Here are 6 steps you can do with this How to Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill Summary. It’s a book written by Napoleon Hill in the 1940s, and this is known as a popular classic self-help book.
He outlines crucial ideas for using thoughts to make yourself rich.
Things I remembered so far.
1. Have a burning desire
A burning desire is the first step to accumulating great riches. If you don’t have this, overcoming difficulties in your path to wealth will be very hard. A burning desire to have the money you want will help you keep going forward and motivate you when the going gets hard.
He formulated a formula here for cultivating a burning desire in you.
- Think of the amount of money you want to have. Don’t worry if it’s too big for you. Your subconscious mind will give you plans on how to get it.
- Write it down on a piece of paper.
- Set a date when you want to have the money
- Write a general plan on how you would accumulate this money. What will you exchange in return for this money?
- Write down the feelings you’ll feel once you have this money. Do you feel happy, joyful, and thankful now that you’re holding this money and free to use it however you want?
- Read this first thing in the morning and before going to bed.
We get paid based on the value we give to other people. This value can be in the form of a job, product/service you’re selling, or investments.
Jim Carrey applied this principle through his 10 million dollar goal. He wrote down a goal: to have 10 million dollars in exchange for his acting services. He frequently looks at this card and imagines himself vividly holding this check for 10 million dollars in his hands and feeling grateful that he is finally wealthy and successful.
He got a massive break from The Mask and Dumb and Dumber movies and reached his 10 million dollar goal.
2. Be persistent
A lot of wealthy people just kept going despite all odds. They have a clear vision of where to go, and even though many things don’t make sense to them, they keep pushing forward.
You will need a lot of persistence to get to your goal. You will encounter difficulties, setbacks, and doubts from yourself and your family or friends. The only way is to keep going and persist until you succeed.
Jack Ma, the founder of billion-dollar company Alibaba, started out trying to get hired in a fast food company. ( notes to myself: research Jack Ma and put his story here )
Jack Ma had a great story to tell about persistence. When KFC went to open a store in China. 23 out of 24 applicants were accepted, except for Jack Ma.
He didn’t go through his wealth as smoothly as possible. Early in his life, he failed primary school twice. He also failed three times in his middle school exams and his entrance exams to a university. He even failed ten times for his Harvard application.
He failed twice in his business ventures. When asked about his attitude towards failure and rejections, He said, “He has to get used to it. We’re not that good.”
He founded Alibaba in 1999 when the internet was starting. Now it’s a billion-dollar company.
His famous words are
“We keep fighting. We keep changing ourselves. We don’t complain.”
“Go big or go home.”
“Never give up. Today is hard, but the day after tomorrow will be sunshine.”
3. Mastermind Group
You can’t possibly learn all the knowledge in the world. You can only know so little of all the knowledge; your entire life is not enough to learn everything. A mastermind group is a group of people with whom you can get advice in areas where you are weak. They can guide you on the path that took them to success.
Your mastermind group will help mentor you and guide you with helpful advice.
Where can you find mastermind groups?
- Facebook groups
- Meetup.com
- Local networking clubs
- Schools
- Volunteer groups
- Church
- Charities
Napoleon Hill has an unusual way of gathering his mastermind group. He would get into a sleepy relaxed state. While in this relaxed state of mind, he would imagine himself in the audience of great scientists, people in business, politicians, and generals. He would imagine he is at a table with Abraham Lincoln, Thomas Edison, Napoleon Bonaparte, and Andrew Carnegie.
He would relay a problem he is trying to solve. He would then give these men time to think, discuss, and listen to what they had to say. He would imagine these men going about their discussions with their habits and mannerisms. He would observe and see if there is a nonverbal message he can get out of this meeting. He would let his relaxed mind try to comprehend the advice these men were giving. He would end the session and give thanks to these men. He would wake up slowly and write down the ideas he got from the conversation right away.
He eventually stopped doing this as he thought he was going crazy. But these imaginary meetings brought many solutions to his problems that he would not be able to solve on his own.
A physical and spiritual mastermind group will help you cover all bases besides finding mentors and coaches in the real world. You can also find these in the mental/spiritual world.
Here’s how
1. Think of people you want to meet in your imagination. Think of the qualities you want to emulate. What is it that you want to copy from them? What skills or talents do you like to learn from them?
2. Find a quiet place and time where you can go undisturbed for several minutes to an hour. Breathe slowly and let your mind relax. Take several deep breaths until you get very relaxed to almost sleeping.
3. Imagine yourself in a room where you get to meet your favorite people you want to complete in your mind. Picture them doing what they do typically while waiting. Maybe one of them is reading, walking, practicing dancing, talking to one another, or solving a crossword puzzle. Give them time to be themselves and observe what they’re doing.
4. Then, introduce yourself and start asking questions. The answers may not come right away. Maybe they will speak nonsense, or you don’t understand what they’re saying. Try to remember all of it.
5. Once all of them are finished talking. Ask to leave the room. Open your eyes and quickly write down what you remembered. These ideas may not make sense right away.
6. You may have to keep doing this until you get a clear answer. Eventually, you will see clues in your world for solutions to your problem that relates to the explanation given to you by your imaginary persons.
4. Sexual Transmutation
Napoleon Hill advises not to use our sexual energy on too much sex, masturbation, sexual stimulation, or porn. Most successful men use their sexual energy wisely to create things. They don’t waste this precious energy on too much sexual activity.
Having too much sex or masturbating causes you to lose a lot of focus, drive, motivation, and energy to do productive things.
He advises using this potential to inspire yourself to success. Use your love for sex and affection to achieve your goals.
Here are some steps you can do
* Get rid of pornographic material in your house
* Install blocking software for porn sites
* Get a support group that will help you get accountable
5. Having faith
Having faith is very important to do this work. Without it, you won’t accomplish your wealth goals.
How do you develop faith?
You must both think and feel the outcome that you desire. Your thoughts of wealth must be partnered with feelings of wealth for this goal to come true. Napoleon advises reading your written plan daily with emotions, so this soaks your mind. Eventually, your mind will accept this as the truth and help you develop strategies to make you rich.
6. Study specialized knowledge
General knowledge these days no longer help land high-paying job or the best position in the company. You got to have specialized knowledge to keep up with the fast change happening in the world. New technologies, techniques, and strategies are being implemented in any business, and it’s your task to keep yourself updated and learn this new knowledge.
- Read books about your craft.
- Attend seminars
- Network with people smarter than you. Their intelligence will rub off you and help make your thinking the same way they are.
- Do training related to your business. You might use it someday.
Conclusion
That concludes my Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill summary. The book’s point is to develop a burning desire for your goal by immersing your thoughts on it throughout the day. See yourself having the riches you dream of and live your life as if you already have it. Persist with actions you can do now and never give up.