Note: This is a Blog based on the book Think and Grow Rich, and this is the first chapter you will get all lesson mentioned in this book.

Chapter .1 - DESIRE

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The first step towards riches

WHEN Edwin C. Barnes climbed down from the freight train in Orange,

N. J., more than thirty years ago, he may have resembled a tramp, but his

thoughts were those of a king!

As he made his way from the railroad tracks to Thomas A. Edison's office,

his mind was at work. He saw himself standing in Edison's presence. He heard

himself asking Mr. Edison for an opportunity to carry out the one CONSUMING

OBSESSION OF HIS LIFE, a BURNING DESIRE to become the business associate

of the great inventor.

Barnes' desire was not a hope! It was not a wish! It was a keen, pulsating

DESIRE, which transcended everything else. It was DEFINITE.

The desire was not new when he approached Edison. It had been Barnes'

dominating desire for a long time. In the beginning, when the desire first appeared

in his mind, it may have been, probably was, only a wish, but it was no mere

wish when he appeared before Edison with it.

A few years later, Edwin C. Barnes again stood before Edison, in the same

office where he first met the inventor. This time his DESIRE had been translated

into reality. He was in business with Edison. The dominating DREAM OF HIS LIFE

had become a reality. Today, people who know Barnes envy him, because of the

"break" life yielded him. They see him in the days of his triumph, without taking

the trouble to investigate the cause of his success.

Barnes succeeded because he chose a definite goal, placed all his energy,

all his will power, all his effort, everything back of that goal. He did not become

the partner of Edison the day he arrived. He was content to start in the most

menial work, as long as it provided an opportunity to take even one step toward

his cherished goal.

Five years passed before the chance he had been seeking made its

appearance. During all those years not one ray of hope, not one promise of attainment of his DESIRE had been held out to him. To everyone, except himself,

he appeared only another cog in the Edison business wheel, but in his own mind,

HE WAS THE PARTNER OF EDISON EVERY MINUTE OF THE TIME, from the

very day that he first went to work there.

It is a remarkable illustration of the power of a DEFINITE DESIRE. Barnes

won his goal, because he wanted to be a business associate of Mr. Edison, more

than he wanted anything else. He created a plan by which to attain that purpose.

But he BURNED ALL BRIDGES BEHIND HIM.

He stood by his DESIRE until it became the dominating obsession of his

life— and— finally, a fact.

When he went to Orange, he did not say to himself, "I will try to induce

Edison to give me a job of some soft." He said, "I will see Edison, and put him on

notice that I have come to go into business with him.

He did not say, "I will work there for a few months, and if I get no

encouragement, I will quit and get a job somewhere else." He did say, "I will start

anywhere. I will do anything Edison tells me to do, but before I am through, I will

be his associate."

He did not say, "I will keep my eyes open for another opportunity, in case

I fail to get what I want in the Edison organization." He said, "There is but ONE

thing in this world that I am determined to have, and that is a business

association with Thomas A. Edison. I will burn all bridges behind me, and stake

my ENTIRE FUTURE on my ability to get what I want."

He left himself no possible way of retreat. He had to win or perish!

That is all there is to the Barnes story of success! A long while ago, a great

warrior faced a situation which made it necessary for him to make a decision

which insured his success on the battlefield. He was about to send his armies

against a powerful foe, whose men outnumbered his own. He loaded his soldiers

into boats, sailed to the enemy's country, unloaded soldiers and equipment, then

gave the order to burn the ships that had carried them. Addressing his men

before the first battle, he said, "You see the boats going up in smoke. That means

that we cannot leave these shores alive unless we win! We now have no choice—

we win, or we perish! They won.

Every person who wins in any undertaking must be willing to burn his

ships and cut all sources of retreat. Only by so doing can one be sure of

maintaining that state of mind known as a BURNING DESIRE TO WIN, essential

to success.

The morning after the great Chicago fire, a group of merchants stood on

State Street, looking at the smoking remains of what had been their stores. They

went into a conference to decide if they would try to rebuild, or leave Chicago

and start over in a more promising section of the country. They reached a

decision—all except one—to leave Chicago.

The merchant who decided to stay and rebuild pointed a finger at the

remains of his store, and said, "Gentlemen, on that very spot I will build the

world's greatest store, no matter how many times it may burn down."

