Wallace D. Wattles' The Science of Getting Rich: A Modern-Day Interpretation Of A Personal Finance Classic 1906821305, 9781906821302

Table of contents :
Front Cover
Title Page
Title & Subtitle
Copyright
Table of Contents
1. You have a right to be rich
2. A method to becoming wealthy
3. Recognizing that golden goose
4. Time to start raking it in
5. Tapping into your own wealth creation
6. Becoming a money magnet
7. The gratitude attitude
8. Popping those thought bubbles
9. Strength of will
10. Fake it 'til you make it
11. Act the part
12. Making a game plan
13. Harness your special talents
14. Creating the right impression
15. When you're on the rise
16. Avoiding the haters
17. Sweet charity
18. The lives of others
19. A moody technique to try
20. Fear of wealth
21. Rephrasing reality
22. Writing your success on the wall
23. When things go wrong
24. Nice people can be rich too
25. Overnight success
26. What's in a name? Everything
27. Modern era principles
28. Pray it out - to the god within
29. Getting everyone on side
30. Smart not sharp
31. Plug those money leaks
32. The big idea
33. How to spend it
34. Rainy day fund
35. Born with a platinum spoon in your mouth
36. Don't sweat any stuff
37. The geek shall inherit the earth
38. When less is more
39. Time is ticking - mark it out
40. Give and receive
41. Moving for money
42. Quit while you're ahead
43. Reinvent yourself
44. Stay off that bandwagon
45. Cultivating cheerleaders
46. Think big - then think bigger
47. Graduating from the university of life
48. The myth of luck
49. The beautiful rich
50. Dealing with dissatisfaction
51. Health is the greatest wealth - so invest in it
52. Making the mind your friend

Citation preview

wallace d. wattles’

the science of getting rich

wallace d. wattles’

the science of getting rich

a modern-day interpretation of a personal finance classic

Copyright © Infinite Ideas Limited, 2012 First published in 2012 by Infinite Ideas Limited 36 St Giles Oxford OX1 3LD United Kingdom www.infideas.com All rights reserved. Except for the quotation of small passages for the purposes of criticism or review, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning or otherwise, except under the terms of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 or under the terms of a licence issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency Ltd, 90 Tottenham Court Road, London W1T 4LP, U.K., without the permission in writing of the publisher. Requests to the publisher should be addressed to the Permissions Department, Infinite Ideas Limited, 36 St Giles, Oxford, OX1 3LD, U.K., or faxed to +44 (0) 1865 514777. A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. ISBN 978–1–906821–30–2 Brand and product names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners.

BRILLIANT IDEAS introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 1. you have a right to be rich. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 2. a method to becoming wealthy. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 3. recognizing that golden goose. . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 4. time to start raking it in. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 5. tapping into your own wealth creation. . . . . 20 6. becoming a money magnet. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 7. the gratitude attitude. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 8. popping those thought bubbles. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 9. strength of will. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 10. fake it ’til you make it. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 11. act the part. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32 12. making a game plan. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 13. harness your special talents. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36 14. creating the right impression. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38 15. when you’re on the rise. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 16. avoiding the haters. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42 17. sweet charity. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44 18. the lives of others. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46 19. a moody technique to try . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48

WALLACE D. WATTLES’ THE SCIENCE OF GETTING RICH

20. fear of wealth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50 21. rephrasing reality. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52 22. writing your success on the wall . . . . . . . . . . 54 23. when things go wrong. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56 24. nice people can be rich too. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58 25. overnight success. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60 26. what’s in a name? everything . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62 27. modern era principles. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64 28. pray it out – to the god within. . . . . . . . . . . . . 66 29. getting everyone on side . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68 30. smart not sharp. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70 31. plug those money leaks. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72 32. the big idea. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74 33. how to spend it. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76 34. rainy day fund. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78 35. born with a platinum spoon in your mouth. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80 36. don’t sweat any stuff. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82 37. the geek shall inherit the earth. . . . . . . . . . . . 84 38. when less is more. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86 39. time is ticking – mark it out . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88 40. give and receive. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90 41. moving for money . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92 42. quit while you’re ahead. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94 6

BRILLIANT IDEAS

43. reinvent yourself. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96 44. stay off that bandwagon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98 45. cultivating cheerleaders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100 46. think big – then think bigger. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102 47. graduating from the university of life. . . . 104 48. the myth of luck. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106 49. the beautiful rich. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108 50. dealing with dissatisfaction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110 51. health is the greatest wealth – so invest in it. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112 52 making the mind your friend . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114 conclusion – how to keep your wealth thinking intact. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116

7

INTRODUCTION

INTRODUCTION

Have you ever watched those superhero movies where each character has some particular skill or ability that is impossible and awe-inspiring? Well, I’m here to tell you that you too have a super-power – it is based in your mind, in fact it is your mind, and it can be used to harness wealth beyond your greatest dreams. I say I’m here to tell you that but actually I’m just parroting what a far greater writer said more than a century ago. In 1910 Wallace Wattles published The Science of Getting Rich. The book was to change many lives, not least that of Rhonda Byrne who in 2006 released the best-selling book The Secret, crediting Wattles’ book as the influence for her own phenomenally successful book and film. We are taught in modern life to be somewhat embarrassed about money and about being wealthy. It is garish and gauche to say we love money. Surely it is immoral and anti-spiritual too? Wattles was having none of that, he had a deep concern for spirituality and he believed that it is our moral duty to become rich, in order to develop as much as we can. Born in 1860 in Illinois, he was the son of a gardener and had very little formal education. He reportedly endured many failures in his life until he began using the principles within The Science of Getting Rich. According to his daughter Florence, by the time he died, he had made lots of money. 9

WALLACE D. WATTLES’ THE SCIENCE OF GETTING RICH

Wattles was part of the New Thought movement: a spiritually focused philosophy that began in the early nineteenth century and was developed by a number of different thinkers including writers such as Napoleon Hill and Elizabeth Towne. The New Thought movement is founded on the idea of the omnipresence of God and the ability of people to heal themselves and others by good, correct thinking; the result of recognizing the true nature of the universe. New Thought thinkers believed that everyone has within them the ability to develop their physical, intellectual and spiritual capacity to the highest level. Within the book itself, Wattles takes a long time before he gets to the juice of how to apply New Thought principles to getting the readies and it takes a few chapters before he actually explicitly says what the ‘Certain Way’ is to getting rich. In modern life, we have no patience for the preamble so here’s the 411: ‘There is a thinking stuff from which all things are made, and which, in its original state, permeates, penetrates, and fills the interspaces of the universe. A thought, in this substance produces the thing that is imaged by the thought. Man can form things in his thought, and, by impressing his thought upon formless substance, can cause the thing he thinks about to be created.’ He does not use the word ‘science’ in his title lightly: Wattles believed, beyond any doubt, that if you completely and utterly fix the above concept into your mind and operate from its truth then you will have everything you want. Here’s an example: when you were little, was there something you wanted so badly, you could almost feel it in your hands? Did you cut out a picture of it and stick it on your pinboard? Write to Santa requesting it? Beg your parents till they banned you from mentioning the item? Did you get it? Unless you had parents with wills of steel, you probably got your wish. Children are generally less burdened by doubt – although they still have plenty of fears which can also cause blocks – but a lack of doubt and a bit more of a belief in magic is the gift of childhood. We need to tap into that.

10

INTRODUCTION

While Wattles would probably be highly irritated with me for using the word ‘magic’ for the ‘science’ of getting rich, having tried it myself, it sure feels like magic. I started very small, just an experiment for the purposes of this book. I needed a new smartphone but couldn’t afford one without taking out a lengthy contract. I imagined what colour and make my phone would be and I imagined my fingers dialling numbers, sending texts, checking the internet and using all the other bells and whistles that most modern smartphones have. I then promptly forgot about it, as I knew it was already mine and about to arrive. Out of the blue, a friend emailed and asked if I still needed a new phone. Her partner worked for one of the leading smartphone companies and had a spare set just sitting around at home. It happened to be the exact make I wanted and in the exact right colour. How can you say that’s not magic? I now apply the Wattles philosophy to everything I do and, while I am not exactly a millionaire yet, I have no doubt that it is now only a matter of time. I hope you find answers in this book that will also allow you to get rich with Wallace Wattles’ timeless advice.

11

WALLACE D. WATTLES’ THE SCIENCE OF GETTING RICH

1

YOU HAVE A RIGHT TO BE RICH

‘No man can rise to his greatest possible height in talent or soul development unless he has plenty of money; for to unfold the soul and to develop talent he must have many things to use, and he cannot have these things unless he has money to buy them with.’ Wattles gets to the heart of the problem with lack of money – an inability to attain the highest purpose of your mind, body and soul. How can you become a world renowned artist if you can’t afford canvas or paint? How can you become a brilliant novelist if you have to work two jobs just to pay the bills each month? You need money to unlock your talents and give them full expression. Wattles wrote that the object of all life is ‘development’ and you can only develop when you have the tools to do so. Since it would be pretty cruel to give a person the capacity to grow and develop but then stunt them through lack of the tools to manifest that growth, Wattles says you have an inalienable right to development and therefore to being rich. Think about that for a second: an ‘inalienable right’ to being rich. When you internalize this idea, you will find half the battle won, since this entire project is a project of the mind and once the mind believes it has the right to something, it is always, always right. Obviously I’m not talking about the self-belief of nutty narcissists, but self-belief when applied with the other elements in the science of getting rich simply works at putting you in the right place at the right time to make loads of money. 12

YOU HAVE A RIGHT TO BE RICH

British entrepreneur and millionaire, Duncan Bannatyne was motivated by his humble childhood to become wealthy. As he says in his autobiography, ‘if you had a childhood like mine, you’ll never get bored of using private jets, owning luxury villas or staying in the best hotels’. Even so Bannatyne is well known for starting late on the path to riches – after a spell in the navy, which ended with him spending time in a military prison, he found himself nearing the end of his twenties and near penniless and decided that he had to get rich. Saving up £450 he bought his first ice-cream van, selling the business within 7 years for £28,000. He bought his first hotel in 1996 and is now the owner of Bannatyne’s Health Clubs – in 2011 he was worth an estimated $698 million. If you find, after pondering this for a while, you are still unconvinced that you have a right to be rich, think on this: twin girls are born and raised in the same family with the same opportunities and are treated exactly the same, yet one finds obstacles to growth everywhere and ends up not fulfilling her potential while the other reaches the dizzy heights of success and happiness. What is the difference? Some might say personality or talent but it is actually self-belief. There are many talented folks who just can’t catch a break, many nice people who don’t make it – what makes the difference is not your personality or your talent but your resolute belief that you are entitled to have all the riches you want and need. HERE’S AN IDEA FOR YOU...

List all the negative things you’ve ever been taught about money and the wealthy. Then cross each one out and put a positive reframed sentence beside that old belief. For example, you could cross out the sentence ‘money can’t buy you love’ and replace it with ‘money enables you to buy your loved ones gifts’. DEFINING IDEA...

I always knew I was going to be rich. I don’t think I ever doubted it for a minute. WARREN BUFFETT, INVESTOR

13

WALLACE D. WATTLES’ THE SCIENCE OF GETTING RICH

2

A METHOD TO BECOMING WEALTHY

Wattles believed that if people are poor, it is ‘because they do not follow the Certain Way of doing things which makes the individual man rich.’ That capitalisation is important, there is a strict method to getting rich, a ‘Certain Way’, and the strict application of it will result in riches. In order to practice Wattles’ method you must first accept that the universe is abundant – everything we see around us has been created from what Wattles terms the ‘Formless Stuff’, the energy that is in the space between material things and from which material things arise. But that Formless Stuff isn’t inanimate, it is intelligent, creative and responsive. It is alive (not in a scary Frankenstein way) and its impulse is to create more of itself – just as so many of us do when we decide to have mini-me versions of ourselves, aka children. So if you operate from a position of scarcity, thinking that there is only so much to go around, you misunderstand the nature of how things are created in our universe. To begin practicing this method, you need to understand that thought is the most important part of this science. Wattles wrote, ‘we live in a thought world, which is part of a thought universe’. Everything around us began life as a thought, be it the Formless Stuff’s thought or yours or someone else’s. The ranks of the rich and successful are filled with those who refused to let one failure stop them. If J.K. Rowling had given up after her first 12 rejections there would be no Harry Potter and she wouldn’t be richer than the Queen of England. If The Beatles had believed the record 14

A METHOD TO BECOMING WEALTHY

company that said, ‘the Beatles have no future in show business’ there’d have been four fewer mop-topped millionaires. And if the 65-year-old Colonel Sanders had decided to retire after losing his first business and having his secret recipe rejected by a rumoured 1009 potential restaurant partners, there’d be a whole lot less finger lickin’ chicken going round. What you think, you manifest. So if you think that you’ll never get out of debt, you’ll always be poor, your family have always been poor, noone will give you the chance to succeed, you can’t do any better than you are now, you had a chance when you were twenty but you blew it and now it is too late etc., etc., etc. then that is precisely the life you’ll lead. Conversely if you think that you are blessed, lucky, always fall on your feet, are chosen for success, are destined to bathe in champagne (what a waste) and sup the nectar of the gods, then it will be so. You must just think it clearly and with conviction. HERE’S AN IDEA FOR YOU. . .

