Think and Grow Rich By Napoleon Hill (Law of Attraction)
Desire
Desire
is the starting point for all achievement, the first step
toward riches. But it’s here that we so often run into a
roadblock. A person will say, “I know what I desire, but can I
get it? The answer was best
expressed by Emerson: “There’s nothing capricious in nature, and
the implanting of a desire indicates that its gratification is
in the constitution of the creature that feels it.” In other
words, you would not have the desire unless you were capable of
its achievement. Your burning desire is nothing more than an
accurate picture of what you will one day become. So right here,
firmly establish in your mind that which you desire more than
anything else, and cherish and nurture that desire. Do not
suppress or annihilate it. A man without desire has within him
no principle of action, or motive to act.
Faith
Faith is the state of mind that may be induced or created by affirmation
or repeated instructions to the subconscious mind by conscious
auto suggestion. By summoning over and over again a mental image
of yourself already having accomplished your main desire, you
will muster the faith you need. Faith is vital to
accomplishment. Have faith that you can accomplish that which
you seek, for you would never have decided upon it unless it was
meant for you to accomplish it. If you find it difficult at
times to have faith in yourself, you may be certain that you can
have faith in these principles.
Auto Suggestion
Through
repeated suggestion, the subconscious mind can be put to work
for you. It’s the faculty of being able to concentrate your mind
on your burning desire until your subconscious mind accepts it
as fact and begins to devise ways of bringing it about. Here’s
where hunches come from, sudden flashes of thought, inspiration,
or guidance. To access the power of auto suggestion, go into
some quiet spot, perhaps in bed at night. Close your eyes and
repeat aloud so you may hear your own words a careful
reaffirmation of whatever your goal happens to be. If it’s the
accumulation of a sum of money, reiterate the time limit for its
accumulation and a description of the service or merchandise
you intend to give in return for it. As you carry out these
instructions, see yourself already in possession of your goal.
Specialized Knowledge
Knowledge
is power only to the extent that it’s organized into a definite
plan of action and directed to a definite end. Before you can
be sure of your ability to transmute desire into its monetary equivalent,
you will require specialized knowledge of the service,
merchandise, or profession that you intend to offer in return
for fortune. Realize that you must learn all you can about your
specialty. Set aside a definite time every day for learning more
about what it is you do for a living. Take the courses that are
offered on your subject and associate with people who know your
business well.
Imagination
Whatever
the mind of man can conceive and believe, it can achieve. Man’s
only limitation, within reason, lies in the development and use
of his imagination and subsequent motivation to action. The
great leaders of business, industry, and finance,
and the great artists, musicians, poets, and writers became
great because they developed the power of self-motivation. As
you go about your daily work, think constantly of ways in which
it could be done better, more efficiently. Think of the changes
that are inevitable. Can they be made now? If you feel limited,
remember the words of the late Frank Lloyd Wright:
“The human race built most nobly when limitations were greatest
and, therefore, when most was required of imagination in order
to build at all.”
Decision
Analysis
of several hundred people who’ve accumulated fortunes well
beyond the million-dollar mark disclose the fact that every one
of them had the habit of reaching decisions promptly and of
changing these decisions slowly, if and when they were changed.
When you make up your mind, stay with it. The majority of people who fail are generally easily influenced
by the opinions of others. Opinions are the cheapest
commodities on earth. Keep your own counsel when you begin to
put into practice the principles described here by reaching your
own decisions and following them. Take no one into your
confidence except the members of your mastermind alliance (as discussed later), and be very careful in your selection
of this group, choosing only those who will be in complete
sympathy and harmony with your purpose. Close friends and
relatives, while not meaning to do so, often handicap one
through uninformed opinions and sometimes through ridicule.
Persistence
Persistence
is simply the power of will. Willpower and desire, when
properly combined, make an irresistible pair. Persistence is to
an individual what carbon
is to steel. In uncounted thousands of cases, persistence has
stood as the difference between success and failure. It is the
lack of this quality more than any other that keeps the majority
from great accomplishment. As soon as the going gets tough, they
fold. If you’re to accomplish the goal you set for yourself, you
must form the habit of persistence. Things will get difficult.
It will seem as though there’s no longer any reason to continue.
Everything in you will tell you to give up, to quit trying. It
is right here that if you’ll go that extra mile and keep going,
the skies will clear and you’ll begin to see the first signs of
the abundance that is to be yours because you had the courage to
persist. With persistence will come success?
Enthusiastic Support
It
is of great significance that behind practically every great
leader has been the supportive love and inspiration of a spouse.
When things get tough — and you can count on it, they will —
you may be deserted by some you thought were friends. But if
you’ve got a good woman or man supporting you, you will never be
alone. He or she will be willing to start over again if
necessary and will give you the new enthusiasm that comes
through faith in you. Having someone to love is having someone
to share your success and accomplishments; to give you the
praise that all of us need from time to time. A person can
become successful without a spouse and family, but much of the
real joy is lost if it cannot be shared. Take care of your
spouse and children as your greatest possessions.
