Apr 21, 2021
One of my favorite principles from a book called “Outwitting The Devil” by Napoleon Hill
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Hey, what's up everybody. This is Russell Brunson. Welcome back to the Marketing Secrets podcast. Today I want to talk about one of my new favorite books and something cool I learned in it that I'm doodling for a book that I'm writing and I just got to brain dump it so hopefully you don't mind. Let me share some cool stuff with you right now. All right. So the name of the book is Outwitting the Devil by Napoleon Hill. And if you have not read this book yet, it is insane. Kind of the story behind it, Napoleon Hill wrote this back in 1930s and it was about a conversation he had with the devil about how he can like tempt people and get them to fail in life, which is really, really fascinating. And we don't know if it's a true conversation or just something he made up, but either way the book is insanely good.
So he finished it in 1930s, a year after he wrote Think and Grow Rich, and then he didn't feel like he should publish it. He was scared. In fact, in the book, it talks about the devil's like, this is why you shouldn't publish it, why you're not going to publish it and all these things, which is kind of crazy. So he never published it. Then he passed away and then his wife got it and she read it. She's like, "I'm not publishing this." So she didn't publish it. Then when she passed away, it went into the hands of the Napoleon Hill Foundation. And a couple years ago, somebody found it and read it and was like, this is really, really good. And so they called up Sharon Lechter, who I had a chance just recently to talk to her and get to know her, which was really cool. Sharon is the one who was kind of like the co-author and the CEO for a long time of the Rich Dad Poor Dad brand. So if you've heard her name before it's because every one of those books is co-authored by Sharon Lechter.
So anyway, when I found the book, she's the one who put this whole book together. So I had a call with her last week and she told me that they called her up and said, "We have this manuscript. You should check it out." And she's like, "I was the fourth person to ever read it." I'm like, what? this is the craziest thing in the world. So she read it and they decided to publish it. She put all the work in to get it manuscript live and they launched it. Now, I believe it's in 40 languages, she said, which is really cool. But for some reason, I never read it and I wish I would have a long time ago, but it's amazing. And so in the book, it starts off with Napoleon Hill kind of telling the story about how he got to the certain spot in his life before this conversation with the devil. And the first couple of chapters were kind of slow because it's him telling the story. They're really good but it's all leading up to this conversation.
And a lot of things he talks about earlier, are essential for the conversation to actually make any sense. He meets the devil. He's in this like courtroom with him and he has a chance to interrogate him and the devil has to tell him anything he asks. So he starts asking all these things and it is so fascinating. So, my brain works in doodles. So as I'm reading his book, I'm doodling out the concepts and the principles and how they fit and where they tie together. And anyway, I'm going to be having a chapter in my new book that goes deep into this. So you guys will have a chance to see my doodles some day, but for now I want you to visualize the doodle. Basically, there's this person in the very top, and there's two choices they make, either faith or fear, right? Every time something happens to us in our life, we're going to choose faith and just move forward in faith, or we can have fear. And those are two opposite things, right?
And those are the two choices. So everything's tied to either faith or to fear. And so I have a little arrow going left to faith and right to fear, kind of diagonal. And in the book, the devil says his goal is to get everybody to become what he calls drifters. He says that right now he controls 98% of the population of man and they're all drifters, right? So a drifter is somebody who is not pursuing things, not doing the right things. And the other side, the 2% of the people are people who have what he calls definitive purpose. They have a purpose, they have thought, they know what they want to do, and they're executing, trying to achieve that thing. Okay. So those are the two things. If you follow fear, you become a drifter, like 98% of the people. Or if you follow faith, then you were in the 2% who followed definitive purpose.
Definitive purpose is like you have a goal, right? I want to do this thing. I want to accomplish this thing. I'm going towards it. I'm trying to get it. I'm trying to achieve it. I'm trying to do this thing, right? So that's the direction. And it's interesting is like, when somebody does have definitive purpose of the 2%, in the books they're talking about, here's the things he does to get somebody from this thing where they have definitive purpose, whether you are using faith, how do I get them to become a drifter? He has all these tools. One of the tools is when someone's got to finish a purpose and they build a business and they make money, first thing he'll have them do is eat a whole bunch of food because they eat a bunch of food, they get tired, they're less likely to work hard and it's very easy at that point to get somebody to become a drifter. So that's one example. He has a whole bunch of different examples of things he uses to get somebody from the side of faith to the side of fear, which was really fascinating.
Okay. Then on the fear side, he talks about all these different things he does to get people into fear, right? And so it's interesting. He says, there's the six most effective ways he gets somebody to have fear. So the fear of poverty, the fear of criticism, the fear of ill health. Number four is the fear of loss of love. Number five is the fear of old age. And number six, the fear of death. He said that the two most powerful tools he has to get somebody to have fear are poverty and death. If you can get somebody to be afraid of poverty, then you can control them. He can get them afraid of death, he can control. They said but the two things that are most powerful in actually controlling people and keeping them in fear is number one is poverty. So if I keep people broke and poor, then I can control them because now there's so many fears like, oh, I can't do this. I can't do that. Because when you're in poverty, you don't have the ability to go and do a lot of things, right? So it keeps you in a state of fear.
