This book was published in 1937 and still appears on so many book recommendation lists especially in circles promoting becoming financially independent, starting your own business and growing wealth. This is the second book I have read that is about financial growth because I tend to feel drawn to books about improving productivity and using creativity.
I have written 4 pages of quotes from this book and I feel that I missed many more that will hopefully come to light when I reread it.
Overall the book is about how to turn your desires into reality using determination and persistence.
“Every man is what he is because of the dominating thoughts which he permits to occupy his mind” .
In other words, it you constantly think about failing and not being good enough, then you never will be. You have to think and believe yourself worthy of your desire in order to be able to achieve it. I see this so often amongst my friends and associates. The ones who are doing the best in life are the ones that demand they be valued.
“Knowledge is only potential power. It becomes power only when , and if, it is organised into definite plans of action and directed to a definite end.”
This is something else that struck me as being something that I never knew I lived by. It is all very well knowing a technique exists but if you don’t make it a habit to use that knowledge then the knowledge isn’t really doing anything for you. For example, I can pretty accurately tell someone where to hit a snooker ball, what cushion to bounce it off and what pocket it will land in with the aim of winning a game. However, I NEVER play snooker and thus the practise of utilising my knowledge isn’t there, and thus the knowledge is useless to me. So no worries of me hustling strangers in a local pub.
One of my favourite sections of the book was the one describing the positive attribute of leadership. I am not going to write them all out here but if you are a leader or planning to become on in some form then this is definitely a section you want to take to heart. In every area of my life in the present day, I hear criticism of our leaders and they all fall in this list of 11 attribute. Reading the book is worth it just for this list and taking lessons from it, something that I will definitely be implementing as I move forward with my plans for Faerydae Stitches.
“A state of mind is something that one assumes. It cannot be purchased, it must be created. “
I loved this because it is true of both positive and negative states of mind. Over the last 2 years my state of mind has been extremely negative in terms of how I can achieve my goals. I am not good enough, there are better people than me, I am easily replaced. I was getting feedback from friends that they were surprised by my negativity because I am usually more bubbly. Given the circumstances of the things going on around me it was easy to justify my negative state of mind, and honestly I needed the excuse to protect myself from further hurt and rejection. Then lockdown hit and I got to really appreciate just how abundant my life is and that I have everything I need to make my goals a reality. The only person stopping it from happening is me. If I don’t take the action, then it won’t become a reality.
“Without doubt, the most common weakness of all human beings is the habit of leaving their minds open to the negative influence of other people.”
I wonder if Napoleon Hill predicted the use of social media and how this would impact us in these modern times. Created as a space to inspire creatives and connect people to their loved ones, social media has become a platform of judgement, criticism and feeling like you don’t compare to your peers. It doesn’t have to be that way and it is something that I personally want to use to uplift those around me but also to be vulnerable to my peers and say “I am okay with being imperfect”.
Despite its age and its focus on finances, this is a great book for inspiring you to look at situations from another perspective and taking action towards any goal you may have.
What little steps are you taking towards your biggest goals today?
See you on Thursday.
Faerydae Stitches 