The Principles of Napoleon Hills Best Selling Book

Think and Grow Rich

When Napoleon Hill wrote Think and Grow Rich! in the 1930s he expected the book to be a success and he expected to change the lives of many
people, but he probably did not expect to change the entire personal success genre. From the books initial publication in 1937 until Napoleon Hills
death in 1970, Think and Grow Rich! sold over 20 million copies. Since then sales have multiplied many times over. The book frequently hits bestseller lists, even in the 21st century. More importantly, however: the teachings have multiplied. Napoleon Hills philosophy can now be found
repackaged in books, e-books, audio, video, and blogs, by the numerous authors who have taken Hills philosophy, expanded on it or scaled it down,
and made it their own.

It is not surprising. More than 70 years after its first publication, Hills lessons are as timely as ever. In Think and Grow Rich! he has divided them into
13 principles to be mastered: Desire, Faith, Auto-suggestion, Specialized knowledge, Imagination, Organized planning, Decision, Persistence, the
Power of the master mind, the Mystery of sex transmutation, the Subconscious mind, the Brain, and the Sixth sense.

Desire
Of all of the principles of Think and Grow Rich!, the principle of Desire is no doubt the most important of all. For this reason, Hill has placed it at the
very beginning of his book.To understand what Hill means by Desire, it is important to forget all connotations of wistful dreaming that the word may
hold. Hills Desire is not about wishing, as wishes may or may not come true, usually by the action of some outside agent. Its about wanting. Only
when a man or woman truly wants something does he or she act towards attaining that which is wanted. Where wishing is often undefined and noncommittal, wanting is well-defined and commits to a course of action. When wanting something is fully developed and working for you
subconsciously at all hours of the day, you have Desire.
Ensure that your wants become Desire, Hill proposes taking some time to develop a clear and concise statement of that Desire. It is important, he
argues, to be very specific. If the Desire is to have money, the amount of money must be specified or Desire turns into wish. Hill also felt that it is
important to establish when the goal is to be achieved and what service or good will be rendered in turn for the achieving of the goal. This should all
come together in an action plan, which will be revisited often to imprint the Desire in the mind.

The reader well-versed in self-help literature will recognize this advice. The psychological importance of having a clear goal, for ones happiness and
for the achieving of that goal, is undisputed today. We call it a mission statement. It is wise to note, however, that Hills focus is not on the mission
statement itself, but the principle of Desire that lies behind that statement. Many have picked up a self-help book and, following its advice, written a
mission statement only to make nothing of it because it was not backed by the principle of Desire.

Faith
Napoleon Hill was not a religious man, but he saw the value of Faith and considered it next only to Desire in achieving success. What Hill calls Faith
is in fact a type of self-confidence that borders on religiosity. It was a principle that he once learnt from his mentor, the steel magnate millionaire
Andrew Carnegie.
What happens when a man knows what he wants, has a plan, puts it into action and meets with failure? a young and inexperienced Hill once asked
Carnegie. Doesnt that destroy his confidence?

Carnegie replied: I believe that every failure carries within itin the circumstances of the failure itselfthe seed of an equivalent advantage. If you
examine the lives of truly great leaders, you will discover that their success is in exact proportion to their mastery of failures. Life has a way of
developing strength and wisdom in individuals through temporary defeat.

Most people arent going to believe that every failure has an equivalent advantage when they are overcome with the adversity, Hill said. What does
one do if the experience destroys ones self-confidence?
The best way to guard against being overwhelmed by failure, said Carnegie, is to discipline the mind to meet failure before it arrives.To this end,
disciplining the mind to meet failure before it arrives, Hill developed a self-confidence formula in five steps to be committed to memory and repeated
aloud. But, more importantly, Hill felt that Faith would come on its own two whomever mastered the other twelve of his principles. Whether that is true
or not, the importance of psychology, in the shape of self-confidence, encouragement and positive language, for achievement is well-known today.

Auto Suggestion
The idea of Auto-suggestion is familiar to most audiences today, whether in the form of affirmations or visualization. It is a technique more than it is a
principle and its goal is to support the principles of Desire and Faith with a solid foundation. As Hill once put it: If you do not see great riches in your
imagination, you will never see them in your bank balance.

Hills techniques of Auto-suggestion are quite traditional. He suggests repeating the mission statement aloud morning and evening, while visualizing
the goal in mind. If you desire to have money, see yourself in possession of that money.

