of this negative belief or believe they are the creators of their own misfortune. These perceptions work like self-hypnosis in their subconscious mind and they become convinced that they are not able to get bigger. Due to such belief from childhood, they do not even think of doing something big. This is not the problem of poor people but we all are among them. To get rid of such negative perceptions, we have to meditate. For that we have to go to a quiet place and keep our mind calm and repeat the new assumptions so that they sit in our subconscious mind. By meditating, you have to say to yourself that you are capable of getting everything you want in life. You can become anything in life and achieve any goal, no matter how big it is. By meditating, doing all these new things will sit in your mind and your thinking will become positive. Over time, these affirmations will become your new conceptions and will create your self-worth and unbroken confidence in you. Mahatma Gandhi had also done the same thing. In his time nobody had that much power which Mahatma Gandhi has, and despite this he did not have any conventional tools of power like money, war ships, army or weapons. Mahatma Gandhi was not a wealthy person, he did not has a proper house and neither had he a suitcase but he has faith. He had the ability and faith to sow the seed of independence in the mind of twenty million people. Gandhi inspired 20 million brains to connect together to form single brain and walk together which was a great job.

Specialized Knowledge –

There are two types of knowledge: general knowledge and specialised knowledge. We need special knowledge and not only special knowledge but it is also necessary to use it in proper way. If only by acquiring mere knowledge, the professors and scientists of the universities would be the greatest and most successful people in this world, but it is not so. By acquiring information, nobody is wise or successful. The disadvantage of all the mechanisms of education is that academic institutions fail to teach their students about how to organise and use their knowledge after acquiring their knowledge. Most people think that Henry Ford went to school for a short time, and that’s why he had less education. Those people who thinks this they know very little about education. Education word is derived from Latin word “Educare” which means to bring up or nourish from inside. Educated man is the one who has developed his brain in a manner that he can achieve what he wants and in his process he does not abdicate the rights of others. During the First World War a newspaper of Chicago published some article in which he claims that Henry Ford is an ignorant pacifist. Ford objected to this statement and filed litigation against that newspaper. When the lawsuit went to court the newspaper’s lawyers called the Ford before jury to testify their point of view in order to prove that Ford was ignorant. The lawyer asked him lot of questions and he too give them few answers which he know but at last he got tired of answering such questions, and in response to a strange question he bend forward, showing a figure towards the anti-lawyer and told him that “how far you have asked me absurd questions, you know under my table there are lot of buttons and by pressing the right button I can call people who can give the right answer, I have special experts from whom I can ask any questions and definitely they will know the answer. Now will you please tell me that when there are people around me that can answer my every question then why I need to fill my brains with this type of general knowledge questions?” the lawyers became silent and every member of the jury was satisfied with Henry Ford statement. Every person sitting in the court realised that the answer was not an answer of an ignorant man but an educated person. Everyone is educated who knows that where will he get knowledge from when needed and then how will he arrange that knowledge in a definite action plan.

Imagination –

Author Napoleon Hill has said in his book that the person who can imagine and believe in his mind can achieve anything. Most people in the world do not make full use of their imagination. All the great people of the world have used the imagination power to achieve success. The great people what they wanted to build and to achieve anything first imagined it in their own mind. For example Albert Einstein used to imagine the thing in his mind for his any research. And not just Albert Einstein but any scientist imagine that invention in his brain and then work upon it. There is a famous quote by Albert Einstein which is very much true for this principle “Imagination is more important than knowledge”. Let me tell you one thing that imagination here does not mean to dream in the day. Imagination means creative thinking that acts as a very powerful weapon in achieving success. Creative thinking means that imagine the thing what you want to achieve or whatever you want to achieve, and try to see it in your mind as image. By doing so, it starts shaping the thing and all the ways of getting it, starts coming to you. Now you just have to walk on those paths and have to work hard and in this way you can achieve your position soon. To be successful, it is important that you learn to use creative imagination very well.

Persistence –

 Burning desire and persistence these two formulas can make anyone successful. Like there was a kid which was weak in study. And his teacher wrote a note and sent it to his mother that your child is a very stupid and he will never do anything in life. Do not waste your money by spending him in his study. After that the mother of that child replied to the teacher that my child is not weak and from today onwards I will teach my child and see one day he will become  successful. Her mother taught him by herself and one day he became a successful man by inventing more than a thousand inventions, which included lightning bulbs and that child was none other than but Thomas Edison. Edison had failed more than 1000 times in the invention of the bulb but one day he succeeded due to his persistence. Another example of persistence is Colonel Sanders who, after being bankrupt at the age of 65, took a recipe of his mother's famous fried chicken and went out in search of a business partner who can help him to popularize his recipe. But as he thought it does not happened, very few people listened to him and those who heard him did not show any interest in his business. And after more than thousands of rejection, at last finally he heard a yes. This miracle was the gift of his burning desire and persistence. And after that he became a millionaire and his business brand KFC became world famous. So in the same way if you want to be successful, then stay persistence like Edison or Colonel until you reach your goal.