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CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION
THE MAN WHO "THOUGHT" HIS WAY INTO PARTNERSHIP WITH THOMAS A.
EDISON
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TRULY, "thoughts are things," and powerful things at that, when they are
mixed with definiteness of purpose, persistence, and a BURNING DESIRE for their
translation into riches, or other material objects.
A little more than thirty years ago, 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 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 thirteen
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 railroad fare to
Orange, New Jersey.
These difficulties were sufficient to have discouraged
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the majority of men 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
Barnes and Edison, 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 that which he thought. Edison, himself, said so! It could not
have been the young man's appearance which 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.
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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, because 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 that "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 men 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 in standing back of a single DESIRE, was destined
to mow down all opposition, and bring him the opportunity he was seeking.
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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 it
comes disguised in the form of misfortune, or temporary defeat. Perhaps this is
why so many fail to recognize opportunity.
Mr. Edison had just perfected a new office device, known at that time, as the
Edison Dictating Machine (now 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 which interested no one but Barnes and the inventor.
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."
The business alliance has been in operation for more than thirty years. Out
of it Barnes has made himself rich in money, but he has done something
infinitely greater, he has proved that one really may "Think and Grow Rich."
How much actual cash that original DESIRE of Barnes' has been worth to him, I
have no way of knowing. Perhaps it has brought him two or three million dollars,
but the amount, whatever it is, becomes insignificant when compared with the
greater
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asset he acquired in the form of 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 REALIZED 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.
An uncle of R. U. Darby was caught by the "gold fever" in the gold-rush days,
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 pick and shovel. The going was hard, but
his lust for gold was definite.
After weeks of labor, he was rewarded by the
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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, told his relatives and a few neighbors of the "strike."
They got together money for the needed machinery, 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
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was procured through the efforts of R. U. Darby, who was then a very young
man. The money came from his relatives and neighbors, because of their faith in
him. He paid back every dollar of it, although he was years in doing so.
Long afterward, 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, by the simple method
of saying to himself, "I stopped three feet from gold, but I will never stop
because men say 'no' when I ask them to buy insurance."
Darby is one of a small group of fewer than fifty men who sell more than a
million dollars in life insurance annually. He owes his "stickability" to the
lesson he learned from his "quitability" in the gold mining business.
Before success comes in any man's life, he is sure to meet with much
temporary defeat, and, perhaps, some failure. When defeat overtakes a man, the
easiest and most logical thing to do is to QUIT. That is exactly what the
majority of men do.
More than five hundred of the most successful men this country 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 when success
is almost within reach.
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A FIFTY CENT LESSON IN PERSISTENCE
Shortly after Mr. Darby received his degree from the "University of Hard
Knocks," and had decided to profit by his experience in the gold mining
business, he had the good fortune to be present on an occasion that proved to
him that "No" does not necessarily mean no.
One afternoon he was helping his uncle grind wheat in an old fashioned mill.
The uncle operated a large farm on which a number of colored sharecrop farmers
lived. Quietly, the door was opened, and a small colored child, the daughter of
a tenant, walked in and took her place near the door.
The uncle looked up, saw the child, and barked at her roughly, "what do you
want?"
Meekly, the child replied, "My mammy say send her fifty cents."
"I'll not do it," the uncle retorted, "Now you run on home."
"Yas sah," the child replied.
But she did not move.
The uncle went ahead with his work, so busily engaged that he did not pay
enough attention to the child to observe that she did not leave. When he looked
up and saw her still standing there, he yelled at her, "I told you to go on
home! Now go, or I'll take a switch to you."
The little girl said "yas sah,"
but she did not budge an inch.
The uncle dropped a sack of grain he was about to pour into the mill hopper,
picked up a barrel stave, and started toward the child with an expression on his
face that indicated trouble.
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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 shrill voice, "
MY MAMMY'S GOTTA HAVE THAT FIFTY CENTS!"
The uncle stopped, looked at her for a minute, then slowly laid the barrel
stave on the floor, 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 looked out the window into space for more than ten
minutes. He was pondering, with awe, over the whipping he had just taken.
Mr. Darby, too, was doing some thinking. That was the first time in all his
experience that 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 into Darby's mind, but he did not find the answer until years
later, when he told me the story.
Strangely, the story of this unusual experience was told to the author in the
old mill, on the very
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spot where the uncle took his whipping. Strangely, too, I had devoted nearly
a quarter of a century to the study of the power which enabled an ignorant,
illiterate colored child to conquer an intelligent man.
