Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill is structured in 13 chapters (also called “steps to riches”) that talk about things like the power of thought, desire, faith, autosuggestion, knowledge, planning, organization, and persistence, all of which must be understood in order to obtain what is desired. He developed his moneymaking secrets after interviewing 500 of the most affluent men and women of his time.
Hill says that in applying his principles one will reach a tremendous amount of wealth. Even though throughout the book he talks about money as the end goal, these principles can be applied to reach any kind of goal: professional, monetary, spiritual, etc.
Nuggets from the book
1) In chapter 7 Napoleon Hill says the following: “capitalistic society guarantees every person the opportunity to provide service and to collect riches in proportion to the value of the service”. Out of this magnificent quote I got two things.
First, “every person has the opportunity”, for him there are no barriers at all between you and your goals, things like your race, your gender, sexual orientation or social class are not valid excuses or determinants of your success.
The second thing that caught my eye out of that quote was “collect riches in proportion to the value of the service” and that is because the market doesn’t lie. We all get money in return for the value we provide.
Surgeons make more money than accountants because in our society saving a life is more valuable than doing some taxes. The moral of this is that if you want to make more money you will have to find a way to provide more value.
2) Every successful person I can think of knew what he or she wanted. There are plenty examples of very wealthy (and fulfilled) people that had a goal in mind and stuck to it until they succeeded. Having a clear idea of what you want will help you persevere until you achieve it. If you really, really want something you will do whatever it takes to make it happen.
These successful people, apart from having a clear goal in mind, were very specific. If you want to become a millionaire (but you really, really want it), you should write the exact plan you are going to follow to achieve that said goal in a place where you are going to see it every day. Once that precise plan is written you have to say it out loud every day until it becomes a part of you, that’s when you will start taking conscious and subconscious actions toward that goal.
3) The first step to any sort of achievement must be conquering your own mind. You must master your fears, doubts, negativity and procrastination if you intend to accumulate any sort of riches or success.
4) Surround yourself with a group of people (“Master Mind” or team of experts) that share your vision and will push you toward your goal. This Master Mind group needs to be in harmony with you and must have a different skill set that complements yours.
5) Master your thoughts; if you feed your subconscious mind negative thoughts and poor thoughts, negativity and poverty will become a part of your reality. Whatever you want to achieve in life you must learn how to think toward that goal.
6) If you want to affect your subconscious you need to mix your thoughts with emotions. You can’t say, “I am going to become a surgeon” and hope that you will. You need to actually focus and mix emotions as you say it, then you will convince yourself that you will make it.
7) Be specific when applying for a job. It is very important to climb the corporate ladder from the beginning. Instead of applying for any job, make sure you apply for a specific role being as precise as possible. You should say what position you are going to take, what solutions you will bring to certain problems, and why it is beneficial for the company to hire you and not somebody else. By doing so you will save a few years of your professional career trying to get a promotion and will start up high from the very beginning.
8) Most successful people have the habit of reaching decisions promptly and of changing those decisions slowly. That way once they have made a decision they will not be influenced by people outside their Master Mind group.
9) We will all face failure but only those willing to stand up and fight again will be able to achieve success.
10) Understand what kind of people are surrounding you. Some people’s happiness is based upon comparing themselves to others, so if you do well, they will feel bad. These people will always have comments to make and will send you negative thoughts. If you want to be successful you need to filter the thoughts of these toxic negative people and only process the comments of the people that truly want to see you succeed.
and then