Nothing to say, yet
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Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill is a book that has had a significant impact on the lives of successful individuals. It provides a clear roadmap for achieving goals and turning dreams into reality. The book is based on the idea that everything begins with an idea and that with persistence and a burning desire, one can achieve anything. The first principle discussed is desire, emphasizing the importance of having a clear and strong desire for what one wants. The second principle is faith, highlighting the need to believe in oneself and the principles outlined in the book. The book also provides practical steps for achieving goals, including setting a specific amount of money desired, determining what can be given in return, setting a deadline, creating a plan, and visualizing success daily. Following these principles can lead to success in any area of life. successful men in all lines of work who are where they are today because they once picked up and bought a copy of Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill. Without question, this single book has had a greater influence on the lives, accomplishments, and fortunes of more people than any other work of its kind. When I first discovered this remarkable book, it was an enormous help to me. It helped me decide once and for all how I was to accomplish my goal. It unified my thinking and gave me a straight, clear road to the point I decided to reach. One of my closest friends found the book several years ago and stayed home for three days reading and digesting its material, and he then went on to reach the top of his industry. I've sat in richly channeled carpeted executive offices and listened to world-famous business leaders, some of them old enough to be my father, tell me how reading Think and Grow Rich had changed their lives. Now, what's the secret of this book? Why has this particular book, out of all the thousands of self-help books, remained a towering giant? I think to understand this, you have to know Napoleon Hill as I do. He certainly was not the first man to be appalled at the poverty and seemingly endless struggle and lack of direction he saw about him as a boy and as a young man, nor was he the first to write on the subject. But he possessed two unique, highly developed abilities seldom found in one man. The first was the manner in which he approached his subject. Napoleon Hill went after the secrets of achievement in the same way a scientist seeks the secrets of nature. He pursued accomplishment in the same way Thomas Edison pursued the electric light, relentlessly, indefatigably, implacably, until the truth which had been there all the time was revealed to him. His second important ability was the skill to explain his findings in such a way that they were instantly understood intellectually and, perhaps even more important in this particular view, understood emotionally as well. When the last page of Think and Grow Rich was read, the hand which put the book down on the table was a different hand. The man who then stood up and walked out into the world was a different, a changed man. The entangling webs of self-imposed frustration and indirection had fallen away, and now the way was clear. The man was now the possessor of the unique knowledge which enabled him to turn dreams into reality, thoughts into things. So-called fate or exterior circumstances were no longer in command. He who had been a passenger was now suddenly the captain. To begin, we have to understand that Think and Grow Rich is based on a simple, undeniable truth. Unless whatever it is you build is based on truth, you land with the entire structure falling and scattered about you. It simply cannot stand, it can't bear the test of time. The reason Think and Grow Rich has withstood the test of time is because it stands on the foundation of truth, the clear, unchallengeable fact that everything begins with an idea. Its philosophy is based on the fact that riches of every kind begin in the mind. One may start with nothing but ideas, but ideas are incredibly powerful when they're supported by definiteness of purpose, persistence, and a burning desire for their translation into material objects, or riches. Riches being whatever it is you happen to want. And this is the truth on which Think and Grow Rich is based. If you know what you want, and if you want it strongly enough to muster the kind of persistence that simply cannot be stopped, you will most certainly achieve it. By controlling your mind, you can control your destiny. So let's talk about Napoleon Hill's famous 13 Steps to Riches, the principles described in his book, remembering, of course, that riches are whatever it is you happen to want. Right here, let me make two important suggestions. The first is that whenever you listen to this cassette, try to make notes as we go along. The second is that this cassette was produced for your own personal use, to go with you on your own exciting journey. To play it for a group will prove to be of only temporary help, and may even lead to confusion. Make sure you have your own personal copy to play again and again, particularly at those times when you may feel yourself getting on the track. So now Napoleon Hill's famous 13 principles. The first principle