Think and Grow Rich: The Classic You Only ‘Get’ When You See the Examples

Why this old book still shows up in modern success stories

Here’s the weird thing about Think and Grow Rich: it’s old, a bit dramatic, and honestly, some parts feel like your grandpa lecturing you over coffee. And yet, it keeps popping up in the backstories of founders, creators, and self-made millionaires.

Why? Because the book isn’t really about money. It’s about how people think before the money ever shows up.

Napoleon Hill interviewed hundreds of highly successful people of his time—Andrew Carnegie, Thomas Edison, Henry Ford—and tried to reverse‑engineer what they did differently. Was it luck? Talent? Family money? Or was it something happening quietly between their ears?

You don’t have to agree with everything in the book (I don’t). But if you strip away the old-fashioned language, you’re left with a set of mental habits that still show up in modern research on goal‑setting, motivation, and behavior.

And the easiest way to understand those habits? Watch them play out in real‑life style examples.

Desire: When “would be nice” quietly kills your goals

Hill opens with desire. Not “it’d be nice to be rich someday,” but a burning, slightly uncomfortable kind of wanting.

Think of Mia. She’s 29, stuck in a customer support job she’s good at but hates. Her dream? To run her own online design studio. For years, she’s been in “would be nice” mode. She watches design tutorials, follows designers on Instagram, even buys a course… and then lets it sit.

One night, her company announces another “temporary” hiring freeze and a promotion that goes to someone who started after her. Something snaps. That night, she writes in her notes app:

“In three years, I will earn at least $120,000 per year from my own design studio. I will work remotely, choose my clients, and never again ask for permission to take a day off.”

Is that sentence magic? Of course not. But it’s sharper than her vague “I want to do something creative someday.”

Hill would say Mia just moved from a wish to a definite desire. Modern psychology would call this a specific, measurable goal. Same idea. Once she names it, her brain starts scanning for ways to make it real.

She starts waking up 45 minutes earlier to work on a portfolio. She reaches out to one small business owner she knows and offers to redesign their website for a low fee in exchange for a testimonial. It’s awkward, imperfect, and she feels like an imposter. But now there’s a direction.

That’s desire in Hill’s world: not a daydream, but a decision.

Faith: Acting like the future you before they exist

Faith, in Think and Grow Rich, is not strictly religious. It’s more like this: can you behave as if your goal is possible before you have any proof?

Take Jordan, 38, who wants to become a paid speaker. Right now, he’s a project manager who only speaks in meetings and occasionally at his kid’s school. The idea of standing on a stage in front of 500 people? Terrifying.

Hill would tell Jordan to “see and feel” himself already on that stage. Today we’d call that visualization. Sports psychologists use this with athletes all the time—mentally rehearsing performance before it happens. (If you’re curious, organizations like NIH and Harvard share research on how mental practice can influence performance.)

So Jordan does something that feels slightly ridiculous: every morning, he spends five minutes imagining himself walking onto a stage, hearing the murmur of the crowd, feeling his heart race—and then calming down, smiling, and starting strong. He writes an affirmation that doesn’t sound like a cheesy poster:

“I am becoming a confident, engaging speaker who gets paid to teach what I know.”

Over time, this does something subtle. Instead of thinking, “I’m not a real speaker,” he starts asking, “What would a speaker do next?”

A speaker might join a local Toastmasters club. So he does. A speaker might offer to present at a small industry meetup. He sends an email. The first talk is messy. He forgets a point, stumbles on a slide, and someone in the back looks bored. But he survives. Faith, in Hill’s sense, isn’t “I know it will all work out perfectly.” It’s “I’m willing to act like this is possible long enough to give it a real chance.”

Autosuggestion: The quiet soundtrack in your head

Autosuggestion sounds mystical, but it’s basically self‑talk on repeat.

Hill’s point is simple: the phrases you silently feed yourself all day long shape how you act. If your inner soundtrack is “I’m terrible with money” or “I never finish anything,” you’ll keep finding ways to prove yourself right.

Imagine Priya, 33, who has a long history of starting and abandoning side projects. She’s decided to write a book about her experience as a first‑generation immigrant in the tech world. She’s excited for three days… then the usual thoughts creep in:

“Who do you think you are?” “You’re not a real writer.” “No one will care.”

