Think And Grow Rich: The 21st Century Edition Chapter 4 - Faith In Your Ability

FAITH in your ability - one of the thirteen principles of success - is the focus of this chapter.

Napoleon Hill started the chapter by stating that the subconscious mind instantly picks up the vibration when faith is blended with thought… describes how to develop faith through self-suggestion… illustrated with an amazing story of how an idea built a fortune… and concluded by reaffirming that riches begin with thought.

In sharing how to develop faith through self-suggestion (also called autosuggestion), Hill shared this short poem that I thought truly brings out the essence of ‘think’ and grow rich:

If you think you are beaten, you are,

If you think you dare not, you don’t;

If you like to win, but you think you can’t,

It is almost certain you won’t.

 

If you think you’ll lose, you’re lost,

For out in the world we find,

Success begins with a fellow’s will –

It’s all in the state of mind.

 

If you think you are outclassed, you are,

You’ve got to think high to rise,

You’ve got to be sure of yourself before

You can ever win a prize.

 

Life’s battles don’t always go

To the stronger or faster man,

But soon or late the man who wins

Is the man who thinks he can!

I can’t agree more with Hill that in order to achieve anything worthwhile that we need an unshakable faith in ourselves that must be beyond the shadow of a doubt that we can achieve!

In fact, doubt is a killer that tend to creep into our mind as we embark on any journey of achieving a worthy goal. And as I write, what T. Harv Eker taught came to mind - that when negativity sets in, all we have to do is to tell our mind, “Thank you for sharing!” - so simple yet so powerful.

The Disaster of Negative Thinking

Hill pointed out that the subconscious mind makes no distinction between constructive and destructive thought impulses. He illustrated with the example of how electricity can light up our world or electrify us if we’re not careful which leads me to share a real life experience…

Many years ago, when I was still in Corporate Singapore, I met an ex-colleague, a young man in his early thirties. Everyday, he went around talking about negative stuff and how unfortunate he was plus… how emotionally he was depressed by his relationship with his ex-girlfriend.

A few short years later - after I left - I heard news that he had chosen to end his life by jumping down a building. Sad story.

This chapter also reminds me of ‘Your First Year in Network Marketing’ by Mark Yarnell where Mark, an immensely successful network marketer, related his experience of listing a few things for his new recruits to follow but there was one item most of them cannot. That is - to stop reading the newspapers and stop watching news on TV (except during the midday).

NOTE: I’m recalling the above from memory and I may not be exactly right in the details but that’s the crux of the matter.
Mark Yarnell said that the world is full of bad news and we sort of need to have a mental fast to clear up the negativity in our subconscious.

Classic Examples of Men with GREAT FAITH

• Jesus Christ is listed as head of men with great faith through the sum and substance of His teachings and achievements. His ‘miracles’ were produced only through the state of mind known as faith. In fact, according to Hill, the basis of Christianity is faith, no matter how many people may have perverted, or misinterpreted, the meaning of this great force.
• Mahatma Gandhi is another astounding example of a man with great faith. He influenced two hundred million minds to coalesce and move in unison, as a single mind - with no money, no home, not even a suit of clothes. But he had power which he created out of his understanding of the principle of faith and through his ability to transplant that faith into the minds of those two hundred million.

The Story of Charles Schwab

In the original version of Think And Grow Rich, I do find it a challenge to fully grasp the meaning of the entire story. So, I was truly glad as the 21st Century edition gave informative commentary at the right places.

For instance, just before Hill relates the story of how Charles Schwab’s idea built a fortune through his oratory speech, the authors explained that this story illustrates at least six of the thirteen principles of success and faith is at the center of it… and that if Charles had not mixed his “big idea” with absolute, unwavering faith that he could pull it off, the whole history of American business would have been different.

As another example, the commentary in the21st Century edition painted the background surrounding this event so that the reader could fully understand the impact of the story that one can literally think and grow rich through a single idea! An example of this is giving a summary of Charles M. Schwab, Andrew Carnegie and J. P. Morgan which I make a short quote here:

• Charles M. Schwab was Andrew Carnegie’s right-hand man, and president of the Carnegie Steel Corporation
• Andrew Carnegie was a wealthy and powerful steel baron whose company controlled 25 percent of the iron and steel production in America.
• J. P. Morgan was a wealthy and powerful Wall Street banker whose company had arranged the financing for many of the major industrial companies in America at the beginning of the twentieth century.

And the commentary even went on to paint the finance, business and industry scenario at the beginning of the twentieth century. It was absorbing and refreshing reading and highly recommended.

The 21st Century Updated Edition

The ORIGINAL