The Man Who’Thought’ His way Into Partnership With Thomas Edison. (1)

Another Chapter that illustrates faith, long before we were worrying about how to accomplish positive situations for ourselves. Mankind has always done this. None of us  are faced with many of the struggles our fore fathers went through. We have paid a high price for progress some of the highest being the ability to have faith in ourselves and what we desire. To be on good terms with each season that passes. The grace to accept it might not be so cool or necessary to eat vegetables and fruit out of season as this heavily taxes our planet.

I can’t stress this enough ‘your body goes where your mind goes’. It’s time to start looking up, as a bright future awaits mankind but we need to choose it. We need environmental, physical and emotional harmony and fortunately it is within our will to do this. The words below are not ‘hog wash’ they are an intelligent assessment of the power of positive thinking, written in the 1930’s.

TRULY, “thoughts are things,” and powerful things at that, when they are
mixed with definiteness of purpose, persistence, and a BURNING DESIRE for
their translation into riches, or other material objects.
A little more than thirty years ago, Edwin C. Barnes discovered how true it is
that men really do think and grow rich. His discovery did not come about
at one sitting. It came little by little, beginning with a BURNING DESIRE to
become a business associate of the great Edison. One of the chief characteristics of Barnes’ Desire was that it was definite. He wanted to work with Edison, not for him.

Observe, carefully, the description of how he went about translating his DESIRE into reality, and you will have a better understanding of the thirteen principles which lead to riches. When this DESIRE, or impulse of thought, first flashed into his mind he was in no position to act upon it. Two difficulties stood in his way. He did not know Mr. Edison, and he did not have enough money to pay his railroad fare to Orange, New Jersey. These difficulties were sufficient to have discouraged the majority of men from making any attempt to carry out the desire.
But his was no ordinary desire! He was so determined to find a way to carry
out his desire that he finally decided to travel by “blind baggage,” rather than
be defeated. (To the uninitiated, this means that he went to East Orange on a
freight train). He presented himself at Mr. Edison’s laboratory, and announced
he had come to go into business with the inventor. In speaking of the first
meeting between Barnes and Edison, years later, Mr. Edison said, “He stood
there before me, looking like an ordinary tramp, but there was something in
the expression of his face which conveyed the impression that he was
determined to get what he had come after. I had learned, from years of
experience with men, that when a man really DESIRES a thing so deeply that
he is willing to stake his entire future on a single turn of the wheel in order to
get it, he is sure to win. I gave him the opportunity he asked for, because I
saw he had made up his mind to stand by until he succeeded. Subsequent
events proved that no mistake was made.”
Just what young Barnes said to Mr. Edison on that occasion was far less
important than that which he thought. Edison, himself, said so! It could not
have been the young man’s appearance which got him his start in the Edison
office, for that was definitely against him. It was what he THOUGHT that
counted. If the significance of this statement could be conveyed to every
person who reads it, there would be no need for the remainder of this book.

Barnes did not get his partnership with Edison on his first interview. He did get
a chance to work in the Edison offices, at a very nominal wage, doing work
that was unimportant to Edison, but most important to Barnes, because it gave
him an opportunity to display his “merchandise” where his intended “partner”
could see it. Months went by. Apparently nothing happened to bring the
coveted goal which Barnes had set up in his mind as his DEFINITE MAJOR
PURPOSE. But something important was happening in Barnes’ mind. He was
constantly intensifying his DESIRE to become the business associate of Edison.
Psychologists have correctly said that “when one is truly ready for a thing, it
puts in its appearance.” Barnes was ready for a business association with
Edison, moreover, he was DETERMINED TO REMAIN READY UNTIL HE GOT
THAT WHICH HE WAS SEEKING. He did not say to himself, “Ah well, what’s the use? I guess I’ll change my mind and try for a salesman’s job.” But, he did say, “I came here to go into business with Edison, and I’ll accomplish this end if it takes the remainder of my life.” He meant it! What a different story men would have to tell if only they would adopt a DEFINITE PURPOSE, and stand by that purpose until it had time to become an all-consuming obsession! Maybe young Barnes did not know it at the time, but his bulldog determination, his persistence in standing back of a single DESIRE, was destined to mow down all opposition, and bring him the opportunity he was seeking.
When the opportunity came, it appeared in a different form, and from a
different direction than Barnes had expected. That is one of the tricks of
opportunity. It has a sly habit of slipping in by the back door, and often it
comes disguised in the form of misfortune, or temporary defeat. Perhaps this is
why so many fail to recognize opportunity. Mr. Edison had just perfected a new
office device, known at that time, as the Edison Dictating Machine (now the
Ediphone). His salesmen were not enthusiastic over the machine. They did not
believe it could be sold without great effort. Barnes saw his opportunity. It had
crawled in quietly, hidden in a queer looking machine which interested no one
but Barnes and the inventor. Barnes knew he could sell the Edison Dictating Machine. He suggested this to Edison, and promptly got his chance. He did sell the machine. In fact, he sold it so successfully that Edison gave him a contract to distribute and market it all over the nation. Out of that business association grew the slogan, “Made by Edison and installed by Barnes.”

How much actual cash that original DESIRE of Barnes’ has been worth to him, I
have no way of knowing. Perhaps it has brought him two or three million
dollars, but the amount, whatever it is, becomes insignificant when compared
with the greater asset he acquired in the form of definite knowledge that an
intangible impulse of thought can be transmuted into its physical counterpart
by the application of known principles.

Barnes literally thought himself into a partnership with the great Edison! He
thought himself into a fortune. He had nothing to start with, except the
capacity to KNOW WHAT HE WANTED, AND THE DETERMINATION TO STAND
BY THAT DESIRE UNTIL HE REALIZED IT. He had no money to begin with. He
had but little education. He had no influence. But he did have initiative, faith,
and the will to win. With these intangible forces he made himself number one
man with the greatest inventor who ever lived.

Hopefully reading these chapters I’ll be posting will be making you want to believe in yourself and try for the things you know you’d like to have. The world is could be full of people who doubt themselves, It takes remarkable self knowledge to recognize that you maybe placing limiting thoughts on yourself you may of learnt from your family, friends or bully’s you may of known.

It’s time to step up and save yourself from negative attitudes you didn’t come into this world with. It’s time you understood you are not born to suffer. All states of being are a choice sometimes triggered by situations but mostly it’s just a choice. Choose a better life for yourself. Think yourself free!

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