living your own life. For me, one of those stories is about a man who lost years of work in a fire and then made an extraordinary decision: he started again.
His name was Orison Swett Marden, and he wrote Pushing to the Front, one of the influential early books on success, determination and personal development. I recently came across the transcript of a fascinating episode of Russell Brunson’s Round Pegs Square Holes series titled I Interviewed Orison Swett Marden. He Died in 1924.
Of course, this was not a literal interview. Marden died in 1924. Brunson uses an AI-voiced reconstruction, drawing on Marden’s published writing, to explore what the author might have said in response to questions about success and failure. It is an imaginative format, but the ideas behind it are worth taking seriously. The episode description makes the AI element explicit.
What attracted me most was how relevant the conversation felt to my own situation. I live in Essex, work demanding 12-hour night shifts as a security guard, and am trying to build online income through blogging, TikTok and other projects. I want financial freedom, but some days the journey feels slow. I have experienced setbacks, exhaustion, disappointment and the temptation to wonder whether all this work is leading anywhere.
Marden’s story did not offer me a magical formula for getting rich. It offered something more useful: a reminder that setbacks do not have to be the end of the story, and that belief must eventually turn into disciplined action.
Orison Swett Marden: The Man Who Started Again After Losing Everything
The hotel fire that destroyed years of writing
In the early 1890s, Marden was working on a manuscript about success and overcoming difficulties. According to accounts of his life, he had spent many years developing the material when a fire destroyed the hotel where he was staying, together with his manuscript and notes.
Imagine putting years of effort into something only to see it disappear in a single night. Today we can back up documents to cloud storage, duplicate computer files and save drafts automatically. Marden did not have those conveniences. The loss was physical and complete.
The detail that stayed with me was what happened afterwards. In a biography of Marden, the story is told of him buying a twenty-five-cent notebook and beginning to reconstruct his book from memory while the ruins of the hotel were still smoking. A 1920 issue of The New Success also recalls the destruction of the manuscript and his immediate effort to rewrite it.
I cannot verify every dramatic detail repeated in modern retellings of the fire. But the central point is well documented: his work was destroyed, and he began again.
How Pushing to the Front became a success classic
Marden’s book, Pushing to the Front: Success Under Difficulties, was first published in 1894. He went on to establish SUCCESS magazine in 1897, helping bring discussions about ambition, character and self-improvement to a much wider audience.
What is interesting is that his achievement came after a devastating personal and professional setback. The fire did not somehow make his work easy. It created a serious problem that he had to overcome through more writing, more patience and more effort.
The book itself can still be read in a later, expanded edition through Project Gutenberg. I find that remarkable. Ideas written more than a century ago can now be accessed on a mobile phone in seconds.
What his decision means for my own journey
When I think about Marden starting again, I think about how easy it is to become discouraged when a project seems to be going backwards.
In October 2026, I experienced severe lower back pain that interrupted my normal routine. Later that month, I lost access to my Facebook account for about a week, disrupting plans to develop and monetise my content. More recently, I decided to remove the AI-generated videos and image posts from my TikTok account so I could rebuild it around videos of myself speaking directly to the camera.
Starting again does not feel glamorous. It can feel like admitting that your earlier effort did not deliver what you hoped for. But the decision to start again can also be a sign of growth. I am not beginning from zero, because I still have the lessons I learned along the way.
That is the first lesson I take from Marden: a setback can destroy a project, but it does not have to destroy the person who created it.
Self-Belief and an Unwavering Aim: Two Foundations of Success
What Marden meant by believing you can succeed
One of Marden’s most memorable lines is: “He can who thinks he can.”
This is easy to dismiss as a motivational slogan. Believing in yourself does not automatically put money in your bank account, guarantee a successful business or persuade an algorithm to recommend your video. There are real-world limits, and some people face barriers that cannot be overcome by positive thinking alone.
However, I believe the phrase contains an important practical insight. If I convince myself that I am incapable of learning a skill, I am much less likely to practise it. If I assume that every video I produce will fail, I may give up before giving myself a reasonable chance to improve.
