Do not spend a single moment more wondering whether this *Think and Grow Rich* Workbook can work for you. It can. Specifically, it will if you do the work in this book exactly as it is written, in both spirit and form. The workbook is designed carefully. On the left-hand pages, all taken directly from the original text of *Think and Grow Rich*, you will be reading a story of people who through their thinking grew rich. Or you will be introduced to different laws of pros- perity or asked to reflect on certain important ideas. The left-hand pages are designed to educate and inspire you.
The right-hand pages will ask you to take an action. Do not skip over any suggested action hoping to find an easier action, one more to your liking; take the action. In this workbook, reading every story and taking every action is important. In the back of the book you will find “Success Notes.” In this section, you are asked to record both the large and small successes that you will experience along the way. These successes may seem like intuitions, synchronicities, creative ideas that we or others have, chance meetings, important connections made, or even nighttime dreams that take on more significance than ever before. Whatever they look like, write all your successes down, as it is part of the process.
Thinking and growing rich is a process that works one step at a time, not some- thing that appears full-blown overnight. This workbook from its first page to the last is intended to guide you successfully through the process. What makes us so confident that the *Think and Grow Rich* process works if you work at it? Because we used it and it worked for us. Here’s what happened: We had unexpectedly just received a “no” from a book agent to whom we had submitted our novel. Instead of scrambling for next steps, we decided to put aside for the moment our efforts toward getting published and instead pick up *Think and* *Grow Rich*.
We both had heard of this book for years. Napoleon Hill’s prosperity principles, gleaned from the study of the richest men of his time, has sold millions of copies, is credited with helping countless men and women become wealthier, and is the foundation of most modern financial and business self-help books that have followed since its publication. We figured that if the book is still selling since its publication during the Depression, there must be a reason. We agreed to be prosperity partners, studying the original version of *Think and* *Grow Rich* one chapter at a time (which is available in book form, or can even be found on the Internet). Since there are thirteen “Steps to Riches,” we agreed to meet in person once a week for thirteen weeks to compare notes and our progress.
Fur- ther, we agreed to follow each suggestion and exercise exactly as suggested in Hill’s book. In addition, we chose a specific dollar amount that we individually wanted to have in hand at the end of the thirteen-week program. To help us on our way, we decided to cut up a copy of the text and create a personal workbook to make it easier for us to do everything Napoleon Hill suggests in his book. We wanted a workbook to record our desires and goals, to do the exercises, to keep a journal of our successes. Our own version of the book, now in workbook form, made the process much easier.
Fast forward to the end of the thirteen weeks. Yes, we learned and grew a lot in our understanding of the laws of prosperity and the process of using the mind to attract greater riches. Yes, we felt even more confident about our potential, more deserving of riches. Yes, our thoughts grew about who we were and what we felt able to create. But no, we didn’t have the cash in hand! Yet, oddly, we were unfazed by the absence of the cash.
Although the cash was not in hand, we were certain it was on the way. How could we be certain? *Think and Grow Rich* had expanded our thinking— we had set a burning desire for “riches” in motion, and followed it by taking all the suggested actions, so by law it was inevitable that our desire would bear fruit if we didn’t give up and close the door prematurely. People fail, never the law that Hill writes about; and we were working with law. We were not wishing and hoping, we were knowing. At our weekly lunch in the thirteenth week, the idea of our novel came up (the one sitting on the shelf for the last three months). We had a hunch that it was finally time to find an agent for our book. Trust your hunches, Napoleon Hill advises, and we did.
By the day’s end, we had found a literary agent willing to look at the book. Less than twenty-four hours later, she called back with a “yes.” Within sixty days the novel was given a preemptive offer, which is an offer to take the book off the table before any other publishers bid on it. “It’s an honor to publish this book,” were the exact words of our new editor. We received a good advance, and when the monies were divided up, we each had exactly the amount that we originally intended. It didn’t arrive on the last day of the thirteenth week, but it did arrive.