Well here we are, a new year and a new plan, right? I know this – the Platform Builders have some new plans for 2014 and this year we are starting our Mastermind study with a little twist.
This month we are masterminding through The Men Who Built America, a DVD produced by the History Channel along with Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill to compliment the mini-series built around some of the great early leaders and entrepreneurs that help build the United States into a world power at the end of the 19th Century.
If you don’t know the back story on how these two connect together, Napoleon Hill was commissioned by Andrew Carnegie to study the most successful people and find out what resulted in their success. The men who built America were among many of the 20,000+ that Hill interviewed over the twenty year period it took him to write the book.
This month we are going take a look at Andrew Carnegie, Thomas Edison, JP Morgan and Henry Ford. In this, the second of four posts, we will take a look at Thomas Edison.
Edison, the holder of 1,093 U.S. patents, is most recognized as the inventor of the light bulb. Also credited for the phonograph and motion-picture camera, Edison was much more than an inventor. His inventions set the world on the pathway to modern electricity and global communications.
So how did a man with only three months of formal education and whose hearing was impaired at an early age become “one of the men who built America?”
You Don’t Need Ears To Hear!
THOUGHTS ARE THINGS
“The value of an idea lies in the using of it.” – Thomas Edison
What if Edison never imagined his thoughts and ideas as things. Ideas are great, but as Hill shows in the story of how Edwin C. Barnes partnered with Edison, you have to treat them as such. An idea will not become reality until it is brought to life by the hand of the one who conceived it. How many ideas do you have that never come to life? Have you considered the power you hold within you to manifest your thoughts into reality? Here lies the great opportunity to ask; How can I?”
So what if nobody ever did it before!
FAITH
“Be courageous. I have seen many depressions in business. Always America has emerged from these stronger and more prosperous. Be brave as your fathers before you. Have faith! Go forward!” – Thomas Edison
Hill provides a very interesting definition of faith. “A state of mind which may be induced, or created, by affirmation or repeated instructions to the subconscious mind, through the principle of autosuggestion.” Edison simply refused to believe that something could not be done. He had the faith that with enough perseverance and effort, anything could be accomplished – even when “common sense” might suggest otherwise.
Mach 3 with your hair on fire!
THE BRAIN
“It is astonishing what an effort it seems to be for many people to put their brains definitely and systematically to work.” – Thomas Edison
The brain continues to be one of the most studied and least understood parts of the human body. But even in Hill’s time, it was accepted that the brain was a powerful machine that could actually create it’s own energy. Edison was continually pushing his thinking to new levels. He constantly tapped his own awareness of what he knew and filled in the blanks with what he pulled from others. Viewed as a curse by many, part of Edison’s genius is that his mind never quit working. Turning though into action, over and over, produced more inventions than anyone else in history.
Most equate the success of these men to industry and the technological advances of their time. I think the simple truth is that these men just thought better than everyone else. Edison makes a simple but powerful statement when he said; “Everything comes to him who hustles while he waits.” (Tweet This / Share on Facebook / Post to LinkedIn) The men who build America were always hustling – at least mentally.
This will be a great mastermind study. None of these men were angels, but one thing about them – they never let anyone else limit what they could do.
Your brain is constantly producing new thoughts. So I have a few question for you to ponder today. What are you doing with your ideas? How many times do you thing the words “that’s never been done before” described something that had just been done?
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Barry Smith 1/15/14 photo courtesy of Amazon © Building What Matters 2014
