Think and Grow Rich: Summary and Review

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Napoleon Hill is a well-known motivational author who penned “Think and Grow Rich”, a timeless book. The title of this book is quite tricky. I expected a get-rich-quick book, but I was pleasantly surprised. Hill demonstrated the power of the mind, imagination, and channeling our aspirations to achieve financial greatness using timeless lessons.

Although the book was created many years ago, the principles illustrated here are still applicable to today’s self-help programs. “Think and Grow Rich” in a nutshell: This book attempts to explain why some people build vast fortunes while others struggle to make ends meet.

Success comes to those who become success conscious. Failure comes to those who indifferently allow themselves to become failure conscious. The object of this book is to help all those who seek to learn the art of changing their minds from failure consciousness to success consciousness.

“If you don’t conquer self, you will be conquered by self”- Napoleon Hill, Think and Grow Rich

Inspiration Behind the Book

The book “Think and Grow Rich,” released in 1937 after a 25-year study of the world’s wealthiest people, and is one of the most well-known personal development classics (more than one hundred million copies sold
worldwide, according to recent estimates).

Napoleon Hill was assigned to meet with Andrew Carnegie, Hill was a young special investigator for a well-known business publication of the time. Carnegie subtly hinted at a master force he employed during the
discussion-a mystical rule of the human mind. A little-known psychological principle-that was incredible in its strength. Carnegie suggested to Hill that he bases his entire concept of personal achievement on that concept, regardless of whether it was measured in terms of money, power, position, status, influence, or wealth increase.

Although that segment of the interview was never published in Hill’s magazine, it did inspire the young author to go on a twenty-year study project. Think and Grow Rich is a simple, intelligible articulation of Hill’s Law of Success philosophy. It covers thirteen steps to wealth, based on his analysis of over 500 self-made billionaires (financial, emotional, and spiritual).

Chapter Summaries of “Think and Grow Rich”

Let’s go through the summaries of the chapters from the book “Think and Grow Rich”.

Desire is the foundation of all achievement.

Wishing for your aspirations to come true will not bring you wealth. To achieve any objective, you must have a strong desire for it. As well as the belief that you can achieve it backed up with clarity of purpose- a
thorough understanding of what you want. Hill lays out six methods for making your dreams a reality which we’ll read about in the takeaways.

Faith is the visualization and belief in one’s ability to achieve one’s goals.

Using affirmations or repeated reminders to the subconscious, you can develop the emotion of trust. That is essential for transmuting your ambitions into physical or monetary counterparts.

Auto-suggestion: A Subconscious Mind Changing Tool

The method of channeling thoughts from the awareness to the subconscious mind through self-directed communication and self-administered stimuli is known as auto-suggestion. Auto-suggestion must be utilized to manifest your wishes. Because the conscious mind frequently functions as a barrier to sensory impressions.

Personal Experiences or Observations: Specialized Knowledge

General and specialized information, such as that provided in schools, will not help you accumulate riches on their own. Rather, you’ll need to learn how to organize and apply your knowledge once you’ve gained it. If you don’t have the specific information to build your business or meet your goals, organize a “Master Mind” group to supplement your knowledge with that of others.

Imagination: The Workshop of the Mind

Humanity’s unique ability to shape, generate, and act on desire is known as the imagination. In the book “Think and Grow Rich” Hill distinguishes between two forms of imagination: synthetic imagination. That does not create but rather arranges old concepts, ideas, or plans into new combinations. And the creative imagination, which creates new conceptions, ideas, or plans, and the creative imagination. It picks up thought vibrations from other humans, connects with infinite intelligence, and produces new ideas when driven by an intense desire.

Organized Planning: The Crystallization of Desire into Action

You must create a specific, practical plan and put it into action in order to translate desire into its physical or monetary counterpart. This chapter explains how to create plans and make sure they’re working for you.

Decision: The Mastery of Procrastination

10 takeaways from the book “Think and Grow Rich”

Let us see 10 key takeaways from the book “Think and Grow Rich” by Napoleon Hill

1. Thoughts are powerful things.

Hill argues in the opening paragraph that thinking, rather than money, education, or specialized understanding about something, is more conducive to success. The man who “believes” he can do anything has already taken a step toward the finish line. However, thinking may be an overly broad phrase. As a result, Hill defines thinking as a combination of initiative, faith, resolve to win, and resilience.

Failure is also taken into account since it is an essential part of the learning process, but it only gets us closer to the final objective. If we do it the right way and resolve to persevere regardless of what we encounter along the road.

Another prerequisite that must be kept in mind is that we must be clear about the goal we want to attain. Even before you decide to take the high road, make sure you properly pave the path. As George Harrison famously observed, “If you don’t know where you’re going, any road will take you there.”

