Sean Rasmussen

You can find examples of modern persistence that has paid off (as well as, no doubt, failure to persist that didn’t) in many of the world’s most loved authors.

“This same persistence is what often brings us the greatest modern authors. The best-selling authors of our time do not become famous only because of their superior writing talents. They also excel because they persevere until their works are published. They refuse to take ‘no’ for an answer. Nearly every well-known author—Stephen King, J.K. Rowling, John Grisham, and so many more—had their works rejected numerous times before being published and made rich for their efforts. (Rowling’s famed first Harry Potter novel was rejected eight times before being published; since then, the Potter series has made J.K. Rowling the richest writer in history.)

If you stay sharp and pay attention, you’ll see exactly what strange power came to the rescue of the child; you’ll get a glimpse of this power in the next chapter. Somewhere in the book you will key in on an idea that reveals this same irresistible power to you, and then you will be able to use it to your own advantage. The awareness of this power may come to you in the first chapter, or it may flash into your mind later on. It may come in the form of a single idea. Or, it may come as a part of a larger plan or purpose. Again, it may prompt you to look back into your past experiences of failure or defeat, and teach you some lesson you missed before, a lesson that allows you to regain all you lost through defeat.”

When you put your finger on this power, you’ll have an indispensable tool that will guide every decision you make from that day forward, and you’ll see why you’ve not become wealthy before being conscious of this power and the Secret revealed in this book.

I will see you back here Monday and Thursday every week for the continuation of the Mindset Mastery series.

Sean Rasmussen
Success Communicator
SeanRasmussen.com © 2004 - 2008

This entry was posted on Thursday, July 31st, 2008 at 5:18 am and is filed under Mindset Mastery, Napoleon Hill, Self Improvement. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

The title of this post is introduction enough to the next installment from Mindset Mastery, so I’ll let Napoleon Hill continue with the conclusion to this episode.

“Ironically, Darby told this unusual story to the author inside the old mill, on the very spot where the uncle took his whipping. Ironically, too, this story was told to the author after he had devoted nearly a quarter of a century to studying that very power–the power which enabled an ignorant, illiterate colored child to conquer an intelligent man.

As the two (the author and Darby) stood there in that musty old mill, Darby repeated the story of the unusual conquest, and finished by asking, “What can you make of it? What strange power did that child use, that so completely whipped my uncle?”

The answer to his question will be found in the principles detailed in this book. The answer is full and complete. It contains details and instructions sufficient enough to enable anyone to understand and apply the same force the small girl accidentally stumbled upon.”

The power is more than persistence

We’ve mentioned persistence as this power, but to be fair, this power is more than simple persistence. What that additional power is may be different for individual readers, as is its bearing on their own experience and circumstance; Napoleon Hill does not define the power because he wishes for each reader to discover its form and importance on their own, in the way that it will benefit them the greatest. I’ll do the same and not venture too much of my own personal conjecture. We’ll see what else of it we can uncover as we move along.

I will see you back here Monday and Thursday every week for the continuation of the Mindset Mastery series.

Sean Rasmussen
Success Communicator
SeanRasmussen.com © 2004 - 2008

This entry was posted on Monday, July 28th, 2008 at 6:41 am and is filed under Mindset Mastery, Napoleon Hill, Success. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

We’ll pick up the story of Darby’s Uncle and the young tenant-farmer’s girl where we left off…

“Darby held his breath. He was certain he was about to witness a murder. He knew his uncle had a fierce temper. He knew that colored children were not supposed to defy white people in that part of the country.

When the uncle reached the spot where the child was standing, she quickly stepped forward one step, looked up into his eyes, and screamed at the top of her lungs, “my Mammy’s gotta have that fifty cents!”

The uncle stopped, looked at her for a minute, then slowly laid the wood on the floor. He put his hand in his pocket, took out half a dollar, and gave it to her.

The child took the money and slowly backed toward the door, never taking her eyes off the man whom she had just conquered. After she had gone, the uncle sat down on a box and stared out the window into space for more than ten minutes. He was contemplating, with awe, the whipping he had just taken.

