Act and Grow Rich Part 1 of 13

Facebook Live, here we go. Give me a moment, I've got a couple of feeds that I'm connecting at the same time, 1, 2, 3 different screens, so I'll be looking back and forth. You know, if you're wondering why this guy's looking all these different ways, uh, but hello. Great to see everybody tonight. It's about 9:15 and it's time to tune in for Wednesday's Words of Wisdom, if you will, where what I like to do is share some things that were shared with me throughout the last 10, 15 or so years of my lifetime and actually be able to give back to the people that have kind of set the groundwork, so to speak, for me. So again, forgive me as I I may be going back and forth between a few screens, um, because I just want to keep active, make sure everything is up and running well. Um, good evening. So what I'll be doing this week, this evening, for tonight, as well as the next, uh, 13 weeks, 12 more weeks outside of this week, is providing feedback on a book that I have read Many individuals have heard of this, but not many have actually read the book. It's called Think and Grow Rich. This book was introduced to me about 10, maybe 12 years ago, and you know how they say when the student is ready, the teacher will appear? Well, the student was kind of ready at that point. The student was definitely kind of ready. So what I'm doing now is going back and revisiting this book that I've actually read a couple of times, used quite a few of the principles that I've learned over the years in terms of adding value to my life and talking about these things because it's not— it's something that, you know, our educational system kind of misses. It's something that our businesses, our jobs, many jobs I should say, not some businesses do actually utilize these principles and teach them and share them. But it's something that I think that we need to have more discussions about., right, as opposed to just what's going on in pop media, just what's going on in the news. It's also good to make sure that we're promoting mental well-being for the people in our lives. So this is one of the books that I felt was a huge, huge, huge plus to my own mental well-being. And again, I wanted to make sure that I'm here to share that with everyone in my life and my circle. And hopefully grow it, share it. Please tag somebody if you think that they would receive any sort of value from this book. Again, Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill. I'll be talking about it this Wednesday and the next Wednesdays for quite a few weeks. So I wanna dive in and talk about the purpose behind this. It's really, again, to share, to give insight to the principles that shaped a lot of our past, whether we know it or not. So a lot of the magnates, if you will, of big business have learned things that you and I didn't pick up in school, whether it be private school, whether it be public school, doesn't really matter what kind of school. It's just that it's not something that was widely shared and utilized and disseminated within the classroom setting. So I'd like to take a moment to discuss that here. The book itself is set up a little differently than how I'm actually going to go about discussing it. I'm going to talk about the end portion of it first because this is something that, again, it's great to have knowledge, right? Again, for those that are joining, Think and Grow Rich is the topic. It's great to have knowledge, but it's another thing to know how to use it. And what I felt when I read this book and reread this book and reread this book is that there was a portion in the end which goes over the 6 ghosts of fear that I felt that needed to be addressed up front. So I wanted to address that up front such that everyone is able to take a look at these things first and, and really have that internal conversation. Because as you go through this journey, right, for those of you who might follow along for, you know, X amount of weeks as I put on these talks Now, for those of you that go through this journey, you're going to come up against some things, and when you come up against these things, you want to know that they're there, and you want to acknowledge them, but you don't want to give them power, right? So you acknowledge the fact that it's there. It may be a fear, it may be a discomfort of some sort. I mean, you definitely want to acknowledge it, and to know that it will come up ahead of time may save you the trouble so that you don't get through weeks of looking at this material and saying, "Hey, you know, great, I'm learning about design." I'm learning about faith, I'm learning about specialized knowledge, but now I'm afraid and I don't know what to do. So, I wanted to address the 6 ghosts of fear that are discussed at the end of the book first and address them. I actually rephrased and changed the word a little bit from address to add rest. And so, you want to add some rest to these fears if they're there in your life currently such that they don't affect you going forward for different types of endeavors that you may have, you know, again, that you're going through in your life. So addressing the first one is a fear of poverty. Fear of poverty— looking at this, I said for anybody that would be looking at this, if