TRUSTEES AND DIRECTORS OF THE NAPOLEON HILL FOUNDATION SEPTEMBER 2006
DR. CHARLES JOHNSON Chairman
JAMES OLESON President
PHIL FUENTES
Executive Vice President & Secretary
Today can be the most important day of your life!
DON M. GREEN
Vice President & Executive Director
MICHAEL BATTLE
Vice President and Treasurer
For additional information about Napoleon Hill products please contact the following locations: Napoleon Hill World Learning Center Purdue University Calumet 2300 173rd Street Hammond, IN 46323-2094 Judith Williamson, Director Uriel “Chino” Martinez, Assistant/Graphic Designer
Instructions for studying the book
Telephone: 219-989-3173 or 219-989-3166 email: nhf@calumet.purdue.edu
Think and Grow Rich®
Napoleon Hill Foundation University of Virginia-Wise College Relations Apt. C 1 College Avenue Wise, VA 24293 Don Green, Executive Director Annedia Sturgill, Executive Assistant Telephone: 276-328-6700 email: napoleonhill@uvawise.edu Website: www.naphill.org
BY
NAPOLEON HILL
Compliments of
THE NAPOLEON HILL FOUNDATION The Napoleon Hill Foundation is a non-profit educational institution dedicated to making the world a better place in which to live.
Instructions for studying the book
Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill
May Think and Grow Rich fulfill its purpose. For its purpose is to inspire you, the reader, to direct your thoughts, control your emotions and ordain your destiny . . . And something more: to motivate you to make your world a better world in which to live by sharing a part of what you have that is good and beautiful. Write us, please, if Think and Grow Rich 1. Helped you help yourself to become a better person, 2. And motivated you to try to make your world a better world in which to live.
Introduction to Think and Grow Rich This book can dramatically change your life for the better, and, in turn, change the lives of those with whom you come in contact . . . your family, your friends, your business associates. Napoleon Hill’s Think and Grow Rich is a book that has had a great influence on the lives of many successful people. It is one of the most influential self-help books ever published. Thousands of people who have read it have found in it the key to financial independence. They have also found the key to happiness and self-fulfillment. Hill spent his lifetime seeking the magic ingredient that brought success to more than 500 wealthy men. Andrew Carnegie was the first to reveal his formula for success to Hill; and Hill went on to develop a famous philosophy—a philosophy that will guide anyone with the ability to think and the desire to grow rich. In 1952, W. Clement Stone was Hill’s General Manager . . . they went on lecture platforms together to speak to people who were in training in industry. They had the objective of teaching these persons to become proficient, and to motivate those who had never been exposed to selfhelp books like Think and Grow Rich. They were able to affect the lives of many thousands. We can relate countless examples of truly ambitious people who bettered their lives, even in the face of serious problems.
for the relationship between the two. Each time you put the book down, you will want to take some action which has been inspired by the reading. This action should be something which would not have been done if you had not read the book. Remember, knowledge is not power; applied knowledge is. The purpose of reading and studying a self-help book is to get into Action— action built around one principle or idea. Don’t worry if there are concepts in the book you don’t understand, just act on the ones you do.
MOTIVATE YOURSELF THROUGH SELF-HELP BOOKS! Think and Grow Rich is a book that will help you do all of these things. It is a book that will change your life. Master the secret it reveals, and you will have mastered the secret of true and lasting success.
THINK AND GROW RICH No matter what your goals are: money, position, prestige . . . some special achievement, you cannot possibly fail to bring your worthwhile desires into reality, if: You sincerely desire to succeed; You diligently study this book and follow through so that you can employ the principles with ease; and You continue to employ the principles until they become a habit. Success in anything can be reduced to a formula which can be learned and employed by those who wish to succeed. By employing the principles in this book, you can and will make your desires come true.
© Napoleon Hill Foundation 1999
encourages re-reading the book several times. The organization of a self-help book is designed to impel you, the reader, to action. When you encounter some meaningful principle or idea, you may want to stop reading and start thinking and acting. As a result, a self-help book is not usually read as one reads a novel. In a novel the author controls the conclusion; in a self-help book the reader determines the conclusion. This difference encourages you to read a self-help book in bits and spurts. In between reading, the reader is thinking and acting.