As we stood there in that musty old mill, Mr. Darby repeated the story of the
unusual conquest, and finished by asking, "What can you make of it? What strange
power did that child use, that so completely whipped my uncle?"
The answer to his question will be found in the principles described in this
book. The answer is full and complete. It contains details and instructions
sufficient to enable anyone to understand, and apply the same force which the
little child accidentally stumbled upon.
Keep your mind alert, and you will observe exactly what strange power came to
the rescue of the child, you will catch a glimpse of this power in the next
chapter. Somewhere in the book you will find an idea that will quicken your
receptive powers, and place at your command, for your own benefit, this same
irresistible power. The awareness of this power may come to you in the first
chapter, or it may flash into your mind in some subsequent chapter. It may come
in the form of a single idea. Or, it may come in the nature of a plan, or a
purpose. Again, it may cause you to go back into your past experiences of
failure or defeat, and bring to the surface some lesson by which you can regain
all that you lost through defeat.
After I had described to Mr. Darby the power unwittingly used by the little
colored child, he quickly retraced his thirty years of experience as a
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life insurance salesman, and frankly acknowledged that his success in that
field was due, in no small degree, to the lesson he had learned from the
child.
Mr. Darby pointed out: "every time a prospect 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 gotta make this sale.' The better portion
of all sales I have made, were made after people had said 'NO'."
He recalled, too, 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."
This story of Mr. Darby and his uncle, the colored child and the gold mine,
doubtless will be read by hundreds of men who make their living by selling life
insurance, and to all of these, the author wishes to offer the suggestion that
Darby owes to these two experiences his ability to sell more than a million
dollars of life insurance every year.
Life is strange, and often imponderable! Both the successes and the failures
have their roots in simple experiences. Mr. Darby's experiences were
common-place and simple enough, yet they held the answer to his destiny in life,
therefore they were as important (to him) as life itself. He profited by these
two dramatic experiences, because
he analyzed them, and found the lesson
they taught. But what of the man who has neither the time, nor the inclination
to study failure in search of knowledge that may lead to success? Where, and how
is he to learn the
p. 28
art of converting defeat into stepping stones to opportunity?
In answer to these questions, this book was written.
The answer called for a description of thirteen principles, but remember, as
you read, the answer you may be seeking, to the questions which have caused you
to ponder over the strangeness of life, may be found
in your own mind,
through some idea, plan, or purpose which may spring into your mind as you
read.
One sound idea is all that one needs to achieve success. The principles
described in this book, contain the best, and the most practical of all that is
known, concerning ways and means of creating useful ideas.
Before we go any further in our approach to the description of these
principles, we believe you are entitled to receive this important suggestion. .
. . WHEN RICHES BEGIN TO COME THEY COME SO QUICKLY, IN SUCH GREAT ABUNDANCE,
THAT ONE WONDERS WHERE THEY HAVE BEEN HIDING DURING ALL THOSE LEAN YEARS. This
is an astounding statement, and all the more so, when we take into consideration
the popular belief, that riches come only to those who work hard and long.
When you begin to THINK AND GROW RICH, you will observe that riches begin
with a state of mind, with definiteness of purpose, with little or no hard work.
You, and every other person, ought to be interested in knowing how to acquire
that state of mind which will attract riches. I spent
p. 29
twenty-five years in research, analyzing more than 25,000 people, because I,
too, wanted to know "how wealthy men become that way."
Without that research, this book could not have been written.
Here take notice of a very significant truth, viz: The business depression
started in 1929, and continued on to an all time record of destruction, until
sometime after President Roosevelt entered office. Then the depression began to
fade into nothingness. Just as an electrician in a theatre raises the lights so
gradually that darkness is transmuted into light before you realize it, so did
the spell of fear in the minds of the people gradually fade away and become
faith.
Observe very closely, as soon as you master the principles of this
philosophy, and begin to follow the instructions for applying those principles,
your financial status will begin to improve, and everything you touch will begin
to transmute itself into an asset for your benefit. Impossible? Not at all!
One of the main weaknesses of mankind is the average man's familiarity with
the word "impossible." He knows all the rules which will NOT work. He knows all
the things which CANNOT be done. This book was written for those who seek the
rules which have made others successful, and are willing to
stake
everything on those rules.
A great many years ago I purchased a fine dictionary. The first thing I did
with it was to turn to the word "impossible," and neatly clip it out of the
book. That would not be an unwise thing for you to do.
p. 30
Success comes to those who become SUCCESS CONSCIOUS.