you have a fear of poverty, just sit back and kind of realize really where you are. You're looking at a screen that has lights on it, that's powered by electricity, that is connected to the internet through things that we did not build, right? We don't know who built them, and they're just there now, currently. Like, it's all there, and we're using the system. So if you have a fear of poverty, I don't want to say anything that's really too cliché, But just think about it, right? The fear of poverty at this point shouldn't necessarily be your main concern, right? Unless you just have zero, zero belief in your own ability to produce some sort of value to the world whereby bringing in some sort of income, fear of poverty should not be something that anybody who's actually looking at this would have, right, as a realistic fear. Let's see, as instead of poverty, you do want to focus on its opposite, right? So you want to focus on wealth. So you think in poverty— no, we don't want to think poverty. We actually want to think of wealth at this point. Let me see, I'm not sure if my Facebook Live is still on, but I'm recording this and it's on Instagram. So for those of you that are watching it, however you're watching it, it will be on a couple different mediums, and I'll actually also put this on YouTube once we get finished. Okay, looks like Facebook Live is actually back. So, um, first fear being the fear of poverty, wanted to address again for those on Facebook, going over Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill. You can get this book literally for about $6 on Amazon, $3, $4, $5 maybe, with a few dollars for shipping, and it's definitely worth the investment for anybody who wants to take their lives to the next level. Not just this year, 2018, but for the rest of their lives and really share this information. Mm. So the first fear, he talks about, again, poverty. Anybody watching this, again, we're using technology. It's not that anybody is amazingly wealthy, nor is anyone amazingly poor, but wherever you are in life, be grateful for that place. Realize what you have and Use that as a starting place, right, as a stepping stone. Look at the idea of creating wealth as opposed to having a fear of poverty whenever that fear comes up, as to not have this as a continual thing in your life. Second one, the fear of criticism. Whew, that one, that's a tough one, because oftentimes we will criticize each other and not necessarily know that it's causing harm. So for those of you that have a fear of criticism, I had a few little tidbits, and a lot of it comes with an attitude, right? A lot of it's really just an attitude. When somebody's criticizing you, if they're criticizing you, look at it as feedback as opposed to criticism. Criticism has in and of itself a negative connotation. When you think criticism, you think, oh, I may be doing something wrong. Well, it may not in fact be anything wrong that you're doing. You're simply not— this is simply the feedback that you're getting from one person. And if this one person is giving you feedback, it may actually be in your best interest to listen to it, to take heed to it, to see if it actually has some merit. So when you think of criticism for somebody saying, oh, you know, you did this wrong, you did that wrong. Okay, great. Listen, see if it actually has merit, and then move on. But again, looking at it as criticism as opposed to looking at it as feedback plays a psychological toll on a person that would be otherwise feeling good about a thing that they did, or maybe not so confident about the thing that they did. So if you have that fear of criticism, look at it as feedback. Look at the person that's providing it to you, and not to be judgmental, but to just say, well, is this person in a position to add value to my life? And if so, great, pay them more mind. If they're truly not in a position to add value to your life, they're just one of the haters as they say, then pay it no attention, pay it no mind, don't listen to it, and just let it go. Right, let that criticism go, or simply again just accept it as feedback as opposed to feeling harshly criticized by somebody else's words or actions. Third fear: fear of ill health. As a fear, it's really not that practical, and what I mean by that is that if you are well right now and you have a fear of ill health You have a fear of something that has not yet happened to you, and by the mere nature of putting the thought out there to say that I'm afraid of having bad health, you're almost inviting that bad health to come into your life because what you're thinking, what you're doing, what you're bringing for yourself is bad health, right? This is what you're thinking about. This is where your focus is. So if you have that fear of ill health, which is again the third ghost of fear that Napoleon Hill addresses at the end of Think and Grow Rich, and you're well, think about that, right? It's been noted by some pretty well-renowned physicians that many of the illnesses that people complain about are actually, he said a good 70% or some out of them are actually suffering from hypochondria. For those of you that may not be familiar with the term, it's a belief that you're ill when you're not. So if you are a person who