Regarded as one of the best motivational books of all time, Napoleon Hill's Think and Grow Rich continues to inspire and empower its readers even after almost 80 years since its first publication.

If you're looking for more than just tactics, tools, or tips on how to be successful (not just wealthy or famous), Hill suggests examining your thoughts and thought patterns. He says:

“Whatever the mind can conceive and believe, it can achieve with positive mental attitude.”

Here are my 3 Takeaways:

1. "There is a difference between wishing for a thing and being ready to receive it.”

The author mentions this in the first step towards riches. He says more than wishing, we need an intense burning desire to reach our goals. Before anything else, we need to believe we will attain it, otherwise, it'll never materialize.

Hill suggests practicing a morning and evening routine: be specific and state your goals, what you intend to do in exchange, and the timeframe you will set in order to accomplish those goals. Write these down, and recite to yourself twice a day.

2. Train your subconscious mind by way of autosuggestion

Believe it or not, our subconscious mind plays a big role in our lives. Remember the quote by Henry Ford, "whether you think you can, or think you can't, you're right?" Well, Ford is actually mentioned several times in the book and it's clear why.

Hill suggests planting seeds of affirmation in your brain. Nowadays, people make vision boards for their desk or mirror but even a simple Dream Board in Pinterest can help so you can repeatedly picture yourself having already accomplished your goals.

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3. Master the 6 fears

In contrast to #2 where you feed your mind with positivity, we can't help but sometimes be plagued by our fears. Although everyone has fears (ex. fear of poverty, fear of criticism, fear of death, etc.), remember that fear is still a state of mind. It has not materialized so you have control over your state of mind. In order to attain true riches, we need to recognize and then master them, otherwise they will master us.

3 Takeaways

Since one of the best ways to improve ourselves is to commit to continuous learning, this post is part of the blog mini-series called 3 Takeaways where I discuss three insights from thought-provoking leaders, books, and podcasts.

My purpose initially was to simply read more books, but the learnings were too valuable to keep to myself. My goal has since been to share the vital lessons that will help you be productive and free.