Instead of trying to magically feel confident, she experiments with autosuggestion. She writes a short script and reads it out loud, twice a day:

“I am writing a powerful, honest book that will help people like me feel less alone. I write at least 500 words a day. I’m not waiting for inspiration; I’m building a habit.”

Is it awkward? Totally. But here’s what changes: on the days she doesn’t feel like writing, that script is still in her head. She doesn’t suddenly become fearless, but she does open the document and write 200 words instead of zero.

If you want the science angle, research on cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), summarized by places like Mayo Clinic, shows that changing thought patterns can change behavior and mood. Hill was basically describing a rough, old-school version of that.

Specialized knowledge: Why “Google it” isn’t a strategy

Hill separates general knowledge (trivia, random facts, endless YouTube rabbit holes) from specialized knowledge (the stuff that actually helps you create value).

Think about Alex, 41, who wants to start a small home-renovation consulting business. He binge‑watches renovation shows, follows interior designers, and knows every tool at Home Depot by sight. That’s general knowledge.

Specialized knowledge, in his case, would be things like:

• How to estimate renovation costs accurately for a 1,800‑square‑foot home
• Local building codes in his city
• The psychology of helping couples agree on a design without killing each other

So he makes a simple shift. Instead of just consuming content, he creates a learning plan. He takes a short local course on building codes at a community college. He interviews three contractors about how they price jobs. He reads a book on conflict resolution.

Suddenly, he’s not just “the guy who likes renovation shows.” He’s the guy who can walk into a home, ask ten sharp questions, and give a realistic, stress‑reducing plan. That’s the kind of knowledge people pay for.

Hill would say: riches follow those who organize and apply specialized knowledge. Today, you could say: money tends to flow to people who solve specific problems for specific people.

Imagination: Where “crazy idea” quietly turns into a business

Hill talks about two types of imagination: synthetic (rearranging what already exists) and creative (coming up with something new). Most modern businesses are some mix of both.

Take Lena, 26, with a boring‑sounding job in accounting and a not‑so‑boring obsession with vintage streetwear. She notices something: her friends love the clothes she finds in thrift stores but hate the “digging for hours” part.

One Saturday, she experiments. She posts a “curated thrift drop” on Instagram—10 outfits, all styled, with prices. She does the digging; her followers just pick and pay.

Did she invent fashion? Obviously not. But she combined:

• Existing thrift shops
• Social media
• Her eye for style

That’s synthetic imagination. Hill would nod approvingly.

The important part isn’t that the idea is perfect. It’s that she lets herself play with it instead of immediately thinking, “Someone else is already doing this, so why bother?”

Imagination in Think and Grow Rich isn’t just art and poetry. It’s the habit of asking, “What if I did this slightly differently?” and actually testing it.

Organized planning: When the dream meets your calendar

This is where a lot of people quietly drop the ball. Desire feels exciting. Imagination feels fun. Planning feels like… spreadsheets.

Hill is pretty blunt: if you don’t turn your desire into a plan, you’re just wishing.

Back to Mia, our aspiring design studio owner. After a few months of random efforts, she realizes she’s busy but not really moving forward. So she sits down and asks herself some uncomfortable questions:

• How many clients do I actually need to hit that $120,000 a year?
• What services will I offer first, and what will I say no to?
• How many hours can I realistically work on this while still at my job?

She maps it out. If she wants to replace her salary in three years, she might need, say, ten retainer clients paying her a certain amount per month. That means reaching out to a certain number of prospects every week. Suddenly, “start a design studio” turns into “send five personalized outreach emails every weekday and post one portfolio piece per week.”

Hill calls this organized planning; productivity nerds today might call it breaking goals into systems and actions. Same idea.

And yes, the first plan usually doesn’t work. Hill actually expects that. He says when a plan fails, people often assume the goal was impossible, instead of assuming the plan just needs changing. That tiny shift keeps you from giving up too early.

The Master Mind: Why going it alone is overrated

Hill was obsessed with the idea of the “Master Mind”—a small group of people who coordinate their knowledge and effort toward a shared purpose.

In modern terms? Think:

• A weekly Zoom call with three other freelancers where you all share what’s working
• A local meetup of early‑stage founders comparing notes
• A writing group that actually reads each other’s work and gives honest feedback

Consider Priya again, working on her book. When she was alone, every bad writing day felt like a sign she wasn’t meant to do this. Then she joins a small online writing circle that meets every Sunday. They all share word counts, struggles, and small wins.

