Napoleon Hill, America's most beloved motivational author, devoted 25 years to finding out how the wealthy became that way. After interviewing over 500 of the most affluent men and women of his time, he uncovered the secret to great wealth based on the notion that if we can learn to think like the rich, we can start to behave like them.
CHAPTER 1
THE POWER OF THOUGHT
The Man Who 'Thought' his Way into Partnership with Thomas A. Edison
Truly, 'thoughts are things', and powerful things at that, when
mixed with purpose, persistence and a burning desire for their
translation into riches or other material objects.
Edwin C. Barnes discovered how true it is that men really do
think and grow rich. His discovery did not come about at one
sitting. It came little by little, beginning with a burning desire to
become a business associate of the great Thomas Edison.
One of the chief characteristics of Barnes' desire was that it
was definite. He wanted to work with Edison, not for him.
Observe, carefully, the description of how he went about
translating his desire into reality, and you will have a better
understanding of the 13 principles which lead to riches.
When this desire, or impulse of thought, first flashed into his
mind he was in no position to act upon it. Two difficulties stood
in his way. He did not know Mr Edison, and he did not have
enough money to pay his rail fare to Orange, New Jersey. These
difficulties were sufficient to have discouraged the majority of
people from making any attempt to carry out the desire. But his
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 be defeated. (To the uninitiated, this means
that he went to East Orange on a freight train.)
He presented himself at Mr Edison's laboratory, and
announced he had come to go into business with the inventor.
In speaking of the first meeting between them, years later, Mr
Edison said, 'He stood there before me, looking like an ordinary
tramp, but there was something in the expression of his face
which conveyed the impression that he was determined to get
what he had come after. I had learned, from years of experience
with men, that when a man really desires a thing so deeply that
he is willing to stake his entire future on a single turn of the
wheel in order to get it, he is sure to win. I gave him the
opportunity he asked for, because I saw he had made up his mind
to stand by until he succeeded. Subsequent events proved that no
mistake was made.'
Just what young Barnes said to Mr Edison on that occasion
was far less important than what he thought. Edison himself said
so! It could not have been the young man's appearance that got
him his start in the Edison office, for 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.
Barnes did not get his partnership with Edison on his first
interview. He did get a chance to work in the Edison offices, at
a very nominal wage, doing work that was unimportant to
Edison, but most important to Barnes. It gave him an opportunity
to display his 'merchandise' where his intended 'partner'
could see it.
Months went by. Apparently nothing happened to bring the
coveted goal, which Barnes had set up in his mind as his definite
major purpose. But something important was happening in Barnes'
mind. He was constantly intensifying his desire to become the
business associate of Edison.
Psychologists have correctly said, 'When one is truly ready for
a thing, it puts in its appearance.' Barnes was ready for a business
association with Edison; moreover, he was determined to remain
ready until he got that which he was seeking.
He did not say to himself, 'Ah well, what's the use? I guess I'll
change my mind and try for a salesman's job.' But he did say, 'I
came here to go into business with Edison, and I'll accomplish
this end if it takes the remainder of my life.' He meant it! What a
different story people would have to tell if only they would
adopt a definite purpose, and stand by that purpose until it had
time to become an all-consuming obsession!
Maybe young Barnes did not know it at the time, but his
bulldog determination, his persistence with a single desire, was
destined to mow down all opposition and bring him the
opportunity he was seeking.
When the opportunity came, it appeared in a different form,
and from a different direction than Barnes had expected. That is
one of the tricks of opportunity. It has a sly habit of slipping in
by the back door, and often comes disguised in the form of
misfortune or temporary defeat. Perhaps this is why so many fail
to recognise opportunity.
Mr Edison had just perfected a new office device, known at
that time as the Edison Dictating Machine (later called the
Ediphone). His salesmen were not enthusiastic over the machine.
They did not believe it could be sold without great effort. Barnes
saw his opportunity. It had crawled in quietly, hidden in a queer-
looking machine that interested no one but Barnes and the
inventor.
