Think and Grow Rich: Autosuggestion and Faith

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What is the meaning of the Think and Grow Rich autosuggestion principle? How do autosuggestion and faith work hand in hand?

The Think and Grow Rich autosuggestion principle describes the act of constantly visualizing your success to trigger your imagination to deliver an action plan that will get you to your goal. Autosuggestion helps you develop faith in yourself that you can achieve your goals.

Read more to fully understand how to apply the Think and Grow Rich autosuggestion principle.

Applying the Think and Grow Rich Autosuggestion Principle

The Think and Grow Rich autosuggestion principle describes the act of constantly telling yourself you can succeed and by envisioning yourself succeeding. By consciously visualizing your success, you trigger your subconscious imagination to deliver you the plans that get you to your goal.

Faith and autosuggestion (affirmation) work hand in hand. You can use the Think and Grow Rich autosuggestion principle to develop faith, since telling yourself you’ll succeed will develop conviction that you will achieve it. And you can use faith to strengthen the thoughts and desires you are planting in your subconscious mind.

For autosuggestion to be effective, you must believe in what you’re saying. Don’t just speak empty words devoid of feeling. “Emotionalize” your words with faith for what you’re saying to really sink in.

The successful application of the Think and Grow Rich autosuggestion principle takes practice and intense concentration. Building on the 6 steps from the “all-consuming desire” chapter, visualize your success in even more detail:

  • Visualize your specific goal. Focus on it until you can see it.
  • Believe that you are already in possession of the goal.
    • If it’s money, imagine that you already have it in your bank account or in cash sitting in front of you.
    • If it’s something else, imagine that you already have it, and picture what your life is like.

Visualizing the money makes it seem real and will subconsciously encourage you to act in ways that help you reach your goal, rather than in self-defeating ways.

How Faith Leads to Success

Here are two examples of how the Think and Grow Rich autosuggestion principle combined with unwavering faith in an idea led to incredible success and systemic changes.

Example 1: The creation of U.S. Steel Corporation

Charles M. Schwab, who worked for Andrew Carnegie, had a vision for restructuring of the steel industry. But it was counterintuitive. The standard practice at the time was to create monopolies, then increase prices to reap profits, which restricts demand. Schwab, however, wanted to do the opposite — make steel cheaper, and create a huge and expanding market to create larger profits. 

To do that, he needed the cooperation of J.P. Morgan, one of the world’s wealthiest men. Others had tried and failed to interest Morgan in organizing a steel trust. 

Schwab’s great faith in his idea, his eloquence in presenting it, and his ability to produce numbers to back up his plan, persuaded Morgan and other titans of finance and industry to go along with his restructuring plan. He introduced it in a speech at an industry dinner, and later personally lobbied Morgan and Carnegie. Schwab sold the others on the idea and together they merged their business interests to create the U.S. Steel Corporation. He became its president.

Schwab combined an idea, plus faith and persistence, to convert his idea to reality. But it was his application of the Think and Grow Rich autosuggestion principle that put it in motion.

Example 2:  Martin Luther King Jr.’s dream of equality

Martin Luther King Jr.’s  strong faith and belief in the human rights of all people inspired the Civil Rights movement of the sixties, which called attention to the segregation and discrimination against African-Americans in all areas of life, incuding the workplace, housing, education, public services, and social life. 

Although the movement drew violent resistance, which cost King his life, his faith that his dream of equality would be realized inspired others to take up the cause and created a sea change in American society that continues to have effects today.

Think and Grow Rich: Autosuggestion and Faith

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  • Napoleon Hill's 1937 guide to success
  • How to use thoughts, visualization, and affirmation to achieve wealth
  • The importance of a Master Mind group and how to start one

Joseph Adebisi

Joseph has had a lifelong obsession with reading and acquiring new knowledge. He reads and writes for a living, and reads some more when he is supposedly taking a break from work. The first literature he read as a kid were Shakespeare's plays. Not surprisingly, he barely understood any of it. His favorite fiction authors are Tom Clancy, Ted Bell, and John Grisham. His preferred non-fiction genres are history, philosophy, business & economics, and instructional guides.

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