← Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning
Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning
Think and Grow Rich for Sales: Why Thought, Desire, and Faith Create Results PART 1
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Welcome Back to season 14 of the Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast where we connect the science based evidence behind social and emotional learning and emotional intelligence training for improved well being, achievement, productivity and results using what I saw as the missing link since we weren't taught this when we were growing up in school. The Application of Practical Neurosc.
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I'm Andrea Samadhi and seven years ago launched this podcast with a question that I've never truly asked myself before. And that is if productivity and results matter to us, and they do now more than ever, how exactly are we using our brain to make them happen? And most of us were never taught.
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How to apply neuroscience to improve productivity, our results or our well being.
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About a decade ago I became fascinated.
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By the Mind Brain results connection and how science can be applied to our everyday lives.
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And that's why I've made it my.
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Mission to bring you the world's top experts. So together we we can explore the intersection of science and social and emotional learning. We'll break down complex ideas and turn them into practical strategies we can use for predictable science backed results.
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Now, as we're nearing the end of season 14, here it's been all about reflection.
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As we've looked back and reviewed our.
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Past interviews, our goal has not been about nostalgia or just remembering these interviews. The goal has been about integrating what.
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We'Ve actually learned, taking what we know.
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Aligning it with how the brain actually functions, and then applying it consistently enough to see change in outcomes.
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And if there's one thing this season has reinforced, it's this sustainable success is not built on intensity or just focus alone. It's built on alignment. And as we move into What's Next Season 15 In January, the focus shifts from just understanding this alignment to now.
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Bringing this alignment into a tangible physical.
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Form or actually embodying what we're learning. Not more information, but better execution. For Today's episode number 381, we're connecting back to our six part series from 2022 where we covered the well known.
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Book Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon.
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Hill to make 2022 our best year ever. Now back in 2022 we didn't just read Think and Grow Rich, we lived inside of it. As we launched our year.
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And over a six part podcast series that began the beginning of January of 2022. We walk through this book chapter by chapter, not as theory, but as a personal operating system for growth, performance and results. This series will always be special for me as I heard that my mentor who inspired me to study this book. Bob Proctor had become ill while I was writing the last episode in this series in part six and he passed away sadly before it was released. But I'll always remember this episode series connected to the many people globally that he inspired through his work. And at the time, the focus of our six part series was broad. We covered personal development, mindset, mastery, vision, purpose and belief. And we covered the basics of this book that Bob Proctor studied for his entire lifetime over 50 years that can be applied to whatever it is you want to create with your life. Now today we're going to take a look at this timeless piece of knowledge through a new lens. What we're covering today is Think and Grow Rich Free for Sales. Now, it's not new material, it's the application of this series towards a specific discipline. And you could apply this book to any discipline. But this one I've wanted to cover for a very long time. Now, how does our six part series that we did in 2022 map directly to sales mastery? Well, here's the reframe that matters. Every principle we covered in 2022 becomes a sales advantage when when applied correctly. Now, in order for me to have gained this understanding, I've got to give.
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Credit where credit is due.
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I would not have been able to cover our 2022 series without following Paul Martinelli's yearly reviews of this timeless Think and Grow Rich book. And I started to follow him and his Reviews back in 2019 and I continued every year until 2025 where he covered the Popular Science of Getting Rich book. And it was through Paul's expl and line by line interpretations that I finally began to not only read this book from start to finish, but started to integrate the concepts into my life. And I highly encourage following his work as he continues to host many free webinars where he gives away knowledge with no pressure at all to purchase anything from him. And I know why he does these webinars. It's not only to help others, but something magical happens when you give back to others without expecting anything in return. When we covered this six part series back in 2022, teaching these concepts really did take me to a new level of understanding where I realized that this book was not meant to be read just once, but read over and over again every year as we work on whatever it is we want or want to master. This is a living, breathing body of knowledge and it's there for all of us year after year as we refine our own inner mastery and move step by step closer to our Goals. And Albert Einstein explained this concept well when he said that if you can't explain it to a six year old, you don't understand it yourself. And this is because teaching something will clearly show you where you've got gaps in your own understanding. And I'll never forget when I got to part six of the book review, I noticed that my book had no notes after around chapter 13. I began studying this book in my late 20s and I was very interested in the subconscious mind, which was chapter 12, but not at all interested in the brain, chapter 13 at this time. So I actually stopped reading the book here. And I knew I never finished reading the book until I had to teach it, which explains a lot when it comes to the commitment to complete something. In order to teach something, we must first of all understand it ourselves. But when we live it and we embody what we're teaching, like Paul Martinelli has done and what I'm striving to do, it takes the words in each chapter to greater heights. So with gratitude to Paul Martinelli, who's created a valuable sales training program based on this timeless book, here is my attempt at covering Napoleon Hill's Think and Grow Rich book for the sales professional. And I couldn't have produced this episode without Paul's teachings. Let's now look at the first 10 important chapters from Napoleon Hill's Think and Grow Rich book through the lens of our 2026 best year ever episodes. As well as connect each principle for the salesperson. And you don't need to be in sales for these principles to work for us.
