Book - Think and grow rich
Introduction
The thirteen principles of money-making.
The secret to which I refer has been mentioned no fewer than a hundred times, throughout this book. It has not been directly named, for it seems to work more successfully when it is merely uncovered and left in sight, where THOSE WHO ARE READY, and SEARCHING FOR IT, may pick it up. That is why Mr. Carnegie tossed it to me so quietly, without giving me its specific name. If you are READY to put it to use, you will recognize this secret at least once in every chapter.
Money, fame, recognition and happiness can be had by all who are ready and determined to have these blessings.
ALL ACHIEVEMENT, ALL EARNED RICHES, HAVE THEIR BEGINNING IN AN IDEA!
CHAPTER 1
THE MAN WHO “THOUGHT” HIS WAY INTO PARTNERSHIP WITH THOMAS A. EDISON
TRULY, “thoughts are things,” and powerful things at that, when they are mixed with definiteness of purpose, persistence, and a BURNING DESIRE for their translation into riches, or other material objects.
Edwin C. Barnes had a BURNING DESIRE to become a business associate of the great Edison. He wanted to work with Edison, not for him. When this DESIRE, or impulse of thought, first flashed into his mind he was in no position to act upon it. Two difficulties stood in his way. He did not know Mr. Edison, and he did not have enough money to pay his railroad fare to Orange, New Jersey.
He didn’t let the difficulties stop him. He made the journey. He presented himself at Mr. Edison’s laboratory, and announced he had come to go into business with the inventor. Edison gave him a chance to work with him. Just what young Barnes said to Mr. Edison on that occasion was far less important than that which he thought. It was what he THOUGHT that counted.
Barnes did not get his partnership with Edison on his first interview. He did get a chance to work in the Edison offices, at a very nominal wage, doing work that was unimportant to Edison, but most important to Barnes, because it gave him an opportunity to display his “merchandise” where his intended “partner” could see it.
Months went by. Apparently nothing happened to bring the coveted goal which Barnes had set up in his mind as his DEFINITE MAJOR PURPOSE. But something important was happening in Barnes’ mind. He was constantly intensifying his DESIRE to become the business associate of Edison.
What a different story men would have to tell if only they would adopt a DEFINITE PURPOSE, and stand by that purpose until it had time to become an all-consuming obsession!
His bulldog determination, his persistence in standing back of a single DESIRE, was destined to mow down all opposition, and bring him the opportunity he was seeking.
When the opportunity came, it appeared in a different form, and from a different direction than Barnes had expected. That is one of the tricks of opportunity. It has a sly habit of slipping in by the back door, and often it comes disguised in the form of misfortune, or temporary defeat. Perhaps this is why so many fail to recognize opportunity.
Edison invented an office machine called The Edison Dictating machine. Barnes became a great salesman for the machine. In fact, he sold it so successfully that Edison gave him a contract to distribute and market it all over the nation. Out of that business association grew the slogan, “Made by Edison and installed by Barnes.” The business alliance has been in operation for more than thirty years. He has proved that one really may “Think and Grow Rich.”
The amount of money that Barnes earned becomes insignificant when compared with the greater asset he acquired in the form of definite knowledge that a intangible impulse of thought can be transmuted into its physical counterpart by the application of known principles.
He had nothing to start with, except the capacity to KNOW WHAT HE WANTED, AND THE DETERMINATION TO STAND BY THAT DESIRE UNTIL HE REALIZED IT. He did have initiative, faith, and the will to win. With these intangible forces he made himself number one man with the greatest inventor who ever lived.
Success and failure
Great success comes just one step beyond the point at which defeat overtakes your efforts. Failure is a trickster with a keen sense of irony and cunning. It takes great delight in tripping one when success is almost within reach.
Life is strange, and often imponderable! Both the successes and the failures have their roots in simple experiences. Yet they hold the answer to destiny in life, therefore, they are as important as life itself. Analyze them and learn the lessons they teach.
Success comes to those who become SUCCESS CONSCIOUS. Failure comes to those who indifferently allow themselves to become FAILURE CONSCIOUS.
