In his all-time classic book, Think and Grow Rich, Napoleon Hill tells the story of R. U. Darby.
Darby’s uncle had gold fever, so he staked his claim and started digging. After a lot of hard work, the uncle found a vein of ore, so he covered up his find and returned home to raise the money for the machinery that he would need to bring the ore to the surface.
They raised the money and Darby travelled with his uncle back to the site to make their fortune.
Things started well and before long, they had enough to clear their debts. They were excited, everything from here on would be profit and things were looking good.
Then the supply of gold stopped. The vein of ore had disappeared.
They kept on digging, but found nothing.
After a while, they quit in frustration and sold their machinery to a junk man for a few hundred dollars.
After they went home in disappointment, the astute junk man called in a mining engineer who checked the mine and calculated that there was a vein of gold just three feet from where Darby and his uncle had stopped digging.
The junk man went on to make millions from the mine.
Darby returned home, paid back everyone who had lent him money and was determined to learn from his mistake in giving up too soon.
He went on to become a phenomenally successful insurance salesman, more than recouping what he would have made from the gold mine.
He learned the lesson that you need to persevere through difficulties and stay focused if you are to become successful.
Whenever you feel like giving up on your dream, remember that you may be just three feet from gold!
