Think and Grow Rich: The 13 Principles of Success

Introduction: The Secret to Success

Napoleon Hill spent 20 years interviewing 500 of the world's most successful people—including Andrew Carnegie, Henry Ford, and Thomas Edison—to distill the exact formula for success. Think and Grow Rich is not just about money; it is about achieving any definite purpose you set your mind to. The book opens with a bold claim: there is a "secret" embedded throughout the text. Those who are ready will discover it.

That secret? Thoughts are things. Whatever the mind can conceive and believe, it can achieve.

1. Desire: The Starting Point of All Achievement

Success begins with a burning desire, not a wish or a hope, but an all-consuming obsession. Hill distinguishes between "wishing" and "desiring." A wish is passive; a desire is active and demands action.

To turn desire into reality, Hill prescribes six steps:

Fix in your mind the exact amount of money you desire (or the exact goal).
Determine what you are willing to give in return.
Establish a definite date by which you intend to achieve it.
Create a definite plan and begin at once.
Write out a clear statement of all four points above.
Read your statement aloud twice daily—morning and night—and feel the emotions as if you already possess it.

This process is called auto-suggestion, the practice of influencing your subconscious mind through repetition until it accepts your goal as reality.

2. Faith: Visualization and Belief in Attainment

Faith is the "eternal elixir" that gives life, power, and action to the impulse of thought. It is not religious faith, but absolute certainty that what you desire is already yours.

Hill argues that faith is a state of mind that can be developed through affirmations and repeated instructions to the subconscious. You must act as if you have already achieved your goal. This isn't delusion; it's reprogramming your internal belief system to align with your external reality.

3. Auto-suggestion: The Medium for Influencing the Subconscious Mind

Your subconscious mind does not distinguish between constructive and destructive thoughts. It will translate into reality whatever you feed it—positive or negative. Auto-suggestion is the process of deliberately feeding your subconscious mind with the thoughts you want it to act upon.

Hill emphasizes that you must attach emotion to your affirmations. Reading your goals mechanically will have no effect. You must feel the desire, visualize it vividly, and saturate your mind with it.

4. Specialized Knowledge: Personal Experiences or Observations

General knowledge, no matter how vast, is of little use in the accumulation of wealth. It is specialized knowledge—applied knowledge—that creates value.

Hill advises forming a "Master Mind" group, a circle of individuals who possess the specialized knowledge you lack. No single person has enough knowledge to achieve great success alone. Andrew Carnegie surrounded himself with experts in every field. You should do the same.

5. Imagination: The Workshop of the Mind

There are two forms of imagination:

Synthetic Imagination: The ability to rearrange old concepts into new combinations. Most inventions are the result of synthetic imagination.
Creative Imagination: The faculty through which hunches and inspirations are received. This is the direct line to "Infinite Intelligence."

Your imagination is the laboratory where you design your plans. The mind is capable of creating anything it can imagine. The Wright brothers imagined humans could fly. The world said it was impossible. They proved otherwise.

6. Organized Planning: The Crystallization of Desire into Action

A desire without a plan is just a daydream. Hill outlines the importance of creating a definite, written plan of action. If the first plan fails, replace it with a new one. Repeat this process until you find a plan that works.

Hill also identifies 30 Major Causes of Failure, including procrastination, lack of decision, over-caution, and wrong selection of associates. He emphasizes that temporary defeat is not permanent failure. Thomas Edison "failed" 10,000 times before inventing the light bulb. He simply found 10,000 ways that didn't work.

7. Decision: The Mastery of Procrastination

Analysis of over 25,000 men and women revealed that lack of decision was near the top of the list of causes of failure. Successful people make decisions quickly and change them slowly. Failures make decisions slowly and change them often.

Procrastination is the opposite of decision. It is the breeding ground for fear. The moment you make a definite decision, you tap into forces that come to your aid.

8. Persistence: The Sustained Effort Necessary to Induce Faith

Persistence is to the character of man what carbon is to steel. Most people give up at the first sign of defeat. Hill argues that failure is nature's way of testing your commitment. Only those who persist are rewarded.

The basis of persistence is the power of will. Weak desires bring weak results. A burning desire backed by persistence will outlast any obstacle.

9. Power of the Master Mind: The Driving Force

The Master Mind is defined as: "Coordination of knowledge and effort, in a spirit of harmony, between two or more people, for the attainment of a definite purpose."

When two minds come together, a third, invisible force is created—greater than the sum of the individual minds. This is the secret behind every great fortune. Carnegie had 50 men in his Master Mind alliance. Ford had Edison, Firestone, and Burbank.

10. The Mystery of Sex Transmutation

Hill controversially discusses the role of sexual energy in achievement. He argues that sexual energy is the most powerful of human desires. When harnessed and redirected (transmuted) toward creative or productive outlets, it becomes a superpower.

The world's greatest artists, inventors, and leaders, according to Hill, were driven by sexual energy that was channeled into their work. Don't suppress it—redirect it.

11. The Subconscious Mind: The Connecting Link

The subconscious mind is the intermediary between the conscious mind and Infinite Intelligence. You cannot completely control your subconscious, but you can influence it through habit and emotion.

Feed your subconscious positive emotions: desire, faith, love, enthusiasm, hope. Starve it of negative emotions: fear, jealousy, hatred, revenge, greed. What you plant in your subconscious will eventually manifest in your reality.

12. The Brain: A Broadcasting and Receiving Station for Thought

Hill believed that the brain is both a transmitter and receiver of thought vibrations. When two or more minds are in harmony, they amplify these vibrations. This is why the Master Mind is so powerful—it is a collective broadcast tower.

13. The Sixth Sense: The Door to the Temple of Wisdom

The Sixth Sense is intuition, the faculty that warns of impending danger and reveals opportunities. It is the apex of the 13 principles and can only be activated after mastering the previous twelve.

Hill called it the "receiving set" through which ideas, plans, and hunches flash into the mind from unknown sources. Many call it a "gut feeling." Hill argues it is a direct connection to Infinite Intelligence.

Conclusion: The Secret Formula

Think and Grow Rich is not a book you read once. It is a manual you study repeatedly. The "secret" Hill references is woven throughout every chapter: You become what you think about most of the time.

Success is not an accident. It is the result of a definite plan, fueled by burning desire, sustained by faith, and executed with persistence. The mind is the ultimate tool. Master it, and you master your destiny.