Think And Grow Rich (Summary of the book — Part -1)
As I have found a newly engaging fun activity of reading books and writing there summaries, this is the second book in the series. Think and Grow Rich.
You may find the first summary from me in the series here.
DISCLAIMER: As people messaged me on LinkedIN and Twitter, asking whether I am being paid to write summaries of the renowned books. 😂 So, to clear this confusion. NO, I am not being paid by anyone. I enjoy reading and writing what I understand. I realised, the teachings have helped me all the way to get where I am today as they are similar to what JeevanVidya Mission did, and I wanted to give back to society in some or the other form. Hence, this activity which I do in my leisure time, early morning, in between breaks, etc. is not sponsored.
Look back and thank subconscious mind, look forward and trust subconscious mind.
I recently gifted myself a kindle starter pack 😄. And now I have been looking forward for my travel time for work. So, 40 mins of reading per day for 5 days a week in metro, it’s the best time ❤️. Earlier, I took a strain on my eyes reading on iPad, but now kindle is just amazing with no glare, no strain on my eyes and lot more functions like making notes for the blog while reading, revisiting them for you guys to write a summary 😄. It also has helped to improve my vocabulary, writing skills and helping me realise what I am doing wrong to reach my goal. It’s Monday the 6th Aug, 4.30 AM today, 1 hour yet to hit the gym, I started to write this. It going to be long one.
This particular summary will be a long one as the book has a lot to offer. So, I decided to break it in parts. But it’s worth of all your time. It has practical steps to accumulate wealth (Yes, it particularly focuses on building your worth in monetary terms. Why? You may ask. Well, the author has answered why in his book and you can read till end as I have mentioned it in this summary as well.)
Without a further ado, let’s make your time, worth reading this blog.
At the beginning of the book, the author starts with narrating stories of some people in his network who went from rags to riches and author himself analysed them as to what made these gentlemen earn millions of dollars.
The first and foremost point that author talks about, in accumulation of wealth, is having a BURNING DESIRE TO BE RICH (Hang on, that’s not enough 😅). He says, having a desire to want something is the beginning of the process that sets in, in helping you achieve that thing. For this blog, we will keep it just for accumulating money.
OfCourse, some people will argue at this point here, you need financial education, manage your assets, liabilities, study your personal balance sheets etc. I will be coming to those points, as author is not a hoax. His approach is more towards having one’s subconscious mind to work for you.
The Six definite, practical steps:
Six definite practical steps that author mentioned, one can follow them. And they really make sense when you go further into the book.
- Fix in your mind, the amount of money you need. It is not sufficient to say “I want plenty of money” NO! Be definite. For example, let’s say $50 million. (Why definite? There is a psychological reason for this. Continue to read on.)
- Determine exactly what you intend to give in return for money you desire. That can be any practical services, for example, building software, managing accounts for a business, etc.
- Establish a definite date when you intend to possess the money you desire. For example, let’s say in 5 years from now.
- Create a plan for carrying out your desire, and begin at once, don’t care if you are ready or not, just put the plan into action. Things will line up.
- 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.
- 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.
The above statement is very important, as this is the principle on which subconscious mind works, as I explained in my previous post.
You may say, it is just simply not possible to see yourself in possession of the money. Well, this is where the burning desire — the first step towards riches, comes to your rescue. 😉
This exact same principles helped Andrew Carnegie, one of the author’s connection during his time, to yield him a fortune of more than hundred million dollars. So, you decide, as You are the Architect of your own destiny.
Strange and limitless is the power of the human mind. We do not understand how it uses every circumstance, every individual, every physical thing within its reach, as a means to transmute your desire into its physical equivalent. This is the very reason, as one does not need to sacrifice, do hard labor to achieve the amount he/she desires. DESIRE, mixed with FAITH is the recipe.
The MOST important thing that I think you should understand and focus on is, subconscious mind doesn’t differentiate between good and bad thoughts, it just accepts what is impressed on it. That’s the exact same reason why some people are “doomed” to poverty, it’s because they believe it as their luck. This thought is impressed on their subconscious mind again and again and hence the result.
When you already feel in possession of the material thing which you are demanding, the divine subconscious mind will transmute it into reality by using the most direct and practical media available, the thoughts should be given to it with BELIEF.
Belief and Faith on your thoughts — the second step towards riches
The author mentions a term called auto-suggestion (talked about it in details below ) which means, if you need to believe in your thoughts, you have to practice it. Perfection will come through practice. It cannot come by merely reading instructions. The mind, all the time follows to take on nature of the influences which dominate it. Thoughts when mixed with feelings of emotions, constitute a magnetic force which attracts from the vibrations of the atmosphere that nurture similar, or related thoughts. Riches begin in the form of thoughts and faith removes the limitations. So, we all need to watch our thoughts, not just in terms of money, but everything we do in our day to day activities.
Autosuggestion — the third step towards riches
AutoSuggestion is the medium for influencing the subconscious mind. It acts as the bridge between the part of the mind where conscious thoughts take place using our five senses, and the one which serves as the seat of action for subconscious mind. No thought (positive or negative) can enter the subconscious mind without the help of principle of auto suggestion. In layman terms, we can say that auto suggestion is the practice of keeping your thoughts aligned to your goal, to achieve it practically, one can follow the 6th step in steps mentioned above. Also, it is important to mix the words with emotions and feelings, as merely repeating words won’t help. Be persistent in what you want and keep suggesting the same thoughts over and over again.
So, to summarise above thoughts, one can follow the 6 steps mentioned above, sincerely with faith and belief. You can consider the below example as a reference and change it as per what you desire.
By the first of January, I will have in my possession $50 million, which will come to me in various amounts from time to time during the interim. In return for this money, I will give the most efficient service of which I am capable of, rendering the fullest possible quantity and quality. I believe that I will have this money in my possession. My faith is so strong that I can now see this money before my eyes and I could touch and feel it. It is just a matter of time that it is transferred to me.
Repeat this during night and morning until you see and feel it in your imagination. Read it just before retiring at night and upon arising in the morning until it has been memorised.
Author wants us to remember one important thing, which is, Riches, when they come in huge quantities, are never the result of Hard work! 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.
This marks the end of part -1 in summary. For part-2, I will be talking about, the major reasons for failure that stand between us and success. As I had said, this book is not a hoax, it mentions real, practical steps to gain riches. We will talk about persistence, as to why it is important and how to develop it. There may be many more parts to this summary, because I don’t want the summary to be so short that its not useful for the reader and also not too long to make it boring.
So I bid good bye for part-1, See you in part 2 (link to be updated). Feel free to connect on LinkedIN and Twitter if you got any questions, experiences to share or just say ‘hi’ 😄.
Cheers!
Peace ☮️
