Orison Swett Marden - Pushing To The Front (1894)

Pushing To The Front (1894)

According to Brian Tracy’s book “Flight Plan”, during the deep depression of the 1890’s, Marden lost the hotel he owned. With little money, but with lots of time on his hands, he decided to write a book. He took a room above a livery stable and worked night and day. The evening he finished the final page, tired and hungry, he decided to go out to a small café for dinner. While he was dining, the livery stable caught fire and burned to the ground. His entire manuscript – more than 1,000 pages, an entire year’s work – was destroyed by flames in a matter of minutes.

He was overwhelmed and heartbroken. But he picked himself up and started all over again. A year later, he had re-written his manuscript. He then tried to get it published. But with the depression being in its third year, no one was interested. He moved to Chicago, found a job and met someone who happened to know a publisher. The publisher read his book and said, “This is exactly what people should be reading in the middle of the depression or at any other time”.

“Pushing to the Front” became the single greatest runaway classic in the history of personal development books at that time. People like Henry Ford, Thomas Edison, Harvey Firestone and J.P. Morgan cited it as inspiration. Marden went on to write more than twenty other inspirational books.

“There are two essential requirements for success. The first is “go-at-it-iveness” and the second is “stick-to-it-iveness” - Orison Swett Marden