Take out a journal or some paper and write down all those instances of ‘luck’ you’ve had come into your life. Every lottery win, no matter how minor, every time you got a tax rebate just as a scary bill came in and every time you got a raise or bonus at work. Sit in meditation for a couple of minutes and absorb the fact that all those good things came to you because YOU allowed them to – and make a commitment to allow more good things to come to you every day. DEFINING IDEA...

I believe the power to make money is a gift of God . . . to be developed and used to the best of our ability for the good of mankind. JOHN D. ROCKEFELLER, BUSINESS TYCOON

15

WALLACE D. WATTLES’ THE SCIENCE OF GETTING RICH

3

RECOGNIZING THAT GOLDEN GOOSE

‘Man reshapes and modifies existing forms by manual labour; he has given no attention to the question whether he may not produce things from Formless Substance by communicating his thoughts to it.’ Hang on a second there, Wallace, are you saying we can become gods? No wonder our Mr. Wattles annoyed many in the Christian fraternity with his writings on religion. He believed that we also have the power to create, much like Big G. In fact, exactly like Him. However, while God managed everything in seven days, Wattles says it will take us a bit longer. However, if we can get communicating with the big nebulous Formless Stuff then, sure enough, the universe will conspire to give us what we want. The trouble is that it seems way too kooky to sit there thinking ‘I want a red Ferrari’ and expecting it to appear. Everything contrary to you being able to own a red Ferrari is staring you in the face. It is hard to sustain the truth of the statement that you can have a red Ferrari if you think it and impress it upon the Formless Substance to create it for you from itself. If you think your life is too impoverished, too difficult or that you’ve failed already, you could do worse than look to Oprah Winfrey as an example. Born to a teenage mother who was unable to look after her, for the first six years of her life she lived with her grandmother, who was so poor that she had to clothe her in potato sacks. When she went to live with her mother she was repeatedly abused by family members 16

RECOGNIZING THAT GOLDEN GOOSE

while her mother was out at work. At the age of thirteen she ran away and at fourteen she gave birth to a child that died shortly afterwards. It was only after being sent to live with her strict father that she turned her life around, earning a full scholarship to college. At 17 she won Miss Black Tennessee, bringing her to the attention of a local radio station and since then has earned her wealth through broadcasting and is feted as the Queen of Daytime television. Oprah is now worth an estimated $2.7 billion. Wattles admits that it is the hardest thing you will ever do, to think yourself rich in the midst of overwhelming evidence of your poverty. The fact is that like attracts like so concentrating on your poverty will not get you out of it. Thinking and fretting about how to pay your bills will not make them disappear, but concentrating on the idea that you have enough in the bank to not only pay your bills but also have anything you want, whenever you want, will give you your desired outcome. HERE’S AN IDEA FOR YOU...

Let’s think up a new job that you will really enjoy. Don’t immediately start with the ‘ifs’ and ‘buts’. Is there something you love doing? Perhaps it is a hobby that you’re particularly good at. Now, think about how exciting it would be if you were paid to do that thing you’re good at. Don’t go down the road of thinking that it would put pressure on you or ruin it for you, it would be an added pleasure to be paid for something you enjoy. Now think about how to monetize your special talent – imagine charging for it and people paying you lots to do what you enjoy. DEFINING IDEA...

The goose that lays the golden eggs likes to lay where there are eggs already. CHARLES SPURGEON, BAPTIST PREACHER

17

WALLACE D. WATTLES’ THE SCIENCE OF GETTING RICH

4

TIME TO START RAKING IT IN

‘A seed, dropped into the ground, springs into activity, and in the act of living produces a hundred more seeds; life, by living, multiplies itself.’ This drive to perpetually increase itself is what, Wattles tells us, will be our greatest aid in getting the living intelligence behind everything to work in our favour. Okay, so let’s get down to it. Even Wallace admits you won’t just get money by thinking you’re going to get it. You then need to apply some good old-fashioned work. But not the ‘labour for labour’s sake’ type of work. You need to identify what you like doing and then you need to start conscientiously doing something each and every day toward building that fortune of yours. You don’t have to work every hour of the day or put in the sort of Herculean effort that some might tell you is necessary. All you need to do is keep a vision in your mind of you having everything you want and keep quietly plugging away, confident in the knowledge that the universe is working to make it happen for you. You need to learn to identify opportunity when it presents itself (and conversely develop the ability to see projects that will use your time and money but not take you anywhere). If Bill Gates had read the article about MITS’s Altair 8800 in the January 1975 issue of Popular Electronics and thought, ‘Hmm, interesting, now back to writing that college essay,’ well, I probably wouldn’t be typing this book using Microsoft Word. Instead, Gates and his partner Paul Allen realized 18

TIME TO START RAKING IT IN

that here was an opportunity to develop a software program for the computer and also realized if they stayed at Harvard to complete their degrees they could miss out on the opportunity. Yes, you do have to have that ‘right place, right time’ moment but have you considered that those moments are happening all around you on a daily basis and all you need to do it open your eyes and recognize them? Don’t sabotage yourself by ignoring the fledgling opportunities as they arise. If you meet a person who might be useful to you, don’t drop his card in the trash thinking that if he is fated to help, he’ll do so. It’s like that old joke about a devout man who is drowning, rejecting the help of life guards, a dolphin and a rescue helicopter in order to show God he has faith that God will save him. When he gets to heaven, bitterly complaining about being dead, God says ‘I sent you life guards, a dolphin, even a rescue helicopter, what more could I have done?’ So don’t abandon all personal responsibility, just work diligently, safe in the knowledge that the universe is about to throw you a lifeline to riches. HERE’S AN IDEA FOR YOU...

Do you ever feel embarrassed asking for money for something you’ve done? Or when asking for a pay rise? We can sometimes worry that we’ll come across as greedy or mercenary if we ask for money. Lose that thinking entirely. If someone pays you money they owe you, say thank you graciously and accept it. Don’t refuse to accept it or accept it with guilt because of some misplaced sense of etiquette. DEFINING IDEA...

Making money is art and working is art and good business is the best art. ANDY WARHOL

19

WALLACE D. WATTLES’ THE SCIENCE OF GETTING RICH

5

TAPPING INTO YOUR OWN WEALTH CREATION

‘Nobody by cornering the visible supply,’ asserts Wattles, ‘can prevent you from getting what is yours.’ This is a stark contrast to our so-called dog-eat-dog world in which we believe resources are finite and must be fought over. In the mid to late 1990s there was a modern-day gold rush towards developing online businesses. The potential for online businesses really did seem infinite. Many companies had seen the potential in making their products and services available to the public via the internet and all rushed to add a dotcom to the end of their company names. Excited by this, investors bought up shares in the new dotcoms, leading to an overvaluing of the companies in question and an inevitable crash of the market and the loss of many livelihoods. One business that not only survived this financial disaster but also flourished was Amazon.com. Amongst the reasons for this was the vision of the company’s founder, Jeff Bezos. He didn’t just rush blindly towards the emerging marketplace. Instead he worked out what a public relatively new to online purchasing would be most inclined to buy and what his company needed to do in order to make sure they continued to purchase from Amazon. Bezos could easily have been put off by the number of other businesses developing on the internet. He could have decided that trying to compete with a large offline retailer such as Barnes and Noble was overly ambitious, but he knew this was a business he could make work. Amazon started small – Bezos operated it out of his Seattle garage – and with just one product type, books. 20

TAPPING INTO YOUR OWN WEALTH CREATION

Since then it has built public confidence and expanded its range to include a broad spectrum of consumer goods. In Forbes’ 2012 survey of America’s richest Bezos ranked 11th. An important part of this idea is only to be inspired by what others have, not to covet it. There is no reason to be envious of anybody because you can create your own version of whatever they have. And it won’t be a second best version either. All you have to do is be very clear about what it is that you actually want. That isn’t as easy as it sounds. Sometimes we’re so confused and conflicted about our lives that we don’t know what we want. When you’re in this state of confusion, your best bet is to stop thinking about what you don’t want (‘I don’t want to bust a gut working 12 hours a day’) and think positively about what you do want (‘I only want to work four hours a day, doing something I love’). You can only create something you want, you can’t banish something you don’t want – it would leave a vacuum that you would need to fill, so best you fill it first and the undesirable aspects of your life will fall away. HERE’S AN IDEA FOR YOU...

Stop watching television programmes based around an idea of lack or poverty. Television companies now make documentaries about pawn brokers and soaps about people living on the breadline. If you infuse your mental space with these images and ideas of lack then you can’t create abundance. So turn off your telly – or get inspired by programmes based around comfortable lives without money worries. DEFINING IDEA...

Happiness is not in the mere possession of money; it lies in the joy of achievement, in the thrill of creative effort. FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT

21

WALLACE D. WATTLES’ THE SCIENCE OF GETTING RICH

6

BECOMING A MONEY MAGNET

‘Give every man more in use value than you take from him in cash value; then you are adding to the life of the world by every business transaction.’ Here Wattles lets us know how – and indeed why – the universe will attract what we need to us. If you give someone what they really need, it doesn’t matter if it is worth a million dollars or 50 cents, the value lies in what it means to them. Wattles, our guide to getting rich, is very keen on you thinking about every transaction you make – not just business, but personal too. Stop thinking in terms of cash value and start thinking in terms of use-value. If you look at many organic and ‘ethical’ businesses you’ll see that the use-value comes across in such things as Fairtrade, fun or friendliness. While the Fairtrade element of Green & Black’s chocolate doesn’t change the taste, it enhances the experience for the millions of chocolate lovers who like to know that their candy splurge is benefitting the life of the producer. Similarly, the Body Shop’s cosmetics may not be any better for your skin than those of many other brands but knowing the products are not tested on animals makes the experience of using those products more agreeable to its customers. This is a relatively new approach to selling products, but bigger, more established brands are now having to alter their ethos in order to compete with these providers of use-value. If you always give more than you take, money will naturally be attracted to you because you are helping the world in its goal of increasing life. If 22

BECOMING A MONEY MAGNET

you are not only fair but generous in how you deal with people (again I’m not talking money here but use-value), they will be compelled to buy from you and to help you make money. If you persuade someone to pay a lot of money for something that is of little use to them, it won’t be long before they see through the illusion and cease to buy from you. Therefore thinking carefully about how to help others will help you as well. You can probably see how this would help in a business sense but how might this work personally? Well, you have a network of friends that you probably connect to via social media and in person – think about connections that will help others. If someone is looking for a good chiropractor and you know one, introduce them to each other. The chiropractor will automatically then think of you when he comes across someone interested in your line of work. The more you help others in this way, the more they will help you. It seems obvious but you’d be surprised at how many people just don’t think in this way. HERE’S AN IDEA FOR YOU...

Every time you hand over a note in payment, say a silent au revoir to your note and mentally (as in ‘in your head’, not crazy) ask it to return to you with more of its kind. While your note isn’t conscious, this little ritual will ensure you respect and notice money as it comes and goes – and that will attract it towards you more. DEFINING IDEA...

