andyhaus44
Regular Contributor
FASTLANE INSIDER
LEGACY MEMBER
MEMBER
Read Rat-Race Escape!
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Many years ago, Harry Houdini was the greatest escape artist in history. He got out of the most incredibly complex lockups, jails, sea trunks thrown into the ocean, handcuffs, straitjackets and safes. He was capable of getting out of everything. He was the equivalent of Siegfried and Roy or some of the great magicians in Las Vegas. He was the world champion escape artist. Then he got a challenge. He was at the top of the world (like the top heavyweight fighter) and got a challenge from the Isle of Man. The island of Man, just off the coast of England, just built the most escape-proof jail in the world.
They had used the most sophisticated locksmiths, the finest steel, and the finest construction. It was a brand new jail where they were going to put some of the worst criminals in the British Isles and they would never be able to escape. They issued a challenge to him across the ocean -- at that time a lot of competition between England and America -- a challenge to Houdini to get out of that jail. He had to accept it. There was a $50,000 prize put up which would be the equivalent of more than a million dollars today
It was like a great championship. They took him and put them into a cell. They stripped him down completely to his cotton underpants. They said he had 60 minutes. There was a clock on the wall. He had 60 minutes to get out or he forfeited not only the $50,000 but also his reputation as a great escape artist
Harry Houdini's wife talked about this after his death. Harry Houdini had been a locksmith as a child and had developed a whole series of little tools that he used to get out of locks that he could manipulate. He had developed a way of hiding that set of tools somewhere in his body. After they had left him alone in the cell, he got out his lock picking tools from his secret place and went to work. He went to work and he said "This should be alright." He looked at the lock and it was fine. He put his tools in and he twisted the tumblers. It was a very sophisticated lock. Twisted the tumblers, click.
Ka-chunk. The door wouldn't open. He turned all the locks back again and tried it again. Ka-chunk. The door wouldn't open. He did this again. And he did this again. The time begin to pass. The clock was ticking 50 minutes, 40 minutes, 30 minutes, 20 minutes
He was perspiring and he was standing in a pool of perspiration. His hands were slippery from the perspiration. Pouring off him. He was trying frantically. He had never in his life seen a lock he couldn't pick. He kept working on the lock and the time was passing 15, 14, 13 12, 11, 10. Everything -- his whole reputation and all of this money -- he was working and ka-chunk. Wouldn't open. Ka-chunk. Wouldn't open. Ka-chunk. Wouldn't open. Finally at one minute to the hour he realized he couldn't open the lock. His heart sunk and he was exhausted. Pouring perspiration. He just fell against the door and the door just swung open. It had never been locked. What they done was they put him in without locking the door. When he went to work, he naturally assumed that they locked the door
They had rattled the keys in the door so when he went to work and turned it, he actually locked himself in. When he turned it back to neutral, he didn't know that it was neutral so he locked it again. He kept locking himself in. The door had never been locked. This is a true story. He fell against the door and the door swung open
The reason I share this story is because your doors are not locked either. The greatest single obstacle to what you can accomplish in the whole world is between your own ears. When you realize that those obstacles do not exist except in your own mind, your door is not locked either
They had used the most sophisticated locksmiths, the finest steel, and the finest construction. It was a brand new jail where they were going to put some of the worst criminals in the British Isles and they would never be able to escape. They issued a challenge to him across the ocean -- at that time a lot of competition between England and America -- a challenge to Houdini to get out of that jail. He had to accept it. There was a $50,000 prize put up which would be the equivalent of more than a million dollars today
It was like a great championship. They took him and put them into a cell. They stripped him down completely to his cotton underpants. They said he had 60 minutes. There was a clock on the wall. He had 60 minutes to get out or he forfeited not only the $50,000 but also his reputation as a great escape artist
Harry Houdini's wife talked about this after his death. Harry Houdini had been a locksmith as a child and had developed a whole series of little tools that he used to get out of locks that he could manipulate. He had developed a way of hiding that set of tools somewhere in his body. After they had left him alone in the cell, he got out his lock picking tools from his secret place and went to work. He went to work and he said "This should be alright." He looked at the lock and it was fine. He put his tools in and he twisted the tumblers. It was a very sophisticated lock. Twisted the tumblers, click.
Ka-chunk. The door wouldn't open. He turned all the locks back again and tried it again. Ka-chunk. The door wouldn't open. He did this again. And he did this again. The time begin to pass. The clock was ticking 50 minutes, 40 minutes, 30 minutes, 20 minutes
He was perspiring and he was standing in a pool of perspiration. His hands were slippery from the perspiration. Pouring off him. He was trying frantically. He had never in his life seen a lock he couldn't pick. He kept working on the lock and the time was passing 15, 14, 13 12, 11, 10. Everything -- his whole reputation and all of this money -- he was working and ka-chunk. Wouldn't open. Ka-chunk. Wouldn't open. Ka-chunk. Wouldn't open. Finally at one minute to the hour he realized he couldn't open the lock. His heart sunk and he was exhausted. Pouring perspiration. He just fell against the door and the door just swung open. It had never been locked. What they done was they put him in without locking the door. When he went to work, he naturally assumed that they locked the door
They had rattled the keys in the door so when he went to work and turned it, he actually locked himself in. When he turned it back to neutral, he didn't know that it was neutral so he locked it again. He kept locking himself in. The door had never been locked. This is a true story. He fell against the door and the door swung open
The reason I share this story is because your doors are not locked either. The greatest single obstacle to what you can accomplish in the whole world is between your own ears. When you realize that those obstacles do not exist except in your own mind, your door is not locked either
Dislike ads? Become a Fastlane member:
Subscribe today and surround yourself with winners and millionaire mentors, not those broke friends who only want to drink beer and play video games. :-)
Access Restricted: Unlock 1,000,000+ Posts
Stop Peeking Through the Keyhole.
Open the Door.
You hit a wall because the best advice isn't free—it's earned. Since 2007, MJ DeMarco has been active here daily (99.9% active rate), building a war room for entrepreneurs who refuse to settle for mediocrity.
- Active Daily: Life-changing content posted dozens of times every day. No dead threads.
- MJ's Inner Circle: Direct access to the author of The Millionaire Fastlane.
- Vetted Network: Connect with founders scaling to 7 and 8 figures.
- Proven Roadmaps: Strategy over motivation. Execution over "hustle porn."
"SCALED TO 6-FIGURE MONTHS"
"Tips and advice here saved me from huge mistakes, others allowed me to scale my business to 6-figure months."— User MitchC
"INSANE QUALITY OF PEOPLE"
"The number of high quality people I've met from this forum has been insane. All of it predicated on building real value."— User Richard Peck
"You are the average of the five people you surround yourself with."
Are you surrounding yourself with success?
