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

The Darby’s had reached it—the turning point in their financial success. Do you think they made the right decision? We know that if they followed the secret to wealth creation, had a definite purpose based in definite thought, they did. Alas…

“Finally, they decided to quit.

“They sold the machinery to a junk man for a few hundred dollars and took a train back home. Now, some “junk” men are ignorant, but not this one! He called in a mining engineer to look at the mine and do a little calculating. The engineer advised that the project had failed because the owners were not familiar with “fault lines.” His calculations showed that the vein would be found just three feet from where the Darbys had stopped drilling! And that is exactly where it was found!

“The “Junk” man took millions of dollars in ore from the mine, all because he knew enough to seek expert advice before giving up.

“Most of the money used to buy the machinery was raised through the efforts of R.U. Darby, who was then a very young man. The money came from his relatives and neighbors, because they had faith in him. He paid back every dollar of it, even though it took him years to do so.”

Admirable of Mr. Darby to do so, but what would have been more admirable would have been not throwing up his hands in the face of temporary defeat. If he had followed the principles outlined by Napoleon Hill and in this book, he wouldn’t have. If he’d known the secret to wealth creation, he wouldn’t have.

What About You?

Does any part of this story mirror any cross-roads in your own life? I hope for your sake it does not, but odds are that it does; it seems all of us have been ‘there’ at one point or another. But don’t despair; past failure does not predetermine future failure. You have the opportunity to learn from your mistakes and take your new found knowledge from this book, and turn your poorly decided past into great future success and wealth, just as Mr. Darby did.

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

We’ve already talked about Edwin Barnes having a burning desire to be Thomas Edison’s partner. Now let’s put that desire into a clearer perspective.

“One of the chief characteristics of Barnes’ Desire was that it was definite. He wanted to work with Edison, not for him. Pay close attention to the description of how he went about translating his desire into reality, and you will have a better understanding of the thirteen principles which lead to riches.

“When this desire, or thought-impulse, first flashed into his mind he was in no position to act on it. Two hurdles stood in his way. He did not know Thomas Edison, and he did not have enough money to pay his railroad fare to Orange, New Jersey.

“These obstacles would have been enough to discourage most men from making any attempt to carry out the desire. But Barnes’ was no ordinary desire! He was so determined to find a way to carry out his desire that he finally decided to travel by “blind baggage,” rather than face defeat. (To the uninitiated, this means he took a freight train to East Orange).”

Prime Characteristic Of Success

Barnes’ ‘burning’ desire shows that he truly wanted the success he envisioned, but there was another factor at work within that desire—definiteness. Barnes was very definite, very clear and determined in what he wanted, exactly. He did whatever he needed to do to turn his desire into reality, but he did not do so haphazardly; he set off as a stow-away determined to get the exact thing he wanted more than anything else. That is a prime characteristic of successful and wealthy people.

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 is the question Hill poses, and goes on to explain that education is not the determining factor in successful wealth creation.

What is education, anyway? …

“As far as schooling is concerned, many of these men had very little. John Wanamaker once told me that what little schooling he had, he acquired in very much the same manner as a modern locomotive takes on water, by “scooping it up as it runs.” Henry Ford never reached high school, let alone college. I am not attempting to minimize the value of schooling, but I am trying to express my earnest belief that those who master and apply the secret will reach high stations, accumulate riches, and bargain with life on their own terms, even if their schooling has been meager.”

I told you before this theme would be recurring, and it will again after this.

Education Plays A Minor Role

As Napoleon Hill says, no one is arguing that education is useless, but education alone is not enough to build wealth. You must also know the important elements to successful wealth creation, those that are not taught in school. Like Napoleon Hill, we reiterate this point at Universal Wealth Creation and throughout our materials because we know that anyone has the ability to get rich and live better, and we know that you were not given the most effective education for wealth creation at school or college. And that is exactly why books like Think And Grow Rich or Mindset Mastery can be such a help to people. They have the ability to make you realize and discover the information you do need in order to find wealth and success.

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