The Hidden Secret In Think And Grow Rich
January 13th, 2009
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Recently I reviewed Napoleon Hill’s classic success book Think and Grow Rich. And I said that I’d later revisit the hidden secret that he hints at, but never reveals.
He says he got the secret from Andrew Carnegie, and it’s the key to all great financial success (for that matter, all great success of any kind). He drops many hints, saying that it will jump from the page when you’re ready for it, that if you’re ready for the secret then you already possess half of it, that you’ll recognize it at least once in every chapter, and so forth.
But out of all the millions of people who read Think and Grow Rich, I doubt many of them actually discovered the hidden secret. I thought that the secret might be, well, “The Secret!” That is, the law of attraction. But no, it’s not the law of attraction, and it’s not desire, and it’s not persistence. Basically, if you’re just making a guess, that’s not it.
Brian Kim has discovered the Carnegie secret, and reveals it in his ebook The Hidden Secret in Think and Grow Rich.
Many of you have read Think and Grow Rich, and you’ve probably been wondering what the hidden secret is. You have some idea, but you haven’t quite put your finger on it. Brian’s ebook is a very natural follow-up to Think and Grow Rich, because you need to know the hidden secret to get the full benefit from it.
I was actually disappointed at first when Brian revealed the hidden secret in the first chapter. I thought, “That’s it? That’s Andrew Carnegie’s magical secret to all great success?” But then I realized that my first impression was not consistent with what I knew about Brian. I figured there must be way more to it than that. And there was. That’s why the ebook is 122 pages!
As I kept reading, I saw that the value in his ebook is not just that he reveals the hidden secret, but that he goes into great detail about why it works, and how to execute it. Words are just words, and they don’t mean anything until you truly grasp the real meaning. Unless you understand why the secret is what it is, why it works, and exactly how to use it, you couldn’t put it into practice even if you knew what it was.
Now, is this really the secret that Napoleon Hill was referring to? Brian does an excellent job of showing how the secret he discovered meets all the criteria that Napoleon Hill described (such as appearing in every chapter). The consensus I’ve seen from other people who’ve read it is that Brian has correctly identified the hidden secret.
As for me, I fully accept Brian’s reasoning where he shows why the secret he uncovered is in fact the hidden secret. Still, I’m not certain that there’s not another possible answer that meets the same criteria. But I have no complaints about Brian’s answer, and he has a very revealing story about his process of discovering it.
Brian said that after he discovered the hidden secret, everything he had ever learned about self improvement clicked, and he saw how all the pieces fit together into a big picture. I wouldn’t quite say that, but I agree that the hidden secret ties together all the pieces of self improvement related to achieving a goal. (Self improvement is really huge and consists of more than achieving goals, in my opinion.)
His secret also ties together Napoleon Hill’s 13 steps and shows how they all work together. And perhaps the best thing is that with all the pieces in place, everything happens naturally. It becomes less about remembering specific steps to execute, and more about letting things flow. Of course, that doesn’t make everything easy, but it leads to achieving your goal naturally.
The only thing I wasn’t too keen on is that I found it a little repetitive. In one place, Brian says “I’ll say it again and again and again.” I would have preferred just one or two “agains.” But this was a choice Brian made deliberately, because he’s found that people often don’t internalize something the first or second or even the third time they hear it. Actually, doing this makes his language more consistent with Napoleon Hill’s writing!
You really need to read Think and Grow Rich first, because he references many specific details in it. He conveniently includes a copy in the download. You also need to be prepared to do some exercises that require writing things down. Avoid the temptation to do them in your head. We’re talking about achieving your one major definite purpose – take the time to write things down!
Brian’s making a special offer to my readers, including these bonuses:
- A copy of Think and Grow Rich in PDF format
- His special report The Three Biggest Mistakes People Make With The Hidden Secret, so you can avoid these mistakes
- A copy of The Hidden Secret Workbook, to help you apply the hidden secret consistently, as well as providing useful notes and summaries from the ebook
He even backs it with an 8 week money back guarantee. So go ahead, discover The Hidden Secret in Think and Grow Rich, and use it to naturally achieve your one major definite purpose.