2. Desire.

How much do you desire it? Of course, we each have our own set of objectives and dreams, but have you ever asked yourself this question? It may appear unnecessary at first, but it is only when we truly desire something that we will go to any length to obtain it. As a result, desire is the one stage that connects thoughts and actions in a hypothetical scheme:

Thoughts → Commitment (or Desire) → Action

Remember, Columbus dreamed of an uncharted shore, the Wright brothers dreamed of a contraption that could fly through the air, and Henry Ford dreamed of a horseless carriage. These individuals shared two
characteristics: first, they were resilient enough to overcome criticism from others and repeated failures in their endeavors. Second, they had a crystal-clear vision that, when combined with a burning passion,
eventually lead them to success.

As a result, you can only triumph in life if you fully burn all of the ties that bind you to the past and begin to think differently. You can’t have both excuses and outcomes at the same time. As a result, be willing to cut them off before they become a serious hindrance to your own development.

3. Faith.

In Hill’s words, faith entails persuading oneself that your aim is attainable. Self-suggestion can also be used to train and enhance faith. If you believe in something or have a certain goal in mind, practice convincing your mind that you have the ability to achieve it. And after a while, your mind will begin to act on your behalf subconsciously. In a nutshell, you become what you think about.

Faith is the great equalizer. In many circumstances, it is the source of suffering and failure, but understanding its power and channeling it toward meaningful goals can make all the difference.

Avoid unpleasant feelings on purpose and focus all of your energy on optimism. The world is more abundant than it has ever been, and we have no excuses — none — for not living up to our full potential.

Hill also emphasizes the necessity of writing down your goals, repeating them for thirty minutes every day, and committing yourself that you would be relentless in pursuing them. In fact, he recommends a step-by-step method for infusing your goals with both drive and faith. This procedure entails:

Fix in your mind a specific thing that you want to achieve.
Determine exactly what you’re going to give in return.
Establish a definite date.
Create a definite plan and start right away to put that into action.
Write down the four previously mentioned steps into a statement.
Read this out loud twice daily, preferably in the morning and at night before going to sleep.

The last step is called auto-suggestion. It aims at creating faith inside you that your burning desire will one day come true.

4. Specialized knowledge.

General knowledge is becoming increasingly popular, particularly among university teachers. It is, however, not very effective for accumulating riches which is why, in most situations, academics are extremely clever but not particularly wealthy. There is no such thing as “Knowledge is Power,” according to Hill. He refers to it as “potential power.” Only when it is wisely directed through definite plans of action and a well-defined objective does it become true power.

Knowledge in a specific field is required for success. If you aren’t an expert on the items or services you sell, you will almost certainly never be wealthy or successful (or even happy?) in any activity. This type of knowledge is easily obtained from a variety of sources, including libraries, specialist courses, and internet publications. In addition to schools and institutions, even some type of collaboration with others is a form of higher knowledge.

Education does not end on graduation day, and those who believe it does are doomed to mediocrity for the rest of their lives.

5. Imagination.

If there is one quote that perfectly encapsulates the notion that this book is based on, it is Albert Einstein’s: “Imagination is more essential than knowledge.” The amount of information available is restricted. The world is encircled by imagination.”

We, as men, have the ability to transform our thoughts into tangible objects. We can make anything our mind imagines and believes is possible. Our intellect, it appears, can be both a blessing and a curse; our
greatest ally or our worst enemy.

Hill states that imagination can take the shape of:

Synthetic Imagination – Our mind operates mostly through our past: experiences, accomplishments, failures, and the like, using synthetic imagination. Its only task is to come up with fresh ways to combine “old content”.

Creative Imagination – It is the type of imagination that produces impressions and inspiration, and it only works when our minds vibrate at a faster rate. A strong desire and a well-thought-out plan can help to inspire
creative imagination (preferably written).

Ideas may readily be turned into money if they are accompanied by great strategies and meticulously prepared plans, as this volume often emphasizes. Hill even goes so far as to claim that hard labor isn’t important when you have a good plan in place.

6. Are you a decision-maker or a procrastinator?

One of the key reasons most individuals are dissatisfied with their lives is procrastination. Procrastination implies giving up on yourself, paying too much attention to other people’s ideas about you and your life’s prospects. And gazing at successful individuals and asking yourself, “What if?” when it’s probably too late to make a change.

Well, I’m here to tell you (wait, Mr. Hill is here) that taking action equals making decisions. How do you want your life to be? Go out there and create your ideal life on a sheet of paper, then fill in the gaps between your ideal life and your existing one. Whether it’s more resources, more good associations, or more strong routines and habits. Spend the remainder of your natural life waking up and pursuing your objectives. Remember that everyone has an opinion, even those who shouldn’t, and the sooner you realize this, the earlier you’ll be able to decide not to put up with those who only want to pull you down and crush
your goals.

“Well done is well said.”

Then excuse yourself and go out and do something. It doesn’t work the other way around. Pay attention to everyone’s viewpoints and, god forbid, treat them with respect. But keep in mind that they are simply opinions. Take them with a grain of salt, smile, thank those who voiced them, and go about your business. Make decisions and stick to them no matter what happens (besides, change them by yourself if you really need to).

