Tim Sanders was a bright kid who despite coming from a broken family thrived at school and won scholarships and was looking forward to a bright future. Though his grandmother Billye was his driving force, his loving father was his ballast and foundation. His world came crashing down the day his father was murdered. Tim lost faith, lost his passion and started drifting. He calls these his sideways years.

One of the most important factors that helped him recover his faith, his stride and not only get back into the game but thrive at it happened to be a book…’Think & Grow Rich’.

This started him on a virtuous loop. His mornings were dedicated to reading great books from the scriptures to inspirational stuff. Good books created good thoughts which in turn lead to good actions.

In his book “Today We Are Rich” Tim Sanders reiterates the importance of feeding your mind good stuff.  We all know the importance of reading good books but at the same time we all need to be reminded too. Tim does the reminding very effectively with his fresh and engaging style. It includes personal anecdotes from his own life and that of others that drives home the need to read.

Books give you a depth of thought lacking in blog posts, magazine articles etc.

Like in everyone’s life I had a spell of drifting. For several months in a row I neglected my blog. I simply stopped writing and posting. While I had no good reason to explain that the longer I went without blogging the harder it appeared for me to get back into it.

This is the 3rd blog post I am writing in one month. What finally helped me get back into my game was a conversation with the devil specifically Napolean Hill’s latest book ‘Outwitting The Devil’. In it he dealt at length with drifting. A sore topic for me. This book inspired me to take action. It was another book that inspired me to start this blog several years ago, ‘Flight plan’ by Brian Tracy.

Books have that power. Not only can they educate you, they can inspire you into taking action.

This is true for everyone whether you realize it or not. If you are reading this you have achieved a certain level of traditional schooling and what was it that gave you knowledge besides your teacher.

Traditional schooling books are not even a quarter as valuable as the books you will read after you reach a certain maturity in your life.  This is so in all areas of your life from specialized education, spiritual awakening to inspiration.

Readers are leaders

Below are a few books so good they have a place in my home library:

The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari – by Robin Sharma

Awaken The Gian Within – by Anthony Robbins

Unlimited Power – by Anthony Robbins

Flightplan – by Brian Tracy

Your Best Life Now – by Joel Osteen

The Magic Of Thinking Big – by David J Schwartz

The Bhagvad Gita

The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People – by Stephen Covey

First Things First – by Stephen Covey

How To Get Rich – by Felix Dennis

How To Win Friends & Influence People – by Dale Carnegie

How To Stop Worrying & Start Living – by Dale Carnegie

Rhinoceros Success – by Scott Alexander

Advanced Rhinocerology – by Scott Alexander

Think & Grow Rich – by Napolean Hill

Flight Plan – by Brian Tracy

Talent Is Overrated – by Geoff Calvin

Re Inventing Yourself – Steve Chandler *****

Please post your favorites.

All of us that read this post can benefit from it.

Remember the story Dr. Jekyll and Hyde. It is about a man with two opposing characters, one during the day and one at night. We all have a bit of that in us. There is the devil tempting us to our weaknesses and the good trying to lift us from gravity. These are not in balance. In fact a majority of us, about 98% have more of the devil.

Napolean Hill defines the devil as the negative energy that lives within our minds in his new book “Outwitting The Devil”. A book that is remarkably relevant to our times.

You may wonder how that is possible given that Napolean Hill had been dead for more than 4 decades. Napolean Hill was always ahead of his times. In his book ‘Think & Grow Rich” he popularized the concept of the mastermind. His new book was so far ahead of his time that both Napolean and his wife feared the book would provoke adverse reactions.

The devil is not one that we will encounter in our afterlife but one who is right within us. It is the devil that causes us to over indulge in sex, alcohol, drinking, gambling, gossiping, temper tantrums, etc. It is the devil at play when we come back from and plop on the sofa to watch TV neglecting to spend time with the kids or postpone paying our bills. Lest you think you have no responsibility in this at all Napolean reminds us that it is we that willingly let the devil into our lives.

It is the drifters that attract the devil and unless they discover how adrift they are, remain adrift with the devil until the end of their lives.

What defines a drifter. A drifter is a person that lets the environment fashion him. A drifter is a person that accepts whatever life gives him. A drifter does not go against the tide, he does not put in the effort or the sacrifice.

The most important factor to prevent getting adrift with the devil is accurate thinking per Napolean Hill. Once a person starts drifting it gets harder and harder the longer he is adrift. There is hope though. Napolean lists the following things that he can do to get back on trail:

- A major definite purpose

- Self discipline

- learning from adversity/failure

- controlling environmental influence

- developing the habits of positive thinking over negative

- Thinking through your plan before you act