The price is what you pay, the value is what you get. WARREN BUFFETT, INVESTOR

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THE GRATITUDE ATTITUDE

‘There is a Law of Gratitude, and it is absolutely necessary that you should observe the Law, if you are to get the results you seek.’ There he goes with that capitalizing up again. The Law of Gratitude has to be obeyed because it keeps you harmonious with God, or the creative energy of the universe if you prefer a more secular way of putting it. The man or woman who wants to be happier in life (as well as getting rich) cultivates an attitude of gratitude. One of the principles of a number of spiritual traditions is to bless everything one sees and look for the good in it. Now this doesn’t mean you have to lie to yourself or others and say nice things about something that is clearly not great – all it means is that you have to look for that silver lining in the cloud. So if your luggage goes missing in transit, think about how you won’t need to lug it home, they’ll deliver it to your door. If someone is deeply unpleasant, think how good it is that they breathe out carbon dioxide which plants need to survive. I know, it is pushing it but seriously the more you think about the good in life, the more you attract good things to you. Tea retailer David Edwards, of the New Mexico Tea Company has always shown gratitude to his customers. With every online tea purchase he sends out a free sample. A small gesture but one that says thank you and helps to build loyalty. In 2009 he decided to expand the business and opened a tea shop but because of the economic climate, by summer 2010 the business was on the brink of collapse and he found himself in 24

THE GRATITUDE ATTITUDE

need of $5000 in order to save the company. He asked his customers if any of them would be willing to give him a loan – within five minutes of sending out the request he had received $1000 and within two days he’d met his target. As David says, ‘You have to build a community over a long time that is willing to do that for you. Make it a good investment for them. Giving something back is important. You have to give without the expectation of receiving. I didn’t give people tea with the plan that some day I would need to borrow money.’ If you believe, as Wattles requires you to, that there is a formless substance that is intelligent and wants to increase life by giving you everything you want, it would be good to be linked to it intimately in order to impress upon it your desires. You can only maintain that link by gratitude – it is just how it works. HERE’S AN IDEA FOR YOU...

Television host Oprah Winfrey once said that the journal she keeps of everything she’s grateful for has been one of the most transformative of all the self-help ideas she’s tried. Try it yourself. Get a notebook just for this purpose and keep it by your bed. Then, before turning in for the night, write down ten things you’re grateful for that day. Even at the end of a terrible day, you can usually find ten things to be grateful for. DEFINING IDEA...

Develop an attitude of gratitude, and give thanks for everything that happens to you, knowing that every step forward is a step toward achieving something bigger and better than your current situation. BRIAN TRACY, MOTIVATIONAL AUTHOR

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POPPING THOSE THOUGHT BUBBLES

‘The moment you permit your mind to dwell with dissatisfaction upon things as they are, you begin to lose ground. You fix attention upon the common, the ordinary, the poor, and the squalid and mean; and your mind takes the form of these things.’ Wattles is clear about the importance of directing one’s thoughts. As I sit here typing this, I am worrying about my flight confirmation for a trip I’m making tomorrow, I am wondering if it is too early for a coffee break and I’m also thinking about around a gazillion other things that are too submerged in my consciousness for me to isolate as thoughts. I am not very present to my task because I have a swirling pool of confusing thoughts vying for my attention. It isn’t always thus. When I am in a state of complete relaxation, my thoughts are quietened and I am usually able to focus on sensations in my body and around me. This relaxed, calm state is what you’re aiming for when you’re working steadily towards getting rich. It is the right state of mind to be in. We’re talking about focus and positivity here. If there’s one thing that almost all successful people have in common it’s self-belief. They’ll all have had to cope with their fair share of rejection but the difference between them and those who didn’t get rich is how they handled the rejection. So, while it was disappointing, Warren Buffett didn’t take his rejection by Harvard Business School to heart because, as he says, ‘I always knew I was going to be rich. I don’t think I ever doubted it for 26

POPPING THOSE THOUGHT BUBBLES

a minute.’ Don’t assume that other people are right about you and you are wrong; only you know what you’re truly capable of. Luckily Fred Astaire had already learned to think positively and ignore the negative when he received this famously unfavourable review of a screen test, ‘Can’t sing. Can’t act. Balding. Can dance a little.’ However, calming your thoughts to attain that peaceful state of mind can feel like herding cats – those wilful mind intrusions can pop up here and there unbidden. When that happens, the best thing is not to fight it. If it is a worry about something you have to do, write it down on a to do list so that you know you have it there and no longer need to think about it. If it is aimless worrying, try ensuring that you light some incense or spritz the room with fragrance whenever you are relaxing or meditating. Then, when those thought bubbles arise, introduce that same fragrance into the room to ‘trick’ your mind into thinking that it is now time to relax, sleep or meditate. As you breathe in the scent, imagine it rising like a sparkling mist up into the area above your head and ‘popping’ your worry thought bubbles, dissipating the worry into the air like morning dew evaporating. You’ll be feeling much better in no time. HERE’S AN IDEA FOR YOU...

Every time you catch yourself having a negative thought about money – or anything for that matter – tap the back of your left hand once. This will allow you to notice that the thought occurred but you can then let it go because you are telling your brain physically that it has been noted. As the driver of your consciousness you have the power to accept a thought as true and helpful or reject it as untrue and unhelpful. But it is always important to note that the thought has occurred to avoid your subconscious petulantly bringing it up again and again. DEFINING IDEA...

We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them. ALBERT EINSTEIN

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9

STRENGTH OF WILL

‘When you know what to think and do, then you must use your will to compel yourself to think and do the right things.’ While Wattles warns against using your will on others or even trying to force the hand of God by your will, he does acknowledge the important role your will has in achieving your goals. As we know, you have to guard your thoughts against negativity, doubt and fear. Your greatest ally in this is your will because it is only by exercising your will to only think on what it is you want to achieve, and having faith that it will happen, that you can manifest it. The way that you can bring your will to bear on getting rich is by avoiding all talk of poverty and refusing to have any truck with thoughts or talk of lack. Remember, like attracts like, so if you would be rich, you have to think rich, talk rich, act rich. Only then can you turn your dream of being rich into reality. It will be very easy to slip back into bad habits. A huge bill arrives. An unexpected expense. Not being able to go to a friend’s wedding due to lack of funds. All of these will make you feel poor and possibly say things that reinforce your poverty. ‘I can’t afford it.’ ‘I’m struggling to pay this.’ These thoughts and words set in motion a request to the universe to make that true for you. Whereas if you look at that huge bill and are thankful for the service you received in order to generate it, that is a far more positive, Wattles-esque way of looking at things. ‘I’d love to come but alas I won’t be able to’ is a perfectly fine way to turn down 28

STRENGTH OF WILL

a request to attend any event that you don’t have the funds to make. You can then use the science of getting rich to try and get the funds to make it, but you don’t need to reinforce the wrong image by bemoaning your poverty to others when you can’t attend something. You will need to exercise your will because we tend to always give a reason for why we can’t do something and, if a person is close to us, we’ll tell them the truth about our financial embarrassment. This is a bad idea as not only do you enforce the idea of poverty on yourself, you let others in the world run around thinking of you as poor. Just gracefully decline without giving a reason or, if you must give a reason, you can say what you are doing with your money instead. ‘We’re away at that time.’ Of course you don’t need to say if you’re away abroad or just visiting a friend in the next county. Just don’t say ‘I’m too broke at the minute’ – that is not the Wattles way. HERE’S AN IDEA FOR YOU...

You can read. I know this because you are reading this right now. This is an achievement that required strength of will – maybe your own or maybe your teachers’ or parents’ – but the point is that you completed what it took to get to this point. You can do it again. In any other arena you like but you’ll need to exercise that same level of practice and perseverance. DEFINING IDEA...

The difference between a successful person and others is not a lack of strength, not a lack of knowledge, but rather a lack in will. VINCE LOMBARDI JR., AMERICAN FOOTBALL COACH

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FAKE IT ’TIL YOU MAKE IT

‘Simply feel the faith, and let it work out in every transaction; let every act and tone and look express the quiet assurance that you are getting rich; that you are already rich.’ Wattles does not mean for you to be boastful about your success – impending or actual – but to always speak with your faith that you are getting rich. People are always talking themselves poor. They are forever complaining about the cost of things and about how they can’t afford this or they can’t buy that. They permeate their language with words of lack and they cast envious eyes at the things they do not have. This is a certain way to remain poor but if you listen to our friend Mr. Wattles, you can get rich by speaking as if you already are rich. We’re not recommending fraud but we can maybe learn a lesson from one of the most successful con artists, Frank Abagnale Jr. His amazing true escapades were depicted in the film Catch Me If you Can: between the ages of 16 and 21 he passed himself off as, amongst others, a pilot, a doctor and a lawyer. Despite his youth, simply by acting ‘as if ’, he managed to persuade people that he was qualified in these various roles. Eventually he was caught and imprisoned, though incidentally he did go on to found a fraud prevention consultancy and is now a millionaire. You do not have to lie and pretend you are wealthy by suggesting you buy everyone dinner and then get yourself into debt by fulfilling that fantasy. However, you also don’t need to constantly harp on about how you come from a poor family and have always been poor yourself and 30

FAKE IT ’TIL YOU MAKE IT

you doubt you’ll ever be able to afford a big dinner party for all your friends. Begin to imagine what it feels like to be able to entertain whoever you want at whatever expense and really invest that image with emotion and joy and then set about working to gain the money to do this. Even if you save all year and only have one blow-out champagne experience with friends during that time, your friends will associate you with fun and bubbles rather than worry too much about the lack of dinners during the rest of the year. Most people hardly have time to see friends any more anyway and the impression you will leave is one of someone who knows how to throw a good party rather than someone who misses out on every event due to lack of funds. HERE’S AN IDEA FOR YOU...

Always buy the best of anything you want. Do not buy a cheap version of it because you ‘can’t afford it’. This doesn’t mean you should spiral into debt – if you can’t afford it, save until you can. Often buying cheap things represents a false economy anyway, and most importantly you need to send the message to the universe that you can afford – and deserve – the best things in life. DEFINING IDEA...

It was a wealthy family, and they heard me talk about movies, and they told me I should go into movies. That’s the benefit of hanging out with rich people; they have no sense of what is or isn’t possible. MICHAEL PATRICK JANN, ACTOR & DIRECTOR

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ACT THE PART

‘There are very many people who, consciously or unconsciously, set the creative forces in action by the strength and persistence of their desires, but who remain poor because they do not provide for the reception of the thing they want when it comes.’ Wattles says that thought brings what you want to you but it is action that ensures you can receive it. You know you want a gorgeous, expensive mahogany four-poster bed. You’ve seen the images, you know who you want to design this bespoke bed and you can imagine clearly sleeping each night in this stunning piece of practical artistry. However, you then, by ‘chance’, meet the furniture artist at a party and you discover that she currently has a few months free to take on a project, even though she is usually all booked up. Yet you have not put aside the money for your bed. You haven’t yet sold enough of your unwanted possessions to have a bedcommissioning kitty. You also haven’t built up a reputation in your field that will permit you to barter your services with the bed-maker. This is the role of focused action in your life. You cannot predict when or how the universe will attempt to get you what you want so you must begin today to build up your ability to receive when you are offered. Think hard about what the other person will gain in use value whenever you meet someone who is offering what you want. Can you offer them something of more value to them than what they are giving you?

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ACT THE PART

You also need to lose the idea of ‘when this happens, I’ll...’ – your success cannot be deferred. You have to start thinking about getting rich in the here and now. This means you have to give 100% commitment to the business of getting rich. This may very well mean that you work in a focused way in your own industry until you find your ideal work. This can be discouraging as many people feel that if they could just get into well-paid work or different work, they’d strike it rich. The talent – and the science – in getting rich is to do it within whatever you’re doing now. You can always switch fields by using the method to get that better job but, for now, stay positive and give your boss use-value by giving to him more than you take from him. It will swiftly pay off. HERE’S AN IDEA FOR YOU...

Think of your wealth role model – whose prowess with money do you admire most? Is it a famous person or a wealthy relative or even a fictitious character? Try and think about what that person would do if they were in your shoes. How would they invest their time and money in order to achieve their goals? Don’t blow everything on a high risk venture because some dude in a novel did and became a billionaire, but do try to channel those qualities of courage and astuteness into yourself. DEFINING IDEA...

