| Title | : | Napoleon Hills Keys to Success: The 17 Principles of Personal Achievement |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | 0452272815 |
| ISBN-10 | : | 9780452272811 |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 256 |
| Publication | : | First published January 1, 1994 |
Napoleon Hills Keys to Success: The 17 Principles of Personal Achievement Reviews
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Having finished the short "Napoleon Hill's Keys to Success", the medium sized "Think and Grow Rich" and the massive "The Law of Success" all back to back, and having found them all fairly similar, I will discuss them all at once.
First of all, "Napoleon Hill's Keys to Success" is not by Napolen Hill at all. It is a fairly short book by modern authors outlining the main principles of success found in Hill's other books, especially "Law of Success" and "Think and Grow Rich". Although renamed and reworded, the principles are the same as in Hill's original books and as such are sound, but "Keys to Success" reads like an abridged version of the aforementioned books and like all abridged books, it suffers from too much condensation and a lack of examples and elaborations. For those, who have read Hill's original books, it serves as a nice refresher but for those who haven't, it may remain too obscure.
Secondly, Hill's "Think and Grow Rich" from 1938 is actually a rewrite of sorts of his much larger "Law of Succcess" from 1928. Unfortunately it doesn't follow the same coherent structure as "Law of Success", introduces even more spiritual new age ideas than the former and his train of thought is all over the place. Although I have now read it a total of three times - once a bad translation more than 10 years ago and the second and third times just last month, one being a revised and updated 21st century edition and the other the original unmodified version - I still have a hard time understanding parts of it. As for the differences between the two versions, the revisions of the modern version consisted mainly of removing racial or sexist sounding language and adding modern commentary. I appreciated some of the modern commentary, since many of the people or concepts referred to in Hill's original version from 1933 are no longer familiar to the modern reader. However, I found that the direct tampering with the original text had altered some of the meaning and message of Hill's writing more than I could find justifiable. Overall though I found the added commentary more helpful than I found the tampering of the original text unjustified, so I give the modern version a slight recommendation over the original one.
Third comes Hill's "Law of Success", a monster of a book with a total of more than 1000 pages to it. The principles of success outlined by Hill are all sound and true and the work he seems to have done to amass these principles into one book seems to have been enormous. However, the book didn't really need to be 1035 pages long since much of the supporting framework built around the principles is of questionable value. Let me elaborate.
Although the book is filled to the brim with golden nuggets of wisdom, the constant barrage of Hill's personal pseudo-scientific ideas makes it a much harder read than it needs to be. This becomes especially evident in the very first chapter ("The Mastermind"), which by its very obscurity defends the whole book against the risk of being read by the more pragmatic and scientifically minded reader. Some of Hill's ideas and suggestions about what he calls "mind energy" and "mind chemistry" and his constant referring to telepathy and mind vibrations are in fact quite ridiculous. Having read the revised and updated 21st century version of this book, I wonder why none of that nonsense was removed. The multitudes of pseudo-scientific theories, most of which seem to have been conjured up in the mind of Hill himself, were highly speculative at the time of writing (in the 1920s) and are just plain silly today.
Interestingly enough, Hill claims that his only truly original contribution to all the laws and principles of success is the principle of that very same mastermind alliance, yet here is exactly where he steers off course the most. Although seemingly starting out as touting the positives of teamwork, Hill then goes downhill by attributing ethereal attributes to it and claiming things like vibrations of the mind moving through the ether from the thoughts of one person to another, telepathic abilities manifesting themselves in a collective mastermind of harmonious unity and similar nonsense.
It feels like Hill read a few sensationalist pseudo-scientific articles during his day and then, without even trying to confirm whether any of it was even remotely true, went on a tangent, extending and elaborating on these completely nonsensical theories and writing pages upon pages about them. Especially smitten is Hill with the ideas of "telepathy" and "ether" - he rolls them out every time he gets a chance and whenever he feels like it would give credibility to some of his other conjectures. In reality, "ether" was a speculative theory at the start of the 20th century about the nature of the universe and was considered to be the substance, through which all energy flowed (including radio waves and light). It was disproved and debunked fairly quickly, so the way Hill hangs on to it to "prove" the vailidity of many of his pseudo-scientific theories about how the mind works is highly regrettable.
