Think and Grow Rich

Chapter 5 Desire: The Beginning of Everything (1)
All dreamers in the world, wake up, determine what you want, what you want to be, and create this strong desire!You are like the rising sun, and the economic downturn around the world may be offering you plenty of opportunities.

When Edwin C. Barnes jumped off the train in Orange, New Jersey, USA more than 30 years ago, he looked like a tramp, but he had the ambition of a king!

As he walked along the railroad to Thomas A. Edison's office, Barnes kept thinking.He seemed to see himself standing in front of Edison, begging him to give himself a chance to realize the strong desire of his dream, to work together with the great inventor Edison and become his business partner!

Barnes' desire was not just a hope, nor a wish, but a passionate, stirring urge.The power of this desire surpasses all, clear and definite!
This desire did not arise when he stood in front of Edison, but filled his thoughts long ago.At first, when this desire just came into being, maybe it was just a simple wish, but when he appeared in front of Edison with this wish, it was no longer just a wish.

A few years later, Edwin C. Barnes stood before Edison again, in the same office where he first met Edison.At this time, his desire has become a reality, he has become Edison's business partner, and the mission that dominates his lifelong dream has finally become a reality.Today, those who knew Barnes in the past are envious of him, because he always feels that he has been favored by fate.People always only see the side of his brilliance, without exploring the real reasons for his success.

The reason why Barnes was successful was that he had a clear goal, was able to devote himself wholeheartedly to it, and spared no effort to achieve that goal through his own step-by-step efforts!On the day he just arrived at Edison's office, he didn't immediately become Edison's business partner. He was satisfied with being able to do some trivial and humble work at the beginning, because it was also an opportunity to take a step closer to his goal.It took five years for Barnes to find an opportunity to achieve his goal.During these days he sees no hope, no promise of fulfillment of his desires.To anyone but himself, he was a minor figure in Edison's career.But in his heart, from the first day he started working in Edison's office, he was Edison's business partner every moment.

This is a classic example of the power of desire.Barnes achieved his goal, and his desire to be Edison's business partner came first.He laid out detailed plans for the attainment of this goal, and at the same time broke the boat and cut off all escape routes.He has stuck to his desire until it became a lifelong pursuit, and this strong desire has finally become a reality.

When he went to Orange, he didn't say to himself, "I'm going to try my best to convince Edison to give me a job." Instead, he thought, "I'm going to see Edison, and I'm going to let him know I be his business partner."

Nor did he say, "I'll probably work there for a few months. If nothing happens, I'll quit in time to find another job elsewhere." Instead he said to himself, "I'm going to start there, and I'll start there." To do everything that Edison told me to do, but in the end I must be his business partner."

He didn't say: "I must pay more attention to other opportunities, in case I can't work with Edison without his approval." Instead, he said: "In this world, I only want to do one thing. It is to become Thomas A. Edison's business partner. I want to cut off all back roads and dedicate my life to realize my ideals without hesitation."

He didn't leave any retreat for himself, either succeed or fail!This is the secret of Barnes' success!Long ago, the circumstances facing a great warrior prompted the determination that ensured victory in battle.He has to command soldiers to fight against a powerful enemy, and he has to deal with the situation where the enemy is outnumbered.He put all the soldiers on board, and then came to the front of the enemy.After the soldiers disembarked and unloaded all the equipment and food, he ordered all the ships in the future to be burned.Before the first battle started, he said to the soldiers: "Do you see the billowing smoke? The ship we were on has been burned. If this battle is not won, we will never leave here alive! We have no way out. , either succeed or become benevolent!" In the end, they won the victory with less and more.Everyone who wants to be successful must hold the heart that is willing to die and survive.Only by doing this can you maintain a strong winning mentality, which is the most important success factor.

On the morning after the famous Great Chicago Fire, a group of businessmen stood on State Avenue looking out at the still smoking ruins of the shops they had once relied on for a living.They met to decide whether they should rebuild here, or leave Chicago and start anew somewhere more promising in the country.