has an actual illness, again, that's a different fear that may actually have to do with one of the last three, then that's a different conversation. But for someone who is very healthy, right, if you're currently healthy, if you currently feel good, be grateful for that. Focus on continuing those thoughts, those feelings, and let that be where your focus is, not the fear of ill health when you're healthy, if that makes sense. Fourth goes to fear: the loss of love or the loss of love of someone. I look at that as something that's being rooted in confidence, and call me impractical, call it cold or harsh, when you look at the mere population of the planet, you know, over 7 billion, almost 8 billion people on this planet, you have to think, well, if one person— and again, you know, some people believe in soulmates, and that's another conversation, again, different philosophies for different people— but if you, if you're feeling that there's— you have to do things to always have somebody's attention, which, you know, shout out to Gary Vaynerchuk, who focuses on attention from a marketing standpoint. But just as a person to person, if I feel that I can't just be genuine with you and express myself and have that as a basis for our love, just in whatever type of relationship it is, but I always have to do a thing to kind of prove myself, so to speak, then you got to question the idea of that love. You know, you hear about it all the time. People that will— specifically guys, right? They'll go out and they'll do everything, right? Everything for somebody that might actually just be using them. So that's food for thought also, where put the houses up, cars up, right, just to make somebody else happy. But in the end, they were afraid of losing what they thought was love, and they used this idea of buying gifts as a continual way to show them, they use that— hey Greg, thank you for joining in, man— they use those gifts as a way of just showing that they felt, showing their love, but it may not necessarily have been the love that this person actually needed. And again, they might be being used. So if you have that fear of the loss of love of someone, take a, as we like to say, checkup from the neck up, and how confident you actually feel about yourself. How do you feel that you add value to the lives of people around you? How good do you feel you do what you do, whether it be on a personal or professional level? Take a look at those things and use tools to increase your confidence if that's a fear that you actually have, that fear of loss of love. For those just joining in again, Napoleon Hill's Think and Grow Rich. We are going through the 6 ghosts of fear first before hitting each of the 13 principles that I'll be discussing for the next 13 weeks. 5th one, old age. Fear of old age is rooted in, as Napoleon Hill shares, the fear of the loss of— let me see here— the fear of the loss of, excuse me, their libido. Ill health and income. People that fear old age feel that they may be at some point physically and financially dependent upon another person. And a lot of that, you know, we know to be true. There are many people that are in their senior lives that have ended up in positions where they're dependent on other people, right? I've known this personally in my own life, having seen it. So it's a legitimate fear. It's a fear that's there. Welcome back, Facebook Live. We're back. I'm discussing the old age fear. But if that's a fear, a fear of old age, then you want to do the opposite of those things that are where that fear is rooted. Which, if you have a fear of loss of health, do things that increase your health. And if you have a fear of loss in libido, do things that increase that energy, that stamina, however you mean it. And if you have a fear, again, of old age that's rooted in a fear of poverty, right, being financially independent— excuse me, dependent on somebody later on in life, well, you wanna do things that actually increase your income so that fear of poverty is not a realistic thing for you, right, for your old age. So you know that your old age and your future years, especially for a lot of my business persons out there, You'll know that you're taken care of in your old age because you did things in your youth, in your younger, more healthy years, that would make old age not an issue. So there's a fear of old age. And last but not least, a really interesting one, and again, this can start a whole nother conversation, uh, that's not the point of this, is the fear of death. And as the author actually discusses the fear of death, there is a fear of this thing called heaven or hell, right? And again, it's not the religious conversation, it's not where this is aiming to go, but there's a fear of what will happen when I actually die. Well, got a news flash for everybody listening, is that in this thing called life, none of us are gonna make it out alive. And even with the advances in modern science and technology, yes, We'll have lives that are extended, you know, past our 80s, past our 90s. For those of you who are Bible scholars, I had a friend of mine mention that people used to live to be 200 and 300 and 400 years old, right? So at the present, I think men have a life expectancy of roughly late 70s, women