ISBN: 0060763280
Read: July 2015
Rating: 6/10
Amazon page for more details and reviews.
A simple book that can be read on a flight from Singapore to Sydney, reminding me that you become what you believe. I’ve read several books with similar themes including “The Magic of Thinking Big” and Napoleon Hill’s “Think and Grow Rich”, but I had fun reminding myself that “I create my life” and not the other way around.
My Notes
The key to success is to raise your own energy; when you do, people will naturally be attracted to you.
Your income can only grow to the extent you do.
If you want to change the fruits, you will first have to change the roots. If you want to change the visible, you must first change that invisible.
These four quadrants are the physical world, the mental world, emotional world, and the spiritual world.
What most people never realise is that the physical realm is merely a printout of the other three.
What’s going on here is that the real problem cannot be changed in the printout the physical world; it can only be changed in the program, the mental, emotional, and spiritual worlds.
T F A = R
Thoughts lead to feelings.
Feelings lead to actions.
Actions lead to results.
P T F A = R
Programming leads to thoughts.
Thoughts lead to feelings.
Feelings lead to actions.
Actions lead to results.
The point is that generally speaking, we tend to be identical to one or a combination of our parents in the arena of money.
I finally recognised that maybe, just maybe, I was unconsciously reliving my dads up and down income pattern.
Instead of saving for a rainy day, focus on saving for a joyous day or for that day you will win your financial freedom. Then, by virtue of the law of intention, that’s exactly what you will get.
The reason or motivation you have for making money or creating success is vital. If your motivation for acquiring money or success comes from a nonsupportive route such as fear, anger, or the need to prove yourself, your money will never bring you happiness.
But get this–security and fear are both motivated by the same thing. Seeking security comes from insecurity, which is based in fear.
Make plenty my root. Your inner world reflects your outer world. If I believe I am plenty, I will validate that belief and create plenty of abundance.
Steps for Change: Modeling
Awareness: consider the ways of being and habits each of your parents had around money and wealth. Write down how you may be identical or opposite to either of them.
Understanding: Write down the effect this modelling has had on your financial life.
Disassociation: Can you see this way of being is only what you learned and isn’t you? Can you see you have a choice in the present moment to be different?
You will always validate your blueprint. If you have a blueprint that is set for earning $100,000 a year, that’s exactly how well the business will do, enough to earn you about $100,000 per year.
“I observe my thoughts and entertain only those that empower me.”
Rich people believe “I create my life.”
Poor people believe “Life happens to me.”
Money is extremely important in the areas in which it works, and extremely unimportant in the areas in which it doesn’t.
What you focus on expands.
When you are complaining, you become a living, breathing, crap magnet.
For the next seven days, I challenge you to not complain at all. Not just out loud, but in your head as well.
By disconnecting attention from love, you will be freed up to love another for who they are, rather than what they do for you.
Every time you catch yourself blaming, justifying, or complaining, slide your index finger across your neck, as a trigger to remind yourself that you are slitting your financial throat.
Do a daily “debriefing”. At the end of each day, write down one thing that went well and one thing that didn’t. Then answer the following question: “How did I create each of these situations?” If others were involved, ask yourself, “What was my part in creating each of these situations?”. Keep you accountable for your life and make you aware of the strategies that are working for you and the strategies that are not.
Rich people play the money game to WIN.
Poor people play the money game to NOT LOSE.
Most people don’t really want to be rich. Why? Because they have a lot of negative wealth files in their subconscious mind that tell them there is something wrong with being rich.
The number one reason most people don’t get what they want is that they don’t know what they want.
Rich people do not send mixed messages to the universe. Poor people do.
Messages:
1. I want to be rich. (I’ll take it if it falls in my lap).
2. I choose to be rich. Choosing is better but not best.
3. I commit to being rich. Failure is not an option. I will be rich or I will die trying.
If you are not fully, totally, and truly committed to creating wealth, chances are you won’t.
The Law of Income: You will be paid in direct proportion to the value you deliver according to the marketplace.
We each came to this earth with natural talents, things we’re just naturally good at. These gifts were given to you for a reason: to use and share with others. Research shows that the happiest people are those who use their natural talents to the utmost. Part of your mission in life then must be to share your gifts and value with as many people as possible. That means being willing to play big.
Richard Bach quote from Jonathan Livingston Seagull: “How will I know when I’ve completed my mission? The answer? “If you are still breathing, you are not done.”
Quote from “A Return to Love” by Marianne Williamson:
“You are a child of God. Your “playing small” does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It is not just in some of us; it is in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. as we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”
Rich people see opportunities. Rich people see potential growth. Rich people focus on the rewards.
We’re not talking positive thinking here, we’re talking about your habitual perspective on the world. Poor people make choices based upon fear.