A businessman who decided to stay and rebuild the store on the old site pointed to the ruins and said, "Gentlemen, I must rebuild the most prosperous store in the world there. No matter how many fires there are, I will fulfill this wish."

That was decades ago, the store was rebuilt and it still stands today, like a monument, but also a symbol of a state of mind that burns with burning desire.Perhaps the easiest thing for Marshall Field to do was to leave here with his business friends.When difficulties came and the future looked bleak, they all chose the path that seemed easier to follow.Observe carefully the difference between Marshall Field and other businessmen, for it is the same difference that exists between Edwin C. Barnes and many other young men who worked in Edison's company.It is because of this difference that winners and losers are clearly distinguished.

When everyone reaches a stage where they understand the importance of money, they wish they could have it.Wealth cannot be obtained by pure expectation, but if one has a strong desire and can turn this desire into a persistent pursuit, then formulate a clear method and way to obtain wealth, and with an attitude and attitude of not giving up until the Yellow River Perseverance as a strong backing, then anyone can succeed!

There are six clear and practical steps to turning your desire for money into something real:
First, visualize in your mind how much money you are going to get.It is not enough to just say to yourself: "I hope to get enough money." for details).

Secondly, in order to get the above-mentioned certain amount of money, clarify how much effort you can put in in exchange for this wealth (there is no free money in the world).

Third, determine when you want to get the wealth.

Fourth, make a specific plan for realizing your ideals, and then start implementing this plan immediately whether you are ready or not.

Fifth, make a clear and specific list, write down the amount of money you want, the deadline for getting the money, the price you need to pay, and a clear plan for successfully obtaining this wealth.

Sixth, read this list aloud at least twice a day, before you go to sleep and again in the morning when you wake up.In the process of reading, it seems that you have seen and felt this wealth, and you have to believe that you already have so much money.

Follow the above six steps to realize your dream, and the sixth step is particularly important.You might complain, "It's impossible to feel rich if you don't actually own it." That's the role of burning desire in helping you realize your dreams.If you really want to have money, it will keep you dreaming about it so that you can effortlessly convince yourself that you already have it.Its purpose is to make you feel that you want money and firmly believe that you will get it.Only those who are "money conscious" can amass great wealth. "Money consciousness" means that all the money is in the mind, so that it seems that he has become a rich man.

To the uninitiated, to those who do not understand how their own inner workings work, this approach may seem impractical.However, it may be helpful for those who do not appreciate their importance to say that these steps came from Andrew Carnegie.Because although Carnegie himself was born in a poor and humble background-he used to be an ordinary worker in a steel factory, he used these principles to create a huge wealth of more than one million dollars for himself.

One might be more enlightened if one knew that the six steps proposed here were carefully tested by Edison.Edison clearly pointed out that these six steps are not only crucial to the accumulation of wealth, but also the only way to achieve the established goals.

These steps require no "hard work," no sacrifices, or even making you look ridiculous or credulous.People with little education can apply these steps as well, but successfully applying these six steps requires people to be imaginative enough to discover and understand for themselves that wealth cannot be accumulated by chance and good luck alone.One must realize that before wealth can be accumulated there must be dreams, hopes, desires, strong desires, and well-thought-out plans to acquire it, and then put them into action.By now, you probably understand that without a strong desire for money and a genuine belief that you can have it, you will never be a millionaire.

Perhaps you also learned that every great leader from ancient civilizations to the present day was a dreamer.Christianity can be said to be one of the most potential religions in the world today, because its founder is a visionary and imaginative dreamer, who can see in his heart the status quo of the spiritual state before being transformed into a physical form.If you can't see great fortunes in your imagination, you'll never see them in your bank account either.Never before in American history have pragmatic dreamers faced such a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity as they do today.Essentially, six years of economic collapse has reduced everyone's incomes to roughly the same level.A new race is about to start, and the stakes are huge fortunes that will be amassed over the next decade.The game has completely changed because we live in a changing world that is clearly geared towards pleasing the majority, who have little or no opportunity to face the fears that are spreading before us during the Great Depression. Accumulate wealth while in the situation.