Failure comes to those who indifferently allow themselves to become FAILURE
CONSCIOUS.
The object of this book is to help all who seek it, to learn the art of
changing their minds from FAILURE CONSCIOUSNESS to SUCCESS CONSCIOUSNESS.
Another weakness found in altogether too many people, is the habit of
measuring everything, and everyone, by
their own impressions and beliefs.
Some who will read this, will believe that no one can THINK AND GROW RICH. They
cannot think in terms of riches, because their thought habits have been steeped
in poverty, want, misery, failure, and defeat.
These unfortunate people remind me of a prominent Chinese, who came to
America to be educated in American ways. He attended the University of Chicago.
One day President Harper met this young Oriental on the campus, stopped to chat
with him for a few minutes, and asked what had impressed him as being the most
noticeable characteristic of the American people.
"Why," the Chinaman exclaimed, "the queer slant of your eyes. Your eyes are
off slant!"
What do we say about the Chinese?
We refuse to believe that which we do not understand. We foolishly believe
that our own limitations are the proper measure of limitations. Sure, the other
fellow's eyes are "off slant," BECAUSE THEY ARE NOT THE SAME AS OUR OWN.
Millions of people look at the achievements of
p. 31
[paragraph
continues] Henry Ford, after he has arrived, and envy him, because
of his good fortune, or luck, or genius, or whatever it is that they credit for
Ford's fortune. Perhaps one person in every hundred thousand knows the secret of
Ford's success, and those who do know are too modest, or too reluctant, to speak
of it,
because of its simplicity. A single transaction will illustrate
the "secret" perfectly.
A few years back, Ford decided to produce his now famous V-8 motor. He chose
to build an engine with the entire eight cylinders cast in one block, and
instructed his engineers to produce a design for the engine. The design was
placed on paper, but the engineers agreed, to a man, that it was simply
impossible to cast an eight cylinder gas engine block in one piece.
Ford said, "Produce it anyway."
"But," they replied, "it's impossible!"
"Go ahead," Ford commanded, "and stay on the job until you succeed no matter
how much time is required."
The engineers went ahead. There was nothing else for them to do, if they were
to remain on the Ford staff. Six months went by, nothing happened. Another six
months passed, and still nothing happened. The engineers tried every conceivable
plan to carry out the orders, but the thing seemed out of the question;
"
impossible!"
At the end of the year Ford checked with his engineers, and again they
informed him they had found no way to carry out his orders.
"Go right ahead," said Ford, "I want it, and I'll have it."
p. 32
They went ahead, and then, as if by a stroke of magic, the secret was
discovered.
The Ford DETERMINATION had won once more!
This story may not be described with minute accuracy, but the sum and
substance of it is correct. Deduce from it, you who wish to THINK AND GROW RICH,
the secret of the Ford millions, if you can. You'll not have to look very
far.
Henry Ford is a success, because he understands, and
applies the
principles of success. One of these is DESIRE: knowing what one wants. Remember
this Ford story as you read, and pick out the lines in which the secret of his
stupendous achievement have been described. If you can do this, if you can lay
your finger on the particular group of principles which made Henry Ford rich,
you can equal his achievements in almost any calling for which you are
suited.
YOU ARE "THE MASTER OF YOUR FATE, THE CAPTAIN OF YOUR SOUL,"
BECAUSE . . .
When Henley wrote the prophetic lines, "I am the Master of my Fate, I am the
Captain of my Soul," he should have informed us that we are the Masters of our
Fate, the Captains of our Souls, because we have the power to control our
thoughts.
He should have told us that the ether in which this little earth floats, in
which we move and have our being, is a form of energy moving at an inconceivably
high rate of vibration, and that the ether is filled with a form of universal
power which ADAPTS itself to the nature of the thoughts we
p. 33
hold in our minds; and INFLUENCES us, in natural ways, to transmute our
thoughts into their physical equivalent.
If the poet had told us of this great truth, we would know WHY IT IS that we
are the Masters of our Fate, the Captains of our Souls. He should have told us,
with great emphasis, that this power makes no attempt to discriminate between
destructive thoughts and constructive thoughts, that it will urge us to
translate into physical reality thoughts of poverty, just as quickly as it will
influence us to act upon thoughts of riches.
He should have told us, too, that our brains become magnetized with the
dominating thoughts which we hold in our minds, and, by means with which no man
is familiar, these "magnets" attract to us the forces, the people, the
circumstances of life which harmonize with the nature of our
dominating
thoughts.
