Page 23 - Napoleon Hill Think and Grow Rich Full Book | Success Learned

he wanted anything else. He created a plan by which to attain that purpose. But
he BURNED ALL BRIDGES BEHIND HIM. He stood by his DESIRE until it be-
came the dominating obsession of his life-and-finally, a fact.

When he went to Orange, he did not say to himself, "I will try to induce Edison to
give me a job of some soft." He said, "I will see Edison, and put him on notice that
I have come to go into business with him.

He did not say, "I will work there for a few months, and if I get no encouragement,
I will quit and get a job somewhere else." He did say, "I will start anywhere. I will
do anything Edison tells me to do, but before I am through, I will be his associ-
ate."

He did not say, "I will keep my eyes open for another opportunity, in case I fail to
get what I want in the Edison organization." He said, "There is but ONE thing in
this world that I am determined to have, and that is a business association with
Thomas A. Edison. I will burn all bridges behind me, and stake my ENTIRE FU-
TURE on my ability to get what I want."

He left himself no possible way of retreat. He had to win or perish!

That is all there is to the Barnes story of success! A long while ago, a great war-
rior faced a situation which made it necessary for him to make a decision which
insured his success on the battlefield. He was about to send his armies against
a powerful foe, whose men outnumbered his own. He loaded his soldiers into
boats, sailed to the enemy's country, unloaded soldiers and equipment, then gave
the order to burn the ships that had carried them. Addressing his men before the
first battle, he said, "You see the boats going up in smoke. That means that we
cannot leave these shores alive unless we win! We now have no choice-we win-or
we perish! They won.

Every person who wins in any undertaking must be willing to burn his ships and
cut all sources of retreat. Only by so doing can one be sure of maintaining that
state of mind known as a BURNING DESIRE TO WIN, essential to success.

23

NAPOLEON HILL THINK AND GROW RICH

The morning after the great Chicago fire, a group of merchants stood on State
Street, looking at the smoking remains of what had been their stores. They went
into a conference to decide if they would try to rebuild, or leave Chicago and start
over in a more promising section of the country. They reached a decision-all ex-
cept one-to leave Chicago.

The merchant who decided to stay and rebuild pointed a finger at the remains of