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Let's review chapter one, the Power of Thought. We go back to the beginning of.
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Chapter one of the book. Edwin C. Barnes. He was the man who thought himself.
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Into a partnership with Thomas Edison.
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In chapter one of Think and Grow Rich, Napoleon Hill introduces us to Edwin C. Barnes.
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And he was a man who achieved some something extraordinary not through money, connections or credentials, but through the power of his thought.
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Barnes held a single unwavering vision to work with Thomas Edison, not for him, but with him. And this was an audacious goal. Barnes didn't even know Edison personally. He lacked money, influence and even the funds to comfortably pay for the train fare for to New Jersey. Yet none of these obstacles altered his decision. Hill explains that Barnes did not wish for the partnership. He decided it would happen. And when Edison later recalled their first meeting, he described Barnes standing before him looking like an ordinary tramp. But he said there was something unmistakable in the expression of his face. There was something in the expression of his face, which conveyed the impression that he was determined to get what he had come after. Edison did not see wealth, polish or preparation. He saw initiative, faith, and the will to win. And that was enough. Barnes brought no money to the table, no resume, no formal value proposition. But he carried something far more powerful. A clear vision, unwavering belief, and a level of certainty that Edison could feel. Hill later writes that Barnes bulldog determination and persistence with a single desire was destined to mow down all opposition and bring him the opportunity that he sought. Barnes did not retreat. When months passed and nothing happened, he didn't say, well, what's the use? He didn't downgrade his goal to something more reasonable. He held the vision until reality caught up with it. And why this matters for sales? To understand why Edison trusted Barnes, we must first of all understand something critical. Thought carries frequency. Belief has energy. Certainty is felt long before it is spoken. Edison did not evaluate Barnes based on where he was. He responded to where Barnes knew he was going to. And Barnes was already operating on a frequency of partnership, not employment. And Edison recognized it. When one is truly ready for a.
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Thing, it puts in its appearance.
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Barnes was ready.
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So how do we put this chapter into action for sales? If you look at the image in.
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The show notes illustrating the levels of.
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Frequency of thought where the physical, intellectual.
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And spiritual spiritual worlds intersect like the colors of the rainbow.
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Think of each level as different radio stations.
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To hear the station you want, you must tune your mind to that frequency. And if you receive your 2026 sales goal and your immediate thought is there's no way I can do this, then that's the frequency you're broadcasting. You're not tuned to the level where that goal exists. You cannot reach a destination using the same level of thinking that created your current results. That's why Marshall Goldsmith's principle holds true. What got you here won't get you there. So what's the key to Chapter one? It's unwavering belief. Napoleon Hill makes this unmistakably clear. When a person really desires a thing so deeply that they're willing to stake their entire future on a single turn of the wheel to get it, they are sure to win. Barnes staked his future on belief. Sales excellence requires the same commitment.
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So here's a five step application of.
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The framework to apply to chapter one. Step one.
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When your sales goal is set, ask yourself honestly, do I believe I can achieve this? Step two. If belief is present, create a clear, actionable plan and commit to following it consistently.
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Step 3.
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If belief is not present. You've got to seek out someone who's already achieved the result, borrow their certainty and follow their guidance, exactly as they say.
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Step four.
