Words of Wisdom from Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill
As you will discover when you start reading, this book is about SO much more than wealth creation. It’s a book I personally believe everyone should read at least once in their life. It was first published in 1937 and although it has been updated and reprinted since, much of the original advice is still as relevant (if not more) now as it was then.
Here are my top 11 learnings from Think and Grow Rich:
1. Don’t quit too soon
“More than 500 of the most successful people America has ever known told the author their greatest success came with just one step beyond the point at which defeat had overtaken them. Failure is a trickster with a keen sense of irony and cunning. It takes great delight in tripping one up when success is almost within reach.”
2. Know what you want
“Henry Ford is a success because he understands and applies the principles of success. One of these is desire: knowing what one wants.”
3. How to realise riches
“The method by which desire for riches can be transmuted into its financial equivalent consists of six definite practical steps:
1. 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 about the amount.
2. Determine exactly what you intend to give in return for the money you desire.
3. Establish a definite date when you intend to possess the money you desire.
4. Create a definite plan for carrying out your desire, and begin at once, whether you already or not, to put this plan into action.
5. Write out a clear, conscious statement about the amount of money you intend to acquire. Nam the time limit for this acquisition. State what you intend to give in return for the money, and describe clearly the plan through which you intend to accumulated.
6. Read your written statement aloud, twice daily, once just before retiring at night, and once after rising in the morning. As you read, see and feel and believe yourself already in possession of the money.”
4. Dare to dream
“You may as well know, also, that every great leader, from the dawn of civilisation down to the present, was a dreamer.”
5. Create a Master Mind group
“Any person who is educated knows where to get knowledge when needed, and how to organise that knowledge into definite plans of action. Through the assistance of his ‘Master Mind’ group, Henry Ford had at his command all the specialised knowledge he needed to enable him to become one of the wealthiest man in America. It was not essential that he had this knowledge in his own mind.”
6. Don’t wait
“Most of us go through life as failures because we are waiting for the ‘time to be right’ to start doing something worthwhile. Don’t wait. The time will never be ‘just right’. Start where you stand, work with whatever tools you may have at your command, and better tools will be found as you go along.”
7. Be decisive
“Acute analysis of over 25,000 men and women who had experienced failure disclosed the fact that lack of decision was near the head of the list of the 30 major causes of failure. This is no mere statement of a theory – it is a fact.”
8. How to develop persistence
“1. A definite purpose backed by a burning desire for its fulfilment.
2. A definite plan, expressed in continuous action.
3. Am I closed tightly against all negative and discouraging influences, including negative suggestions of relatives, friends and acquaintances.
4. A friendly alliance with one or more persons who will encourage you to follow through with both plan and purpose.”
9. Close your eyes
“One of America’s most successful and best known financiers followed the habit of closing his eyes for two or three minutes before making a decision. When asked why he did this he replied, ‘With my eyes closed, I am able to draw upon a source of superior intelligence.'”
10. Embrace your 40s and 50s
“The years between 40 and 50 are, as a rule, the most fruitful. One should approach this age not with fear and trembling, but with hope and eager anticipation.”
11. Life cannot be destroyed
“The entire world is made up of only two things, energy and matter. In elementary physics we learn that neither matter nor energy (the only two know realities) can be created or destroyed. Both matter and energy can be transformed. Life is energy, if it is anything. If neither energy nor matter can be destroyed, of course life cannot be destroyed. Life, like other forms of energy, may be passed through various processes of transition or change, but it cannot be destroyed. Death is mere transition.”
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