is desire. Here's the starting point for all achievement. The first step toward riches, but it's here that we so often run into a roadblock. A person will say, well, I know what I desire, but can I get it? We'll get into this business of doubt later, but once and for all, let's get clear to one point. The point on whether or not you can accomplish that which you desire with all your heart. I think the answer was best expressed by Emerson, he wrote, there's nothing capricious in nature, and the implanting of a desire indicates that its gratification is in the constitution of the creature that feels it. In other words, you would not have the desire unless you obtained what was achieved. Each of us has a built-in governor, and our desires are modified by our abilities and circumstances. Whatever it is that you desire with all your heart, understand once and for all that it can and should be yours. In think and grow rich, Napoleon Hill sets example after example of why your burning desire is nothing more than an accurate picture of what you will one day become. So right here, firmly establish in your mind that which you desire more than anything else, and cherish and nurture that desire. Do not suppress or annihilate it. By annihilating the desires, you annihilate the mind. Every man without desire has within him no principle of action, nor motive to act. A good way to determine whether or not you really have a burning desire is to examine the way you go after it. If you go after that which you think you desire tentatively, timidly, in an attempted way it's safe. You don't have a burning desire at all. You can't get to second base if you keep one foot on first. But if you're willing to say once and for all, this is it. This is what I will do, and I will never retreat. I'll never go back. Then you have this sort of desire that can only end in success. It takes that kind of resolve to be able to keep picking yourself up after the falls you're bound to take. The only people who don't make mistakes are those who never try anything. The timid creatures of the lagoon who never venture into the broad deep sea beyond. While these principles will work for anything, you may want a more harmonious home life, a more successful career. For our example, let's say your desire happens to be more money, to better care for your family, to provide for your future careers, for any worthwhile purpose. Napoleon Hill gives us six definite practical steps to follow. One, fix in your mind the exact amount of money you desire. It's not sufficient merely to say, I want plenty of money. Be definite as to the amount. There's a psychological reason for definiteness, which will be described later. Two, determine exactly what you intend to give in return for the money you desire. There's no such reality as something for nothing. Three, establish a definite date when you intend to possess the money you desire. And four, create a definite plan for carrying out your desire and begin at once whether you feel entirely ready or not to put this plan into action. Five, write out a clear, concise statement of the amount of money you intend to acquire, the time limit for its acquisition, what you intend to give in return for the money, and describe clearly the plans in which you intend to accumulate it. Six, 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 whatever your goal happens to be. Now it's important that you follow these instructions to the letter. Play this part of the cassette over until you have it etched in your memory, because this is by far the most important of the 13 principles. Napoleon Hill's statement never ends with these words. Through some strange and powerful principle of mental chemistry which he has never devolved, nature wraps up in the impulse of strong desire that something which recognizes no such word as impossible and accepts no such reality as failure. The second principle is faith. You never would have even thought of your main desire unless faith were tugging at your mind, and if you find it difficult at times to have faith in yourself, you may be certain that you can have faith in these principles. Napoleon Hill writes, faith is the state of mind which may be induced or created by affirmation or repeated instructions of the subconscious mind by conscious auto-suggestion. By summoning over and over again a mental image of yourself already having accomplished your main desire, you will muster the faith you need. Faith is vital accomplishment. The Emperor Napoleon once said, all the scholastic scaffolding falls as a ruined edifice before one single word, faith. Pascal said, faith affirms many things respecting which the senses are silent, but nothing which they deny. It is superior to their testimony, but never opposed to it. Goethe said, epics of faith are epics of fruitfulness, but epics of unbelief, however glittering, are better and of all permanent good. And to Schleichel put it, in actual life every great enterprise begins with and takes its first forward step in faith. Have faith that you can accomplish that which you seek, for you would never have decided upon it unless it was meant for you to accomplish. Napoleon Hill gives us a self-confidence formula. First, I know that I have the ability to achieve the object of my definite purpose in life. Therefore, I demand in my self-persistence