"Think And Grow Rich", by Napoleon Hill

I never actually focused on the title of the book until I came across chapter 1, “Thoughts Are Things”. Genuinely slow down the pace at which you read the name of the novel, “Think.......and Grow Rich”. What does that mean to you?

It is essential that you finally awake from your slumber and face reality that everything does start from the mind. It sounds so cliche, but have you ever sat down and reflected on your life and everything that has happened in the past and current? Everything that has come to past and occurring right as you type is a result of a thought that YOU conceived.

The chapter proceeds with Edwin C. Barnes having a burning desire to work with Thomas Edison and not necessarily for him. See the difference? So, as you can see, the man has already started the thought process beginning with the end in mind, a definite purpose, due to a desire. (I learnt about “begin with the end in mind” from the 7 habits of highly effective teens by Sean Covey. You should for sure read it again.) However, on attempting to make it to the interview to meet and greet Mr. Edison he realized that he had no money or means of making it. I don’t remember how he made it to the meeting, but he found a way.

Stop for a quick second....

How many times have you come across a challenge, it started to feel “impossible” and you quit? Or probably it wasn’t impossible, but it simply wasn’t going in the direction you wanted it? Suppose there was an opportunity disguised as misfortune or temporary failure? A needle in the haystack? But you gave up when you were potentially 1 step away from greatness? From unimaginable abundance? Reflect on your past and see if you can relate

.... Back to Barnes....

So, he persevered and found a way to Edison but ended up working for him. Remember that his end goal was to work with him and not for him? I’m wondering if I would have taken up the offer because honestly speaking, that’s not what i would have wanted. He wanted to be by his side not in his shadow, right? Key word, 'end’ goal. This is just the begin.

Be patient.

He saw the circumstance as an opportunity, took the job, became the leading salesman for one of Edison’s products and eventually worked alongside him. Again, a burning desire with a definite purpose along with the discipline and obsessive mentality to stake it all and never stop until what is wanted is achieved is the mentality of a conqueror, one of the principles and traits that successful men and women have and live by.

The chapter also talks about a gold mine and being like 3 feet away from the actual gold. I basically touched upon what was learnt in that experience above but if you wanted the full story just read the chapter over. There’s also an experience by Barnes when this child ‘whipped’ his uncle with persistence before he finally cracked open and gave her 50 cents for her ‘mammy’.

Some lines that really stood out to me during the read were:

-” He wanted to work with Edison, not for him. Observe carefully the description of how he went about translating his desire into reality.”

-” I had learned, from years if experience with men, that when a man really desires a thing so deeply that he is willing to stake his entire future one single turn of the wheel in order to get it, he is sure to win. I gave him the opportunity he asked for, because I saw he had made up his mind to stand by until he succeeded.”

-” 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 opportunity.”

-” .... the greater asset he acquired in the form of definite knowledge that an intangible impulse of thought can be transmuted into material rewards by the application of known principles.”

-” more gold has been mined from the thoughts of men than has ever been taken from the earth.”

-” seek expert counsel before giving up.”

-”before success comes in any man’s life, he is sure to meet with much temporary defeat, and, perhaps, some failure.”

-” failure is a trickster with a keen sense of irony and cunning. It takes great delight in tripping one when success is almost within reach.”

-”no does not necessarily mean no.”

-” he profited by these two dramatic experiences, because he analyzed them, and found the lesson they taught.”

-” but what of the man who has neither the time, nor the inclination to study failure in search of knowledge that may lead to success?”

-”one sound idea is all that one needs to achieve success.”

-” When riches begin to come, they come so quickly, in such great abundance, that one wonders where they have been hiding during all those lean years.”

-” before we can accumulate riches in great abundance, we must magnetize our minds with intense desire for riches, that we must become ‘money conscious’ until the desire for money drives us to create definite plans for acquiring it.”

-” we refuse to believe that which we do not understand. We foolishly believe that our own limitations are the proper measure of limitations.”

Which one’s your fav?