Sean Rasmussen

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

The next of Napoleon Hill’s anecdotes is presented as a direct contrast to the definite thought, purpose, and determination of Edwin C Barnes. He calls this story “Three Feet From Gold”; most of us can see quite a lot of our past limited successes within the telling of this story.

“One of the most common reasons people fail is that they quit when faced with temporary defeat. Every person is guilty of this mistake at one time or another. What follows is a case in point.

“An uncle of R.U. Darby was caught by the “gold fever” in the days of the great gold-rush, and went west to dig and grow rich. He had never heard that more gold has been mined from the brains of men than has ever been taken from the earth. He staked a claim and went to work with a pick and a shovel. The going was hard, but his lust for gold was definite.

“After weeks of labor, he was rewarded with the discovery of the elusive shining ore. He needed machinery to bring the ore to the surface. Quietly, he covered up the mine, went back to his home in Williamsburg, Maryland, and told his relatives and a few neighbors about the “strike.” Together, they raised the money for the needed machinery and had it shipped. The uncle and Darby went back to work the mine.”

So far in this tale we’ve seen that Darby and Uncle had the foresight to place themselves in a presumably profitable spot, but Napoleon Hill indicates that the uncle lacked a definite thought; he has thus far failed to put the required definite thinking into the project. Will the men be able to succeed without having taken this essential first step? We’ll see if he is able to pull himself out of it.

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 will definitely not be the last time this subject is undertaken in this book, but for anyone doubting that they have the ability to create wealth because of a lack of formal education or college, this passage from Napoleon Hill’s forward will keep you reading. For those of you with education in excess, take heart that utilizing the secret to building wealth should be all the easier for you.

The Secret

“The secret serves equally well, all who are ready for it. Education has nothing to do with it. Long before I was born, the secret had found its way into the possession of Thomas A. Edison, and he used it so intelligently that he became the world’s leading inventor, although he had but three months of schooling.

“The secret was passed on to a business associate of Thomas Edison. He used it so effectively that, although he was then making only $12,000 a year, he accumulated a great fortune, and retired from active business while still a young man. You will find his story at the beginning of the first chapter. It should convince you that riches are not beyond your reach, that you can still be what you wish to be, that money, fame, recognition and happiness can be had by all who are ready and determined to have these blessings.”

No Education Doesn’t Mean Failure

This fact parallels what we teach at Universal Wealth Creation; your past educational experience does not predispose you to a life of poverty. All you have to do to build wealth of your own is to gain access now to the tools you need, and implement what you learn about investing and wealth creation to live better, richer, and freer. Past education is likely a moot point, anyway, because so much of what we learn in school and college is mis-directed; you just don’t learn in school the ways to create wealth that we teach here.

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

There are some basic things worth knowing about the secret to wealth creation, as Napoleon Hill discovered. He talks about the secret and its universal availability to all people in his original forward.

“A peculiar thing about this secret is that those who once acquire it and use it find themselves literally swept on to success, with but little effort, and they never again submit to failure! If you doubt this, study the names of those who have used it, wherever they have been mentioned, check their records for yourself, and be convinced. “There is no such thing as something for nothing! “The secret to which I refer cannot be had without a price, although the price is far less than its value. It cannot be had at any price by those who are not intentionally searching for it. It cannot be given away, it cannot be purchased for money, for the reason that it comes in two parts. One part is already in possession of those who are ready for it.”

Wealth Creation Secret

Hill is basically saying two things here:

1) the secret to wealth creation is not overly complicated, and is within the reach of anybody, regardless of wealth, handicap, education, or location,

and

2) obtaining and utilizing the secret requires effort on the part of the seeker; you won’t get rich sitting by waiting for an opportunity to come your way, you have to take an active role in your own wealth creation.

Hill doesn’t present this to scare away the reader—exactly the opposite; he puts this informational tidbit upfront so that you can prepare yourself for some worthwhile effort, but also realize that wealth is certainly within your reach.

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