Those of us who are bent on pursuing wealth should know that the changing world we live in urgently needs new ideas, new methods, new leaders, new inventions, new teaching methods, new sales methods, new books, new literature, New broadcast features and new movie ideas.Behind these new things lies a prerequisite, that is, we must have a quality, a clear purpose-that is, knowing what we want, and a strong desire to get it very much.Business depressions marked the death of one era and the birth of another.This changing world needs pragmatic dreamers who can turn dreams into reality with practical actions.Pragmatic dreamers were, and always will be, pioneers of civilization.

Those of us in pursuit of wealth should always remember that the true leaders of the world are those who can discover the invisible forces hidden in the opportunities of the future, put them into practice, and then transform them (or thought impulses) into skyscrapers, cities, factories, airports, automobiles, and other conveniences that make life better.

Patience and open-mindedness are essential qualities for today's dreamers. People who fear new ideas are doomed before they even take action.Pioneers of civilization have never had a better time.Indeed, we no longer need to run around in a carriage to escape for our lives, nor do we need to deliberately go to the desolate and barren west to open up wilderness.However, we need to gallop in the vast fields of commerce, finance, and industry, and we need to use innovative methods to transform the past and reshape the future.

In planning your own fortune, let no one influence you to laugh at the dreamer.To win the bet in this ever-changing world, you must learn from the spirit of those illustrious predecessors of the past.Their dreams give civilization its due, and their spirit is the lifeblood of our Nation, the spirit in which we can express our talents.

We must bear in mind that Columbus dreamed of discovering an unknown world, and used his life as a bet to prove the existence of this world, so he succeeded!
The great astronomer Copernicus dreamed of world diversity and finally revealed them!After his success, no one accused him of being "unrealistic and arrogant".Instead, the whole world celebrated, thus reaffirming the great adage that "success needs no apologies, failure no excuses."

If what you have been longing to do is right, and you believe in it, do it without hesitation!Let your dreams fly, even if you encounter temporary setbacks, don't care what "others" say, because "they" may not know that every failure contains the seeds of success.

Poor and uneducated Henry Ford dreamed of a carriage that would not be drawn by horses, so he started building one using all the tools he had at hand, rather than sitting around waiting for his opportunity.Today, the world can see evidence of its dreams exist.He's experimented with the wheel far more than any man, because he's not afraid to stand up for his dreams.

Edison dreamed of making a lamp controlled by electricity, and he immediately set to work.Despite many failures, he persisted in his dream until finally it became a reality.Down-to-earth dreamers never give up easily!Whelan dreamed of opening a tobacco store, so he acted immediately, and now there are United Tobacco stores all over the United States.Lincoln dreamed of fighting for freedom for black slaves, so he worked hard unswervingly, and finally saw the North-South Alliance in his lifetime, turning his dream into reality.

The Wright brothers dreamed of building a machine that could fly in the air.Now, people all over the world can see the human impact of their great dreams.

Marconi dreamed of finding a way to control the invisible forces in the air.His dream has not been disillusioned. Now radios and televisions all over the world are transmitting signals in the form of radio waves, all of which come from his dream.In addition, Marconi's dream made the world's humblest hut and the most luxurious noble manor communicate with each other, and made people of all nationalities on the earth become close neighbors.He also created a medium through which the President of the United States could address the entire American people at the same time.Perhaps it makes you curious that Marconi's "friend" had him locked up in a psychiatric hospital for examination, because he announced that he had discovered a principle, not by wires or other visible and tangible means of communication, but only Use the air to convey information.

Today's dreamers, by contrast, are much luckier.Because today's world has become accustomed to new discoveries.In addition, it is even willing to reward dreamers who come up with new ideas for today's society.

(End of this chapter)