“The person who moves with definiteness recognizes the difference between temporary defeat and failure. When plans fail he substitutes others but he does not change his purpose. He perseveres.” – 4.5/5 stars!

Attention! This book contains: defined goals, alienation, procrastination, powerful tools, success, habits, caution, limitations, the media, associations and a very interesting interview.

Napoleon Hill wrote this book in 1938, just after publication of his all-time bestseller, Think and Grow Rich. This powerful tale has never been published, considered too controversial by his family and friends.
Using his legendary ability to get to the root of human potential, Napoleon Hill digs deep to identify the greatest obstacles we face in reaching personal goals: fear, procrastination, anger, and jealousy, as tools of the Devil. These hidden methods of control can lead us to ruin, and Hill reveals the seven principles of good that will allow us to triumph over them and succeed.

Annotated and edited for a contemporary audience by Rich Dad, Poor Dad and Three Feet from Gold co-author Sharon Lechter, this book is profound, powerful, resonant, and rich with insight.

It’s funny how books appear exactly when we need them the most… and of course, that was exactly what happened with this book.
From what I’ve researched, Outwitting the Devil was originally written in 1938, but it was only published a few years ago because of how controversial the book is. Still, even though it was written so long ago, everything mentioned can be applied in the present days. It’s a timeless book.
First off, it’s important to point out that this is not a religious book whatsoever. The title can suggest this is a book about religion, but it’s not. If that would stop you from reading the book, please reconsider. I think it’s extremely important to keep an open mind while reading it because of its approach. The book is told in an interview format… but the interviewee is the devil. I know, I understand some people may find this weird, but the truth is that it doesn’t matter if the interview was real or not. The metaphor here is what is truly important.
There were a lot of important things mentioned in this book, but there were some things that stood out the most to me. The first one is the importance of having defined goals to look forward to. This hit me like a ton of bricks. It seems (and is) simple, but it’s something I never thought about too much. I always had goals, but I never thought about how defined those goals needed to be to not be influenced by external forces. Another thing that was memorable to me is how most of the times we don’t think for ourselves. Other people’s opinions, our own experiences and even our environment can dictate how we live our lives and we forget to live by our own thoughts. And the last thing that I want to mention is the correlation between negative and positive energy. I do believe the good and bad are balanced in our world, but I never thought about the correlation with the positive and negative charges of atoms. My chemistry background wished he put emphasis on how the 98% percentage is about the volume of the atom, and not the mass… but I digress!
The book talks about relevant topics, such as fear, habits, addiction, thoughts, harmony and time. I would recommend this book to anyone, not only if you need help in some area of your life. It is a great book that shares a fresh perspective on some important issues. It’s a fairly quick read and I think there are a lot of things worth taking from this book.