By Mark Andrew Beach

The Mindset Mastery Midterm: One Stubborn Door and a Breakthrough

For my Mindset Mastery program assignment, I chose a home improvement project—installing a pull-down attic door. Now, let me be clear: I am not a handyman. Carpentry and mechanics have never been my thing. But back in November 2010, I approached the project with high hopes, assuming I could just follow the instructions and knock it out.

It didn’t take long to realize I was in over my head.

Despite my best efforts to follow the manual, I couldn’t finish the installation on my own. I needed help from someone who knew more than I did. So, for my midterm assignment, I set a goal: attract someone who could help me finish the job—or better yet, do it for me.

I focused hard on that outcome for several days. But when no one showed up, my attention drifted back to my financial life. Making money took priority. I considered choosing a different, less “difficult” assignment, but that felt like cheating—like I’d be selling myself short. So, I held my ground. I wasn’t going to lower the bar.

Still, I stopped thinking about the attic door and started feeling guilty—like maybe I was missing the point of the lesson. I refused to move forward in the course until I’d completed the assignment, but I couldn’t seem to attract the help I needed. I was stuck in a loop: couldn’t finish the assignment, couldn’t move forward, couldn’t let it go.

Days turned into weeks and weeks turned into months, and there I sat, with a conundrum turned into an impasse.

The guilt and frustration simmered, but I kept pushing ahead with my financial goals. I figured I’d “wait it out” and trust that something would eventually shift. I stopped focusing on the attic door altogether.

Then—something shifted.

Around the beginning of March, after more than 10 months of chasing down a consulting opportunity, my persistence finally paid off. I landed the project. It was full-time work with a modest but adequate salary. Or, as I like to call it: “a paper bag with a sandwich in it—just enough to give me the energy to carry on.”

With that first paycheck in hand, I picked up the phone and called a neighbor who’s a general contractor. “I don’t care how much it costs,” I said. “Please come finish my attic door!” He showed up that very morning and had it beautifully installed in just a couple hours. I gratefully paid him $100, and just like that—the assignment was complete.

Or was it?

Here’s where things really get interesting.

While I was working to land that consulting job, my financial situation had been rough. I’d lost my cell phone because I couldn’t pay the bill. We’d scraped together enough to buy a used truck, but that was all we had for transportation. Then, in the same week that I landed the job and finished my midterm assignment, a flood of blessings came rushing in.

The company provided me with an Android phone, a brand-new laptop, and even a second used car—more fuel-efficient than the truck—all at no cost to me. And as if that weren’t enough, I received my first tax refund in over 20 years, totaling several thousand dollars.

I’m still working that consulting job today, with another raise likely on the horizon. The road hasn’t been easy, but I’ve learned so much about myself through it all. I’m now reinvesting some of that money into a home-based business—another “jackrabbit” I can attract and nurture as I keep putting these principles to the test.

These lessons are changing my life—just like they’re designed to.

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