In addition to a lot of quackery about ether and telepathy, we also find examples of the power of auto-suggestion to fend off pneumonia, cancer and even the bubonic plague. Knowing what we know about medicine and biology these days, some of the examples given are just plain silly - like the story of a woman, whose cancer tumour kept disappearing and reappearing depending on whether she was conscious or unconscious and thus whether she "believed" she had cancer or not. The principle of auto-suggestion is sound, but when such examples are used to seemingly illustrate its power, they really only serve to undermine it.
Mixed with his pseudo-scientific ramblings is his ambivalent stance on religion. Although the editors of the revised edition keep commending him for never invoking any religion in his works, Hill's "infinite intelligence" as the creator of all the universe and an entity to pray to, the need to have "faith" and his constant trumping of "christian values" is quite indistinguishable from referring to religion as I understand it. He even uses the creationist "blind watchmaker" argument in one of the chapters as proof, that the universe simply had to be created by intelligent design and a creator with a plan. On the other hand, he also invokes evolution and darwinism to back up some of his other theories. I don't really mind, whether the author is a religious creationist or a darwinist and atheist. What a do mind however, is when the author can't make up his mind a keeps switching sides whenever it suits his argument. Quoting both revivalist ministers and atheist free-thinkers, I don't see this as being flexible and open-minded - I see this as the author being confused and not really knowing, what he himself really believes or thinks. It's a shame really, that so many of Hill's universally true principles of success, human psychology and self mastery are drowned out by tedious pseudo-scientific quasi-religious prose, which can make for quite a frustrating read at times.
Additionally, instead of removing all that nonsense from the 21st century edition of the book, the editors have decided to dress it all up as magnificent foresight on Hill's part by claiming it to mean all kinds of other things instead of what Hill actually wrote. I remain thoroughly unconvinced though and so will any discerning reader.
Another puzzling aspect of the book is its constant redundancy. Some examples are not repeated just twice, but three, four or even five times in various chapters (sometimes almost word for word). I can understand, how redundancy can creep it if you write a book over a number of years, however that same redundancy should get thrown out during the editing stage at the very latest.
A matter of taste is the huge scattering of poems throughout the book. I am not a big fan of poetry myself, since my mind tends to wander the moment I stumble upon an artificially re-arranged word order (as so often happens in poetry to achieve a rhyme) and I don't think poems really address the modern reader like they might have a century ago, but I concede this is a matter of opinion.
Even though I hardly touched upon the actual principles of success in this book, those are the ones that actually garner a four star rating from me. In spite of all the surrounding hogwash, the principles themselves are are so true, that they outshine everything else. Without Hill's pseudo-scientific ramblings, this would in fact have been a five star book but since the golden nuggets of information are buried among too much "ether" and "mind vibrations", four stars is the best I can award to this book and three stars to its derivatives. -
What are the 17 principles of success
Everybody want to be successful and achieve his or her goals but what is the big secret to realize these? In 1908 Napoleon Hill conducted an interview with Andrew Carnegie, who challenged him to do research on this topic. Andrew Carnegie was at that time one of the most powerful men in the world business wise.
Napoleon Hill did on this topic his whole life research by interviewing numerous of successful people and focus on the elements of personal achievement and success.
17 principles of success
Based on his study and best-seller books Law of success (1928) and Think and grow Rich (1937), he defined 17 principles that can lead to great success and personal achievement. They are the 17 principles of success and achievement.
1. Definiteness of Purpose
For everything you do in life, you need a purpose. No matter if it is personal or business related, this is the first step in your quest for achievement and success. What do you wish to accomplish? What is your ambiguous goal? Which steps do you need to take to achieve it (plan)?
2. Mastermind Alliance
Scientific studies and practice have proven that people that work together in perfect harmony on the common goal, achieve more than one person on its own. Which partners do you need and choose to be successful and achieve your goal(s)? Cooperation and a powerful set of combined skills are a key factor for achieving success.
