My name is Casey Hasten and I have a problem. My problem is a I love to read and often am reading four to five books at any given time, with another four or five in the hopper waiting to be read. In recent years, my reading focus has turned to nonfiction; particularly those books that help me improve. (This is also my word for the year: IMPROVE. You can learn more about the My Intent movement here.) I focus on motivation, leadership, mindset, and other areas, which help me and those around me, be our best selves.
Although I have heard multiple thought leaders say, “of all the books you should read, this one must not only be read, but read multiple times,” I am embarrassed to admit, I am just now reading “Think and Grow Rich,” by Napoleon Hill. I am so GLAD I am finally digging in to its content and completely understand why the greats say this is the book to read.
There is so much meat in this book I will need to break up my blog into sections. Hill outlines 13 steps to Riches and each step should be read several times. Desire, Faith, Auto-Suggestion, Specialized Knowledge, Imagination, Organized Planning, Decision, Persistence, Power of the Master Mind, The Mystery of Sex Transmutation, The Subconscious Mind, The Brain, and The Sixth Sense. His final chapter is on outwitting the six ghosts of fear.
I want to start with Auto-Suggestion, as this is a topic I have written about before. Auto-Suggestion refers to your mindset. (See my blog post on Three Feet of Self-Confidence.) In this section, Hill delves into the reason positive mindset is so important. His stance is “no thought, whether it be negative or positive, can enter the subconscious mind without the aid of the principle of auto-suggestion…” So think about this.
If you believe you will always be fat and attach an emotion to this thought (disgust), your subconscious will target this goal. However, if you believe you will lose ten pounds in the next 30 days and envision yourself in a bathing suit, your subconscious mind will begin searching for ways in which to lose the ten pounds. I wrote another blog which demonstrates the strength of the mind called “What is Your Ironman.” In this blog, I talk about how athletes complete 140.6 miles of exercise and how it starts in their mind. If you do not believe you can accomplish your goal, you are right.
While Hill’s main purpose of his book was to create a path to wealth, his message applies to happiness as well.
- Fix in your mind the person you want to be in order to achieve the best you.
- Write down who that person is and what they will do to maintain happiness.
- Read your purpose statement (affirmations) twice a day (preferably in the morning and at night.)
Your mindset is so critical to achieving the best you. Make sure you protect and feed it with positivity.
Now go read, Bookworm!
