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Napoleon's Dynamite Book

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Hello again from the Money Mensch.

I have read in excess of two hundred books over the past two years, most of which could be characterized as belonging to a genre that I refer to as improve your life/change your way of thinking/become wealthy.

Something that I want to make clear prior to embarking upon commenting on and sharing my insights and what I learned from reading these many books with you, my readers, is there I enjoy reading and learning from books written by a wide range of authors in terms of their perspectives, orientation, background, experiences, and writing styles. The books that I purchase, read, and comment on span the decades.

Technology changes rapidly, and many of these books were written prior to the existence of the current technology that we all take for granted and use daily.  The insights that they provide are just as valuable if they were written in the 1930's, 50's, 60's or just a few years ago as if they were written in 2018 or in the decades to come. I believe that human nature never changes and that valuable information from 100 years ago is just as valuable is it would be if given today or even next year.

This is why my review of the book Think and Grow Rich: The Original, an Official Publication of The Napoleon Hill Foundation by Napoleon Hill is just as valuable as you read it today as it was when it was first copyrighted in 1937, eighty-one years ago.

Incidentally, when I just looked the book up for the above Amazon link I found that this book is now in the public domain.  Hence, anybody including you or me could paste the text into a Word document, slap our own name on an eBook cover with or without credit to Napoleon Hill.  You will find several such versions of it on Amazon for a variety of prices.  For what it is worth, I purchased Napoleon Hill's version for a buck at a book sale.  But do not be surprised to see a 2020 version of the book published with the Money Mensch branding on it bright and early that year.

Think "Think and Grow Rich the Money Mensch Way."

Typically, I read a lot of quick, down and dirty top ten lists, each number consisting of a simple one or two sentences. Maybe three or four sentences, but always highly oversimplified.  I typically come across these on my Yahoo! feed and on LinkedIn posts.

You may read such simplistic phrases as “work more hours,” “do some volunteer work,” “live below your means” or “pick up extra part-time work to make extra money.”  All good pieces of advice, but each one worthy of its own in-depth analysis and explanation of how to accomplish them.

Having more respect for myself and for my readers than most of these creators of lists do, the lists that I provide and books that piqued my interest and taught me something valuable may range from five things that I've learned to twenty-five things that I've learned. I bookmark interesting pages as I read them.

Thus, I submit for your reading pleasure my list of things that I found interesting and that helped improve and change my way of thinking when I read Hill’s classic book earlier this past summer.

1) Early on in the book, Hill wrote that opportunity “has a sly habit of slipping in by the back door, often it comes disguised in the form of misfortune, or defeat.” Perhaps this is why, Hill writes, so many people fail to recognize opportunity.

This comment recognized one of my great fears: Have I have already been presented with multiple opportunities to become wealthy and successful, but failed to recognize them?  Was I too conservative and risk-averse to take advantage of the opportunity?

I can recall being presented with at least three such opportunities in years past, always making the decision that it was too risky. Many of the other books that I've read during 2016 and 2017 note that often the most successful business people were those who took prudent risks, worked hard to achieve their dreams, and persevered through difficult times and circumstances to make themselves successful.

However, I also personally know of several people who "lost it all" due to embarking on a risky business proposition and I never wanted or want to quit a steady job for something very risky, only to lose it all.  Thus, this very low cost blog and future ebooks, podcasts and maybe even a paid book review website where I actually read and write my thoughts about the books that I would get paid to do so for.

2) Before success comes in any man's life he is sure to me with temporary defeat and even some failures. Hill wrote that when defeat overtakes a man, the easiest and most logical thing to do is to quit, and is exactly what the majority of men do.

By the way, even though my blog is called Money Mensch and my target readers are middle-class, middle-aged men, I am cognizant that many things that interest me and that I like to blog about would also be of interest to women and would be even more valuable to younger readers than people my own age, since they would still have many years to implement the strategies that I am just now embracing. Napoleon Hill's book, however, is geared towards male reader and out of all the many Business Leaders that he wrote about, all are men.

3) Skipping many pages to Step Three, Napoleon Hill suggest that you fix in your own mind the exact amount of money you desire, hold your thoughts on that amount of money by concentration, your eyes closed until you can actually see the physical appearance of the money. Hill writes to do this at least once each day.
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Fix in your mind the exact amount of this stuff that you desire once per day.
When I first read this, I thought that it sounded extremely corny. However, this is something that I have been doing prior to reading this for quite some time. Not that I have conceived of an exact amount, but I do fall asleep many nights while fantasizing or dreaming, if you will, about making a certain amount of money in addition to my salary as a result of my blogging and writing efforts. I have several books that I intend to self-publish within the next two to three years, and one of my goals is to make myself continue working on them until they are completed.

At this point, I would be happy just to make a few dollars from these efforts in 2018. But in my dreams, I am making $5,000 to $10,000 or even more than that every month through my writing efforts.

4) Still in Step Three, Hill writes that in return for this money that you are going to make through your determination, hard work, and perseverance, of which you are capable, rendering the fullest possible quantity, and the best possible quality of services in your capacity, you will be able to touch it with your hands, waiting transfer to you at the time and in the proportion that you deliver the service you intend to render in return for it.

