Napoleon Hill

https://youtu.be/nR2SuK_kglQ

The goal here is to place myself in success consciousness as much as possible throughout my days so that I can see more opportunities, so I can execute upon more opportunities, so I can do it with greater joy and passion, to create the results that I want

Success comes to those who are success conscious. Failure comes to those who indifferently allow themselves to become failure conscious

• The object of this book is to help all who seek it, to learn the art of changing their minds from failure consciousness to success consciousness

This book introduces me to a certain state of mind, a certain vibration as Napoleon Hill puts it. The certain vibration is success consciousness: A certain level of consciousness that allows me to see opportunities that I might not have otherwise seen before

Chapter 1: Introduction

• Truly, "thoughts are things," and powerful things at that, when they are mixed with definiteness of purpose, persistence, and a burning desire for their translation into riches, or other material things
  • I need to evaluate how I think. Think in terms of success consciousness, wealth consciousness, or whatever consciousness way of thinking is required to achieve the outcome of what I want
• I have learned, from years of experience with men, that when a man really desires a thing so deeply that he is willing to stake his entire future on a single turn of the wheel in order to get it, he is sure to win
• One of the most common causes of failure is the habit of quitting when one is overtaken by temporary defeat. Every person is guilty of this mistake at one time or another
  • Life is a test. A test of growth, of character. It's all a personal development workshop to equip myself with the motivation, courage, persistence, and knowledge to be able to turn obstacles into opportunities
• Before success comes in any man's life, he is sure to meet with much temporary defeat, and, perhaps, some failure. When defeat overtakes a man, the easiest and most logical thing to do is to quit. That is exactly what the majority of men do. More than five hundred of the most successful men this country has ever known, told the author their greatest success came just one step beyond the point at which defeat had overtaken them. Failure is a trickster with a keen sense of irony and cunning. It takes great delight in tripping one when success is almost within reach
  • How I think and how I see reality to work determines the actions I take. The actions I take determines whether I see success or not
• Somewhere in this book I will find an idea that will quicken my receptive powers, and place at my command, for my own benefit, the same irresistible power. The awareness of this power may come to me in the first chapter, or it may flash into my mind in some subsequent chapter. It may come in the form of a single idea. Or, it may come in the nature of a plan, or a purpose. Again, it may cause me to go back into my past experiences of failure or defeat, and bring to the surface some lessons by which I can regain all that i lost through defeat
• The answer called for a description of thirteen principles, but remember, as I read, the answer I may be seeking, to the questions which have caused me to ponder over the strangeness of life, may be found in my own mind, through some idea, plan, or purpose which may spring into my mind as I read
  • In order to receive the downloads that I may receive during this experience (book/audio/blog), I must maintain this high vibrational mindset after I have closed my laptop
• Before I go any further in my approach to the description of these principles: When riches begin to come they come so quickly, in such great abundance, that one wonders where they have been hiding during all those lean years. This is an astonishing statement, and all the more so, when I take into consideration the popular belief, that riches come only to those who work hard and long
  • I understand that I can do things where I'm inspired, uplifted, energized, and motivated to evoke insights and perspectives to be able to see opportunities that I wouldn't have seen before because I'm in a more empowered state. When I'm in this space, I am more likely to execute on opportunities with confidence, speed, and decision (elements of success).
  • I will always get paid in return based on the value I create for others based on what value means to them
• When I begin to think and grow rich, I will observe that riches begin with a state of mind, with definiteness of purpose, with little or no hard work. I, and every other person, ought to be interested in knowing how to acquire that state of mind which will attract riches
  • This entire journey of wealth creation, or creating success in my life, doesn’t have to be one that is stressful and full of hardship. I have seen this book before, but until I had the level of success consciousness, I didn't have the intuitive nudge to pick up the book and read it (or watch this video). This allows for more layers of understanding to be opened up, and more success begins to follow
• The ether in which this little earth floats, in which I move and have my being, is a form of energy moving at an inconceivably high rate of vibration, and that the ether is filled with a form of universal power which adapts itself to the nature of the thoughts I hold in my mind; and influences me, in natural ways, to transmute my thoughts into their physical equivalent. My brain becomes magnetized with the dominating thoughts which I hold in my mind, and, by means with which no man is familiar, these "magnets" attract to us the forces, the people, the circumstances of life which harmonize with the nature of my dominating thoughts
  • Before I can accumulate riches in great abundance, I must magnetize my mind with intense desire for riches, that I must become "money conscious until the desire for money drives me to create definite plans for acquiring it."

