Think and Grow Rich
by Napoleon Hill

If you haven’t yet read Think and Grow Rich, by Napoleon Hill, I highly, highly recommend you find a copy. This is a classic book about the power of positive thinking when it comes to financial success.

The book opens with the sentence “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.” When you understand the idea that almost everything around us is a manifestation of an original idea, you see the power of this books’ premise, that there is a “secret” that is the foundation of all success.

Over twenty years, Hill studied the examples of a number of successful individuals, and he has distilled his research into this “how-to” book, first published in 1937. He points to the example of Andrew Carnegie and the “Carnegie Secret,” which is never explicitly mentioned but is similar to the film “The Secret” where thoughts become things… ideas become reality.

The book has sold over 30 million copies since its first publishing, and there are probably multiple copies in your library or bookstore for you to peruse. It’s a quick read and a book that you will read at different stages along your path to glean a different understanding.

Here are the 13 principles that Hill outlines for you to follow in your quest for success:

Desire
Faith
Auto-suggestion
Specialized Knowledge
Imagination
Organized Planning
Decision
Persistence
The Master Mind
The Mystery of Sex Transmutation
The Subconscious Mind
The Brain
The Sixth Sense

For these next nine posts, I’ll lead you through a few thought exercises, just to get your brain limber and to start thinking about your past situation, how you have arrived at your current situation, and how you are moving towards your future situation.

It’s important for all women to take stock of how far we have come. Especially when we are “in the middle of everything,” we sometimes forget all of our achievements in terms of our relationships with others, our successes that we feel proud about, the obstacles which we’ve overcome, and the destiny which we know is ours and which is imminent.

Take a moment to list five things that you’re totally happy and excited and proud to have accomplished. These are five achievements that demonstrate to you, like notches on a totem pole, how much you are able to achieve when you put your mind to it. A moment that is special might be the birth of a child, or the day you graduated, or a milestone of staying sober, or an event that you triumphed over, or a friendship that you cultivated and grew.

These five achievements, and the many others which I hope you will take time to celebrate, were once ideas in your mind… they’ve now become realities which sustain and enlighten your current self.

When you sit for a moment and realize how much you are capable of doing, you glimpse the ultimate creative power of the universe. It’s kind of like the biblical story of Genesis. In this story, God first created the heavens and the earth, and then created the light and the darkness, the earth and the seas, the stars, the sun, and the moon, and all the living creatures, including humans. All of these incredible creations as physical realities came out of intention, and out of a vision of possibility. This same sense of possibility and creation is your gift: you have the power (indeed, you’ve been practicing this power) to create your own reality.

In our own lives, in our own physical beings, we are creatures of intention creating our own reality. If you think about everything in your surroundings, including your desk, your chair, your clothing, even your skin and organs: all of it is created. In your body, for example, your cells are always turning over and changing and renewing themselves through the food you eat, so your intention to be healthy shows in your current state of health. In your surroundings, someone thought about the chair, the desk, the sofa, the lamp: someone had an idea about the design and shape and materials of those objects, and now those ideas turned into the physical objects in front of you.

Your intentions determine your reality, so my advice is to take seriously the realization that your first step towards your future is to understand your true intentions. Your true intentions today create your reality tomorrow.

Some questions to ask yourself:

What do you need?
What do you want?
What makes you happy?
What makes you sad?
Where do you see yourself in five years?
How are the steps you are taking propelling you towards that future?

When we take the time and develop a clear mission and a framework for how we intend to create our reality, who we will choose as co-creators of that reality, and which values we hold dear, our reality becomes closer to our intention.

So, that said, where you currently are is a direct result of thoughts, actions, and most importantly, decisions that you took years, months, and days ago to get to today.

Where you are going will be the direct result of thoughts, actions, and most importantly, decisions that you will make days, months, and years from now.

What is your next list of five achievements going to show?

More links:

Match your Exterior World to your Interior World

Positive Feedback Works

Change your Perceptions to Change your Outcomes

The Alchemist
A Magical Fable About Following Your Dream
by Paulo Coelho

http://www.paulocoleho.com
http://www.santjordi-asociados.com/alchemist.htm

The Alchemist (Portuguese: O Alquimista) is a bestseller that was first published in Brazil in 1988. Originally written in Portuguese, the book has been translated into over 40 languages and sold over 50 million copies in more than 150 countries, making it one of the best selling books of all time.

Paulo Coelho’s enchanting novel is breathtaking. Chronicling the story of a shepherd boy, Santiago, who journeys from his home in Spain to North Africa in search of the Pyramids, we are taken on a hero’s quest: what starts as a young man’s adventure turns into the mission to find our protagonist’s true mission in life:

“To realize one’s destiny is a person’s only obligation.”

An extract from the book:
“You came so that you could learn about your dreams,” said the old woman. “And dreams are the language of God. When he speaks in our language, I can interpret what he has said. But if he speaks in the language of the soul, it is only you who can understand. But, whichever it is, I’m going to charge you for the consultation.”
Another trick, the boy thought. But he decided to take a chance. A shepherd always takes his chances with wolves and with drought, and that’s what makes a shepherd’s life exciting.

“I have had the same dream twice,” he said. “I dreamed that I was in a field with my sheep, when a child appeared and began to play with the animals. I don’t like people to do that, because the sheep are afraid of strangers. But children always seem to be able to play with them without frightening them. I don’t know why. I don’t know how animals know the age of human beings.”

“Tell me more about your dream,” said the woman. “I have to get back to my cooking, and, since you don’t have much money, I can’t give you a lot of time.”

“The child went on playing with my sheep for quite a while,” continued the boy, a bit upset. “And suddenly, the child took me by both hands and transported me to the Egyptian pyramids.”

He paused for a moment to see if the woman knew what the Egyptian pyramids were. But she said nothing.

“Then, at the Egyptian pyramids,” – he said the last three words slowly, so that the old woman would understand – “the child said to me, ‘If you come here, you will find a hidden treasure.’ And, just as she was about to show me the exact location, I woke up. Both times.”

The woman was silent for some time. Then she again took his hands and studied them carefully.

“I’m not going to charge you anything now,” she said. “But I want one-tenth of the treasure, if you find it.”

The boy laughed – out of happiness. He was going to be able to save the little money he had because of a dream about hidden treasure!”