And the other one is ill health. If you're not healthy, then you're in a state of fear all the time too because you're not sure how your body's going to function and you're unable to do things and stuff like that. So those are the two ways he actually controls people and keeps them in fear through poverty and ill health, the two most powerful things he has. And then he talks about the habits he creates and it's really cool, but all these things he does to get somebody to first off, initially make the decision of fear. And then from there, how he ties those things and locks you in so you stay a drifter for the rest of your life. And that's kind of the premise of this book, right? Is you got two choices, have faith and pursue things with definitive purpose or have fear and become a drifter, right? And like I said, in the book, the devil says 98% of people, he has control of, they become drifters, which is crazy.
And so that's kind of interesting as I diagram that and start mapping out, well, for me, one of the things I needed to make sure I'm not acting in fear. How do I act in faith? How to make the correct decision, right? And as I started looking at this graph, it's like, here's all the things that he's trying to do to get me into fear, to make me become a drifter. Let me look at the opposite side. How do I act in faith? How do I make sure I have definitive purpose? When I do have success, how do I make sure I don't slide back over and become a drifter? How do I keep pursuing, keep progressing? And things like that. It's really fascinating. And then in the book it talks about this thing that ties the universes together. He calls it hypnotic rhythm and this where people get into. It's like when you get into hypnotic rhythm, it's hard to get out.
And so at the bottom of this graph, I kind of drew, it looks like a big whirlpool. It says hypnotic rhythm. That's working to keep you where you're at. And he said the hypnotic rhythm works on both sides. He said if you're someone who has definitive purpose, the hypnotic rhythm that becomes your routines and your habits and your things that, after you've got those things in place in your life, they become hypnotic rhythm. And typically you'll stay there, right? Or if he can get you to become a drifter over there, hypnotic rhythm is going to keep you there. So hypnotic rhythm serves both sides. It's just, what are the habits you have? You have the habits that are keeping you unhealthy, they're having you struggle, all these things make you become more of a drifter. Those habits will become hypnotic rhythm and you'll stay in that whirlpool for forever. Or the opposite is true as well. Where if you act in faith, if you have definitive purpose, and you're doing these things, that hypnotic rhythm will stay with you and it's easier to stay there as well.
So anyway, it's super fascinating. I can't wait. When my next book comes out, you guys have a chance to go deep and see my doodles, but for right now, I would highly, highly recommend going reading Outwitting the Devil by Napoleon Hill. It's just an amazing book. And I would recommend if you do listen to the audio book, because the audio book, the guy who plays the devil, his voice is really, really cool and you have a chance to hear him debating back and forth with Napoleon Hill and it's pretty cool. Anyway, so that's kind of one of my fun things I'm working on right now is just diagramming this concept and these principles to be able to include in my next book. But it's amazing. So Outwitting the Devil is awesome. I know a lot of you guys are listeners who've read C.S. Lewis. I have not read C.S. Lewis' books yet, but I know that there's, I think a couple books actually, like The Screwtape Letters where it's kind of a similar premise where it's how these devils, how they try to convince people to do what's wrong.
And it's kind of written in that same perceptive or perspective, sorry, the same perspective, as opposed to like here's all the things to do right. It's like, well, what does Satan, what does the devil, what's he trying to get you to do, right? And anyway, it's just fascinating. So I love the book. Highly recommend it. So there's something good to read. Read that book but look at it through that lens of like, okay, I want to learn how to protect myself, right? How do I keep acting in faith and stop acting in fear? How do I focus on definitive purpose? How do I move forward until I've gotten spot where I'm in hypnotic rhythm, where I'm not going to break free from it? And what are all the tools the devil's going to use to try to get me to become a drifter? And if I'm a drifter right now, what things do I need to prepare myself? How do I break free from this fear and these things and get back to a state of faith, get back to the state of faith, get back to a state where you're focusing and you're moving with definitive purpose?
Anyway, super fascinating. And I hope that you guys enjoy it. In fact, Josh Forti is going to come out next weekend and we're going to do a podcast interview on this. And so I'll probably go a lot deeper into it, but this will be the preface for you guys. And you have a chance, I'm sure we'll post the Outwitting the Devil podcast here in a couple weeks, you have a chance to hear me and Josh dive even deeper. So you got a little window now between you hearing this and that next interview to go and read the book so you can come back and we have an intelligent conversation about it, have some fun. So that said, go read the book. And then in a couple episodes from now you'll have a chance to hear me and Josh go deep on this concept. So there you go, guys, appreciate you all. Hope you have an amazing day and we'll talk to you all again soon.