Act the part and you will become the part. WILLIAM JAMES, PHILOSOPHER

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MAKING A GAME PLAN

‘Every day is either a successful day or a day of failure; and it is the successful days which get you what you want. If every day is a failure, you can never get rich; while if every day is a success, you cannot fail to get rich.’ Working toward your goal is the only sure way to success. Wattles had a strong work ethic because he believed that you can only outgrow your present condition by being larger than your current circumstances. If you want to become a famous reportage photographer but you don’t even manage to get along to the small wedding assignments you get given, you will never be a success. But if you are raking in the wedding assignments and need to expand your business to cope, you will be able to hire an assistant to do the boring things and free up time to go do your more creative work. You have to be at the height of your success in your present field in order to show that you have outgrown it and need bigger and better things. This means commitment on a daily basis to making a success of your work. Cheerfully and resolutely work through everything on your to do list while ensuring you have at least one point on there that is working toward your ultimate goal. This isn’t a method for lazy people looking for the quick or magical fix, though the coincidences and opportunities that arise for you might feel like magic at times. The ‘magic’ is entirely brought about by your application of Wattles’ methods and your persistence in following his instructions. 34

MAKING A GAME PLAN

Clay Mathile became a billionaire as founder of pet food brand Iams. He now gives advice to small businesses on his business ‘boot camp’ course. He says that one of the things that most surprises him about these businesses is how few of them have a business plan or indeed even the most basic form of financial planning. The businesses are usually full of creative and driven people, but without a plan they’re never going to achieve their true potential or become billionaires like him. While you should leave room for serendipity, ensure that you know what you want out of life and can clearly identify the path for getting you there. Defining your goal is the most important thing. It is pointless to say ‘I want to be rich’ and not be specific about how you define ‘rich’ and what it will take for you to feel that you have achieved that goal. A better way to state that would be ‘I want to earn at least ten thousand dollars a month in a consultancy role that is mostly based at home.’ It’s all in the detail and, once you know what you want, you can work towards getting it. HERE’S AN IDEA FOR YOU...

Always, always have a one, five and ten year plan on the go. Your one year plan should include those things that are fairly realistic to achieve and which you work towards every day. Your five year plan should include some more challenging things – for example, buying your first home – and you should work towards them every week. Your ten year plan should include some ‘reaching for the stars’ things – such as retiring early – and you should work towards them each month. Review your plans regularly and don’t be afraid to change them. DEFINING IDEA...

The world has the habit of making room for the man whose words and actions show that he knows where he is going. NAPOLEON HILL, AUTHOR

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HARNESS YOUR SPECIAL TALENTS

‘The various faculties of your mind are the tools with which you must do the work which is to make you rich; it will be easier for you to succeed if you get into a business for which you are well equipped with mental tools.’ Note that Wattles says it is ‘easier’ but not ‘impossible’ – you can succeed at anything but why not make it easy on yourself and choose to do what you’re good at? A friend of mine is a trained theatre lighting technician but when he got a bit older and fed up of lugging heavy flight boxes of lights about, he gave it all up for project managing lighting for theatre productions instead. When it comes down to where his strengths lie in making money, his highly specialized skills are much in demand and he can always find extra work as a lighting tech any time his project management work dries up. He also knows how to drive heavy goods vehicles and passenger buses and big lighting-rig trucks. However, his real passion – the thing that gives him real pleasure – is DJ-ing. When he was younger, he was a well-paid DJ at the top clubs in Europe. However, at some point in his life, he decided that he was past it and that only a handful of DJs now get paid the sort of money that he was on in his youth. While he doesn’t enjoy either theatre lighting or driving, he works hard and knows that he could definitely pull in a wage doing those two things. But to really live his dream, he would need to hold a vision of himself as a top DJ, going around the world and doing 36

HARNESS YOUR SPECIAL TALENTS

sets at the clubs and venues he rates the highest. He would then have to diligently and efficiently work toward making that happen. We can’t all be Mark Zuckerberg, so don’t assume because you’re in your thirties, forties, fifties or older that you’ve ‘missed your chance’. Jane Austen didn’t publish her first novel until she was 35; Julia Child didn’t begin to teach cooking until she was 40; Leonard Cohen’s first album was released when he was 33, and Colonel Sanders didn’t start Kentucky Fried Chicken until he’d retired. If there’s something you really want to do then make it happen, no matter what age you are. What special talent have you let rot for want of using it? Sometimes we give ourselves excellent excuses – masquerading as reasons – for why we can’t do what we want to do. Okay, so it may be pretty hard to become a doctor or a lawyer when you’ve spent your whole life as a plumber, but if it is your passion, look into retraining and don’t let a fear of failure stop you from trying. HERE’S AN IDEA FOR YOU...

Ask five of your closest friends and family what they think you’re good at. It doesn’t need to be a ‘hard’ skill such as driving or plumbing, it can also be more intangible ‘soft’ skills such as being a good listener or being compassionate. Make a list of those qualities or skills and then have a think about the sort of jobs or businesses that would have a use for those. You could find your ideal job or business in this way. DEFINING IDEA...

Empty pockets never held anyone back. Only empty heads and empty hearts can do that. NORMAN VINCENT PEALE, AUTHOR

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CREATING THE RIGHT IMPRESSION

‘Convey the impression of advancement with everything you do, so that all people shall receive the impression that you are an Advancing Man, and that you advance all who deal with you.’ Being dynamic and on the rise is the way to get people behind your vision of your ideal future. Why is it that you only ever run into your ex when you’re wearing sweats and your hair is greasy? Why, oh why, is it never when you’re looking delectable? The fact is that the cliché that you never get a second chance to make a first impression holds true in many situations so it is best to always be prepared to make the right impression every time. It is exhausting, I’ll give you that, but the rewards are manifold. This is not just about how you look but your whole demeanour. Whenever you read the biography of a really wealthy or famous person, there is usually someone from their past who says they always knew that the person in question would make a success of themselves. There is that air of fate about them. You can also have an air of destiny about to be met by staying positive, thinking about your goals and always tlooking to help others in the process of gaining your achievements. Larry Ellison, owner of technology company Oracle, knows all about the importance of image. Not content with being one of the wealthiest people on the planet, he makes sure he acts the part, enjoying all the private jets, lavish homes and fast cars you’d expect a billionaire to. He also takes great care of his personal appearance, is enthusiastic and charming, and is an exciting and inspirational speaker. Many may call 38

CREATING THE RIGHT IMPRESSION

him mercurial, or even ruthless, but his attitude has led him to the enviable position in which he now finds himself and others could do worse than follow his lead. While Wattles does not advocate haste, as this is often the trait of a competitive rather than creative person, he does suggest you give the impression of ‘increase’ in everything you do, from your way of holding yourself to the letters you write. This impression of ‘increase’ is about growth and expansion, and generally people who are on the rise are more dynamic and lively than those who have stagnated. So ensure that whenever you meet someone new, you give the impression of someone who has wherewithal. Remember names, have a card with you in case you are asked for one (but don’t push it on people) and talk about your dreams and ambitions. You never know when that person you just made a great first impression on will be in a position to help you. HERE’S AN IDEA FOR YOU...

Always plan for your next day the night before. There is nothing worse than checking your clothes in the morning and finding out you have a stain or a tear in a favourite shirt. You will also feel much more in control if you know exactly how you’re going to look a particular day. Do this for every day, not just for special occasions. DEFINING IDEA...

A thousand words will not leave so deep an impression as one deed. HENRIK IBSEN, PLAYWRIGHT

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WHEN YOU’RE ON THE RISE

‘Look out for the temptation to seek for authority, to become a “master”, to be considered as one who is above the common herd, to impress others by lavish display, and so on.’ You will undo all your hard work in a heartbeat by being interested in status and power over others. The phrase ‘keeping up with the Joneses’ is all about one-upmanship in life, showing your neighbours how much better you are doing than them by having the latest car or building the biggest shed. As your wealth increases through your diligent practice of the science of getting rich, you need to be on your guard to avoid the pitfalls of thinking about your status with regard to others. If you fall into that trap, you return to competitive thinking and that sort of thinking is linked with lack rather than abundance. There is no surer way to scupper your own success than by checking what others have and coveting it or trying to outdo them just for the sake of it. It is fine to have the latest gadget if you have a genuine interest in it but not for the sake of making yourself seem better than others around you. The value we put on things is determined by how useful they are to us. If the only use something has for you is to make you feel like you’re a cut above your fellow human beings, then it is not truly valuable. Such things will soon turn to dust; you’ll realize too late that dissatisfaction is the end result of such competitiveness. Remember that King Midas’ ability to turn everything he touched to gold was a curse, not a blessing. 40

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Never lose sight of the importance of relationships when you’re finally seeing the fruits of your labour in this endeavour. You should help others to follow you on this path, rather than kick down the ladder after you’ve climbed up it. By all means enjoy your new-found wealth, but don’t make a fetish of it and don’t ‘bling’ up everything in an attempt to show off. You should, by now, know that the world is abundant and you can have anything you want without snatching it from someone else or rubbing anyone else’s nose in it. Keep your gratitude intact. HERE’S AN IDEA FOR YOU...

Stay in touch with old friends – especially if they’re not much acquainted with your career field. School friends and family keep us grounded, even as we rise within our professions and make our mark on the world. A quick email or postcard will let your buddies know that you haven’t forgotten them or let success change you. DEFINING IDEA...

I have a horror of not rising above mediocrity. ROBERT BALDWIN, FORMER CANADIAN PREMIER

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16

AVOIDING THE HATERS

‘Do not waste time thinking or talking about the shortcomings or wrong actions of plutocrats or trust magnates. Their organization of the world has really made your opportunity; all you get really comes to you because of them.’ If you spend all your time criticizing corrupt politicians or reading horrific headlines, you will break your link with the energy – let’s call it God just for the sake of Wattles – that is intelligent and creates all that you want. As a socialist, you’d have expected Wattles to really want to lay into the industrial magnates and the big fat capitalists but he is very kind about them. He admits that their competitive way of doing things is the dinosaur’s way and that their way of doing things will die out as surely as eggs is eggs but he counsels us not to waste time criticizing and pillorying them and exhorting them to change. This is probably one of the hardest things to do as we read headlines all day long about the terrible and immoral practices of leaders and businesses, but Wattles makes the very good point that if they weren’t about, we wouldn’t have organized societies and we wouldn’t have the capital around by which we will make our success. He says, ‘The world is not going to the devil; it is going to God.’ This is not a happy thought, but it lets you off having to take responsibility for all the ill in the world. 42

AVOIDING THE HATERS

While you focus on what is wrong in order to make it right, you are forever wading through the mud of dissatisfaction and pain. If instead you concentrate on thinking about what you’d like the world to be like (and you efficiently work towards it in order to make yourself rich enough to manifest that reality) then you can step out of the quagmire and really soar. Even if you find yourself doing this all the time, you will find that people love to have a good moan. It seems to be a national pastime in some places. You must avoid such people at all costs and certainly not agree with them when they want to do down everyone and everything they see. The ‘tsk!’ brigade, as I call them, are ready to pounce around every corner, to complain about queues and about youths and about the police or the state or a million other things. Just smile, nod and do not engage with them. You are grateful for the world you live in and its beauty and its abundance. Remember that. HERE’S AN IDEA FOR YOU...

Only read positive news. There are a number of news organizations around the world that concentrate on positive, solutions-based news agendas. Martyn Lewis, the British newscaster, has called for the media to focus their reporting on solutions rather than problems. You can vote with your eyes and ears and refuse to listen to, or read, mainstream news coverage that is negative and scare-mongering. Keep your energy pure with positive information. DEFINING IDEA...

It is easier to discover a deficiency in individuals, in states, and in Providence, than to see their real import and value. GEORG WILHELM FRIEDRICH HEGEL, PHILOSOPHER

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SWEET CHARITY

Wallace Wattles has this surprising comment regarding helping others: ‘...remember that extreme altruism is no better and no nobler than extreme selfishness; both are mistakes.’ He advises against getting involved in charitable works if you want to get rich. That sounds incredibly harsh, but it does fit into his philosophy very well. If the Formless Substance that you have to impress your vision upon takes on board everything you focus on, a focus on charity will increase the need for charity in the world. It will give an impression on the Formless Substance of lack and give attention to the problem instead of the solution. Once you are rich, you can set up foundations that find solutions to the problems you see around you, but Wattles insists that going to work in a soup kitchen is a terrible idea for those who would get rich because you are constantly looking at, and dealing with, lack and misery. Becoming rich and setting up businesses that stop people from becoming homeless due to having jobs and good incomes is the method he sanctions as the most productive way of showing altruism in the world. Rather than ignoring problems entirely why not take a look at Kiva (kiva.org) or a similar organisation? Kiva connects businesses in deprived parts of the world with people who can loan them money to get their business growing. The businesses you help are in parts of the world or situations where they are not able to receive loans from 44

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conventional lenders such as banks. This isn’t charity – it’s a loan – but you could help start somebody else on their path to success too. Once you get over the initial shock of being told that giving to charity or working for charity isn’t an intrinsic good, you can see the internal logic in Wattles’ beliefs. Statistically, in the US, it has been found that the poorest people give proportionally far more of their income to charity than rich people do. This has often been attributed to the feeling among the poorest sections of society that ‘there, but for the grace of God, go I’, yet this is precisely the sort of feeling that Wattles wants us to avoid. Even as wealthy people, he doesn’t want us to just give away our money but to build things with it and help everyone around us to also get rich, not just to give them a hot meal and a bed for the night. He wants us to help them build houses of their own and have the best of food always. This elevation of others can only happen when you elevate yourself, so your current job is to work toward your own wealth-building. HERE’S AN IDEA FOR YOU...

