Hello, My Name is Chip

 

Hello, my name is Chip, and I’m an alcoholic. As I sit down to write this, I’m celebrating 607 days of sobriety.

I have a new CEO at work, and when she discovered my love of books, she recommended that I read “Think and Grow Rich” by Napoleon Hill. I think she said something like it changed her life. That’s a pretty strong recommendation. So like any good employee, I immediately downloaded it. She then suggested that I do a book report to share with my fellow employees. So here goes.

If you’ve ever read a self-help book (I don’t like the term self-help), read a self-improvement (much better) blog, or watched a motivational video on YouTube, you have already read this book. I didn’t know it, but I had read it literally thousands of times before I ever cracked it open. “Think and Grow Rich” birthed the “self-help” industry in this country.

Napoleon Hill started with interviewing Andrew Carnegie, and for 25 years he studied the rich and powerful of this country. He found that they all share similar traits and beliefs, and that they ALL followed the same basic principles in achieving their success. He also discovered that if these basic principles are followed to the letter, anyone can achieve wealth and power. Oprah Winfrey credits this book for her success, claiming to have read it at least 13 times in her life. Michael Jordan, Elon Musk, Bill Gates and many others attribute their successes at least in part to Napoleon Hill. I personally believe that if the principals in this book are followed, anyone can achieve anything, including sobriety.

“Think and Grow Rich” lists thirteen steps that are the stepping stones on the path to wealth, power, or other personal goals. I’m not going into a lot of detail (read the book!), but these are the ones that pertain the most to my personal journey:

1. Desire. Wishing is not enough. Desire must become an obsession. I wanted more than anything to be sober.
2. Faith. Faith is a state of mind. You must convince your subconscious through daily affirmations or repeated instructions. I start each day by posting a positive affirmation on my Facebook page.
3. Autosuggestion. This is basically feeding your subconscious a diet of positive and creative thoughts. You have to retrain your subconscious. It sounds hokey, but it can be done. And yes, it does work.
4. Specialized knowledge. Knowledge alone is not enough, but knowledge IS a power which can be put to use to acquire your desires. Successful people in all endeavors never cease acquiring specialized knowledge relating to their desire. I had to put my own spin on this one. I already possessed the knowledge that I was killing myself one drink at a time.
5. Ideas. Ideas are the starting line in the race toward fulfilling your desires. It’s been said (by someone smarter than me) that man can create anything he can imagine. I imagined myself waking up feeling good and with money in my pocket. I feel great, but I still haven’t figured out the money thing. Looking back, I don’t know how I was paying my bills. There was definitely some creative financing going on.
6. Organized planning. Write your plan down! Don’t worry, you’re probably gonna get it wrong, but that’s okay. Just write it down. You’re gonna change and so will your plan! The thing is, writing your plan down makes it real. For me it was a calendar. I decided to mark every sober day on my calendar. I had almost a year of zeros and ones with a handful of twos tossed in. But I stuck with my plan and I finally saw a three. And then a four. This morning I wrote the number 607 on my calender.
7. Decision. Make decisions. Be they right or wrong, just make them. Indecision and procrastination are the number one killers of dreams.
8. Persistence. Willpower and desire are an unbeatable pair. Keep pounding. And I’m not talking about my head.

By now you are starting to get the idea. For me there was one more very important step. Mr. Hill calls it the Power of the Mastermind. No one person knows everything, so it is important that you surround yourself with people who can fill in your blanks. You are the Mastermind, but you gotta have a team. My team is pretty far-reaching. It consists of all the people (and there are a lot of you) who have stood by me, believed in me, offered words of encouragement, and helped me through some of the tough days. To you guys, I owe a heartfelt gratitude that words cannot begin to express and huge amounts of love! Thank you.

NOW, buy the book, read the book, live the book and read the book again. Go be somebody! I believe in you!

And remember, Sexy People Leave Tips!

Before I forget, let me give a quick shout out to my buddy Bailey Bailie for providing the crazy cool artwork featured in this post. Be sure to check him out on Facebook and Instagram!