The Seed Of Equal Or Greater Benefit

One of my favorite concepts in Napoleon Hill’s timeless classic ‘Think And Grow Rich’ is “the seed of equal or greater benefit”. 

Here’s the main idea: In everything that happens to you, desirable or not, there is always something better conspiring for you. 

It argues that what might appear to be a setback, challenge, or failure is actually a set up for something even better that you didn’t even realize - A lesson you didn’t know you needed to learn, an experience you didn’t know you needed to have, or an opportunity you didn’t even know you were missing. 

Napoleon Hill encourages you to have faith that there’s always a seed of equal or greater benefit at all times, and that it’s upon us to install a consciousness that can identify exactly what that might be.

For example, let’s say you’re filing for divorce. Something like that could feel like the biggest failure you’ve ever had in your life. The opportunity is to explore how that situation might be serving you, your future, and your personal evolution. The possibilities are endless for how devastation could turn into divinity. Now that’s not to say it’s not supposed to hurt, but to share that it has purpose.

Ultimately, this means that there’s no such thing as bad news. Everything at all times is working in your best interest. Either you get what you want or better! Everything that happens to us is a gift to us.

But, that’s not always material in the moment. Failure doesn’t turn into favor in a moment. And that’s why he calls it ‘a seed’.  Seeds take a while to grow, mature, and bear fruit. They lie latent underground and invisible until they sprout.

All this to say, just because things are conspiring for us does not mean that we have immediate evidence that it’s happening. In fact most times we don’t. But again that’s why we must act in good faith as if it is, so that we don’t miss the fruit when it’s ready for us.

Like a farmer with his crop, be patient. Nurture the kernel. Believe in its possibility. Trust the process is working even if you can’t see it. Live with that intention, that everything has a seed of equal or greater benefit, and your life will prosper.