Send a gift to a friend, even if it isn’t his or her birthday. Think about what that friend might like or need and wrap it beautifully. Take the time to write out a card to accompany your gift and tell your friend how much you appreciate him or her. You will get pleasure thinking about the pleasure it will bring to your friend – win–win! DEFINING IDEA...

It is better to live rich than to die rich. SAMUEL JOHNSON, WRITER

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THE LIVES OF OTHERS

‘No matter whether you are a physician, a teacher, or a clergyman, if you can give increase of life to others and make them sensible of the fact, they will be attracted to you, and you will get rich.’ Wattles hits the nail on the head when he tells us how important others are in the science of getting rich. Generally speaking, you will become rich by others wanting some special talent or service that you can provide. However, no matter how talented or proficient you are, you will remain poor if you do not interact with others correctly. If you behave with contempt toward your fellow human beings then they will have no reason to be attracted to you. You must impress them with the feeling that every success you crave for yourself, you would wish for them also. And this can’t be some fake impression or a way to dupe them into thinking you care. Nope, you need to actually feel it and know how wonderful it would be if everyone could be elevated in society to enjoy the fruits that the world has to offer. When this bonhomie light shines through you – and you take practical steps to ensure that every transaction with another person leaves that person better off than before they met you – you will find that your business improves dramatically without you necessarily doing anything else differently. Take a lesson from Richard Branson, who’s well known for his relaxed business style. Branson believes you cannot be a successful business 46

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owner if you don’t truly like people and says that his staff come first, then the customers and last on the list, the shareholders. He says, ‘Having a personality of caring about people is important ... that is how you bring out the best in them. For the people who work for you or with you, you must lavish praise on them at all times.’ If there are two cake shops and the baker in one remembers his clients’ birthdays and sends a discount card as a gift a week before the birthday, he is far more likely to get custom than the other shop, where the owner has no interest in her customers and does nothing special for them. People are easily touched when they think you care about them and you also feel a good sense of fellowship when you behave in a way that is friendly and considerate. Start to care about the lives of others and you will find that your wealth – and your happiness – increases tenfold. HERE’S AN IDEA FOR YOU...

Do you know the names of your friends’ spouses and children? Their birthdays? This is the sort of information that counts to a person and if you want to be more involved in the lives of your friends, you would do well to write it down in a birthday book – useful also for when you can’t remember the names of their significant others and you’re writing out Christmas cards. At the start of each year, buy a big pack of blank, pretty cards in the sales and use those to send as birthday cards throughout the year. DEFINING IDEA...

You can make more friends in two months by becoming more interested in other people than you can in two years by trying to get people interested in you. DALE CARNEGIE, AUTHOR

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A MOODY TECHNIQUE TO TRY

‘You must form a clear and definite mental picture of what you want; you cannot transmit an idea unless you have it yourself.’ Wattles asks us to be clear about what we want but sometimes it can be hard to identify it properly. A technique to try is mood-boarding. Mood boards are used by everyone from magazine editors to architects and fashion designers to get the ‘feel’ of what they’re doing clear in their heads and to brainstorm ideas about their project. It can also be used to manifest what you want in your life by making very clear what you want to achieve. The best time to do mood-boarding is on a day when you’re feeling relaxed with no time pressures, so perhaps a lazy Sunday after lunch. Pour yourself a glass of wine or make a nice cup of tea and really enjoy the process as a creative act. Get together a bunch of magazines; they can be old and you can ask friends and family to donate magazines they no longer want to you. Sit down, close your eyes, and think carefully about what it is you want to manifest in your life. Is it a house? A new job? A book contract? Or an expensive overseas holiday? It can be anything you like but the important thing is that you should focus on one thing instead of lots of things. Then get comfortable and start flipping through the magazines looking for images that attract you and which relate to your desire. If you are doing a mood board for a house, look for images not just of houses but 48

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of perfect gardens, bedrooms, kitchens and bathrooms. Really build the house of your dreams from images. Put in that pool and games room – why not? Go for the really wild dream. Now, having cut out all these images, get a big A3 or tabloid piece of paper and glue them down in a harmonious way, perhaps around a central sentence or words about your wish. For example, put ‘My Perfect Home’ for the house of your dreams. Don’t put ‘My Dream Home’ because it might stay a dream if you think of it like that. Put your finished mood board somewhere you can see it every day and really imagine what it will be like sleeping in that bedroom, making your breakfast in that kitchen, bathing in that bathroom and swimming in that pool. Then believe that the universe will shortly bring you that perfect home. HERE’S AN IDEA FOR YOU...

Pick up a couple of magazines that depict the sort of wealth items you’re interested in, whether it is travel ones or home ones or just luxury goods. As well as the mood board exercise mentioned above, you should keep up to date with your desires. If you like having a great watch, keep abreast of the latest models each company is bringing out. Do this in a way that is light and pleasurable, like information for a hobby, rather than in a dissatisfied, craving way. A good tool to help you is www.pinterest.com. DEFINING IDEA...

See things as you would have them be instead of as they are. ROBERT COLLIER, AUTHOR

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FEAR OF WEALTH

When you think about becoming rich, do you do so in a vague manner or have you got it all intricately planned out? Without a clear idea of how you will use your wealth, you can cause a block to it manifesting by subconscious fears of what will happen if you ever did become rich. We’re often told that money can’t buy you happiness – there are so many examples of people saying that large fortunes caused them misery that you’d be forgiven for thinking that wealth is a poisoned chalice. But this sort of thinking can be countered by asking for everything you’d need to be happy. Often people suffer because they come into a little money and then they have too many conflicting demands on that windfall to make it last. Arguments about helping out family members with hand-outs or keeping old promises about going into business with friends you are now not as sure about can weigh heavily on you. You may also fear that you’ll lose the friends you had when you were poor, that those friends will think you’ve changed and become ‘uppity’. These fears make people wish for just enough to be comfortable and not enough to be excessively wealthy. Rich people who are also philanthropists always have to deal with demands on their money. And then there’s the thought of security and how to protect your loved ones if you end up with the sort of wealth that attracts kidnappers and other criminals. 50

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The fact is that your fears can stop your wealth creation in its tracks through reading disturbing stories about the ways in which wealthy folk suffer. A few years back I did a piece for a magazine on the superrich – multi-billionaires who could buy islands – and what surprised me most was how private they were and how much they kept out of the public eye. It is extremely hard to find out what a very wealthy person is worth, much less where they live and what their lifestyle is like. The J.K. Rowlings of this world are in the public eye but most super-wealthy people have made their money in less glamorous or public ways. And this is the way in which you can also make your money. You can keep yourself out of the limelight and enjoy your wealth without fear. Noone can take what is yours and you aren’t interested in taking what is someone else’s, so relax. HERE’S AN IDEA FOR YOU...

The next time you feel yourself being beset by financial worries, make a list of all the expenses you need and want to have covered. Then visualize what it will feel like when you pay those expenses. Really attach a lot of emotional power to that visualisation. What will you be wearing when you make that call to the bank to transfer money to pay those bills, how relieved and relaxed will you feel when you have paid everything off? Hold onto that image and recall those feelings of happy relaxation whenever you feel yourself spinning into a vortex of worry. DEFINING IDEA...

He is rich who owns the day, and no one owns the day who allows it to be invaded with fret and anxiety. RALPH WALDO EMERSON

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REPHRASING REALITY

‘To permit your mind to dwell upon the inferior is to become inferior and to surround yourself with inferior things,’ writes Wattles, sternly. If your attention is riveted by squalid things then those are all that can come to you, but if you ‘rephrase your reality’ only good things will result. You would be shocked if you knew how many negative things you think – and say – in a given day. Someone might say to you ‘have a good day’ as you set off for work and you’d reply, unthinkingly, ‘If only, it’s hellishly busy at the minute!’ Then you might tell your colleagues how tired you are. Sometimes this is to excuse sloppy work because you feel that if you let everyone know how tired you are then they will be gentler on you and overlook your mistakes. You might be as tired as can be but never say this. You want lots of energy and the way to attract that experience is to not draw attention to your exhaustion. It is the same with wealth. Some people are always saying how broke they are and then are surprised when it ends up becoming the truth. But, by then, like the boy who cried wolf, nobody believes them. Generally you’ll find that it is these people who also talk down the economy and bang on about how expensive everything is – avoid them like the plague. Most of all, don’t become one of them. If you have a good ideas don’t let negativity spoil your chances of achieving it. As Richard Branson says, ‘If something is what you really want to do, just do it. Whatever your goal is you will never succeed 52

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unless you let go of your fears.’ Yes sometimes you really do have cause to worry about your finances, or are horribly overworked or ill but instead of dwelling on these problems look to your dreams and this will also give you the focus and energy to overcome your current situation. Consciously watch what you say for one whole day. Write down any phrases you say without thinking that are quite negative: any protestations about not looking good or any statements about how dreadful your cold is – all of these can be written down. Once you get home, sit in a meditative state of mind, and write ‘Not True’ after each sentence and then cross it out. You can then write an affirmative sentence after it that is more in line with what you want to be true. ‘I am fit and healthy and strong and energetic’ or ‘I always have money for all my expenses and pleasures’ are two to be getting on with. HERE’S AN IDEA FOR YOU...

There is a brilliant quote from Yoda of the Star Wars films: ‘Do. Or do not. There is no try.’ How many times have you said to someone you’ll try to do this or try to do that. ‘Try’ is a word that is essentially only about ass-covering. You don’t want to be held accountable for not doing what you said you’d do. Instead of trying, be realistic about what you can and can’t do and then do it. DEFINING IDEA...

People who say it cannot be done should not interrupt those who are doing it. GEORGE BERNARD SHAW, PLAYWRIGHT

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WRITING YOUR SUCCESS ON THE WALL

Being an expert takes more than just knowledge and experience: you have to have lots of confidence in your judgement. This confidence can help your mission to get rich so start thinking about your particular expertise. I was really flummoxed when, the day I resigned from a very lucrative job, I got a call from a woman running a very successful female writers group – she wondered if I now had time enough to talk to her group about pitching to magazine editors. My resignation was unplanned and the result of a degree of unhappiness at work – I thought it pretty much signalled the end of my career in the corporate world. I was convinced I’d be thought of as difficult to work with and that the incestuous media world would close its doors to me. This woman was giving me evidence to the contrary: that not only was I still in demand but that I had expertise that I could draw on to help other people. I jumped at the chance and I dusted myself off and began building a freelance career that very day. I realized that the way I saw myself was very different from the way others saw me. People I worked with always said nice things about me and whenever I sent my resumé to anyone, nine times out of ten I got an interview, if not the job. I had to change my view of myself and align it to how the creative divine force wanted me to be seen. I began by getting new stationery and building a new website that reflected my years of experience in writing and editing roles. I literally wrote down what I was all about and why I was the bee’s knees. It took 54

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a lot to get rid of my self-esteem issues and admit that I had something valuable to give to the world. Where are you in this aspect of success? Can you look your success in the eye and speak yourself up or do you hide your light? It may sound morbid but try writing your obituary and include the things you’ve done to date. Include the really special stuff such as finding your partner, having children and buying or decorating your own home. Also redefine what ‘special’ is by including the things that are special to you, but may not be to anyone else. If you had a stutter as a child and you overcame it in adulthood that is a huge achievement and should be included in your obituary. Include the things you want to do before you kick the bucket. Then set about making them happen. HERE’S AN IDEA FOR YOU...

Keep your industry knowledge up to date. The thing that causes people to have confidence in one person over another is how ‘expert’ they seem. You wouldn’t want to go to a hairdresser who could only do styles from the 1980s (unless that was his or her expertise and advertised as such). In the same way, ensure that people have confidence in you by staying abreast of developments in your field. DEFINING IDEA...