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Once belief is established, take daily action. There is no wishing, only disciplined effort backed by belief. Step five, monitor not just results, but your level of belief. When belief wavers, behavior follows suit. When behavior wavers, results disappear.
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Foreign. Thought for chapter one. Edwin C. Barnes did not succeed because he was lucky. He succeeded because he thought differently and held that thought long enough for reality to align with it. He jumped to an entirely new frequency with this belief and sales. Mastery begins the same way. Not with tactics, not with following a script, but with the power of thought backed by belief. Moving on to chapter two, desire. From wanting a sale to demanding results, let's review chapter two on desire, which is the starting point of all achievement. In chapter two of Think and Grow Rich, it brings us the engine behind every meaningful result, and that's desire. Napoleon Hill makes this unmistakably clear. All achievement begins with an idea. But not every idea becomes reality. Only ideas fueled by burning desire become reality. Hill describes Edwin C. Barnes desire as something very specific. It was not a hope. It was not a wish. It was a pulsating desire which transcended everything else. It was definite. Barnes did not hope to work with Thomas Edison. He did not wish it might happen someday. He expected it. And at the time, there was no evidence this partnership would ever exist. Barnes and Edison were not in conversation. There were no guarantees, no proof, no visible path. And yet Barnes committed to the idea anyway. And that's the nature of true desire. It moves before evidence appears. Going from where you are now to where you want to go is a process. And at the very beginning of that process, desire often feels irrational. You want to keep it private, and you might even feel uncomfortable saying it out loud. That doesn't make it wrong.
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It just makes it powerful.
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Why does this matter for sales? In sales, desire drives behavior. You don't need to know how you'll hit your goal at the beginning. You only need to know what you want and why you want it. And the how will always reveal itself after this commitment. This is something my mentor, Bob Proctor, emphasized constantly. When I moved from Canada to the United states in early 2001, I had no clear roadmap. I didn't even know exactly how it would all work. But I had clarity of desire, and that was enough to begin. The way is always shown. Along with obstacles, you'll find many of them, and that's always how it works. Obstacles are not signs you're off track. They're a part of the process. So let's look at desire and that frequency that sales is on. What does desire have to do with sales success? Well, here's the key. Sales, translation. Hesitation does not exist at the same frequency as certainty. It's this certainty, or your burning desire, that we need. Think about those levels of vibration. When desire is weak, you hesitate. You soften your language. You sell with need instead of intention.
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When your desire is strong, you're on the right frequency.
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Clarity replaces doubt. Energy becomes steady. Certainty becomes transferable to those you're speaking to.
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So ask yourself honestly, do you have the same burning desire with your sales goal that Edison saw in Barnes eyes? Because others can feel it just as easily when they see that it's missing. Desire radiates, hesitate, leaks, and it will take you off that level of vibration. And buyers will respond accordingly.
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Now, there's another key factor in this chapter. It's about burning the ships. Hill offers one of the most powerful principles in this book. In this chapter on desire, he says every person who wins in any undertaking must be willing to burn their ships and cut all sources of retreat. Barnes did this when he traveled to New Jersey to meet Edison. And I did this when I left Toronto for the United States in 2001. There was no going back if it didn't work. Burning the ships forces alignment. And this connects directly to a later chapter on decision. The Latin root of the word decision means to cut. And when you decide you cut off retreat, you look at your sales goal and you see no acceptable outcome other than its achievement. The level of commitment changes how you show up every day.
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Now in this chapter two, you have six steps to achieve any goal.
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Napoleon Hill outlined these six steps that.
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Are designed to impress desire directly into the subconscious mind. Though it's written about money in the book, these steps apply to any goal, including sales. And these are the steps that I personally keep visible and that leaders like American businessman Grant Cardone practices daily.
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The six steps are, number one, write a clear description of what you want. You must know exactly what you're going for. What is your sales goal? Step two, decide what you're willing to give in return. There's no such thing as something for nothing. When we give up something of a lower value to gain something greater. And I never truly understood this until I watched others with their achievements. Sometimes it's giving up time or watching Netflix or something like that. You give up something of a lower nature to receive what it is of a higher nature. Step 3. Set a definite date. Desire without a timeline just remains a wish. Step 4. Create a clear action plan. Begin immediately if you're ready or not. Step 5. Write the plan out in detail. Clarity strengthens your commitment. And step six. This is the most important part. Read it twice a day. And as you read, see, feel and believe yourself already in possession of the goal. This sounds simple, but it's not easy.