later 70s and early 80s, and that'll be extended through time. Yes, and at the end of that time, the same thing is going to happen. To each and every person. You're gonna close your eyes at some point, you're not gonna open them. So coming to terms with that realization says that, well, I know that if you choose to be buried, on your headstone you have the beginning date, which is the year you were born, and you have that end date, which no one knows when that'll be. There's a little dash in the middle, right? And what that dash is— and it's so small, but it's so significant— But that dash on every headstone that you've ever seen, for those of you who have gone to funerals and seen headstones, that dash represents a person's life. Now, the dash is usually the same size, right? And that's a typeset or font thing from the funeral directors. But you want to think, what are you going to do with that dash? And just really, really think about that one. What are you going to do with your dash? Is it going to be spent as a couch potato? Is it going to be spent having fears of ill health? Is it going to be spent worried or concerned about, you know, losing somebody? Is it going to be a fear of, you know, getting older? Right? We want to get older. You shouldn't fear the thing that you want. Nobody wants to die today. So having a fear, again, backing up just a step, of old age seems a little odd because you actually want to get older, right? Nobody wants to stop right now. And if that's the case, you might need a little help. Call me. We'll help you out. But yeah, if you have that fear of death, again, focus more on where you are now, where you want to go, and what you want to do with that dash, right? Not worrying about this whole heaven or hell thing. Because there's not a man alive today that's been there. There's not a man alive that will be able to tell you definitively what heaven or hell is like. Yes, respect to all the people who have had near-death experiences, that have had certain brushes with death, you know, seen the light and all this good stuff. Again, I respect that. Never happened to me, hope it never does. However, when— if there's a fear of death, the— for fear of not knowing whether you'll go up or down, take a more practical view of it. Realize that there's not a person, again, alive that can actually tell you what's happened when they've died. And consider it a peaceful sleep. Anybody been asleep before? A few of us. It's just a sleep that you're in for a long time, right? Is my thought or my perspective. So I wanted to address those fears first before getting into the first chapter. So again, those fears, to add rest to these fears should they come up as you go through your journey: the fear of poverty, the fear of criticism, the fear of ill health, the fear of the loss of love of someone, the fear of old age, and the fear of death. These fears are fears that Again, for some, very, very valid, but for persons that want success and more out of life, just not very, very practical. So consider that as you continue on with this journey we call life. Alright, next up, next up, next up. Now we'll actually dive into the first chapter. Again, for those that may have just joined in, Napoleon Hill's Think and Grow Rich, we'll be discussing this for the next few weeks, next 13 weeks actually, week by week, point by point, in order to address some of the things that are important that I believe will make a difference in not just my life but the lives of the people that I care about and am close to. So the first chapter is desire, the first, I should say, the starting point, the first step towards riches as he discusses it Is Desire, and it's a nice read, actually a very good book. He does a lot of storytelling about the people that have had desire, what he calls a burning desire for success in whatever endeavors that they would begin upon. He talks about how if you don't have this burning desire, then quite frankly, you're not going to ever have the riches that you do so desire. So if you have a desire for something, it's going to start— excuse me, if you want something, it's going to start with the desire. Again, first point, starting point of all achievement is desire. Now with desire, Napoleon Hill again gives stories of lots of the greats through history: the Wright brothers, Thomas Edison, Helen Keller, Booker T. Washington. Just to say a few of the names that have— all of them had something in common, is that they all started with a want. They all started with something that they cared so much about that it drove every one of their actions from that point forward. And that's what's meant by a burning desire. When you have something that you want so much that it drives all of your actions from this point until that point, right, that dash in between the life and death that we talked about before. When you've got something that you want so bad and you take actions on that consistently, you're acting upon your desire, this unseen thing that causes people to move and go about doing the thing that they do. Simon Sinek actually refers to it as your why, and I'll actually make reference to that a little bit later. But the desire, desire, he gives really, really practical steps on utilizing desire after