Self-belief is not evidence that success is guaranteed. It is a reason to remain open to learning, making attempts and adjusting my approach. Marden’s discussion of confidence appears in the chapter Expect Great Things of Yourself in the expanded edition of Pushing to the Front.
Why a clear purpose matters more than endless motivation
Marden also wrote about having one unwavering aim. This idea resonates with me because it is possible to spend a great deal of time feeling inspired without moving meaningfully towards a goal.
My aim is clear: to move from working long security shifts towards financial freedom by building sustainable sources of online income.
I have several projects, including my personal blog at mujiburrahman.com, my London-focused website london33.co.uk, and short-form videos documenting my progress. Each project has potential, but each also demands time and attention.
Without a clear aim, I could spend one week experimenting with TikTok, the next week chasing a completely different business idea and the week after that trying something else. There is nothing wrong with experimentation, but constantly changing direction can prevent any single project from developing.
An unwavering aim does not mean refusing to change tactics. It means keeping the destination in mind while being flexible about the route.
A simple method for making the aim visible every day
I want to turn this principle into a daily habit. Rather than relying on a sudden burst of enthusiasm, I can write down three things:
- My long-term aim: build enough dependable online income to give myself a real choice about leaving shift work.
- My current priority: publish useful content, improve my video skills and understand what my audience responds to.
- Today’s next action: complete one manageable task that moves a project forward.
My financial target is ambitious, but a target alone will not achieve anything. What matters is what I do after writing it down.
When I return home after a night shift, I do not always have the energy for a huge work session. But I may be able to outline an article, review video feedback or practise editing for twenty minutes. Small, repeated actions are less dramatic than motivational speeches, but over time they can create valuable work.
Turning Obstacles, Failure and Disappointment Into Useful Lessons
Why I no longer want to treat every setback as a final verdict
One of the most interesting ideas in Brunson’s conversation with the reconstructed Marden is that obstacles can sometimes develop abilities we would otherwise never use.
I understand that idea, although I would add an important qualification: hardship is not automatically beneficial. Pain, financial losses and exhaustion can seriously damage a person’s wellbeing. Nobody should feel obliged to celebrate suffering. We can acknowledge how difficult something is while still asking whether it has taught us anything useful.
My own experience has shown me that a disappointing result is not always proof that an ambition is unrealistic. Sometimes it means the method needs improving, the audience needs more time to understand what I offer, or the project needs a clearer focus.
My TikTok restart and the challenge of low views
My TikTok account grew to around 25,000 followers while I was mainly publishing AI-generated videos and image posts. I then made a deliberate decision to change direction and create original videos featuring myself.
That change has been uncomfortable. My newer videos have often attracted only around 200 to 300 views. When you have tens of thousands of followers, those numbers can make you question what is happening.
But I am learning to separate the results of a video from my worth as a creator. A video receiving 250 views is information, not a permanent judgment on my potential.
It may tell me that the opening was weak, that my message was too broad, that the lighting or sound could be better, or simply that the video did not connect strongly with the viewers who saw it. I cannot know the exact reason from a view count alone. What I can do is test improvements rather than invent explanations.
I am a beginner at filming and editing myself. I am learning CapCut, working on subtitles and experimenting with stronger opening lines. The challenge is to make the next video better than the last one, even if the views do not immediately increase.
My approach to failure has to change
Marden encouraged readers not to let old mistakes dominate their future. I think this is particularly relevant to people who have experienced major financial or professional disappointment.
There is a difference between learning from the past and living inside the past. Learning requires an honest review: What happened? Which decisions were within my control? What could I do differently next time? Living inside the past means replaying the disappointment without taking a constructive step forward.
I cannot change previous losses, the days when I was unable to work because of back pain, or the problems I faced when my Facebook account became inaccessible. I can improve how I protect my work, diversify the places where I publish content and avoid relying entirely on a platform that I do not control.
This is one reason blogging still appeals to me. My websites are assets that I can develop over time, even though search traffic and advertising income are never guaranteed. Social platforms remain valuable, but my goal is to use them alongside websites and other channels, rather than placing all my hopes in one account.
