Over the past few weeks, I have been reading Napoleon Hill’s Think and Grow Rich. In his book, Hill tells an interesting story that made me think about how it is so easy to give up in certain situations that may seem hard at first, but if – and only if – you push through, will you be able to reap the rewards.
This was not the case in one of the stories Hill tells called “Three Feet from Gold”. This story is about a man called R. U. Darby and his uncle who had caught a bit of “gold fever” and how Darby’s uncle set out west to start digging so he could become rich. Here is my summary:
After a few weeks of digging, Darby’s uncle found some gold. So, he went back home so he could raise enough money to purchase the machinery required to bring the gold to the surface. Once the money was raised Darby and his uncle went back to the spot and they dug up a whole lot of gold!
After a while of digging and collecting the gold ore, the gold disappeared. Unfortunately for them, the gold was no longer there. But, they kept drilling and drilling. And drilling and drilling without any luck.
So, they decided to quit and sell the machinery to a junk man in exchange for a few hundred dollars and went back home.
The junk man, ended up calling in a mining engineer to look at the mine. After the engineer assessed the mine, he found out there was a “fault line”, that Darby and his uncle were not familiar with. After some calculations, the mining engineer discovered the gold would be found three feet from where the Darby’s stopped drilling!
The junk man ended up digging up millions of dollars in gold from the mine because he knew enough to seek expert advice before giving up.
The moral of the story? Well, it is in the last line – seek expert advice before giving up! If there is something you want in the world, badly enough, don’t give up at the first sign of struggle.
I will give it to the Darby’s for at least continuing to dig a while longer after the gold ran out. However, they did not persistently dig for gold until they discovered the rest, and simply missed their opportunity for millions of dollars in gold because they gave up too soon – three feet too soon to be exact!
This is the same kind of logic that I tell my Event Maximizer clients who exhibit trade shows and host live events: sometimes you are working hard at promoting your event, but you just need to know a strategy that will give you that extra boost to achieve maximum results.
This is the same kind of logic that goes hand in hand with maximizing results in your business. A business owner, entrepreneur, especially has to wear many hats day in and day out.
There comes a time when you hit a plateau and you realize, you are working really really hard, but you are not quite maximizing your results.
You really really want to maximize results, and you are trying your best, but something is missing.
When you get to this point, don’t give up!
When you get to this point, remember this story and realize that seeking expert advice, is more than likely the best route you could take to get to that maximum point in your business because you are not an expert in that field, you are an expert in what you do best in your business.
When you feel like giving up, really assess whether you need that missing piece that will bring everything together for you, for the better.
Creating Memorable Impressions For Your Brand 