Most people in today’s society define success as someone who makes a lot of money or has done something important to help form today’s society. People such as Bill Gates or Donald Trump are considered successful because they have lots of money. Even actors whose lives are wrecked and destroyed are considered successful because of the money they have. Others, like Thomas Edison, are considered successful because of accomplishments they achieved in their lives. Thomas Edison, for example, created the light bulb, so most people would consider him successful.
In his book, Think & Grow Rich, Napoleon Hill gives 13 steps on how to have the right mindset, attitude, and ability to become successful. The first thing Hill mentions is desire. He says the best thing to do with desire, is to use it to set goals. Whether it’s a getting a certain job, earning a certain amount of money, or doing something you’ve always dreamed of doing, the best way to achieve it is to set a goal. Not just any type of goals though. The goals should be specific. For example, a goal like I want to earn a million dollars isn’t really going to help you.
It shows that you want a million dollars, but lacks desire. A better goal would be, I want to earn a million dollars before my twenty fifth birthday. If it is truly a desire, a person will do everything to reach that goal. And by setting specific goals, if gives a person the motivation and plan to reach their goals. The second step to thinking rich is have faith. In order to think like a rich person, you must have faith that hard work will pay off, and in the future, you will reach your goals and achieve your dreams. One thing that could help is by repeating this and your goals to yourself.
That is Hill’s third step. He refers to this as autosuggestion. By repeating something to yourself, you become more and more determined and your thoughts will eventually become a reality. It is kind of like studying a test. You study stuff so that when the right time comes you will know the right answer. It is also important to have specialized knowledge on what it is your goal is. Is the forth step to thinking rich. For example, a person who wants to be a youth minister should study how to be a youth pastor. One thing that really helps is by having a mentor.
For a person wanting to be a youth pastor, an internship under a youth pastor would be extremely helpful. Not only would they guide you and give you advice, but you would also get to be behind the scenes and see how things really work. And the whole time you would have someone to help you. Mentors keep you accountable, teach you, and give you advice. The fifth step to thinking like a rich is by using your imagination. In order to do big things, you must think of big things. To think big, you must be able to take a vague idea, and turn it into something concrete. For a lot of people, this is a big reason why they don’t reach success.
They see the goal, but they don’t have the imagination to be able to make a path on how to get there and reach their desires. A person must be able to plan their path to success, which is the sixth step. Organized planning is important to thinking big also. Hill gave four basic steps to how to best plan your path to success. First, he suggested that you that you should surround yourself with people who will give you knowledge and help you work towards your goal. The second thing he suggests is to find a job that will help you work towards your dream. In some cases, even an internship would be very beneficial, such as for a youth pastor.
Thirdly, Hill says that you must work regularly and hard to get the job done. If you don’t work hard, you will never get any closer towards achieving your goals. Finally, you must practice all the traits to thinking rich. Success requires hard work. Without it, it will never be found. The seventh step towards thinking and growing rich is to be able to make decisions. You must be able to make firm, prompt decisions. Being decisive is key. People won’t follow or depend on you if you can’t make decisive decisions that you stick with. Being persistent is the eighth step in thinking rich.
Most people just give up on their dreams after their first failure. But everyone is going to stumble and fall. Everyone is going to have bumps in the road. But in order to go places in life and to grow, you must be able to overcome those adversities. No matter what, you must push forward and work towards your goal. A great example of this is Thomas Edison. He tried thousands of was to make a light bulb. Of all those times, only one of those tries worked. What does that mean? That means he failed thousands of times.
When asked about this, he said, “ I didn’t fail a thousand times. I found a thousand ways not to make a light bulb. So how was he able to accomplish this? He was persistent. He never quit trying even though he failed a bunch of times. In the end, he was successful and invented what some would say is one of the greatest most important inventions ever. Power of the master mind is hills ninth step. In this chapter, Hill talked about picking the minds of other people to help you. Take others ideas so that you can get ideas yourself. (Don’t steal them, but use them to help you. ) Also tell others of your ideas so that they can help you on how to better improve the idea and to help them get ideas and achieve their goals.
To be honest, I wasn’t exactly sure what to make of the tenth step, but Hill calls it the mystery of sex transmutation. Hills eleventh step is to be able to control your subconscious mind. It is only natural to have negative thoughts about your dreams. But the truth is, these goals will only push you away from being able to accomplish them. You must be able to control this. You must make it a habit to get rid of the negative thoughts, and replace them with positive ones. It seems like a small thing, but it will help you achieve your goal in a big way.
The twelfth step is to be able to pick up on the nonverbal ques that people give. Most people really struggle with being able to do this. I know I do. But like controlling your negative thoughts, this little thing can help you in a big way. Hill refers to the final step as “ the sixth sense. ” The sixth sense is to basically meditate. It is important to think about what your doing, where you are, and where you want to be going. Without thinking about how things are and how you want to be, then you’ll never get there. The only way to truly move forward is to reflect on the past and focus on how to work for a better future.
