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THINK and GROW RICH (Chapter 2) Burning Desire | Keto Mom Book Club

Updated: Jan 17, 2022


Keto Mom here!

So Barnes just shares his story of how he got what he wanted. He left himself no possible way of retreat. There was no second job lined up so he moved out of town and he put it all in. And he said "I'm not going back. I put all of my money, all of my desire, everything's in it. I'm staying until I get what I want"...


Points to Ponder:


01:38 Think and Grow Rich" is different

02:18 Common Theme: Mindset, Burning Desire, Definite Purpose

03:15 Chapter Two: Burning Desire

03:50 Edward Edwin Barnes

04:33 What do you want?

05:31 Burn the Bridges to Never Go Back

06:01 Barnes had a Burning Desire

06:30 No Matter What

08:18 You Have No Idea What People Go Through

09:41 1% Better 1% Worse

11:12 Watch People and Learn From Them

12:07 No Possible Way of Retreat

13:35 It Won't Be A Diet, It'll Be a Lifestyle

14:00 13 Principles: (1st) "Desire" and "No Matter What"

14:59 Six Basic Practical Steps

17:25 Being Definite of What You Want


Full Episode Transcript:


Hey everybody! Happy whatever day it is and welcome to the Keto Mom page. My name is Stephanie and we are diving into this book, "Think and Grow Rich" by Napoleon Hill. So as you're tuning in, where are you tuning in from? We are on chapter Two, and we're talking about "Desire". I want you to know a couple things... First of all, how dare Facebook and Instagram not tell us that they're going to be shut down? Rude! I couldn't even do my Two o'clock tasting yesterday. No, I'm joking, kind of. Well I was like, I did not get the notification! But it's good that we're adaptable... If you're brand new, post "New" below. Every morning, we're going through a book and I'll probably do this forever because I read every single morning no matter what.

Welcome to Day 3 of our Book 7 session
My hope is to help you work on your mindset, as well as your health and fitness. Now, we've read lots of different books on here. From "Atomic Habits" by James Clear, which if you've not read that, it's an incredible book. Also the book "Miracle Morning" by Hal Elrod, we've gone through books to help you on your mindset and on your awareness.

We've done lots of them, but this book "Think and Grow Rich" is a little different than the other books. Napoleon Hill, the author, talks in the very beginning about riches and how to acquire riches. He also gives you 13 Principles to follow in any area of your life. So if you're just tuning into the book, and you're you're working on your health, I'm going to explain to you how it works in any area that you're working on. So don't tune out, because it gives you 13 Principles to go after whatever you're wanting to achieve. We've done books on vision boards, we've done books on just going after what you want. And there's a common theme in every single book that we've read. It has to do with your "Mindset" a "Burning Desire", and a "Definite of Purpose"...


I'm going to be real with you. Either you're going to take control of your life, your habits, owning your day, and going after what you want or you're going to fall to letting the world do it for you. Meaning, let other people control your time. Let emotions, circumstances and environment control simple things as what you eat. So it's either you're in control, or you're letting your environment do it. You're in control, or you're letting the people around you do it...
Do you have a "No Matter What" mindset?

So we're on chapter two "Burning Desire". I'm not going to read all the stories to you, but I'm just going to give you the highlights of the chapter. To help you really understand and see how it fits what you're going after. Because everybody here wants to be healthy and feel better, lose weight, be stronger, look better or whatever it is. That's why you're probably here. Hopefully, some of you are here to work on your mindset every morning, I hope.


All right! So basically, the beginning of the book talks about a man named Edward Edwin Barnes. He wanted to go work for Thomas Edison, the most famous inventor of all time, and he had a definite of purpose. He was like "No matter what, I will work for him"... He did not just want to work for him, but he wanted to be a partner with Thomas Edison. So that's the basic of the story. He had a definite of purpose. In the beginning of the book, he talked about what did Barnes had? That caused him to get what he wanted? What do you need to get what you want? What do you want? If you don't know, then that is the first question. What do you want?

So "Barnes desire was not of hope, it was not of a wish, it wasn't "I wish". It was a keen, pulsating desire which transcended everything else"... It was a definite "I will have this", "I will be partners with Thomas Edison and not just work for him", "I'm not going to just go work in his factory but I'm going to work right along next to him, no matter what". That was his mindset, and so it talks about his life.

What I loved is... He went in, he met with Thomas Edison but he must not have gotten the job right away. He told them what he wanted to do and he had a dominating desire. He didn't get what he wanted, but he burned the bridges to never go back. So in one of the paragraphs it says "A few years later, even after his first conversation. Barnes again stood before Edison in the same office where he first met the inventor. This time, his desire had been translated into reality"... So a few years later, he first went in and said "I want to be partners with you". He didn't get what he wanted, but he never looked back. He had a burning desire and he knew what he wanted. He didn't go "Oh, I should probably look for something else", "I'm going to look for my second option", "That didn't work"... I don't know what he did in those few years, but you will see that he never let go of his desire. My question to you is this "What do you want?", "Are you willing to put in the work?". And is your mindset "No Matter What"...

