Business Book Review: Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill
Nearly a century later, the iconic Think and Grow Rich proves how some ideas can stand the test of time.
My Rating: ★★★★★
Length: 320 pages
Publisher: Napoleon Hill
Released: 1937
Key Takeaways for Personal Branding
Napoleon Hill’s Think and Grow Rich remains a regular on must-read book lists for a reason. It thinks differently - quite literally.
The book’s main idea is that all achievements and earned riches have their beginnings in an idea. It’s the idea that creates the riches.
Of the many takeaways, here are my personal favourites:
From a ‘BURNING DESIRE’ to Riches
The book proposes riches begin with a ‘BURNING DESIRE’:
“When a man 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.”
It is the thought that counts.
Psychologists have said,
“When one is truly ready for a thing, it puts in its appearance.”
It’s knowing what you want and the determination to stand by that desire until it’s realised:
“There is a difference between wishing for a thing and being ready to receive it. No one is ready for a thing, until he believes he can acquire it.”
But, simply wishing is also not enough:
“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.”
The formula shared for transforming desires into riches can be summarised as:
Be definite as to the amount.
Determine exactly what you intend to give in return.
Establish a definite date for when you intend to possess the money.
Create a definite plan for carrying out your desire (begin at once, whether you are ready or not).
Write a clear statement of the amount (time limit, what you’ll give and how you plan to get it).
Read your written statement aloud twice daily (before bed and after waking up).
Auto-Suggestion and Visualization
Auto-suggestion or self-suggestion is one of Hill’s key focuses in Think and Grow Rich.
This is to convince the subconscious mind of your burning desire. Because if you don’t help direct your subconscious mind, it will find its own path.
Your desire should also be mixed with the emotion of FAITH:
“Thoughts which are mixed with any of the feelings of emotions, constitute a “magnetic” force which attracts, from the vibrations of the ether, other similar, or related thoughts.”
“Riches begin in the form of THOUGHT! The amount is limited only by the person in whose mind the THOUGHT is put into motion. FAITH removes limitations.”
Speaking your burning desire aloud is also not enough. You must have a clear visual in your mind’s eye of what obtaining the amount or achievement you want will look like.
The combination of auto-suggestion and visualisation should then form a part of your daily routine.
Specialised Knowledge
Hill is crystal clear in his conviction for specialised over general knowledge. Universities can, for example, focus on teaching knowledge but don’t specialise in the organisation or use of knowledge:
“KNOWLEDGE will not attract money, unless it is organized, and intelligently directed, through practical PLANS OF ACTION.”
“Knowledge is only potential power.”
Knowledge becomes power when it is organised into action and directed to a definite end. The missing link in the education system is the failure to teach students how to organise and use knowledge after they acquire it.
Everything is Energy
Your burning desires, paired with action, are realised because everything is energy. Everything in nature and known to man was created from energy into matter. A human’s brain is like a battery. It absorbs energy from the ether, which permeates every atom of matter and fills the universe.
The subconscious mind is the connecting link between the finite mind of man and Infinite Intelligence.
Think and Grow Rich is the growth-minded person’s guide to success. If you believe you create your circumstances and that your success is a result of your efforts, this book is for you. The person who believes with an idea, burning desire, a plan and faith, success is inevitable.
Favourite Quotes
That is one of the tricks of opportunity. It has a sly habit of slipping in by the back door, and often it comes disguised in the form of misfortune, or temporary defeat. Perhaps this is why so many fail to recognize the opportunity.
Failure is a trickster with a keen sense of irony and cunning.
Every failure brings with it the seed of an equivalent success.
The world is filled with an abundance of OPPORTUNITY the dreamers of the past never knew.
Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill: Available on Amazon.