As a general rule, a reputation is built on manner as much as on achievement. JOSEPH CONRAD, THE SECRET AGENT

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WHEN THINGS GO WRONG

‘Never allow yourself to feel disappointed. You may expect to have a certain thing at a certain time, and not get it at that time; and this will appear to you like failure. But if you hold to your faith you will find that the failure is only apparent.’ Sometimes it can feel like everything is going wrong… So you’ve read all of Wattles’ instructions on how to get rich, you’ve worked hard to impress the image of your success on Formless Substance, practiced gratitude, believed that success is on its way, worked efficiently and thought from a creative rather than competitive stance. Heck, you’ve even given more use-value to people than you took from them in every transaction. So why aren’t you rolling in dough? Well, we’ve all heard the phrase that God works in mysterious ways and sometimes there is something around the corner that we can’t see. That splendid opportunity that falls through turns out to be a blessing in disguise when you discover that it would have been a massive albatross around your neck. Or you find that a far better opportunity presents itself later, casting the earlier disappointment in a whole new light. James Dyson first began thinking of his revolutionary new cyclone technology vacuum cleaner in 1978 after buying and being severely disappointed by the most powerful cleaner on the market. He spent five years and vast sums of money, including remortgaging his house, creating thousands of prototypes. By 1983 he felt he’d finally cracked it and took the cleaner to all the major vacuum cleaner brands only to 56

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have it rejected by every single one on the grounds that there was no market for it. Dyson knew that there was and continued to approach companies with his idea. It was not until 1986 that a Japanese company bought a license and the cleaners did not reach the U.K. market until 1993 – fifteen years after Dyson’s original idea. The machines have become so successful that all those brands that initially rejected him have had to try to reinvent their products to keep up. The important thing to do when you are confronted with failure or disappointment is to avoid feeling bad about it and carry on as you were. This is easier said than done but it helps if you return to the most important principle of Wattles’ philosophy – your mind and its power to attract what you want and need. If you start to spiral into doom and gloom and incorrect ideas about your ability to achieve your goals, you sever the link with the creative force that will make your dreams come true. You have to stay positive and one of the surest ways of doing so is to praise as much in your current life as you can. HERE’S AN IDEA FOR YOU...

Remember that time you fell down when you were learning to walk? Man, that was so stupid of you, you just fell on your butt and didn’t know what the heck you were doing. I would just DIE of shame if I were you. Sounds silly? Of course it does. We don’t carry the mistakes we made when learning to walk as a toddler around with us all our lives so why carry around the ones we make as adults. It’s over. Forget it. Do something new and better. DEFINING IDEA...

Our greatest glory is not in never failing, but in rising up every time we fail. RALPH WALDO EMERSON

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NICE PEOPLE CAN BE RICH TOO

Wealth is the mark of success and some people gain it through competitive practices but others through creative endeavour. The fact is that you can’t judge whether someone is nice or not by how wealthy they are – and you ought to be losing the judgement mentality anyway. We are used to thinking of hugely wealthy people as spoilt, arrogant or out of touch with real life but the fact is that a rich person is no different to a poor person. They have the same desires and hopes, fears and insecurities, the difference is that one has money and the other doesn’t. One of the main blocks to getting rich is our in-built notion that the rich are villains who take advantage of the poor or don’t care about society. If you consider the big philanthropists of the past whose contributions still give us our best arts organisations or literary prizes (think Nobel Prize, Carnegie Hall, Guggenheim Museum, Pulitzer Prize), you can see the error in the idea of the rich being uncaring. If you are still in doubt about the ability of the very rich to be very generous take a look at the list of people who have signed up to Bill and Melinda Gates’ Giving Pledge. Those who pledge state that they’ll give away at least half of their wealth to philanthropic causes and charitable organisations during their lifetime or after their deaths. Bill Gates himself has given away $28 billion of his fortune so far. Wattles is very pro-rich folk, even if they have made their money using competitive practices – he identifies them as the means by which you 58

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will gain your wealth. He believes that God will eventually replace the competitive model with the creative one but that the industrialists are serving God’s greater plan by creating wealth that is important for all in society. My aunt married into a very wealthy family and found that it was difficult to get her family and friends to believe that she wasn’t now a snob, just because she was rich. She hadn’t changed, but the attitude of those around her had. You must avoid such limited ideas about wealth and the wealthy – treat your rich friends as well as you do your poor ones and you will see that soon there will be even less difference between you. HERE’S AN IDEA FOR YOU...

Genuinely enjoy the company of your wealthier friends without worrying if they are judging you. Don’t put on airs and graces for them. Don’t feel you need to redecorate the guest bedroom, just because they’re visiting. Extend whatever hospitality you can afford to them and accept hospitality from them in return. A good friend will never make you feel diminished just because he can afford champagne and you can only afford cava. DEFINING IDEA...

A rich man is nothing but a poor man with money. W. C. FIELDS, COMEDIAN

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OVERNIGHT SUCCESS

‘Thinking Substance takes the form of its thought, and moves according to the thought...Thinking the form of a slow-growing oak tree, it moves accordingly, and produces the tree, though centuries may be required to do the work.’ This sounds like a long time but everything has to be done in its time. If your dream is to grow a mature forest in a section of land that is currently scrubland, it is not really going to happen in a couple of months so you have to accept that. The science of getting rich might seem magical but it isn’t actual magic and you do still have to bow to the rules of growth and expansion. Modify your goals to take account of time lines if you’re particularly impatient but do remember that the Divine Plan for your growth might require patience. Many people who are considered to be overnight successes took plenty of time and a long run-up before they got their big break. We all know how phenomenally successful the game Angry Birds has been, with even the British Prime Minister claiming to be addicted. You may have assumed that this was an overnight success created by a small company that just ‘got lucky’. In actual fact Angry Birds was Rovio’s 52nd game and it took them eight years to achieve their ‘overnight’ success, nearly going bankrupt in the process. Don’t fall for the idea that things can arrive in a heartbeat – you need to work at your success and not be discouraged by slower results than you’d expected.

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You might be seduced by the idea of a money-making plan that will deliver immediate results but don’t go putting all your life savings on that horse just yet – the clever person knows the value of sustained work and doesn’t go after get-rich-quick schemes. Caring more about the time frame in which you get rich rather than about the things you want to do and gain with your wealth is also an indication that you may still be very vague about what exactly you want. Remember you have to get very clear about your goals and fluffy general feelings of wanting to be rich won’t work. If you need to buy a large bit of kit for your success – a top-of-the-range computer for example – figure out exactly how much you’ll need to buy that computer. Then work out how much you’ll need to ensure you don’t spend that money on something else, such as bills, and then put out a clear desire for that amount of money to come to you. Do you see how detail-orientated you have to be? Even overnight success takes serious planning. HERE’S AN IDEA FOR YOU...

Keep a notepad by your bedside table. Sometimes a flash of inspiration when you’re falling asleep or in your dreams can be the idea that launches you into the realm of the super-rich. If you pay attention, you may even get more than one genius idea – just be sure to use your fully conscious mind to evaluate if the ideas from your subconscious are worth it or just flotsam and jetsam. DEFINING IDEA...

Give me a couple of years, and I’ll make that actress an overnight success. SAMUEL GOLDWYN, FILM PRODUCER

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WHAT’S IN A NAME? EVERYTHING

Did you know that the social media giant Facebook was originally called The Facebook? The omission of that three-letter word was the difference between something memorable and something very memorable. When picking a name for your business or even, in some cases, for yourself, think big and think international. Think like you did when you were 13 and forming your first music band (everyone does, irrespective of whether they have any musical talent or not) – go for the name you can imagine a DJ excitedly announcing. Imagine the name up in lights or on a flashy logo. Go epic. You will need substance behind your business idea but a good name is a nice place to start. Feel free to get opinions from family and friends on your chosen name but remember that your opinion is of greatest importance (you don’t want to cringe every time you say your new business name). Then visualize that name being at the top of your chosen industry. For example, if you were starting up a bakery, you might imagine the Queen taking a delivery of your cupcakes in a beautiful packed box with the name of your company emblazoned on the silk ribbon gift wrap. Get into the nitty-gritty and maybe even choose a font or spend a small amount of money on getting the URL for that name. Set up a Twitter account with it. Really make steps to make it real for you, even if you don’t currently have money to invest in the business. As Wattles assures us, once we get clear about what we want, the universe moves to give it to us. 62

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Also, don’t be disheartened if the name you choose has already been taken by someone else. All that means is that there is a better name for your business out there – so keep thinking and keep upbeat. It is also worth changing your name if it is the same as someone else in your field. You have to decide who out of the two of you has the greater recognition in your field. It can feel very miserable if someone commissions you to do something thinking you are the other John Jones and then backs out when they find out you’re not him. Best to find a name that is unique to you and build your business with it. HERE’S AN IDEA FOR YOU...

Did you know that some cultures attribute numbers to different sounds and so can tell if a name is auspicious or not from the practice of numerology? Many successful people have also changed their names to get ahead – some names just sound better. Consider changing your name if you feel that another would suit your rich, successful self better. Just be prepared to meet some resistance from those who will find the change disconcerting. DEFINING IDEA...

If I ever opened a trampoline store, I don’t think I’d call it TrampoLand, because you might think it was a store for tramps, which is not the impression we are trying to convey with our store. On the other hand, we would not prohibit tramps from browsing, or testing the trampolines, unless a tramp’s gyrations seemed to be getting out of control. JACK HANDY, COMEDIAN

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MODERN ERA PRINCIPLES

Communication and globalism are the gifts of the modern era and you can use them to great effect in putting Wattles’ 1910 work into practice. It helps that his ideas haven’t dated and continue to be practiced by modern self-help gurus. There was a time that you were required to advertise your services in a newspaper and hope for the best in getting customers. Word of mouth was extremely important as was pamphleting. This introduced middle men in the form of printers and newspaper ad departments but today you have the world just a click away. You can set up a free blog online and drive traffic to it in a variety of different ways. You can have your own website and social media page as well as tweeting and email newsletters. All it takes is a bit of hard work and some research into how it is all done. Wattles spoke about the steam railways and air travel being the next big things in his time and, while the internet has been around for quite some time, the way that we consume our information is completely changing, so your opportunities may well lie there. Soon we will have one feed going to a hand-held smartphone-style device and all our communication, purchasing and online living will be done through that. Judging how and when this advance in technology will happen is the next big thing for our era. Many businesses in the past have failed due to an inability to think ahead. For example the Polaroid Company was a hugely successful 64

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business, which built its success on instant photographs – unlike traditional film cameras you didn’t have to wait for your film to be processed. However in 2001 the company filed for bankruptcy. Many industry commentators put the company’s change in fortunes down to the inability of senior managers to anticipate the effect digital cameras – which also produce instant images – would have on their business. You may not be particularly techy and you may not be very interested in this area at all. Your business may have nothing to do with the internet BUT you can’t ignore it because this is the way that people will purchase your products or services, no matter what it is you’re selling. It may sound bizarre that even items as basic as potatoes and firewood will be sold in this way but that’s where we’re heading so if you’re not comfortable online, hire someone who is, and whatever you do don’t ignore this important way of gaining customers. HERE’S AN IDEA FOR YOU...

Zeitgeist is a German word meaning ‘spirit of the age’. Capturing the zeitgeist is a sure-fire way to wealth but it isn’t easy given that rolling out a business idea or service just as the need for it is cusping is a tricky art indeed. One way to predict what you should launch when is to look at the demographics of the country you are operating in and find out some facts about the people who live there. For example, is the population aging? Are more people living on their own? What levels of disposable income do people have? The answers to these questions and others like them will provide clues that will help you form an idea of who the audience for your product or service might be. DEFINING IDEA...

Bill Gates is a very rich man today... and do you want to know why? The answer is one word: versions. DAVE BARRY, AUTHOR

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PRAY IT OUT – TO THE GOD WITHIN

‘It is the desire of God that you should get rich. He wants you to get rich because he can express himself better through you if you have plenty of things to use in giving him expression.’ Wattles suggests that you pray to God for assistance once but that you don’t then harp on about it. The biblical quote from Paul that says ‘it is God that worketh in you to will and to do’ is used as an example by Wattles to explain the relationship between us and God. We exist to manifest the things that God enjoys doing so when we eat a delicious meal or wear fine clothes, it is something that God enjoys too because he gets to experience it through us. Wattles says that God is not done creating and he needs us to find interesting new things for him to create, for us and through us. But it won’t work if you just beseech God to do something and then don’t do anything else about it. You must practice gratitude for what you have and give a clear impression of what you want. You then need to do something every day to meet that goal. Your prayers will be answered but what is really liberating is that you will help in answering them. In this day and age many of us probably find it hard to believe in a power beyond us. Almost every musician who wins a Grammy or actor winning an Oscar thanks God for their success and a lot of us may cringe at the sentiment. However, while self-belief is crucial to success it doesn’t do to become too convinced of your own omnipotence. Acknowledging a helping hand, whether you call it God, luck or karma, 66

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can keep you humble and grounded, while carrying on believing you alone are responsible for all your successes will more than likely lead to a big fall from grace at some point. Because God is part of us and enjoying life through us, it is almost sinful to not enjoy the most in life. You let down God and yourself if you keep your desires modest and your vision for your life stingy. You are permitted to have whatever you want, as long as it isn’t harming another or taking anything from him or her. HERE’S AN IDEA FOR YOU...