a bunch of stories. And again, I'm not here to rehash the stories. I, again, quite frankly think that everyone should— and I'll post a link directly to the book afterwards— but I think that everyone should actually pick up this book and read it, right? At least one time in your life, Take the time to add value to yourself where, again, all respect to the teachers in our lives, the people that are in our lives, that we just want to give them some more, right? If I were in an instructional setting, this would be the more that I would talk about. I've been using this book, which I again recommend that everyone at least read once in their lives, and practicing and applying these steps I think will make a difference, right? And that's what I like to do in life personally, as I do have a desire to make a difference in the world at large. So the steps, 6 steps, very practical steps. And again, this book is rooted in the idea of riches and wealth. So with riches and wealth being a background for this, a lot of the conversation around it is around money, which some people do have an uncomfortable thing about, which is again another conversation where people have these, not necessarily fears per se, but issues, right, around money. So that's saying desire that you can act upon as long as you're again following the steps. Now, desire, again, for those just joining in, again, I'm doing this live and recording. Recording may have stopped, so this may be the second part of the recording. Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill, addressing now the first step of desire. Now with desire, the author suggests that you do a few things. First, you want to set the exact amount that you want. What exactly is it that you want? And in monetary terms, how much is that? So it's not enough to say, I want a lot of money, and I want to earn more money. Well, if that'd be the case, I'd just walk up to you and hand you a dollar and say, "Here, mission accomplished. You've got more money." Right? Seemingly sarcastic, but true. The— so you want to set in mind the exact amount that you would want. That's the first step in solidifying your desire. The second step: what will you give in exchange for the amount of money that you want, right? For what you desire. And I've had some questions about this that it makes sense to address. So what will you give? Now you've got people that are working a 9 to 5 that want more but don't necessarily know how to get more. And when you're working in a particular position, again, there's no knock to it. Before I started my own business, I worked for a company, you know, many, many, many, many hours., and depending on the type of work you do, you may put in a lot of hours, more hours, more hours, more hours, but not get more pay. So for you, a person that may be in that position, you have to find something, right? 'Cause if you're simply saying that you want to, you know, earn $50,000 a month, right, or $10,000 a month, whatever the dollar amount is for you, but you don't have a realistic vehicle to getting there, then you may wanna keep your eyes open because it very well may come to you, don't not do this step, but you have to really be open then to looking at opportunities in order to get the thing that you want, to get the amount that you would actually want if it can't be had from the type of work that you do currently. For those that are in more of a business, commission-based setting, commission world or environment where you can put in more work and actually see the increase in your paycheck, what will you give or what you will give is going to be directly related to the business that you are promoting and the business that you're in. And for some, for myself personally, and I share my own, it's the insurance field. So that's the service that I'm gonna offer more of. And a person that may do hair, right, you wanna offer more services within doing hair, esthetician, you're gonna be offering more services. That's the thing that you will give, the service that you will provide. People that do taxes, right, you're gonna do more taxes. If you're an author, you're gonna get your book out there more so that you can have an increase in activity that leads to the increase in dollars that ultimately lands you with the amount that you want, that you've outlined in the first step of desire of achieving your riches. So first step again, get that amount. Second step, know what exactly it is that you are going to give in exchange in order to receive that income. So again, whatever your chosen field is, whether it be business or like I said, hair If you're offering a service or product, then make sure that you know what that service is as a second thing that you're actually writing down, right? Get a pen, write these things down. You have to actually solidify it to make it real. I recommend using lovely little note cards because as we get to the 6th step, it makes sense to have it on something that's portable that you can keep with you. So if you don't have index cards, 4x6, 5x7, get them, use them, and write these things down so that you can start on your own path towards your personal successes for this year and for the rest of your life. First step, set the exact amount. Second step, what you will