Scripting · “You Assign the Meaning”
The Six Steps to Riches
Convert a vague wish for money into a definite, dated, written commitment, then condition it twice daily while seeing and feeling yourself already in possession.
(1) Exact amount.
(2) What you’ll give in return.
(3) Definite date.
(4) A plan begun now.
(5) Write all four as one clear statement.
(6) Read it aloud morning and night — seeing, feeling, and believing yourself already in possession.
What it is
Hill’s single most cited protocol: the “six definite, practical steps” he lays out in the Desire chapter for turning “the desire for riches into its financial equivalent.” It is the Definite Chief Aim sharpened into a money goal — but Hill adds the operative details that make it his: an exact amount, a deadline, a statement of what you will give in return, a plan you begin at once, and a written statement read aloud twice daily while you see and feel yourself already in possession. It is goal-setting fused with emotional mental rehearsal.
The Method
Hill’s six steps, in his order (Chapter 2, Desire):
- Fix the exact amount. “Fix in your mind the exact amount of money you desire. It is not sufficient merely to say ‘I want plenty of money.’ Be definite as to the amount.”
- Decide what you will give in return. “Determine exactly what you intend to give in return for the money you desire.” (Hill is firm that there is “no such reality as ‘something for nothing.’”)
- Set a definite date. “Establish a definite date when you intend to possess the money you desire.”
- Make a plan and begin at once. “Create a definite plan for carrying out your desire, and begin at once, whether you are ready or not, to put this plan into action.”
- Write it all down as one clear statement. “Write out a clear, concise statement of the amount of money you intend to acquire, name the time limit for its acquisition, state what you intend to give in return for the money, and describe clearly the plan through which you intend to accumulate it.”
- Read it aloud, twice daily. “Read your written statement aloud, twice daily, once just before retiring at night and once after rising in the morning. AS YOU READ — SEE AND FEEL AND BELIEVE YOURSELF ALREADY IN POSSESSION OF THE MONEY.” Hill stresses the sixth step is where most people balk because they cannot “see” themselves in possession of money they do not yet have — and that the burning desire plus the felt belief is precisely what makes it work. (Sourcing note: quoted phrases are from Hill’s six steps in Chapter 2. The list reproduces his procedure faithfully with short fair-use quotation.)
Source & Lineage
Napoleon Hill, Think and Grow Rich (1937), Chapter 2, “Desire: The Starting Point of All Achievement.” The six steps are Hill’s monetized, time-bound elaboration of the Definite Chief Aim from The Law of Success (1928).
The twice-daily read-aloud-with-feeling instruction is then theorized in the next chapter (Auto-Suggestion). → (hill napoleon).
Common refinements
No exact number. “Plenty” is not a goal; pick the figure.
- No date / no plan. Steps 3 and 4 are what separate this from wishing. Begin the plan “whether you are ready or not.”
- Skipping step 2 (give in return). Hill’s ethic: define the value you’ll create; this also makes the goal credible.
- Reading flatly. Without the seeing/feeling, step 6 is empty recitation — Hill says so explicitly (see Auto-Suggestion).
- Treating it as magic instead of a plan. The card conditions you; the plan and work earn the money.