Persistence also means knowing when to make changes
There is a danger in the phrase “never give up” if it is interpreted as “never question your method.” Some ideas will not work. Some projects will be too expensive to continue. Some goals need adjusting when circumstances change.
For me, intelligent persistence means keeping my broader financial freedom goal while measuring what is happening in each project. If a blog post receives little search traffic, I can review whether it answers a real question, whether it is accurate and whether the site needs time to establish itself. If a video underperforms, I can compare it with stronger videos and change one thing at a time.
I want to become someone who responds to disappointment with curiosity and action, not just frustration.
The Discipline of Finishing Projects and Taking Pride in Work
Why starting something is easier than finishing it
Russell Brunson raises a problem that I recognise in myself and in many people trying to build an online business: unfinished projects.
New ideas are exciting. Registering a domain name, planning a website or imagining a new YouTube channel creates a feeling of progress. But an idea is not the same as a finished, useful product. A website needs content. Content needs editing. Articles need checking. Videos need recording and publishing.
Marden placed great value on accuracy, thoroughness and seeing work through to completion. One of the stories mentioned in the episode concerns a forgotten hammer left inside a boat, used to illustrate the consequences of carelessness. Whether every historical detail of that example is verifiable or not, the practical message is clear: the small things we neglect can cause much bigger problems later.
Applying the finishers’ mindset to my websites
I enjoy researching ideas for new blogs and online businesses. But I also know how much effort is required to build something that is genuinely useful to readers.
For london33.co.uk, I have been building guides covering London’s 32 boroughs and the City of London, followed by more focused local service articles. It would be easy to become obsessed with the total number of posts. Yet publishing a large number of articles is not enough if they are thin, inaccurate or difficult to use.
Finishing a blog post properly means checking names and locations, ensuring the information is helpful, reviewing spelling and structure, writing a meaningful title and description, and making sure the article answers the question a reader actually asked.
The same applies to my TikTok videos. The goal is not merely to record footage. It is to choose a clear message, make the opening interesting, deliver the point naturally, add accurate captions and publish a video I am comfortable putting my name on.
What my security job can teach me beyond my salary
Another theme in Marden’s writing is that work should provide more than the wages printed on a payslip. He encouraged people to use their work as an opportunity to build skill, discipline and character.
This idea means a lot to me. I work 12-hour night shifts, and the journey to and from Canary Wharf can make an already long day feel even longer. I am honest about wanting to escape this routine. I want more freedom over my time, more time with my family and the ability to decide how to spend my days.
But while I am still employed, I do not want to dismiss everything the job has taught me. Security work demands punctuality, responsibility, patience, communication and staying professional when you are tired. These qualities can help me when I am building a business of my own.
At the same time, I do not read Marden’s advice as a reason to accept unsafe conditions, unreasonable demands or endless unpaid labour. Taking pride in my work and protecting my health can go together. A job deserves an honest effort, and a worker deserves fair treatment.
Character is part of my personal brand
Marden’s emphasis on personal character also applies to the online world. Today, anyone can create a polished logo or professional-looking social media page. It is much harder to earn lasting trust.
For mujiburrahman.com, I want that trust to come from being truthful about my experiences. I do not want to pretend that I have already achieved financial freedom. I want people to see the real journey: the slow progress, the mistakes, the lessons and, hopefully, the improvements over time.
If I publish an article about earning money online, I should make the difference clear between actual results, estimates and personal goals. If I use AI-generated material, I should disclose it appropriately. If a strategy has not worked for me, I should be willing to say so.
My reputation matters more than making a piece of content sound impressive.
How I Will Apply Marden’s Lessons to My Financial Freedom Journey
My goal is freedom, not just an impressive income figure
Since beginning my personal development and financial freedom journey on 21 April 2026, I have been examining how I spend my time and what I want my future to look like.
I have often talked about building online income of £5,000 a month, with an even bigger long-term ambition. Those are goals, not promises or current earnings. The real purpose behind the numbers is to create choices: perhaps reducing my working hours, spending less time commuting, and eventually leaving night shifts if my finances genuinely support that decision.
