13 Principles to Manifesting Money!
“DESIRE – The Starting Point of all Achievement.” ~ Napoleon Hill
Principle 1 - DESIRE
‘Desire’ is the first of thirteen principles Napoleon Hill described in his book, Think & Grow Rich. It’s first because it is tremendously important to create and possess this attribute and nurture it into a burning desire.
Your ‘Desire’ cannot be just a wish or a hope. ‘Desire’ never takes NO for an answer. Your ‘Desire’ must be alive, intense and exhilarating. You must feel your ‘Desire’ for something as a living thing that you can see, feel, touch, taste, envision, and believe!
My last post referred to Edwin C. Barnes, whose ‘Desire’ was to become partners with Thomas Edison. He saw himself working side by side with Edison as his partner, not just as an employee. Regardless of his present circumstances, he never wavered from his vision. No matter that he had no money or that friends and family said it was impossible, everything he did was for the purpose of getting closer to his goal. Barnes had a ‘Burning Desire’ that would not die.
But how do you translate that ‘Desire’ into something concrete like money or another goal? Hill offered 6 steps to take you from your ‘Desire’ to its physical form.
1. Fix in your mind the specific amount of money (or anything) you desire – not an estimate, or lots of money, or just wanting to be rich…it must be a specific number.
2. Determine exactly what you are giving in return for the money…you do not get something for nothing.
3. Set a specific date for when you will have the money in your hands…again, be specific.
4. Design a definitive plan to achieve your desire – know exactly how you will get there, then immediately take action, “whether you think you are ready or not.”
5. Write out a clear, concise statement, which includes the amount of money you are acquiring, the specific date you’ll have it, what you are giving in return, and a clear description of your plan for accumulating it.
6. Read your written statement aloud twice a day at the minimum – morning on rising and evening before retiring –the whole time seeing, feeling and believing that you already possess the money.
These steps require no hard work, no sacrifice, no special education and no capital. The only requirement is that you follow all 6 Steps and have imagination so you can see, understand, and accept that accumulating money cannot be left to chance and does not depend on “good luck.”
Know too that everyone who’s acquired riches first dreamed, wished, desired and planned to make enough money to be rich. You must be able to create in your Self such a strong Desire for money (or whatever it is you truly ‘Desire’) that you can believe you already have it and see yourself living with it. Then follow Hill’s 6 Steps.
If you truly believe what you want is ‘right,’ don’t listen to anyone telling you it is impossible, you can’t do it or shouldn’t have it – don’t accept ANY kind of defeat or failure – because “every failure brings with it the seed of an equivalent success.” (Napoleon Hill) Take each defeat or failure as a sign that you are one step closer to realizing your Dream.
Dreams are not realized through laziness, lack of ambition or indifference. Everyone who has achieved great success in life first went through great hardship, had many bad or false starts, and/or experienced many failures before reaching a crisis in their life that became their ‘turning point.’ John Bunyon and O. Henry were both in prison when they ‘awakened’ to their imagination and discovered they could write. Robert Burns was an illiterate drunk, Beethoven was deaf, Milton was blind – yet all achieved greatness through dreaming and organizing their thoughts.
Your Mindset is paramount to achievement – you must believe you can achieve your dreams and you must be open-minded before you can believe, for Hill said, “closed minds do not inspire faith, courage and belief.”
“Whatever the Mind of Man can Conceive and Believe it Can Achieve” ~ Napoleon Hill
Now that you have taken action on the 6 steps to achieving ‘Desire,’ read the next article in the series to learn the second principle in “13 Principles to Manifesting Money” …based on information gleaned from Napoleon Hill’s book, Think & Grow Rich
As always please leave your comments…they could be just the inspiration someone else needs!
(The excerpts noted in this and the following articles in this series are not meant to replace or supplant reading Napoleon Hill’s complete book Think & Grow Rich. My intention is to pique your interest and your desire to read Hill’s book by providing an overview of its concepts. In fact, I highly encourage you to read the entire book, re-read it, then read it again. No matter if reading a few marked passages or entire chapters, I always reap from this book some new understanding to apply in my life. And we never know what will stir the ‘AHA’ or mindset shift that begins our Journey to Success!)
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