Organized Planning
The
first of the six steps for transforming desire into reality is
the formation of a definite, practical plan through which this
transformation may be made. Once you do, it is critical that you
ally yourself with one or more people or a group of as many
people as you may need for the creation and carrying out of your
plan. These people are your “mastermind alliance.” Before forming your mastermind alliance, decide what advantages and benefits you may offer the individual
members of your group in return for their cooperation. No one
will work indefinitely without compensation, though this may not
always be in the form of money. Arrange to meet with the
members of your mastermind alliance at least twice a week, and
more often if possible, until you have jointly perfected the
necessary plan or plans for the accomplishment of your goal.
Maintain perfect harmony between yourself and every member of your mastermind alliance.
Keep in mind these facts: First, you are engaged in an
undertaking of major importance to you. To be sure of success,
you must have plans that are as faultless as possible. Second, you must have
the advantage of the experience, education, native ability, and
imagination of other minds. This is in harmony with the methods
followed by every person who has risen above the average. Work
at this until you have a well-executed formal plan for reaching
your objective. In this way you’re never confused or wondering
what you should do next. Every morning you know exactly what
you’re going to do and why. Organized planning is one the most
important principles, because a person without a plan is like a
ship without a course. With no place to go, disaster is a
probability.
The Power of the Mastermind
No
two minds ever come together without thereby creating a third —
a third invisible, intangible force that may be likened to a
third mind. You may have noticed many times that by discussing
something with another person you suddenly get good ideas as a
result of the discussion, ideas you would not have gotten
without this association. Well, the same thing happens to the
other person. A lot of good ideas have been born in individual
minds as a result of having met in committee. Associating with
your mastermind alliance is not meant as a means of letting
others do your thinking for you, far from it. It is meant to
stimulate your own thinking through the association with other
minds. No one knows everything. The more sympathetic minds you
get together — that is, minds working for a common purpose — the
more related information is going to be available. Great ideas
are a combination of related information. Pick the members of
your mastermind group with care. Make sure they’re people you
respect and who are hard working and conscientious. You’ll have a
lot of fun, and you’ll reach your goals just that much sooner.
The Subconscious Mind
The
subconscious mind is a mental area in which all inputs through
any of the five senses are classified and recorded, and from
which they may be recalled or withdrawn like data from the
storage banks of a limitless computer. No one knows very much
about what we call the subconscious mind but we do know that it
is incalculably powerful and can solve our problems if we go
about using it the right way. The best way is to hold in your
conscious mind as often as possible a clear picture of yourself
already having accomplished your goal. Know what you want.
Define it clearly, and then project it on the motion picture
screen of your mind. Hold it. See yourself doing and having the
things you have when your objective will have been reached. Do
these as often as practical, particularly at night just before
you go to sleep and the first thing upon waking? As you do this,
your subconscious will begin to lead you toward your objective.
Don’t fight it. Follow your sudden hunches, the ideas that come
into your mind, knowing that they may well represent
subconscious knowledge. If you’ll keep at this, you’ll be amazed
and delighted by the ideas that just seem to come from nowhere.
The Power of the Brain
If
you had access to all the wealth in the world and used only a
penny, you would be doing exactly what most of us very probably
have been doing in the use of our brains. You own in your brain
the most marvelous, miraculous, inconceivably powerful force the
world has ever known. It is the brain that has given us the
computer, supersonic airplane, our deep rocket probes into outer
space, the sciences, and the arts. All of what we know today
and will achieve tomorrow is born from this small, gray mass
each of us carries around. Can you doubt, even for a moment,
that your brain can bring you and yours everything you want here
on earth? Recognize its power, give it the job you’ve decided
to accomplish, and watch it handle it.
The Sixth Sense
The
sixth sense can be described as the sense through which your
infinite intelligence may and will communicate. This principle
is the apex of the philosophy. It can be assimilated,
understood, and applied only by first mastering the other 12
principles. The sixth sense is that function of the subconscious
mind that has been referred to as the creative imagination.
It’s also been referred to as the receiving set through which
ideas flash into the mind, sometimes called hunches or
inspirations. The sixth sense cannot be described to a person
who has not mastered the other principles of this philosophy,
because such a person has no knowledge and no experience to
serve as points of reference. The sixth sense is not something
one can take off and put on at will. The ability to use this
great power comes slowly through application of the other
principles we’ve outlined. So begin to develop it now by
applying the principles we’ve talked about here. Remember this:
Man can create nothing that he does not first conceive in the
form of an idea, a desire. Keep fear out of your mind.
Concentrate on the mental picture of yourself achieving your
desire. Cut yourself away from the average — from the mediocre —
and chart your course on the dream in your heart. These 13
principles will never let you down. You need only remember and
use them.
