Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill

I finished Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill yesterday. This is arguably one of the most popular personal development books of all time. In this book, Napoleon emphasizes that success comes to those who are success conscious. He lays out 13 principles to get rich which can also be used for any other goal than money.

1. Burning Desire - Wishing alone won't bring money.
   • fix your mind on the exact amount of money you desire
   • determine exactly what you intend to give in return for the money
   • establish a date you want it to achieve
   • create a definite plan for carrying out your desire and putting into action
   • write out the exact amount of money you intend to acquire and what you are willing to give in return for it
   • read our your statement out loud twice daily
2. Faith - When you truly have faith in a desire and believe that it will come true, it starts manifesting its own physical self. Whatever the mind can conceive and believe, it can achieve.
3. Auto-suggestion - Just saying words is not the magical trick to bring success but rather a mental process where you use words to convince yourself that you will succeed. Auto-suggestion helps you reach through your subconscious mind. Your subconscious mind only acts on thoughts that are emotionally charged.
4. Specialized Knowledge - The way of success is the way of pursuit of knowledge. Come off with a plan, try it out and if it fails replace it with a better plan. Don't be a jack of all trade, be a master of one. The quitter never wins and the winner never quits.
5. Imagination - You want to imagine where you want to be. Man can create anything which he can imagine. It's crucial to manifest your desire.
6. Organized Planning - Write down the plan and follow it to get to your goal. The steps have to be practical.
7. Decision - Rich men can make decisions quickly and rarely change their mind based on other people's opinions. They also do a lot more listening than talking. Sometimes to succeed in life you have to burn the bridges, to not go back.
8. Persistence - Lack of persistence is a major cause of failure. So keep at it and you will find success. Don't give up.
9. Power of the Mastermind - A group of people you put together, they can help you go over your ideas and you can help each other achieve success. They openly share ideas and take advantage of each other's knowledge. The result of synergy can be 1+1 = 3.
10. Mastery of Sex Transmutation - Sexual desire is one of the strongest desire a person can have, and you can use this to focus on other things besides physical act of sex. Transmute that power into a different channel.
11. Subconscious Mind - Fill the subconscious mind with positive feelings over the negative ones.
12. The Brain - There is a collective mind, a universal intelligence that we all can tap into through the vibration of thoughts. When we think about positive emotions, our vibrations are higher. Our subconscious mind is the sending station of our brain.
13. The Sixth Sense - It defies description, it can't be compared. You master the other 12 principles and it comes to you automatically.

Napoleon finishes the book with the following - life is a checkerboard and your opponent is time. If you hesitate before moving, your pieces will be wiped off the board by time.