3. Applied Faith
The principle applied faith is the desire and plans that need to be succeeded into something tangible. Therefore you need a set of realistic goals to meet those tangible results. This is an essential principle, driven by a state of mind, attitude and confidence.
4. Going the extra mile
This principle is obvious. The more effort a partner puts in achieving a goal, the faster and better it will be accomplished. Also the law of compensation (rewards come in return for the deeds, thoughts and words) is great to incorporate in your achieving mindset.
5. Pleasing Personality
This principle can be a major asset in your everyday life. Goals and achievements can be much easier realised when you work with people (i.e. partners) who are easy to connect to and pleasant to work with. According to Napoleon Hill there are 25 characteristics of the personality that you can work on.
6. Personal Initiative
Each person / partner that works in an team and experiences group dynamics, is made aware that his or her responsibility is key, in order to achieve the desired goals. The individual is the starter of the initiative and it’s the challenge to complete that what he / she started. Also principle 4 is a key success factor to achieve the desired goals.
7. Positive Mental Attitude
No challenge can start without the right mindset. Positive (metal) attitude keeps your chin up and keep you powered in all circumstances. No challenge to large, objectives are clear and realistic and the right attitude to keep focus, inspire and motivate others, are key elements that are connected with this principle. The more positive everyone thinks, that are involved in the desired goals, the more likely it is to achieve success (the law of influence).
8. Enthusiasm
Enthusiasm is key to achieve success in business. Enthusiasm can work infectious; the more people are enthusiastic are about the desired goals, the more people will become that as well. It comes from within a person and is also connected to principle 3: applied faith. Success, applied faith and determination will attract more success.
9. Self-Discipline
You need to control your thoughts in order to control your needs and desired goals. This principle is all about the mastery of your own thoughts. You take possession of your own attitude, thoughts, emotions, acts, communication and so on. This is a vital principle to make the best business decisions and set the right priorities in order to achieve the desired goals.
10. Accurate Thinking
This principle is closely related to principle 9: self-discipline. This is all about mind control. Set your needed thoughts to achieve the desired goals prior and eliminate all other unnecessary thoughts. It’s also called the power of thought: “What you think, so you will become” ~ Napoleon Hill (1937).
11. Controlled Attention
This principle is all about prioritising time, energy and mindset to achieve the desired goals. This is the highest form of self-discipline (principle 9). What is the most important for you and what prioritized actions do you need, in order to sustain that focus?
12. Teamwork
TEAM is an acronym that stands for Together Everyone Accomplishes More! It is a fact, based on scientific and empirical studies, that people that work together with the focus on the same objectives, can accomplish more than one person alone. Teamwork therefore is a key asset, together with the other principles, for cooperative success and common desired goals.
13. Adversity and Defeat
This principle coffers the learning lessons from human errors and failures. You only can grow by learning by making small failures and master the experience. This is also called “temporary defeat” and it carries a seed of a (greater) benefit.
14. Creative Vision
In order to come to great and wise business ideas, imagination is the key word to stimulate creative visions. It starts with a simple idea that you can develop in small steps over time, possibly together with others. Therefore your imagination needs to be free and fearless. It comes from the sub consciousness and with mind exercises you stimulate and develop it.
15. Health
Whenever you are in business or something personal, health is key to enjoy life and achieve personal fulfilment. This principle coordinates and stimulates all principles. It also support conscious choices and giving you endurance. By eating healthy food and challenging your brain in exercising, you can benefit yourself and others of achieving the common desired goals.
16. Budgeting Time and Money
Time and money are important aspects for success. It’s important to take the time daily to understand your income and expenses in relation to your desired goals. Both precious resources need to fit in your current plan as well as your future plan (10 years from now). Prediction and decision making are key in relation to this principle.
17. Habits
Everybody wants peace in their mind, good health and financial security. Therefore, you need to have developing and positive habits to achieve it. By thoughts and deeds, you’ve established certain habits (cause – effect). Are these habits bring you peace in their mind, good health and financial security or do you need to change them in order to achieve this? What are these habits and what is your plan to change? -
Very similar to his book Think and Grow Rich. I liked a little more because I felt this book ia a little more concise and easy to digest. But both books are phenomenal. Must read for all those self-help junkies like myself.
