Think and Grow Rich

 

Think and Grow Rich is a book written by Napoleon Hill in 1937 and promoted as a personal development and self-improvement book. He claimed to be inspired by a suggestion from business magnate and later-philanthropist Andrew Carnegie.

First published during the Great Depression, the book has sold more than 15 million copies^.

It remains the biggest seller of Napoleon Hill's books. BusinessWeek magazine's Best-Seller List ranked it the sixth best-selling paperback business book 70 years after it was published. Think and Grow Rich is listed in John C. Maxwell's A Lifetime "Must Read" Books List.

While the book's title and much of the writing concerns increasing income, the author proclaims that his philosophy can help people succeed in any line of work, to do and be anything they can imagine.

Think and Grow Rich is based on Hill's earlier work The Law of Success, and is the result of more than twenty years of study of many individuals who had amassed personal fortunes. Hill studied their habits and drew some 16 "laws" to be applied to achieve success. Think and Grow Rich condenses them, providing the reader with 14 principles in the form of a "Philosophy of Achievement".

 

^{https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Think_and_Grow_Rich}

I first read the book in 1969, when I worked as a life insurance salesman for Northwestern National Life Insurance Company in 1969, and I’ve re-read a few times since. More than 10 years ago, I gave a copy to our son Brian for Christmas.

Although I’ve read hundreds of books in my lifetime, this one is undoubtedly the one that had the most longest lasting impact.

After working at a couple of different jobs after graduating from college, I eventually wound up working in the insurance business as a commercial lines underwriter. A few years into that career, I learned about a program called CPCU, which is an acronym for Chartered Property and Casualty Underwriter, and it is roughly the equivalent of a CPA for an accountant.

The CPCU program is a 5-year course. Apart from the fact that the designation will likely get you promoted (it did) the other reward is that you and your significant other get a free trip to whatever location is holding the convention that year. When I learned that the 1980 convention was in Hawaii, I decided that I was going to complete the 5-year program in 4 years – and I did it. In October of 1980, we put out young kids in the care of their paternal grandparents, and spent a week in Hawaii. Apart from the swimsuit incident, it was a marvelous vacation, and it will always rank as one of our best vacations.

Inspired by the book, Sharon and I tried out a number of business ventures, independent of our regular jobs. Although none of them made us rich, our attempts could be summed up by the line that Clint Eastwood said in “The Bridges of Madison Country”:

“I’m glad I had my dreams. They didn’t always work out the way that I wanted, but I’m glad I had them anyway”.

After I was promoted and transferred to Wisconsin in 1981 (my reward for earning the CPCU degree) I joined Toastmasters International in order to get comfortable with public speaking. In my 25 years with the organization, I won dozens of speaking trophies, and in 1993, I was voted the District Toastmaster of the Year, the only one of 3000 people that year to earn that honor.

My final 4 years in the property/casualty industry were spent with the CIGNA Insurance Company. Shortly after starting with the company, I started putting 10% of my income into their 401-K program, and was on track to have $1,000,000 in the bank and a house that was paid for by the time I was 65.

Life, of course, had other plans.

My property/casualty career ended when I was 51, and subsequent jobs paid far less than I was earning, which is why I am still working as I approach my 75^th birthday.

The optimism and can-do attitude that Sharon and I developed eventually rubbed off on our kids.

Brian was an indifferent student in high school, which is why it took him 5 years to graduate. When he finally graduated from college at the age 34, he graduated magna cum laude. After moving to Tucson 3 years later, he started his own company, a ride-share firm that he called FLUX. It was his primary source of income for a few years – until it wasn’t. After a few years of trying a few other things, he followed in his dad’s footsteps, and became a substitute teacher. Now married with a couple of adorable kids, he is doing well, but he still dabbles in his dreams also. He may never become a millionaire by being a day trader – but he keeps trying.

Our daughter got good grades in high school, and managed to graduate in 4 years. She attended college in Michigan for a couple of years, but eventually decided to interrupt her college career to pursue an adventure. At the age of 22, he moved to China to become a college professor, even though she would not get her own degree until nearly 10 years later, and she and Brian graduated from college the same year.