Middle-class people are slightly more optimistic. Their mind-set is “I sure hope this works”.
Rich people, as we’ve said earlier, take responsibility for the results in their lives and act upon the mind-set “It will work because I’ll make it work”. Rich people expect to succeed.
Poor people expect to fail. They lack confidence in themselves and in their abilities. Poor people believe that should things not work out, it would be catastrophic.
Rich people take educated risks. This means that they research, do their due diligence, and make decisions based on solid information and facts. Do rich people take forever to get educated? No. They do what they can in as short a time as possible, then make an informed decision to go for it or not.
Although poor people claim to be preparing for an opportunity, what they’re usually doing is stalling.
Rich people focus on what they want, while poor people focus on what they don’t want.
If you want to get rich, focus on making, keeping, and investing your money. If you want to be poor, focus on spending your money.
Enter the game with whatever you’ve got, from wherever you are.
U – Once you’ve learned what you came to learn at a particular job, it’s time to move on.
Rich people admire other rich and successful people. Poor people resent rich and successful people.
Resenting the rich is one of the surest ways to stay broke. We are creatures of habit, and to overcome this or any other habit, we need to practice. Instead of resenting rich people, I want you to practice admiring rich people, I want you to practice blessing rich people, and I want you to processing loving rich people. That way, unconsciously you know that when you become rich, other people will admire you, bless you, and love you instead of resent the heck out of you the way you might do them now.
Ancient Huna wisdom: bless that which you want.
Rich people associate with positive, successful people. Poor people associate with negative or unsuccessful people.
Mind-set of champions. Predict Felicien, Canadian world champion in hundred-metre hurdles heavily favoured to win the gold medal during 2004 Olympic Games. Fell after the first hurdle, extremely upset. Prepared for this moment six hours a day, every day of the week, for 4 years. Press conference the next day:
“I don’t know why it happened but it did, and I’m going to use it. I’m going to focus even more and work even harder for the next four years. Who knows what my path would have been had I won? Maybe it would have dulled my desire. I don’t know, but I do know that now I’m hungrier than ever. I’ll be back even stronger.
The value of reading biographies of people you want to model.
Rich people are willing to promote themselves and their value. Poor people think negatively about selling and promotion.
Rich people are bigger than their problems. Poor people are smaller than their problems.
The secret to success is not to try to avoid or get rid of or shrink from your problems; the secret is to grow yourself so that you are bigger than any problem.
The size of the problem is never the issue—what matter is the size of you.
If you have a big problem in your life, all that means is that you are being a small person.
The bigger the problems you can handle, the bigger the business you can handle; the bigger than responsibility you can handle, the more employees you can handle; the more customers you can handle, the more money you can handle, and ultimately, the more wealth you can handle.
Your wealth can only grow to the extent that you do! The objective is to grow yourself to a place where you can overcome any problems or obstacles that get in the way of your creating wealth and keeping it once you have it.
You simply cannot have more money than the container. Therefore you must grow to be a big container so you cannot only hold more wealth but also attract more wealth. The universe is abhors a vacuum and if you have a very large money container, it will rush in to fill the space.
If you become a master at handling problems and overcoming any obstacle, what can stop you from success?
Rich people are excellent receivers. Poor people are poor receivers.
People are challenged by receiving for several reasons. First, many people feel unworthy or undeserving. This syndrome runs rampant in our society.
If you say you’re worthy, you are. If you say you’re unworthy, you’re not. Either way you will live into your story.
“If a hundred-foot oak tree had the mind of a human, it would only grow to be ten feet tall!” – T. Harv Eker
For every giver there must be a receiver, and for every receiver there must be a giver.
If you’re not willing to receive, then you are “ripping off” those who want to give to you.
There’s plenty of it, trillions of trillions of dollars floating around, it’s in definite abundance, and it has to go somewhere. The deal is this: if somebody isn’t willing to receive his or her share, it must go to whoever will. The rain doesn’t care who gets it and neither does money.
It feels amazing to be totally willing to receive, and it feels great because it’s totally natural to do so. Anything you’ve made up to the contrary is, again, just a “story” that isn’t serving you or anyone else. Let your story go and your money come.
Rich people work hard and believe it’s perfectly appropriate to be well rewarded for their efforts and the value they provide for others. Poor people work hard, but due to their feelings of unworthiness, they believe that it is inappropriate for them to be well rewarded for their efforts and the value they provide. This believe sets them up to be perfect victims.
Wouldn’t it be more effective for you to create wealth for yourself and then be able to really help others from a place of strength instead of weakness?
We are extremely fortunate to be living in this society, a society whereby each person is in fact rich compared to many other parts of the world. Some people just don’t ever have the opportunity to have a lot of money. If you are one of the lucky people who do have that ability, and each of you is or you wouldn’t be reading a book like this, then use your wherewithal for all it’s worth.
