Transmuting Desire Into Drive: Napoleon Hill’s Controversial Claim | #Success - Ep. 117

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This is The Russell Brunson Show.

Why men seldom succeed before 40. I say it's fascinating, and the This is what he says. He said, "I discovered from analyzing, from the analysis of over 25,000 people, that men who succeed in an outstanding way seldom do so before the age of 40." So why do people only succeed after 40? He says, "And more often than not, they do not strike their real pace until they're well beyond the age of 50. This study discloses the fact that the major reason why the majority who succeed do not begin to do so before the age of 40 to 50 is their tendency to dissipate their energies through overindulgence in physical expression of the emotion of sex." Okay, so their focus is having sex, looking at pornography, doing these things that take away that energy versus not doing that, letting it stay inside of you and then using that to go and open up your creativity, your genius, driving you towards your different goals and motivations. So I thought it was an interesting way to look at what Napoleon Hill calls transmutation of sexual energy. Hey, this is Russell, welcome back to my vault. Today I pulled out something very unique, very fascinating, little controversial. It is an issue of Practical Psychology monthly magazine from 1937. Which happens to be the exact same year that Napoleon Hill wrote and launched the book Think and Grow Rich. And in here I found an article he used to promote Think and Grow Rich, and the article is called Sex Urge Stimulates Genius. And it's an entire chapter about, again, transmutation of sexual energy, which is something Napoleon Hill, again, talks about in Think and Grow Rich, talks about here. And again, this is something that I rarely, if ever, have heard people talk about when they talk about Think and Grow Rich, they talk about Napoleon Hill. It's something he keeps bringing up. And so I wanted today in this video to dive a little bit deeper, like why does he keep talking about it? Is it important for us to understand it? How can it help us to be more successful in our business and in our lives? This makes me uncomfortable because, you know, I'm the Mormon LDS guy who doesn't normally talk about these type of topics. It's funny, we did a Think and Grow Rich challenge a little while ago, and when we were building out the Think and Grow Rich challenge, I was like, I'm gonna pick, I think we picked 6 different laws from the Think and Grow Rich book to talk about, and specifically I did not pick one on sexual transmutation of energy, 'cause I'm like, I don't wanna talk about that. And what's funny is we had a bunch of guest speakers. One of our guest speakers is John Gray, who wrote the book Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus. And when it was John's turn to do his presentation, we were interviewing him, so I asked him a question. He looked at me kind of annoyed. He's like, I can answer that question or I can give the presentation I planned. Would you rather me give my presentation I planned? I was like, oh sure, go for it. And then of course he dove deep and spent an entire hour going deep on transmutation of sexual energy. And it was funny 'cause I'm sitting there live on this camera. There's a whole bunch of people watching this, my face is bright red as he's going deeper into this. I saw people in the comments like, look at Russell blushing, look at like, look how awkward Russell feels right now, this conversation, as we were going live for an entire hour talking about it. So it's not the kind of thing I normally talk about, but I do, I have read about it, I have studied it, I do have an opinion on it. And so in this article, when I found this in the last month, I found this magazine and I bought it. I thought it'd be fun to bring up and talk to you guys about it today. Now this magazine, it's the only issue I've ever found of this one. I paid $1,596.35 to be able to bring to you guys today because again, there's Lunch School articles, but I wanted to bring it because this is just a unique article that Napoleon Hill wrote specifically about sex, how sex urge stimulates genius. I wanna stimulate my genius, so I thought we'd dive into this and talk about how you can actually do that. I have a couple things I wanna share, quotes from here, but before we do, what does that mean? Transmutation of sexual energy. So when Napoleon Hill talks about this, it's interesting because he talks about like the most powerful force we have inside of our bodies is the sexual energy. He says the problem that most people have, the reason why most people aren't successful is because instead of like, keeping that energy and focusing it on productive goals and things like that, they try to get rid of that energy very quickly, very often, right? I think about this nowadays, like it's interesting, I see, especially in today's society, even more, like way more so than 1937, but today I see people who have goals, they have dreams, and then they use their sexual energy and they look at pornography, they do these things like that, that releases the sexual energy and then they just go back to drifting and they lose that drive, they lose that energy and the momentum forward. And so Napoleon Hill talks about, he says that if you will not waste the sexual energy and instead you like, you bottle it up or you store it, like that energy's one of the most powerful things to open up creativity and to get you to drive towards something. And if you focus that energy on other things, that's how you become driven, that's how you accomplish your goals, that's how you get the things you want in life. Now I think, unfortunately this is probably not gonna be a popular opinion for