Three lessons I learned from Napoleon Hill

Both poverty and riches are offsprings of thought

Photo: Author

Whatever the mind of a man can conceive and believe, it can achieve

Think & Grow Rich, written by Napoleon Hill in 1937, is a classic personal development book. The book is a product of Hill’s study of more than 20 years of individuals who had amassed a personal fortune. It is estimated that Think & Grow Rich sold more than 100 million copies. Although the book is more than 80 years old, Hill’s wisdom for success and riches can be applied today.

In the book, Hill breaks down 14 steps to riches anyone can replicate.

14 Steps toward Riches:

1. Desire
2. Faith
3. Autosuggestion
4. Specialized Knowledge
5. Imagination
6. Organized Planning
7. Decision
8. Persistence
9. Power of the mastermind
10. The mystery of sex transmutation
11. The subconscious mind
12. The brain
13. The sixth sense
14. The six ghost of fear

Every adversity every failure and every heartache carries with it the Seed of an equivalent or a greater benefit

The 14 steps toward riches analyze every single way we can retrain our brain to maximize the opportunity for success.

I will concentrate on three steps which I think are most important. The three steps I will dive into are Decision, Persistence, and the subconscious mind. I believe that if you master these steps, other steps will fall into place and you will find success.

Decision

The decision step is one of the most important steps and the step I struggle with the most. Obviously, a decision is a first step toward whatever goal you want to achieve. You have to decide what “success” means to you. The definition of success is different for everyone, our own life and experiences create a personal dictionary within ourselves, with “success” being described differently with each individual.

When Hill talks about “14 steps toward riches”, he just doesn’t mean “riches” in the monetary definition. Richness can be in personal life or professional life. Success might mean an annual salary of a million dollars to one person, but to someone else, it might mean a stable job that pays the bills.

Analysis of over 25,000 men and women who had experienced failure disclosed the fact that lack of decision was near the head of the list of the thirty-one major causes of failure.

You have to decide what you want. The decision is the first step.

Analysis of several hundred people who had accumulated fortunes well beyond the million-dollar mark disclosed the fact that every one of them had the habit of reaching decisions promptly, and of changing these decisions slowly, if and when they were changed. People who fail to accumulate money without exception, have the habit of reaching decisions, if at all, very slowly, and of changing decisions quickly and often.

The decision part is something I personally struggle with. I am naturally a curious person and I love learning. I constantly take online courses. I am currently trying to get a second bachelor's degree. If I had enough time in the world, I would want to be a lawyer, a doctor, an entrepreneur. I want to be rich. I want to make a social impact.

I want to learn everything.

But Hill points out that it’s very important to be able to make decisions. Most importantly, make decisions quickly.

You can’t stall ideas, push them until your next paycheck. You can’t wait years before enrolling in college courses. You can’t be indecisive in the direction you want to go in with your company. You need to make decisions fast and promptly. You need to be confident with the decisions you make.

If you know what you want, you will eventually get it.

There are no limitations to the mind except those we acknowledge

Persistence

After deciding what you actually want from the previous step, you need to put in the work. You can’t expect to reach your dreams without persistence.

The basis of persistence is the power of will.

Every single day, there is someone that gives up on their dreams because they hit an obstacle. One tiny difficulty and the personal goal disappears.

If you are in a situation where you are struggling, it means you are attempting to do something you have never done before and that will lead to personal growth.

Whatever your goal may be, there are going to be obstacles in the way. Obstacles are guaranteed. You need to be persistent through these obstacles to reach your goals.

In the book, Hill gives valuable ways to be persistent.

8 ways to be persistent:

1) Definiteness of purpose
Knowing what one wants is the first and, perhaps the most important step toward the development of persistance. A strong motive forces one to surmount many diffuculties.

2) Desire
It is comparatively easy to acquire and to maintain persistence in pursuing the object of intense desire.

3) Self-reliance
Belief in one’s ability to carry out a plan encourages one to follow the plan through with persistence.

4) Definiteness of plans
Organized plans, even though they may be weak and entirely impractical, encourage persistance.

5) Accurate knowledge
Knowing that one’s plan are sound, based upon experience or observation, encourages persistence, “guessing” instead of “knowing” destroys persistance.

6) Cooperation
Sympathy, understanding, and harmonious cooperation with others tend to develop persistance.

7) Will-power
The habit of concentrating one’s thoughts upon the building of plans for the attainment of a definite purpose leads to persistance.

8) Habit
Persistence is the direct result of habit. The mind absorbs and becomes a part of the daily experiences upon which it feeds. Fear, the. worst of all enemies, can be effectively cured by forced repetition of acts of courage.

The 8 steps above show all ways we can be persistent to achieve our goals. Toward your journey to riches, make sure that you are persistent to achieve your goals.

Every adversity every failure and every heartache carries with it the Seed of an equivalent or a greater Benefit

The Subconscious Mind

The subconscious mind chapter talked about seven major positive and negative emotions. The goal is to recognize our emotions as positive or negative and correct them.

The Seven Major Positive Emotions

1. The emotion of desire
2. The emotion of faith
3. The emotion of love
4. The emotion of sex
5. The emotion of enthusiasm
6. The emotion of romance
7. The emotion of hope

The Seven Major Negative Emotions

1. The emotion of fear
2. The emotion of jealousy
3. The emotion of hatred
4. The emotion of revenge
5. The emotion of greed
6. The emotion of superstition
7. The emotion of anger

The negative emotions often result in another person. If someone does something we don’t like, we get angry at them. If we see someone else succeed, we might get jealous and hate that person. We often fear to take leaps of faith. We get greedy and always want more and more.

In the book, Hill points out to move away from all of the negative emotions and only concentrate on the positive. Mindfulness separates the rich from the poor. You can’t dwell on the past and get angry at your situation. It’s important to think positively and not feel defeated if something goes wrong.

You might be three feet from gold

One of my favorite stories in the book that a great example of the three main steps toward success is a story about a man who was “3 feet from gold”.

In the book, Hill writes about a man who was digging for gold during the gold rush. After mining in Colorado gold mine for many months, he quit. He sold all of his machinery. The person that purchased this machinery spoke to a counselor who told him that the gold will be three feet away from the original hole.

He was right.

The person who purchased the machinery inherited all of the gold and the original man who dug for many months, got nothing for his efforts.

Make sure you make a goal decision promptly and be persistent. Always have a positive mindset. Don’t quit.

You might be three feet away from gold.