That was more than fifty years ago. The store was built. It stands there

today, a towering monument to the power of that state of mind known as a

BURNING DESIRE. The easy thing for Marshal Field to have done, would have

been exactly what his fellow merchants did. When the going was hard, and the

future looked dismal, they pulled up and went where the going seemed easier.

Mark well this difference between Marshal Field and the other merchants,

because it is the same difference which distinguishes Edwin C. Barnes from

thousands of other young men who have worked in the Edison organization. It is

the same difference which distinguishes practically all who succeed from those

who fail.

Every human being who reaches the age of understanding of the purpose

of money, wishes for it. Wishing will not bring riches. But desiring riches with a

state of mind that becomes an obsession, then planning definite ways and means

to acquire riches, and backing those plans with persistence which does not

recognize failure, will bring riches.

The method by which DESIRE for riches can be transmuted into its

financial equivalent, consists of six definite, practical steps, viz:

First. Fix in your mind the exact amount of money you

desire. It is not sufficient merely to say "I want plenty of money." Be

definite as to the amount. (There is a psychological reason for

definiteness which will be described in a subsequent chapter).

Second. Determine exactly what you intend to give in return

for the money you desire. (There is no such reality as "something

for nothing.)

Third. Establish a definite date when you intend to possess

the money you desire.

Fourth. Create a definite plan for carrying out your desire,

and begin at once, whether you are ready or not, to put this plan

into action.

Fifth. Write out a clear, concise statement of the amount of

money you intend to acquire, name the time limit for its

acquisition, state what you intend to give in return for the money,

and describe clearly the plan through which you intend to

accumulate it.

Sixth. Read your written statement aloud, twice daily, once

just before retiring at night, and once after arising in the morning.

AS YOU READ— SEE AND FEEL AND BELIEVE YOURSELF

ALREADY IN POSSESSION OF THE MONEY.

It is important that you follow the instructions described in these six steps.

It is especially important that you observe, and follow the instructions in the

sixth paragraph. You may complain that it is impossible for you to "see yourself

in possession of money" before you actually have it. Here is where a BURNING

DESIRE will come to your aid. If you truly DESIRE money so keenly that your

desire is an obsession, you will have no difficulty in convincing yourself that you

will acquire it. The object is to want money, and to become so determined to

have it that you CONVINCE yourself you will have it.

Only those who become "money conscious" ever accumulate great riches.

"Money consciousness" means that the mind has become so thoroughly saturated

with the DESIRE for money, that one can see one's self already in possession of it.

To the uninitiated, who has not been schooled in the working principles of

the human mind, these instructions may appear impractical. It may be helpful, to

all who fail to recognize the soundness of the six steps, to know that the

information they convey, was received from Andrew Carnegie, who began as an

ordinary laborer in the steel mills, but managed, despite his humble beginning,

to make these principles yield him a fortune of considerably more than one

hundred million dollars.

It may be of further help to know that the six steps here recommended

were carefully scrutinized by the late Thomas A. Edison, who placed his stamp

of approval upon them as being, not only the steps essential for the accumulation

of money, but neccessary for the attainment of any definite goal.

The steps call for no "hard labor." They call for no sacrifice. They do not

require one to become ridiculous, or credulous. To apply them calls for no great

amount of education. But the successful application of these six steps does call

for sufficient imagination to enable one to see, and to understand, that

accumulation of money cannot be left to chance, good fortune, and luck. One

must realize that all who have accumulated great fortunes, first did a certain

amount of dreaming, hoping, wishing, DESIRING, and PLANNING before they

acquired money.

You may as well know, right here, that you can never have riches in great

quantities, UNLESS you can work yourself into a white heat of DESIRE for

money, and actually BELIEVE you will possess it.

You may as well know, also that every great leader, from the dawn of

civilization down to the present, was a dreamer. Christianity is the greatest

potential power in the world today, because its founder was an intense dreamer

who had the vision and the imagination to see realities in their mental and

spiritual form before they had been transmuted into physical form.

If you do not see great riches in your imagination, you will never see them

in your bank balance.

