Think and Grow Rich

Napolean Hill

📚 GENRE: Personal Development

📃 PAGES: 320

✅ COMPLETED: March 1, 2020

🧐 RATING: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Buy Book

Short Summary

Renowned success teacher Napolean Hill draws on stories from Andrew Carnegie, Thomas Edison, Henry Ford, and others of his generation to illustrate his principles for achieving goals and living a productive life. 

Key Takeaways

1️⃣ Success Begins Within — You become what you consistently think about yourself. Success starts with self-belief and a clear vision for yourself. You have to believe in your talent, skills, and abilities. Flood your mind with productive thoughts and visualizations.

2️⃣ Be Decisive — Strong leaders in all industries and walks of life are quick and decisive with their decisions. Once they commit to a decision, they are all-in. Regardless of what they decide, they focus on making the most of their decision. 

3️⃣ Reflect Regularly — Self-reflection is key. Conduct an annual review to reflect on your year and identify what you did well and what you didn’t do well. The purpose of any self-review is to ensure you’re staying on track with your vision and living in alignment with your values and purpose. 

Favorite Quote

"Success in all areas begins with thought."

Book Notes 📑

Chapter 1

  • Napoleon Hill learned under Andrew Carnegie.
  • 12 Keys to Success:
    1. Positive mental attitude
    2. Sound physical health
    3. Harmony and human relations
    4. Freedom from fear
    5. Hope of future achievement
    6. Capacity for applied faith
    7. Willingness to share and help others
    8. Engaged in the labor of love
    9. An open mind
    10. Complete self-discipline
    11. Wisdom to understand others
    12. Financial security
  • Thoughts are powerful, especially when mixed with purpose and persistence.
  • Adopt a purpose and stand by that purpose until it becomes an obsession.
  • Know what you want and pursue it aggressively.
  • Success is always preceded by failure.
    • Failure is completely normal and is actually very helpful.
  • Quote: “Richness in life, in all areas, starts with a state of mind fueled by purpose.”
    • Success comes to those who are “success conscious.”

Chapter 2

  • Desire — Knowing what you want. Pursuing it relentlessly with everything you’ve got.
  • We become magnetized by the dominant thoughts we hold in our mind.
    • These magnets attract the people and resources of life that are in harmony with our dominant thoughts.
  • Process to Acquiring: 
    • Identify what you want
    • Think about it constantly and visualize it until it becomes an obsession
    • Create a plan to get there
    • Follow the plan relentlessly and with persistence and discipline that powers through failure
  • “I had to succeed because I finally ran out of things that wouldn’t work.” — Thomas Edison
    • You will fail. It is not the end of the road. Failure is actually leading you to success.
  • You will not get what you want without belief. Your state of mind has to be of belief and expectation NOT wishing.
    • It takes the same effort to aim high in life as it does to aim and accept misery and poverty. 
      • It’s up to you to choose.
  • Nothing is impossible. You have to believe in yourself and your abilities. 

Chapter 3

  • Faith is a state of mind. The repetition of affirmations to the subconscious mind is the way to develop faith.
  • Emotion, or feeling, is what gives thoughts vitality, life, and action.
  • Quote: “Faith is the internal elixir which gives life, power, and action to the impulse of thought.”
    • You eventually believe whatever you repeat to yourself over and over.
    • This is true, whether the statement is true or false.
    • If a man repeatedly tells or thinks a lie enough, he will eventually believe the lie. Vice versa.
    • Every man is who he is because of the dominant thoughts he allows in his mind.
  • Thoughts that are paired with emotion create a magnetic force that attracts similar or related thoughts.
    • It’s like a seed is planted and grows.
  • The power of thought is the only thing we have complete control over.
  • Quote: “Success in all areas begins with thought.”
    • The man who wins is the man who thinks he can. It’s all in the mental attitude.

Chapter 4

  • See yourself is already achieving the goal that you sit out for yourself.

Chapter 5

  • Always read books, learn, and develop.
  • Gain specialized knowledge through books and study.

Chapter 6

  • The imagination is the workshop of the mind.