You are awaiting your plan by which to accumulate this money and you will follow that plan when it is received. Upon reading this section, I could almost picture the $10,000 appearing on a future bank statement, making my family's life that much better.

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I was picturing ten grand making its way into our bank account.
5) Step Four of Hill’s classic relates to obtaining specialized knowledge. Much of this step is dedicated to the notion that the more specialized knowledge you can acquire and provide assistance valuable assistance to others, will help lead you to the riches that you desire.

It just so happens that my profession has led me to acquire very specialized knowledge. The issue is that the demand for my type of knowledge is not as great as it once was. As more and more things are automated and as governments continue to cut budgets in times of fiscal crisis, budgetary cuts and pension shortfalls, there are less organizations that want to pay for the type of specialized Knowledge and Skills that I possess.

Nevertheless, any successful and wealthy individuals who I know have become wealthy and successful due to their specialized knowledge. Hill writes that the five best places knowledge are gained is through one's own experience and education, through the experience and education available from others, through colleges and universities, through books at the library, and through special training courses. Keep in mind, Hill wrote this decades prior to the creation of the internet, but I still have found it useful to gain my own specialized experience through the combination of the five places where Hill writes one can find it.

Money Mensch's 2020 book will include low-cost or free online platforms like LinkedIn learning or massive online open source classes or the cheap-o classes that you can take on platforms like Coursera.

6) Step Five in Hill’s book is titled Toward Riches: Imagination.  In this chapter, good ideas are the beginning points of all fortunes. Again, keep it mind that this was written long before Google, Apple, Netflix, Uber, Facebook and even Microsoft and most of the other companies in the Fortune 500 even existed.

Hill examines some well-known companies from yesteryear, some of which still exist and thrive seventy years later, illustrating the way well known ideas have yielded huge fortunes. One thing that they all have in common is that the founders of the various businesses were able to recognize a need within a certain market that was not being met, and most of the technology they created proves to be the foundation for the technology that is being created and constantly improved upon today.

Reading this made me feel that I could convert several of the ideas that only exists in my own imagination and the idea notebook that I keep into future revenues of stream so that one day I can actually see the $10,000 credit in our bank account rather than just imagining it.

7) Hill’s Step Six toward riches is Organized Planning. In this chapter, Hill lists eleven secrets of leadership. Today, hundreds or perhaps thousands of books exist on the topic of leadership. I have purchased and read several such books over the past few years, as well as many blog entries and magazine articles on the topic.

In 1937, lists of leadership qualities were not as ubiquitous and is easily accessible via a Google search as they are today. However, you would be hard-pressed to find a better list or better description of the qualities than Hill provides in Think and Grow Rich.

The qualities that he lists include unwavering courage, self-control, a strong sense of justice, definiteness of decision, definiteness of plans, the habit of doing more than what you're paid to do, pleasing personality, sympathy and understanding of others, understanding of details, assuming full responsibility, and the ability to cooperate well with others.

Hill writes about two forms of leadership, the first of which is by force. The other, more effective form of leadership is by incentive and with the sympathy of the followers. As he writes, people will not follow forced leadership indefinitely. They may follow it temporarily, but will not do so willingly.

8) Later on in the same chapter about Organized Planning, Hill lists thirty-one ways to fail. The tragedy lies in the overwhelmingly large majority of people who fail, as compared to the few who succeed. Hill provided an in-depth analysis of these many causes of failure.

I will not list out all thirty-one reasons, but it is a very interesting list that includes reasons such as an unfavorable hereditary background, lack of a well-defined purpose in life, lack of ambition to rise above mediocrity, insufficient education, lack of self-discipline, ill health, procrastination, and a lack of persistence.

Other reasons include selecting the wrong spouse, an uncontrolled desire to get something for nothing, poor selection of business associates, lack of enthusiasm, egotism and vanity, the wrong selection of a vocation, the habit of indiscriminate spending, and many others.  Like I wrote earlier, these reasons are universal and apply as much today as they did eighty-one years ago or eighty-one years from now if our world leaders do not destroy humanity for good by then.

Reading this list of thirty-one reasons for failure hit me hard because several of the reasons, but not all of them, apply to me.  Maybe to you too.

9) Towards the end of the chapter on organized planning, Hill urges you to ask twenty-eight very personal questions. He begins by having you perform an annual self-analysis to gauge whether you moved ahead, stood still, or moved backward in the last year.

The questions address nearly everything and anything pertaining to your work-related life in the past year including an honest assessment of your personality, work habits, whether you have procrastinated, whether you have been persistent, if you are too cautious or too aggressive, if you keep your ego in check, if you have wasted time an unprofitable efforts, have been guilty of any conduct that was not approved by your conscience, whether you're in the right vocation, if you would be satisfied with your service if you were one of your customers.

As he wrote, these are very personal questions.

Also, since these are in the public domain, I suspect that you may see the Money Mensch version of this questionnaire show up here near the end of this year.

10) In Step Seven: Decision, Hill writes that opinions are the cheapest commodities on Earth.