Never, in the history of America has there been so great an opportunity

for practical dreamers as now exists. The six year economic collapse has reduced

all men, substantially, to the same level. A new race is about to be run. The stakes

represent huge fortunes which will be accumulated within the next ten years.

The rules of the race have changed, because we now live in a CHANGED

WORLD that definitely favors the masses, those who had but little or no

opportunity to win under the conditions existing during the depression, when

fear paralyzed growth and development.

We who are in this race for riches, should be encouraged to know that this

changed world in which we live is demanding new ideas, new ways of doing

things, new leaders, new inventions, new methods of teaching, new methods of

marketing, new books, new literature, new features for the radio, new ideas for

moving pictures. Back of all this demand for new and better things, there is one

quality which one must possess to win, and that is DEFINITENESS OF

PURPOSE, the knowledge of what one wants, and a burning DESIRE to possess

it.The business depression marked the death of one age, and the birth of

another. This changed world requires practical dreamers who can, and will put

their dreams into action. The practical dreamers have always been, and always

will be the pattern-makers of civilization.

We who desire to accumulate riches, should remember the real leaders of

the world always have been men who harnessed, and put into practical use, the

intangible, unseen forces of unborn opportunity, and have converted those

forces, [or impulses of thought], into sky-scrapers, cities, factories, airplanes,

automobiles, and every form of convenience that makes life more pleasant.

Tolerance, and an open mind are practical necessities of the dreamer of

today. Those who are afraid of new ideas are doomed before they start. Never

has there been a time more favorable to pioneers than the present. True, there is

no wild and woolly west to be conquered, as in the days of the Covered Wagon;

but there is a vast business, financial, and industrial world to be remoulded and

redirected along new and better lines.

In planning to acquire your share of the riches, let no one influence you to

scorn the dreamer. To win the big stakes in this changed world, you must catch

the spirit of the great pioneers of the past, whose dreams have given to

civilization all that it has of value, the spirit which serves as the life-blood of our

own country— your opportunity and mine, to develop and market our talents.

Let us not forget, Columbus dreamed of an Unknown world, staked his

life on the existence of such a world, and discovered it!

Copernicus, the great astronomer, dreamed of a multiplicity of worlds,

and revealed them! No one denounced him as "impractical" after he had

triumphed. Instead, the world worshipped at his shrine, thus proving once more

that "SUCCESS REQUIRES NO APOLOGIES, FAILURE PERMITS NO ALIBIS."

If the thing you wish to do is right, and you believe in it, go ahead and do it!

Put your dream across, and never mind what "they" say if you meet with

temporary defeat, for "they," perhaps, do not know that EVERY FAILURE

BRINGS WITH IT THE SEED OF AN EQUIVALENT SUCCESS.

Henry Ford, poor and uneducated, dreamed of a horseless carriage, went

to work with what tools he possessed, without waiting for opportunity to favor

him, and now evidence of his dream belts the entire earth. He has put more

wheels into operation than any man who ever lived, because he was not afraid to

back his dreams.

Thomas Edison dreamed of a lamp that could be operated by electricity,

began where he stood to put his dream into action, and despite more than ten

thousand failures, he stood by that dream until he made it a physical reality.

Practical dreamers DO NOT QUIT!

Whelan dreamed of a chain of cigar stores, transformed his dream into

action, and now the United Cigar Stores occupy the best corners in America.

Lincoln dreamed of freedom for the black slaves, put his dream into

action, and barely missed living to see a united North and South translate his

dream into reality.

The Wright brothers dreamed of a machine that would fly through the air.

Now one may see evidence all over the world, that they dreamed soundly.

Marconi dreamed of a system for harnessing the intangible forces of the

ether. Evidence that he did not dream in vain, may be found in every wireless

and radio in the world. Moreover, Marconi's dream brought the humblest cabin,

and the most stately manor house side by side. It made the people of every

nation on earth back-door neighbors. It gave the President of the United States a

medium by which he may talk to all the people of America at one time, and on

short notice. It may interest you to know that Marconi's "friends" had him taken

into custody, and examined in a psychopathic hospital, when he announced he

had discovered a principle through which he could send messages through the

air, without the aid of wires, or other direct physical means of communication.

The dreamers of today fare better.

