Transform Your Mindset and Achieve Success: A “Think and Grow Rich” Book Review

A Book Review – Think and Grow Rich

By Napoleon Hill

What is this book about?

“Think and Grow Rich” by Napoleon Hill is a classic Self-Help book that has greatly inspired people to achieve their goals since 1937 (more than 85 years ago!). According to Hill, he had carefully analyzed hundreds of highly successful entrepreneurs, including Andrew Carnegie, Henry Ford, and Thomas Edison. I will cover my key takeaways about this book in this “Think and Grow Rich Review”.

The book surrounds a philosophy of attaining success and personal achievement. It develops the idea that success can be achieved by anyone who learns and applies a set of principles and techniques that were proven by successful people throughout history.

The book is around 233 pages long and consists of 15 chapters which presented to us with 13 key principles.

According to Hill, when we apply the 13 principles consistently, it can lead to wealth and personal success. For the sake of our understanding, I list out the 13 principles Hill introduced as follows:

1. Desire
2. Faith
3. Autosuggestion
4. Specialized Knowledge
5. Imagination
6. Organized Planning
7. Decision
8. Persistence
9. Power of the Master Mind
10. The Mystery of Sex Transmutation
11. The Subconscious Mind
12. The Brain
13. The Sixth Sense

Each chapter covers one of these principles, which are discussed in detail with examples and personal stories to illustrate their applications. Out of the 13 principles, there are 3 that particularly stands out to me, and they are “Desire”, “Autosuggestion” and “Decision”. I will highlight them in later part of this post.

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Who is this book for?

This is a self-help book written for people who are keen with personal development. It is especially for readers who are looking to develop a positive mindset and achieving goals in life.

When you follow the principles to take action towards your goals, you will find valuable insights and motivation from the content of this book.

What is “Desire”?

One key concept in this book is the importance of having a definite purpose. Hill encourages readers to develop a clear and concise life statement and to commit to pursuing it with unwavering determination.

Hill describes “desire” as the starting point of all achievement. A desire stems from a thought, an idea, and is the root of all brilliant achievements. I understand that, a “desire” is not simply something you wanted badly. You wanted this “desire” to come true so badly that you are willing to commit and contribute tremendous efforts to make it a reality.

Hill suggests that a strong, burning desire is the foundation for success. And that it is essential for achieving any goals. He goes further to describe desire as a powerful emotion that can drive you to take action and be persistent when facing challenges.

After we develop a definite goal for any personal success or achievements, the tip is to make good use of the burning “desire” to drive yourself towards it. Practically however, a “desire” needs to be backed by a plan of action and a consistent focused energy towards those goals.

In this chapter, I was especially touched by the author’s story of how his personal “desire” helped to change the entire life of his son, who was supposedly to be deaf and mute when born. His son’s life was greatly empowered due to Hill’s planting of “desire” into him.

In this chapter, Hill introduced a “Six Ways to turn Desire into Gold” which are steps that you should practice every day. Personally, this is very thought-provoking and I would encourage every reader to try it out for themselves.

What is “Autosuggestion”?

The principle of autosuggestion is also noteworthy. Hill teaches that through the repetition of positive affirmations, one can influence their subconscious mind and cultivate a positive mental attitude. This, in turn, can help individuals overcome obstacles and attract success.

Hill suggested that “autosuggestion” is the medium between the conscious mind and the subconscious mind. It sounds quite abstract and hard to understand during my first read.

However, when I read this chapter a few more times, I start to understand what the author is trying to tell us.

To put it simply, it means that once you have developed a burning desire to achieve a goal, the power of “autosuggestion” will come into place to assist you.

For example, it is your desire to become a millionaire. Then through repeated focus and positive affirmations practices to yourself, your subconscious mind will be positively influenced.

In turn, your brain will begin to “suggest” ideas for you. It will help you filter out the success factors for you to achieve the goal you so desired.

It makes a lot of sense and this view concurs with Ed Mylett (The author of The Power of One More). Mylett sets out that our brain functions under a “Reticular Activating System” (RAS). This RAS helps filter out matters which are important to us and make us become aware of these matters automatically. You can check out this book review here.

Note that Hill suggested that our subconscious mind recognizes and acts only upon thoughts which have been well-mixed with emotion or feeling.

Therefore, when we set our goals, it’s best we set an emotional goal which would give greatest impact to our brain’s “autosuggestion” function.

What is “Decision”?

We make decisions every day, but how does decision-making differ between successful people and ordinary people?

According to Hill, successful people have the habit of reaching decisions promptly and changing them slowly, if at all. These people can make decisions then take action quickly, without overthinking or becoming paralyzed by over-analyzing.

One crucial point Hill pointed out is that we should also learn how to make our own decisions. Hill suggested that opinions from other are “cheapest commodities”, and if you always listen to others’ opinions to make decisions, they are obviously not your decisions. I interpret from it that if you are not making decisions for yourself, how would there be the slightest hope of achieving your own personal goals?

But how do we learn to make prompt and definite decisions? Hill pointed out that it needs practices and turning such into a habit.

In essence, the “Decision” principle is about taking decisive action towards a specific goal, and having the faith and persistence to see it through to completion. It needs you to trust your intuition, making quick decisions, and lots of practices.

The Six Ghosts of Fear

In the last chapter of this book, Hill introduced 6 factors that strike fear into humans and they stand in the way of making us successful. I will not go into details in this post but recommend every reader to give this chapter a thorough read and try to understand the underlying implications.

I would like to highlight one idea from Hill in this chapter which is highly noteworthy. Hill suggested that broadly there are three enemies in life that would prevent us from succeeding: indecision, doubt and fear.

These 3 enemies hold hand in hand: Indecision leads to self-doubt, and eventually fear. Fear paralyzes your mind and keeps you from taking actions.

I think this idea is very simple but we always repeatedly step into this trap when we face life decisions.

Conclusion

This sums up my “Think and Grow Rich Review”. I hope you all enjoyed reading it.

All in all, “Think and Grow Rich” is a classic book that offers practical advice and inspiration for anyone looking to improve their mindset and achieve their goals. The book’s focus on positive thinking, persistence, and a burning desire to succeed has impacted millions of people around the world.

The book provided a roadmap for achieving success in life, and though published back in 1937, its focus on mindset is just as relevant today as it was back then.

I highly recommend “Think and Grow Rich” as a Must-Read book for practically anyone looking to improve their mindset, achieve their goals, and live a more fulfilling life.

This book is certainly a valuable resource that will inspire and guide you on your journey towards success.

Read “Think and Grow Rich”

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