The Invisible Mentor

Update on What Did Napoleon Hill Omit

April 29th, 2010 |

This post is an update to my post on “What Did Napoleon Hill Omit? Invisible Counselors vs. Invisible Mentors.”

: Image via Wikipedia

I heard from several people who read the post and really enjoyed it, but a burning question they had was if my idea for Invisible Mentors was inspired by Napoleon Hill‘s Invisible Counselors. No I wasn’t inspired by Napoleon Hill’s concept. Yes, I read Think and Grow Rich years ago and it was a painful experience for me. At the time, I wondered if something was wrong with me because so many successful people had been impacted by the book, which did nothing for me.

So where did the inspiration for the Invisible Mentor come from?

In 2007, I wrote my first book Tales of People Who Get It, and at the time I was trying to figure out an apt description for it. One day while walking in High Park, “Tales of People Who Get It is your Board of Invisible Mentors,” popped into my consciousness. The book consists of the interview responses of 34 highly successful people, and most of them are ordinary people like you and me, so you get the sense that you can do what they have done. The significant thing for me is that when I often have a challenge, I remember parts of interviews that I have conducted. I am influenced and sometimes changed by these interviews and I hope that you are too. That’s why I conduct the interviews so that we may learn from the experiences of others.

It took me over 18 months before I did anything with the Invisible Mentor idea because I mentioned it to a friend and she thought the idea was ahead of its time and I should water it down and take out the word invisible. (Little did we know that a similar idea existed). In other words, she rained on my parade. I know better and should never have listened to her, but nothing is ever done before its time. The lesson to you and also to me is to be careful who you listen to.

Now that it’s a situation of what is old is new again, I realize that all of us are a lot smarter that we give ourselves credit for. I believe in the concept of the Invisible Mentor, and knowing that Napoleon Hill successfully used Invisible Mentors, disguised as Counselors, I know that I am on the right track? If Invisible Mentors were good enough, and even critical to Hill’s success, they should be good enough for us. Have you taken the time to choose your five Invisible Mentors? What are you trying to accomplish? Who has already walked the path that you are now on? If you need assistance in choosing your Invisible Mentors, the Invisible Mentor Toolkit could be your answer.

And, what are you doing to make your mind a fertile ground for great ideas? Take a chance, risk it, because you could produce a seminal piece of work such as Think and Grow Rich. The time is now to act on your great idea. I thought this post important enough to preempt the the scheduled posts.

Let’s keep the conversation flowing, please let me know your thoughts in the comments section below. Many readers read this blog from other sites, so why don’t you pop over to The Invisible Mentor and subscribe (top on the left side) by email or RSS Feed.

For an electronic copy of Think and Grow Rich, please click here.

Further Reading

What Did Napoleon Hill Omit? Invisible Counselors vs. Invisible Mentors

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