The world has become accustomed to new discoveries. Nay, it has shown

a willingness to reward the dreamer who gives the world a new idea.

"The greatest achievement was, at first, and for a time, but a dream."

"The oak sleeps in the acorn. The bird waits in the egg, and in the highest

vision of the soul, a waking angel stirs. DREAMS ARE THE SEEDLINGS OF

REALITY."

Awake, arise, and assert yourself, you dreamers of the world. Your star is

now in the ascendency. The world depression brought the opportunity you have

been waiting for. It taught people humility, tolerance, and open-mindedness.

The world is filled with an abundance of OPPORTUNITY which the

dreamers of the past never knew.

A BURNING DESIRE TO BE, AND TO DO is the starting point from

which the dreamer must take off. Dreams are not born of indifference, laziness,

or lack of ambition.

The world no longer scoffs at the dreamer, nor calls him impractical. If

you think it does, take a trip to Tennessee, and witness what a dreamer President has done in the way of harnessing, and using the great water power of America.

A score of years ago, such a dream would have seemed like madness.

You have been disappointed, you have undergone defeat during the

depression, you have felt the great heart within you crushed until it bled. Take

courage, for these experiences have tempered the spiritual metal of which you

are made—they are assets of incomparable value.

Remember, too, that all who succeed in life get off to a bad start, and pass

through many heartbreaking struggles before they "arrive." The turning point in

the lives of those who succeed, usually comes at the moment of some crisis,

through which they are introduced to their "other selves."

John Bunyan wrote the Pilgrim's Progress, which is among the finest of all

English literature, after he had been confined in prison and sorely punished,

because of his views on the subject of religion.

O. Henry discovered the genius which slept within his brain, after he had

met with great misfortune, and was confined in a prison cell, in Columbus, Ohio.

Being FORCED, through misfortune, to become acquainted with his "other self,"

and to use his IMAGINATION, he discovered himself to be a great author

instead of a miserable criminal and outcast. Strange and varied are the ways of

life, and stranger still are the ways of Infinite Intelligence, through which men

are sometimes forced to undergo all sorts of punishment before discovering their

own brains, and their own capacity to create useful ideas through imagination.

Edison, the world's greatest inventor and scientist, was a "tramp"

telegraph operator, he failed innumerable times before he was driven, finally, to

the discovery of the genius which slept within his brain.

Charles Dickens began by pasting labels on blacking pots. The tragedy of

his first love penetrated the depths of his soul, and converted him into one of the

world's truly great authors. That tragedy produced, first, David Copperfield,

then a succession of other works that made this a richer and better world for all

who read his books. Disappointment over love affairs, generally has the effect of

driving men to drink, and women to ruin; and this, because most people never

learn the art of transmuting their strongest emotions into dreams of a

constructive nature.

Helen Keller became deaf, dumb, and blind shortly after birth. Despite her

greatest misfortune, she has written her name indelibly in the pages of the

history of the great. Her entire life has served as evidence that no one ever is

defeated until defeat has been accepted as a reality.

Robert Burns was an illiterate country lad, he was cursed by poverty, and

grew up to be a drunkard in the bargain. The world was made better for his

having lived, because he clothed beautiful thoughts in poetry, and thereby

plucked a thorn and planted a rose in its place.

Booker T. Washington was born in slavery, handicapped by race and

color. Because he was tolerant, had an open mind at all times, on all subjects, and

was a DREAMER, he left his impress for good on an entire race.

Beethoven was deaf, Milton was blind, but their names will last as long as

time endures, because they dreamed and translated their dreams into organized

thought.

Before passing to the next chapter, kindle anew in your mind the fire of

hope, faith, courage, and tolerance. If you have these states of mind, and a

working knowledge of the principles described, all else that you need will come

to you, when you are READY for it. Let Emerson state the thought in these

words, "Every proverb, every book, every byword that belongs to thee for aid

and comfort shall surely come home through open or winding passages. Every

friend whom not thy fantastic will, but the great and tender soul in thee craveth,

shall lock thee in his embrace."

There is a difference between WISHING for a thing and being READY to

receive it. No one is ready for a thing, until he believes he can acquire it. The state

of mind must be BELIEF, not mere hope or wish. Open-mindedness is essential

for belief. Closed minds do not inspire faith, courage, and belief.

