Harry Houdini (1874-1926), born Erich Weiss, was not an immediate success as a magician and entertainer. Eventually, however, he became world famous and was acknowledged by many to be the world's greatest magician and escapologist. He is still world famous many years after his death.

Several key success lessons can be learned from his life and these lessons can be applied by anyone to improve their lives.

Houdini was inspired by the great magicians of his day, like Jean Eugene Robert-Houdin, to become a magician. He changed his name to Houdini in honour of this French magician.

Aged seventeen, he chose a life of magic as an alternative to factory work and for five years struggled to be successful. He tried all kinds of magic including card tricks, illusions and the usual escapes but none of this captured the imagination of the public.

By 1896 he was ready to give up and ran an ad offering to sell all of his magic secrets for $20. No one took up his offer. He decided to continue his efforts to live his dream in spite of all the disappointment.

Houdini's perseverance in pursuit of his dream is one key success lesson that everyone can learn from. Few people are overnight successes.

Andrew Reynolds, the British multimillionaire, failed in several business ventures until he eventually discovered a successful formula for making money. At one point he had to search his house for the last of his money. This amounted to 10 pounds and 27 pence and Andrew needed this to pay for food for a week.

Within a few short years after this, he had become a multimillionaire and now teaches thousands that they too can achieve what he has achieved if they will only have enough confidence to take action and follow his simple system.

In December 2005, over 2,500 people, including me, attended his Entrepreneurs' Bootcamp at the Wembley Conference Centre. The money people paid to attend was given to a children's hospital in London. None of this would have happened if Andrew Reynolds had given in to discouragement.

Houdini's refusal to give in led to a breakthrough in 1899 and from then until his death in 1926 he was one of the world's most popular entertainers both on stage and on screen. Time and again he performed the impossible by escaping from life threatening and claustrophobic predicaments.

He became a metaphor or symbol for doing the impossible. He taught the public the inspiring lesson that you can succeed in overcoming the most horrendous situations.

However, the success lesson that interests me most came from an incident in which he failed. For years he had amazed both the police and the public by escaping from handcuffs and prison cells and other difficult locations.

But one door lock baffled him; whatever he tried did not work. The only thing he failed to try was the door handle. The door was not locked! He was beaten by his own mind which was convinced by numerous past experiences that the door was locked.

Many people, too, are defeated not by reality but by what they imagine to be reality. Houdini could easily have walked out of his cell. Only his own imagination held him back.

It is the same with millions of people who could escape their own private hells if only they were willing to ignore their own negative thoughts and just try the 'door handle'.

Houdini was also motivated by his love for his mother and by a fierce desire to succeed where his father had repeatedly failed. The family and especially our parents are often at the root of our deepest motivations.

Houdini did not forget his childhood experiences. Love of magic was one of them. Doing what we love to do is another key success lesson. Houdini made a point of studying the history of magic exhaustively and made every effort to perform increasingly amazing feats.

After many years of triumphant public achievement, Houdini could have retired to enjoy his success but went on to find new ways to maintain his popularity. He was willing to try anything and happily embraced the film industry both as an actor and producer as soon as he could.

Just before his death he was punched heavily and probably at his own invitation in the stomach by a student in Montreal, Canada. His colossal determination is shown by the fact that he went on to perform his act in Canada and then in Detroit.

Ironically, it was probably this determination that killed him since it delayed his treatment for peritonitis and allowed infection to set in. He died in Detroit at the end of October in 1926.

We can learn from both his successes and his failures.

Like Andrew Reynolds, he kept going in spite of discouragement. Too many people give up when the results they expect don't arrive quickly.

He followed one of his early passions - his love for magic - and used his childhood experiences and his relationship with his parents to fuel his motivation and desire to achieve.

He learned from his failure to open the cell door which was already open that sometimes all you need to succeed is to allow yourself to, at least, try the most obvious and easy plan.

He learned that your own mind can lock you in with imaginary obstacles when the door to success is wide open.

To sum up: anyone can learn, like Houdini, to keep going when they feel discouraged and anyone can aim to do what seems impossible.

Anyone can build their lives around what they love and use their closest relationships to fuel their desire for success.

Above all, we can all learn not to allow our own minds and imaginations to close the door to real opportunities for success and achievement.

Even if many doors have been closed to us in the past, the very next door we try may, magically, swing open and allow us to move forward into a life of stunning brilliance.

About the author

John Watson is an award winning teacher and fifth degree black belt martial arts instructor. He has recently written several books about achieving your goals and dreams.

They can be found on his website http://www.motivationtoday.com along with a motivational message and books by other authors

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