give. Third step, you have to have a definite date in mind in which you actually want to possess the money that you want. For instance, again, you can't say, I want more money from doing stuff, and I want to get that money later. Okay, well, you walked outside, somebody gave you a dollar, right? Mission accomplished. Well, you want to actually put a definitive date to this thing. So there's something about setting a date, or essentially a goal, to have achieved by a certain time frame that causes a person to do more when they know there's a deadline versus not having a deadline at all. So that definite date to possess the money that you desire is going to be crucial so that you know that there's a timeline that you have to follow, right? Which leads into step 4, which is creating a plan and beginning at once. I'd initially titled these talks Take Action and Grow Rich, because although the title of the book is Think and Grow Rich, right, that's a wonderful title, but some people may very well take that literally and think that all they have to do is think. For those of you just joining, we're discussing Think and Grow Rich. First chapter, first point I should say that we're on now is the point of desire. So you can't just think and grow rich, you actually have to take action in doing a thing in order to increase your means to possess the thing that you want in life, right? So make sure again that you have a plan in place. Write out a clear and concise statement of number 1, 2, and 3. Clear and concise statement of the amount that you want, which is again step 1, the time limit for its acquisition, and then what you intend to give in exchange for that. So you want to make sure to write those 3 things down. That's actually step 5, which is oddly enough an action. So you think about this amount, right, and know how much it is. What will I do? What will I give? Again, if you're in a job situation, then you may have to just be open to other things as a second step. Third step, when do I want to have it by? Do I want to have it in 6 weeks? Do I want to have it in 6 months? You do have to set a goal or a timeline that's going to be realistic for you and the type of thing that you're doing. For instance, a person that currently is working or just starting a business say, oh, I want to make $1 million by next month. Eh, unless you sell million-dollar products and you've got a list of people that are looking for million-dollar products, you know, good luck with that. But more realistic and smaller steps would say that for a person that's currently earning, uh, you may put, say again, in their business $1,000 a month, right? Well, by this point I'd like to be earning $2,000 a month, which may be a month for you, which may be 2 months, which may be 6 months, right? Whatever timeline you put in place is gonna be one that is something that makes sense for your type of endeavor. So create that plan, write the clear and concise statement with those 3 things on there. Now, the amount that you wish to earn, the time limit that you have for its acquisition, and then what you intend to give in exchange, meaning your product or service that you're gonna be marketing or sharing in order to actually acquire the dollars that you've outlined in step 1. 6th step, read it aloud twice daily. This is why these index cards are handy, because it's something that you can fold up, put in the pocket, right, in a purse, in a wallet, and you can keep it with you, right? You can keep something like this, can be handy so that every time you pull out your wallet— most people that, you know, guys that have wallets pull it out once a day Ladies that have purses, go in that purse once a day. And it might get beat up, so I might recommend also laminating it or putting it inside plastic or something to protect it from the elements. You want to have it so that you can keep it close by and then be able to read it aloud twice daily. I recommend it once first thing in the morning so that it drives your thoughts for the rest of the day, drives your actions and activities for the rest of the day. And then also— hey, hey, what's going on? Those who just joined, again, we're discussing Think and Grow Rich. Right now we're on the first principle, which is desire. We'll be doing this every week for the next 13 weeks until all the principles are done. Then we'll switch to another book, which will likely be my own book at that point. The— so again, reading this aloud twice daily, that 6th step of achieving riches, again within the first step of desire, the 6 practical steps that are outlined Reading it aloud twice daily, first when you wake up so that it's guiding your thoughts and actions throughout the day, right? And this is on your mind, this is something that you're actually— not only is it on your mind, but ideally because you paid attention to step 4 and you've created a plan and you're working on this plan daily, it's on your mind when you wake up because you read it, and now you're acting out on this thing that you want, right? These— this end goal that you want to achieve. Throughout the day. So that's how reading it aloud twice daily, first in the morning, would work throughout the day. The second time you read it would be at the end of the day. You want