A FEW SPECIFIC SUGGESTIONS FOR READING THINK AND GROW RICH Since ideas will come from unexpected places, it is important to read with notepaper at hand. Anything of importance should be jotted down immediately. Underlining key words, phrases, and sentences is helpful. After underlining, making marginal notes can be helpful. While reading a self-help book, keep your mind on what you want. Know what you are looking for as you read. As you read, have faith that the answer to your want or problem is in the book. Read with positive expectancy. Read the book as if it were written just for you. It is a confidential letter from the author to each reader. Remember that just one idea placed into action will change your life. You should ask the question: “What does this mean to me?” You are constantly searching for a launching pad to action.
What is it about this book, Think and Grow Rich, that makes it such a significant guide to success? It has a secret. It has a sound philosophy. It develops a number of timeless and telling concepts that are of distinct value to anyone willing to take the time and effort to put them into practice. This book tells you what to do. It also tells you how to do it. It teaches you to direct yourself on the road to success. It gives you a sound and workable blueprint for organizing your activity, for planning ahead, for gaining control of your emotions, for learning to control your thoughts, for looking upon thoughts as things, and for analyzing your mental attitudes. It does even more. It shows you how to use the thinking of others for your mutual benefit. It shows you how to sell your personal services. In short, it gives you a variety of ways to use your own innate potential for a program of achievement. The philosophy of Think and Grow Rich is not directed solely to making money. On the contrary, it shows you where great riches may be found outside financial independence. It is a book that strives to bring harmony into your life, your family, your business associates and your friendships. Moreover, it directs you to that inner harmony, that peace of mind and soul that helps you function fruitfully in this great universe, for the good of yourself and your loved ones, and for the good of all men, everywhere. This, then, is a book that encompasses a vast and staggering number of objectives. That is why it has been so influential. That is also why it will have a profound effect on everything you do, providing, of course, that you put into action all of the things it teaches. We are not saying that it will accomplish miracles. No, it will only show you how to accomplish them. And, by miracles, we don’t mean something altogether beyond the course of nature. The real miracle, of course, is in yourself, in that marvelous brain and spirit that you possess already.
Reading should be paced so there is time for thought. If an idea is triggered in the imagination, it should be allowed to run its course.
That’s your potential. There is no point in having such a great potential for achievement unless you do something to convert it into an actuality.
You will want to be alert for the “How To’s.” A good self-help book will have “How To” information as well as “What To.” Be alert for both and
Let us direct you to a simple exercise, by way of example. This goes back to the days of ancient Greece—in fact, you’ll find it in one of
Aristotle’s texts. Double up your fist. Look at it. What is it? A fist, that’s all. What can you do with it? You can hit someone and knock them out. You can move something with it. It’s a closed fist, in actuality. But what is it potentially? The answer is simple—an open hand. Make it an open hand and then see what you can do. Now it’s an extraordinary instrument for accomplishment. Think of the thousands of things you can do with it now that you could not do with it as a closed fist. Well, your mind is like that. Right now, it may be like a closed fist, able to do certain rudimentary things. But when you begin to read Think and Grow Rich, you will find that your mind is opening up, in the same way your fist opened up, and is becoming a flexible and able instrument for accomplishment.
tribulations of life and make something good out of them. In every adversity, there is the seed of an equivalent, or even greater benefit.
That’s what this book will do for you—it will extend and amplify the potential of your brain, giving you a new, broad, exciting and challenging perspective. It will open up an entirely new future for you. A brilliant future. A productive future. A successful future.
An inspirational, self-help action book has many unique features. And you can gain more from it by understanding some of these features as you read and study.
