Audiobook:
Napoleon Hill Outwitting The Devil Audiobook
Chapter 1
There are people who are “3 feet from gold” and give up
Never give up on your dream because you never know how close you are
Use your defeat to convert it into victory
The urge to continue needs to be stronger than the desire to quit
Those failures are blessings in disguise that force you to continue so that you can succeed
Reacting positively to your fears can change your life for the better
Unless you make an effort to change things nothing will change
Consider all those damaging blows in your life as a test
Force yourself to discover your other self
By working through these times you can figure out what you truly need to succeed
Will you be guided by faith or will you let fear take over?!
Chapter 2: Your Only Limitation Is The One You Setup In Your Own Mind
How many times have we let a temporary defeat hurt as if it was a permanent failure
They are not permanent, learn from them and keep going
Prayer and manifestation is key
Do you acknowledge that prayer will not work if you don’t take action with a specific intention
Always base your prayers with gratitude of all that you already have
Faith is the beginning to any great achievement
Success Equation:
Combining your passion with your talent and seeking the right association and taking the right action
Combining all of this with a STRONG FAITH is the key to your success equation
Chapter 3: The Interview With the Devil
The devil wants to be referred to as your majesty because he controls 98% of our world
The devil has no physical appearance, but is based on negative energy
He moves in on the unoccupied space of the brain
6 effective fears the devil uses:
Poverty, criticism, ill health, loss of love, old age, and death
The devil’s opponent controls everything opposite and positive:
Love, faith, hope and optimism
Poverty is used by the devil to discourage us from moving forward
The devil uses the things like drugs and alcohol to alter people’s minds, destroy the power of persistence and the ability to concentrate
Habits come in pairs, 3s and 4s….so bad habits invite other negative things in your life as well
Gaining and exercising control of your own emotions will be the only way to control getting past the devil’s tactics
Chapter 4: Drifting with the Devil
The principle of drifting habits is the Devil’s mouth powerful tool
The habit of drifting is dangerous because they just continue down one path
They permit themselves to be influenced by circumstances outside of his own mind
They just let things happen are okay with it and are too lazy to think for themselves
Those who think for themselves never drift
The mind is nothing but the sum total of a person's regular habits
The Devil uses our environment to control our habits and eventually us overall
Effective ways the devil cause people to drift:
Occupation: drift out of school to the first job they can find without any sense of purpose; all they do is fear poverty
Savings: cause people to spend freely and not save until he takes complete control by fear of poverty
Environment: drift into unpleasant environments in the home, their occupation and their relationships until he has control
Dominating thoughts: drift people into negative thoughts that lead to negative acts and fills our minds with fear and that allows the devil to take control; then the negative thoughts people believe are their own but it’s really the devil
Any habit that leads to procrastination is essentially drifting
This is anything putting off a DEFINITE DECISION
Laziness + Indifference = Procrastination & Drifting
Non Drifters:
Always engaged in doing something definite through a well organized plan
Major goal in life that is always in the works, and many minor goals that are working toward the major goal
Someone who knows exactly what they want and will do whatever it takes no matter how long
Never blames other, doesn’t like to take handouts
An inspiration to all those that come in contact with him
He has a mind of his own and uses it for all purposes
The major difference between the drifter and non-drifter is the use of their mind and think for themselves
Service to others is the way to get out of drifting
Chapter 5: The Confession Continues
The devil only controls the minds of those that allow the drifting habit to be fixed upon them
He can only control those that have fear and don’t use their own minds
He is a form of energy that is negative
Taking charge of your own mind will remove the devil’s charge
Flattery:
It ignites vanity and egotism
Its the chief bait of how men bait women
Women do the same to men
Those influenced by flattery are easily susceptible to drifting
Failure:
Many people won’t continue after they fail the first time
It breaks down self confidence and drives away self purpose
The 2% use failure as a stepping stone to success
Perseverance is the true cure to failure, never giving up
Everyone that has been successful has overcome failure
You have to recognize that most failure is only temporary defeat, and it’s not an excuse for drifting
Propaganda is anything that people can be influenced without knowing they are being influenced
Bribery
The devil uses all the things we want and desire as a bribe to take over our minds
