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Book review: Think and Grow Rich

"Think and Grow Rich" is a book with many valuable insights on life principles. Yes it is not a technical kind of book that talks about investments of any sort, its focus is more on the soft literary aspects.


If you have read one of my old posts Desire, Effort, Faith & Grit, you would have guessed that its content serves to guide us towards harnessing the power of our thoughts, through which would enable us to grow money.
(I know this post is way overdue as I didn't finish this book in one breath from when I started. Glad that I finally published from the draft which has been sitting there for more than 1 year!🤦‍♀️)




Here's an online version which you can read at your own pace. But if you want a flash 12-min overview of the book, you can watch this video by The Swedish Investor, although it doesn't quite justify what you can get from reading the book cover-to-cover.
I find that these are the 6 most important concepts to me. (It made me want to start a Mastermind group.)

DESIRE
DECISION
FAITH
PERSISTENCE
THE MASTER MIND
ORGANIZED PLANNING


As I read this book in a rather fragmented manner, I shall not go into the individual chapters.

Presenting here some of my favourite quotes from the book.


"The leaders in every walk of life decide quickly, and firmly. 
That is the major reason why they are leaders. The world has the habit of making room for the man whose words and actions show that he knows where he is going."




"Education consists, not so much of knowledge, but of knowledge effectively and persistently applied. Men are paid, not merely for what they know, but more particularly for what they do with that which they know."

"The person who takes no chances, generally has to take whatever is left when others are through choosing. Over-caution is as bad as under-caution. Life itself is filled with the element of chance."





"Superstition is a form of fear. It is also a sign of ignorance. Men who succeed keep open minds and are afraid of nothing."




"Most people are too indifferent or lazy to acquire facts with which to think accurately. They prefer to act on "opinions" created by guesswork or snap-judgments."




"Every person, who has been moved by genuine love, knows that it leaves enduring traces upon the human heart. The effect of love endures, because love is spiritual in nature. The man who cannot be stimulated to great heights of achievement by love, is hopeless-he is dead, though he may seem to live."



"The starting point of all achievement is DESIRE. The finishing point is that brand of KNOWLEDGE which leads to understanding- understanding of self, understanding of others, understanding of the laws of Nature, recognition and understanding of HAPPINESS."



As I read through the pages under the Chapter The Sixth Sense, I thought that this has an uncanny resemblance to religious beliefs - when one "speaks" to God.

It could be, as Napoleon put it, a portion of our brain that connects to the sixth sense and make the imaginary counsel (whoever God is in our mind) appears real. I don't know much depth about the characters he mentioned, so there is no way that I can plug them into my mind and come up with an imaginary counsel like he did. Hmm, I probably need a mesh of knowledge on history, personality and literature for that. Just a side note, I am a free thinker.


And very coincidentally, I happened to come across this Chinese YouTube video while browsing. There were certain points brought up, like "念力", which relate to what was mentioned in  "Think and Grow Rich". Watch it and tell me what you think?




-------------------

My reading list:

The 4-Hour Workweek by Timothy Ferriss (Procrastinated and paused reading)

Skin in the Game by Nassim Taleb

Antifragile: Things That Gain from Disorder by Nassim Taleb

Awaken the Giant Within by Anthony Robbins



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🤗
Thanks for reading!
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Comments

  1. Rolf Suey23/07/2020, 02:16

    Hi Rainbow Gal,

    I read the same book and did a review in 2014

    https://www.rolfsuey.com/2014/06/napoleon-hill-think-and-grow-rich.html?m=1

    Many people thought "knowledge is power". It is nothing of that sort! "Knowledge is only potential power" it only becomes power once it is organized into definite plans of action and directed to a definite end!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Rainbow23/07/2020, 15:24

      Hi Rolf,

      Thanks for sharing!

      It's worth revisiting some of these chapters as we grow in our life and pursuits.

      :)

      Delete
  2. CreateWealth888823/07/2020, 14:43

    I read these two books.

    Think and Grow Rich. How?

    Rich Dad.Poor Dad.

    Be Rich Dad. How?

    As employee with no entrepreneur spirit, then How?


    Investment Quartrant.


    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Rainbow23/07/2020, 15:31

      Hi Uncle8888,

      I read the comments under your post on the two books.

      Human asset is not in any quadrant, but is actually something very important to develop. I kinda missed it in my 20s. It is a topic that few bloggers seriously talk about.

      Delete
    2. Unintelligent Nerd23/07/2020, 16:06

      ?!?!?!

      I thought you did well in your career

      Delete
    3. Rainbow23/07/2020, 17:20

      Hi UN,

      Not really.

      To sum it up, few years after grad I took work sabbatical and then courses which I have no use for. Got to a manager post, quit my manager post. Wish to be a stay-home tai tai and didn't even get remotely close so gave up.

      Biggest consolation is my investment and financial learning. Haha

      Delete
    4. Rainbow23/07/2020, 17:24

      In fact, come to think of it... Being an entrepreneur need to also build good human asset as well as human relationships first. Capital can be borrowed!

      Delete
  3. Buildingmydream28/07/2020, 13:32

    Hi Rainbowcoin,

    Here to join you in your little corner as promised :)

    What you seem to have is a wealth of new experiences..

    Sounds like you lived out from one of your favourite quotes from the book
    "The person who takes no chances, generally has to take whatever is left when others are through choosing. Over-caution is as bad as under-caution. Life itself is filled with the element of chance."

    How many can proclaim they took a work sabbatical?

    As long as we awake the next day, is it never too late to unlock our human capital?

    PS. The human asset is in the quadrant but that was not the objective of the book and for that, the author and his book are a success lol

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Rainbow29/07/2020, 22:19

      Hi BMD,

      Yup! Life is all about experiencing and experimenting, come good or bad, isn't it?

      Human asset is utmost important, no matter which quadrant (from Rich Dad, Poor Dad) we chose in our path to FF. Think and Grow Rich makes us reflect whether we optimized our human asset and human mind to excel.

      Thanks for joining here! :)

      Delete

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