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I had read 4 of his book, I would say this book is the best of them all as it covers majority of the points of through all the books. Even in this book, most points were repeated, but as reminder. This book was the latest of all I had read so maybe that's why it covers majority of the points
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La verdad es que este libro no merece una reseña en mi blog pues no hay mucho que decir. Tiene muchas enseñanzas pero lo sentí muy repetitivo. Destaco las últimas páginas especialmente porque deja de ser repetitivo y empieza a ser más enfocado. Estuvo bien.
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Six years ago, my grandmother's neighbor gave me some old cassette tapes of Napoleon Hill's Keys to Success. I've listened to them over and over, taking notes, closing my eyes, and reveling in the 1950-ish sound of his voice, and the voice of his narrator. The marketing phenomenon, The Secret, is Napoleon Hill all over again.
I've read his books, but I still prefer the tapes. One day I'll break down and get the CD's so I don't have to wake from my reverie and climb off my massage table and flip them over in the tape deck. Not like I do that every day, but...every few years. -
Having read think and Grow Rich, I come back to Napoleon Hill with an already formed idea of what I might find. My findings about The 17 principles, however, are even more that I expected.
First, as a disclaimer, let me tell you that I've listened to the book and it also contained some audio materials and speeches made by the author. My impression was that Napoleon Hill is way more convincing when you hear him then when you read him. I was actually impressed by his life story and with how good of a public speaker he was.
Coming back to The Principles, I really liked them. Some of them I already had in my backpack of personal development tools and some I did not see as "sine qua non" conditions for growth. However, in the light that the author puts it, it makes sense.
Among these, I believe that self discipline, applied faith and the formation of good habits are the most important. Sure, dealing with people is a crucial skill for everyone, but, for instance. a pleasing personality I think is not that high on the list. People with low agreeableness but high industriousness (The Big 5 personality test) can be very productive and successful just as well.
My advice to anyone reading this book and books like this is to read them with one question in mind: "How do I apply this to myself?". Applied here, this can vary according to the principles:
How can I be more disciplined?
How can I quit bad habits? How can I form better ones?
How can I communicate better?
Indeed, the mind is like a garden. If you read any self development book with this in the background, you'll be cheerfully surprised by what may grow as a result. -
I’ve read about 3 books by Napoleon hill and they are of high quality I will say. I enjoyed most of them and this one had a difference in the other two. The other ones are more about mindset and using things that aren’t physical like your mind and trusting in the power of faith. This book has that as well but it dives more into physical checklists on how to better yourself and the things that you engage in which I was very happy to see. I love seeing ways make myself better by measuring myself to a standard and deciding where to go from there. It’s very repetitive, especially with mentioning “definite major purpose.” If your a fan of self improvement, enjoy checklists to measure yourself with, and don’t mind repetition throughout the book on the same central ideas when referring to other ones this book is for you. For those of you who don’t want to read but just want the basic 17 principals of success he advertises on the cover then look no further.
*Spoilers*
The seventeen principals of success:
1. Develop definiteness of purpose
2. Establish a mastermind alliance
3. Assemble an attractive personality
4. Use applied faith
5. Go the extra mile
6. Create personal initiative
7. Build a positive mental attitude
8. Control your enthusiasm
9. Enforce self discipline
10. Think accurately
11. Control your attention
12. Inspire teamwork
13. Learn from adversity and defeat
14. Cultivate creative vision
15. Maintain sound health
16. Budget your time and money
17. Use cosmic habitforce -
Cumva, această carte a apărut la momentul oportun, când aveam nevoie să mi se reamintească că e necesar să tot perseverez, să am încredere și să îmi fac un plan cât mai riguros în atingerea dorințelor și aspirațiilor personale. Uneori, ne lamentăm considerând că nu putem schimba cu adevărat ceva în viața noastră, că degeaba încercăm, întrucât nu vom reuși să obținem ceea ce ne dorim, căci pare mult prea ireal. Cartea aceasta a avut darul de a-mi aminti cât de multe am realizat în trecut, doar prin dorința puternică de a face ceva care să conteze în viața mea.
