Think and Grow Rich – Book Review

If you have not heard of this classic title by Napoleon Hill I encourage you to pick up a copy. The title of the book is actually misleading as the core of Think and Grow Rich is around decision, plan, and your mind. Ultimately the insights that Napoleon Hill produces are set up to be about how to acquire and attain wealth where in reality he discusses the steps needed to acquire anything that you may desire in life. I’ve read plenty of non-fiction books that pick up or go deep into single concepts that are found in Think and Grow Rich but I have not seen them organized in this way.

Going into the book I thought I knew what the point of the story would be and anticipated much of what I’ve read before. I believed it would have an inspiring tone and help you build momentum. What I did not anticipate were the clear thoughtful arguments that Napoleon Hill created in describing how you take ownership of your life and create the things you want. The first and ultimately the most important piece that has to be right in order for you to succeed is in your mind. You have to knowingly decide what you want, recognize the reasons, create an actual plan, and then organize your habits/life to reinforce that decision. The simplicity of the title Think and Grow Rich is quite clever because if there is one takeaway it should be around mindset. Yet if you go deeper Hill creates an argument and framework for anyone seeking to achieve their dreams to follow.

There is a reason this book has stood the test of time since its original publication in 1937. This book is truly a classic and has helped guide me to think about what pieces I’ve been missing as I look to achieve my dreams. I read quite a bit and I found myself really digging deep and analyzing my own psychology. The things I have been doing and not doing were directly tied to the different concepts and stages of the Think and Grow Rich framework for wealth creation. As someone who desires to create long-term wealth and legacy through a company that solves important challenges in the world, I have failed to truly create an “organized plan” on how to achieve it. I have pieces from a financial milestone perspective but am lacking the other important aspects that are needed to achieve my goal.

This book is a must-read for anyone who wishes to create wealth or has a big dream for their future. The conceptual framework on how to achieve success in addition to the psychology behind the framework is invaluable. I will keep this book by my bedside and reread the sections that apply to what I am struggling with at the time. Each section holds great knowledge that one quick read through is insufficient to truly grasp and most importantly implement the ideas presented. I enjoyed his honesty and vulnerability around the story of his imagined master-mind group that included successful people in all walks of life. In college, I used to have very vivid (some may say lucid) dreams where I would wake up after and not be able to distinguish if I dreamt what happened or if it was real. The vividness and likelihood of my dreams at the time made it difficult to truly know. I’d have to reason with myself through reflection to determine that it was indeed a dream.

As I read this book I began to wonder if the book/movie The Secret is from the same camp as Think and Grow Rich. There are many overlapping concepts that highlight the power that is the mind and how important it is to get our minds right in order to build the successes we desire. I highly recommend this book and it is one that I will no doubt be gifting to many folks in the near future.

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