I often use this blog to explore contentious issues in New Thought. But not today. Today I am writing as a fanboy — and with unashamed admiration for Napoleon Hill’s Think and Grow Rich. I am a fanatic for the book. I give away copies, evangelize for it, and recently published a replica of the original 1937 edition.
Having beat a drum for Think and Grow Rich for years, I am sometimes asked by friends and coworkers: Does this brashly titled, 80-year-old self-help book really work?
The answer is yes. But only if you avoid one common mistake: reading the book casually, thinking that you already “get it” — and thus skipping vital exercises and steps.
Think and Grow Rich will yield its magic only if you do exactly what the author says — and do it as if your life depends on it.
Maybe you’re like me. You’ve read dozens upon dozens of self-help books and you have a “been there, done that” attitude. It is easy to fall into. But that kind of approach will blunt the benefits of Think and Grow Rich. This is because Napoleon Hill wrote the book in a very exact manner. He spent twenty years studying the lives of high achievers of all types — inventors, generals, diplomats, artists, industrialists — and he codified their common traits into a step-by-step program. Hill was certain, as am I, that he had created a model of what great minds do when bringing an idea from the conceptual stage to the physical stage.
When friends tell me that they feel stuck in life, I give them a copy of Think and Grow Rich with this advice: Go home and start reading the book, and follow every step and exercise with fanatical zeal. Forget about every other self-help book that you have ever read (including those that crib from Think and Grow Rich). As a personal experiment, dedicate yourself to Hill’s process for six months.
One of the beautiful things about Think and Grow Rich is that it can be used to attain any worthy aim. Whether you’re an artist, graduate student, or soldier, if you’re not reading Think and Grow Rich, you’re selling yourself short. The book will meet you wherever you are, and will serve whatever goal you have in mind. But only if you follow its program all the way.
