In his most famous book, Think And Grow Rich, Napoleon Hill talked about what he called being “3 feet from gold.” He used a story to illustrate many different ideas that relate to success and its lessons still prove useful in our modern age.
His analogy comes from a story of a young man during the gold rush. After mining away at a Colorado gold mine for many months with no benefit, he quit. He sold all of his machinery and equipment to a “junk man” who sought out counsel because he wished to resume digging.
His engineer advised him that gold would be found just 3 feet from where the previous miner had stopped.
Guess what? He was right. The first miner was literally three feet from striking gold – and he quit.
Why would the first miner have quit? If he was so close, what made him stop? Well, it turns out that the last 3 feet was extremely difficult to get through. There are many lessons to be had from this story, but what I’m getting at today is this: that most people give up right before they strike gold because it gets TOO hard.
Nobody ever said building a business was easy. If they did, they lied to you! Rather, building a business is one of the most life changing ventures you could possibly embark on! Nothing will quite stretch you to grow, change, adapt, and develop self discipline quite like being a business owner.
But… nothing will give you quite the rewards that building a business will either. Keep in mind that rewards go beyond fiscal compensation. When you build a business, you are sharing your passions with people, you are serving, helping, and contributing to others. Sales and business creates, in many ways, a fullness of life that can’t be had any other way!
Nothing that is worth it is easy. So, let’s talk about those last 3 feet.
See, when you are 3 feet from gold and you continue to move forward, you can count on experiencing an obstacle of some kind. Usually, this is a test.
Will you quit at this roadblock? Or will you persevere and overcome?
In my podcast interviews, I always ask my guests to share the limiting beliefs that they had and what it was like when they overcame those limiting beliefs. It’s comforting – and telling – that so many people experience the same limiting beliefs and the same level of success once they overcome them!
But in almost every case, their last 3 feet from gold – those obstacles that they overcame – all took place right before they went quantum.
At the beginning of any sort of quantum leap, rather than pressing into it and going along for the ride, most people stop the momentum in its tracks and slink back to their comfort zone. Ironically, the “comfort zone” is usually where we are the least comfortable, and where we desire the most change.
Also, most of these challenges took place within the battlefield of the mind. They had to change their thinking! Time and time again, as soon as they replaced limiting beliefs with new ones, they struck gold.
In those moments, you choose: will your first test stop you and send you back to your comfort zone? Or will you keep digging in the dirtiest part of the journey and keep pursuing the gold?
You are so close to your breakthrough. And like the first miner, you may not even know it. But I can see it, and I can assure you that it’s right around the corner. You have the power to create the change that you want. So push through, make it happen.
And enjoy your gold mine.
