John Dilbeck And Friends

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 38. If you believe that “birds of a feather flock together,” what do you know about your friends?

I don’t know if it’s a matter of belief or just simple observation, but I’m sure that birds of a feather tend to flock together and this applies to most people I know.

Not only do we do that, we want to flock together, so we look for more who are like us so we can associate with them.

Some of my best friends had feathers of a different kind than I. We had different backgrounds, different wealth levels, different cultures. I could learn from them and they from me.

When we tend to stick only with our own flock, about all we can do is nod our heads in agreement most of the time and that leads to stagnation.

That said, I do think that most of my friends are pretty similar to me.

In general, it means that 2009 has been a rough year and we’re hoping that 2010 will bring an upswing in the cycle. More than that, though, we’re not just hoping, we’re looking for ways to help that happen. We’re being innovative and trying things we might not be doing if circumstances were better.

I believe that we grow more during hard times than we can during easy times. We have an incentive to do so.

When I think about my friends, I see an optimistic bunch of creative people who are doing what they can to improve their lives and cope with the difficulties. I think there are a lot of people like that out there and not all of them are in our flock.

On the other hand, some of my friends and I have very different viewpoints when it comes to religion, politics, and other “hot-button” issues.

What do we do about that? Mostly we recognize the fact, accept it, and respect the others’ rights to hold different thoughts, opinions, and beliefs than we do. We’re a tolerant flock. We look for the things that make us stronger and better friends and not for something to divide us. I like that about my friends.

So, that’s all I have to say on this subject, for whatever it is worth.

What about you?

If you believe that “birds of a feather flock together,” what do you know about your friends?

All the best,

JD