Think and Grow Rich Summary

Napoleon Hill

Think and Grow Rich

15 minute read Audio Available

Synopsis

Think and Grow Rich was written in 1937 by Napoleon Hill, promoted as a personal development and self-improvement book. Hill writes that he was inspired by a suggestion from business magnate and later-philanthropist Andrew Carnegie. We were able to pick this one up from Top 15 business books recommended by top entrepreneurs.

Who is this book for?

Readers who are interested in creating a better life for yourself.
People who want to learn the secrets of professionals in their fields.
Anyone interested who wants to be successful in life.

Meet the author

Oliver Napoleon Hill was an American self-help author. He is known best for his book Think and Grow Rich which is among the 10 best selling self-help books of all time.

Think and Grow Rich Summary

Greed can be a good thing. If your goals and your plans are clear, then the more you desire, the more you will end up getting.

Before you can even dream of growing your wealth and becoming rich, you first must find the desire to do so. Greed is not a fleeting interest or a passing thought, but a deep and emotional obsession.

Yearning for wealth must occupy your mind every waking hour, and you must wish with all your heart to achieve your goals. However desire alone is often not enough.

Desire is often inconsistent and may be fleeting. Therefore you will need to develop a framework to keep yourself disciplined and on track.

Wish, when paired with a detailed plan and patience and perseverance is the only way to grow indeed rich. There are six steps to ensure that your desires are being found and channeled in the right place:

Determining the exact sum of money you want to achieve.
Understand what you are willing to sacrifice or give to obtain this money.
Set yourself a timeline, or deadline by which you plan to meet your money goal.
Create a detailed plan to generate income which, over time will help you achieve your goals.
Develop a clear and concise plan, firstly by summarizing steps 1-4 in a single sentence.
Repeat your sentences out loud each morning and night

By following the six steps above, your desires can transcend your mind, and your plans and goals become a part of your psychology. Materializing your desire and building a framework around which you can make a detailed plan is imperative to success.

Without a complete and clear idea in your mind, you are likely to stray or become distracted from your goals. A robust foundational base will also help to keep yourself accountable- by having a clear timeline and purposes, you can maintain discipline throughout your journey.

Achieving this step is the key to beginning your path to wealth.

Believe in yourself. You won’t be able to do it alone and if you can’t trust yourself, you can’t expect others to trust you either.

Faith, or the deep seeded belief that something you will achieve regardless of obstacles, is vital in ensuring your consistent dedication to your goals. It is the idea that what you perceive in your mind is right, and will come to fruition over time if you maintain your dedication, desire, and focus.

Believing in your ability to execute your detailed plans, and reach your ambitious goals is vital for maintaining the momentum and discipline required for large-scale projects. Faith can permeate into your subconscious mind, to the point where your faith becomes unwavering without you consciously thinking about it.

Maintaining trust in your goals, allows you to persevere through potential unforeseen obstacles or hurdles which may appear in your path to wealth- accidents, disasters, unexpected medical costs, etc.

Both good and bad fortune we can attribute to faith (or lack of). Someone who has allowed negative thoughts to enter their subconscious mind (or loses faith) often sees these thoughts translated to their reality- and materialize in their lives.

While others, who reject these thoughts, and allow their subconscious mind to remain dedicated to their goals, are more likely to see success in the long term, as this is evident when reflecting upon the studies of positive, confident body language when deep down you are not feeling confident.

Studies have shown that by adopting a series of ‘power poses,’ or robust and sure body language positions (flexing your chest, etc.), the human body releases a variety of neurochemicals which translate to feelings of confidence.

The perfect example of the conscious mind is influencing your subconscious mind- by consciously adopting a variety of poses (despite what your subconscious mind may be feeling), you can ‘deceive’ your body into feeling confident.

You can control your own emotions. Using your conscious mind to constantly reinforce positive thoughts and experiences can make them more likely.

Finding methods to overcome your subconscious mind with your conscious mind is vital to maintaining success and motivation in the face of adversity.

Desire and faith need to pair with the ability to consciously reflect on your feelings and thoughts, and find methodologies to overcome them or redirect them to the appropriate place.

Autosuggestion is the process of repeatedly communicating to yourself with your conscious mind, to overcome adversities or negative thoughts in your subconscious mind. In reality, we have full control over our subconscious mind (and therefore our emotions and feelings) at any stage, but many of us never reflect on or invest the time to do so.

To develop skills in auto-suggestion, you must first acquire the ability to apply conscious attention to a task.

Mentally reflecting and utilizing deep focus and concentration to understand how your subconscious mind is influencing your behavior and thoughts is a difficult skill to acquire. However, with consistent dedication to the cause, it can be achieved. Once you can apply conscious attention, begin to mix in positive emotions (such as belief, desire or faith). Use methods such as visualizing yourself after you have achieved your end goal, and internalize the feelings you are feeling.

Consistent repetition of this process over time is the single best method of accomplishing your goals and maintaining motivation and focus through adversity. It is recommended to perform these exercises regularly, twice a day (morning and night) by closing your eyes and visualizing or repeating aloud your goals to remain focused.

Alternatively, you can write down your goals, as the act of handwriting helps with auto-suggestion and maintaining focus, this is the core of the process and methodology – combining a deep desire with steadfast faith and the ability to auto-suggest achievements in the subconscious mind.

Taking control over your subconscious, and become mentally and emotionally aware of your own body is the crux of thinking and growing rich.

“The starting point of all achievement is DESIRE. Keep this constantly in mind. Weak desire brings weak results, just as a small fire makes a small amount of heat.”
― Napoleon Hill, Think and Grow Rich

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