You can have anything you want when you find the secret in this book by Napoleon Hill. Anything that doesn’t violate the laws of God or the rights of your fellow man—anything is yours, whether it is the acquisition of wealth or whatever. But there IS a price to pay. Most people won’t pay it. And THAT IS TO THINK, to think in the broadest sense of the word, which means that you have to take time for study, for thinking, and planning. We are reminded of a story of the great man who was observed sitting idly in his library. A friend approached him and said, “Why aren’t you working? Sitting there, you will accomplish nothing. The world is waiting for you to produce more work. What are you doing?” The great man had a simple and profound reply. He said, “I am doing the most difficult thing in the world—thinking.” Yes, just thinking is difficult. But it is an absolute essential if you’re anxious to achieve success. You will have to pay the price if you are to derive the maximum benefit from Think and Grow Rich. Think, study, plan, organize. Once you get into the habit of doing that, you will find a change in your life. It will be a change that will, in time, actually make your life easier. By that we mean you will be able to withstand the trials and
In Napoleon Hill’s Think and Grow Rich, you will find the answer to many questions, you will learn to plan successfully and to profit by self-analysis and the thinking of other men. In other words, you will discover yourself—you will find the vast, unexploited potential within yourself. Use it, study, plan ahead . . . and THINK.
HINTS FOR READING A SELF-HELP BOOK
Most self-help books are written by people who have traveled the road to success. As a result the major part of the information is first-hand, not second-hand. This characteristic “loads” the book with emotion and experience. It encourages you, the reader, to travel through the pages with your heart and your emotions, as well as your mind. There are many examples and case histories. These are ideas, principles, concepts and real people. You are encouraged to select a desired characteristic of one or more of the people and identify with it. These people have paid the price to change for success. They are prepared to travel with you as you search for and find your “other self.” The concepts in a self-help book are presented in “shotgun fashion.” A concept or principle may appear on any page and at any place on the page. These principles are sprinkled like sand on the beach. Together, they form a beautiful whole; separately, they provide a basis for specific action. Each reader will see different concepts. This characteristic of a self-help book calls for careful reading. The ideas and illustrations in a self-help book are presented like an easy flowing mountain stream. At first glance all the water looks the same depth. Closer inspection will reveal a wide variety—there are some deep pools and shallow ripples. A self-help book is the same. This provides something personal for each reader. This characteristic
Aristotle’s texts. Double up your fist. Look at it. What is it? A fist, that’s all. What can you do with it? You can hit someone and knock them out. You can move something with it. It’s a closed fist, in actuality. But what is it potentially? The answer is simple—an open hand. Make it an open hand and then see what you can do. Now it’s an extraordinary instrument for accomplishment. Think of the thousands of things you can do with it now that you could not do with it as a closed fist. Well, your mind is like that. Right now, it may be like a closed fist, able to do certain rudimentary things. But when you begin to read Think and Grow Rich, you will find that your mind is opening up, in the same way your fist opened up, and is becoming a flexible and able instrument for accomplishment.
tribulations of life and make something good out of them. In every adversity, there is the seed of an equivalent, or even greater benefit.
That’s what this book will do for you—it will extend and amplify the potential of your brain, giving you a new, broad, exciting and challenging perspective. It will open up an entirely new future for you. A brilliant future. A productive future. A successful future.
An inspirational, self-help action book has many unique features. And you can gain more from it by understanding some of these features as you read and study.
You can have anything you want when you find the secret in this book by Napoleon Hill. Anything that doesn’t violate the laws of God or the rights of your fellow man—anything is yours, whether it is the acquisition of wealth or whatever. But there IS a price to pay. Most people won’t pay it. And THAT IS TO THINK, to think in the broadest sense of the word, which means that you have to take time for study, for thinking, and planning. We are reminded of a story of the great man who was observed sitting idly in his library. A friend approached him and said, “Why aren’t you working? Sitting there, you will accomplish nothing. The world is waiting for you to produce more work. What are you doing?” The great man had a simple and profound reply. He said, “I am doing the most difficult thing in the world—thinking.” Yes, just thinking is difficult. But it is an absolute essential if you’re anxious to achieve success. You will have to pay the price if you are to derive the maximum benefit from Think and Grow Rich. Think, study, plan, organize. Once you get into the habit of doing that, you will find a change in your life. It will be a change that will, in time, actually make your life easier. By that we mean you will be able to withstand the trials and
In Napoleon Hill’s Think and Grow Rich, you will find the answer to many questions, you will learn to plan successfully and to profit by self-analysis and the thinking of other men. In other words, you will discover yourself—you will find the vast, unexploited potential within yourself. Use it, study, plan ahead . . . and THINK.