She eventually moved to Arizona to pursue her dream of being a nurse, and her mom and dad tagged along. She completed an accelerated program in nursing, and earned her master’s degree in the summer of 2018. After working for a few years in Arizona, she and her hubby moved to Colorado, where she is now a charge nurse at a medical facility near Durango.    

Although I’m proud of our family’s accomplishments, I’m equally impressed by what I woman named Amanda Peet has accomplished.

At the age of 29. Peet started running. Her first run — on a treadmill — was only 15 minutes. But she found it exhilarating. She signed up for a few races and added biking and swimming to her workouts to train for triathlons. In early 2013, Peet noticed that her right index finger couldn’t fully extend while she swam. She began struggling to put on her biking gloves, and would inexplicably fall sometimes. Her husband David noticed her speech was becoming difficult to understand.

In November of that year, she ran a 7.9-mile relay leg of the City of Oaks marathon in Raleigh, N.C. But her body wouldn’t cooperate. She had to walk all of the downhill sections to keep from falling.

It was the last footrace she would run.

Peet assumed her symptoms were due to some sort of injury, so she scheduled an appointment with a physical therapist. Two months later, she visited a Georgetown University neurologist who performed various screenings. He initially ruled out A.L.S.

For the next several months, doctors and specialists were unable to pinpoint a diagnosis. Peet’s physical condition worsened. She started using a cane to walk, then two walking sticks and a walker.

In August 2014, a Johns Hopkins neurologist confirmed what she and David had suspected: Peet had A.L.S. Life expectancy for someone with A.L.S. is two to five years, and there is no cure. She was 33.

Peet was frustrated she had spent close to a year of that life expectancy trying to figure out what was wrong. Now, she had one thought: “I have no more time to waste.”

Several months prior, Peet had signed up for a fall sprint triathlon with a friend, Julie Wesner. She could still swim, albeit slowly, and she could walk with assistance. But since she couldn’t balance on a bike anymore, she called Wesner to cancel. Instead, Wesner asked if she had looked into a recumbent trike. Peet bought one the next weekend.

They would do the race together. Peet used two trekking poles for balance during the running portion. Her toes curled, her feet dragged, and her knees locked with every step. Wesner held her arm the entire time. They were the last two finishers, greeted by a crowd of spectators who had waited almost an hour to cheer for the duo.

“It changed everything,” Peet said. She described the race atmosphere as “a laser filled with the very best of humanity, aimed directly at me.”

She decided to keep racing, as long as her body would allow her. She established a daily workout routine — pool exercises, Pilates training, weight lifting, and trike rides — to stay active.

 

In October 2016, she started her own nonprofit, the Team Drea Foundation, to raise awareness and funds toward A.L.S. research.

Peet surpassed the average A.L.S. life expectancy in the summer of 2019.

In doing so, she realized that she was tired of waiting for the disease to kill her. So Peet brainstormed the biggest, most daunting challenge she could try: to become the first person with A.L.S. to complete 50 marathons in 50 states.

 

By early March 2020, Peet had completed 17 marathons in 17 states, with the help of a rotating cast of family and friends. She and David were scheduled to fly to California for her 18th marathon on March 20, 2020. But the pandemic intruded, and races were abruptly postponed, then canceled altogether.

When a few marathons reopened in August, Peet found a series of three races in Idaho, Utah, and Wyoming scheduled to be held over three consecutive days. She and David packed their car and drove west from their home in Raleigh.

By the end of 2020, she was halfway to her goal.

Peet does not know her own life expectancy. But she does know how she wants to spend her remaining days: raising awareness and money for A.L.S. research (to date, Team Drea has raised $850,000), writing a memoir, filming a full-length documentary about her journey and racing.

Peet’s final 50-in-50 race (she will have completed 52 marathons by then) was on Prince of Wales Island, in Alaska, on Saturday.

You may never accomplish the things that our family accomplished, or even come close to what Amanda Peet accomplished, but never forget the words that Napoleon Hill put down on paper more than 80 years ago.

You can do and be anything they can imagine.

 

 

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/28/sports/als-marathons-andrea-peet.html