think and grow rich by napolean hill

sharing what my newfound knowledge, and thoughts on the book ‘think and grow rich’ by napoleon hill.

this book is designed like a guide, to those in the author’s words, “are interested in furthering their lives and achieving their goals”. it consists of 15 chapters, each mentioning the money-making secret which has made fortunes and providing step-by-step instructions and techniques derived from the lives of various successful people in the author’s time.

key insights from the book

below is everything i underlined with pen on the book for its importance and knowledge, according to chapter.

1 - introduction

• — thoughts are things.
• — when a really desires a thing so deeply that he is willing to stake his entire future on a single turn of the wheel in order to get it, he is sure to win.
• — when one is truly ready for a thing, it puts it in its appearance.
• — one of the most common causes of failure is the habit of quitting when one is overtaken by temporary defeat.
• — failure is a trickster with a keen sense of irony and cunning.
• — ‘no’ does not necessarily mean no.
• — riches begin with a state of mind, with definiteness of purpose, with little or no hard work.
• — be interested in knowing how to acquire that state of mind which will attract riches.
• — success comes to those who become success concious.
• — we are the masters of our fate, the captains of our souls, because we have the power to control our thoughts.
• — before we can accumulate riches in great abundance, we must magnetise our minds with intense desire for riches, that we must become ‘money concious’ until the desire for money drives us to create definite plans for acquiring it.

2 - desire

• — every person who wins in any undertaking must be willing to burn his ships and cut all sources of retreat.
• — wishing will not bring riches, but desiring riches with a state of mind that becomes an obsession, then planning definite ways and means to acquire riches, and backing those plans with persistence which does not recognise failure, will bring riches.
• — if you truly desire money (or anything) so keenly that your desire is an obsession, you will have no difficulty in convincing yourself that you will acquire it.
• — the successful application of the six steps does call for sufficient imagination to enable one to see, and to understand, that accumulation of money cannot be left to chance, good fortune, and luck.
• — all who have accumulated great fortunes first did a certain amount of dreaming, hoping, wishing, desiring, and planning.
• — one quality which one must possess to win, and that is definiteness of purpose, the knowledge of what one wants and a burning desire to possess it.
• — the real leaders of the world always has been men who harnessed, and put into practical use, the intangible, unseen forces of unborn opportunity, and have converted those foces (or impulses of thought) into skyscrapers, cities, factories, airplanes, automobiles, and every form of convenience.
• — let no one influence you to scorn the dreamer.
• — you must catch the spirit of the great pinoeers of the past.
• — develop and market our talents.
• — put your dreams across, and never mind what ‘they’ say if you meet with temporary defeat.
• — every failure brings with it the seed of an equivalent success.
• — practical dreams do not quit.
• — the world is filled with an abundance of opportunities which the dreamersof the past never knew.
• — the whole course of things goes to teach us faith. we need to only obey. there is guidance for each of us, and by lowly listening, we shall hear the right world. the right word? desire.
• — i believe in the power of desire backed by faith, beacuse i have seen this power lift men from lowly beginnings to places of power and wealth.

3 - faith

• — faith is a state of mind which may be induced, or created, by affirmation or repeated instructions to the subconcious mind, through the principle of autosuggestion.
• — when men first come into contact with crime, they abhor it. if they remain in contact with crime for a time, they become accustomed to it, and endure it. if they remain in contact with it long enough, they finally embrace it, and become influenced by it.
• — all thoughts which have been emotionalised and mixed with faith, begin immediately to translate themselves into their physical equivalent or counterpart.
• — faith is the ‘eternal elixir’ whuch gives life, power, and action to the impulse of thought!
• — faith is the basis of all miracles.
• — faith is the only known antidote to failure.
• — every man is what he is because of the dominating thoughts which he permits to occupy his mind.
• — any idea, plan, or purpose may be placed in the mind through repetition of thought.
• — the subconcious mind makes no distinction between constructive and destructive thought impulses.
• — but soon or late the man who wins is the man who thinks he can.

4 - autosuggestion

• — do not become discouraged if you cannot control and direct your emotions the first time you try to do so.

5 - specialised knowledge

• — two kinds of knowledge. one is general, the other is specialised.
• — knowledge will not attract money, unless it is organised, and intelligently directed, through practical plans of action.
• — knowledge is only potential power.
• — knowledge has no value except that which can be gained from its application towards some worthy end.
• — successful men, in all callings, never stop acquiring specialised knowledge relayed to their major purpose, business, or profession.
• — anything can be acquired without effort, and without cost is generally unappreciated, often discredited.

6 - imagination

• — man can create anything which he can imagine.
• — ideas are the beginning points of all fortunes. ideas are the product of the imagination.
• — the creator of ideas makes his own price, and, if he is smart, gets it.

7 - organised planning

• — when defeat comes, accept is as a signal that your plans are not sound, rebuild those plans, and set sail once more toward your coveted goal. if you give up before your goal has been reached, you are a ‘quitter’. a quitter never wins, and a winner never quits.

important factors of leadership:

• 01 - unwavering courage.
• 02 - self-control.
• 03 - a keen sense of justice.
• 04 - definiteness of decision.
• 05 - definiteness of plan.
• 06 - the habit of doing more than paid for.
• 07 - pleasing personality.
• 08 - sympathy and understanding.
• 09 - mastery of detail.
• 10 - willingness to assume full responsibility.
• 11 - cooperation.

