There's a story in Napolean Hill's famous book Think and Grow Rich that tells the tale of two ambitious men who gave up on their gold mining dream only 3 feet from hitting the mother load – the story in its own right is famously referred to as "3 feet from gold." If you've never heard the story before I highly suggest picking up Hill's book as it is indeed a classic far beyond just this story, but for our purposes we'll share a brief summary here. Essentially there are two men caught up in the gold rush that decided to try and make it out west to dig and grow rich. So they headed out on their journey to Colorado and bought the equipment they needed to get digging. At first they were pulling in so much gold they thought they might just have one of the richest mines in Colorado! In just a short period of time they had nearly recouped in full the cost of the machinery, and could faintly taste life in the fast lane. But something happened, the vein of gold ore disappeared. They had come to the end of the rainbow, but kept drilling frantically trying to find it again. Long days, and longer nights of relentless and frantic drilling – but to no avail, it seemed all was lost. So they quit.

The two men sold off their machinery to some junk man for a fraction of what they bought it for and headed back home tail tucked between their legs. The dream was over…But not for the junk man! The junk man decided based on what he came to understand of that mine, maybe it was worth hiring an engineer to do a little math and flesh out what went wrong. Well wouldn't you know it, the engineers calculations came to find that the project failed because those men were not familiar with "fault lines", and in fact his calculations showed that sweet sweet vein of gold they were looking for could be found just three feet from where the quitters stopped drilling…and that's exactly where it was found, and the junk man made millions.

There's an old saying that goes "more gold has been mined from the brains of men than has ever been taken from the earth." Many of us have been raised under the guise that hard work alone is the recipe for success, but we find here that maybe, just maybe, this is not the whole truth. The two men traveling west were completely ignorant to the industry they set out to conquer, only to find that such ignorance coupled with arrogance to neglect seeking experienced counsel would ruin them – but credit where credit is due, their work ethic was impeccable!

Know your strengths, and outsource your weaknesses. Think smarter, then work harder. And for god sakes, let's put our pride to the side so as to give ourselves time for the miracle to happen. When you feel like quitting, may it be a business venture, fitness routine or relationship – ask yourself, what would I do if I knew I was only 3 feet from gold?

For our first Heavy Hitters event we are excited to have Mark Rucco of the Mark Rucco Group joining us. Mark was ranked as the #1 Agent for Palm Beach County by Most Closed Transactions in 2016, and ranked in Wall Street Journal's Top 200 Realtors Nationwide. I know Mark's story well, and can assure you that at some point in his career you will find common ground, and more importantly, stories from this shared experience that can help us overcome whatever difficulty currently preventing you from your best self.

This event will no sell out quickly and in fact, we're well over 50% of capacity within 24 hours, as Mark is certainly the type of professional we all wish to learn from. So please reach out and RSVP your seat today by calling 561-864-2458, or emailing Brett Vidro at [email protected]. Our Heavy Hitters interview with Mark Rucco will be held at the Cinemark Theater in Boca Raton on October 26th from 9:30am – 12:00pm. While this is only the first of many in this series, it is surely one you will not want to miss.

I look forward to seeing you there to stand on the shoulders of a giant.                  

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The views of this blog, "Your Morning Shot" podcast, and on this site in general are solely those of the authors, Matt Weaver (NMLS-175651) and Zack Lewis, and do not express the views or opinions of Finance of America Mortgage.