- One of the most successful books of all time
in the personal development space
is Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill.
Have you read the book?
Almost every single successful person that I know of
have read that one way or the other
sometime in their lives including me.
But I think most people they don't really understand
the book or they read the book with what I call
a filter.
They don't actually get what Napoleon Hill
was trying to teach and the message, the lesson
he wants to convey.
So how do you actually, actually think and grow rich?
By think and grow rich it doesn't mean
you just sit there and do nothing and you meditate
and then money will fall in your lap.
That's not think and grow rich.
That's called meditate and grow poor, okay?
That's not think and grow rich.
So what does it mean?
Now if you read the book itself
almost everybody likes the first chapter, desire.
Having the desire, having the focus,
having that drive to be successful.
Everybody loves that chapter.
But the chapter that I think is the most important
that almost nobody talks about
is the 11th principle of achievement
and that is accurate thinking.
Accurate thinking.
What does accurate thinking mean?
I'm not talking about critical thinking.
Critical thinking is analyzing the agenda and thoughts
of others.
Accurate thinking is you're looking at any situation
or yourself or whatever is happening,
what is the truth?
What is true and relevant?
That's called accurate thinking.
It is the most difficult to do.
Anything that we do.
It is the most difficult to do.
The thinking time.
If you were to ask me, take away everything I have,
take away all the tools that I have in business,
in sales, in marketing, everything I have,
but you can leave me with one thing
what would I pick?
Without hesitation I would tell you is
thinking time.
The ability to think.
Because business is an intellectual sport.
Creating wealth is an intellectual sport.
Becoming successful is an intellectual sport.
Not necessarily just how smart you are
but the ability to think what is going on.
Thinking time.
Most people don't think enough.
Henry Ford said it best.
Thinking is the hardest work there is.
That's why so few people engage in it.
What I mean by thinking.
Does that mean you lock yourself in a room
and just sit there and let whatever thoughts
that come to mind and that's thinking.
No.
Let me teach you how to think.
This is probably to the right person watching this
it is the most valuable skill,
the most valuable lesson that I could teach you.
This is the really, the one thing that has made me
who I am today.
The one thing that created Dan Lok.
One thing.
And that's thinking time.
Here's how it works.
The way you think is very simple.
You get yourself in a quiet environment,
maybe you turn on some music, doesn't really matter.
Thinking is nothing more than asking yourself
profound and deep questions.
That's what thinking is.
I'll say it again.
Thinking is nothing more than asking yourself
deep and profound questions.
When I say deep and profound it means
asking those questions that takes a little bit of time,
you need to think about it,
not a very surface level questions.
Let me give an example.
If you ask yourself the question
why can't I make more money?
That kind of quality of a question
leads to poor answers.
Horrible answers.
Because think about it.
You ask your mind why can't I make more money?
What comes to mind?
Well 'cause you suck.
'Cause you're no good,
'cause you're not worthy,
'cause nobody likes you,
'cause nobody wants to buy your stuff.
Nobody wants to do business with you
or maybe you don't have enough experience.
You don't have a track record.
You don't have enough resources.
You don't know the right people.
All this shit, how does that help you in anyway.
A better question to ask maybe perhaps is
well how can I make more money?
But then that's also a very basic question.
Basic question but if you spend the time
and you actually think about and sit down and dissect
and you take the time to craft a very profound questions.
So you could say how could I make more money?
How could you make that better?
How could you make that question better?
Okay. How about instead of being so vague and so general
instead of how can I make more money?
How can I make more sales?
There's a difference.
If you run a business how do I make more sales?
Okay.
How about let's make it even better.
How can I make more sales without getting any new customers?
Hmmm. That's interesting.
You see how now you're thinking from
a different perspective.
How about this?
Let me give you one more layer.
How can I make more sales without
adding any new customers and without adding any new expense?
Hmmm.
Now you see how does a high quality question
what you do is thinking time
you put yourself in a quiet space,
you write that questions at the top.
How can I make more sales without adding any new customers,
without adding any new expense?
And now you sit down and you grab a pen, a piece of paper,
and you answer that.
You take the time.
Oh well I could sell more to my existing customers.
Interesting.
I can maybe increase my price so I can make more money.
Interesting.
Hmmm maybe I could also do a joint venture
with someone where I only pay them
on a performance basis.
So if they bring in more sales then I pay them.
It doesn't add any more expense to what I do.
Hmmm that's interesting.
Maybe, maybe I could also instead of selling something
one time I can sell it and some kind of continuity
that so my customers are paying me on a ongoing basis.
Maybe some kind of membership.
That's interesting.
You see that's thinking.
It's not just how can I make more money?
You see it's a very low level shit.
When you take the time to think
that's how you grow.
That's actually how you actually think and grow rich.
This is very deep.
So ponder on that but if you get this,
this one thing, this one skill
this is what makes you successful.
That's the difference between the poor and the rich.
The ability to think.
To do accurate thinking on a consistent basis.
That's the difference.
Until next time, I'll see you in my Bentley.