Think and Grow Rich
Napoleon Hill
Summary
Probably the single most influential book on my outlook on life, this book was written prior to world war 2 and very much a timeless classic. It tells the story of Napoleon Hill and how as a biographer for the wealthiest people in American history, he was able to uncover the secrets that made them so successful. Highly recommend
Rating: 5/5
Notes
Keep on keeping on, no matter how hard the going may be
Think your goal into your mind and you won’t stop persisting till you get it
Know what you want
We are the masters of our fate and captains of our soul
Practical dreamers do not quit
Imagine yourself successful
Reflect on your past success
Set definitive goals
Respond positively to life
Faith is the eternal elixir which gives life, power and action to the impulse of thought
Both poverty and riches are the offspring of thought
Write down your goal and read the statement with emotion and feeling to get it stuck in your subconscious mind
Ideas can be transmuted into cash through the power of definitive purpose plus definite plans
Success requires no explanation, failure permits no alibis
A quitter never wins and a winner never quits
QQS: quality, quantity and spirit
If you are influenced by the opinions of others, you will have no desire of your own
Keep a closed mouth and open ears/eyes
Tell the world what you intend to do, but first show it
Persistence is the key (never stop wanting what you deserve)
With persistence will come success
Every failure brings with it the seeds of an equivalent advantage
Definite plans, backed by definite desires through constant persistence will make you accomplish your goal
Three ghosts of the mind are indecision, doubt and fear and don’t let these take over your mind.
Notes from 2nd time I read it:
All achievement, all earned riches, have their beginning in an idea
Keep on keeping on, no matter how hard the going may be
When riches come, they come so quickly in great abundance that we wonder where they have been hiding all those lean years
Desire - the starting point of achievement
Practical dreamers will always be the pattern makers of civilization
Success requires no apologies, failure requires no alibis
Imagine yourself successful, set definite goals, respond positively to life
Our only limitations are those we set up in our minds
Nothing is impossible to the person who backs desire with enduring faith
Faith is visualizing and believing in attaining the desire
Any impulse of thought repeatedly passed to the subconscious mind is accepted and acted upon
Faith is the eternal elixir which life, power and action to the impulse of thought
Both poverty and riches are the offspring of through
An educated person knows where to get the knowledge needed and how to organize it into definite plans of action
Success and failure are largely results of habit
Imagination leads to success through the power of definite purpose and definite plans
QQS rating: quality, quantity and spirit
Before you control conditions, you must control yourself
Self mastery is the hardest job you will ever tackle
Concentrate all your efforts on one definite chief aim
Procrastination is something everyone must conquer
Opinions are the cheapest commodities on earth
If you are influenced by the opinion of others, you will have no desire of your own
Tell the world what you intend to do, but first show it
Desire, decision, faith, persistence, the master mind and organized planning
Starting point of all achievement is desire
With persistence will come success
The sixth sense is the creative imagination
Stimulation in excess destroys the vital organs of the body
Love never comes just once for love is always changing
Love is spiritual, sex is biological
Positive and negative emotions cannot occupy the mind at the same time - you decide
3 enemies you need to clear from your brain: indecision, doubt and fear
6 basic fears: poverty, criticism, ill health, loss of love of someone, old age and death
You either control your mind or it controls you
***
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Free E-book download here
Make Something Wonderful
Steve Jobs
Summary
The life of Steve Jobs in his own words
Rating: 5/5
Notes
Make something wonderful and put it out there
‘You appear, have a chance to blaze in the sky, then you disappear’
When you’re a stranger in a place, you notice thing you don’t otherwise (Jobs after India trip)
Whenever you start with nothing, always shoot for the moon. You have nothing to lose.
You never achieve what you want without falling on your face a few times
Never be afraid to fail. You never achieve what you want without falling flat on your face a few times
We are never taught to listen to our intuitions, to develop and nurture them. But if you do pay attention to these subtle insights, you can make them come true
Creativity equals connecting previously unrelated experiences and insights others don’t see
Believe that some of what you follow with your heart will come back and make your life richer. And it will. And you will gain even firmer trust on your instincts and intuitions
Make your avocation your vocation. Make what you love your work.
The journey is the reward. The reward isn’t in the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, it’s in crossing the rainbow
To find A+ talent, if experienced, look at their track record and results
The world we know is a human creation and we can push it forward
The people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world are the ones who do (read whole ad ‘here’s to the crazy ones)
We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then is not an act but a habit - Aristotle
Hire people better than you are
You can’t plan to meet the people who will change your life
It’s impossible to connect the dots looking forward, but they make sense looking backwards so you have to trust the dots will somehow connect in your future
Everything around you that you call life was made up by people no smarter than you
***
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Free E-book download here