Whatever our strongest desire is the devil dangles it in front of us then snatches it away, causing us to have a low morale and instills more fear to include poverty
If we do actually obtain riches or things we desire, the devil allows us to overindulge
Formula To Counter Drifting:
Do your own thinking
Decide definitely what you want from life and create a detailed plan to obtain it; Be willing to sacrifice everything for it
Analyze temporary defeat no matter of what nature or cause and extract from it an equivalent advantage
Be willing to render service equivalent to all the things you want in life and do that service first
Recognize your brain is a receiving set that can receive communication from the universe of infinite intelligence to help transmute your desires into their physical equivalent
Recognize your greatest asset is time, the only thing outside of your thoughts that you own outright; budget your time so none of it is wasted
Recognize the truth that fear generally is a filler that the devil occupies the unused portion of your mind; you can only control it by filing that space with faith in your ability
When you pray, demand what you want and insist that you get it with no substitutes
Recognize that life is cruel and it either masters you or you master it
Remember that your dominating thoughts attract by a definite law of nature their physical counterpoint; Be careful on what your thoughts dwell upon
Summary of how to counter drifting:
Be definite in what you do and never leave unfinished thoughts in the mind
Form the habit of reaching definite decisions on all that you do
The habit of drifting can be broken only if there is enough will power
Chapter 6: Hypnotic Rhythm
This is the same law in which people can be hypnotized
There is a universal form of energy that keeps the world balance
Rhythm is the last stage of habit
Any thought that reaches the repeated state of habit becomes a rhythm which cannot be broken
If you neglect to use your mind and begin to drift, the devil takes over by hypnotic rhythm
The fear is death is such a strong weapon of the devil because no-one can prove what happens after death
You have to have a BURNING DESIRE TO BREAK THE HABIT OF DRIFTING
Your mind will attract whatever it is fixated on. THAT IS A LAW
We are where we are and what we are because of our thoughts and our deeds
Chapter 7: Seeds of Fear
The same power that we fear the devil can cause eternal damnation is the same power that God uses to bring forth eternal life, and both are within us. It is up to us to use our mind and choose to use which power
If hypnotic rhythm is not consciously used correctly to achieve what we directly want to go after, it will be used to in the exact opposite manner and we will fall into drifting
7 Principles to obtain spiritual, mental and physical freedom
1. Definiteness of Purpose
2. Mastery Over Self
3. Learning from Adversity
4. Controlling Environmental Influence (Associations)
5. Time - Giving Permanency to Positive Rather Than Negative
6. Harmony - Acting with Definitency of Purpose to Become the Dominating Influence in Your Own Environment
7. Caution - Thinking Through Your Plan Before You Act
Chapter 8: Definiteness of Purpose
Any human being that can be definite in what they seek after will make life hand over whatever is wanted
This closes one’s mind against anything else outside of the purpose that the devil can’t even distract you anymore
Your mind is completely made up; it is DEFINITE
Acquiring Definiteness can only be obtained by adopting it as a policy by which one is guided by all the affairs of life
You can’t be induced into the habit of drifting if you apply the policy of definiteness with everything you do daily
Once any person hesitates, procrastinates, or becomes indefinite about anything, he becomes one step removed from the devil’s control
The Person that moves with definiteness understand what temporary defeat is
They understand that it is nothing more than a stepping stone to greater efforts
When plans fails he substitutes others but never giving up on the original goal
He perseveres and always finds a way
Persistence based on immoral things may give you what you want temporarily but it will not withstand time
Time is the enemy of immorality and injustice
The youth often make the mistake of coveting and accepting temporary success as permanent
They accept the rewards of unjust plans but fail to look forward to the penalties that are bound to come based off the roots of their actions
Chapter 9: Education and Religion
The first duty to everyone is to themselves; Every person owes themselves the duty of finding how to live a full and happy life
Definiteness of purpose in prayer is the only way one can pray and rely on it
The majority of people go to prayer only after all else fails, and they fear the prayer will too…and in that case the prayer will fail
The person that goes to prayer with definiteness will have that prayer realized because it is already definite within them
Schools teach children what they want to be memorized not how to go after their dreams
Sin is anything one does or thinks that causes one to be unhappy
We should always be at a sense of peace with ourselves as humans
The devil cannot enter the state of someone without sin
Fear and ignorance are the devil’s number one sins he uses
Faith is state of mind where one recognizes and uses the power of positive thought
