“Think” and Grow Rich is the title of the historical book written by Napoleon Hill. It’s premise is that your thoughts are key to have a life of either “rags” or “riches”, because it is the same function of the mind. You either excel at one or the other, but everyone does both already.
The title should be “‘Think’ and Grow Rich or Poor” because everyone already thinks. So it cannot be that thinking is the key, but rather what you do.
I drew a diagram years ago about the long path involved in learning and how easy doing was. Learning a role in an opera takes a long time and a lot of effort. Going out and singing that role on any given evening is actually not hard at all. The point being is that doing is a lot easier than learning, but we avoid doing like the plague.
Writing is the doing of thinking for me. I can write my thoughts down and at least I have created something to show for it. But, like words, thoughts are cheap and the monetary value of thoughts or words is a very difficult thing to estimate. They are most likely not worth a whole lot.
When I think about my life and all I have to do it doesn’t get me very far. When I look at my plan for the day tomorrow and realize I am going to try to get stuff done but in reality have no plan for doing it then it makes me realize that I will have to debate with myself over and over again what I will do when, and that debate is usually mostly about the debate and not getting anything done.
The primary work list is really a set of action based goals written down at specific times of day. Without that, you may as well go on vacay.
A schedule for actionable goals is important because you are making a contract with yourself stating you will focus ONLY on that task and not let yourself get distracted. The next factor is to not give yourself enough time to do something. What that does is force you to put a little extra hustle in to get it done. It isn’t about getting it done fast at all, it is about giving the focus proper energy.
Good luck! Remember, thinking great is one thing, doing great is the only way to succeed.