Andrew Carnegie, a very well-known American industrialist, business magnate and philanthropist led the expansion of American steel industry in the late 19th century and is often identified as one of the richest man on Earth in his time.
He became a leading philanthropist both in the United States and Britain. During the last 18 years of his life, he gave away about 350 million which is almost 90 per cent of his fortune, to Charities, foundations and universities.
At the peak of Andrew Carnegie's career, he bumped into an impressive journalist named Napoleon Hill who he trusted to document and to share with the world the strategies that turned him into one of the richest and most successful businessmen of all time. That documentation and secret of success is named 'Think and Grow Rich'.
In the preface of Think and Grow Rich, Napoleon Hill wrote, "It was Mr. Carnegie's idea that the magic formula which gave him a stupendous Fortune ought to be placed within reach of people who do not have time to investigate how men make money." Yes, that magic formula is 'Think and Grow Rich' written in 1937. Since then, this book has been considered as one of the most powerful self-help book of all time which can literally change your professional, social and personal life.
Napoleon Hill spent 30 years of his lifespan to write this book and interviewed more than 500 millionaires of his time before publishing it. More than 30 million copies have been sold worldwide and the book has made hundreds of people millionaire.
Eighty years ago Napoleon Hill studied 500 millionaire of his time and boiled down their success into 13 simple principles and those 13 principles can still change one’s life in 2018. Here are the principles:
1st Principle: 'Desire'
The starting of all accomplishment is desire and the desire has to come from the deep down of your heart. Just like a small fire cannot produce big heat, weak desire cannot bring big result. So, have a strong desire!
2nd Principle: 'Faith'
Growing Rich and being successful in life start with your mindset that you can do it. And then it comes to reality. Don't give yourself a boundary. Have the strong faith that you can achieve your desired goal and faith will eliminate all limitations.
3rd Principal: 'Autosuggestion'
Use affirmations to reach your goal. Growing desire for success into reality requires your subconscious mind to send words to your conscious mind. Whatever your conscious mind thinks, is always believed by your subconscious mind because subconscious mind cannot understand true or false. So, take the opportunity. Tell your subconscious mind by your conscious mind every single day that you are going to accomplish your goal!
4th Principal: 'Specialised knowledge'
We are in 21st century now. And we know knowledge is a potential power. And it only becomes powerful and leads to great success when it is organised and applied to life and there lies the huge importance of specialised knowledge in the professional field you are in.
5th Principle:' Imagination'
Hill says, if you can imagine it, you can create it. Come up with your ideas and visualise your ideas in 3 dimensions. See them, believe hem and feel them. An idea can really change the world. Uber is an idea, facebook is an idea, Air bnb is an idea. This is the era of ideas. So, Shoot your imagination and stay in them.
6th Principle: 'Organised planning'
Once you have visualised your success, what you have to do now is to take concrete action in an organised way with a step by step action plan. Have a rough idea of the obstacles you have to come across and plan how to overcome them.
7th Principle: 'Decision'
Making decision is a vital part of any project. And to make a proper decision, you have to be decisive. All the individual Napoleon Hill studied who accumulated great deal of wealth and success were very decisive while making a decision. So, to make a sound decision, you have to be really decisive.
8th Principle: 'Persistence'
Persistence is crucial when trying to accomplish success in any aspects of life. It is a vital quality to win over anything. Hill writes, riches do not respond to wishes. They respond only to definite plans, backed by definite desires, through constant persistence.
9th Principle: 'Power of the Mastermind'
Successful people create a mastermind which means that they surround
themselves with talented people, like minded people who share their vision. The alignment of several smart and creative minds is exponentially more powerful than just one. As you know, you are the average of five people you're associating with.
10th Principle: 'The Mystery of sex transmutation'
Napoleon Hill says, sexual energy is an incredibly powerful human energy. It creates physical life and develops emotional life, and when it is harnessed and redirected, it can enhance our creativity, passion, enthusiasm, and persistence, all which are crucial in accomplishing success and wealth.
11th Principle: 'The subconscious mind'
As I was saying before we can control our subconscious mind by controlling our conscious mind and can instil the belief we want to see reflected in our life. This can be best achieved by meditation and also affirmation to yourself. Give yourself a pep talk everyday with positive words. Look into your eyes and talk to yourself. You tell yourself that you can do it!
12th Principle: Keep learning!
Our brain is a "transmitter and receiver of thought vibrations." It absorbs thoughts from other individuals surrounding us, making it even more important to associate with intelligent, creative, and positive individuals. So, the idea is to associate with other smart and creative people and learn from them. Keep learning!
13th and the last principle is: The Sixth Sense
Sixth sense occurs only after you've mastered the other 12 principles. You'll experience a sort of mind-shift. Hill says,"Through the aid of the sixth sense, you will be warned of impending dangers in time to avoid them, and notified of opportunities in time to embrace them." He also added, "It is generally not attained until age 40". His basic claim is that your intuition will change. You'll have achieved a level of wisdom that will allow you to start making smart financial and life decisions naturally.
And that's it! Well, the book that has changed millions of lives over the last 80 years can really change your life in 2018 if you give it a real shot.
The writer is a Communication Trainer in Edmonton AB, Canada.