HINTS FOR READING A SELF-HELP BOOK
Most self-help books are written by people who have traveled the road to success. As a result the major part of the information is first-hand, not second-hand. This characteristic “loads” the book with emotion and experience. It encourages you, the reader, to travel through the pages with your heart and your emotions, as well as your mind. There are many examples and case histories. These are ideas, principles, concepts and real people. You are encouraged to select a desired characteristic of one or more of the people and identify with it. These people have paid the price to change for success. They are prepared to travel with you as you search for and find your “other self.” The concepts in a self-help book are presented in “shotgun fashion.” A concept or principle may appear on any page and at any place on the page. These principles are sprinkled like sand on the beach. Together, they form a beautiful whole; separately, they provide a basis for specific action. Each reader will see different concepts. This characteristic of a self-help book calls for careful reading. The ideas and illustrations in a self-help book are presented like an easy flowing mountain stream. At first glance all the water looks the same depth. Closer inspection will reveal a wide variety—there are some deep pools and shallow ripples. A self-help book is the same. This provides something personal for each reader. This characteristic
encourages re-reading the book several times. The organization of a self-help book is designed to impel you, the reader, to action. When you encounter some meaningful principle or idea, you may want to stop reading and start thinking and acting. As a result, a self-help book is not usually read as one reads a novel. In a novel the author controls the conclusion; in a self-help book the reader determines the conclusion. This difference encourages you to read a self-help book in bits and spurts. In between reading, the reader is thinking and acting.
A FEW SPECIFIC SUGGESTIONS FOR READING THINK AND GROW RICH Since ideas will come from unexpected places, it is important to read with notepaper at hand. Anything of importance should be jotted down immediately. Underlining key words, phrases, and sentences is helpful. After underlining, making marginal notes can be helpful. While reading a self-help book, keep your mind on what you want. Know what you are looking for as you read. As you read, have faith that the answer to your want or problem is in the book. Read with positive expectancy. Read the book as if it were written just for you. It is a confidential letter from the author to each reader. Remember that just one idea placed into action will change your life. You should ask the question: “What does this mean to me?” You are constantly searching for a launching pad to action.
What is it about this book, Think and Grow Rich, that makes it such a significant guide to success? It has a secret. It has a sound philosophy. It develops a number of timeless and telling concepts that are of distinct value to anyone willing to take the time and effort to put them into practice. This book tells you what to do. It also tells you how to do it. It teaches you to direct yourself on the road to success. It gives you a sound and workable blueprint for organizing your activity, for planning ahead, for gaining control of your emotions, for learning to control your thoughts, for looking upon thoughts as things, and for analyzing your mental attitudes. It does even more. It shows you how to use the thinking of others for your mutual benefit. It shows you how to sell your personal services. In short, it gives you a variety of ways to use your own innate potential for a program of achievement. The philosophy of Think and Grow Rich is not directed solely to making money. On the contrary, it shows you where great riches may be found outside financial independence. It is a book that strives to bring harmony into your life, your family, your business associates and your friendships. Moreover, it directs you to that inner harmony, that peace of mind and soul that helps you function fruitfully in this great universe, for the good of yourself and your loved ones, and for the good of all men, everywhere. This, then, is a book that encompasses a vast and staggering number of objectives. That is why it has been so influential. That is also why it will have a profound effect on everything you do, providing, of course, that you put into action all of the things it teaches. We are not saying that it will accomplish miracles. No, it will only show you how to accomplish them. And, by miracles, we don’t mean something altogether beyond the course of nature. The real miracle, of course, is in yourself, in that marvelous brain and spirit that you possess already.
Reading should be paced so there is time for thought. If an idea is triggered in the imagination, it should be allowed to run its course.
That’s your potential. There is no point in having such a great potential for achievement unless you do something to convert it into an actuality.
