You Can't get Something for Nothing

I have been trying this new routine of waking up at 5am to run, read, and write. Well, today I did the first two but then I put my pajamas back on and went right to sleep until the REAL alarm got me up.

In the meantime, I had run (a little) with my dog, and sat down to read in the silence I can only find during that hour between 5 and 6.

When I do my morning reading, I make sure it is a certain kind of reading. Namely, it has to give me some kind of insight and be positive-- help me be a better person. The kind of books you don't tell anyone you are reading.

But, we're friends. So I will tell you.

I am reading Napoleon Hill's THINK AND GROW RICH right now. A classic. I loved today's reading because it hit on an issue that I feel strongly about.

It was published in 1937 and based on ideas developed with Andrew Carnegie, and if it was good enough for Carnegie, it's good enough for me!

This is from the chapter called ORGANIZED PLANNING: THE CRYSTALLIZATION OF DESIRE INTO ACTION.

"However, you should know the full truth concerning this FREEDOM of which so many people boast, and so few understand. As great as it is, as far as it reaches, as many privileges as it provides, IT DOES NOT, AND CANNOT BRING RICHES WITHOUT EFFORT...There is but one dependable method of accumulating, and legally holding riches, and that is by rendering useful service."

and I love this.

"The 'System' denies no one this right, but it does not, and cannot promise SOMETHING FOR NOTHING, because the system itself is irrevocably controlled by THE LAW OF ECONOMICS which neither recognizes nor tolerates for long, GETTING WITHOUT GIVING."

If you have not read Napoleon Hill, I suggest you try. His books are so old they are in the public domain, so you can get a free pdf of this one, for example. Or watch him talk about it here.

It puts into words what we already know and what drives us all (I think) crazy about people we meet in our lives from time to time. The ones who are always trying to get something for nothing, cheat people, get rich fast through pyramid schemes, etc. This book, finally, says it's okay to make money, being wealthy is fine, but you have to work more than you are paid for in the beginning, and then eventually your efforts will be rewarded and you will be paid much more than you ever worked.

SO HUNKER DOWN, PEOPLE, AND LET'S GET OUR WORK DONE!