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…
