RESOLUTIONS for 2022, Part 3
In case you have been following my blogs, you noticed that I took another break, after RESOLUTIONS for 2022, Part 2, posted on Dec.13. It wasn’t so much a period of writer’s block, as much as a period of Life-Gets-in-the-Way. And the weather played a role, too. Sometimes, we need to cancel our planned activities and just enjoy looking out at the magic of snow, creating a peaceful quiescence (look that one up!) over the neighbourhood. At times, I did just that and had a great Christmas.
So, the weather has been exceptional in the past two week, don’t you agree? I mean, a White Christmas in Metro Vancouver? Unbelievable! Oliver has posted exquisite photos to record our Grand Boulevard 2021 Christmas in the Park. It brings out the kid in all of us and what a sense of community! We are so lucky to live in this neigbourhood! So blessed.
So, I’m going to introduce you to Napoleon Hill, who wrote a thought-provoking book in 1937, called Think and Grow Rich. (I know what your first reaction to the title was, so don’t feel bad.) It was written near the end of the Great Depression (1929 – 1938), and has been a big hit since then, inspiring thousands of individuals who have become successful at their chosen occupations. Of the three books I’ve written about in three TGIF blogs, this one is the BIGGIE in self-improvement, no doubt.
According to Napoleon Hill, in 1908, when he was a young writer for a magazine, he interviewed Andrew Carnegie for a story about successful men. Carnegie was impressed with him and later asked him to write a motivational book with a comprehensive set of clear-cut principles of how to achieve success, so that anyone could do it. He introduced Hill to many great men of industry and business to interview, in order to write what Carnegie called “the world’s first philosophy of individual achievement.” It took Hill more than 20 years to research more than 500 multi-millionaires and very successful individuals, while earning a living as a teacher and sometimes a failed businessman.
I listened to the audiobook on my hikes, just as I had done with James Clear’s Atomic Habits. I got a recording, in nine CDs, from the Vancouver Public Library. There are many versions, but “the 21st-century edition” is a recording of the entire original book plus helpful editor’s comments. I seriously recommend reading the original book or listening to the nine-CD version …many times.
Here, I only have space to give you the names of some of the chapter titles:
Chapter 2 — Desire: the Turning Point of All Achievement
Chapter 3 — Faith: Visualization of, and Belief in Attainment of Desire
Chapter 4 — Auto-suggestion: the Medium for Influencing the Subconscious Mind
Chapter 5 — Specialized Knowledge: Personal Experiences or Observations
Chapter 6 — Imagination: the Workshop of the Mind
Chapter 7 — Organized Planning: the Crystallization of Desire into Action
Chapter 8 — Decision: The Mastery of Procrastination
Chapter 9 — Persistence: the Sustained Effort Necessary to Induce Faith
Enjoy, and Happy New Year!
Fiona