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My First Million

‘Think and Grow Rich’ Is a Lie. (But The Advice Still Works)

26 Feb 2026

Transcription

Transcript generated automatically by AI and may contain errors.

Chapter 1: What is the backstory of 'Think and Grow Rich'?

0.031 - 8.309 Sam Parr

Think and Grow Rich. Amazing book. One of the best-selling books of all time. But the whole backstory, completely fake. And he's a total con man.

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9.071 - 12.218 Shaan Puri

What? What do you mean none of it's true?

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12.603 - 20.296 Unknown

I feel like I can rule the world. I know I can be what I want to. I put my all in it like no days off.

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20.316 - 25.906 Sam Parr

All right, I have to tell you this story. So I'm rereading a bunch of old books because I like reading old books.

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Chapter 2: What makes a guru legitimate in today's world?

26.327 - 30.334 Sam Parr

And I started reading Dale Carnegie, How to Win Friends and Influence People. Have you read that one?

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31.155 - 34.141 Shaan Puri

I love that book, Sam. Rule number one.

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34.281 - 50.153 Sam Parr

Rule number one. A person's name is the most beautiful. Their favorite word in the English language. The golden rule. I love that book. The reason I like these old books is because some of them, the rules have stood the test of time and the writing is always like, all their writing for some reason, it's like cute.

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Chapter 3: Who are the notable indie hackers mentioned?

50.374 - 50.935 Sam Parr

There's something about it.

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50.955 - 53.46 Shaan Puri

Can I tell you something stupid I did? I took the book.

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Chapter 4: What lessons can we learn from Pieter Levels?

53.44 - 56.884 Shaan Puri

And you know how people wear like, you're a denim guy. You know this. Distressed jeans.

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57.425 - 57.785 Sam Parr

Oh, yeah, baby.

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57.806 - 63.332 Shaan Puri

I distressed the book. I roughed it up a little bit. I made it look like this is an heirloom that's been passed down from Napoleon himself.

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63.613 - 67.658 Sam Parr

Did you like dog-ear certain pages even though you didn't even read the thing? Tattered.

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Chapter 5: How did Christina Cacioppo become successful?

67.858 - 68.739 Shaan Puri

Tattered and folded.

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69.08 - 70.121 Sam Parr

Folded it like a baseball hat.

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70.141 - 76.269 Shaan Puri

I'm still on the first 30 pages, but like I made this book look like it has already won friends and influenced people.

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76.809 - 79.633 Sam Parr

You just put it in the back of your pocket and just walk around with it.

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79.613 - 88.564 Shaan Puri

For people who don't know, people have heard of the book, but if it's been one of those things like The Wire, it's like, I heard it's a great show, but it's kind of old now. And I just, I guess I'm out on that.

Chapter 6: What led Sam Parr to become a dating expert?

88.904 - 93.13 Shaan Puri

Like if you know of the book, but you haven't actually cracked into it, tell the quick story of it.

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93.851 - 101.059 Sam Parr

Dale Carnegie, he originally was a public speaker and he taught public speaking classes. Then he created a book called How to Win Friends and Influence People.

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Chapter 7: What is the significance of the 5-second rule in dating?

101.099 - 108.068 Sam Parr

And I think it's like 15 or 20 rules on how to basically make friends and make people like you. So it could be saying their name,

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Chapter 8: How does Shaan Puri approach matchmaking?

108.048 - 123.722 Sam Parr

It could be asking them questions. So they do most of the talking. It's never arguing with someone because no one wins an argument when you guys fight. And there's like, how many? 15 or 20 rules. And it's just like an old timer book. It was released in the 1930s. So it's almost 100 years old. And it's probably sold 50 to 100 million copies.

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124.102 - 138.055 Sam Parr

And to this day, there's the Dale Carnegie Institute, which is a public speaking classes. And a lot of amazing people, including Warren Buffett, have said that that book influenced them and helped them. And in fact, Warren Buffett, he was an instructor at the Dale Carnegie Institute, I believe.

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138.035 - 141.864 Shaan Puri

Love it. Okay, great. And you were going to say, so you've been rereading this book.

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141.884 - 165.532 Sam Parr

I'm rereading that one. I just got The Power of Positive Thinking. That's another one from the 1930s. I just love these old books. And like I told you, I'm in the motivational phase of my life right now. I'm back at it. I just want to be influenced to be motivated and happy and all that stuff. It's a girl dad thing. You know what I'm saying? Once you have a girl, you're just emotional.

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166.092 - 184.893 Sam Parr

And so I'm into this stuff. But there's one book that I started reading last night and I was curious about it. The author. Because it just got me interested, but it's called Think and Grow Rich. Have you read Think and Grow Rich? A classic. I've, again, read the first 30 pages. Loved it. So you've read 30 pages. You get it. So let me tell you the story about Think and Grow Rich.

184.913 - 201.68 Sam Parr

Think and Grow Rich, one of the earliest self-help books. I think it predates How to Win Friends and Influence People. It sold around 100 million copies, making it one of the best-selling nonfiction books of all time. And to this day, it still regularly lands on the New York Times bestsellers list. I mean, it's a huge thing.

201.74 - 205.545 Sam Parr

And so basically, the story is that there's this guy named Napoleon Hill.

206.206 - 212.695 Shaan Puri

Can I say it wrong and you correct me? Isn't it something like he got commissioned by Carnegie? Oh, yeah.

213.035 - 213.256 Sam Parr

Yeah.

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