Let's work towards never going back!
I'm going to get it "No Matter What". "No matter what", I'm going to lose the hundred pounds. "No Matter What", I'm going to lose the fifty pounds. "No Matter What", I'm going to get up four days a week to work out and get healthier. "No Matter What!"... What is it? What do you want? And What is your no matter what?

If you don't have it, it's going to be easy to slip back and say "It's not for me", "Plan A didn't work plan B didn't work", "Woe is me, I might as well just sit on the couch", "It's always for everybody else"... Where is your mindset? The point of reading good books is to help you go "If they did it, I can do it", "If they did that, I can do it"... To help you just put into perspective a "No Matter What" mentality. "I'm not going to wish for it", "I'm not just going to get lucky"... This is super great! So what happened was Barnes actually got to partner with Thomas Edison, after years and years of believing and working towards never going back.

Napoleon Hill said "People saw Barnes in those days as triumphant, without taking the trouble to investigate the cause of his success"...

How many times do you watch people in your life like coworkers, friends and family, and you go "They got lucky", "Oh, they got lucky", "I wish I had their metabolism", "I wish I had the money that they had, so I could buy all the healthy food", "Oh, I wish I had that time"... You don't know, you really have no idea. You want to know the biggest thing that you have no idea what people go through? You might see their success in front of you, but you don't know the mindset that they had to overcome, the environment behind closed doors they had to overcome. You don't know if your coworker who just lost a hundred pounds, battled maybe somebody in their life. Somebody that told them they could never do it, they're not worthy, they're ugly. You have no idea. Most people's biggest battle is in their mind. You can't look at somebody else's success and go "Oh! They got lucky. I wish I had that"...

You've got to have the Burning Desire
You don't just get lucky, you really don't. You have to work for what you want. You've got to have the burning desire. You've got to have the "No Matter What". You've got to know what you want. It doesn't just fall into your lap, you've got to work for it.

"Five years had passed before the chance that he had been seeking, made its appearance"... So he had worked in between reaching out to Thomas Edison and then going back again, before he got what he wanted it took him five years. What if you gave yourself one year of solid working out and making better choices. You might not even be able to go to a specific restaurant for a year because it causes you to stumble...


I was talking to a friend the other day, and I really loved that she said that. She said "I love the 1% better 1% worse". How many of you have heard me teach about this? 1% better every single day, 1% better every single day. She goes "But there comes a point that I can't just do 1% better, because some people's mindsets"... Well, let me say this, not everybody's the same. Some people can go "I'm going to be 1% better today". That means I'm going to drink water and no soda. But if I slip up and have something to eat, that might not align with my goals, but I was 1% better and not 1% worse.

And so my girlfriend said "Listen, I'm not that way. I am an all or nothing. I have a burning desire and I'm going to get healthy. I can't just look at it 1% better, I've got to cut the ties, cut the ropes. I've got to go full force in no matter what".
Your burning desire is different than mine

And it made me go "You're right!" Some people can go "I'm going to just work on one thing" and that was me for years. I was like "One day at a time, one meal at a time", "I'm only going to work on my water intake". When I feel like that's great, I'm only going to work on breakfast. When I feel like I've accomplished that, I'm only going to work on lunch. When I feel like I've got that down, then we'll conquer dinner. Some people need to go "I'm all in. I'm done"...

Either way is fine, because your burning desire is different than mine. It's a different focus, but it's your focus and my focus.

So you can watch people to learn from them, but you've got to figure out what it is that you need to do, to accomplish your goals. I am a "One step at a time, one meal at a time and one day at a time". My girlfriend is like "Nope, I'm all in and cutting ties. I can't go to that restaurant. I will not have the Oreos in the house. I will only drink water. I'm going to do it for a year. I'm working out four days a week"...


So what is it? You've got to figure out what it is that you need. And so he talks about Barnes partnership and about how he had a burning desire. Barnes created a plan by which to obtain the purpose. But he burned all bridges behind him so he could not look back... Okay! So if you want to know, we're on chapter Two. We're going to read the first five pages and we're on page 38. So Barnes just shares his story of how he got what he wanted. He left himself no possible way of retreat. There was no second job lined up so he moved out of town and he put it all in. And he said "I'm not going back. I put all of my money, all of my desire, everything's in it. I'm staying until I get what I want"... Maybe some of you are asking "What do you have to do, so that you can't retreat?", "What do you have to put in place so there's not a next". If you really want fat loss, if you really want to feel better, if you really want to get healthy. What do you have to do, so that you can't retreat or you can't go backwards? There was no option, he either won or he perished.