He should have told us, that before we can accumulate riches in great
abundance, we must magnetize our minds with intense DESIRE for riches, that we
must become "money conscious" until the DESIRE for money drives us to create
definite plans for acquiring it.
But, being a poet, and not a philosopher, Henley contented himself by stating
a great truth in poetic form, leaving those who followed him to interpret the
philosophical meaning of his lines.
Little by little, the truth has unfolded itself, until it now appears certain
that the principles described in this book, hold the secret of mastery over our
economic fate.
p. 34
We are now ready to examine the first of these principles. Maintain a spirit
of open-mindedness, and remember as you read, they are the invention of no one
man. The principles were gathered from the life experiences of more than 500 men
who actually accumulated riches in huge amounts; men who began in poverty, with
but little education, without influence. The principles worked for these men.
You can put them to work for your own enduring benefit.
You will find it easy, not hard, to do.
Before you read the next chapter, I want you to know that it conveys factual
information which might easily change your entire financial destiny, as it has
so definitely brought changes of stupendous proportions to two people
described.
I want you to know, also, that the relationship between these two men and
myself, is such that I could have taken no liberties with the facts, even if I
had wished to do so. One of them has been my closest personal friend for almost
twenty-five years, the other is my own son. The unusual success of these two
men, success which they generously accredit to the principle described in the
next chapter, more than justifies this personal reference as a means of
emphasizing the far-flung power of this principle.
Almost fifteen years ago, I delivered the Commencement Address at Salem
College, Salem, West Virginia. I emphasized the principle described in the next
chapter, with so much intensity that one of the members of the graduating class
definitely appropriated it, and made it a part of his own philosophy. The young
man is now a Member of Congress,
p. 35
and an important factor in the present administration. Just before this book
went to the publisher, he wrote me a letter in which he so clearly stated his
opinion of the principle outlined in the next chapter, that I have chosen to
publish his letter as an introduction to that chapter.
It gives you an idea of the rewards to come.
"My dear Napoleon:
"My service as a Member of Congress having given me an insight into the
problems of men and women, I am writing to offer a suggestion which may become
helpful to thousands of worthy people.
"With apologies, I must state that the suggestion, if acted upon, will mean
several years of labor and responsibility for you, but I am en-heartened to make
the suggestion, because I know your great love for rendering useful service.
"In 1922, you delivered the Commencement address at Salem College, when I was
a member of the graduating class. In that address, you planted in my mind an
idea which has been responsible for the opportunity I now have to serve the
people of my State, and will be responsible, in a very large measure, for
whatever success I may have in the future.
"The suggestion I have in mind is, that you put into a book the sum and
substance of the address you delivered at Salem College, and in that way give
the people of America an opportunity to profit by your many years of
experience
p. 36
and association with the men who, by their
greatness, have made America the richest nation on earth.
"I recall, as though it were yesterday, the marvelous description you gave of
the method by which Henry Ford, with but little schooling, without a dollar,
with no influential friends, rose to great heights. I made up my mind then, even
before you had finished your speech, that I would make a place for myself, no
matter how many difficulties I had to surmount.
"Thousands of young people will finish their schooling this year, and within
the next few years. Every one of them will be seeking just such a message of
practical encouragement as the one I received from you. They will want to know
where to turn, what to do, to get started in life. You can tell them, because
you have helped to solve the problems of so many, many people.
"If there is any possible way that you can afford to render so great a
service, may I offer the suggestion that you include with every book, one of
your Personal Analysis Charts, in order that the purchaser of the book may have
the benefit of a complete self-inventory, indicating, as you indicated to me
years ago, exactly what is standing in the way of success.
"Such a service as this, providing the readers of your book with a complete,
unbiased picture of their faults and their virtues, would mean to them the
difference between success and failure. The service would be
priceless.
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"Millions of people are now facing the problem of
staging a come-back, because of the depression, and I speak from personal
experience when I say, I know these earnest people would welcome the opportunity
to tell you their problems, and to receive your suggestions for the solution.
"You know the problems of those who face the necessity of beginning all over
again. There are thousands of people in America today who would like to know how
they can convert ideas into money, people who must start at scratch, without
finances, and recoup their losses. If anyone can help them, you can.
"If you publish the book, I would like to own the first copy that comes from
the press, personally autographed by you.
"With best wishes, believe me,
"Cordially yours,
"JENNINGS RANDOLPH"
