Sean Rasmussen

Too often, we are unable to change our lives because we cannot see beyond our own circumstances. This is precisely the closed-minded ignorance that keeps the majority from creating wealth, and instead, keeps the masses in the middle-ground limbo of being the working poor.

“Another weakness found in altogether too many people is the habit of measuring everything, and everyone, by their own impressions and beliefs. Some people who read this book will believe that no one can think and grow rich. They cannot think in terms of wealth and riches, because their thought habits have been steeped in poverty, want, misery, failure, and defeat.

You don’t have to look far for illustration of this point. Consider how you look upon people of other nationalities and cultures, physically. You think of your own appearance as the base for ‘normal’ and find their looks to be exotic and different. Few of us stop very often to consider that on the flip side, from the ‘outsider’s’ point of view, you are the person who looks unique.

Another simple case in point—accents. Wherever you are from, whatever the accent you speak with, that is what sounds ‘right’ or ‘normal’ to you. When a visitor from another part of the country or world arrives or moves in, you find their speech to be interesting, maybe even strange. No doubt, however, that same person is thinking the same of the way you, and nearly everyone else in your region, talks.

We recognize this phenomenon in modern society as a level of ignorance, yet, we have difficulty truly overcoming it, and sometimes even make conclusions about a person because they do not speak or look like us.”

A Change In Attitude

Changing even very small personal perceptions such as your attitude towards another person’s accent or physical appearance will elicit the kind of change in attitude needed to start seeing that there is more to life than your present circumstance, and that that better life is readily available to you if you have purpose of thought and determination.

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

Sean Rasmussen
Success Communicator
SeanRasmussen.com © 2004 - 2008

Darby stands as illustration to both failure in the face of temporary defeat and success in the face of persistence. In the end, we are able to look back with Napoelon Hill and learn how each instance had an effect on Darby’s ultimate financial success.

“After Mr. Hill described to Mr. Darby the power the girl unwittingly used on his uncle, Darby quickly reassessed his thirty years as a life insurance salesman, and frankly acknowledged that his success in that field was due, in large part, to the lesson he had learned from the child.

Darby pointed out: “every time a potential customer tried to bow me out, without buying, I saw that child standing there in the old mill, her big eyes glaring in defiance, and I said to myself, ‘I’ve got to make this sale.’ The majority of all the sales I have made were made after people had said ‘No’.”

Darby did acknowledge his mistake in having stopped only three feet from gold; “but,” he said, “that experience was a blessing in disguise. It taught me to keep on keeping on, no matter how hard the going may be, a lesson I needed to learn before I could succeed in anything.”

Work Through Your Obstacles

To be sure, that is a lesson that must be learned by all who will succeed and become wealthy. Perhaps with our help you’ll be able to forgo learning the lesson the ‘hard way’ like Darby did, and learn it instead from these pages. Either way, as I’ve said before, working through obstacles and temporary defeat is empowering; once you know you can succeed by pushing forward, success is quick to come.

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

Napoleon Hill doesn’t tell us much about the fate of the Uncle, but he does continue the story of R.U. Darby and his ultimate success. How did this failure turn his life around and build wealth? By learning from his mistake, and learning the principles of the secret.

“Long afterward, Mr. Darby recouped his loss many times over, when he made the discovery that desire can be transmuted into gold. That discovery came after he went into the business of selling life insurance.

“Remembering that he lost a huge fortune all because he stopped three feet from gold, Darby turned that experience to his advantage in his newly chosen profession; his method was simple—Darby repeatedly told himself, “I stopped three feet from gold, but I will never stop because men say ‘no’ when I ask them to buy insurance.”

“Darby was one of a small group in the first part of the 1900’s, a group of less than fifty men, to sell more than a million dollars in life insurance annually. He owed his determination and success to the lesson he learned from his hastiness to quit in the gold mining business.”

Definite Thought

Finally, Darby learned the power of definite thought—the same power Edwin C Barnes knew and used to build his future, and his fortune, with Thomas Edison. Had Darby known that power of definite thought and definite purpose when he went mining, his wealth may have come years sooner. You have at least this elemental knowledge now and that small bit of information is power; power that you, too, can solidify and translate into tangible 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

Picking up where we left off with Darby and his Uncle, let’s see what happens next.

“The first car of ore was mined and shipped to a smelter. The returns proved they had one of the richest mines in Colorado! A few more cars of that ore would clear all debts. Then they would make a killing in big profits.

“The drills went down as the hopes of Darby and his Uncle excitedly went up! Then something happened. The vein of gold ore disappeared! They had come to the end of the rainbow, and the pot of gold was gone! They drilled on, desperately trying to pick up the vein again–to no avail.”

Journey To Wealth Creation

These are the times that every one of us is destined to face on our journey to wealth creation. These times are the true test of our ‘metal’ so to speak. And what you choose to do in times like these is what separates you—makes you the one who succeeds to go on to build great wealth, or makes you fail and continue to struggle in financial stress.

Let’s remember what Napoleon Hill said was one of the biggest reasons people fail to get rich…”…they quit when faced with temporary defeat.”

So did Darby and Uncle let temporary defeat put an end to their success? We’ll find out soon enough…

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 next passage needs little commentary from me; Napoleon Hill concludes Barnes’ story with a summation of the power of Barnes’ definite thought and purpose.

“The business alliance lasted more than thirty years. From that alliance, Barnes made himself a very rich man, in terms of money; but he did something infinitely greater than simply make himself rich—he proved definitely that it is possible for a person, even with limited financial resources, to “Think and Grow Rich.”

“How much actual cash that original desire of Barnes’ was worth to him, we have no way of knowing. It might have earned him two or three million dollars, but the amount, whatever it is, becomes insignificant when compared with the greater asset he acquired in the form of definite knowledge that an intangible impulse of thought can be transmuted into physical reality by applying known principles.

“Barnes literally thought himself into a partnership with the great Thomas Edison! He thought himself into a fortune. He had nothing to start with, except the capacity to know what he wanted, and the determination to stand by that desire until it was realized.

“He had no money to begin with. He had little education. He had no influence. But he did have initiative, faith, and the will to win. With these intangible forces he made himself the number one man of the greatest inventor who ever lived.”

Succeed, Build Wealth and Live Better

And there we have it—the man started with nothing but an idea and the determination to succeed. If you, too, possess these two simple things, you have all you need to succeed, build wealth, and live better.

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