continuous action towards attainment, and I here and now promise to render such action. Second, I realize the dominant thoughts of my mind will eventually reproduce themselves in uprooted physical action and gradually transform themselves into physical reality. Therefore, I will concentrate my thoughts for 30 minutes daily upon the task of thinking of the person I intend to become, thereby creating in my mind a clearer mental picture of that person. Third, I know through the principle of auto-suggestion any desire that I persistently hold in my mind will eventually seek expression through some practical means of obtaining the object of it. Therefore, I will devote 10 minutes daily to demanding of myself the development of self-confidence. Fourth, I've already written down a description of my definite chief aim in life, and I will never stop trying until I've developed sufficient self-confidence for its attainment. Fifth, I fully realize that no wealth or position can long endear and is built upon truth and justice. Therefore, I will engage in no transaction which does not benefit all who it affects. I will succeed by attracting to myself the forces I wish to use and the cooperation of other people. I will enlist others to serve me because of my willingness to serve others. I will eliminate hatred, envy, jealousy, selfishness, and cynicism by developing love for all humanity because I know that a negative attitude toward others can never bring me success. I will cause others to believe in me because I will believe in them and in myself. In me reading Think and Glorify so that I could write this cassette condensation, I was again impressed by this great chapter on faith, particularly the examples of how some of the world's greatest men have accomplished through faith what might otherwise have appeared to be impossible. Now, the third principle is auto-suggestion. Now, we've already touched on this. Napoleon Hill tells us how, through repeated suggestion, the subconscious mind can be put to work for us. It's the fact that you've been able to concentrate your mind on your burning desire until your subconscious mind accepts it as fact and begins to devise ways of bringing it about. Here's where punches come from, sudden flashes of thought or inspiration, guidance. The instructions given in connection with faith will now be summarized and blended with the principle of auto-suggestion. First, go into some quiet spot, perhaps in bed at night. Close your eyes. Repeat aloud. Suddenly hear your own words, a careful reaffirmation of whatever your goal happens to be. If it's the accumulation of a sum of money, reiterate the time limit for its accumulation and a description of the service or merchandise you intend to give in return for it. As you carry out these instructions, see yourself already in possession of your goal. For example, suppose you intend to accumulate $50,000 by the 1st of January, five years from now, that you intend to give your personal services as a salesman in return for the money. Your written statement of your purpose should be similar to the following. By the 1st day of January, 19 so-and-so, whatever it happens to be, I'll have in my possession $50,000, which will come to me in various amounts from time to time. In return for this money, I'll do the most efficient service of which I'm capable, rendering the fullest possible quantity and the best possible quality of service in the capacity of salesman of, and here describe the product or service you intend to sell or whatever it is you believe in. It goes on. I believe that I will have this money in my possession. My faith is so strong that I can now see this money before my eyes. I can touch it with my hands. It's now a waiting transfer to me at the time and in the proportion that I deliver the service I intend to render in return for it. I have a way and a plan by which to accumulate this money, and I will follow that plan when it is received. Second, repeat this program night and morning until you can see and cleat to tin in your imagination the goal you're pursuing. Third, place a written copy of your statement where you can see it night and morning and read it just before retiring and upon arising until it's been memorized. As you carry out these instructions, you are applying the principle of autosuggestion. The fourth principle is specialized knowledge. It's here that I think Napoleon Hill makes a very important point. Knowledge is power only to the extent that it's organized into a definite plan of action and directed to a definite end. To quote correctly, before you can be sure of your ability to transmit desire into its monetary equivalent, you will require specialized knowledge of the service, merchandise, or profession which you intend to offer in return for fortune. Perhaps you may need much more specialized knowledge than you have the ability or the inclination to acquire. And if this is true, you may bridge your weakness through the aid of others. More on this later, but for now realize that you must learn all you can about your specialty. Set aside a definite time every day for learning more about what it is you prefer to be. Take the courses that are offered on your subject and associate with units of nobility as well. This is the end of side five. Side six is already queued up for your listening.
