Many years ago, when I was starting in business, I read the famous self improvement book “Think and Grow Rich” by Napoleon Hill. This book came about when Andrew Carnegie challenged Hill to discover and write a book about why some people were incredibly wealthy. Carnegie opened the door for Hill to talk to the wealthiest businessmen of the late 19th and early 20th century. The book is based on facts; there is no fiction in it at all.
Although the book was originally published in 1937, most of the people who have read the book in the past 45 years have read the 1960 version. In 1960 some of the portions of the book were irrelevant. Today those portions are once again relevant and the book has been republished in the original version. It is a very interesting book and anyone who has read the 1960s version should read the original.
Everything he writes in the book came from the likes of Carnegie, Henry Ford, Thomas Edison and many more of the greatest businessmen of American History. One of the many ideas in the book that stood out for me is how they dealt with adversity.
"Within every setback or obstacle or disadvantage there is the seed of an equal or opposite or greater advantage or benefit." Napoleon Hill - Think and Grow Rich
Attitude is everything. What is your attitude toward setbacks and disappointments? Do you dwell on the negative and give up, or do you see the positive and find another way? Thomas Edison failed 10,000 times before he was able to make the light bulb work. He said he didn’t fail, he just discovered 10,000 ways it wouldn’t work. It is a good thing he didn’t give up. Attitude is everything. What is yours?
