I was first introduced to Think and Grow Rich by my grandfather when I was 12 years old. He gave me his copy, an original printing from India, his home country.
I read it and it worked. From literally zero assets and no help whatsoever from my parents, at age 12, I was a millionaire by 25, owning 8 companies and retired at 29. Through my life, I have tried to teach people how to succeed based on my experience and the principles in the book, but with very little success. Over the years, I have found the reasons for the very limited percentage of successful attempts at applying the principles and am now finding my students are achieving far better results than in the past.
I knew why I succeeded and why others failed. As Mr. Hill said, the secret is in every page, if only you can see it.
The reason you cannot see it is that it is not one specific secret that your intellectual mind can understand. It is a jigsaw puzzle of various principles that are each a shadow of a concept but together make up an intangible quality. How is that for clear! That quality is the one specific secret ingredient that is emotional, not intellectual, and therefore illusive to discover, it must be felt. In fact it is the key to success.
Is the glass half full or half empty? Neither. It is always full, part water and part air. Air, the intangible yet material substance that gives us life. You cannot see it or touch it, yet you know by the very fact of your existence that it is real. How do you know this? By a totally unrelated piece of matter, your solid physical lungs.
With this knowledge, you know that if you go to outer space, you have to take air with you. If you did not know this and went up there, you die quickly. And so the knowledge of what you cannot see keeps you alive and allows you to expand your experiences into space.
I can tell you the precise details of what you need to have or do, but that is as effective as reading another book. Information is nothing, devotion is everything. Are you devoted enough to your goal that you would give up everything you have, willing to die trying? Does your very existence depend on your success, as it was on the shores as the army watched their boats being burnt along with any hopes of retreat?
And here we draw the line of the successful and the unsuccessful in the principles of Mr. Hill’s studies. And here also, we find where 98% of people give up. And so, I would like to deliver to you my attempt at how to get that white heat of desire, that burning passion, that rocket fuel so that the percentage of drop outs may decrease.
There are so many parts to this puzzle that they cannot be listed in a specific order, they must all be done simultaneously. And so, please read with a view that the air is real, it fills the glass, but you can only see it with your mind and imagination, proven by the effects of what it does for you. Use your imagination to see what is invisible.
If you cannot do something, it is because something else prevents you from doing it.
This principle tells us that for every attempt at anything, there will be an opposing block. For some things the block is so simple that we do not know it is there, but it is as real as the air. Since some opposing blocks are not as strong as our desire, we do not notice it as we pass over it, but if it is a bigger goal, and a bigger block, it can stop you.
Just to give you an idea of how solid the air is, do some investigation about how a plane flies, how the propeller works. The pitch of the blades grab the air and literally claw its way through the sky, similarly to crawling on the ground using only your hands to pull your body. A jet basically grabs the air and pushes it out the rear. Air is solid enough to grab on to and pull a plane through the sky.
On the other hand, air is not strong enough to stop me from walking. This is understanding the principle that to every thing, there is an opposing force. It is a matter of understanding all forces that makes something irrelevant, useful or a hindrance.
And so for every desire you have, there is an opposing force. That opposition could be some personality trait or opinion you learnt from your parents or school or church etc. and it could be what you determine to be irrelevant or good, yet it defeats you in your goals.
If you can find the opposing and limiting obstacle, then you could remove it and move forward. That is the first step. Find those things within you which prevent you from succeeding in the instructions given in Think and Grow Rich.
Develop a white heat of desire, a burning passion.
Why can you not get that passion? Because you do not believe in the possibility of your success or because you do not really feel there is any point to your life, or because you have some inhibitions that prevent you from doing what it takes to feel this power. Your negative emotions destroy the energy and mental faith to build this level of vital passion and energy. There must be a reason or purpose to your life, and if none exists, then there is no point to burn a fire. Find a purpose.
Sex Transmutation
This chapter is the crucial source of manufacturing the energy, or rocket fuel, to take you from an average person to have the super power to achieve any goal. Why are there so many sex crazy people yet so few succeed in their worldly goals?
The inhibiting factor is the western view that sex is somehow dirty or bad. That is the first thing. Are you also ready to learn how to focus and redirect that sexual drive towards a goal other than sex? What are your sexual inhibitions? Can you release them to accept that the sex drive is the only possible fuel production facility you can use to succeed in your goals?
