“I never dreamed about success. I worked for it.”
~ Estee Lauder
It’s gonna be a bright, bright, sunshiny day:)
And it’s hard to believe we are already half way through February, and yet I’ve just barely surpassed the midway point of Napoleon Hill’s “Think and Grow Rich”. It’s alot to grasp!
So I think it’s a perfect time to summarize where we’re at. This will also allow me to get ahead, and spend some time today thinking about our next step to growing riches, which is the Master Mind.
To begin the year, I came close to giving up on my writing. I had begun to think that I couldn’t meet my goal of morning writing and reading all at the same time. It took a friend posting a big “I can’t” on Facebook to encourage me to say “I can”. So I decided to share with you my reflections on a book which I’ve started many times, but never finished.
“Think and Grow Rich” by Napoleon Hill is the best selling book on success and personal achievement, having reached sales of over 60 million copies worldwide. I can’t think of a better way to start a new year.
In the preface, along came just what I was needing:
Insights that flash into your consciousness can fade quickly if you don’t write down something to capture that fleeting feeling of “ahah” !!
And I must say that writing down what I’ve been read is helping me retain the knowledge big time !!
In the introduction, Hill writes: “Unless you are intentionally searching for the secret to riches, you cannot have it at any price. This is because the secret comes in two parts. And in order for you to get it, one of these parts must already be in your possession.”
First, we must have an idea. As for the second half of the secret, Hill states that it is implied, and must be discovered and interpreted by ourselves.
And on we go, to the 13 Principles of Success, which Napoleon Hill researched over 20+ years, interviewing some 25,000 people, including 500 of the most successful and self-made people of all time.
“More than 500 of the most success people this country has ever known told me that their greatest success came just one step beyond the point at which defeat had overtaken them. When defeat overtakes a person, the easiest and most logical thing to do is to quit. That is exactly what the majority of people do.”
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To recap, here’s our first 8 Steps to Riches ….
1. Desire.
Desire is the starting point to all achievement.
And right out of the gate, we are asked to follow a 6 Step Method from turning Desire into Gold.
This daily ritual will help change our mind from failure consciousness to success consciousness.
If we magnetize our minds with the intense desire for riches, that must become “money consciousness” until the desire for money drives us to create definite plans for acquiring it.
2. Faith in Our Ability.
“Faith in yourself and your abilities is a state of mind that you will be able to develop at will, after you have mastered the thirteen principles in this book.”
And Hill provides us with a “Five-Step Self-Confidence Formula.” I signed my name to it.
3. Auto-Suggestion.
“Nature has built human beings, so that, through our five senses, we can have control over the material that reaches our subconscious mind. ”
It’s why we are asked to write out the Desire to Gold Statement. It is to become our dreamboard, tuning our mind to that which it has the potential to achieve.
4. Specialized Knowledge.
Knowledge has no value except for what can be gained from its application toward some worthy end.
Do not be a “jack of all trades”. It pays to know how to purchase knowledge, to know where to look.
Capability means imagination – the only quality needed to combine specialized knowledge with ideas to create organized plans that will yield riches.
5. Imagination.
“Desire is a thought, an impulse: Imagination. It is nebulous and ephemeral. It is abstract, and of no value, until it has transformed into it’s physical counterpart.”
”The moment I put my plan in writing, I will definitely given concrete form to my desire. “
Ideas become a giant under their own power. First you give life and action and guidance to ideas. Then they take on a power of their own and sweep aside all opposition.”
6. Organized Planning.
A long chapter with a huge amount of information!
“A quitter never wins – and a winner never quits!”
Maybe you’ll remember Spencer: I will not quit or shave my beard until the concrete is poured !!
In this chapter, Hill provides us with descriptions of every principle essential for planning the sale of personal services which include:
a. The 11 major attributes of leadership.
b. The 10 most common causes of failure in leadership.
c. A description of the fields of opportunity for leadership.
d. The 31 main causes of failure in all walks of life.
e. The important questions that should be used in self-analysis.
7. Decision.
The opposite of decision, procrastination, is a common enemy which we all must conquer to succeed.
“Successful people have the habit of reaching decisions promptly, and of changing these decisions slowly. People who fail to achieve success, without exception, have the habit of reaching decisions, if at all, very slowly, and of changing these decisions quickly and often.”
Use your mind! Make your own decisions. Keep your eyes open and your mouth shut.
If you change nothing; Nothing will change.
8. Persistence.
PERSISTENCE is an essential factor in the procedure of transmuting DESIRE into its monetary equivalent. The basis of persistence is the POWER OF WILL.
Will-power and desire, when properly combined, make an irresistible pair.
We’re again reminded that if we haven’t written out our Desire to Gold Statement, and we aren’t repeating it twice daily, we aren’t being persistent. It’s our first test. Do we really want this thing or not?
“Most ideas are stillborn. To grow, ideas need the breath of life injected into them through definite plans of immediate action. The time to nurse an idea is at the time of its birth. Every minute it lives, gives it a better chance of surviving.”
“The fear of criticism is what kills most ideas that never reach the planning and action stage.”
A 4 Step Plan is offered to develop persistence. It’s a state of mind, and therefore can be cultivated.
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Any thoughts at this mid-way point in the book? I sure have learned a lot. Understanding why I’ve achieved in the past, and what’s holding me back now. I’d love to hear from you ….
