These are highlights/notes from book “Think and Grow Rich” by Napoleon Hill and Ben Holden-Crowther.

These are personal notes, would recommend reading the book, but in case you are short on time - just skim through these notes 😊

The book focuses on it’s title from the start, explaining and building up a process to be RICH. I have jotted down key takeaways in form of lists.

Thanks to the authors for such an awesome book! Let’s dive in -

• Choose a definite goal, place all your energy and effort on that goal

• Leave no way of retreat. Either win or perish( then try again)

• Everyone wants to be rich, you need to plan and ask following questions -

  • Define a amount.
  • What exactly you need to give in return of money you desire
  • Setup a timeline for achieving that
  • Plan out for carrying out your desire
  • Write it all down somewhere
  • Read it again and believe that you can. Measure if you are nearning your goal daily/weekly/monthly.

• Practical dreamers do not quit‌

Chapter 3 - Faith

• The emotions of faith, love and sex are most powerful of all positive emotions.
• Mind with positive emotions becomes favourable abode for the state of mind known as faith.
• Perfection will come through practice, not just by reading instructions.
• Faith is the external exilir which gives life, power and action to the impulse of thought
• Faith is anecdote to FAILURE
• Man who wins is the man who THINKS HE CAN.
• Biggest example of faith is religion and god. Those preaching from christ are not miracles but just mere faiths.

Chapter 4 - Auto Suggesstion

• Subconcious mind recognizes and acts upon only thought which have been well-mixed with emotion or feeling.
• Do not wait for a definite plan. Begin at once, but keep demanding and expecting.‌

Chapter 5 - Speacialized Knowledge

• 2 kinds - General and specialized
• General - not much use in accumulation of money
• Knowledge will not attract money unless it is organized and planned via action.
• Knowledge is power only when it is organized
• An educated man is one who has so developed his mind that he may acquire anything he wants.
• You must know where to get knowledge when you need it and how to organize that.
• Doing a thing well is never trouble.
• Idea is the key, specialized knowledge can be found somewhere.‌

Chapter 6 - Imagination

• Man can create anything he can imagine
• Man is limited with development and use of the imagination
• 2 types -
  • Synthetic - using old ideas and explanations
  • Creative - new ideas, works automatically.
• Put your imagination to work on plans to achieve your desire.
• Start of coca-cola with a imagination.
• Riches will not just come with hard work, it requires application of definite principles.

Chapter 7 - Organized Planning

• How to build plans -

  • Get group of people you need for creation and carrying out your plan
  • Decide what benfits you offer individual members of your group in return.
  • Arrange meetings twice a week with your group
  • Maintain good relationship with your group

• No one can build fortunes alone.

• Have a no-quit attitude and mindset.After all, Winner never quits.

• Intelligent followers become great leaders.

• Attributes of leadership

  • Unwavering courage
  • Self control
  • Keen sense of justice
  • Definiteness of decision and plans
  • Doing more than what you are paid for
  • Pleasing personality
  • Mastery of detail
  • Assume full responsibility
  • Cooperation

• Fields where new leadership will be required

  • Politics
  • Banking
  • Religion
  • Journalism

• What to have when applying for a role

  • Education
  • Experience
  • References
  • Qualification
  • Skills
  • Keep in concise and neat

• How to get exact position you desire

  • Decide what kind of job you want
  • Choose list of companies/individuals
  • Do research about them - Pro/Cons list
  • Analysis based on research, what’s best for you?
  • Reach out to some options that remain in list

• Causes of Failure

  • Lack of purpose and ambition
  • Insufficient Education
  • Lack of self-discipline
  • Ill health
  • Procrastination
  • Lack of persistence
  • Lack of power of decision
  • Over caution - taking no chances
  • Wrong selection of people in personal and professional life
  • Intolerance and Intemperance
  • Dishonesty, egotism and vanity
  • Guessing instead of thinking

Chapter 8 - Decision

• Reach decisions prompty
• Don’t be influenced by opinions of others
• If influenced you’ll have no desire of your own
• Talk less, keep your ears and eyes open, mouth closed
• Tell the world what you want to do, but first show it. (Action over words)

Chapter 9 - Persistence

• Transmuting desire into its monetary equivalent

• Persistence is a direct result of maintaining habits.

• It comes from desire, will power and definiteness of plans

• Keep willing instead of just wishing.

• Avoid fear of criticism. Aim high and work for it, some people will always criticize.

• If you ask people, what do they want most in life, 80% of them will answer - happiness, money, security, fame and power, etc. People rarely have definiteness of plans. You can’t have everything in one go, always aim for a specific goals.

• How to develop persistence?

  • Definite purpose
  • Definite plan
  • Remove all negative influences.
  • Friendly alliances who encourage you.‌

Chapter 10 - Power of the Master Mind

• Power translates plans into action

• Power here -> Organized effort to convert desires into monetary equivalent

• How to acquire power?

  • Intelligence
  • Experience
  • Experiment and Research

• Great eg. Mahatma gandhi who gave 200 million indians a definite purpose. He had immense power with which he lead to independence of india!

Chapter 11 - Mystery of Sex

• Sex we think of is just physical due to improper influences. There’s more to it!

• Sex desire is most powerful of human desires - It develops imagination, courage, will-power, persistence and creative ability. Think about it, if all this energy is harnessed towards your goal, is your goal not achievable?

• Ten mind stimuli

  • Desire for sex
  • Money
  • Love
  • Music
  • Friendship
  • Master mind alliance
  • Mututal suffering
  • Auto suggestion
  • Fear
  • Narcotics, drugs and alchohol

• Difference between normal and genuis person is that “sixth sense” which is basically creative imagination.

Chapter 12 - The subconcious mind

• Medium of communication between thinking mind and infinite intelligence

• It works voluntarily, just make efforts in right direction towards your desires

• Subconcious mind is most influenced by the emotion/feelings.

• Seven positive emotions -

  • desire
  • faith
  • love
  • sex
  • enthusiasm
  • romance
  • hope

• Seven negative emotions

  • Fear
  • Jealosy
  • Hatred
  • Revenge
  • Greed
  • Superstition
  • Anger ‌ Chapter 13 - The Brain

• Creative imagination is receiving set of brain, which receives thoughts by brain of others.

• Mostly around how complex is human brain

Chapter 14 - The Sixth Sense

• It is the portion of subconcious mind that has been referred to as the Creative Imagination.
• It cannot be experienced without achieving the 12 principle above
• It comes via meditation through mind development from within.
• Self suggestion is powerful factor in building character.

Chapter 15 - Six Ghosts of Fear

• Three enemies to clear out -

  • Indecision
  • Doubt
  • Fear

• Six basic fears -

  • Poverty

    • Symptoms
      • Indifference
      • Indecision
      • Doubt
      • Worry
      • Procastination

  • Criticism

    • Self consciousness
    • Lack of poise
    • Personality (Charm, ability of expressing opinions)
    • Inferiority Complex
    • Lack of initiative
    • Lack of ambition

  • Ill-health

    • Exercise
    • Hypochondria - habit of talking of illness

  • Loss of love

    • Jealosy
    • Fault Finding
    • Gambling - Love cannot be bought :)

  • Old Age

  • Death

    • This is useless. Death will come no matter what, live the life you have.
    • Remember matter and energy can’t be created or destroyed.
    • Thinking about death - old man worry

• Fear paralyzes abiloty to reason, faculty of imagination, kills self-reliance -> leads to uncertainity of purpose, turns will power into nothingness

Life is a checkerboard, player opposite to you is TIME. If you hesitate, men will be wiped off the board by TIME. Indecision will not be tolerated.

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