Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill

“Success requires no explanation. Failure permits no alibi.”

Napoleon Hill, Think and Grow Rich, 1937.

In this modern time, everyone hankers after success. People are rushing to their goals. 

No one has time to stop, examine, or experiment with life. Life is concise. With the advent of technology, life has gained speed and become complicated. 

People have many opportunities. Everything is at hand and seems easily reachable. Nevertheless, many cannot find success. Here, success does not necessarily mean financial richness but success in financial, spiritual, and social life. 

Hence, those who fail to attain success suffer from frustration and waste valuable time and energy, sometimes even life.

There is a saying that when the student is ready, the teacher will appear. Like this, Napoleon Hill comes with his Think and Grow Rich, a 1937 book. This book has been called the ‘Granddaddy of all Motivational Literature.’ 

A Great Depression-era author, Napoleon Hill, wrote this book based on research on 25,000 people over 25 years. Hill identifies 13 success principles and draws the stories of Andrew Carnegie, Thomas Edison, Henry Ford, and many other successful people to illustrate his principles. 

His principles are desire, faith, autosuggestion, specialized knowledge, imagination, organized planning, power of the Master Mind, and sixth sense. Each chapter of the book describes one principle, and all sections work together because they are interrelated. 

The writer delineates each principle in detail and depth.

“A quitter never wins, and a winner never quits.” 

Napoleon Hill, Think and Grow Rich.

A burning desire is a must for success. To the author, desire must be definite— that I want to earn a lot of money is not a desire. 

The amount of money, time allotted for the task, and method to accomplish the task should be definite. Hill emphasizes, 

“The starting point of all achievement is desire. Keep this constantly in mind. Weak desire brings weak results.” 

Napoleon Hill, Think and Grow Rich. 

Success comes to those who become success conscious. Moreover, failure comes to those who indifferently allow themselves to become failure conscious. A clear and definite goal with constant efforts is the foremost condition of life’s journey to success.

Again, 

“If you don’t conquer self, you will be conquered by self.” 

Napoleon Hill, Think and Grow Rich. 

Self-control is a great battle, a battle within yourself. The first battle you have to win to succeed. 

“You are the master of your destiny. You can influence, direct and control your own environment. You can make your life what you want it to be.” 

Napoleon Hill, Think and Grow Rich.

Hill claims that the most successful people have strong discipline and self-control. On the contrary, unsuccessful people have little self-control. Self-control is essential as it is said, 

“More gold had been mined from the mind of men than the earth itself.” 

Napoleon Hill, Think and Grow Rich. 

So, the mind is money.

“Action is the real measure of intelligence.” 

Napoleon Hill, Think and Grow Rich. 

That how much and how we work matters. Hill emphasizes on hardworking and says, 

“Happiness is found in doing, not merely possessing.” 

Napoleon Hill, Think and Grow Rich. 

To Hill, an educated man is not necessarily a man of abundant knowledge. Instead, he is an educated man who has developed his mind that he may acquire anything he wants without violating the rights of others. Moreover, of course, he is a man of action.

Napoleon Hill finds out the six ghosts of fear. These which keep people from being successful are poverty, criticism, ill health, loss of love, old age, and death. The author also explains the situation and why these ghosts have entered into and occupied the human mind. 

These ghosts frighten and weaken us morally, socially, and financially. Because of these ghosts, we sometimes lose faith in the supremacy of the Almighty, which is an example of moral degradation. As a result, we suffer from insecurity in our society and create many problems. 

However, we are fortunate that a great philosopher like Napoleon Hill teaches us How to Outwit the Six Ghosts of Fear. In the end, we can repeat from the book, 

“Patience, persistence, and perspiration make an unbeatable combination for success.”

Napoleon Hill, Think and Grow Rich.

The writer of this review is an alumnus of IML, University of Dhaka. 

Think and Grow Rich
Think and Grow Rich

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