Remember, no more effort is required to aim high in life, to demand

abundance and prosperity, than is required to accept misery and poverty. A

great poet has correctly stated this universal truth through these lines:

"I bargained with Life for a penny,

And Life would pay no more,

However I begged at evening

When I counted my scanty store. .

"For Life is a.just employer,

He gives you what you ask,

But once you have set the wages,

Why, you must bear the task.

"I worked for a menial's hire,

Only to learn, dismayed,

That any wage I had asked of Life,

Life would have willingly paid."

DESIRE OUTWITS MOTHER NATURE

As a fitting climax to this chapter, I wish to introduce one of the most

unusual persons I have ever known. I first saw him twenty-four years ago, a few

minutes after he was born. He came into the world without any physical sign of

ears, and the doctor admitted, when pressed for an opinion, that the child might

be deaf, and mute for life.

I challenged the doctor's opinion. I had the right to do so, I was the child's

father. I, too, reached a decision, and rendered an opinion, but I expressed the

opinion silently, in the secrecy of my own heart. I decided that my son would

hear and speak. Nature could send me a child without ears, but Nature could not

induce me to accept the reality of the affliction.

In my own mind I knew that my son would hear and speak. How? I was

sure there must be a way, and I knew I would find it. I thought of the words of

the immortal Emerson, "The whole course of things goes to teach us faith. We

need only obey.

There is guidance for each of us, and by lowly listening, we shall hear the

right word."

The right word? DESIRE! More than anything else, I DESIRED that my

son should not be a deaf mute. From that desire I never receded, not for a second.

Many years previously, I had written, "Our only limitations are those we

set up in our own minds." For the first time, I wondered if that statement were

true. Lying on the bed in front of me was a newly born child, without the natural

equipment of hearing. Even though he might hear and speak, he was obviously

disfigured for life. Surely, this was a limitation which that child had not set up in

his own mind.

What could I do about it? Somehow I would find a way to transplant into

that child's mind my own BURNING DESIRE for ways and means of conveying

sound to his brain without the aid of ears.

As soon as the child was old enough to cooperate, I would fill his mind so

completely with a BURNING DESIRE to hear, that Nature would, by methods of

her own, translate it into physical reality.

All this thinking took place in my own mind, but I spoke of it to no one.

Every day I renewed the pledge I had made to myself, not to accept a deaf mute

for a son.

As he grew older, and began to take notice of things around him, we

observed that he had a slight degree of hearing. When he reached the age when

children usually begin talking, he made no attempt to speak, but we could tell by

his actions that he could hear certain sounds slightly. That was all I wanted to

know! I was convinced that if he could hear, even slightly, he might develop still

greater hearing capacity. Then something happened which gave me hope. It

came from an entirely unexpected source.

We bought a victrola. When the child heard the music for the first time, he

went into ecstasies, and promptly appropriated the machine. He soon showed a

preference for certain records, among them, "It's a Long Way to Tipperary." On

one occasion, he played that piece over and over, for almost two hours, standing

in front of the victrola, with his teeth clamped on the edge of the case. The significance

of this self-formed habit of his did not become clear to us until years afterward,

for we had never heard of the principle of "bone conduction" of sound at that

time.

Shortly after he appropriated the victrola, I discovered that he could hear

me quite clearly when I spoke with my lips touching his mastoid bone, or at the

base of the brain. These discoveries placed in my possession the necessary media

by which I began to translate into reality my Burning Desire to help my son

develop hearing and speech. By that time he was making stabs at speaking

certain words. The outlook was far from encouraging, but DESIRE BACKED BY

FAITH knows no such word as impossible.

Having determined that he could hear the sound of my voice plainly, I

began, immediately, to transfer to his mind the desire to hear and speak. I soon

discovered that the child enjoyed bedtime stories, so I went to work, creating

stories designed to develop in him self-reliance, imagination, and a keen desire to

hear and to be normal.

There was one story in particular, which I emphasized by giving it some

new and dramatic coloring each time it was told. It was designed to plant in his

EVERY ADVERSITY BRINGS WITH IT THE SEED OF AN EQUIVALENT

ADVANTAGE, I must confess that I had not the slightest idea how this affliction

could ever become an asset. However, I continued my practice of wrapping that

philosophy in bedtime stories, hoping the time would come when he would find

some plan by which his handicap could be made to serve some useful purpose.