“He had no money to begin with. He had but little education. He had no influence. But he did have initiative, faith and the will to win. With these intangible forces he made himself number one man with the greatest inventor who ever lived.”
Barnes knew he could sell the Edison Dictating Machine.
He suggested this to Edison and promptly got his chance. He
did sell the machine. In fact, he sold it so successfully that
Edison gave him a contract to distribute and market it all over
the nation. Out of that business association grew the slogan,
'Made by Edison and installed by Barnes'. This business alliance
made Barnes rich in money, but he accomplished something
infinitely greater: he proved that one really may 'Think and
Grow Rich'.
How much actual cash that original desire of Barnes was
worth to him, I have no way of knowing. Perhaps it brought him
two or three million dollars. Whatever the amount, it becomes
insignificant when compared with the greater asset he acquired,
the definite knowledge that an intangible impulse of thought can
be transmuted into its physical counterpart by the application of
known principles.
Barnes literally thought himself into a partnership with the
great 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 he realised it.
He had no money to begin with. He had but little education.
He had no influence. But he did have initiative, faith and the will
to win. With these intangible forces he made himself number
one man with the greatest inventor who ever lived.
Now, let us look at a different situation, and study a man who
had plenty of tangible evidence of riches, but lost it because he
stopped three feet short of the goal he was seeking.
Three Feet from Gold
One of the most common causes of failure is the habit of
quitting when one is overtaken by temporary defeat. Every
person is guilty of this mistake at one time or another.
R. U. Darby, who later became one of the most successful
insurance salesmen in the country, tells the story of his uncle,
who was caught by the 'gold fever' in the gold-rush days, and
went west to dig and grow rich. He had never heard the saying
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 pick and shovel. The going was hard, but his lust for
gold was definite.
After weeks of labour, he was rewarded by the discovery of
the shining ore. He needed machinery to bring the ore to the
surface. Quietly, he covered up the mine, retraced his footsteps
to his home in Williamsburg, Maryland, and told his relatives and
a few neighbours of the 'strike'. They got together money for the
needed machinery and had it shipped. The uncle and Darby
went back to work the mine.
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 the debts. Then would
come the big killing in profits.
Down went the drills! Up went the hopes of Darby and
Uncle! Then something happened – the vein of gold ore
disappeared. They had come to the end of the rainbow, and the
pot of gold was no longer there. They drilled on, desperately
trying to pick up the vein again, all to no avail.
Finally, they decided to quit. They sold the machinery to a
junk man for a few hundred dollars, and took the train back
home. Some 'junk' men are dumb, 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] That is exactly where it was found.
The junk man took millions of dollars in ore from the mine
because he knew enough to seek expert counsel before giving
up. Most of the money which went into the machinery was
procured through the efforts of R. U. Darby, who was then a
very young man. The money came from his relatives and
neighbours, because of their faith in him. He paid back every
dollar of it, although he was years in doing so.
Long afterwards, Mr Darby recouped his loss many times over
when he made the discovery that desire can be transmuted into
gold. The discovery came after he went into the business of
selling life insurance.
Remembering that he lost a huge fortune because he stopped
three feet from gold, Darby profited by the experience in his
chosen work. His simple method was to say to himself, 'I
stopped three feet from gold, but I will never stop because men
say "no" when I ask them to buy insurance.' He owes his
'stickability' to the lesson he learned from his 'quitability' in the
gold mining business.
Before success comes to most people, they are sure to meet
with much temporary defeat, and perhaps some failure. When
faced with defeat the easiest and most logical thing to do is to
quit. That is exactly what the majority of people do.
More than 500 of the most successful people America has
ever known told the author their greatest success came just one
step beyond the point at which defeat had overtaken them.
Failure is a trickster with a keen sense of irony and cunning. It
takes great delight in tripping one up when success is almost
within reach.
Extracted from Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill, out now.
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