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Most people won't do this consistently.
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And that's why most people won't get these extraordinary results. And a key takeaway here.
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Vague goals create vague results.
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Sales success begins the moment desire becomes clear, emotionally charged and non negotiable.
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A final thought for chapter two on desire. Desire is not motivation. It's not excitement. It's not ambition. Desire is commitment before evidence appears. And when your desire is strong enough, hesitation disappears, clarity sharpens and certainty becomes visible. And when certainty is visible, others respond to it.
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Sales does not reward the most talented, it rewards the most committed. And everything that follows in the Think and Grow Rich book rests on this foundation. If desire is weak, nothing else works.
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And if desire is strong, the rest becomes possible.
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Moving on to chapter three on faith. Faith is belief made visible through certainty.
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So let's review chapter three on faith. How do we develop faith?
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Napoleon Hill defines faith clearly and practically.
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He says faith is a state of mind which may be induced or created by affirmations or repeated instructions through the principle of auto suggestion. Faith is not something you wait for.
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It'S something you train.
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And we develop faith by following those.
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Six steps outlined in chapter two, writing our goals out and reading them aloud every day, twice a day, until the idea moves from your conscious mind into your non conscious mind through auto suggestion.
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This is a process.
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And if you've never read your goals out loud before, it may feel uncomfortable at first. When I first started, I remember closing my office window, worried that my neighbors might think I was crazy. In the beginning, the words can feel awkward and forced, but with repetition, something changes. Your words begin to flow more easily, your tone becomes confident, and eventually what once felt unnatural starts to feel true. Our goals begin living with and through us. And Hill instructs us to read our goals. Read them as if you were already in possession of them. And a simple way to do this is with the statement I am so happy and grateful now. That. And then state your goal clearly, whether it's a sales target or any other objective that you're working towards now. This is often the point where people bring their own beliefs into the process. If you believe as I do that there's something greater than yourself at work in the world. You'll feel it here. Hill calls it infinite intelligence. Others may call it God or spirit or universal intelligence. Hill wrote, faith is the element, the chemical which when mixed with prayer, gives one direct communication with infinite intelligence. Regardless of what you call it, the experience is the same. Faith grows when belief is repeatedly impressed upon the mind. And this is critical. We must have faith in our dreams, not in our doubts.
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So let's apply faith to sales. In sales, faith shows up as certainty.
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Buyers do not buy certainty from products.
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They borrow it from the sales process person. This is where many people get confused. Faith is not arrogance. Arrogance is loud and brittle. Faith is calm. It's grounded and steady. When you believe in yourself, the value you bring and the outcome you're guiding someone toward, your certainty becomes transferable. And when certainty is present, objections softening not because you've argued them away, but because belief replaces that resistance.
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So how faith becomes unwavering? To build this unwavering faith, Hill's principles point us to three realities. First, you must move through the terror barrier of fear. Faith grows when your conscious and non conscious minds begin to align. Fear appears first, but it does not get the final word. Step 2 Faith strengthens through repetition, writing and repeating your goals daily through autosuggestion gradually reshapes belief. And three, Faith grows fastest when focused on one clear idea. Pick one goal, take action towards it, and each step builds self confidence, self awareness and self esteem. Over time, belief takes hold and one day you'll look back at the early.
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Version of yourself, the one who hesitated.
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Doubted or felt unsure, and you'll realize how far you've come. And I've talked about this idea often on this podcast. It's like adding red food color drops into a cup of water. In the beginning, it's hard to see any change in the color of the water. But over time, with persistent action, the glass of water eventually changes color and you'll look back and be grateful. You move forward past fear. Just remember, buyers don't borrow certainty from products. They borrow it from you.
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And a final thought of chapter three on faith.
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Faith is not pretending.