When you pray, are you formal or do you speak to God as you would to a trusted friend or ally? Why not try chatting to God as you would chat to a friend on the phone or over lunch? You may not get a direct answer you can understand but you are likely to feel a spreading sense of warmth and joy if you’re on the right track and a nagging sense of guilt if you’re not being fair. If you’re not comfortable talking to God why not start a diary addressing an imaginary reader; it’s a good way of getting your dreams out of your head and can help you sort through your thoughts. DEFINING IDEA...

If only God would give me some clear sign! Like making a large deposit in my name in a Swiss bank. WOODY ALLEN

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GETTING EVERYONE ON SIDE

‘Getting rich involves the necessity of dealing with men, and of being where there are people to deal with; and if these people are inclined to deal in the way you want to deal, so much the better.’ Give up your dreams of becoming a hermit; as Wattles points out, there’s an obvious flaw in solitude. Some award-winning writers have been famous recluses but you tend to find that they were only able to become reclusive after selling millions of books. If you just want to be left alone, one of the easiest and best ways to have that is to make a success of yourself, get rich and then leave the world behind. Though beware of going down the Howard Hughes route. In his youth he was a sharp business man, film producer and aviator but most people can’t help but think of him as a hygieneobsessed billionaire recluse addicted to painkillers. Wattles dismisses the desire for solitude as ‘abnormal’ and is keen to point out the attractions of living in society. For nothing is so pleasing as having people seek you out and want your company and your work. If you look at the success of networking site LinkedIn it’s easy to see that a large number of people would agree that working collaboratively, well…works. LinkedIn’s mantra is that ‘relationships matter’ and its Europe operations MD, Kevin Eyres believes that, ‘You aren’t doing your job correctly if you aren’t on it.’ As of September 2012 187 million people worldwide agree with him and new users are signing up at a rate of two per second. 68

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The best way to get people on side is to think about what advantage you can confer on them. Try to remember the names of people you meet – it flatters a person’s ego to think that they are memorable. It will help you if you take care with these small details that some might call ‘charm’. The saying is that you catch more flies with honey than vinegar and that is certainly true here. HERE’S AN IDEA FOR YOU...

Always think ‘how can I help this person’ whenever you meet someone new. It may not be that they are in obvious need of help but, without it being charity, there are plenty of ways in which you can help everyone you meet. Whether it is as simple as a smile at the right time or passing on information about a new job they’d be ideal for, helping others is a quick and easy way to ensure that they will do their best to help you. DEFINING IDEA...

I’m a millionaire, I’m a multi-millionaire. I’m filthy rich. You know why I’m a multi-millionaire? ‘Cause multi-millions like what I do. MICHAEL MOORE, AUTHOR

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SMART NOT SHARP

When you can pay your way in life, you no longer need to seek out ‘sharp bargains’ and Wattles would rather you made fair and reasonable ones to stay aligned to the God force. Here Wattles warns us against acting unethically in order to gain our wealth, as any fortune gained this way will be tainted. He’s not just talking about the illegal but about striking a deal which leaves the other party worse off. This could be selling somebody something they don’t need through forceful sales tactics, charging them more for something than it is really worth or even bombarding them with the kind of persistent advertising that fills up their mailbox, email inbox or cellphone. If you think that this kind of tactic is fine as long as you stay the right side of the law then stop a moment to remember just how popular businesses become when they employ brutal sales strategies. You know the sort of company – the insurance company that sold you insurance you didn’t need, the car rental firm that deducted hidden fees from your credit card, or the ‘no win no fee’ legal firm that bombards you with SMS messages asking you if you’ve had an accident that wasn’t your fault. Yes, they may make money but at what cost to their image and self-worth? On a grander scale, the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico in April 2010 resulted from cost cutting decisions which led to the well becoming unsafe. The environmental disaster and loss of lives and livelihoods 70

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caused a blow to BP’s reputation that will take years to repair. Not only that, but the company has already had to fork out billions of dollars in compensation – ironic given that the original objective was to save money. Warren Buffett is a business man well-known for his fair dealing; perhaps surprising in the cut-throat world of investment. He’s the third richest man in the world (according to the Forbes Rich List 2012) yet can look himself in the eye in the mirror every morning because he doesn’t do things in the pursuit of money of which he’d be ashamed. As he says, ‘We can afford to lose money – even a lot of money. We cannot afford to lose reputation – even a shred of reputation.’ HERE’S AN IDEA FOR YOU...

Have you ever been seduced into buying more than you need when food shopping because things are on offer? The fact is that if you don’t use what you’ve bought, you’ll have wasted that extra money, not saved money in the long-run. Think carefully before you get the second pack at half price – it’s no good to you if you only need one pack. DEFINING IDEA…

Lack of money is the root of all evil. GEORGE BERNARD SHAW, PLAYWRIGHT

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PLUG THOSE MONEY LEAKS

True wealth is all about having the money to do what you want and to own the things that you want. It is not wasting your money on things that dissatisfy you and add no value to your life. Do the dust test. Go around your home and check which things have a layer of dust on them from lack of use. Is it the paint pots? The treadmill? The ice skates? Wattles wants you to ensure you have all the things you need and want but not if you’re not using them. Do you always rush out and get the latest DVD on release and then feel underwhelmed when you watch it? Start taking note of your habits and see what happens when you buy something on impulse or unthinkingly and start to ensure that you’re spending money where you actually should. If yet another T-shirt is just a force of habit but a new hairstyle is something that makes you feel significantly better, swap it out. You might expect the richest folk in the world to have lavish lifestyles but that’s not necessarily the case. Warren Buffet, for example, still lives in the five-bed Omaha home he bought for $31,500 in 1958. He grew up in modest circumstances so has never taken his wealth for granted. He says that everything he needs is in that house, so why buy another. Buffett doesn’t have a chauffeur but instead drives himself everywhere. And no, he doesn’t have a different car for each day of the week or drive a Bugatti Veyron but instead owns a relatively modest Cadillac. His idea of a good time is not throwing some swanky party but playing bridge at home. He advises people not to buy things they cannot afford by using 72

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credit cards or loans and to buy things because they need or like them not because they are ‘designer’, the latest thing or everyone else has one. As he says, ‘The happiest people do not necessarily have the best things. They simply appreciate the things they have.’ He’s not known as the Sage of Omaha for nothing. Gauge your feelings on the things you regularly spend money on. Obviously the rent and bills aren’t going away but if you spend money on something out of habit and it isn’t serving your bigger game plan, stop that spending. The magazine or gym subscription that you rarely use is a waste of your hard-earned cash and can be done away with. HERE’S AN IDEA FOR YOU...

Many women’s magazines do a variant on the cappuccino test – how many daily cappuccinos would you have to miss in order to be able to afford a particular designer item. The thing is that generally we don’t miss out cappuccinos so it doesn’t work. Keep a record of what you buy every day and look for your equivalent ‘cappuccino’ – something that’s nice but that you’d be willing to do without for greater wealth. DEFINING IDEA...

I’ve been rich and I’ve been poor. Believe me, rich is better. MAE WEST, ACTRESS

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THE BIG IDEA

Wattles admits that ‘you will do best in a business which you like, and which is congenial to you’. Being true to yourself is a great way to unleash your potential. If you look at the really huge successes in the world, you rarely find a person who says ‘it was boring work but it made me money so I did it’; it tends to be people with a passion who found the money was a side effect of something they’d have done anyway. Richard Branson believes that, ‘Work should not be a chore and should be fun … why shouldn’t you have fun at work?’ This goes for anybody you work with or employ as well as yourself – in order for your business to be successful you need to make sure you work with people who share your enthusiasm for the work. Many companies now try to make sure they are places where people want to work. Google is well known as a good company to work for. Some of the things available to employees at the company’s head offices in California include parking, a free shuttle to work (with free WiFi available, naturally), landscaped grounds, free laundry, volleyball courts, swimming pools and a choice of 18 different places to eat. Larry Page, co-founder and CEO, interviewed and hired many of Google’s employees in the early days, many of whom are still around, in spite of the fact that they are now wealthy enough not to need to be there. Commentators have put it down to a belief in Larry Page himself. Unsurprisingly Google regularly tops Fortune’s list of the 100 best 74

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companies to work for. And as the magazine points out, companies on this list regularly outperform their competitors. Clearly doing something you like in a pleasant environment is motivating and makes for more productive employees. If you’re starting up a business think about how you can make the work something people want to do and make the workplace somewhere people enjoy being. This isn’t as simple as just putting a foosball table in the cafeteria or making Friday a ‘casual’ day. These kind of things are often done by companies who want to make themselves seem pleasant but unless there is real concern to make the lives of the workforce better these features are merely window-dressing. It’s likely that the kind of people you should be employing will be motivated by the same things as you – if the workplace is somewhere you want to be and you and your employees motivate one another you’ll find people happier, more productive and more committed to your goals. All of which can only help to make you rich. HERE’S AN IDEA FOR YOU...

Do you often ‘protect’ your ideas by not discussing them with others? Have you considered that discussing your ideas could help them to grow. The collaborative process can often help to raise problems you haven’t thought of or spark ideas for improvements. It also helps you to see whether your idea has ‘legs’ – if you tell your best friend, your mum, your brother, the milkman and your dog and none of them are inspired perhaps you need to reconsider your idea. DEFINING IDEA...

I had no idea that being your authentic self could make me as rich as I’ve become. If I had, I’d have done it a lot earlier. OPRAH WINFREY

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HOW TO SPEND IT

‘Riches secured on the competitive plane are never satisfactory and permanent. They are yours today and another’s tomorrow.’ Even if you have a huge income, if your main objective for having it is to compete with others in terms of status and possessions you’ll soon find you’ve over-reached your earnings. The value of things lies in their use, not in their status. Because, as Wattles says, you must rise entirely out of competitive thought; having something because it is considered de rigueur is not how we do things. You are only allowed a diamond-encrusted pen if you think it is the prettiest thing in the world and it is more useful than any other pen in the world. Since I know that a diamond-encrusted pen chips your nails (I tried one out for a magazine article under the watchful eye of the jeweller who made it) and isn’t particularly comfortable to use, I would argue that the only reason you could have for wanting one would be to impress your friends. Don’t do it. King Camp Gillette, inventor of the safety razor, became an extremely wealthy man when he retired from the company he’d created. He sold the majority of his shares but took with him $900,000, an income of $12,000 a year plus a few retained shares. In 1910 this amounted to a small fortune that should have seen him set for life. Gillette spent money on an 1100 acre ranch, a 20 room mansion, 500 acres near Palm Springs and several properties in Los Angeles. He ran several cars and employed two chauffeurs. When his spending ran out of control he 76

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tried to sell off his remaining shares, but this was 1929 and the market crashed, leaving Gillette’s fortune in tatters. He died in 1931 virtually bankrupt. Money, when it arrives, should be respected and treated well. Just because you are wealthier than you were doesn’t mean that you should behave as though money is there to be wasted. Wattles tells us that we have perfect abundance in the world and that the Formless Substance that all things are created from is more than able to make more money for you, but if you channel your wealth into worthless flashiness then you break that link with the creative force. Now, worthwhile flashiness is fine – if your creative drive leads you to think only the finest silk should be worn, without any judgement on those who can’t afford it, then there is nothing wrong with you making lots of beautiful silk gowns in jewel colours. It is all about what the things you spend your money on mean to you. HERE’S AN IDEA FOR YOU...

Never impulse buy, whether it is a big purchase like a house or something small like a chocolate bar. The former could end up being a money-pit and the latter could end up going straight to your hips. The best thing is to stop, relax, think about whether you really want something and then proceed. Your inner child might want to grab but your inner parent has to teach junior to think carefully about his actions. DEFINING IDEA...

