Think and Grow Rich

by Napoleon Hill

Your ability to use the principle of auto-suggestion will depend, very largely, upon your capacity to concentrate upon a given desire until that desire becomes a burning obsession.

Hand over the thought suggested in the preceding paragraph to your imagination,

Do not wait for a definite plan, through which you intend to exchange services or merchandise in return for the money you are visualizing,

demanding and expecting meanwhile, that your subconscious mind will hand over the plan, or plans you need. Be on the alert for these plans, and when they appear, put them into action immediately.

When the plans appear, they will probably “flash” into your mind through the sixth sense, in t...

This inspiration may be considered a direct “telegram,” or message from Infinite Intelligence. Treat it with respect, and act upon it as soon as you receive it. Fail...

Do not trust to your “reason when creating your plan for accumulating money

your reasoning faculty may be lazy, and, if you depend entirely upon it to serve you, it may disappoint you.

see yourself rendering the service, or delivering the merchandise you intend to give in return for this money. This is important!

To get satisfactory results, you must follow all instructions in a spirit of faith.

First. Go into some quiet spot (preferably in bed at night) where you will not be disturbed or interrupted, close your eyes, and repeat aloud, (so you may hear your own words) the written statement of the amount of money you intend to accumulate, the time limit for its accumulation, and a description of the service or merchandise you intend to give in return for the money. As you carry out these instructions, see yourself already in possession of the money.

Second. Repeat this program night and morning until you can see, (in your imagination) the money you intend to accumulate.

Third. Place a written copy of your statement where you can see it night and morning, and read it just before retiring, and upon arising until it has been memorized.

faith is the strongest, and most productive of the emotions.

Many philosophers have made the statement, that man is the master of his own earthly destiny,

because he has the power to influence his own subconscious mind, and through it, gain the cooperation of Infinite Intelligence.

Inject into your efforts something of the faith of a child.

There are two kinds of knowledge. One is general, the other is specialized. General knowledge, no matter how great in quantity or variety it may be, is of but little use in the accumulation of money.

Lack of understanding of this fact has been the source of confusion to millions of people who falsely believe that “knowledge is power.” It is nothing of the sort! Knowledge is only potential power.

This “missing link” in all systems of education known to civilization today, may be found in the failure of educational institutions to teach their students how to organize and use knowledge after they acquire it.

Henry Ford had but little “schooling,” he is not a man of “education.” Those who make this mistake do not know Henry Ford, nor do they understand the real meaning of the word “educate.”

Latin word “educo,” meaning to educe, to draw out, to develop from within.

Now, will you kindly tell me, why I should clutter up my mind with general knowledge, for the purpose of being able to answer questions, when I have men around me who can supply any knowledge I require?”

Any man is educated who knows where to get knowledge when he needs it, and how to organize that knowledge into definite plans of action.

Henry Ford had at his command all the specialized knowledge he needed to enable him to become one of the wealthiest men in America. It was not essential that he have this knowledge in his own mind.

Andrew Carnegie stated that he, personally, knew nothing about the technical end of the steel business; moreover, he did not particularly care to know anything about it. The specialized knowledge which he required for the manufacture and marketing of steel, he found available through the individual units of his master mind group.

power is acquired through highly organized and intelligently directed specialized knowledge, but that knowledge does not, necessarily, have to be in the possession of the man who accumulates the fortune.

Men sometimes go through life suffering from “inferiority complexes,” because they are not men of “education.” The man who can organize and direct a “Master Mind” group of men who possess knowledge useful in the accumulation of money, is just as much a man of education as any man in the group.

Knowledge has no value except that which can be gained from its application toward some worthy end.

Successful men, in all callings, never stop acquiring specialized knowledge related to their major purpose, business, or profession.

The truth is that schooling does but little more than to put one in the way of learning how to acquire practical knowledge.

The man who has been active on the campus, whose personality is such that he gets along with all kinds of people and who has done an adequate job with his studies has a most decided edge over the strictly academic student.

most companies look not only to academic records but to activity records and personalities of the students.

‘We are interested primarily in finding men who can make exceptional progress in management work. For this reason we emphasize qualities of character, intelligence and personality far more than specific educational background.’

The self-discipline one receives from a definite programme of specialized study makes up to some extent, for the wasted opportunity when knowledge was available without cost.

There is one weakness in people for which there is no remedy. It is the universal weakness of lack of ambition!

The person who stops studying merely because he has finished school is forever hopelessly doomed to mediocrity, no matter what may be his calling.

Specialized knowledge, plus imagination, were the ingredients that went into this unique and successful business.

the position did not require the young man to start at the bottom. he began as a junior executive, at an executive’s salary.

Well, for one thing, the planned presentation of this young man’s application for a position clipped off no less than ten years of time he would have required to get to where he began, had he “started at the bottom and worked his way up.”

This idea of starting at the bottom and working one’s way up may appear to be sound, but the major objection to it is this-too many of those who begin at the bottom never manage to lift their heads high enough to be seen by opportunity, so they remain at the bottom.

the outlook from the bottom is not so very bright or encouraging. It has a tendency to kill off ambition. We call it “getting into a rut,” which means that we accept our fate because we form the habit of daily routine, a habit th...

it pays to start one or two steps above the bottom. By so doing one forms the habit of looking around, of observing how others get ahead, of seeing opportuni...

we rise to high positions or remain at the bottom because of conditions we can control if we desire to control them.

success and failure are largely the results of habit!

Truly, there is something to the idea that hero-worship is helpful, provided one worships a winner.

business associations are vital factors, both in failure and in success,

With the changed conditions ushered in by the world economic collapse, came also the need for newer and better ways of marketing personal services. It is hard to determine why someone had not previously discovered this stupendous need, in view of the fact that more money changes hands in return for personal services than for any other purpose.

Remember, the idea is the main thing. Specialized knowledge may be found just around the corner-any corner!

The imagination is literally the workshop wherein are fashioned all plans created by man. The impulse, the desire, is given shape, form, and action through the aid of the imaginative faculty of the mind. It has been said that man