9 - persistence

• — will power, which they mix with persistence, and place back of their desires to insure the attainment of their objectives.
• — lack of persistence is one of the major causes of failure.
• — weak desires bring weak results.
• — those who have cultivated the habit of persistence seem to enjoy insurance against failure. no matter how many times they are defeated, they finally arrive up toward the top of the ladder.

the definite causes of persistence:

• 1 - definiteness of purpose.
• 2 - desire.
• 3 - self-reliance.
• 4 - definiteness of plans.
• 5 - accurate knowledge.
• 6 - cooperation.
• 7 - will power.
• 8 - habit.

weaknesses to master by all who accumulate riches:

• 01 - failure to recognise what one wants.
• 02 - procrastination.
• 03 - lack of interest.
• 04 - indecision.
• 05 - relying upon alibis.
• 06 - self-satisfaction.
• 07 - indifference.
• 08 - blaming others for one’s mistakes.
• 09 - weakness of desire.
• 10 - willingness to quit.
• 11 - lack of organised plans.
• 12 - neglecting to move.
• 13 - wishing instead of willing.
• 14 - compromising with poverty.
• 15 - searching for shortcuts to riches.

• 16 - fear of criticism.

• — most ideas are still-born, and need the breath of life injected into them through definite plans of immediate action.
• — the only ‘break’ anyone can afford to rely upon is a self-made ‘break’.
• — riches do not respond to wishes. they respond only to definite plans, backed by definite desires, through constant persistence.

steps which lead to the habit of persistence:

• 1 - definite purpose backed by burning desire.
• 2 - definite plan, expressed in continuous action.
• 3 - a mind closed tightly against all negative influences.
• 4 - a friendly alliance who will encourage.

10 - power of the master mind

• — power is essential for success in the accumulation of money.
• — plans are inert and uneless, without sufficient power to translate them into action.
• — power may be defined as ‘organised and intelligently directed knowledge’.
• — when a group of individual brains are coordinated and function in harmony, the increased energy created through that alliance becomes available to every individual brain in the group.
• — money is shy and elusive.
• — pursuit of money must be mixed with faith. it must be mixed with desire. it must be mixed with persistence. it must be applied through a plan, and that plan must be set into action.

11 - the mystery of sex transmutation

• — sex is the most powerful of human desires.
• — the major difference between the genius and the ordinary crank inventor, may be found in the fact that the genius works through his faculty of creative imagination, while the ‘crank’ knows nothing of this faculty.
• — the human mind responds to stimulation.
• — sex energy is the creative energy of all geniuses.
• — transmutation of sex energy calls for more will-power than the average person cares to use for this purpose.
• — practically every great leader, whom he had the privilege of analysing, was a man whose achievements were largely inspired by a woman.
• — when the pursuit of love begins to mix itself with the emotion of sex, the result is calmness of purpose, poise, accuracy of judegement, and balance.
• — there is no other road to genius than through voluntary self effort!
• — memories of love never pass.
• — the man who cannot be stimulated to great heights of achievement by love, is hopeless. he is dead, though he may seem to live.
• — love is, without question, life’s greatest experience.

12 - the subconcious mind

• — you cannot entirely control your subconcious mind.
• — your subsconcious mind functions voluntarily.
• — everything which man creates begins in the form of a thought impulse.
• — positive and negative emptions cannot occupy the mind at the same time.
• — if you pray for a thing, but have fear as you pray that you may not receive it, or that your prayer will not be acted upon, your prayer will have been in vain.

14 - the sixth sense

• — the next best thing to being truly great is to emulate the great, by feeling and action, as nearly as possible.

15 - how to outwit the six ghosts of fear

• — indecision is the seedling of fear!
• — indecision crytallises into doubt, the two blend and become fear!

the six basic fears:

• 1 - fear of poverty.
• 2 - fear of criticism.
• 3 - fear of ill health.
• 4 - fear of loss of love of someone.
• 5 - fear of old age.

• 6 - fear of death.

• — the fear of poverty is, without doubt, the most destructive of the six basic fears.
• — a thief will criticise the man from whom he steals.
• — worry is a form of contained fear caused by indecision; therefore it is a state of mind which can be controlled.
• — an unsettled mind is helpless.
• — nothing which life has to offer is worth the price of worry.
• — your business in life is, presumably, to achieve success.
• — find piece of mind, attain happiness.
• — recognise the fact that you, and every other human being, are, by nature, lazy, indifferent, and susceptible to all suggestions which harmonise with your weaknesses.
• — without doubt, the most common weakness of all human beings is the habit of leaving their minds open to the negative influence of other people.
• — life is a checker board, and the player opposite you is time. if you hesitate before moving, or neglect to move promptly, your men will be wiped off the board by time.
• — the reward - is the satisfaction that comes to all who conquer self and force life to pay whatever is asked.
• — the reward is worthy of your effort.

my thoughts

all the principles, ideas, and techniques taught in this book is not limited to only attaining wealth. this book teaches how we, in generally, can improve our mindset, thoughts, and actions, in order to obtain and meet any goal set in life. in my opinion, that is the beauty of learning about finance and business.

this book has provided me with valuable insight on how to design and engineer my life towards success. the things that the book teaches is logically, sensible, and most importantly, doable. i highly recommend purchasing/reading this book, especially now you got most of the main points in mind.

extras

i hope i get no copyright strikes from this lol.

this is my first post after the blog overhaul, where i added categories, and reorganised things up. i hope that with this post, you will have learned a thing or two about how to think and grow rich, as well as have some points in mind when you read the book yourself.

my beloved honey bought this book for me on a fine thursday evening when we went to a bookstore. i love you honey, and i am forever grateful for all the things you do for me. she’s the best.