But, Hill emphasizes something which is often neglected in other success literature. When visualizing that which is to be attained, he also wants you
to visualize the rendering of the service or good that you will give in turn. In this way, the two sides of the coin become intricately linked in your mind.
In Hills world it is not enough to just wish for riches, you must also fill yourself with the willingness to work for those riches, and make sure that the
effort and reward are so closely linked that you never lose sight of what you should be doing.

Specialized knowledge
The fourth principle of Think and Grow Rich may strike the 21st century reader as incredibly modern. Most recent books, and indeed blogs, aimed
towards the person who wishes to start a small company, freelance, or get recognition, seem to distil into this one principle. That principle is
Specialized knowledge. Today we would call it having a niche.

As with most of Hills principles, Specialized knowledge goes further than its modern counterpart. On the one hand, Hill expresses the necessity for
having a niche. No man, he says, grows rich on what he calls general knowledge. On the other hand, by Specialized knowledge Hill also means the
actual knowledge necessary to fill a niche. That knowledge must be somehow acquired and organized.

Unlike many writers in the niche genre, Hill does not feel that its necessary to start with what you already know and work from there. Instead he
suggests that you should decide on what kind of Specialized knowledge you need and then see to how you can find it. You may already have the
knowledge necessary from education or experience, but its also possible that you need to educate yourself further in some way. It is also possible
that you may acquire the Specialized knowledge that you need by surrounding yourself with knowledgeable men and women who can advise you
when necessary. Hill no doubt admired men like Henry Ford, who was no man of education himself but who purported to have the answer to every
conceivable question with the aid of his network.

Imagination
It has been said that man can create anything which he can imagine, Hill writes and its a point that he makes time and again in Think and Grow
Rich! The imagination is clearly very important. For one thing, it is crucial to the act of Auto-suggestion, without which Desire and Faith can be
difficult to maintain. Whereas Desire is the catalyst for achievement, Imagination is necessary to give it physical form.

Hill divided imagination into two distinct types: synthetic and creative imagination. Synthetic imagination, he writes, is used in arranging old
concepts, ideas or plans into new combinations. Nothing new is created in this way, Hill writes. Here, one may be inclined to argue with him. If
something never before seen is built from previously known parts, using the prior experience and knowledge of the inventor, is that not the creation
of something new? It may well be that Hill would argue that it isnt and that the act of creation was the moment when the inventor first imagined what
he wanted to achieve. Hills concept of creative imagination is closely linked with other concepts that Hill returns often to, such as Infinite intelligence,
an idea closely resembling the wider interpretation of Jungs Collective unconscious, a sort of universal world mind that all humans can tap into.

Organized planning
You are engaged in an undertaking of major importance to you. To be sure of success, you must have plans which are faultless.
The concept of Organized planning is so integral to Hills teachings that he embedded it in his very first lesson on Desire. The necessity of having a
plan in order to successfully see something through is probably quite evident to most readers, but true to his style Hill incorporates a few more
concepts into this principle.

One is the concept of leadership. According to Hill it is up to each man to decide whether or not to be a leader or a follower. While the word follower
has negative connotations to us now Hill emphasizes that there is no right or wrong choice in this matter it is, however, clear that to Hill one is
somewhat better than the other. It is no disgrace to be a follower, Hill writes. On the other hand, it is no credit to remain a follower. Most great
leaders began in the capacity of followers. They became great leaders because they were intelligent followers.

A leader must be many things and many of the qualities of leadership are directly lifted from Hills earlier work, The Law of Success. A leader,
according to Hill, has courage, self-control, a strong sense of justice, definiteness of decisions and plans, a pleasing personality with sympathy and
understanding, mastery of detail, a habit of doing more than paid for, and a willingness to cooperate and to assume responsibility.

Hill also discusses a concept of the QQS rating. QQS stands for Quality, Quantity and Spirit of service. A leader is mindful of all three as Quality and
Quantity of service alone are not sufficient to stay in business.

Decision
Hills principle of Decision is closely related to his high value of leadership. Leaders know how to reach decisions promptly and how to stand behind
their decisions. Such people, Hill writes, know what they want, and generally get it. That is because the world has the habit of making room for the
man whose words and actions show that he knows where he is going.

The more important lesson may lie in what Hill has to say about indecision:

Indecision is a habit which usually begins in youth. The habit takes on permanency as the youth goes through graded school, high school, and even
through college, without definiteness of purpose.

You should not strive to make decisions quickly and firmly simply to act more like a leader. You should strive towards being able to make decisions in
such a manner because it will show you that you have a definiteness of purpose. It is only when you have mastered the principle of Desire and have
acquired some Faith that you can quickly make decisions to stand by. Forcing quick decisions for the sake of leadership is simply rashness.

