Napoleon Hill - Practical Steps to Think and Grow Rich: The Secret Revealed

Success seems to come easy for some people. Without breaking a sweat, they manage to live in luxurious homes, send their children to the best schools, drive fancy cars, travel around the world, and still have resources available to help their loved ones and contribute to the communities in which they live. They are no brighter or better educated than you. They do not work any harder than you do. They do not sacrifice their lives to earn a living; on the contrary, they earn more than enough to fully enjoy their lives.

What is their secret?

Nearly a century ago, world-renowned steel magnate Andrew Carnegie asked this same question and commissioned young journalist Napoleon Hill to answer it. Under the tutelage of Mr. Carnegie, Mr. Hill would spend the next 25 years of his life interviewing over 500 millionaires (and performing 25,000 case studies on those who had failed) in order to unlock the secret formula to success and reveal it to the world. The product of their vision and efforts was the book Think and Grow Rich, which has since sold over 15 million copies worldwide, inspired and guided millions of readers and leaders, and helped to shape the world in which we live.

To many people, the idea of sharing the secret of success seemed detrimental. One might think it should remain a carefully guarded secret shared with a select few. But Carnegie and Hill were masters at what they refer to as Infinite Intelligence. They knew that the pursuit of wealth and happiness was not a zero-sum endeavor. They knew that wealth and happiness could be created from nothing more than an idea and the desire, intelligence, planning, and perseverance to bring it into being. They knew that increasing wealth and happiness would lead to increasing opportunities that accelerated the growth of wealth and happiness globally. They knew that sharing the secret would increase opportunities for all men and women.

In this digital world where people and ideas achieve and lose relevance in an instant, Carnegies and Hills not-so-secret formula for success has achieved lasting relevance, because it is rooted in eternal truths and wisdom drawn from nature and human nature. People continue to think and grow rich now as they did so hundreds and even thousands of years ago. The secret has not changed. By owning the secret and putting it into practice, you too will attract wealth and happiness beyond what you had ever imagined possible.

Given the enduring success of Think and Grow Rich and of the millions of people who have practiced its principles, you may wonder why a revised edition is necessary. Why mess with success? The only reason that warrants a revised edition of any book is this: To make it better. In this instance, better does not mean changing the information and concepts that Napoleon Hill so carefully gathered, analyzed, synthesized, and envisioned. Better means making those concepts and Hills guidance more accessible to every man and woman.

Napoleon Hill wrote in the style of his day, relying heavily on long and often intricate paragraphs to structure his presentation and weaving practical advice into success stories. Unfortunately, such an approach is more conducive to concealing rather than revealing secrets and limits Carnegies and Hills goal of making the secret more accessible to a broader audience. Readers today have neither the time nor the patience to sift through densely packed text to extract essential insights and information. Todays readers also have different backgrounds than did Hill and Carnegie, requiring different examples.

This edition distills the principles presented in Think and Grow Rich; presents them in a more easily accessible format, so you do not need to dig through extended paragraphs to mine the nuggets of wisdom; shifts the focus from what to do to how to do it; enhances the content with additional practical advice; and presents the success stories in a separate section of each chapter, where they serve to illustrate the principles revealed in each step. The words and voice of Napoleon Hill remain in this edition. Although I have restructured some of the paragraphs and updated or omitted some of the examples, the core of this editions text is Napoleon Hills book.

Napoleon Hill followers and fans can rest assured that this book remains true to the original and compliments the original book written in 1937. I accepted this commission only after careful consideration and with a commitment to channel the wisdom and spirit Andrew Carnegie and Napoleon Hill into this new edition. Over the course of my career, I have worked with leading experts in a variety of fields to bring their knowledge and wisdom to millions of readers worldwide. This is my first collaboration with deceased experts, but I approach this project with the same reverence toward Mr. Carnegie and Mr. Hill and their collective knowledge and wisdom. Our goal and focus is to remain true to their ideas while revealing the secret to a broader and more modern audience.

Where I diverge from Mr. Hill is in parts of the presentation. While Hill believed that it (the secret) seems to work more successfully when it is merely uncovered and left in sight, where those who are ready and searching for it may pick it up, I believe that revealing the principles as clearly as possible and in a linear, step-by-step fashion makes them more accessible to a broader audience.

You are the only test of whether we have succeeded. As we tell our colleagues and clients, Your success is our success. If our efforts in this endeavor are successful, they will help you to better understand Mr. Carnegies and Mr. Hills formula for success and put it into practice, which will bring you success in all aspects of your life, thus bringing us success in having achieved our goal. We sincerely hope that our efforts pay you great dividends.

Editor in Chief: Joe Kraynak

JMW GROUP, INC.

Thought is a definite idea that combined with purpose, persistence, burning desire, and faith is transmuted into the acquisition of wealth.

The ability to control our thoughts is what enables us to fashion our own reality.

Riches begin with a state of mind, with definiteness of purpose, with little or no hard work.