Sean Rasmussen

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

While researching this book, Napoleon Hill interviewed over 500 highly successful men; men that have now gone on to become icons of capitalistic history and success. As part of his research, he talked with them about facing temporary defeat head-on, and about what delineates success and failure.

“More than five hundred of the most successful men in United States history, icons of American Capitalism and success, told the author their greatest success came just one step beyond the point when defeat had overtaken them. Failure is a swindler with a keen sense of irony and cunning. It takes great pleasure in tripping a person when success is just within reach.”

Failure is a master manipulator—but only if your let it win by giving in to temporary defeat.

More Then One Road

The men Hill interviewed may have found success in that step beyond defeat, but their success was not only rooted in the better business turn around the corner. These men also found success because working through adversity and possible defeat teaches you something; it teaches you that there are more roads to success, and that if you have that definiteness of purpose, if your persist in your goals, you will find a road that leads you on to success…to wealth! And you will also learn that you can do whatever you put your mind to when you back your thought with determination. From that point on, every roadblock is easier to overcome because you’ve learned two essential lessons:

1. Temporary defeat is not failure—it’s TEMPORARY! You can succeed, you just have to find another way, and

2. You personally possess the skills and brain power to seek alternate routes to success and wealth creation

Now that’s some powerful knowledge indeed.

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

Have you figured it out? What was it that guaranteed Barnes’ ultimate success with Thomas Edison? Was it his credentials? He didn’t have any. Was it his professional appearance? He’d just traveled as a stow-away on a freight train. Hill learned the key element from Thomas Edison himself.

“Just what the young Edwin Barnes said to Thomas Edison at that first meeting was far less important than what he thought. Edison, himself, said so! It couldn’t have been the young man’s appearance that earned him his start in the Edison office; that was definitely against him. It was what he thought that counted.

“If the significance of this statement could be conveyed to every person who reads it, there would be no need for the remainder of this book.”

The Power Of Barnes’ Thoughts

Edison recognized that something more was going on in the mind of Barnes other than simply earning a paycheck. Edison recognized that a thoughtful determination drove the young man, and that was what set him apart from all others who came knocking on Edison’s door looking for a job. As Napoleon Hill says here, the significance of the power of Barnes’ thoughts cannot be underestimated in the quest for wealth.

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

The revelation of the secret happens at different points for different people. You may even have an indication of what this secret will entail. Napoleon Hill provides this dialogue in regards to the when and the how of the secret revealing itself to you.

“Somewhere, as you read, the secret to which I refer will jump from the page and stand boldly before you, if you are ready for it! When it appears, you will recognize it. Whether you receive the sign in the first or the last chapter, stop for a moment when it presents itself, and turn down a glass, for that occasion will mark the most important turning-point of your life.”

What it takes to succeed

What Napoleon Hill is telling you in Think and Grow Rich is that the secret is everywhere to be found in this book, even though it is never directly named. The key to success is there for the taking, you just have to be receptive to it. That’s really very much in line with all of successful wealth creation. When you are ready to learn and commit to creating wealth for yourself, you will find the resolve and the information you need to succeed.

The First Time I Thought To Grow Rich

I recall reading Think And Grow Rich for the first time in year 2000. I read through the entire book and never actually “got” what The Secret was! Although, at the time I wasn’t quite ready for the message, the book had a massive impact on me. This was also before Rhonda Byrne had super commercialized “The Secret”, based on Wallace Wattles book: The Science Of Getting Rich.

Actually, I have a version of Wallace Wattles book: The Science Of Getting Rich. Let me know if you’d like to download a free version. If I get enough comment in this blog (like LOTS!), then I’ll seriously consider finishing it off and making it available.

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

Knowing the background of an accomplished empowerment and wealth creation teacher like Napoleon Hill lends his teachings a high dose of credibility. It appears to be a notable fact that many, if not most, inspiring self improvement authors started life with some sort of hardship. Rarely do we see someone born with abundance of worldly possessions and material wealth become a highly inspiring and well known motivational author.

Napoleon Hill

Napoleon Hill was born in the late 1800’s (1883-1970) and lived a long and successful life during which he proved that mastering your mind does certainly lead to success and wealth. Mr. Hill is another prime example of a man born into a modest family, who came to be famous beyond his own lifetime, and ultimately a contemporary of great wealthy and powerful men like Andrew Carnegie, Thomas Edison, and President Franklin Roosevelt.

Napoleon Hill started life poor. He was born in a two-room cabin in rural Virginia. His mother died when he was a boy. Hill began writing at the tender age of 13 for a mountain newspaper and worked his way to success, fame, and prosperity from there. His early career as a newspaper reporter put him in contact with the famed steel magnate Andrew Carnegie, who prompted Hill to study the lives of successful and wealthy men to find the secret to their success, so that he could share it with others.

Think and Grow Rich

This was the impetus behind Think and Grow Rich. The book is based on research gathered from interviews with more than 500 wealthy men; from those interviews, Hill gleaned 13 principles shared by all rich men and women, principles he outlines in order to teach readers the secret to wealth creation. The book went on to become Hill’s best known work, and is valued here at Universal Wealth Creation as one of the most useful resources for people seeking to master the keys to wealth creation, and live better by doing so.

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