Persistence
Just like you did not learn how to walk by giving up when you first fell down, you do not grow rich by letting momentary failure stand in your way.
Persistence is a state of mind that must be cultivated. In a sense, it comes from Hills principle of Faith. At the same time, Persistence is as much an
action as it is a principle and that action helps to reinforce Faith.

In developing persistence, Hill prescribed a definite purpose backed by a burning desire for its fulfillment, a definite plan, friendship and alliance
with encouraging people, and a willingness to shut out negative and discouraging influences advice that is still popular today.

Master mind
The concept of the Master mind is integral to all of Hills writings, but it is also the one that most skeptics have difficulties with. At its core, Hill
described the Master mind as the coordination of knowledge and effort, in a spirit of harmony, between two or more people, for the attainment of a
definite purpose.
That in itself is not very controversial, but the Master mind principle goes beyond mere interaction and cooperation. It describes a para-psychological
phenomenon of spiritual forces which Hill often described by saying that no two minds ever come together without, thereby, creating a third,
invisible, intangible force which may be likened to a third mind.

By creating such a third mind the minds within the group become something more than the sum of their parts and greater things can be achieved.
Much of the skepticism towards this philosophy may stem from the mysticism embedded in Hills language. The teachings themselves are found in
more recent works with a less spiritual bend, in for example Stephen Coveys extremely popular The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People.
Coveys chapter on interdependence is all about coordination of knowledge , harmony, and attainment of a definite purpose, but Covey calls it
thinking win-win and synergizing.

Sex transmutation
In a quite Freudian way, Hill identified the libido with vitality and drive in general. There emotion of sex contains the secret of creative ability, he
writes. Destroy the sex glands, whether in man or beast, and you have removed the major source of action. For proof of this, observe what happens
to any animal after it has been castrated. A bull becomes as docile as a cow after it has been altered sexually.

This is why, Hill argues, successful men are often highly sexed. It is also why men are rarely truly successful until they are at least in their forties,
when they are less preoccupied with chasing women and more capable of using their sexual energy for other creative endeavors. And that is what
Sex transmutation is all about: harnessing sexual energy and redirecting it.

The subconscious
Controlling the subconscious is the goal of Auto-suggestion, but it is also a principle in itself because the subconscious is of utmost importance when
it comes to maintaining Desire, Faith, and Persistence. Positive and negative emotions cannot occupy the mind at the same time. One or the other
must dominate. It is your responsibility to make sure that positive emotions constitute the dominating influence of your mind.
Here, Hill delves into values and describes the seven desirable emotions as: desire, faith, love, sex, enthusiasm, romance, and hope. The
corresponding seven undesirable emotions are listed as: fear, jealousy, hatred, revenge, greed, superstition, and anger.

Understanding how to approach the internal audience of the subconscious is crucial, according to Hill, and modern psychologists as well as self-help
authors would mostly agree.

The brain
Napoleon Hills view of the brain ties closely into his idea of the Infinite intelligence. This collective world mind can, according to Hills theory, be
tapped into by each individual human mind. He often likened the brain to a radio, being both a sending station and a receiving set. The vibrations
of other minds, Hill wrote, are picked up from the ether and we may all make our own signals stronger through positive emotion.

Many skeptics have no doubt put down the book at this point only to never pick it back up. It is hard to accept this part of Hills teachings as a
metaphor for cooperation or a psychological phenomenon. One may have to resort to thinking such ideas quaint and outdated.

It is interesting to note, however, that there are scientists today doing research on magnetic fields and brain frequencies, which are tentatively
pointing in the same direction as Hills work. For example, experiments have been made showing that humans are more likely to guess correctly
what others are looking at if their brain frequency is modified to 4-7hz. That is not to say that the skeptic is not entirely justified proof is certainly
lacking.

The sixth sense

According to Hill, proof will come when the reader has mastered all of the principles. He, because in Hills time the readers were predominantly male,
would then understand the principle of the Sixth sense. It was described by Hill as the medium of contact between the finite mind of man and Infinite
Intelligence and the point at which the mind of man contacts the Universal Mind.

As such, the Sixth sense is a principle which cannot be practiced, nor can it be disproved. Like with Hills other mystical theories, the reader chooses
to either accept it or to not accept it.

That is, of course, the case with all thirteen of Hills principles. And whether one believes in Hills theories or not, it is difficult to deny the persistence
of his ideas and their relevance today. The wide array of literature that now draws on Hills principles, practical as well as para-psychological, show
us that their application can be general, as in Hills book, or indeed very specific. That too is up to the reader.