Three Feet from Gold: Turn Your Obstacles into Opportunities! (Think and Grow Rich) [Hardcover]

Sharon L. Lechter CPA (Author), Greg S. Reid (Author), Mark Victor Hansen (Foreword)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 6, 2009 | Series: Think and Grow Rich

A century ago, Napoleon Hill began researching and writing his classic, Think and Grow Rich— which sold more than 100 million copies worldwide. On this 100th anniversary comes a fresh and modern look at the core theme of Hill’s master work. 

Three Feet from Gold takes the principle of never giving up from the revolutionary best seller and presents it in a new and modern fable. A young writer sets out to interview business leaders and other influential figures of today about the importance of persistence in attaining your goals—including Dave Liniger, chairman and co-founder of Re/Max; John St. Augustine, producer of “Oprah and Friends” Radio Programming; Debbi Fields, founder of Mrs. Fields Cookies; boxing champ Evander Holyfield; Symphony Orchestra conductor Jahja Ling; the Nobel nominated founders of Childhelp.org, Yvonne Fedderson and Sara O’Meara; and NASCAR President Mike Helton. Through these inspirational real-life stories, Three Feet from Gold offers advice about having passion for what you do, finding your own personal Success Formula, choosing good counsel, and above all: never giving up.

 

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Based on the principles outlined in Napoleon Hill's Think and Grow Rich, authors and veteran financial officers Lechter and Reid craft an engaging allegory to illustrate Hill's principals of success. Readers follow everyman Greg as he pursues happiness and success with the help of fictional guru Jonathan Buckland, who arranges a series of meetings and experiences which ultimately guide readers to better understand the mindset which leads to success. Like Hill, Lechter and Reid believe that, though "there are many things you cannot control," the factors critical to success are within an individuals' control: namely, "your mind and your attitude." As such, each short, story-driven chapter includes quotes from Hill and other luminous successes, while taking Greg point-by-point through acquiring knowledge (about vision, opportunity, taking action, following through and more), and applying it. Readers won't ever get bored with Lechter and Reid's brisk text, and it's ameliorated by plenty of review. Big ideas are developed artfully by revisiting and building upon previously introduced concepts. This volume should interest both sophisticated and novice followers of Napoleon Hill, or anyone looking for a practical take on the power of a positive outlook
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Review

"Based on the principles outlined in Napoleon Hill’s Think and Grow Rich, authors and veteran financial officers Lechter and Reid craft an engaging allegory to illustrate Hill’s principals of success.... Readers won’t ever get bored with Lechter and Reid’s brisk text, and it’s ameliorated by plenty of review. Big ideas are developed artfully by revisiting and building upon previously introduced concepts. This volume should interest both sophisticated and novice followers of Napoleon Hill, or anyone looking for a practical take on the power of a positive outlook." -- Publishers Weekly 

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Sterling; 1 edition (October 6, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1402767641
• ISBN-13: 978-1402767647
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 6.3 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (60 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #48,832 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

33 of 34 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "I Am Now Transforming My Obstacles into Opportunities", October 6, 2009

By 

William Marshall (Burbank, CA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Three Feet from Gold: Turn Your Obstacles into Opportunities! (Think and Grow Rich) (Hardcover)

The book reminded me in some ways of the One Minute Manager books. Rather than simply laying out the content in a text book format or a series of short anecdotes, it's written as a novel. What I love about this style of teaching is that it is both educational and entertaining. Once I started reading it, I couldn't put it down. Stories are generally easier for people to remember than mere facts.

In this story, a man named Greg is going through personal adversity in his business and his personal life. Greg meets a super-successful businessman, Jonathon Buckland. During his personal journey, he meets with a series of real life successful men and women who share their secrets of success--particularly the value of persistence through adversity.

While the story is fictional, most of the people he meets along the way are real people with real lessons that they have learned from their own experiences. This helps bring the ideas and lessons they share out of the "ivory tower" of theory and into the real world of everyday men and women.

I liked the way the main character has very real and contemporary problems, but learns how to overcome them with positive persistence and a commitment to self-improvement. As a big fan of Napoleon Hill, I loved the way Hill's teachings are woven into the story. While Greg receives a helping hand from his friends, it's clear that the reason they are helping him is because the gradual improvement in his own attitude and a sincere desire to help improve the lives of other people.

I believe that a great book is worth more than it's weight in gold. That is because wisdom and relationships are more valuable than money. Wise thought is the "stuff" that is used to create wealth and success. One of the points made in the book is that "you're the same today as you will be in five years except for two things: the people you meet and the books you read."

I think that with the adversity that many people are experiencing today, the message from "Three Feet From Gold" is especially timely. Keep moving forward. Keep growing and learning. Serve others with sincerity. Consistently and persistently apply the proven, timeless principles of success and you can achieve your goals.

Since you're reading this review, you are clearly thinking about getting this book. Go ahead, buy it, read it, study it. You won't be disappointed.

24 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great message, story falls short, October 29, 2009

By 

Monty Rainey (New Braunfels, TX) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Three Feet from Gold: Turn Your Obstacles into Opportunities! (Think and Grow Rich) (Hardcover)

Before writing this review, I did something I very rarely do; I went in and read a few of the other reviews. I purposely don't do that because I don't want the other reviews to influence my own words, but I had already made up my mind on what I wanted to say and something caught my eye in the reviews. So anyway, THREE FEET FROM GOLD, by Sharon Lechter and Greg Reid has some mixed reviews, to say the least.

I'm going to give some credibility to the nay-sayers first. It is quite a stretch to believe that a total stranger, after a one-time meeting of only a few minutes, would put up thousands of dollars of their own money to send someone on such a pilgrimage as what is described here. I love parables, but even as parables go, that is a bit of a stretch. So we can certainly settle on this; the story is a little hoaky and more than a little unbelievable.

Now, putting that aside, let's look at the content and relevance of this book. The book begins by taking it's namesake from the story Napoleon Hill tells of in "Think and Grow Rich" about R.U. Darby, the man who sold his gold mine to a junk dealer, only to learn later that he was only 3 feet from a major vein. The moral being, never give up, you may only be 3 feet from gold.

From this lesson, the subject of the story, Greg, goes on a once in a million lifetimes journey to meet some of the most incredible mentors and successes of our time. The cast of characters in this portion of the "parable" are 100% real, their stories are real, and their message is real.

If you destroy books the way I do, you'll end up with highlights, underlines, arrows and margin notes of virtually every page. The cast of mentors is broad and obviously a lot of work went into gathering this information. The story may not be all that, but the information contained within the story is worth it's weight in gold.

If you judge your reading material solely on the basis of believability, you will be disappointed here. But if you judge your reading material on the value of the content, then you want this on your "must read" list. From that aspect of it, this is one of the best books I've read this year. If you're looking for a great story, read "To Kill a Mockingbird". If you're looking for a great message, read this book.

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars 3 Feet From Gold Review, October 9, 2009

By 

Frank Crerie (Phoenix, AZ USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Three Feet from Gold: Turn Your Obstacles into Opportunities! (Think and Grow Rich) (Hardcover)

This book gives the personal success secrets of how a number of people have achieved success. It's not written like a text book. It's not lecturing you. It's telling you in story form how to succeed. I highly recommend this book to anyone seeking the ability to persevere. Having lived 89 years, I've seen in a lifetime how perseverance and determination pays off. I think so highly of this book that I bought 2 copies; 1 for each of my grandchildren.

F Crerie (Phoenix)