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It's not positive thinking and it's not not blind optimism. Faith is certainty trained through repetition. And when belief becomes strong enough, it changes how you speak, how you act, and how others respond to you. Sales close do not happen at the end of the conversation. They happen the moment certainty is felt and certainty begins inside of you. Now to review and conclude episode 381 this special review of Napoleon Hill's Think and Grow Rich through the lens of a salesperson. We covered the first three chapters of this book to form a complete inner foundation. Together, they explain why sales success begins long before tactics, scripts or strategies ever matter. Before there is action, there is belief. Before there is belief, there is desire. Desire and before desire, there is a thought. Napoleon Hill does not begin this book with techniques. He begins with identity and inner alignment. For sales professionals. These chapters explain while results are not random and why performance is always an inside out process to review. Chapter 1 the Power of Thought why Sales Outcomes Begin in the Mind. Chapter one introduces the central premise, Thought is creative. Through the story of Edwin C. Barnes, Hill shows us that success begins when a person decides what they want and holds that thought with unwavering persistence long before the evidence appears. Barnes did not hope to work with Thomas Edison. He decided it would happen. And despite having no money, no relationship, and no visible path, Barnes carried himself with such certainty that Edison felt it immediately. Edison did not respond to Barnes circumstance. He responded to Barnes state of mind. So applying this to sales Sales performance reflects what you expect, not what you wish for. Your internal dialogue says sets your confidence level, shapes your tone and determines whether you lead or hesitate.
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And you don't get the sale you want. You get the sale you expect. The one you truly believe is possible. Reviewing chapter two on Desire from wanting sales to demanding results, if thought sets direction, desire supplies the fuel. In chapter two, Hill makes a critical distinction. Desire is not hope. It's not wishing. It's not motivation. True desire is emotionally charged, specific and definite. Barnes desire to work with Edison was not casual or negotiable. It was what Hill called a burning desire, so strong that Barnes was willing to stake his future on it. The sales application for this chapter Desire determines behavior.
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When desire is vague, goals feel optional.
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Hesitation increases, and selling comes from need. When desire is clear and emotionally anchored, confidence sharpens, clarity replaces doubt, and certainty becomes visible.
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Vague goals create vague results.
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Sales success accelerates the moment desire becomes non negotiable.
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In reviewing chapter three on faith, certainty is the real.
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Close Chapter three explains how desire becomes believable through faith. Hill defines faith not as blind belief, but as a trainable state of mind developed through repetition and autosuggestion.
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Faith is belief made visible through certainty.
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By writing goals clearly and reading them aloud daily as if already achieved. Belief moves from the conscious mind to the non conscious mind, and over time, certainty replaces doubt. In the sales application of chapter three, buyers do not borrow certainty from products, they borrow it from the salesperson. Faith shows up as calm confidence, not arrogance. A steady tone, authority without pressure. When faith is present, objections soften not because they're argued away, but because certainty dissolves resistance. Now, how do these chapters all work together? They work together like colors of the rainbow. These chapters are not separate ideas, they form a sequence. Thought sets direction, desire creates commitment, and faith produces certainty. And without thought, there's no aim. Without desire there's no momentum, and without faith, there's no follow through. Sales mastery begins here, not with what you say, but by who you're being when you say it.
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A final insight from chapters one to three Sales does not reward effort alone. It rewards clarity, commitment, and certainty. When your thoughts are aligned, when your desire is definite, and when your faith is trained, your results begin to change, often before your strategy does. Because at the highest level, sales is not a transaction, it's the transference of emotion. And the primary emotion is certainty. And with gratitude to close out our review of Chapter Chapters one to three, Part one of our review of Think and Grow Rich, dedicated to the salesperson. We bring our credit back to Paul Martinelli, who's helped me to understand not only the entire Think and Grow Rich book that we did for our first review in 2022, but to now take this book and apply it to success in the sales industry. And I hope you've enjoyed this angle of this timeless book. And we'll see you in a few days for part two of this review where we'll cover the next three chapters of Think and Grow Rich. See you in a few days.
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If you're enjoying the Neuroscience meets Social and Emotional Learning podcast, please don't forget to subscribe so you'll stay up to date with our new episodes. While you're there, please feel free to give us a review or a five star rating as it helps others find. For more information on our programs, books and tools for schools and the workplace, Visit us at www. AchieveIt360.com.