7. Mastermind Alliance.

So you’ve got your vision, desire, faith, knowledge, and imagination. Now what? It’s critical at this time to surround oneself with like-minded people, people you know you can trust intellectually. Plus who can provide you with notable insights and sparks from which you may take inspiration?

In the book “Think and Grow Rich” Hill claims that when two or more brains come together, a third, far more powerful mind emerges, capable of pushing itself far beyond what any single mind could achieve on its own. Obviously, before forming or considering forming a genius alliance, you need to examine your strengths. What do you think you could bring to the table? Do you have the necessary knowledge, clout, or resources to achieve your objective? If not, make sure you put yourself in a position where you can make a real difference for the cause.

Remember that forming a Mastermind Alliance isn’t about entirely outsourcing your concept, waiting for it to be resolved. and then getting credit if it works. You must put in the hard work, which involves taking responsibility for your own and your team’s efforts.

8. Sex Transmutation.

I know what you’re thinking: what does sex have to do with success? The two, however, are more intertwined than you may imagine.

Sexual impulse is one of the most important desires we experience as human beings; through the transmutation process. We intentionally redirect those sexual energies towards other objectives, enhancing our creative faculties in the pursuit of those objectives as a result.

Highly successful people are known for having a stronger sexual nature than the normal person; nevertheless, this does not indicate that they employ it in a physical sense. They merely express sexual energy through
their actions. Only by fully transmuting his sexual energy during the sales process can a brilliant salesman achieve a position of authority in his sector.

He recognizes his sexual drive but chooses to channel it into enthusiasm and love for his career rather than its most visceral manifestation. This is crucial: sex transmutation necessitates a tremendous amount of willpower, but the payoff is well worth it. If we can’t control our sexual urges, we’ll wind up acting like animals, losing our senses, reason, and, ultimately, our ability to accomplish meaningful, high-quality work.

9. Subconscious mind.

Your subconscious mind functions as an archive, receiving and storing all of your thoughts and impressions, regardless of their nature. It records everything and behaves in accordance with your typical thought patterns. So if you feed your brain a vision of prosperity and success, it will work to make those goals a physical reality. And it will work just as hard to overcome negative thoughts and convictions: it simply does what you tell it to do.

Make it a habit to think good thoughts and combine them with vision and trust. After that, use self-suggestion to “communicate” your plans to your subconscious. Despite the fact that pessimistic impulses are considerably simpler to produce. And much difficult to extinguish, strive (as much as you can) to turn them off, or at the very least divert your thoughts from them whenever you find it wandering.

Again, don’t expect it to be easy: if you grew up in the same circumstances as the vast bulk of the present human population. You’ve probably been brainwashed for years with erroneous notions like “money is evil,” “the economy is deteriorating,” “having objectives is egoistic,” and so on. Understand that people who speak in this manner have never had a meaningful and rich life, and they are unlikely to ever do so. Do yourself a favor and protect your mind from them at all costs.

10. Fear.

In the book “Think and Grow Rich” the author has compiled a list of the six fears that he deems to be the most threatening. Fear keeps a lot of individuals from becoming their best selves, and if you let it, it will try to stop you as well.

Fear of poverty → Poverty and prosperity are incompatible. You either want one or the other, so if you want to be wealthy decide how much wealth you want to amass. And make it a point to utterly reject poverty in your thoughts.

Fear of criticism →This is characterized by nervousness in presence of others and it destroys initiative. To beat it, you must stop worrying about what other people do, think, and say.

Fear of ill health → This fear, in my opinion, derives from two sources: the first is the opinion of the negative individuals in your life. And the second is the opinion of those who surround you with negativity. To make this stop, you must forget about others and their opinions.

Fear of loss of love → The fear of losing a loved one is one of the most prevalent-and-dreadful-emotions that may be felt. The author in the book “Think and Grow Rich” asks to reach a point where you learn to appreciate living by yourself.

Fear of old age →Less sexual attractiveness, a higher risk of becoming unwell, and decreased mobility and strength are all-natural side effects of growing older. Aging is a natural part of life, just like birth and growth. Rather than seeing our senior years as an opportunity to gain more clarity and life experiences, some of us fail to embrace the positive aspects of aging. Living in continual fear of its advent.

Fear of death → The fear of death, which is linked to the fear of the unknown, is the last and most terrifying. Death is a mysterious, unpredictable event, and we are afraid of the unknown. At the same time, being terrified of death is pointless. Instead of think about dying, think about living your life to the fullest.

CONCLUSION:

The book's ideology is founded on the belief that success in any endeavor may be accomplished via mental visualization and imagination. To put it another way, you can become anything your mind feels is possible, and your mind is entirely responsible for either halting you or propelling you toward your ideal self. This book had been written over 80 years ago, but has timeless principles that we can apply to our lives and is quite relevant even today. I hope you found it as intriguing as I did. However, because this is more of a mentality book, you should seek out books that provide more practical, real guidance to supplement what you've learned. 
If you want to buy the book then click here and if you want to read summary of similar books then click on them below.
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