Mr Napoleon Hills Book - Think And Grow Rich is easily the best seller of a book of all time. It has impacted thousands and thousands of men and women who have read and adopted the principles discussed in the book. 

In this Episode 3, we look at Desire - The First step through riches. Desire is the Starting Point For All Achievement. Every person who wins in any undertaking must be willing to burn his ships and cut all sources of retreat. Only by doing so can one be sure of maintaining that state of mind known as a Burning Desire to Win, essential to success. This is especially true for Entrepreneurs, DigiPreneurs, Wannapreneurs, Solopreneurs, Mompreneurs, Dadpreneurs, Affiliate marketers, Digital Marketers, Online Marketers and businessmen or businesswomen.

Check out the earlier episodes of this Series here :

1. https://shashidharcn.com/blog/the-power-of-persistence

2. https://shashidharcn.com/blog/think-and-grow-rich-three-feet-from-gold

3. https://shashidharcn.com/blog/think-grow-rich-by-napoleon-hill-introduction

Desire is the starting point of all achievement. Mr Hill talks about Edwin C Barnes who travelled in a freight railcar to reach Orange, New Jersey to get into a partnership with Thomas Edison the great inventor. For Barnes this was a consuming obsession and burning desire. It was not a hope, a wish, it was a keen pulsating desire which transcended everything else. It was Definite. Many years later, when Barnes became a partner with Edison many people thought that he got lucky and envied him. They did not see behind that success the extraordinary effort, desire and dream to partner with Edison as the primary cause. Barnes started out in Edison’s company doing all kind of odd jobs, any work where he could help. From the first moment that he met Edison he became a partner to Edison in his mind and the external circumstances manifested later. 

He said, "There is but ONE thing in this world that I am determined to have, and that is a business association with Thomas A. Edison. I will burn all bridges behind me, and stake my ENTIRE FUTURE on my ability to get what I want." He left himself no possible way of retreat. He had to win or perish!

Mr Hill narrates a story of a great warrior who used this same principle of desire and staked his entire future to win or perish. He set out to attack a foe’s mighty army with a small band of his warriors. Once they reached the foe’s island, the warrior ordered that the boats that brought them to the island be burnt so that they have only one way - Win the battle or Perish. They won.

Also Check this post >> https://shashidharcn.com/blog/are-you-swimming-or-sinking

Every person who wins in any undertaking must be willing to burn his ships and cut all sources of retreat. Only by so doing can one be sure of maintaining that state of mind known as a BURNING DESIRE TO WIN, essential to success.

Mr Hill gives yet another example of a conference of group of merchants whose shops had been destroyed the previous night in a fire in Chicago. All the merchants except one decided that they would leave the place and start afresh in another place. But one merchant decided that he would rebuild the store in the same place where it had once stood earlier. The merchant who decided to stay and rebuild pointed a finger at the remains of his store, and said, "Gentlemen, on that very spot I will build the world's greatest store, no matter how many times it may burn down.” The store was built and it stands as a towering monument to the power of Burning Desire. The merchant who decided to stay back and re-build his store was Marshal Field.

Every human being who reaches the age of understanding of the purpose of money, wishes for it. Wishing will not bring riches. But desiring riches with a state of mind that becomes an obsession, then planning definite ways and means to acquire riches, and backing those plans with persistence which does not recognise failure, will bring riches.

The Method by which Desire for Riches can be transmuted into its financial equivalent, consists of six practical steps namely -

1. Fix in mind the exact amount of money that you desire.  It is not sufficient merely to say “I want plenty of money.” Be definite as to the amount. There is a psychological reason for definiteness which is explained in the subsequent chapters.

2. Determine exactly what you intend to give in return for the money you desire. There is no such reality as “Something For Nothing”.

3. Establish a definite date when you intend to possess the money you desire

4. Create a definite plan for carrying out your desire, and begin at once, whether you are ready or not to put this plan into action.

5. Write out a clear concise statement of amount of money you intend to acquire, name the time limit for its acquisition, state what you intend to give in return for the money, and describe clearly the plan through which you intend to accumulate it.

6. Read your written statement aloud, twice daily, once before retiring at night, and once after arising in the morning. As You Read - SEE AND FEEL AND BELIEVE YOURSELF ALREADY IN POSSESSION OF THE MONEY.

The Burning Desire for the money will come to your aid. If you desire money so keenly that your desire is an obsession, you will have no difficulty in convincing yourself to acquire it. Only those people who have “money consciousness” acquire great riches. Money consciousness means that the mind is so fully saturated with the desire for money that one can already see oneself already in possession of it.

If you Do Not See Riches In Your Imagination, You Will Never See Them In Your Bank Balance.

Success Requires No Apologies, Failure Permits No Alibis.

Every Failure Brings With It The Seed Of An Equivalent Success

Dreams Are The Seedlings Of Reality. Awake, Arise And Assert Yourself, You Dreamers Of The World.

Let Emerson state the thought in these words, Every proverb, every book, every byword that belongs to thee for aid and comfort shall surely come home through open or winding passages. Every friend whom not thy fantastic will, but the great and tender soul in thee craveth, shall lock thee in his embrace.

Stay tuned to further episodes as we reveal more about the power of Desire coupled with the other principles mentioned in the book Think And Grow Rich.

Do you agree with this. Share, Like and Comment and let us have an enriching conversation on this topic which troubles all entrepreneurs.

This blog contains excerpts and is adapted from the Book - Hill, Napoleon. Think and Grow Rich . LBA. Kindle Edition.