Since spring is here, I decided it was time to do some “spring cleaning”, beginning with the book cases. As I went through each shelf, I slowly discovered all the work I had done in the past two years. I was up against four huge overflowing folders, consisting of papers on subjects ranging from geography to maths and from economics to psychology.
As I was going through the shelves, I discovered some books that I wasn’t expecting to find, but did not belong to me either. It was easy to figure out what kind of books they were. The various shelves were filled with my dad’s Maths books, mum’s economics books, my brother’s engineering books, and another book I couldn’t quite recognise. It had a strange title which I hadn’t heard of before: Think and Grow Rich (by Napoleon Hill; first published in 1937).
I decided to look inside and I ended up spending a lot of time reading a few chapters while standing in the middle of the room, and not even realising I was doing so. The contents of the book were similar to some topics covered in my organisational behaviour class. However, one aspect was somewhat different - The driving force behind the 'behaviour' was the individual itself, not the organisation.
The unfamiliarity of the concepts brought up in the book captivated me. The talk of desire, the knowledge of what you want to achieve, the talk about faith, the state of the mind dominated by positive thoughts, fascinated me even more. According to the book, it was a burning desire to achieve, which motivated Thomas Edison to invent the light bulb.
A relentless passion for technology was what drove Henry Ford to invent the motor vehicle, even though he was a poor and uneducated man, and it was a modern entrepreneurial spirit that led the Wright brothers to dream of building a machine that could fly.
It also said that in order to achieve your goals, after setting them in the first place, it is important to acquire specialised knowledge, to use your imagination and to organise your plans, whilst having alternatives in case they are needed.
It seems that serendipity, the discovery of something good by accident, had materialised itself in the accidental discovery of this book.
The very first piece of advice in the book is to make a “wish list” of the things you want to accomplish in life. Revise this list regularly and you will achieve everything you wish for.
After that thought, I can say that as I discovered the book by accident and found it intriguing, I will spend a lot of time this summer re-reading the book, without the thought of looming exams in a few weeks distracting me.
I would like to wish good luck to all students with their assessments and of course, I will let you know if I am fortunate enough to discover any more interesting books in the near future.
And before you forget, my name is Ellie and I would like to be an accountant.
Think and Grow Rich (PDF Format): http://www.soilandhealth.org/03sov/0304spiritpsych/030413.hill.think.and.grow.rich.pdf
P.S Read in the link below about how the advice of Napoleon Hill inspired Mel and Patricia Ziegler to establish the founders of the tropical travel - theme clothing company Banana Republic!
An Empire Built on Short-Armed Shirts - Bloomberg
Ellie Fanis
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