Think and Grow Rich
Apr 26th, 2007 by stewart
If you are *serious* about creating more wealth for yourself and you have limited time to study only 1 book, “Think and Grow Rich” is it. This book, authored by Napoleon Hill and published in 1937, is a perennial classic.
The brief story is that Hill, fresh out of law school (in debt and no income), had the opportunity to interview with and write a story on Andrew Carnegie for a local magazine. Carnegie was one of the wealthiest individuals of his era and getting late in years, he wanted to give the most valuable thing he could think of to his fellow people, i.e. his ideas. And more specifically, how he and other successful people think.
A 3 hour interview turned into 3 days; Carnegie took a liking to Hill. Carnegie offered Hill a 20-year project, where if Hill applied what he learned, he would have more money than he could imagine for the rest of his life. Carnegie would provide Hill access to all the successful people of that time, in order to learn, study, and distill the common traits these exceptional people have in common. The end result was a book to be shared with the masses. The salary Carnegie offered for this work, $0.00. Imagine. You’re being asked by one of the richest men in the world, to work for 20 years, for free. Incredible.
Hill took up the offer enthusiastically. He interviewed the most accomplished people of the time (including Henry Ford, Thomas Edison, John D. Rockefeller, Dr. Alexader Graham Bell, Wilbur Wright, Theodore Roosevelt, and more — it’s a long list). The rest is history; and in fact, it’s still in the making by people like you and I. The book has sold more than 30 million copies and is repeatedly endorsed by many successful business entrepreneurs to this day. It seems as if, every other training or seminar I attend, they always ask, “Who has read the book Think and Grow Rich?” It seems to separate the amateurs from the pros, the spectators from the players, the timid from the courageous.
As you can probably infer, I value and admire financial success, as I believe people who have achieved large amounts of wealth must have delivered proportionately large amounts of value. Still, I recognize that acquiring wealth is only one aspect to life. I view Carnegie as a wonderful role model, as he lived and breathed this life philosophy all of his days:
“I spent the first half of my life making money, and the second half giving it away.”
Andrew Carnegie
The keys to life are embeded in 2 of the 4 words that title this life inspiring book. They are there, waiting, yours for the taking. The keys, are simply to “Think” and to “Grow”.
………………………………………………………………………………………………….
For other recommended books and other resources, click here.
Email This Post
Stewart,
I have yet to read this book, but now I am intrigued I will definitely pick it up.
To “Think” and to “Grow”…what logically comes to mind is how can we do these most efficiently? This reminds me of a quote by Ben Franklin, who said “to become wealthy is simple, all we have to do is live an efficient life.”
I interpret this statement to mean that in order to become wealthy we must be efficient with our scarce resources namely we must (1) be efficient with our time. Once our goals are formed, we must begin by taking action. Each day we should do something, no matter how small the task is, to bring these goals closer into being. Rome wasn’t built and no other tremendous accomplishment was achieved in a single day. Do not waste time, it never repeats itself.
(2) we must be efficient with our money. Money should not be wasted. It should be spent efficiently. Money left over after paying for basic needs and an occasional treat, should be invested. When considering the purchase of a particular item we should ask ourselves (a) do we NEED it (absolutely required for survival)? If the answer is yes, then it should be purchased. If the answer is NO, and we do not need it to survive, we should as (b) how bad do we desire it? If we desire it tremendously and think it can be purchase at a good price, we might occasionally purchase it, with the understanding that this is not a required item, but something that is a temporary and occasional treat. To occasionally treat ourselves is not bad, but we must understand that it is “a treat” and not a NEEDED item.
To “Grow” is most interesting to me. How can we Grow most efficiently? To grow most efficiently we must constantly form challenging goals for ourselves, commit to achieving them, and take action each day. Jack Welch called this “stretch”. How much we “stretch” ourselves will have a direct relation to the amount of growth we achieve. The cycle of forming challenging goals, breaking these larger goals into component sub-goals, and taking action each day until these sub-goals and eventually larger goals are achieved is a never ending process. After a while, achieving goals will become a habit. We will become successful at achieving goals. The habit of achieving goals is learned, just as the habit of failure is learned. This is what separates the successful from the unsuccessful. They have mastered the art of achieving challenging goals.
Think, Grow, and master the habit of achieving goals.
If you have questions/comments on my thoughts, please contact me.
Best,
Jon Strishak
jon_strishak@yahoo.com
[...] posted by Edith Yeung on the benefits of reading and implementing the principles of “Think and Grow Rich” at http://www.stewarthsu.com He provides another great insight on the benefits of reading “Think [...]
[...] which everything boils down to — the same law that is mentioned or alluded to in the classic Think and Grow Rich. It’s somewhat serendipitous, but as I write this, every thing I see out there is all [...]
[...] of his era, and was responsible for one of the best books on personal achievement ever written Think and Grow Rich. Perhaps most importantly, he dedicated the last years of his life towards philanthropic [...]
Think and grow rich is pretty good but have you tried reading The Master Key System or The science of Getting Rich? They are also classics and in my opinion just as good if not better than Hills book.
If you love “Think And Grow Rich” you’re REALLY going to love this!
My name is Robert Jakobsen and I am a film/movie producer.
I have just completed a MOVIE of “Think And Grow Rich” produced directly from Napoleon Hill’s original book.
I have completed (3) Chapters so far. They are:
Chapter 1 “Thoughts Are Things” - Chapter 2 “Desire” - Chapter 3 “Faith.”
Giving away 20 FREE TGR MOVIE scenes for 10-days to get some feedback. Check it out!
http://thinkandgrowrichmovies.wordpress.com/