Deși mai auzisem despre cărțile lui Napoleon Hill, niciodată nu m-am gândit măcar că le voi citi sau că îmi va face plăcere să le citesc. Sunt o lectură cu adevărat ușoară, dar plină de înțelesuri, dacă îți iei timp să o analizezi. Cumva, cartea aceasta mi-a reamintit la fiecare pagină cuvintele Mântuitorului, evocate în Matei 17:20 (,,Dacă veţi avea credinţă în voi cât un grăunte de muştar, veţi zice muntelui acestuia: Mută-te de aici dincolo, şi se va muta; şi nimic nu va fi vouă cu neputinţă”).
Și poate că astăzi, mai mult ca niciodată, ne e teamă să avem credință... -
For the year of 2023 I’ve decided to read one personal growth book each month. To keep my reviews on these books to the point and useful to my future self, I’m skipping on writing a traditional review and will just write down the notes I found useful so here we go!
1. Definiteness of purpose isn’t just a wish to achieve one’s goals, it’s a burning desire-a passion. For it to have any value, it must become a daily habit that you works towards.
2. Self discipline is a circular process; the more you exercise it, the more you have it.
3. Self discipline requires self knowledge and an honest assessment of your current abilities.
4. Whatever your mind can conceive and believe it can achieve.
5. The worst thing that happens to you may be the best thing that happens to you if you don’t let it get the best of you.
6. Sow and act, and you reap a habit. Sow a habit, and you reap a character. Sow a character, and you reap a destiny. -
Một phiên bản khác của Nghĩ giàu làm giàu. Có thể nói là một phiên bản mở rộng hơn. Hoặc một phiên bản cá nhân hơn. Tất nhiên dù nhiều hay ít các nguyên tắc thì cũng đều chung một nguồn cội là mong muốn đạt được mục tiêu và sẵn sàng trả giá để đạt mục tiêu đó. Việc giải thích các nguyên tắc của xã hội, con người hoặc tâm linh là để con người có cái nhìn đúng đắn và có lối sống phù hợp, nương tựa vào các nguyên tắc đó.
Thời đại, thời thế luôn luôn biến chuyển. Cần phải có cái nhìn khách quan và thực tế về cuộc sống để có cách đi phù hợp. Trong quá trình ấy, sức mạnh tâm linh là một điểm tựa rất tốt. Và muốn bật lên được thì cần có sức mạnh tri thức của con người.
Cuốn sách viết tốt, dễ hiểu, cần có nghị lực lớn để áp dụng.
2020. 4 sao -
“Siembre un acto, y recogerá un hábito. Siembre un hábito y recogerá una personalidad. Siembre una personalidad y recogerá un destino”
Depues de leer por segunda vez, las llaves del éxito de Napoleón Hill, puedo decir que es un libro para leerlo detenidamente y autoanalizarse mediante la lectura.
Me refresco muchos principios que pude haber olvidado durante un tiempo, pero son partes de mi personalidad.
Se lo recomiendo a las personas que estan perdidos en la vida y buscan un proposito en cualquier ámbito y no es necesario que sea el profesional.
Referente al autor, ya casi la mayoria de personas lo conocen por sus libros de autoayuda y de superación personal. Fácil de leer y de entender. -
Pembacaan buku ini saya selesaikan dengan metode bacakilat dalam waktu hampir 2 jam.
Secara keseluruhan buku ini menunjukkan apa saja kunci-kunci buat seorang pribadi mencapai kesuksesan.
Inti dari buku ini adalah dengan memulai menyusun kepastian tujuan yang membuat anda berkobar. Lalu membuat perencanaan dengan menuliskannya. Kepastian tujuan inilah yang akan dikombinasikan dengan sikap mental positif lainnya seperti mengembangkan kepribadian yang menarik, Iman percaya, kedisiplinan diri, melampaui ekspektasi, kerja sama tim, visi kreatif, dan seterusnya untuk membawa diri kita kepada kesuksesan.
