Very few books in the self-help genre are as admired and universally accepted as Napoleon Hill’s ever contemporary book “Think and Grow Rich”. First Published in 1937, this book is still a classic amongst entrepreneurs, businessmen and even spiritual advisers. From the initial publication until Napoleon Hill’s death in 1970 the book has sold over 20 million copies. And the numbers are growing still!
The book, for the first time, teaches the famous Andrew Carnegie formula for money-making. This is based upon 13 proven principles to be mastered:
Related: Decoding Robert Kiyosaki’s “Rich Dad Poor Dad”- Lessons on Financial Intelliegence
1. Desire
By the word “Desire” Hill does not mean wistful dreaming or wishing as wishes might or might not come true. Hill’s “Desire” is a powerful force. It makes someone passionate with the want for something. Only when someone wants something badly he or she will make plans and work towards attaining it. When wanting something is fully matured and working within your head 24/7, you have Desire. Hill advises us to ensure that our wants become Desire. He even asks us to develop a clear and concise statement describing that Desire. We have to be specific. If we want to make money then we should be clear about the amount of money we want to make. An action plan should be developed which will set a timeline and also list all the activities to be performed. Desire is a powerful tool and the “mission statement” derived from it is instrumental to success.
2. Faith
Hill acknowledged the importance of faith next only to desire. By faith, he means undying self confidence and optimistic thinking. If you think about good things, good things will happen to you. If you are positive about your goals, they will eventually be met. He learnt this principle from his mentor Andrew Carnegie. After careful observation Hill felt that faith would come to anyone who would master the rest 12 principles. Have a strong desire, convert the desire into mission statements, actions; have faith in yourself and success will soon come knocking on your door!
3. Auto-Suggestion
Hill suggests a traditional technique of auto suggestion. He asks us to repeat the mission statement aloud day and night, while picturing the goal in mind. As Hill puts it: “If you do not see great riches in your imagination, you will never see them in your bank balance.” So if you desire to accumulate great wealth, imagine yourself in possession of that wealth. But there is one more side of the coin which is often overlooked. When visualizing what is to be attained one should also visualize the rendering of the service or good that s/he will give in turn. So apart from having the desire and faith in your goals, one should also have a clear picture what you are gaining and losing and Hill advises us to never lose sight of it.
4. Specialized Knowledge
Hill emphasises on the importance of specialised knowledge. According to him, no man who has ever become rich has done so just by using his “general knowledge”. While this unspecialised knowledge will help you overcome day to day obstacles, it won’t take you to your long term goal. You may belong to any field, without a proper knowledge of your domain you are never going to make it big. In today’s world we call it finding your “niche”. Hill also suggests that one might start from acquiring the knowledge he or she does not have or work on what they already know. One of the effective ways to gain such knowledge is to surround yourself with people who can guide you and advise you.
5. Imagination
Throughout this masterpiece Hill has reiterated the importance of imagination. The most important role of it is in the auto generation part without which faith and desire will have little or no value. According to him imagination is of two types: synthetic and creative imagination. In synthetic imagination, we arrange old concepts, ideas or plans into new combinations. It does not create anything new. Whereas creative imagination gives us breakthrough ideas. It is these kind of imagination that make inventions, discoveries, unveils new boxes of knowledge for us!
6. Organized Planning
The importance of having a plan is not unknown to anyone. However Hill has put forth some important concepts related to this. The first concept is leadership. Hill says that it depends on a person to choose whether to be a leader or a follower. According to him it’s not bad to be a follower. However remaining a follower is not praiseworthy. Most great leaders became great because they were once intelligent followers. Hill’s leader has courage, self-control. He is decisive and sympathetic and has a pleasant personality. He can take responsibility and can go an extra mile to achieve something. Hill then talks about the concept of QQS rating. QQS stands for Quality, Quantity and Spirit of service. A leader understands and pursues all three as giving extra attention to one can’t help in sustaining a business.
7. Decision
According to Hill leaders are those who can take bold decisions very promptly and they even stand by what they have decided. On the other hand indecision, according to Hill “is a habit which usually begins in youth.” The habit then becomes permanent as we grow and hurts our definiteness while making a decision. Having said that, it should also be remembered that making quick decisions is not compulsory to become a leader. The choices should be judicious and should reflect your definiteness of purpose. It’s only when you have desire and faith in yourself you can make quick decisions and stand by those decisions. Without this, quick decisions are mostly stupidity.
8. Persistence
Persistence is very closely related to faith. It is the faith in one’s self that no matter how many times s/he fails, s/he will stand up and fight again. Every motivational speaker, career coach, mentor has hailed this skill. Still it is found that this is one skill that is lacked by most of us. We fail once or at best twice and we give up. To develop persistence, one needs to have a burning desire, a definite plan, encouragement and the willingness to shut out the critics.
9. Power of the Master Mind
Hill described the Master mind as the “coordination of knowledge and effort, in a spirit of harmony, between two or more people, for the attainment of a definite purpose.” The master mind principle says, “no two minds ever come together without, thereby, creating a third, invisible, intangible force which may be likened to a third mind.” By creating this “third mind” the minds become something even greater and bigger things can be achieved.
10. The Mystery of Sex Transmutation
Hill writes: “There emotion of sex contains the secret of creative ability. Destroy the sex glands, whether in man or beast, and you have removed the major source of action. For proof of this, observe what happens to any animal after it has been castrated. A bull becomes as docile as a cow after it has been altered sexually.” Hill knows that sex is the strongest human desire and he urges us to channelise this energy to more productive things. He argues that most truly successful men become so in their forties because it is the age when men are less preoccupied with sex and can give all their energy and attention to the work in hand. This what is conveyed by sex transmutation: redirection of the energy.
11. The Subconscious Mind
It is the subconscious mind that in many ways shapes the human character. It is this subconscious mind without which desire, faith, auto generation are possible. How you direct your thoughts and what occupies your mind will influence the outcome you get. As Hill puts it: “Positive and negative emotions cannot occupy the mind at the same time. One or the other must dominate. It is your responsibility to make sure that positive emotions constitute the dominating influence of your mind.” Here, Hill gives seven desirable emotions as: desire, faith, love, sex, enthusiasm, romance, and hope. The corresponding seven undesirable emotions are listed as: fear, jealousy, hatred, revenge, greed, superstition, and anger. Understand your subconscious and drive it towards positivity.
12. The Brain
Hill’s view of the brain is closely related to Infinite intelligence. He often says that “Through the medium of the ether, in a fashion similar to that employed by the radio broadcasting principle, every human brain is capable of picking up vibrations of thought which are being released by other brains.” According to him the concious mind and the subconscious mind work closely together and control your brain for better results.
13. The Sixth Sense
The sixth Sense has been described by Hill as “the medium of contact between the finite mind of man and Infinite Intelligence” and ”the point at which the mind of man contacts the Universal Mind.” According to him, the sixth sense will warn us of impending dangers in time to avoid them, and notify of opportunities in time to embrace them. Hence we should trust our instincts.
You might choose to agree or disagree with these principles. But the wide acceptance of the book among the scholars of today proves the relevance of the book. Napoleon Hill has tried his best to communicate the “formula” that he had learnt and if this article manages to influence even one soul, the attempt would be considered successful!
