Many successful people today are finding tons of ways to pursue their financial freedom while helping a lot of people. While these stories are indeed inspiring, most see it as impossible or out of their reach.
In order to achieving financial freedom or financial independence it is very important to change that mindset.
Napoleon Hill's ground-breaking book Think and Grow Rich is all about what we can do to change that mindset. Although it was written more than 70 years ago, it still communicates the same message known by every successful person – achieving financial freedom is an endless task of evaluating our thinking and making necessary shifts in our thinking.
Think and Grow Rich argues that whatever your mind can conceive and believe it can achieve. Napoleon Hill interviewed 500 of the wealthiest men in America during his time, including such people as Thomas Edison, Alexander Graham Bell, Henry Ford, Elmer Gates, Theodore Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson and many more.
In some ways, Hill's book is a summation of the thoughts of these great men. At the core of their thinking was "...whatever your mind can conceive and believe it can achieve."
Background of Think and Grow Rich
Think and Grow Rich was "brain child" of the famous Andrew Carnegie. Carnegie was Swedish immigrant who move from poverty to great wealth. In fact, he was one of the wealthiest men of his day. Andrew Carnegie saw the need for communicating the "how to's" of money making.
Carnegie convinced Napoleon Hill to undertake the ambitious project. Today, the book has sold over 7 million books and is the main source of inspiration for highly successful people, 70 years after it was written!
It outlines 13 steps to achieve financial freedom. Napoleon Hill first talks about desire as the starting point of all achievement.
Desire is not a wish or a wild dream. Desire involves passion, which allows one to focus on their goal at all costs. For example, Thomas Edison had the desire or passion to invent. This controlled every aspect of his life and thinking. It allowed him to to become what he was. In short, desire is raging fire, all-consuming in your being, not just a silly figment of imagination.
Second, Napoleon Hill talks about faith or the belief that one's desire can be attained. Faith allows us to be continually focused on our desire because we know without a doubt that we can achieve what we desire in the future.
Faith and desire are therefore indispensible factors in achieving financial freedom.
A Step by Step Approach to Changing Your Mindset
While there are thirteen very helpful steps to achieve wealth creation, Napoleon Hill also outlines the process of our mind. He discusses the art of decision making and the mastery of procrastination.
Procrastination and our ability to make decisions go hand in hand. Most people tend to postpone making decisions because they lack a sense of judgment, or they do not like risk taking.
Napoleon Hill states that successful people tend to act quickly and decide often. Therefore procrastination is not a matter of "taking time to think things over" but rather a mistaken understanding of the decision making process itself.
Hill suggests that our practice should be to decide quickly and decide (or re-decide!) often. Take action quickly and make decisions quickly, then change those decisions and actions when necessary.
Think and Grow Rich is definitely a must read for people who do not understand the relationship between thoughts and wealth. While most people mistakenly believe their status quo is their plight and the way it must be, the truth is that this thinking puts them at the bottom of the "financial food-chain".
Taking steps to financial freedom starts with what goes on between your ears – namely, your thinking! Think and Grow Rich will help you change your values and see the world in a different light.
No comments:
Post a Comment