Buku yang cukup menginspirasi, 4 stars... Solid! -
1. Valorifica puterea gandului
2. Cunoaste te pe tine insusi si evolueaza
3. Fi mai istez decat cele 6 apectre ale frici
4. Elimina gandirea negativa
5. Manifesta o dorinta arzatoare
6. Imprima idei positive in mintea ta subcosntienta
7. Controleazati gândurile prin autosugestie
8. Ai încredere
9. Puneti la treaba imaginatia
10. Dezvolta-ti cel de-al 6 lea simt
11. Dezvaluieste misterul transmutarii sexuale
12. Un creier cu puteri noi - telepatia si clar viziunea
13. Valorifica puterea mintii supreme
14. Elaboreaza un plan
15. Foloseset te de cunostiintele specializate
16. Fii hotarat
17. Fii perseverent -
Napoleon Hill is still so popular and I was very curious to read something about him and his work from another author. This book highlights main principles and ideas which could be very helpful. The best thing I personally learned from the book is the value of PMA (positive mental attitude) - that's something I have not tried before, also there are many different topics about personal growth and goals in general.
I like this book, it's short and pretty valuable. The only thing I would love to improve in this book is to add more exercises and practical tips. (4/5 from me) -
Едно малко книжле със 17 генерални принципа, които и да ги повтаряш като папагал, полза няма. Вместо някакви по-практически съвети, всичко е изцяло теория - имай въображение, бъди позитивен, здравето да е на първо място, бъди ентусиазиран и прочие. То на теория много хубаво звучи всичко, на практика нещата са малко по-различни, особено в днешния забързан свят, в който хвърчат съобщения, обаждания и какво ли още не на всеки 5 минути. Поне да беше малко мотивираща и да има малко примери, вместо това си е една чиста теория, която кой знае колко хора въобще ще помнят след точно 3 дни.
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Listened to this as an audiobook. It had some good quotes and it was motivating to listen, but I am afraid that listening to this type of motivational books that align with my "hard work" attitude contribute to make me more judgemental towards those who don't comply to these principles of success, that I subscribe to. But this is something I have to work for myself.
It is a very inspiring and motivating book, though. -
I watched the lecture on Youtube which covers the same content of this book. I was surprised to find out that such way of thinking existed back in the 1930s... why isn't this being taught in schools? There are plenty of principles here that can be very useful when it comes to work and life. I recommend listening to the lecture on your way to work or as you're lounging around at home. Take responsibility for your own life, otherwise you'll only regret not doing otherwise.
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Nunca había leído libros sobre éxito o triunfo personal, pero este me enganchó porque tiene ejemplos de la vida real, instrucciones y te hace replantearte qué quieres hacer con tu vida y cómo lo vas a hacer. Lo leería de nuevo y lo recomendaría a ciegas a una persona que esté interesada en mejorar constantemente.
Lo dejé súper subrayado porque me parecieron importantes muchas cosas 😂❤️ -
+Half of the book is inspiring
+Interesting views on subconscious mind, Infinite Intelligence
+Many success factors are mentioned
-No framework. Laundry list of factor
-Repetitive: Some factors are kept being used to explain other factors which makes it confusing
-Every success factor is being called "single most important one" -
This was a gift from my manager which I really appreciated. It is the first of its kind on my reading list and library (I do not usually believe in rules and keys to anything, nevertheless success, wealth or happiness. In my opinion, the road towards success is deeply personal and customized by our own self).
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I don't know why I found this book a bit difficult to read, maybe because it was the first self development book that I've read, but it was totally worth it 💕. I believe it should be part of every single human being's curricular education...this or any other book from Mr. Hill.
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Доста подобна книга на "Мисли и забогатявай". Бързо се чете и се асимилира. Хареса ми как принципите са обяснени с прости думи и след всяка една глава има няколко на брой въпроса, които карат читателя да се замисли и го подтикват да направи действия.
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Good book to reinforce the ideas of Napoleon Hill.
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LIke it
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Excelente libro, unos de los mejores libro de superacion personal.
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Recommended for personal growth.
Recomendado para el crecimiento personal