Chapter 2: Desire

• Every person who wins in any undertaking must be willing to burn his ships and cut all sources of retreat. Only by so doing can one be sure of maintaining that state of mind known as a Burning Desire to Win, essential to success
• Every human being who reaches the age of understanding of the purpose of money, wishes for it. Wishing will not bring riches. But desiring riches with a state of mind that becomes an obsession, then planning definite ways and means to acquire riches, and backing those plans with persistence which does not recognize failure, will bring riches
• The method by which desire for riches can be transmuted into its financial equivalent, consists of six definite, practical steps:
  1. Fix in my mind the exact amount of money I desire. It is not sufficient merely to say "I want plenty of money." Be definite as to the amount
  2. Determine exactly what I intend to give in return for the money I desire
  3. Establish a definite date where I intend to possess the money I desire
  4. Create a definite plan for carrying out my desire, and begin at once, whether I am ready or not, to put this plan into action
  5. Write out a clear, concise statement of the amount of money I intend to acquire, name the time limit for its acquisition, state what I intend to give in return for the money, and describe clearly the plan through which I intend to accumulate it
  6. Read my written statement aloud, twice daily, once just before retiring at night, and once after arising in the morning. As I read - See and Feel and Believe in myself already in possession of the money
• It is important that I follow the instructions described in these six steps. It is especially important that I observe, and follow the instructions in the last part. I may complain that it is impossible for me to "see myself in possession of money" before I actually have it. Here is where a Burning Desire will come to my aid. If I truly Desire money so keenly that my desire is an obsession, I will have no difficulty in convincing myself that I will acquire it. The object is to want money, and to become so determined to have it that I Convince myself I will have it
  • To the uninitiated, who has not been schooled in the working principles of the human mind, these instructions may appear impractical. It may be helpful, to all who fail to recognize the soundness of the six steps, to know that the information they convey, was received from Andrew Carnegie, who began as an ordinary laborer in the steel mills, but managed, despite his humble beginnings, to make these principles yield him a fortune of considerably more than one hundred million dollars.
• It may be of further help to know that the six steps here recommended were carefully scrutinized by the late Thomas A. Edison, who placed his stamp of approval upon them as being, not only the steps essential for the accumulation of money, but necessary for the attainment of nay definite goal
• Only those who become "money conscious" ever accumulate great riches. "Money consciousness" means that the mind has become so thoroughly saturated with the Desire for money, that one can see one's self already in possession of it
• I may as well know, right here, that I can never have riches in great quantities, Unless I can work myself into a white heat of Desire for money, and actually Believe I will possess it
• In planning to acquire my share of the riches, let no one influence me to scorn the dreamer. To win the big stakes in this changed world, I must catch the spirit of the great pioneers of the past, whose dreams have given to civilization all that it has of value, the spirit which serves as the life-blood of our own country - my opportunity to develop and market my talents
• Put my dream across, and never mind what "they" say if I meet with temporary defeat, for "they," perhaps, do not know that every failure brings with it the seed of an equivalent success
• Remember, too, that all who succeed in life get off to a bad start, and pass through many heartbreaking struggles before they "arrive." The turning point in the lives of those who succeed, usually comes at the moment of some crisis, through which they are introduced to their "other selves."
• There is a difference between Wishing for a thing and being Ready to receiver it. No one is ready for a thing, until he believes he can acquire it. The state of mind must be Belief, not mere hope or wish. Open-mindedness is essential for belief. Closed minds do not inspire faith, courage, and belief
• Strange and imponderable is the power of the human mind! I do not understand the method by which it uses every circumstance, every individual, every physical thing within its reach, as a means of transmuting Desire into its physical counterpart. Perhaps science will uncover this secret
• Through some strange and powerful principle of "mental chemistry" which she has never divulged, Nature wraps up in the impulse of Strong Desire "that something" which recognizes no such word as impossible, and accepts no such reality as failure
• Before passing to the next chapter, kindle anew in my mind the fire of hope, faith, courage, and tolerance. If I have these states of mind, and a working knowledge of the principles described, all else that I need will come to me, when I am Ready for it