most people, most people probably think I'm, Anyway, whatever. But the culture I grew up in and that I believe still, my faith to this day, is that people should wait until marriage to have sex. Like, that's something that I did, something I believe people should do. I think it's something that Christianity teaches, that God would like. And it's interesting, for me, that's the way I live my life. So because of that, like, like that, those drives were focused on other things, right? Towards my goal of becoming a state champion in wrestling, being an All-American wrestling, starting my business, growing my business, right? Where most people in their teenage years Early in their marriage, like before they're married, like they're looking, they're searching, all this stuff, like they're always looking for that release, they're always going there. I see nowadays it's like so crazy because you look at like pornography use among people, like it's higher than it's ever been, right? And so many people, people who would be successful, who could be creating companies and businesses and doing things, instead they slip back into this tendency to go and focus for those things. And it's interesting 'cause this is true in like almost any area of life, like you look at the people Like there's always two versions of everything, right? There's the drifter and the driven version, right? Napoleon Hill talks about that with the devil. Like there's people that drift and there's people that are driven, right? And it's interesting because like every version, like there's always like a positive and negative of everything, right? The thing I wanna talk about in relation to what Napoleon Hill's talking about here is people are seeking pleasure instead of fulfillment, right? There's always like, there's always the driven way and there's the drifter way. Napoleon Hill talks about, drifting and then about being a non-drifter, someone who's driven, right? And so what people are searching for and what they're seeking is they're looking for pleasure over fulfillment, right? And getting— they want the reward without the work. And this happens in tons of areas of your life, right? Again, I think one of the easiest ones is like pornography is like, it's like you get the reward without the work versus having an actual relationship with somebody who you love, right? It takes the work to get the actual reward. You look at this in relationships, right? There's social media, you get the reward without the work, or it's actually going out and talking to people and building relationships. A lot of times reading is the same thing. Reading is like, is you get the reward without the work versus actually going out there and doing the thing. Going to school, I have friends who go to school and they get their bachelor's and their master's and their doctorate 'cause they're so scared of actually doing the work, right? They wanna just keep drifting and keep going through these things versus actually going and getting the reward. And so there's this thing where our brains by default always try to slip to get the reward without doing the work. And so they get the pleasure without fulfillment, right? And so the point I was talking about here is like, is like the default is like people are like, they have the sexual energy that they use it right, they build it up where you can go in and get you to get fulfillment and actually accomplish things looking for, or you can get the reward without the work, right? You can drift, you can just, you can just give it away and you can dissipate. So why are you saying that people aren't successful until their 40s and their 50s when that urge has gone away, where they found a spouse to get married to, where no longer is it like this thing they're always craving, going for, right? They learn how to control it, and because of that they can go and they can be successful. There's a quote from the movie Fantastic Four, which isn't the best superhero movie of all time. I don't remember any of the movie other than there was this one part where one of the Fantastic Four is a musician, right? They're talking about how music is made. And I remember when I heard this, it clicked in my head. I was sitting in a plane flying somewhere watching this movie, and this is what the quote said. I'll read the quote and I'll try to explain it. It says, "Music is just a series of altered patterns. The musician creates the pattern and it makes us anticipate a resolution, then holds back,. It makes you wait for it and then delivers the chorus. You just look at any song, the song is all about building up anticipation and waiting, right? And so the song's happening and it's getting these altered patterns that create this tension, this tension, then the chorus comes and then reduces it and gives you this resolution, right? And that's what happens is that when people are going and they're looking for the reward without the work, they're just going for the chorus, the chorus. They slip back into that thing where they get the reward without the work versus you build the anticipation, right? The music starts building, it builds, it builds, The tension happens and it releases into a course. And so that's kinda the same thing here. It's like people don't allow that energy to be used inside of them to go and actually accomplish their goals, right? Instead they're looking for the fastest release possible. And so one of the things that I talk about when I am working, especially with younger entrepreneurs, is like you have to be careful. Don't chase things that give you the reward without the fulfillment of actually doing the work, right? 