Think and grow rich
The best seller “Think and Grow Rich” has been around for a looooong time. In fact, it was first published in 1937!
I finally bit the bullet and read think and grow rich for the first time just a few months ago. Everywhere I turned I seemed to hear about this book! It features time and time again as one of the highest regarded books on finance, money and personal growth on many websites, reviews and testimonies I’ve read.
The book itself sums up it’s contents well, describing how Napoleon Hill developed a simple but powerful 13-step formula to help you to:
- identify your goals
- master the secret of true and lasting success
- obtain whatever you want in life
- join the ranks of the super-successful
Sounds pretty exciting, right? I mean, are these things that you would want to happen in your own life? You’d think these claims were quite wild and unachievable, however Napoleon puts things into perspective in very real terms and backs his statements up with research, analogies and real-life examples.
There are many great chapters in this book, and it’s a book I’ve found myself going back to and re-reading. This is quite unusual for me – I don’t often find myself doing this with many other books in the same genre.
Here’s what Napoleon has to say on opportunity:
“Opportunity has spread its wares before you. Step up to the front, select what you want, create your plan, put the plan into action and follow through with persistence.”
If you just skimmed over those quotes, do yourself a favour and go back and read them again, slower this time! Words of wisdom lie within….
NB – If you’ve not read the book before, it can be found all over the place in online PDF format, click here for the free version.
- If you’re like me however and a PDF just doesn’t quite cut it, let me highly advise you to spend a few bucks and grab the actual book from Amazon.
Question: Are you taking advantage of opportunity?
E-books vs Real Books: What’s the verdict? Make money doing what you love – really? Stepping outside your comfort zone Are you ready for big changes in your life?
June 22nd, 2009 at 6:08 am
As a footnote, I heard a report on NPR last year that among the industrialized nations, only England is lower than the US in upward mobility. Best predictor in the US for wealth? Inherited wealth.
So the American Dream isn’t what it used to be. And certainly it’s more materialistic than ever – since my generation (the baby boomers) came into its own.
June 23rd, 2009 at 6:15 pm
@Paul – Hi, thanks for visiting… Wow, I’m quite amazed at your comment. I’m intrigued actually – going to go read up on it myself…
June 26th, 2009 at 6:57 am
mmm, I have to say that I don’t see success as accumulating stuff. The next shiny thing gets boring just as quick as the last bit did. We just have a tendancy to think that the next thing will be different, especially if it’s bigger, or more expensive!
I used to always have something in mind that would ‘make a difference’ in life. None of it does though! What does make life worth living is people & looking outwards to what would make someone else’s life better.
For me, what Jesus taught is everything – I reckon He genuinley answered the real questions in life, including ‘What is success?’ and ‘Who is a great person?’. Not only did He answer them, He put it all into practice & I believe & have found that He gives us strength to do the same. Life is awesome when you’re free from chasing very temporary stuff!
June 26th, 2009 at 7:01 am
Thought I should add I’m not saying it’s wrong to be successful in the usual sense, just that it doesn’t satisfy on it’s own. I don’t make much at the moment, but I value time enough that I have made the decision now, that if things pick up & work floods in as time goes on, I will refuse enough to be able to have time for others, and for myself as well. Please feel free to remind me/ask how this goes, in a while, but I am serious!