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Think and Grow Rich test: Do you envy successful people?

September 28, 2009 by JD
Filed under: Books, Self-Improvement, Success and Failure

My answers to the Think and Grow Rich Self-Assessment Test

Recently, I was reminded of the self-assessment test in Napoleon Hill’s best-selling book, Think and Grow Rich.

There are fifty-four questions in that test, and I’m going to be giving my answers and thoughts on one or two of them as close to daily as I can manage. I may miss a day here or there, but I’m going to follow through until I reach the end of the test.

I’ve started the series of posts with:

Think and Grow Rich self-assessment test

Question Number 8. Do you envy people who are more successful?

When I was younger, I think I did envy people who were more successful than I was.

Over the years, however, those feelings have disappeared.

I haven’t been a great success, but I’ve been able to do (mostly) what I have wanted to do for the last 20 years and I’ve done it on my own terms. While I haven’t accumulated lots of money, I’ve been able to decide what I want to do and then do it.

When I think of really successful people these days, I don’t envy them. I don’t even want to be like them.

I don’t try to model myself on anyone else.

I do like to learn about successful people and to be around them. I enjoy reading what they have to say and especially enjoy learning how (they think) they achieved the success they have.

I have learned, however, that I can’t just copy what someone else has done and expect to achieve the same success they have.

I think that’s one of the reasons that so many people who try to find success don’t find it, because they’re trying to do what someone else has done, instead of striking out on their own and following their own path.

It’s interesting to study the systems, procedures, and approaches successful people have used to build their empires, but that was what worked for them, with their particular personalities, skill sets, and abilities. It probably won’t work for anyone else who tries to emulate it.

At least, that’s what I think.

On the other hand, I believe it can be very effective to learn from successful people and to analyze what skills they had to acquire, what changes they had to make in themselves, and what kinds of people they had to associate with in order to find the success they were looking for.

Then, maybe I can identify some of the things I need to learn and to do when I adapt them to my particular path and goals.

Do I envy successful people? Not anymore.

Do I try to learn from them? Yes, I do.

Do I try to copy them? Never.

What about you?

Do you envy people who are more successful?

Act on your dream!

Tags: Napoleon Hill, self-assessment, test, Think and Grow Rich

Comments

5 Comments on Think and Grow Rich test: Do you envy successful people?

Barbara Ling, Virtual Coach on Mon, 28th Sep 2009 10:03 am

Heck no, I applaud successful people (unless they got ‘successful’ by scamming others).

Everyone is responsible for their own successes and failures…I view envying someone else as simply refusing to take ownership of your own precious abilities.
.-= Barbara Ling, Virtual Coach´s last blog ..Learn HOW I got#2 out of 78 MILLION for ‘High SEO’…and how you can too! =-.

JD on Mon, 28th Sep 2009 11:49 pm

Good morning, Barbara.

I like the way you put that, “I view envying someone else as simply refusing to take ownership of your own precious abilities.”

Rather than feeling bad about someone else’s success, we can invest our efforts into finding our own.

All the best,

Mitch on Tue, 29th Sep 2009 9:19 am

I am happy for successful people until they prove they’re not worthy of that support. You know we had that conversation on my blog about my belief that people are worth whatever someone else is willing to pay them.

In the book Secrets of the Millionaire Mind, the author talks about having these negative feelings about rich people, even when he first became one, until he saw them acting in positive ways that he’d never thought of before. That changed his mind and made him realize that the reason he kept losing his money is that he saw rich people as evil, and once he changed his mindset things were better for him.

I want to be rich; no question. I have positive things I want to do that can’t be done if you’re not rich. And I’m happy for all the examples that are out there for me to see.
.-= Mitch´s last blog ..The Secret =-.

Anna on Thu, 24th Jun 2010 4:50 pm

I don’t think I envy successful people, but I do have an annoying habit of comparing my success to theirs… I guess thats just as bad =-(

JD on Tue, 29th Jun 2010 7:38 am

Good morning, Anna,

I think it can be useful to compare our success, and lack thereof, to other people, as long as we do it with the goal of finding ways we can enhance our success.

If I look at the success of Bill Gates or Steve Jobs and compare myself to them, then I may look very unsuccessful in terms of money and getting lots done.

However, if I compare myself to them in terms of doing what I want to do with my life and being around people I love, then I think I’m doing pretty well.

As with most things in life, it depends upon our motives and how we interpret what we learn from the comparison.

I don’t think it’s necessarily a bad thing, unless the comparison causes you to have less motivation to achieve your own goals.

Act on your dream!

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