'Cause there's always a version. Anything you're looking at in life, there's always two versions of it. There's the version you have to work for and then there's the cheap version you can get. And you can get the pleasure without the fulfillment, but if you learn how to like withhold that, right? Don't go after the instant pleasure. Instead, hold it back for actual fulfillment. That's the energy that'll help you to grow and actually achieve the things you wanna do. And so again, while this is an awkward topic for me to talk about, and I'm not even looking forward to comments in this YouTube video, 'cause I'm sure it's gonna be weird for some of you guys, it is a principle he talked about in Think and Grow Rich and over here. I think the reason why is because if you wanna be successful, right, we have to fight back our urges. And this can be true in anything. You wanna be healthy in life, right? Like, when I wanted to be healthy, I had to eat less calories. Like, I couldn't just indulge in everything I wanted to, right? I wanted the pleasure, I wanted the fulfillment of like looking good and being healthy and like feeling the energy and vitality I wanted, right? And I couldn't do that by eating donuts every time I want. Like, I had to restrict those things, right? Do the hard work so I can actually get the fulfillment of the thing I'm looking for, right? And this is true in all areas of your life. And so that is my thing I wanna share from this issue of Practical Psychology and also Think and Grow Rich. My question for you guys is what do you guys think about transmutation of sexual energy? I know that a couple years ago Tim Ferriss did a really interesting challenge based on this called the NOBO Challenge, which stood for no beer, no masturbating. And he had everybody in his community do it for 30 days. No beer, no masturbating, and see what happens. I remember watching as a bystander like this is, again, so awkward. But I wanted to see what would happen to typical people who, who are doing those things in life and they cut them out for 30 days. And it's crazy 'cause as you saw at the very beginning, everyone's like, this is crazy, I'm gonna try it, and they're setting these goals like they think it's an impossible thing, right? And then they go for 30 days and you start reading the comments and people are like, oh my gosh, this changed my life. I was able to get stuff done, I was able to focus, I was able to like, when those things got off the table, it's like they literally transformed their entire life. And for most people, they've never had a period where they've gone away from those things, right? Where they, again, they go for fulfillment and not the instant pleasure. And when you do that and you see what happens in 30 days, again, go back, you can go find it online, find when Tim Ferriss did this challenge and go and read the comments of the people who went through it. And you see thousands and thousands of people like, my life was changed. Why was it changed? It's 'cause those things were taken off the table. It's exactly what Napoleon Hill's talking about here in Think and Grow Rich and inside Practical Psychology magazine, right? When you don't go for the quick release and instead you use that energy towards your goals, towards your vision, towards the things you're trying to do, He talks about like sexual energy is the best for creativity. It's the best for becoming a genius. It's the best for stimulating your mind to go and do the things. Versus if you're always releasing that, it takes away your drive. There's a lesson from Napoleon Hill from the grave that I didn't think I'd ever talk about publicly online, but thanks to John Gray, to the Think Grow Rich Challenge, and now because of this magazine, I had a chance to awkwardly share with all of you guys. Would love to know your comments down below. What do you think? Who wants to do the No Bow Challenge with Tim Ferriss and the group? And see how that'll change your life and increase your drive. The question then comes like, well, how do you cultivate this inside of your marriage, right? One of my favorite scenes from Rocky Part I is Rocky and Adrian are there, they're getting ready for the fight with Apollo Creed, and if you remember, Mick comes to Rocky and said, hey, Rock, women weaken legs. Do not pursue this 'cause you gotta win this fight. Women weaken legs, right? And you see him, Adrian's trying to snuggle with him and he's like, no, no, not 'til after the fight, right? I saw recently Sean O'Malley was preparing for his big title rematch against Merab, and it was interesting, he talked about leading up to that, he's like, I stopped being on social media, I was getting the dopamine, so I pulled off social media, I stopped smoking weed, he was doing all these things to prepare himself, right? I think it's true, if you want your significant other to be successful, it's like you've gotta give them the ability to let those things build up, to be able to create the environment for creativity, for the energy, for your drive. And so without giving you examples from my life, that's a way to definitely be able to harness this power even after marriage. All right, so again, in the comments, I wanna hear your guys' thoughts. If you would like to read this article from Practical Psychology, I actually pulled it out and we have it on a PDF for you down in the description. I believe click on that and we will send you guys a PDF so you can read it. That way you can get kind of your version of your thoughts about what Napoleon Hill says here. And also of course you can go back to Think and Grow Rich, read that chapter if you would like to. But if you want the, the actual article from this magazine, click link in the description, go check it out. And with that said, appreciate you guys for listening. Hope you enjoyed this episode. I cannot wait to hear what you have to say in the comments down below.

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