January 13th, 2009 at 2:56 pm
Thanks for this post. That’s a good point that self-improvement is about more than just achieving goals. In the process of personal growth, you may find that you’re an entirely different person from what you thought, and your goals, the way your body feels, your emotional tendencies, and so on may change. I think that points to the deeper cut of what we’re all really looking for. Best, Chris
Chris Edgar | Purpose Power Coaching´s last blog post..How To Make An Audio CD Program On A Budget
January 13th, 2009 at 5:53 pm
Hi Hunter. I read 1/3 of this and decided to stop because I just started to read the book. My curiosity will bring me back after I’ve completed it.
Davina´s last blog post..Blog + Comment = Win
January 13th, 2009 at 9:46 pm
Thanks for the review! I may just decide to get the ebook!! Only thing is that I don’t know when I’d have a chance to read it as I’ve got a couple of books on my waiting list.
I’m not sure what secret Brian will be sharing. But in the video on “The Secret Behind the Secret” by Abraham Hicks, it is revealed that the original manuscript of Think and Grow Rich had the word “attraction” (or “law of attraction”) repeatedly in it. The publishers at that point in time deleted this word because they felt that the market was not ready for it!
Evelyn Lim´s last blog post..Ideas For Soul Growth In 2009
January 14th, 2009 at 5:40 pm
@ Chris, good point, your goals can change as you figure out what you’re really looking for.
@ Davina, don’t worry, I don’t give anything away in this post! But it will be here when you come back.
@ Evelyn, that’s interesting about the word attraction being removed. Many people would say the market is not ready for it, even today!
January 15th, 2009 at 3:52 am
I came back, and since you haven’t given the secret away I finished reading. Thanks… um now I have TWO books to read.
Davina´s last blog post..Self Help Me
January 15th, 2009 at 9:07 pm
@ Davina, I know what it’s like for the reading queue to get backed up. Yesterday and today, I added two more that I need to read!
February 4th, 2010 at 1:11 am
[...] He alludes to Andrew Carnegie’s secret, which he says is the key to all great financial success. He doesn’t state it directly, but he hints at it in every chapter, and says the secret will appear to you when you’re ready. I’ll revisit the Carnegie Secret at a later time. (Update: now you can learn The Hidden Secret in Think and Grow Rich!) [...]
February 17th, 2010 at 11:00 pm
Desire to be rich backed by the faith that you will become rich is the real secret. Nothing special; I’d imagine most people who read TAGR already have the desire and faith (at least I did).
I read somewhere that the secret that Brian Kim reveals is something along the lines of “the secret is that there is no secret; the journey is the reward.”
Whatever the secret “really” is is irrelevant; desire and persistence is really all you need.
February 18th, 2010 at 12:23 am
@ Tom, I agree to some extent with the desire and faith thing. Then again, why do so many people with desire and faith fail to become rich?
Not sure where you heard that the secret is “there is no secret; the journey is the reward,” but that’s really not even close to what he says. It’s a real secret, not a gimmicky thing. Like I said in the review,
“…it’s not the law of attraction, and it’s not desire, and it’s not persistence. Basically, if you’re just making a guess, that’s not it.”
February 18th, 2010 at 12:50 am
Ok I downloaded the book and yea that’s basically what I got out of it too, or at least what I got out of the first few chapters of TAGR that I read/skimmed. I’m curious to see what he has to say about the “secret ingredient” though, so perhaps it’ll be a worthwhile read.
I think it’s more important for people to actually put their plans into action RIGHT NOW, and stop reading all these self-help books! Someone said that The Hidden Secret is the last book you’ll need to read; anyone who is not yet rich SHOULD make it the last self-help book they read and then go get rich!
February 19th, 2010 at 2:53 am
@ Tom, I agree that taking action has to be the priority. No amount of knowledge makes up for insufficient action. I’ve heard that for small biz owners, marketing should take up 80% of your time.
But I don’t think there’s any book that’s the last one you need to read. Fortunately for bloggers, reading a book counts as action if you turn it into a post!
May 31st, 2010 at 9:45 pm
Recently became a member of Napoleon Hill’s Foundation and came across this podcast on the post, I strongly think people should hear it, very insightful.
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/juddha-fitzgeraldt
August 3rd, 2010 at 10:44 pm
Napoleon Hill said that when people are ready for the secret they will get it. It took Napoleon Hill over 20 years to compile all the knowledge he put in his books. He made comments in his text about how it took him years to get rid of his own ignorance. To understand what we need to improve, we really have to take a look at ourselves and find areas that we need to improve in.