I understand that online income is not automatically passive. A website needs maintenance, content needs updating, and an audience needs attention. Even income from advertising or affiliate marketing can fluctuate dramatically. Financial freedom will require a dependable business, sensible costs, savings and patience—not simply a viral video.
A practical plan inspired by five of Marden’s ideas
This is how I intend to turn inspiration into action over the coming weeks:
- Start again when necessary. If a method stops working, I will assess what changed and rebuild with what I have learned. I will not treat starting over as proof of failure.
- Keep one clear overall aim. My projects should contribute to the same goal of creating sustainable income and greater control over my time.
- Build self-belief through evidence. Instead of repeating positive statements without action, I will record completed articles, published videos, improved skills and other measurable progress.
- Finish useful work. I will prioritise completing and improving content before constantly chasing another new idea.
- Protect my reputation. I will be transparent about my results, careful with factual claims and committed to providing genuine value.
For each month, I can track the number of useful articles published, videos completed, skills practised, visitors arriving at my websites and income actually earned. Those measures will not predict the future, but they will make it easier to see where I am progressing and where I need to change course.
The six-word reminder I want to carry with me
The final exercise in Brunson’s episode is wonderfully simple: write Marden’s words on a small card and place it somewhere visible.
He can who thinks he can.
I like the simplicity of that reminder. For me, however, it must always be followed by another question: What am I prepared to do today to give myself a chance?
Belief can help me pick up my phone and record a video even when yesterday’s received only a few hundred views. It can help me sit down and finish an article after a tiring shift. It can encourage me to learn a skill that seemed intimidating only a few weeks ago.
But belief becomes meaningful when I act on it.
My message to anyone who feels stuck
Perhaps you are also working long hours while trying to build a better future. Perhaps you have started an online project that has not made money. Perhaps you have invested time in something that failed, or you feel too old to learn something new.
I cannot promise that every dream will come true. I cannot say that everyone who works hard will become wealthy. Life is more complicated than that. What I can say is that the past does not have to make all our future decisions for us.
Orison Swett Marden’s manuscript was destroyed, yet he wrote again. More than a century later, his work is still being discussed because he chose to continue.
I am not comparing my circumstances with his. I am taking inspiration from the principle behind his response.
At the moment, I am still a security guard, still learning how to make better videos, still working on my blogs and still figuring out how to create dependable online income. There are days when I feel tired, frustrated and impatient. But I also know I am developing abilities that I did not have when I began.
I do not need to know exactly how long this journey will take to take the next sensible step.
The best time to start was yesterday. The second best time is today.
I am Mujibur Rahman, and this is my journey From Security Guard To Financial Freedom.
Follow my progress at mujiburrahman.com.
Editorial note: This article reflects my personal interpretation of Marden’s ideas, not a claim that his advice guarantees success or financial results. The Russell Brunson episode uses AI to voice historical writing; it is not an authentic recorded interview with Marden.
Disclaimer
This article is intended for educational, informational and motivational purposes only. It reflects my personal interpretation of Orison Swett Marden’s teachings and how I am applying them to my journey from Security Guard to Financial Freedom.
The Russell Brunson interview discussed in this article is an AI-assisted reconstruction featuring Marden’s published writings. It is not an authentic interview conducted during Marden’s lifetime. Historical accounts and quotations are based on available published sources, and some details may vary between accounts.
The personal development principles discussed are intended to encourage positive thinking, perseverance, self-improvement and practical action. They should not be interpreted as guarantees of success, wealth or financial independence.
Any references to blogging, investing, entrepreneurship, passive income or online monetisation are based on my personal experiences, research and aspirations. They do not constitute professional financial, investment or business advice. Financial results vary, and building online income involves uncertainty, effort and risk.
Readers are encouraged to conduct their own research, exercise independent judgement and seek qualified professional advice where appropriate.
My purpose at mujiburrahman.com is to document my personal journey, share what I learn and inspire others who are working towards improving their lives and achieving financial freedom.
From Security Guard To Financial Freedom — Mujibur Rahman