“He had never heard that more gold has been mined from the brains of men than has ever been taken from the earth.” This statement was made by Napoleon Hill in his seminal classic Think and Grow Rich, first published in 1937. What a timeless statement to describe the world in which we live today. In Mr. Hill’s day, the Great Depression had just ravaged most of the U.S. economy a few short years prior to the publication of his book. Mr. Hill witnessed first-hand the abject destruction of unimaginable wealth, as thousands of businessmen lost everything they had worked for their entire lives. And yet, standing amidst the carnage wrought by this devastating calamity, Mr. Hill is able to hold out hope to all who will listen to him.

The hope which Mr. Hill so generously points out to the readers of his time is the same hope that is available to us today, despite persistently high unemployment, a stagnating  economy, and the ineffectiveness of governments around the world to do anything about the economic woes that continue to plague us.  What is this great hope?  It certainly is not government benefits.  It isn’t even better education or job training.  This hope consists of two key ingredients – DESIRE and FAITH.  And these ingredients are not restricted based on race, gender, color, creed, disability, age, or any other limiting factor of which we are prone to complain.  They are literally free to all.

Mr. Hill had no way of knowing how men like Steve Jobs or Bill Gates would transform the world.  These men, and others like them, generated literally billions of dollars in wealth for themselves and people all over the world from one simple raw material – the incomprehensible power of ideas.  And these are a just a couple of examples – volumes could be written containing the stories of thousands of others just like them.  Consider this question: Which has produced more wealth – the diamond mines of Africa, or the digital ecosystem that was created by the advent of the Internet?  It’s not even close!  Far from running out of resources, we stand on the shores of a vast digital ocean that has only begun to be explored, much less mastered.

So, the next time you are tempted to allow a little laziness to slip in and excuse it away by blaming the bad economy, remember this statement from Napoleon Hill.  And remember that others have faced far worse times than we, and not only overcame, but built tremendous fortunes and lasting legacies.  You are without excuse – the DESIRE and FAITH that empowered Andrew Carnegie to build his empire, or Henry Ford to build the V8, or Steve Jobs to revolutionize the way we consume media – these ingredients are freely available to you and I today.  Let’s settle it right now, and determine to tap into that vast resource of ideas.  The solutions to our worldwide economic woes are no further away than that grey matter between our ears.  Let’s get to work!

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