"Every person who wins isn't an undertaking and must be willing to burn his ships and cut all sources of retreat. Only by doing so can one be sure of maintaining the state of mind knowing as a burning desire to win. In a sense, you will have success"...
Give it a solid year and this won't be a diet but a lifestyle for you

I say this all the time, could you honestly give yourself a year? We live in such a microwavable, instant, I want it right now, I want it tomorrow society. It doesn't work that way. You didn't get to the weight you're at today overnight, you're not going to get there overnight. And if you can give it a solid year, your lifestyle will change, your habits, your routines. It won't be a diet, it'll be a lifestyle for you. And you'll be able to help others around you, your kids, your spouse, or anybody that's watching you. Because you stuck to it, you didn't give up and you didn't give in when it was hard...

So I think this book is great but again, it's a different type of read. If you keep going, he'll give you 13 Principles. The first principle is "Desire" and "No Matter What".

What are you going to do? "Every human being who reaches the age of understanding and whatever you're desiring, Wishes will not bring riches. (Wishes will not just bring your fat loss). But desiring your fat loss with a state of mind, that becomes an obsession. Planning a definite way and means to acquire it. No backing down with persistence"...

There's not an option, you're not going to fail. It does not mean you won't have a bad day. It does not mean that in his five years of working on obtaining what he wanted, didn't mean he didn't have a bad or crabby day. He shook himself off and kept going...
Here are Six Basic Practical Steps

So here are six basic, practical steps that he did. He said to obtain riches (the man wanted riches) you can do these six steps in what you're wanting. "Step number One, Fix in your mind the exact the exact amount of money that you're wanting". I would say fix in your mind the exact weight you want to lose. Or how far you want to run, how strong you want to be, or whatever it is. What do you exactly want? That's number one.

"Number Two, determine exactly what you intend to give in return"...

What are you willing to give up? I'm willing to give up my nightly TV shows to go for an extra run. I'm willing to give up my favorite restaurant for a year so that I don't fall trap every single week. I'm willing to never go to the coffee shop, because if I do, I always get the donut. What are you willing to give up to get what you want?


"Number Three, establish a definite date". He said no matter what. I don't think he actually had a date in mind, but he was like "I'm going to get it no matter what" and it took him five years. Are you willing to give it a year or I would even say a month. Some of you can't even go past two weeks before you give up. A year seems long, maybe you need to go month to month. But I would say give yourself a year. "Number Four, create a definite plan for carrying out your desire". What is your plan? Because "Number Five is write it out". What are you going to do? "I'm going to get up every day at six o'clock", "I'm going to work out four days a week or five days a week, no matter what", "I'm going to intermittent fast", "I'm going to only drink water", "I'm going to never go to this restaurant" or "I'm only going to have a treat or something outside of my norm on a holiday or celebration with one of my kids for their birthdays"... You have to write down what your goals are, because if you don't, it's easy to sway back and forth.

And then "Number Six is read your written statement out loud twice a day". So that you hear yourself, and then you eventually believe it.
Whatever your goal is, nobody can do it for you

You guys, we've done these exact same steps in "Atomic Habits" and the "Miracle Morning". If you're following along and you have been for months, you know that all of this is very similar to majority of the books where people have already had success.

It's a mindset and it's being definite of what you want. It's writing it down and speaking it out loud, no matter what.

You look in the mirror and you're like "Yeah, but that's not me but it will be in a year. It will be in a year"... Write it down, get very precise. What timeframe and what do you want? Speak it out loud! He said "What did he have? He had a burning desire. A burning desire of no matter what"... So we're going to stop right there, we're on page 44. "There's one quality which one must possess to win. And that is a definite of purpose, the knowledge of what one wants and a burning desire to possess it"...


So there is one quality which one must possess to win. It's a definite of purpose, the knowledge of what one wants and a burning desire to possess it. We're stopping there, that's on page 45... What is your desire? Nobody can do it for you. I can't make you read. I can't make you put down the donut. I can't make you write your goals down. I can encourage you, but you're going to have to do it for yourself. Nobody else can do it. Just like you can't do it for your kids, but instead you can model it for your kids. You can model it for your spouse and for anybody that's around you. But you've got to do the work. So know what you want and write it down. I hope you're enjoying the book. Again, this takes a little bit more focus. It really does. I would say it's not an easy read but it's a good read or a great read. Alright! I've chatted your ear off enough. I hope you guys have an incredible day. Continue to tune into the page and reach out with any questions that you have. We'll be back tomorrow. All right! Bye everybody.


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