Money will only make you more of what you already are.
How you do anything is how you do everything.
Each time someone gives you a compliment of any sort, simply say “Thank you”. Do not return a compliment to that person at the same time. This allows you to fully receive and own the compliment instead of “deflecting” it, as most people do. This also allows the giver of the compliment the joy of giving the gift without it being thrown back at them.
Pamper yourself. At least once a month do things that will allow you to feel rich and deserving.
Rich people choose to get paid based on results. Poor people choose to get paid based on time.
There’s nothing wrong with getting a stead paycheque, unless it interferes with your ability to earn what you’re worth. There’s the rub. It usually does.
Rich people usually own their own business in some form. They make their income from their profits. Rich people work on commission or percentages of revenue. Rich people choose stock options and profit sharing in lieu of higher salaries. Notice there are no guarantees with any of the above.
Never have a ceiling on your income. If you choose to get paid for your time, you are pretty much killing your chances for wealth.
When you own a business, you can save a small fortune in taxes by writing off a portion of your expenses for such things as your car, travel, education, and even your home.
If you own a business, create a compensation plan that allows your employees or even primary suppliers to get paid based more on their results and the results of your company.
Rich people think “both.” Poor people think “either/or.”
How can I have both? This question will change your life. It will take you from a model of scarcity and limitation to a universe of possibilities and abundance.
Today, however, because I’ve trained myself to think in terms of “both,” I’m going into this discussion completely open to creating a situation where I’m not going to pay him any more money AND he’s going to be extremely happy with the arrangements we do make. In other words, my goal is to have both!
The true measure of wealth is net worth, not working income.
Become an excellent money manager.
Deposit into your financial freedom “jar” every day.
Where attention goes, energy goes and results show.
Rich people have their money work hard for them. Poor people work hard for their money.
Financial freedom definition: the ability to live the lifestyle you desire without having to work or rely on anyone else for money.
Rich people see every dollar as a “seed” that can be planted to earn a hundred more dollars, which can then be replanted to earn a thousand more dollars.
Rich people act in spite of fear. Poor people let fear stop them.
The only time you are actually growing is when you are uncomfortable.
So what’s the difference between “power thinking” and “positive” thinking? The distinction is slight but profound. With power thinking, we understand that everything is neutral, and that we are going to make up a story and give something its meaning.
We don’t do this because our new thoughts are “true” in an absolute sense, but because they are more useful to us and feel a heck of a lot better than non supportive ones.
“I act in spite of inconvenience”
“I act in spite of discomfort”
“I act when I’m not in the mood”
Practise getting out of your comfort zone. Intentionally make decisions that are uncomfortable to you. Speak to people you normally wouldn’t speak to, ask for a raise in your job or raise your prices in your business, wake up an hour earlier each day, walk in the woods at night.
Employ “power thinking”. Make a pact with yourself that whenever the voice in your head tries to stop you from doing something that would be supportive to your success, you will do it anyway, to show your mind that you are the boss, not it.
Rich people constantly learn and grow. Poor people think they already know.
If you’re not really rich and really happy, there’s a good chance you still have somethings to learn about money, success, and life.
Went from being a “know-it-all” to a “learn-it-all”. From that moment on, everything changed.
Poor people are often trying to prove that they’re right. They put on a mask as if they’ve got it all figured out, and it’s just some stroke of bad luck or a temporary glitch in the univser that has them broke or struggling.
You already know “your” way, what you need is to know some new ways.
Eric Hoffer “The learners shall inherit the earth while the learned will be beautifully equipped to live in a world that no longer exists”
“If you think education is expensive, try ignorance” – Benjamin Franklin.
If I can learn just one new thing or make one improvement, it’s worth it.
You need to learn the skills and strategies to accelerate your income, to manage money, and to invest it effectively.
Becoming rich isn’t as much about getting rich financially as about whom you have become, in character and mind, to get rich.
Rich people understand the order to success is BE, DO, HAVE.
Poor and middle class people believe the order to success is HAVE, DO, BE.
Madonna: reinventing herself each year forces her to grow into the kind of person she wants to be.
Rich people are EXPERTS in their field. How good are you at your job? How good are you at your business? Unbiased way of knowing: look at your paycheck. To get paid the best, you must be the best.
Rich people not only continue to learn, they make sure they learn from those who have already been where they themselves want to go.
Make it a point to learn from true masters in their respective fields—not those who claimed to be experts, but those who had real-world results to back up their talk.
Rich [smart] people take advice from people who are richer [better] than they are. Poor people take advice from their friends, who are just as broke as they are.
Value of different bank accounts no matter what financial situation:
Investment/Savings, Living Expenses, Play Money, Education, Tax, Emergency, Generosity