to rest thinking about the very thing that you want. And this is again a little bit more on the scientific side where people have dreams, and it's been recommended that you— it's been recommended that you Don't look at things a certain amount of time before you actually go to sleep. And many of you may have noticed, if you ever watch a really scary movie, right, especially as a child, the thought of whatever that thing was would be on your mind as you slept throughout the night, right? So that's why it's been recommended to not put negative things in your mind. For those of you that watch the news, talking to you, um, to not put negative things in your mind right before you go to sleep because as you dream, you'll literally think about it over and over and over and over and over. Well, this being the case, that makes it actually ideal to read again the thing that you wrote down at the end of the day so that as you dream, you're dreaming about the very thing that you want over and over and over and over and over. So it becomes a dominating thought in your mind. It actually becomes like an obsession that you want a thing so much that you dream about it. You literally dream about it throughout the night, and then you wake up and then you reaffirm it by reading again from your note card that you've written down these 6 steps. You dream about it— excuse me— and then you wake up and then you read it again so it affirms it again. And then you go throughout your day acting on your plan, step 4, and then you get to your end of the day and read it again and dream about it again. So what's happening is you're constantly putting yourself in this cycle of creation through what you're putting in your mind and acting on throughout the day, then affirming at night, then dreaming of while you sleep, then waking up and then hitting on it again in the first, you know, the waking moments of your day. So Again, that 6th step is powerful because it's another action. So it's one thing to write it out, right? It's one thing to think it, which is the origin of everything. Every great thing, every building you've ever been in, every toilet you've sat on, every pen you've picked up, every computer you've ever utilized, every phone you've picked up and put to your face, they were all a thought first before it actually began to take physical form. It was a thought in somebody's mind. So you have to have the thought first. You do have to think, right, before you grow rich. You won't get rich without it. You have to think about it. But not only do you have to think about it, you have to take an action, which is again why 2, excuse me, actually 3 of the 6 steps have to deal with taking action. I got hello from Pictureman28. Hello, hello, Devron, my man from Carbondale, man. That's an awesome, awesome, solid guy. So half the steps of achieving your desires in life are actions you have to take. It's not enough to just think about these things, but you have to act on them constantly and repetitively until that burning desire really takes place, right? So if a person wants a thing, it may not be a burning desire at first, but you have to continually act on it until it becomes a burning desire, an obsession if you will. So just to touch on these steps one more time, excuse me, is you want to set the exact amount. Again, financially is the motive of the book, so we're going to talk about it in terms of finance. But set the exact amount of money that you wish to earn. So if it's $1,000 a week, $1,000 more a month, write it out, but get it in your mind first. Figure out what it is for you. Second, what will you give in exchange for those services? If you're in a business that offers a product or a service, then that's clearly gonna be it. If you're in a position where you don't know what it will be, then you just again do some research and find a way to, to, to offer more of something that you're good at, that you can do, in order to be exchanged for income, right? We only ever really get income for a thing if there is a value created or value perceived by another person. So if what you're doing isn't of a value to other people, then it'll never be the case where you'd earn more. You have to actually provide some type of value to a person in exchange for increase of dollars for you, right? There's no getting around it. So Set the exact amount, number 1. Number 2, what will you give in exchange for the dollars that you demand? And that's number 2. And number 3, have a definite date in order to possess the money. Those are the first 3 steps. Again, all really mental things. Fourth step, create a plan and begin at once, meaning don't wait until things are just right, don't wait until The world says, "Okay, it's time for you to now go out and accomplish your goals and dreams." You don't want to wait for these things because quite frankly, the world's not going to wait for you. It won't. The sun hasn't stopped rising at any point since I began living, and I don't expect it to actually stop rising or stop setting because I don't want it to. The world's not going to wait for you. You have to go out and get the very thing that you want. I'm having a little issue with Facebook Live, so I'm jumping on and off of Facebook Live for those of you that are