Faith is the definiteness of purpose backed by belief in the attainment of the object of that purpose
It is the absence of all form of negative thought
Chapter 10: Self Discipline
The person that is not the master of himself cannot be master of others
These 3 habits are key to ruining self discipline
Over indulging in Eating
Over indulging in Sex
The habit of expressing loosely developed opinions
Expressing loosely developed Opinions:
It encourages others to guess and jump from thought to thought
This allows people to not be definite and tend to drift
The 7 principles can break the hypnotic rhythm out of self made principles that we create for ourselves
Chapter 11: Learning from Adversity
Learning from adversity is a benefit to man but few know the difference between temporary defeat than failure
Failure serves as a blessing in disguise because it breaks the hypnotic rhythm and gives an opportunity for a fresh start
Failure is a state of mind, it’s never real unless a person accepts it as permanent
That is the same for success
“Character” is nothing more than a person’s thoughts and actions of hypnotic rhythm crystalized into a sense of being
Proper relationships are the beginning of anything being successful
No one can change the law of hypnotic rhythm just like you cant change the law of gravity; but you can change yourself
A proper relationship is one that brings all connected to it or affected by it some kind of benefit
Adversity relieves people of vanity and egotism; it discourages selfishness by proving no-one can succeed without others
Adversity forces the need for meditation and introspective thought
The greatest benefit of adversity is that it forces one to change one’s thought habits when it forces one to break hypnotic rhythm
The loss of material things can teach you that man has control over nothing except his own power of thought
The non-drifter’s reaction to every form of adversity is positive
He fight’s but doesn’t give up, and usually wins
Not every form of adversity is advantageous, but the seed of the advantage is always there, usually in some form of knowledge
The law of hypnotic rhythm is essentially the law of compensation
Chapter 12: Environment, Time, Harmony and Caution
The material that thoughts are fed comes from one’s environment; Thought habits are made permanent by hypnotic rhythm
Ones intimate associates is the biggest part of one’s environmental influence
One may submit himself to any environmental influence desired whether positive or negative and the law of hypnotic rhythm will make the influence permanent when it assumes the thought habit
Be careful of all forces that inspire thought because that thought will have an influence on hypnotic rhythm good or bad
Choosing an environment that inspires positive thought will help drifters stop drifting
Successful people must control their environment, ensuring themselves against the influence of a negative environment
Desires are organized impulses of energy called thoughts; desires mixed with emotional feeling are preparing to be taken over by hypnotic rhythm
The strongest of these thoughts will soon be come transmuted into the physical
There can be no idleness in the brain for definiteness to be applied successfully
Nature doesn’t allow for idleness to happen; when you’re not thinking positively, nature will allow the negative thought to take up that space
Time penalizes the individual’s thought and solidifies whichever, positive or negatively, into permanency
People aren’t born with wisdom, but they are born with the capacity to think, and they may with the lapse of time think their way into wisdom
Wisdom only comes through the lapse of time
It only comes to non-drifters that form positive thought habits as a dominating force in their lives
Time is positive for those that are non-drifters but the enemy of those that are drifters
Wisdom is the ability relate yourself to nature’s laws so that they may serve you
Accumulated knowledge is not wisdom
You can convert knowledge into wisdom through time and the desire to want to convert it into wisdom
Harmony
All nature seems to work in a harmonious manner
Nature forces human beings to harmonize with the influences of their environment
Once you establish your environment, you have to become one with it harmoniously
Caution
The lack of caution is very dangerous
The drifter acts first and thinks lateral always with a lack of caution
There is no such thing as over-caution; that is just fear
Use caution in the selection of your associates, because those are the strongest influence on your environment
The drifter allows his closest associates to attached themselves to them on their own terms
The non-drifter carefully selects his associates and allows no-one to get close unless they have some helpful influence or good benefit
Summary
3 things interested Hill most in his conversation with the devil
1. Habit of Drifting
2. Law of Hypnotic Rhythm Through Which all Habits are Made Permanent
3. Element of Time
Take and instance in life and measure it against these 3 principles and you’ll see why there was success or failure
One’s dominating desires can be crystalized into their physical equivalent by definiteness of purpose backed by definiteness of plans with the aid of nature law of hypnotic rhythm and time