Chapter 7

  • Quote: “If you give up before your goal is reached, you’re a quitter. A quitter never wins. A winner never quits.”
  • No circumstance is ever a failure until it is accepted by the individual as a failure.
    • It’s all in how you see it. Failure is not a means to an end; it’s a stepping stone on the way to success. 
    • The more you fail, the closer you’re getting to success. 
  • Choose whether you want to be a leader or a follower.
  • Qualities of Leaders:
    • Unwavering courage and self-belief
    • Self-control and discipline
    • A keen sense of justice
    • Decisiveness
    • Definite plans
    • A habit of going above and beyond
    • Pleasing personality
    • Sympathy and understanding
    • Mastery of detail
    • Willingness to assume full responsibility
    • Cooperation
  • Common Reasons for Failure:
    • Lack of purpose
    • Lack of ambition
    • Insufficient education
    • Lack of self-discipline
    • Poor health
    • Bad childhood
    • Procrastination
    • Lack of persistence
    • Negative personality
    • Wrong selection of career
    • Indiscriminate spending of money
    • Intolerance and a closed mind
    • Inability to cooperate with others
    • Intentional dishonesty
    • Guessing instead of thinking
    • Gambling too much
    • Indecisiveness
    • Fear
    • Wrong selection of mate in marriage
    • Non-risk taker
    • Wrong selection of business partner
    • Lack of concentration
    • Lack of enthusiasm
    • Ego
  • Conduct a self-review at the end of each year.
    • Use New Year’s resolutions and goals to address weaknesses.
  • In your annual review, ask yourself:
    • Did I meet my goals for this year?
    • Did I give my best effort?
    • Did I allow procrastination to hold me back?
    • Have I improved my personality? If so, how? In what ways?
    • What is a persistent in completing my goals?
    • Was I decisive?
    • Did I allow fear to impact my efficiency?
    • Was I overcautious or under cautious?
    • Where my relationships at work pleasant or unpleasant?
    • Were my results hurt by a lack of concentration?
    • Was I open-minded on all subjects?
    • In what ways have I improved myself? In what ways have I made myself more valuable?
    • Was I egotistic, whether publicly or privately?
    • Was my conduct towards coworkers such that they respect me?
    • Have my decisions been based on guesswork or research and thought?
    • Have I budgeted and planned my time and money properly?
    • How much time did I waste that could’ve been used to better myself?
    • How can I adjust my time management to improve my efficiency?
    • In what ways did I go above and beyond?
    • Have I been unfair to anybody? If so, who? In what way?
    • Am I satisfied with how you conducted myself this year?
    • Am I in the right career? If not, why not?
    • Is my employer satisfied with my services? 
    • What is my overall rating for this year?

Chapter 8

  • Avoid procrastination!
  • You can’t let other people’s opinions sway you when making decisions.
    • If you allow other people’s opinions to sway you, you will never have what you want.
    • Use your own mind and thinking to make your decisions.
  • Leaders make decisions quickly and confidently. Sometimes it takes a lot of courage. 

Chapter 9

  • Persistence is willpower, the ability to push through obstacles in pursuit of your goals.
    • Keep trying!
    • Don’t allow failure, which is temporary, to stop you.
  • Persistence is a state of mind. It comes from the following things:
    • Knowing your purpose and what you want
    • A strong desire to get there
    • Self-reliance
    • Definitive plans
    • Accurate knowledge
    • Cooperation with others
    • Willpower
    • Habit
  • Fear can be cured through forced repetition. As much as it stinks, overcoming a fear comes down to doing it repeatedly.

Chapter 10

  • Surround yourself with good people.

Chapter 12

  • The 7 Major Positive Emotions: 
    1. Desire
    2. Faith
    3. Love
    4. Six
    5. Enthusiasm
    6. Romance
    7. Hope
  • The 7 Major Negative Emotions: 
    1. Fear
    2. Jealousy
    3. Hatred
    4. Revenge
    5. Greed
    6. Superstition
    7. Anger
  • Positive and negative emotions cannot occupy the mind at the same time.
    • Your responsibility is to ensure that positive emotions dominate the mind. 
    • Check in with yourself. See how you’re feeling. You want to be in a positive emotional state. 

Chapter 13

  • You have complete and unchallenged control over your thoughts.

Chapter 14

  • Indecision leads to doubt. The two blend and become fear. 
  • There are six major fears that people get caught up in:
    1. Fear of poverty
    2. Fear of criticism
    3. Fear of poor health
    4. Fear of losing a loved one
    5. Fear of old age
    6. Fear of death
  • Fear is nothing more than a state of mind. There is nothing to fear but fear itself.
    • Part of beating fear is deciding.
      • Ex. To beat fear of criticism, decide you are not going to care what other people think about you.
  • Negative thoughts are destructive in all ways. They don’t help you at all. 
    • They do not serve you and they make people not want to be around you.
    • Have a positive and optimistic outlook. Have enthusiasm. 
    • Be proactive and focus on your goals.Â