Are You Ready to Think & Grow Rich (Mindmap)

Think and Grow Rich - a Review

Have you ever had someone tell you that in order to succeed, you need a definite goal in mind? Have you ever wondered where that advice originated? Is it really a law of success you must follow?  You may have heard about a book called "Think & Grow Rich", by Napoleon Hill, originally released in 1937, which, for the historically challenged, was about mid-way through the Great Depression.

Example of a Master Mind Group

The best selling book was based on a number of interviews that Napoleon Hill conducted with leading business luminaries of his time, including Andrew Carnegie and Henry Ford and Thomas Edison.  These and many other people that he interviewed, coupled with his observations, formed a sort of early example of a Master Mind, which are very popular these days.  It is also considered one of the seminal works that spawned the self help movement.  It was and is one of the most influential books on personal development.

Marketer's Success Bible

I had actually read this book long ago, when I was in fifth grade, and at the time, thought it was difficult to read. But since every marketer under the sun seems to refer to it all the time, or at least to some part of it, I decided to revisit the book, (as I found it on-sale), and see if there were any new gems in it I had perhaps missed with my fifth grade mind way back when.

It's a Success Methodology

Though not formally a 'business coach', I've certainly been asked for advice many times, especially from my marketing and sales clients. In the Hubspot Inbound Marketing methodology, one of the key questions I ask all my clients is what is their revenue goal. Within the Think & Grow Rich methodology, this would fall mostly under the 'Desire' part.

You Must Have a Definite Purpose

For it is here that you are told that you must have a definite money purpose, i.e., target revenue, perhaps even a lifetime wealth target.  You also need to have this target in the form of a written statement.

Read Out Your Statement Aloud Daily

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.

Mentally Rehearse This Written Goal

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.  This will act as a form of auto suggestion.

You Must Have a Burning Desire for Success

To attain any goal, you must have a burning desire, combined with the belief you will possess it, backed by definiteness of purpose—the firm knowledge of what one wants.  Today, we would say you must be very goal oriented.

You Must Overcome Indecision, Doubt, and Fear

In order for you achieve your goals, you must learn to overcome indecision, doubt, and fear.  These come from the six basic fears that reside deep inside our subconscious mind that hold humans back in their pursuit of riches:

• The fear of poverty,
• The fear of criticism,
• The fear of ill health,
• The fear of loss of love,
• The fear of old age,
• The fear of death

But how do you overcome these fears?

Can't Rely Just on Personal Experience

The Think and Grow Rich approach to the accumulation of general knowledge gained through personal experience says that is of little use in the accumulation of money. Knowledge is not power. Knowledge is potential power. It becomes power only when, and if, it is organized into definite plans of action, and directed to a definite end.  My interpretation of this is that you can't just stumble upon the keys to the kingdom, you need to have that written plan, which has your written goals, and the roadmap you need to be following to achieve your goals.

Continuous Self Improvement Must Become Your Habit

"The person who stops studying merely because he or she has finished school is forever hopelessly doomed to mediocrity, no matter what that person's calling.”  In other words, ABL or Always Be Learning.  With the enormous number of free training videos available on YouTube, or the vast library of training courses available for Hubspot Customers, there's really no excuse to not be learning something new, everyday.  I currently maintain a number of different Hubspot, LinkedIn, Google and Facebook certifications, and these require considerable time and investment to maintain.

Opportunity Often Comes in the Back Door

This is one of my favorite quotes from the book “Opportunity has a sly habit of slipping in by the back door, often disguised in the form of misfortune or temporary defeat which why so many fail to recognize opportunity.”  In today's modern lexicon, you would read this to mean, find a problem and solve it.  Rinse and repeat.  

Hard Work vs Working Smarter

For many people, this point may be the hardest to accept, but working hard probably won't make you wealthy.  Instead, in order to transmute your goals into wealth, you must work smarter.  Riches come, if they come at all, in response to definite demands, based upon the application of definite principles, and not by chance or luck.” “Success requires no apologies. Failure permits no alibis.” “Your achievement can be no greater than your plans are sound.” 

14 Parts to the Methodology

Though a bit odd that there is a 'Sex Transmutation' part of the methodology, not something you hear in most modern approaches, it still actually made sense. That was just one of the many parts of the business success methodology that form a part of this well researched, if somewhat dated, methodology. Just what are the top level steps to the methodology:

1. Brain
2. Desire
3. Faith
4. Subconscious Mind
5. Sixth Sense
6. Autosuggestion
7. Specialized Knowledge
8. Fear
9. Imagination
10. Organized Planning
11. Mastermind
12. Decision
13. Persistance
14. Sex Transmutation

Each Think and Grow Rich Element is Interrelated

Each of these elements have relationships to all other parts of the methodology. For instance, if you're setting CRM goals, you need to have a definite financial goal in mind for both the company and the individual sales person. That's why we turned it into a mindmap - to see and understand the relationships.  

Think and Grow Rich Methodology Mindmap

We've decided to share our mindmap with the world. Please keep in mind, this is our interpretation of this. You might read it and come away with something completely different than we did. In either case, it makes a great conversation starter.

More reading:

Top 10 Benefits for Financial Analysis in the Latest SAP EP4