Outwitting the Devil is a work of fiction that was written in 1938 by Napoleon Hill, which was considered too controversial to be published in its era. The book is written as an interview between Hill (Mr. Earthbound) and the devil (our inner dark self), wherein Hill attempts to uncover the secrets to freedom and success by evaluating the greatest obstacles that humans face in order to attain their personal goals in life. Interview With The Devil - The Secret To Freedom And Success - Napoleon Hill About Napoleon Hill: Napoleon Hill (October 26, 1883 -- November 8, 1970) was an American author in the area of the new thought movement who was one of the earliest producers of the modern genre of personal-success literature. He is widely considered to be one of the great writers on success. His most famous work, Think and Grow Rich (1937), is one of the best-selling books of all time (at the time of Hill's death in 1970, Think and Grow Rich had sold 20 million copies). Hill's works examined the power of personal beliefs, and the role they play in personal success. He became an advisor to President Franklin D. Roosevelt from 1933 to 1936. "What the mind of man can conceive and believe, it can achieve" is one of Hill's hallmark expressions. Hill considered the turning point in his life to have occurred in the year 1908 with his assignment, as part of a series of articles about famous and successful men, to interview the industrialist and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie. At the time, Carnegie was one of the most powerful men in the world. Hill discovered that Carnegie believed that the process of success could be outlined in a simple formula that anyone would be able to understand and achieve. Impressed with Hill, Carnegie asked him if he was up to the task of putting together this information, to interview or analyze over 500 successful men and women, many of them millionaires, in order to discover and publish this formula for success. As part of his research, Hill claimed to have interviewed many of the most successful people of the time in the United States. In the acknowledgments section of his 1928 multi-volume work The Law of Success, Hill listed 45 of those studied by him during the previous twenty years, "the majority of these men at close range, in person", like the three to whom the book set was dedicated, Andrew Carnegie, Henry Ford, and Edwin C. Barnes, an associate of Thomas Edison. Carnegie had given Hill a letter of introduction to Ford, who introduced Hill to Alexander Graham Bell, Elmer R. Gates, Thomas Edison, and Luther Burbank. According to the publishers, Ralston University Press, endorsements for the publishing of The Law of Success were sent by a number of them, including William H. Taft, Cyrus H. K. Curtis, Thomas Edison, Luther Burbank, E.M. Statler, Edward W. Bok, and John D. Rockefeller. As a result of Hill's studies via Carnegie's introductions, the Philosophy of Achievement was offered as a formula for rags-to-riches success by Hill and Carnegie, published initially in 1928 as the multi-volume study course The Law of Success. For this first edition, Hill had rewritten his previous 1925 manuscript, also recently released in 2011. The Achievement formula was detailed further and published in home-study courses, including the seventeen-volume "Mental Dynamite" series until 1941. The secret of achievement was tantalizingly offered to readers of Think and Grow Rich, but Hill felt readers would benefit most if they discovered it for themselves. Although most readers feel that he never explicitly identified this secret, he offers these words about 20 pages into the book: If you truly desire money so keenly that your desire is an obsession, you will have no difficulty in convincing yourself that you will acquire it. The object is to want money, and to be so determined to have it that you convince yourself that you will have it. . . You may as well know, right here, that you can never have riches in great quantities unless you work yourself into a white heat of desire for money, and actually believe you will possess it. However, Napoleon Hill also states at the introduction that the secret that the 'canny, lovable old Scotsman carelessly tossed it into my mind' (Andrew Carnegie) was also the same secret that Manuel L. Quezon (then Resident Commissioner of the Philippine Islands) was inspired by to 'gain freedom for his people, and went on to lead them as its first president.' He presented the idea of a "Definite Major Purpose" as a challenge to his readers in order to make them ask themselves, "In what do I truly believe?" According to Hill, 98% of people had few or no firm beliefs, and this alone put true success firmly out of their reach.

Summary: In 1950 Earl Nightingale was inspired by the words "we become what we think about" in Napoleon Hill's book Think and Grow Rich around the same time he bought an insurance agency. He provided weekly motivational speeches to the agency's sales staff. In 1956, he recorded a motivational speech to be played while he was on vacation. The motivational speech explores the concept of success and how to achieve it. In the recording, Nightingale discusses the idea that success is not the result of luck or chance, but rather a direct result of our thoughts and actions. He argues that the key to success is to have a clear and specific goal, and to take consistent action towards achieving that goal. Nightingale also emphasizes the importance of personal responsibility and the role that our beliefs and attitudes play in determining the course of our lives. He encourages listeners to adopt a positive and proactive mindset, and to take control of their thoughts and actions in order to create the life they desire. "Before listening to this recording, I want you to realize, that... Your job, regardless of what it may be, holds within it the KEY to success and abundance. This recording, 'The Strangest Secret', gives you that KEY...tells you how to make the most of your own capabilities...how to attain the rich full measure of success and happiness that can surely be yours. You and you alone determine the DEGREE of your success. By following the principles set forth in this recording, you are bound to achieve a better way of life...starting now!" - Earl Nightingale Chapters: 00:00 - SIDE A: The Strangest Secret 18:49 - SIDE B: Pay The Price (The 30 Day Challenge)

Summary: As a Man Thinketh is an essay by James Allen, originally self-published in 1903. The book explores the idea that a person's thoughts have a powerful influence on their circumstances and experiences in life. The central premise of the book is that our thoughts shape our character and determine the quality of our lives. Allen argues that by controlling our thoughts and focusing on positive, uplifting ideas, we can transform our lives and achieve success and happiness. The book also discusses the importance of taking responsibility for our thoughts and actions, and the role that self-discipline and determination play in achieving our goals. Born in England 1864, James Allens father was struggling in the textiles business, his father traveled to New York City to seek employment when Allen was 15 years old. Sadly, he was robbed and murdered just days after his arrival. Allen was forced to leave school and worked to help support the household. Holding onto the intelectual practice of reading and writing that his father instilled in him, Allen studied his fathers books on ethics, religion and philosophy during his lunch breaks and well into the evenings. Feeling stuck and without direction, he was striving to find purpose and meaning for life. In 1889, Allen found new employment outside of the factory working as a secretary and continued to contemplate the world religions and it became clear to him that the underlying message was self-development and inner refinement. He began writing his own thoughts and in 1903, Allen wrote As a Man Thinketh to encapsulate the idea that our thoughts are causative and that thought is the cause of oneself. The title may have been inspired by the proverb, “As he thinketh in his heart, so is he.” James Allen writes from personal life experiences of mental building himself up and out of despair and the struggle he experienced as a youth. From the publication of this book forward he would publish a book a year until his death in 1912. This book would go on to inspire Napoleon Hill, Dale Carnegie, Marxus Garvey, and many others. By directing our thoughts toward greatness and achieving personal goals, he teaches that we don’t attract what we want so much as we attract what we are. As James Allen wrote himself, "This little volume (the result of meditation and experience) is not intended as an exhaustive treatise on the much-written-upon subject of the power of thought. It is suggestive rather than explanatory, its object being to stimulate men and women to the discovery and perception of the truth that “They themselves are makers of themselves” by virtue of the thoughts which they choose and encourage; that mind is the master weaver, both of the inner garment of character and the outer garment of circumstance, and that, as they may have hitherto woven in ignorance and pain they may now weave in enlightenment and happiness." Chapters: 00:00 - Introduction 01:30 - Thought and Character 06:11 - Effect of Thought on Circumstances 24:51 - Effect of Thought on Health and the Body 28:56 - Thought and Purpose 33:27 - The Thought-Factor in Achievement 39:12 - Visions and Ideals 46:18 - Serenity

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