Reason told me plainly, that there was no adequate compensation for the lack of

ears and natural hearing equipment. DESIRE backed by FAITH, pushed reason

aside, and inspired me to carry on.

As I analyze the experience in retrospect, I can see now, that my son's faith

in me had much to do with the astounding results. He did not question anything I

told him. I sold him the idea that he had a distinct advantage over his older

brother, and that this advantage would reflect itself in many ways. For example,

the teachers in school would observe that he had no ears, and, because of this,

they would show him special attention and treat him with extraordinary

kindness. They always did. His mother saw to that, by visiting the teachers and

arranging with them to give the child the extra attention necessary. I sold him the

idea, too, that when he became old enough to sell newspapers, (his older brother

had already become a newspaper merchant), he would have a big advantage

over his brother, for the reason that people would pay him extra money for his

wares, because they could see that he was a bright, industrious boy, despite the

fact he had no ears.

We could notice that, gradually, the child's hearing was improving.

Moreover, he had not the slightest tendency to be self-conscious, because of his

affliction. When he was about seven, he showed the first evidence that our

method of servicing his mind was bearing fruit. For several months he begged

for the privilege of selling newspapers, but his mother would not give her

consent. She was afraid that his deafness made it unsafe for him to go on the

street alone.

Finally, he took matters in his own hands. One afternoon, when he was

left at home with the servants, he climbed through the kitchen window, shinnied

to the ground, and set out on his own. He borrowed six cents in capital from the

neighborhood shoemaker, invested it in papers, sold out, reinvested, and kept

repeating until late in the evening. After balancing his accounts, and paying back

the six cents he had borrowed from his banker, he had a net profit of forty-two

cents. When we got home that night, we found him in bed asleep, with the

money tightly clenched in his hand.

His mother opened his hand, removed the coins, and cried. Of all things!

Crying over her son's first victory seemed so inappropriate. My reaction was the

reverse. I laughed heartily, for I knew that my endeavor to plant in the child's

mind an attitude of faith in himself had been successful.

His mother saw, in his first business venture, a little deaf boy who had

gone out in the streets and risked his life to earn money. I saw a brave, ambitious,

self-reliant little business man whose stock in himself had been increased a

hundred percent, because he had gone into business on his own initiative, and

had won. The transaction pleased me, because I knew that he had given evidence

of a trait of resourcefulness that would go with him all through life. Later events

proved this to be true. When his older brother wanted something, he would lie

down on the floor, kick his feet in the air, cry for it— and get it. When the "little

deaf boy" wanted something, he would plan a way to earn the money, then buy

it for himself. He still follows that plan!

Truly, my own son has taught me that handicaps can be converted into

stepping stones on which one may climb toward some worthy goal, unless they

are accepted as obstacles, and used as alibis.

The little deaf boy went through the grades, high school, and college

without being able to hear his teachers, excepting when they shouted loudly, at

close range. He did not go to a school for the deaf.

WE WOULD NOT PERMIT HIM TO LEARN THE SIGN LANGUAGE.

We were determined that he should live a normal life, and associate with normal

children, and we stood by that decision, although it cost us many heated debates

with school officials.

While he was in high school, he tried an electrical hearing aid, but it was

of no value to him; due, we believed, to a condition that was disclosed when the

child was six, by Dr. J. Gordon Wilson, of Chicago, when he operated on one side

of the boy's head, and discovered that there was no sign of natural hearing

equipment.

During his last week in college, (eighteen years after the operation),

something happened which marked the most important turning-point of his life.

Through what seemed to be mere chance, he came into possession of another

electrical hearing device, which was sent to him on trial. He was slow about

testing it, due to his disappointment with a similar device. Finally he picked the

instrument up, and more or less carelessly, placed it on his head, hooked up the

battery, and lo! as if by a stroke of magic, his lifelong DESIRE FOR NORMAL

HEARING BECAME A REALITY! For the first time in his life he heard

mind the thought that his affliction was not a liability, but an asset of great value.

Despite the fact that all the philosophy I had examined clearly indicated that