The Story of R.U. Darby’s uncle, as told by Napoleon Hill, is the stuff of nightmares.
Legitimate, wake-you-up-in-the-middle-of-the-night with your heart racing, pillow soaked, and eyes darting around the room kind of nightmares.
R.U. Darby’s uncle lived in Williamsburg, Maryland during the Gold Rush. Like most Americans, he had heard wild tales of millionaires being made in the mines of California and Colorado. Story after story, each resulting in a bigger and bigger payday eventually became too much. He was infected with gold fever. Knowing his only cure was to drive out there and see for himself, he packed his bags, moved out to Colorado, and found a piece of land.
Within just a few weeks, with very little machinery, he found his remedy. He was “on the gold,” and although he could only guess at that point, there seemed to be piles and piles of it waiting to be pulled from the earth. Understanding the inefficiencies of relying solely on manpower, he quickly went back to Maryland, bought some equipment, and had it shipped to his mine.
The first car full of gold was not too far behind. It was quickly shipped to the smelter to see the quality. His uncle was right. He just wasn’t on a pile of gold. He was on a pile of good gold, really, really good gold. He was destined to become a millionaire.
And then it happened.
The gold vanished. The drills would go down just as they would before, but now they weren’t bringing anything other than dirt and clay with them back to the surface. Drill after drill after drill went down and came back empty-handed. Each load of dirt was demoralizing. The empty carts quickly eroded his uncle’s hope. Demoralized, he sold his equipment for pennies to a local junkman.
Awful, right? But that’s not the end of the nightmare. It’s just beginning.
The local junk man hired a mining engineer, and by his estimate, Darby’s uncle was 3 feet away from one of the richest gold veins in Colorado’s history. And he was right. The junk man took the advice of the engineer, moved the equipment 3 feet, and quickly became a multi-millionaire.
3 feet.
36″ inches.
Stop for a second, look at where you’re currently standing and take one large step. That’s how close he was to becoming a millionaire. That’s how close he was to reaching his dreams. That’s how close he was to never have to worry about money or bills again.
But, he gave up.
How nauseating.
How excruciatingly painful.
How absolutely terrifying.
To be so, so close and not even know it until it’s too late.
But it happens all of the time, especially when it comes to the gym….
January 1st hits, and Jone Doe decides he needs to make a change. He’s tired all of the time, his waistline keeps growing, and he’s unhappy about letting himself get to this point.
So he joins the gym. For the first 3 weeks, everything is great. He notices a little more pep in his step. His waistline keeps shrinking with each passing week. He’s getting compliments. He’s feeling motivated because he’s moving towards his goal as opposed to just sitting on the couch and making excuses.
And then it happens.
He notices his waistline is the same size as last week. Or, he has a crazy busy week and doesn’t get to the gym at all so he becomes upset with himself. Or, he meets some buddies for drinks and in a matter of a few hour he completely oblierates his diet, and again gets upset with himself.
He gives up.
All of that hard work. All of that progress. Gone. In a flash.
He was so close, and he didn’t even know it.
Sound familiar?
Unfortunately, we see it all too often.
