The Lost Prosperity Secrets

The Lost Prosperity Secrets of Napoleon Hill is a collection of Hill’s early essays. Hill wrote these articles during a time when he was still refining his thoughts and theories on success. He talks a lot about how his early failures led to success. Napoleon Hill has had a lot of successes and failures. Major ones.

Hill talked about his time working at multiple magazine companies, eventually obtaining financial success. Then he decided to start a business and chose someone else to work with. The business partner, though, ended up running off with all the money and there was no way Napoleon Hill could get any of it back, causing the business to fail. Hill was broken and had to start all over, which made him feel like a failure. Though he was probably at one of the lowest points in his life, that situation set him up for his greatest success.

Even beyond his personal experiences, Hill stated that he found a life of poverty more often leads to a life of success. I understand how some financially successful people who have come out of poverty used their early life as fuel to drive their success, but statistically, I think they are the exceptions. Stories of those who rose out of poverty, especially those whose success was fueled by their poverty, may stick out in our minds, but that is because it is so uncommon. Statistically, those born into wealth or at least not into poverty are more likely to be successful. The idea is good motivation, though for someone who considers him or herself to be from the bottom. 

Why I Chose to Read this Book

Napoleon Hill is the godfather of the wealth and finance book industry. His classic, Think and Grow Rich, is probably considered an all-time classic. Why not consume his other works, not to mention his “lost” advice? It might be a gamble to read old self-help books, though, right? Surely, over time, the concepts found in those books have either been debunked or improved, right? Well, I think some still hold up.

Conclusion

I think the title is probably more of just a marketing ploy. My impression of this book was that this was a collection of the beginnings of his later works, especially Think and Grow Rich. Hill extolled upon the law of attraction and mixed both metaphysical and practical mechanisms. Here, Hill is perfecting his craft and refining his thoughts. There are still interesting points here.