Mr. Darby, too, was doing some thinking. That was the first time in his life he had seen a colored child deliberately master an adult white person. How did she do it? What happened to his uncle that caused him to lose his fierceness and become as docile as a lamb? What strange power did this child use that made her master over her superior? These and other similar questions flashed through Darby’s mind; but he did not find the answer until years later, when he told me the story.”

No doesn’t always mean no

You might be finding it difficult, just as Darby did, to put a name to the power Napoleon Hill refers to here. Regardless, at least take away this fact that Hill is working hard to bring to light—that ‘No’ doesn’t always mean ‘No’ if you have the courage and persistence to see a thing through, and refuse to be bullied by powers who seem bigger than you. Add this to your list of small lessons that will complete the whole of the Secret.

I will see you back here Monday and Thursday every week for the continuation of the Mindset Mastery series.

Sean Rasmussen
Success Communicator
SeanRasmussen.com © 2004 - 2008

This entry was posted on Thursday, July 24th, 2008 at 6:15 am and is filed under Mindset Mastery, Napoleon Hill, Self Improvement. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

Persistence is one way to describe that staying power that wealthy, successful men and women have, that power that takes them that critical step past temporary defeat. To illustrate the power of persistence, Napoleon Hill tells us this story of one brave and persistent little girl.

[Note: As you read, keep in mind that this incident took place in the early 1900's before the Civil Rights Movement in the United States; all things, at that time, were certainly not equal.]

“Shortly after R.U. Darby earned his degree from the “University of Hard Knocks,” and had determined to profit from his experience in the gold mining business, he was fortunate enough to be present to witness an incident that proved to him that “No” does not necessarily mean no.

One afternoon Darby was helping his uncle grind wheat in an old fashioned mill. The uncle operated a large farm where a number of colored sharecrop farmers lived. Quietly, the door was opened, and a small colored child, the daughter of a tenant, walked in and took her place near the door.

The uncle looked up, saw the child, and barked at her roughly, “what do you want?”

Meekly, the child replied, “My mammy say send her fifty cents.”

“I’ll not do it,” the uncle retorted, “Now you run on home.”

“Yas sah,” the child replied. But she did not move.

The uncle went on working, too busy to notice that the child did not leave. When he looked up and saw her still standing there, he yelled at her, “I told you to go on home! Now go, or I’ll take a switch to you.”

The little girl said “yas sah,” but she did not budge an inch.

The uncle dropped a sack of grain he was about to pour into the mill hopper, picked up a band of wood, and started toward the child with an expression meant to drive fear into her.”

Being Persistent

This is the point where most of us would relent and let the old Uncle keep the fifty cents. Be sure to join us in our next post to find out how this little girl with persistence and a simple word triumphed over “the Man”.

I will see you back here Monday and Thursday every week for the continuation of the Mindset Mastery series.

Sean Rasmussen
Success Communicator
SeanRasmussen.com © 2004 - 2008

This entry was posted on Monday, July 21st, 2008 at 5:29 am and is filed under Mindset Mastery, Napoleon Hill, Success. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

How would Kurek respond? With one word: Gratitude!

When I interviewed Kurek Ashley in Brisbane, he spoke about the power of gratitude and the effects it has on you. If you are willing to do the things that average people aren’t prepared to do, then you are the road to success. This topic is extensively covered in his best selling book: How Would Love Respond.

Gratitude

Here’s part 5 of the Peak Performance interview with Kurek Ashley. Discover the power of gratitude. Take note of the diplomatic answer Kurek gave when he asked if I was the most intelligent person on the planet

If you missed the first 4 parts of the Peak Performance interview, here they are:

Kurek Ashley - part 1
Successful Habits - part 2
Be Do Have - part 3
A life In Balance - part 4

As Kurek would say: Have a most outstanding day

Sean Rasmussen
Success Communicator
SeanRasmussen.com © 2004 - 2008

This entry was posted on Friday, July 18th, 2008 at 7:36 pm and is filed under Kurek Ashley. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.