watching through any of the other screens. The 4th step, again, create a plan, begin at once, and act. The 5th step, write a clear and concise statement of the amount of time, time limit, and then what you intend to give. So step 5 is actually writing out steps 1 through 3. So again, I I recommend index cards and I actually have one written out. It's my own personal one where it's read twice aloud daily. Step 6, reading it twice aloud daily. You have to take an action. You have to read and put in your mind the thing that you want on a continual basis in order for you to actually have it, right? So again, 6 steps that are outlined in Napoleon Hill's Think and Grow Rich. If you have not yet picked up a copy of this book, After this video, I will be posting a link to it so that people can see it, purchase it. I mean, you can get it for less than what you spend on a cup of coffee in a day. I got some friends that go to Starbucks religiously, and I've spent more on a Starbucks grande extra macchiato with extra cream and frost and all that stuff than I've actually spent on a book. You know, I've gotten copies of this book for as little as $0.99 with $3.99 shipping, so please Don't waste time. Look for it either before I send the link or after in order to add this piece to your library and at least get through it one time in your life and see if it doesn't make a difference in your, your day-to-day feelings. So first week, Wednesday's Words of Wisdom, and I look forward to feedback from anybody watching these videos. I'm actually going to again post them to YouTube from the one that's recording and allow people to revisit this information so that it's not just something that you have to see one time and, oh, I missed this and that. But you'll be able to see it again. So I'll be working on that this evening. It should be done by this evening, and I'll put those links up, put those videos up on my Facebook page so that you can actually go and review them, take a look, take some notes, provide feedback. Again, I'm okay with what they call criticism, right? I don't have that fear. I consider it feedback, and we look forward to making next week a much more exciting and involved experience. Next week's chapter is gonna be on faith. That's the second step towards riches. One little tidbit on Napoleon Hill— the only story that I actually really want to share is not about one of the stories that he's talked about of other people, but it was in his own personal life. So Napoleon Hill has a son Blair was born without the physical appearance of ears, so he didn't have the luxury that everyone else had for normal hearing. Well, Napoleon Hill himself had a desire to see his son living a relatively normal life. So right now, if you do have all your faculties, again, be grateful. But he had this desire to have his son live a normal life. So long story short, he would not allow him to learn sign language or anything like that. He ended up buying a Victrola, which is, I believe, like an old-school radio player, record player. And his son, as he got a little older, when they bought that Victrola, he heard it. It was the vibration of that sound going through air that his son actually felt. So he would walk up to the Victrola and he would put his teeth on the edge of it. And at that point, Napoleon Hill understood the conduction of sound through the bones in the face. So from then, he would speak to his son by putting his mouth on his jawbone, right, on the, I believe it's the mastoid bone, so that his son would be able to hear him, right? And that's, I mean, for those parents out there, that is dedication, right? So every parent understands, anybody that knows me personally knows how I feel about my son, right? I would do that, right? Whatever it took to make sure that my child could have a normal or a better or a more fair or an enhanced life, I'd do. Napoleon Hill, once he learned that his son can actually sort of hear, he set out on this long path of creating something so that he can further communicate with his son. His son ended up going through regular grade school without learning sign language. He went through regular high school without learning sign language. Ended up getting through college, and it wasn't until after college, right? So this is a nice amount of time that he set out to help his son actually be able to hear. Again, long and short of it, they developed the technology that allowed his son to hear. And so that was the whole point in that. But that, that passion that Napoleon Hill had, that desire that Napoleon Hill had for his son to hear was unmatched by anything. More than a desire, It was backed by or mixed with faith, right? So this is that belief in things unseen, not necessarily again in a religious sense, but we'll get more into that next week. So, uh, hope y'all have enjoyed. This week has been desire, uh, of Napoleon Hill's 13 Steps to Riches from the book Think and Grow Rich. Next week Wednesday will be the second step towards riches, uh, which is faith. So again, review, like, comment, share, all of the above. These videos will be posted later for perusal. Add me on Facebook, Paul H. Flowers Jr., and look forward to seeing you all next week. Thanks so much, have a great night, happy New Year, bye for now.