Another weakness found in altogether too many people, is the habit of measuring everything, and everyone, by their own impressions and beliefs. Some people do not believe that you can think and grow rich. They cannot think in terms of riches, because their thought habits have been steeped in poverty, want, misery, failure, and defeat.
We refuse to believe that which we do not understand. We foolishly believe that our own limitations are the proper measure of limitations.
One of the principles of success is DESIRE: knowing what one wants.
“No” does not necessarily mean no.
YOU ARE “THE MASTER OF YOUR FATE, THE CAPTAIN OF YOUR SOUL,” BECAUSE…
When Henley wrote the prophetic lines, “I am the Master of my Fate, I am the Captain of my Soul,” he should have informed us that we are the Masters of our Fate, the Captains of our Souls, because we have the power to control our thoughts.
Our brains become magnetized with the dominating thoughts which we hold in our minds, and, by means with which no man is familiar, these “magnets” attract to us the forces, the people, the circumstances of life which harmonize with the nature of our dominating thoughts.
Before we can accumulate riches in great abundance, we must magnetize our minds with intense DESIRE for riches, that we must become “money conscious until the DESIRE for money drives us to create definite plans for acquiring it.
CHAPTER 2 - DESIRE - THE STARTING POINT OF ALL ACHIEVEMENT - The First Step toward Riches
Desire is not a hope! It is not a wish! It is a keen, pulsating DESIRE, which transcends everything else. It is DEFINITE.
When we see successful people, we envy them, because of the “break” life yielded them. We see them in the days of their triumph, without taking the trouble to investigate the cause of their success.
They succeed because they chose a definite goal, place all their energy, all their will power, all their effort, everything behind of that goal.
They stand by their DESIRE until it becomes the dominating obsession of their lives– and– finally, a fact.
The method by which DESIRE for riches (or anything else) can be transmuted into its financial equivalent (or any other real-world equivalent), consists of six definite, practical steps.
- First. Fix in your mind the exact amount of money you desire. It is not sufficient merely to say “I want plenty of money.” Be definite as to the amount.
- Second. Determine exactly what you intend to give in return for the money you desire.
- Third. Establish a definite date when you intend to possess the money you desire.
- Fourth. Create a definite plan for carrying out your desire, and begin at once, whether you are ready or not, to put this plan into action.
- Fifth. Write out a clear, concise statement of the amount of money you intend to acquire, name the time limit for its acquisition, state what you intend to give in return for the money, and describe clearly the plan through which you intend to accumulate it.
- Sixth. Read your written statement aloud, twice daily, once just before retiring at night, and once after arising in the morning. AS YOU READ– SEE AND FEEL AND BELIEVE YOURSELF ALREADY IN POSSESSION OF THE MONEY.
The steps call for no “hard labor.” They call for no sacrifice. They do not require one to become ridiculous, or credulous. To apply them calls for no great amount of education. But the successful application of these six steps does call for sufficient imagination to enable one to see, and to understand, that accumulation of money cannot be left to chance, good fortune, and luck. One must realize that all who have accumulated great fortunes, first did a certain amount of dreaming, hoping, wishing, DESIRING, and PLANNING before they acquired money.
“SUCCESS REQUIRES NO APOLOGIES, FAILURE PERMITS NO ALIBIS.”
“The greatest achievement was, at first, and for a time, but a dream.”
“The oak sleeps in the acorn. The bird waits in the egg, and in the highest vision of the soul, a waking angel stirs. DREAMS ARE THE SEEDLINGS OF REALITY.”
The author provides several examples to support this.
“Our only limitations are those we set up in our own minds.” For the first time, I
Then, the author explains how his own son was born without ears but still managed to learn to hear and speak. The story is kind of long. But the gist of it is, his son managed to become a successful person in life despite his disability.
Nothing is impossible to the person who backs DESIRE with enduring FAITH. Verily, a BURNING DESIRE has devious ways of transmuting itself into its physical equivalent.
All achievement, no matter what may be its nature, or its purpose, must begin with an intense, BURNING DESIRE for something definite.
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CHAPTER 3