Everyone has a flock of opinions ready to be wished upon by anyone who will accept them. I say Amen to that.  I do not go a day at work without hearing someone else’s unsolicited opinion on something.  Hill writes that you have a brain and mind of your own. You should use them and come to your own decisions. Solicit information from other people to enable you to reach decisions, acquire these facts or secure the information you will need quietly, without disclosing your purpose.

He accurately writes that those who talk do little else.  Keep your eyes and ears wide open – and your mouth closed.  Genuine wisdom is usually conspicuous through modesty and silence.  I have found that to be true over a period of nearly a quarter century of working post-college.

11) In Step Eight: Persistence, Hill writes about an eight-point persistence inventory and lists out sixteen weaknesses which must be mastered by all who accumulate wealth. These include failure to recognize and to define clearly exactly what one wants, indecision or the habit of passing the buck instead of facing issues squarely, self-satisfaction, lack of organized plans in writing, procrastination backed up with an array of alibis and excuses, the weakness of desire, and something that I have always suffered from in addition to several of those, fear of criticism.

Anyone can criticize, and many people refuse to take chances in business or at their line of work because they fear criticism. Refuse to take chances because they fear the criticism which may follow if they fail, and to this I plead Guilty as Charged.

12) In Step Eight, Persistence, Hill writes that anyone can learn persistence. He believes that persistence is a state of mind, therefore it can be cultivated through having a strong purpose, intense desire, and belief in one's ability to carry out a plan, the definiteness of plans, accurate knowledge, cooperation with others, strong will power and strong habits. Hill believes that fear is the worst of all enemies and can be effectively cured by forced repetition of acts of courage.

In my own small way, I have succeeded in overcoming my fear of public speaking by having been forced to speak publicly many times in front of large audiences due to the nature of my profession.

Where I once had a great deal of fear and anxiety prior to speaking in public, I now have, through repetition, been able to channel those emotions into making myself a confident, more interesting, easy going and successful public speaker.
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For the most part, I have conquered my fear of speaking in public.
13) In Step Nine: Power of the Master Mind, Hill writes that power, used in the pursuit of money, must be mixed with faith and desire and persistence. When money comes in quantities that Hill refers to as “the big money,” it flows to the one who accumulates it as easily as water flows downhill. I agree with this wholeheartedly, having observed this as it applies to the many successful people whom I've known and know now.

All of the people that I know who have become very wealthy have done it by using the traits that I have read about in these many books including finding a niche to fill that is needed in the marketplace, working very hard and with persistence and with a goal in mind, and they tend to make it look easy even though it is not.

Back to my vision of earning $5,000 to $10,000 per month via my writing ability.   I know that once my ideas begin to sell and catch on, what I do will look easy to others and seem easy to me and then the money will begin to flow into my bank account the way that water runs downhill.

In this section, Hill writes that those on the other side of the stream carries all who are unfortunate enough to get into it, and not able to extricate themselves from it, into misery and poverty.

In our case, you and I are neither extremely wealthy nor extremely poor and in poverty, but part of the great mass of people in the middle.  To the few very wealthy and successful folks who stumble upon these words, I wonder if you have some method by which income flows to you like water in a river.  If it does, I would sure like to learn how to do that too.

14) Following Hill's thirteen steps towards becoming rich is a chapter entitled “The Six Ghosts of Fear.” Named in order of their most common appearance he lists poverty, criticism, ill health, lost love, old age, and finally death has the six basic fears that every human suffers at one time or another.
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I have suffered from all six of the fears at one point or another, sometime several or all six of them (and more) at the same time. One of the fears that he lists is poverty, which has been a long time fear of mine having listened to many stories told by my grandfathers, both of whom lived in and survived extreme poverty during the Great Depression.

I always feel as if I am a lost job or major injury or illness which renders me unable to work, away from causing my family to fall into poverty. Hill lists the six symptoms as indifference, indecision, doubt, over caution, and our favorite, procrastination.

Regarding over caution, he criticizes the habit of looking for the negative side of every circumstance, thinking and talking about the possible failure instead of concentrating upon the means of succeeding.

For procrastination, he criticizes the habit of putting off until tomorrow what should have been done last year. This symptom is closely related to over caution, doubt and worry. He uses the phrase “the people bargain with life for a penny instead of demanding prosperity, opulence, richness, contentment and happiness."

Hill writes that the major reason he wrote Think and Grow Rich is the fact that millions of men and women are paralyzed with the fear of poverty. This very detailed chapter goes into great detail about addressing one’s fears, and it is well worth reading even though this book is eighty years old.

Hill addresses personal issues and matters of the mind and creating the right habits, things that span the 20th and 21st century whether people use telegraph machines, Twitter, or whatever is coming in the future.

Having read and created quite a lengthy blog entry about this book, I am now ready to withdraw it from my vast collection (hoard?) of books, donate it to the Salvation Army or some other organization where someday it can be sold, read and learned from again.  Perhaps a future successful business owner, creator of something that helps humanity or at least their own family will buy it.  I hope that you were able to learn something from this post, like I learned a lot from Napoleon's dynamite book.

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