Hill begins the Think and Grow Rich journey with a “definiteness of purpose” followed by unwavering Desire and Faith. In DreamBuilding it’s called “a burning desire for the dream and a belief it can come true”. When you have a dream for a specific outcome in your life, the requirement for creating momentum toward your dream is having a strong desire. A “burning desire”. Couple that with a consistent practice of endeavoring to believe in that dream and you’ve got a strong foundation for bringing that dream to life.
Hill illustrates this principle with the story of Edwin C. Barnes. Barnes had a burning desire to become a business associate of the great Thomas Edison. What would appear to any logical mind as insurmountable obstacles were Barnes’ extremely limited finances and the fact that Edison had no idea who he was nor any reason he should care.
But, that didn’t stop Barnes. Through his determination…his burning desire…and by taking the steps he could take, within 3 years Edwin C. Barnes would fulfill his dream of becoming a business associate of Thomas Edison and create a rich life in all areas.
I’ll let you read about the details of just how he accomplished that goal.
What’s worth paying attention to is the simple (not necessarily easy) process Barnes followed that you can follow, too.
- Start with your dream
- Cultivate a burning desire to achieve it
- Have sufficient faith in order to take the steps that are yours to take to bring it about
Here are a couple of key concepts to help you.
It all starts with your dream. What might that be? Don’t overthink this. Do you want to travel? Would you like your work to be more fun? Would you like to have more time to spend with your family?
How strong is your desire to have this dream? It can feel out of the realm of possibility right now and challenging to feel strongly about it, but hang with it. That’s why I used the term “cultivate”. We’ll talk more about this shortly and in the next blog.
Can you believe it’s possible that you can have this dream? Faith is also a feeling that can be cultivated. For now, simply consider the possibility.
This feels like the right time to tell you about Napoleon Hill’s first task from Carnegie.
I love this story! I’ve used this practice myself quite successfully.
Quite early in Napoleon Hill’s work as Andrew Carnegie’s protege, Carnegie gave him a task to do over the next 30 days. It wasn’t optional, it was required.
Hill was instructed to stand in front of a mirror 3 times a day and say the following: “Andrew Carnegie, I will not only match your achievements, I will meet you at the post and pass you at the grandstand”. These are horse-racing terms meaning that he will meet Carnegie at the post, which is the last turn of the final stretch of the race, and pass you at the grandstand, which means he’ll cross the finish line before him.
Remember, Andrew Carnegie was the richest men in the world at the time. Napoleon Hill was a poor young reporter trying to put himself through law school.
As you might imagine the first few weeks of standing in front of the mirror saying this to himself were pretty tough. Hill says that he felt like a fraud. It seemed impossible to even fathom matching Carnegie’s achievements in life let alone amass the fortune he had.
A funny thing happened, though, after the 3rd week. Hill began to actually believe it was possible. Did anything else change in his life that could account for it? Not particularly. It’s all about the power of belief. And, Hill did match Carnegie’s achievements and even surpassed them as he stated in front of the mirror.
Imagine someone in your life that you look up to. That you’d like to emulate. How would you feel doing this 30 day exercise? How can you use the principles of Dreams, Desires, and Faith to reach your goals?
Staying in the study of principles that work is another key to success. So, if you haven’t bought the book yet, or watched the movie, here are the links:
This is the link to the paperback version of Think and Grow Rich, the book.Here’s the link to watch, rent or buy the movie Think and Grow Rich the Legacy Movie.
I’d love to hear your thoughts on these ideas.
