Friday, August 28, 2009

Think & Grow Rich

Napoleon Hill - Think & Grow Rich (1937)

"Learn the secrets of the super achievers and how to use them for your success!"

I read this book because several of my previous readings were quoting it as a great read, a book that opened these authors' mind.
This book reminded a lot of the movie "The Secret", the message is very similar. Like the movie, they keep giving very detailed examples from the life of famous dead people to illustrate each idea.
For example Napoleon Bonaparte was a master in sex transmutation and was victorious as long as he was with the woman he loved. The style feels old and it reminded of these stories of apothecary sellings miracles and secrets.

There are still some good and valid points of necessary behaviors for success.

Below are some quotes I liked from the book

Desire
"Any person who wins in any undertaking must be willing to burn his ships and cut all sources of retreat. Only by so doing can one be sure of maintening that state of mind known as a burning desire to win, essential to success"
=> if you want to succeed you need to give yourself no other option. It requires full dedication, full energy, full risks. It needs to be an obsession.

"Every human being who reaches the age of understanding the purpose of money, whishes for it.

Faith

"If you think you are beaten, you are,
If you think you dare not, you don't
If you like to win, but you think you can't,
It is almost certain you won't.
Soon or late the man who wins
is the man WHO THINKS HE CAN!"

Auto-Suggestion

The Emil Coue formula "Day by day, in every way, I am getting better and better"
=> influence your subconscient

Specialized Knowledge

"The truth is that schooling does but little more than to put one in tthe way of learning how to acquire practical knowledge."
=> the most important is to know how to get people of knowledge work for you.

"The way of success is the way of continuous pursuit of knowledge"

Imagination

Organized Planning

"A quitter never wins - and - a winners never quits"

A successful leader "knows that most men will work harder for commendation and recognition thant they will for money alone"
=> let the honors go to your team.

Decision
Persistence
Sex Transmutation
"Sex is the most powerful of human desires. When driven by this desire, men develop keenes of imagination, courage, will-power, persistence, and creative ability unknown to them. So strong and impelling is the desite for sexual contact that men freely run the risk of life and reputation to indulge it."

The one "who knows how to take his mind off the subject of sex, and direct it in efforts with as much enthusiasm and determination as he would apply toits original purpose, has acquired the art of sex transmutation"

This book can be read online at

or downloaded from the Soil and Health Library

Monday, August 17, 2009

The Secret


The secret is some kind of documentary explaining the Law of Attraction.

I believe the Law of Attraction is true in part (if you don't wish for something, you're not gone get it, you will not even look for it!) but here it is presented in a pretty shallow way that involves a lot of mystery. The author just seems to say "close your eyes and order every thing you want from the catalog of the universe and you will get it; provided you wish for it thruthfully and constantly"

Below are some notes and remarks I took while watching the movie.

The secret is "the law of attraction" - hold on to the thought of what you want.
You attract what you want and think about the most.

"Thoughts attract things"
"Thing positively so positive things will happen to you"

I do believe that genuine positive attitude does attract generaly more positives responses from others and will help you in life.

Set yourself a goal, "You don't need to know the whole way how to get where you want to be. Think of when you drive a car at night, you can only see 200ft ahead, but then you will see the next 200ft, etc... till your destination.

"Focus on what you already have and feel grateful" that will boost your positive level. keep a token with you to remind you of it every day, all day.

Emulate in your thoughts what it would feel like to have what you want. Imagine the happiness.

"This is where magic and miracles happen"

Explains the placebo effects, your mind is the strongest factor into recovery.
=> at least something here that can't be refuted. Placebo effect is proven, but it is a case where the mind affects the body (not the universe).

"Focus on what you want, not what you don't want". Don't be anti-xxxx be pro-xxxx (the opposite: anti-war => pro-peace). Focus your energy on what you want, don't give free advertising to what you do not want. Being against something, gives that something exposure.

Ignore what you don't want, don't talk about it. => this will help you stay more positive.

"Whether you think you can or you can't; you are right". Ford

They're desperately looking to establish credibility. They boast long futile titles and degrees; that we are reminded of every 20 seconds; They keep quoting famous dead people out of context, since they're not famous themselves and dead people won't disagree.
They keep showing sugar-sweet testimonies of easy success and lavish lifestyles to create envy. That's what you'll get if you wish for it and a month is enough.

They quote mother Teresa as someone who understood the secret and applied it. Such a great person wishing so ardently for peace. However in the whole 20th century, there has only been 27 months of peace throughout the world.
What a poor result! On the other side, we see a simple-minded-looking guy who started wishing for a good parking spot everywhere he goes and he always gets it after only a month. He should have wished for a chauffeur!

If you want to know more www.thesecret.tv
They have an online shop and two free ebooks there http://thesecret.tv/secret-treasures-ebooks.html
- The Science Of Getting Rich
- The Master Key System

All in all, it's not badly done, it can create positive changes in people by giving them a motivation to change their behavior for the better and look forward their future with hope. However I'm afraid these changes would be based on loose reasoning.