You will want to be alert for the “How To’s.” A good self-help book will have “How To” information as well as “What To.” Be alert for both and
Let us direct you to a simple exercise, by way of example. This goes back to the days of ancient Greece—in fact, you’ll find it in one of
Instructions for studying the book
Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill
May Think and Grow Rich fulfill its purpose. For its purpose is to inspire you, the reader, to direct your thoughts, control your emotions and ordain your destiny . . . And something more: to motivate you to make your world a better world in which to live by sharing a part of what you have that is good and beautiful. Write us, please, if Think and Grow Rich 1. Helped you help yourself to become a better person, 2. And motivated you to try to make your world a better world in which to live.
Introduction to Think and Grow Rich This book can dramatically change your life for the better, and, in turn, change the lives of those with whom you come in contact . . . your family, your friends, your business associates. Napoleon Hill’s Think and Grow Rich is a book that has had a great influence on the lives of many successful people. It is one of the most influential self-help books ever published. Thousands of people who have read it have found in it the key to financial independence. They have also found the key to happiness and self-fulfillment. Hill spent his lifetime seeking the magic ingredient that brought success to more than 500 wealthy men. Andrew Carnegie was the first to reveal his formula for success to Hill; and Hill went on to develop a famous philosophy—a philosophy that will guide anyone with the ability to think and the desire to grow rich. In 1952, W. Clement Stone was Hill’s General Manager . . . they went on lecture platforms together to speak to people who were in training in industry. They had the objective of teaching these persons to become proficient, and to motivate those who had never been exposed to selfhelp books like Think and Grow Rich. They were able to affect the lives of many thousands. We can relate countless examples of truly ambitious people who bettered their lives, even in the face of serious problems.
for the relationship between the two. Each time you put the book down, you will want to take some action which has been inspired by the reading. This action should be something which would not have been done if you had not read the book. Remember, knowledge is not power; applied knowledge is. The purpose of reading and studying a self-help book is to get into Action— action built around one principle or idea. Don’t worry if there are concepts in the book you don’t understand, just act on the ones you do.
MOTIVATE YOURSELF THROUGH SELF-HELP BOOKS! Think and Grow Rich is a book that will help you do all of these things. It is a book that will change your life. Master the secret it reveals, and you will have mastered the secret of true and lasting success.
THINK AND GROW RICH No matter what your goals are: money, position, prestige . . . some special achievement, you cannot possibly fail to bring your worthwhile desires into reality, if: You sincerely desire to succeed; You diligently study this book and follow through so that you can employ the principles with ease; and You continue to employ the principles until they become a habit. Success in anything can be reduced to a formula which can be learned and employed by those who wish to succeed. By employing the principles in this book, you can and will make your desires come true.
© Napoleon Hill Foundation 1999
TRUSTEES AND DIRECTORS OF THE NAPOLEON HILL FOUNDATION SEPTEMBER 2006
DR. CHARLES JOHNSON Chairman
JAMES OLESON President
PHIL FUENTES
Executive Vice President & Secretary
Today can be the most important day of your life!
DON M. GREEN
Vice President & Executive Director
MICHAEL BATTLE
Vice President and Treasurer
For additional information about Napoleon Hill products please contact the following locations: Napoleon Hill World Learning Center Purdue University Calumet 2300 173rd Street Hammond, IN 46323-2094 Judith Williamson, Director Uriel “Chino” Martinez, Assistant/Graphic Designer
Instructions for studying the book
Telephone: 219-989-3173 or 219-989-3166 email: nhf@calumet.purdue.edu
Think and Grow Rich®
Napoleon Hill Foundation University of Virginia-Wise College Relations Apt. C 1 College Avenue Wise, VA 24293 Don Green, Executive Director Annedia Sturgill, Executive Assistant Telephone: 276-328-6700 email: napoleonhill@uvawise.edu Website: www.naphill.org
BY
NAPOLEON HILL
Compliments of
THE NAPOLEON HILL FOUNDATION The Napoleon Hill Foundation is a non-profit educational institution dedicated to making the world a better place in which to live.