One Sunday, she admits she hasn’t written all week. Instead of shaming her, someone says, “Yeah, that was me last month. Here’s what helped…” Suddenly, she’s not a failure; she’s just a writer having a normal slump.

Hill would say the Master Mind creates a sort of “third mind” greater than the sum of the individuals. You don’t have to go mystical with it. Social support and accountability are very real psychological forces, and organizations like APA often highlight how community impacts behavior and mental health.

The point is simple: trying to change your life in total isolation is, frankly, harder than it needs to be.

Persistence: The boring superpower nobody posts on Instagram

Hill is almost obsessed with persistence. He basically says: most people quit three feet from gold. They hit a wall, assume it’s a sign to stop, and walk away right before things would have started working.

Let’s go back to Lena and her thrift‑curation idea. Her first sale day? Two people buy. One asks for a refund. She makes less than she spent on gas visiting thrift stores. The easy story is: “Well, I tried. Guess it’s not meant to be.”

Instead, she treats it like a data point. She talks to the two buyers, asks what they liked, what they’d change. She realizes her prices were confusing and her photos didn’t show fit very well.

Next drop, she:

• Shoots clearer photos
• Adds size info and styling tips
• Limits the drop to fewer, better pieces

Sales double. Still tiny, but going in the right direction.

Hill would say persistence is not blindly doing the same thing forever. It’s stubbornly holding onto the goal while being flexible about the strategy.

If you strip away the old language, Think and Grow Rich is basically one long argument for this: your first failure is almost never the final verdict.

So how do you actually use this book without turning into a quote machine?

You’ve probably seen people post Hill quotes on social media and then… not change anything about their lives. So how do you avoid that trap?

A practical way to use Think and Grow Rich through examples:

• Pick one area of your life where you want to “grow rich”—and yes, that can mean rich in money, but also time, freedom, or impact.
• Choose one principle at a time. Desire, faith, planning, persistence—whatever feels most relevant right now.
• Turn it into a tiny, behavior‑level experiment.

If desire is your weak spot, write your goal in uncomfortable detail and read it daily for 30 days. If faith is shaky, try a simple visualization ritual before your hardest task. If planning is the issue, translate your dream into weekly actions and track them.

And when you feel silly, or impatient, or like nothing’s happening fast enough… remember that Hill wrote this in a world without smartphones, social media, or remote work, and people still managed to reinvent their lives. You don’t need perfect conditions. You need a clear direction and the stubbornness to keep walking.

FAQ: Think and Grow Rich, but make it practical

Is Think and Grow Rich only about making money?

Not really. Hill uses money as the main example, but the principles apply to almost any big goal: starting a business, changing careers, writing a book, improving your health. Think of “rich” as abundance in an area you care about, not just dollars in a bank account.

Do I have to follow all 13 principles for it to work?

No. You’re not taking a standardized test. Many people find that a few ideas—like clear desire, organized planning, and persistence—move the needle the most. Start with what feels most broken in your life right now. You can always layer in more later.

Isn’t this just “positive thinking” with fancy language?

There’s definitely a lot of optimistic thinking in the book, but it’s not about sitting on your couch and visualizing a sports car into existence. The useful parts are where thought meets action: specific goals, repeated focus, concrete plans, and relentless adjustment when things don’t work. If you skip the action part, it does turn into empty positivity.

How does this fit with modern psychology and science?

Some of Hill’s language is dramatic and not exactly scientific. But many of his core ideas—like clear goals, visualization, supportive communities, and habit change—line up with what modern research explores. If you want more evidence‑based angles, you can explore resources from places like NIH or Harvard, which often cover topics like behavior change, motivation, and performance.

Is Think and Grow Rich still worth reading, or is a summary enough?

A summary (with examples) is a good way to decide if the book is worth your time. If the stories and principles resonate with you, reading the original can still be helpful, as long as you’re ready for old-fashioned language and some ideas that feel dated. Just remember: the value isn’t in memorizing the chapters. It’s in picking one idea, testing it in your actual life, and adjusting as you go.

If you treat Think and Grow Rich less like a holy text and more like a toolbox, it becomes a lot more interesting. Look at the examples—both in the book and in your own life—and keep asking, “How would this principle look in my Tuesday afternoon reality?”

That’s where things start to shift. Not in theory, but in the messy, very human experiments you run day after day.