Book Notes: Think and Grow Rich

19 May 2020 ⏱️ 8 min
Book Notes: Think and Grow Rich

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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