Desire: The Turning Point Of All Achievements

The first step towards riches is having the desire in them.

 It is the starting point of everything. Anyone can achieve anything they want if they have a keen, pulsating desire. 

Barnes’ desire was not just a hope, and it was not a wish. It was his  keen desire that was definite.

Hoping and wishing cannot bring us fortune. Desire in the form of obsession, definite plans to acquire it, and backing those plans with persistence, can bring us fortune.

Barnes, from the previous chapter, succeeded because he chose a definite goal and placed all his energy, effort, and willpower towards achieving it. He did not become Edison's partner on the very first day of his arrival. He was content to start with a low-level work which took him a step forward towards his goal.

To others, he was just a person working for Edison, but he himself always thought of being Edison's partner. He reached his goal because it was the only thing that he ever wanted. He left no stones unturned to achieve his goal.

Napoleon has shared six steps to transmute desire into its financial equivalent:

1. Fix the exact amount of money you desire.
2. Ascertain clearly what you intend to give in return for your desired money because there is no reality such as “something for nothing”.
3. Think of a definite date by when you want to achieve it.
4. Create a definite plan and begin immediately irrespective of whether you are ready or not.
5. Write all of the above points in a clear concise statement.
6. Read your written statement aloud, twice daily, once at bedtime, and once in the morning.
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These six steps were also approved by Thomas A Edison as the essentials for attaining any definite goal.

People who are afraid of new ideas are doomed before they start.

Tolerance and an open mind are the only requirements for a dreamer in today's world to be successful. 

Christopher Columbus, the great navigator, and explorer had dreamt of an unknown world. He risked his life and discovered it. 

Copernicus dreamt of astronomy and revealed it by formulating a model for the Universe.

Henry Ford dreamt of a horseless carriage. He started with whatever tools he had, without waiting for the favourable opportunity. The world knows him as the founder of The Ford Motor Company.

Thomas Edison dreamt of an electric lamp and invented it in spite of failing more than 10,000 times. Lincoln dreamt of freedom for black people and worked towards it, to turn it into reality. 

The Wright Brothers dreamt of flying a machine in the air and today the world can see the evidence of how strong their dreams were.

All the greatest achievements were at first only a dream. Dreams are not born out of laziness or lack of ambition. Hill says that this world is filled with opportunities. 

One only needs to kindle the mind with the fire of hope, faith, courage, and tolerance. 

Belief is a state of mind and when one believes in something, he is ready to receive it. Belief comes with an open mindset. A closed mindset does not support faith, courage, and belief.

“Desire is the starting point of all achievement, not a hope, not a wish, but a keen pulsating desire which transcends everything.” -Napoleon Hill

After this, Hill shares that his son was born with no physical ears and hence, according to the doctors, the child would be deaf and mute for all his life. He, as a father, refused to accept this truth and challenged the doctor’s opinions. 

Nature chose to send him a child without ears, but it could not force him to accept this harsh reality. He only desired that his son should not be deaf and mute and he never receded from that desire. He was sure of finding a solution to this disorder.

He believed the only limitations for a person are set up in his own mind.

We tend to underestimate our own ability to achieve great things which limits the actions we take. It is difficult to achieve a goal if we start to limit ourselves. People with a limited mindset tend to work within their limit of comfort zone. No matter how difficult it is to reach a goal, if you start believing in it, you can achieve it.

He started to plant in his son’s mind that every adversity brings equal advantage with it. He kept on trying different ways, only to know that all this time, his son was able to hear faint voices. Finally, after 24 years, he got a hearing device that changed nature’s error and his son was finally able to hear like everyone else. 

The author had a persistent desire to change his child's practical inability and he knew that nothing is impossible for a person who has a desire with an enduring faith. His approach consisted of 3 important facts. 

1. He mixed the desire of his son’s hearing with faith and passed it to his son's mind. 
2. Secondly, he communicated this desire to his son in every way possible through continuous efforts. 
3. Thirdly, his son believed him. 
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The power of desire mixed with faith is very strong. It can lift people from their lows to highs. 

The power of the human mind is very enigmatic because it has the ability to use any circumstance to transform desire into its physical counterpart.