If you sold all of Cornelius Vanderbilt's assets at the time of his death, you would take out 1/20 of all dollars in circulation... That's insane. Let's take a look at 2 stories from his childhood to see if we can uncover some of the mystery of his rise...

@casbrad Much more than just obesity!

@david_perell I don’t even go to “new” bookstores anymore

@getpaidwrite Yeah, that’s what it comes down to 😂

@PeterVWha @bo66ie29 Wow, I was excited

@historydefined Not many paintings of plants… I wonder why…

@PeterVWha @bo66ie29 That’s awesome.

@Anc_Aesthetics Followed, looks good

@Chad_Hurley It all matters. The mindset around “nothing matters” stems from depression, often the person with the “nothing matter” mindset is unaware of the degree to which they are depressed

@ThinkInPeach May he rest in peace.

@Culture_Crit @creation247 Or worshiping the wrong things at least, everyone worships something

KNOWLEDGE: -Develop your "take action" muscle as early as you can (and it's never too late). Stop thinking so much and just do exactly what it is that you know you need to do deep down. We almost always know what the next step is. Take that step.

The sooner you develop a habit of taking action, the sooner your life will change. A lot of people talk about taking action, but hardly anyone takes it seriously. A shortcut to living a miserable life: "I'll start tomorrow" Take action on your dreams NOW.

It didn't matter if Vanderbilt was being rejected by the ferryman or expanding his railroads decades, later - the man moved fast. This is a common trait among the "big hitters" throughout history. They GOT GOING and then GOT GOOD later.

These decisions by Vanderbilt to waste no time sulking or playing victim, and instead taking responsibility for himself, paid heavy dividends (literally) throughout his life. A friend of Vanderbilt's describes him as a boy, he took: "pride in action for action's sake."

Well, in both of these stories, you can see that Vanderbilt had a strong inclination toward taking action. He didn't flounder like most kids would have.

So, what do these two short stories have in common?

Vanderbilt's mother gave her son $100 to buy a boat. And the rest is history... Vanderbilt went on to build two of the largest business empires the US has ever seen, one in naval shipping and one in railroad shipping.

Their deadline for finishing the job was Vanderbilt's 16th birthday, less than a month away. Vanderbilt and his friends worked on that plot of land every spare second they had. And by the time Vanderbilt's birthday rolled around, they won the deal.

The land was: "so hard, rough and stony" according to 1800s biographer W.A. Crofutt, "that it had never been plowed before" It was not going to be an easy job... He immediately gathered up his friends to conquer the land.

He then decided that if he wasn't allowed to visit Europe, he would at least captain his own ship in New York. He made a deal with his mother. If he cleared, plowed, and sowed their 8-acre plot of land, his mother agreed to give him enough money to get his own small vessel.

At 15, Vanderbilt signed up to travel across the ocean to transport goods to Napoleon's Europe (yes, Vanderbilt was alive during this time... pretty wild). But the plan was shut down by his parents out of fear of something happening to him.

Let's look at another story from Vanderbilt's childhood. He loved to sail. He felt at home shipping cargo around the city.

Vanderbilt got the money and drove the wagons onto the ferry, returning home just in time for dinner.

He asked to borrow the $6 from the tavern owner. He offered to leave one of his horses at the tavern as collateral and promised to pay back the debt within 24 hours. It worked.

When the young boy made it to the ferry, the ferryman would not allow him to get on board with the wagons, unless he paid $6. Vanderbilt didn't waste any time arguing with the ferryman. Thinking quickly, he ran into a nearby tavern and spoke with the owner.

Young Vanderbilt was tasked with moving the cargo to where it needed to go on land. Only there was one problem... His father didn't give him enough money to pay for the ferry to make it back home after transporting all the goods.

Young Vanderbilt's father was involved in shipping back in 1805. A ship had run ashore on a sandbar and his father was hired to collect the stranded cargo and transport it across the river.

Vanderbilt was riding down the streets of New York in a wagon. He was in charge of getting three wagons onto a ferry to meet his father. He was 11 years old.

If you sold all of Cornelius Vanderbilt's assets at the time of his death, you would take out 1/20 of all dollars in circulation... That's insane. Let's take a look at 2 stories from his childhood to see if we can uncover some of the mystery of his rise...