Inward and Outward goal
You think you have a goal, you think that is your real goal. You are probably wrong. That is the outward goal. The thing you want. You must find the inward goal, the reason you want it. And that is hard because what if your inward goal is that you want to be loved, that is not in your control. Maybe you are simply too lazy to work and you just want to sit on your bum on the beach your whole life so you think you want to be rich to have money, when really you just do not want to work. In this case, you may say your goal is to make a certain amount of money, but you never have the energy to put in the effort, because really, you are just too lazy. Whatever the inward goal is, you must find it or you cannot succeed because you are following a lie.
The only thing that you truly have any control over is your own thoughts.
But you do not exercise control over your thoughts, rather you let the winds of passing events moment by moment take them here and there.
Learn to exercise will power and control over the only thing you can control and with that, you will control your life.
All is mind.
The principle is simply this, that nothing exists that does not begin in your mind. Your thoughts are the beginning of everything that happens in your life. This may not make sense but consider that if a thought does not reach your mind, then to you, it did not happen because you are not aware of it. We are only concerned with those things that happen to us, in other words, what we experience and then how we distorted it in our imagination.
As the foundation determines the quality of the structure, your thoughts are the foundation of every understanding and goal. If your thoughts are strong and correct, your success is ensured.
Desire breeds the thought, Passion is the fire, Love is the fuel to keep you going. Sex is the physical method to bring the intangible into your physical body by transmuting the thoughts and desires into a physical energy that you can use to achieve your goal. But know that sex without emotion is of no value. It is the mixture of sex with emotion that gives sex the power to be used to aid in achieving your goals.
It all begins with the quality and object of your thoughts, and what you do with that thought.
Faith destroys all obstacles.
Your thoughts indicate your true desires.
You may think you want success, but if your thoughts are negative, then in fact you truly desire failure.
This is not some new age concept, take it literally, your thoughts are the fruits of your true desires, so stop fooling yourself. The power of your thoughts will show in your eyes and determine your energy level. Most importantly, your thoughts determine your EMOTIONS.
Thoughts are formed by repetition. Repeat a certain thing long and often enough, and that will become your belief.
Determination to your goal, never ever give up. There is no question of success or failure, be stubborn.
First comes the burning desire, the obsession, then come the plans. Business and events never cease. The death of something is the birth of something else. Perhaps what is necessary for your goal is not yet born. Keep training your mind on the thoughts of success and wait until the circumstances are ready.
When you get an idea or plan, you must put it into immediate action because the circumstances are good when you get the idea, but they may not be good later on, so if you wait, you may miss the opportunity and only get in on the downward cycle rather than when you got the idea on the upward cycle.
Faith is developed by basically brainwashing your mind into believing something through constant repetition of a thought.
Faith is developed by association to a particular thought. You must associate and spend your time with the people and environment that is in harmony with the thoughts and faith you wish to have.
It is impossible to fail. What is possible is to not have succeeded just yet. If you keep trying until you succeed you will not fail. If you give up trying, then you have failed. Not failed in your goal, rather you have failed to do what it takes to achieve your goal.
If you fail, it is not a failure of effort, it is a failure of your plans. Change the plan and you will succeed. If still not, then keep changing the plan. Know where the failing is, it may be in the plan.
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Excellent article. Very helpful.
Thank you.
For anyone who has looked at things like The Secret and Law of Attraction and wondered why they haven’t succeeded in getting results this article is full of tips that pull no punches
fantastic insights yet again, thankyou. i figured i had ‘worked through’ my childhood conditioning of ‘being useless’ (sound familiar to anyone?) and have focused more on what i want rather than what i dont want or want to think about… except my brain goes blank as to what it is i actually want. we always have just ‘enough’ money which is great… and to ‘ask for more’ has been the test of self worth…. and then i read your post and realised that their is still a root of self doubt (mother issues here) interesting. i know i need to just relax and meditate and get inside my mind…. hmmm, i have been putting that off! aahh the joys of growing… best i read think and grow rich..again! loved your bit about air vs cup half full etc.. very good. x
We never fully finish working through our collection of conditioning. As Buddha said, the seeds may always lie dormant waiting for the right conditions to sprout once again and quickly take over the garden. it is important to know this so we are ever watchful and that watching is being present, which is what prevents the seeds from sprouting again. the seeds can be there, as long as they stay dormant, it is as if they are gone.