Book of the Week: Think and Grow Rich by Napolean Hill

Think and Grow Rich was written in 1960. Fast forward 50 years and it is probably the most widely-discussed piece of literature in the success and motivation genre. When I went pick it out from the bookstore, there was an entire shelf devoted to it and the books that were written about it. "Master Mind Groups" are forming all over the world, as business leaders seek to inspire one another toward more successful lives.  Clearly, this work has had a profound impact on contemporary culture. When you read the book, it isn't very hard to see why. Napolean Hill writes with both clarity and intrigue. He uses real world examples and powerful stories to get his point across. His book set the stage for decades of "how to get rich" books that would follow. If you are struggling in this economy and want a way out, READ THIS BOOK!

Here are my Top 10 (just read it; there are tons more!) takeaways from the book:

1. Determination is the first step toward success. Napolean opens up his book with the story of Edwin Barnes, a man who decided he wanted to go into business with Thomas Edison and, instead of simply applying for a job, showed up at Edison's labratory and told him of his intentions to become his business partner. Napolean quotes Edison as saying, "I gave him the opportunity he asked for, because I saw that he made up his mind to stand by until he succeeded." It all starts with a firm objective and the relentless desire to see it through.
2. Leave no plan B. When you allow yourself to consider alternatives, you are subconsciously doubting your ability to succeed in your objective. Napolean tells the story of a general who, after unloading all of his troops on the enemy's shore, burns all of the ships--leaving them no way of retreat. He then tells his troops, "We now have no choice--we win--or we perish." The author suggests we should approach our goals with the same "no turning back" mentality.  We should burn all the bridges that are our contingency plans and throw everything into succeeding at what we set out to do.
3. Don't be afraid to dream big. Napolean give us several examples of people who dreamt the impossible before making it a reality. One such story is of Guglielmo Marconi, the Italian inventory famous for making radio transmission possible. At one point in his life, his "friends" had him taken into custody and examine in a psychiatric hospital for his belief that he could send communications through the air without the aid of wires. We should never be ashamed of the alleged ridiculous of our dreams. Electricity was at one time impossible. Flight was at one time impossible. We can never make the impossible possible if we continue to believe those who would tell us that it is impossible.
4. Faith can be created through repitition. Faith is often understood as something that either we have or we don't. We can't force ourselves to believe something if we don't naturally believe it. Napolean proposes the idea of "self-suggestion," that we can, by affirming an idea over and over again to ourselves, come to believe it. "Every man is what he is," Napolean says, "because of dominating thoughts which he permits to occupy his mind." We believe, essentially, what we tell ourselves. Our own impressions and thoughts create our deepest beliefs. If we can change our thinking and our persepective, then, we can change our beliefs. We can create faith by repeating positive thoughts.
5. Knowledge is only power when it is applied. "Knowledge is only potential power." Napolean says, "It becomes power only when, and if, it is organized into definite plans of action and directed toward a definite end." Napolean rejects the notion of learning for learning's sake. He proposes that knowledge should be acquired for specified purposes. The professors of the universities, he mentions, have more generalized knowledge than anyone and yet have little money. If what you know cannot be used to produce some result, it is useless.
6. Great change begins with simple ideas. Coke was created when a pharmacy clerk paid a country doctor his entire life savings for a secret ingredient scribbled on a small piece of paper. A book publisher, just by changing the covers on his books, sold a million more copies--without changing any of the books' contents. Sometimes we think that we need to concoct something complex and grandiose to make a difference when all we really need to get us start is an idea. "Ideas are intangible forces," Napolean says, "but they have more power than the physical brains that give birth to them. They have the power to live on after the brain that creates them returns to dust."
7. You only fail when you quit. "No man is ever whipped," Napolean says, "until he quits--in his own mind." The greatest successes that have been achieved throughout history have followed a series of failures. Rarely does anything good ever come out of the first try. Failure isn't failing once. It's ceasing to try. It's quitting after so many attempts. "A quitter never wins--and a winner never quites."
8. Give if you wish to receive. When talking about applying for a job, Napolean says, "Forget about 'a job.' Forget whether or not there is an opening. Forget the usual routine of 'have you got a job for me?' Concentrate on what you can give." If we want to get anything out of life, we must first to our focus to what we contribute. Napolean lists as on of his "31 Major Causes of Failure" the gambling instinct, or "the uncontrolled desire of something for nothing." People seem to have the tendency to want to skate by and rely on luck to make them successful. Napolean says that you have to work. You have to put in effort. You have to give before you can receive.
9. Great achievers rely on the support of others. Napolean discusses creating a "Master Mind group," a group of success-minded individuals that can serve as a support for creativity and persistence in achieving your goals. "When a group of individual brains are coordinated and function in harmony," he says, "the increase energy created through that alliance becomes available to every individual brain in the group." In today's world, we call it synergry. We feed off of one another's creative power.
10. Time is always against us. Napolean ends his treatise with these words: "Life is a checkerboard and the player opposite you is time. If you hesitate before moving, or neglect to move promptly, your men will be wiped off the board by time. You are playing against a partner who will not tolerate indecision." Waiting is not an option. If you want to have a successful life, you must start NOW!