I spent a lot of money on booze, birds and fast cars. The rest I just squandered. GEORGE BEST, FOOTBALLER

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RAINY DAY FUND

‘Do not spend any time in planning as to how you will meet possible emergencies in the future, except as the necessary policies may affect your actions today.’ Oh dear, is Mr. Wattles suggesting we spend the kids’ college fund and run naked through the woods whooping with delight? Not quite. Wattles is very keen that we live in the present and too much pondering the imponderables of tomorrow is yet another way to avoid working steadily and efficiently in the here and now. However, if your vision of being rich is to include the security you feel from having savings and a cushion to absorb any future financial shocks, then a rainy day fund is something you need to cultivate. Wallace Wattles alarmingly tells people in The Science of Getting Rich to attend to emergencies that may arise ‘as they come’. For those of us raised in a climate of caution this can seem like the antithesis of common sense. However, if you’ve been practising his method with faith, you will know that the old way of doing things is not necessarily the best way. Your rainy day fund should not be about a negative fear of future problems but a positive feeling of wealth and security. In fact it doesn’t even need to be the result of putting money aside on purpose, it can just be surplus income that indicates that you are now rich. One way to do this is to spend your money on an investment that also brings you pleasure. Albert Coombs Barnes was a medical doctor at the beginning 78

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of the twentieth century who made a fortune from an antiseptic called Argyrol. A millionaire by 40 he found himself bored and in need of some outlet for his fortune so began investing in modern art. Around 1912 he began buying works by unfashionable artists such as Cezanne, Van Gogh, Matisse and Renoir, accumulating a collection of hundreds of works over the years. These days all these painters are thought of as artistic geniuses and their works sell for millions but at the time Barnes was ridiculed for his purchases. In 2010, nearly 60 years after Barnes’ death the collection was valued at at least $25 billion. Living pay cheque to pay cheque is no way of feeling (or being) rich ,so remember that your salary is not a target for your spending. That figure is not what you have to spend, it is what you have in your bank. You should always aim to have at least 10% of your salary still in your account on your next pay day. If that is an impossibility then go back to the principles of Wattles’ work and diligently follow the rules until you find your income at the right level. HERE’S AN IDEA FOR YOU...

Are your savings working for you or are they just earning a tiny amount of interest and sitting there doing not much else? Book yourself in some time with a reputable financial adviser and see if you can make those savings work harder. Remember too that if you have high interest debt, then you have no business having savings, you need to pay off your debt first. DEFINING IDEA...

Protect yourself at all times. FLOYD MAYWEATHER SNR., BOXER AND BOXING COACH

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BORN WITH A PLATINUM SPOON IN YOUR MOUTH

‘No one is kept in poverty by a shortness in the supply of riches; there is more than enough for all.’ This optimism on Wattles’ part is matched when you apply the idea of being blessed in a very real way to your own life. There are some very lucky people out there. They are born with everything at their disposal. They have riches and they have opportunities and they lead a completely charmed life. Guess what? You’re one of them. If you think you have to be born with money to have money, take a look at the list of the richest people in the world. Among the top 10, at least six can be described as truly self-made. Yes, Bill Gates and Warren Buffett come from middle-class backgrounds but their upbringings were not overprivileged. Amancio Ortega, the son of a railway worker, is the fifth wealthiest person in the world thanks to his fashion business, which includes brands such as Zara and Massimo Dutti; Larry Ellison was adopted by relatives when his unmarried mother was unable to care for him and raised in a two bed apartment on Chicago’s northside; Li Ka-Shing, the richest man in Asia, is the son of a teacher, and Karl Albrecht, the German owner of Aldi, had a miner for a father. It doesn’t matter if you were born on the wrong side of the tracks and still don’t have a penny to your name. You must accept the notion that you are one of God’s children and God wants you to be happy and to enjoy all the great bounty of the universe. Once you accept this, you can begin the work of manifesting what is already yours. 80

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Don’t let this knowledge trip you up; don’t become arrogant and expect everything to be done for you. Once you’ve acknowledged that the mere fact of you being alive is enough for you to expect to have everything you want, you then have to work diligently at getting it. Be thankful for everything you have going for you in your life, even if it seems to be very little at the minute. Only then can you really connect with the energy that will elevate your situation. HERE’S AN IDEA FOR YOU...

How comfortable are you with being served by someone? At a high-end restaurant or luxury resort, say? If it makes you uncomfortable, consider whether perhaps on some level you feel you don’t deserve to be treated as a wealthy individual would be. Whether you can afford it is neither here nor there, if you lack entitlement to being pampered then you might be able to pay the bill but you won’t enjoy the experience. DEFINING IDEA...

Wealth is not without its advantages and the case to the contrary, although it has often been made, has never proved widely persuasive. JOHN KENNETH GALBRAITH, ECONOMIST

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DON’T SWEAT ANY STUFF

‘Every hour and moment you spend in giving heed to doubts and fears, every hour in which your soul is possessed by unbelief – sets a current away from you through the whole domain of the intelligent substance.’ It can be so hard to stay positive when you’re under masses of stress. There is no stress quite as traumatic as financial stress but you can beat it and come out the other side. When you’re relaxed you’ll leave yourself open to greater creative ability. It can be quite tricky to truly unwind so you need to make time for yourself in order to be able to do this. You can find yourself in a vicious circle of wanting a new job because your current one is too stressful but finding yourself so drained at the end of the working day that you’re unable to think properly about a job or career change. In these circumstances you really need to make the effort to carve out relaxation time for yourself. If you find yourself regularly staying late or bringing work home, take a look at your working day – have you really organized it in the best way possible or could you work more efficiently? If you feel you’re working at maximum efficiency but still not getting anywhere perhaps it’s time to speak to your boss. It’s useful to give yourself a commitment, something creative or relaxing that you have to go to at least one day a week after work such as a crafting class, learning an instrument or playing in a group, yoga or meditation. If your stress is at home – perhaps you have very young 82

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children and never get a moment to yourself – try to organize a day away every so often, when you can be on your own or meet up with friends without the stress of being a parent. You do read stories about entrepreneurs who started up their hugely successful business while holding down a full time job and raising three children but don’t pay attention to them – they only serve to make you more stressed if your plan hasn’t worked out yet. Yes, with the benefit of hindsight these people are glad they did it but it was probably hell at the time and for every successful achiever there will be hundreds of others who have made themselves ill or simply failed on all fronts. Plan, be committed and follow your dreams, but above all be practical about what you can achieve. HERE’S AN IDEA FOR YOU...

Whenever you have a sense that the world is closing in on you and you can’t escape (usually when the final demand from the electric company drops on the doormat with no sign of that elusive pay cheque), think about whether you’re going to remember this moment a year, five years or 10 years from now. I’d wager not. So don’t ruin your present when you are unlikely to give it importance in the future. Take a deep breath, have a glass of water and think practically about what you can do to ease your stress. DEFINING IDEA...

Adopting the right attitude can convert a negative stress into a positive one. HANS SELYE, ENDOCRINOLOGIST

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THE GEEK SHALL INHERIT THE EARTH

Wattles says you can get rich doing anything but it is always best to be paid lots for doing what you love. We are all born with a special talent and we can tap into it to make the business of getting rich that much easier. However, being brilliant at a particular hobby is not necessarily going to make you rich. If you’re an experienced fly-fisher but your talent for making money lies in banking then there is no point ditching the banking to try and make money from a bait and tackle shop. It might be something you can look into doing when you retire and want to take things easy but for the duration of your adult money-making life, go for what is most conducive to your financial success. You’re spoiled for choice when you start to think of billionaires who have made their money from something they’re just really interested in. Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg had always been interested in computing and created his first computer software program at the age of 12. So successful were his programs that Microsoft and AOL both tried to hire him before he’d even graduated high school (he turned them down). And thinking of Microsoft, Bill Gates himself quit university to pursue his obsession with programming. Sergey Brin and Larry Page, the founders of Google are both just really interested in algorithms, searches and creating programs to use the internet to its best advantage. Yes, it does help if you’re interested in something highly lucrative, but doing something you enjoy and are good at brings its own rewards. Any riches that follow will simply be a bonus. 84

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Aside from the true geeks mentioned above, do you think Jamie Oliver would be as successful as he is if he didn’t really enjoy cooking? Would the Rolling Stones still be touring and making money hand over fist if they’d decided it’s only rock ‘n’ roll, and actually, I don’t like it that much? And would 82-year-old Clint Eastwood still be making films if movies were just a job to him? Get geeky about it – ensure you are the one that people go to when they have a question about your industry. Keep yourself the most knowledgeable person you know on it. This will help you not only succeed today but will future-proof you against redundancies as you will be well-known within your industry and will enable you to get another job quickly. Don’t do this to suck up to your boss, do it for your own self-respect and faith that you are the best at what you do. HERE’S AN IDEA FOR YOU...

What are you a bore about? Think of the thing that once you begin talking about it, you get more excited as eyes glaze around you. For me it is magazines: I can talk circulation figures, inter-publishing house gossip and paper weights till the cows come home. My partner, family and friends are simply not interested. My main source of income has always been from magazines. A coincidence? I think not. Find out what you’re a bore in, therein your fortune lies. DEFINING IDEA...

You can only become truly accomplished at something you love. Don’t make money your goal. Instead, pursue the things you love doing, and then do them so well that people can’t take their eyes off you. MAYA ANGELOU, AUTHOR

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WHEN LESS IS MORE

‘We must have things to use because we learn and do and become only by using things. We must get rich so that we can live more.’ It is great to have stuff that you use and enjoy. It is also wonderful to have collections of things that it gives you pleasure to look at. What isn’t so great is when you have so much stuff you don’t know what is treasure and what is junk. Hoarding is stagnating and stagnating is against every principle in the philosophy of growth and development that Wattles advocates. He wants you to have everything you want – he’s no minimalist – but if you hoard things just for the sake of it, that isn’t going to get you rich. Hoarding is essentially an act of fear – fear of being without – but we have learned from Wattles that nature is infinitely abundant and so the idea of lack is a fallacy. Don’t stunt your growth by buying into the idea that you have to have a lot of things around you to feel wealthy. In 2010 Austrian millionaire Karl Rabeder realized that all his possessions and wealth were neither making him happier nor giving him pleasure but simply weighing him down. He came from modest origins and had been taught to work hard, to achieve and to become wealthy. His moment of revelation was on a holiday where he and his wife realized that for all the luxury they’d surrounded themselves with they hadn’t had one ‘real’ encounter or experience – people interacted with the money, not them. He raffled his luxury Alpine home and sold his Provencal holiday villa, his collection of gliders, his Audi A8 and the 86

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business that made him his fortune. All the money was transferred to a charity called MyMicroCredit which he set up to help people in the third world. Karl says he is now happier and feels freer than when he was living the high life. When asked to compare himself now to a photo from before he made the change he responded that he seemed ten years older, sadder and more tired in the photo than he is now. Stick to what you can comfortably use and what interests and excites you. If your family and friends start worrying about you having too many things or they say that they feel claustrophobic in your house, think carefully about whether you have too many things. It may be that you need to manifest a bigger house for your collection of records and that the collection is a treasured possession that needs better housing rather than cutting back on. But if your large house is over-run by old newspapers, consider letting them go – even if you donate them to a local archive. HERE’S AN IDEA FOR YOU...

Whenever you buy something, think carefully if there is something you can let go of. When we buy a new sponge for doing the dishes, we dump the old one. Why would you keep a scuffed, old pair of shoes if you’ve just bought a new pair? Obviously keep the old ones if they are still in good condition but don’t give in to a hoarding mentality. DEFINING IDEA...

A man is rich in proportion to the number of things he can afford to let alone. HENRY DAVID THOREAU, AUTHOR

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TIME IS TICKING – MARK IT OUT

‘There is never any time but now, and there never will be any time but now.’ While wealth may be abundant, time is not. How you use your time is one of the most important decisions you’ll make in life and you must ensure that you leave enough time for yourself. Wattles says that you should work every day and every moment toward getting rich but that you don’t need to overwork to achieve that goal. I would go further and say that there is no point getting rich if all you do is spend your time making more money and you let life zip past you. Have you ever been in the middle of something and lost all track of time? What some people call being ‘in the zone’? Your project to get rich is a creative one; it is about thought and the creative process. You can only access creative thought when you are relaxed and healthy. You can only be relaxed and healthy when you are not overworked or stressed. Of course you have to make some sacrifices to achieve your goals, but unless you take the time to adjust your focus and do something completely unconnected from your goal you could find yourself stressed, burned-out and, paradoxically, unable to raise enthusiasm for the dream you’ve been pursuing. India is a country on the up and up, with new and exciting opportunities for ambitious people. But a recent survey among workers in that country noted that some of the least happy or productive, and most potentially self-destructive people were to be found in executive roles. Mental health professionals say that senior executives facing burnout form as much as 30% of their monthly 88

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case load. Clearly there needs to be more to life than ruthlessly pursuing one goal. Install some rituals into your day that are sacrosanct. Perhaps you could always have a shower when you come in from work and use that as the boundary between your work time and your home time? Perhaps you might take a long bath at bedtime. Or always have a step away from the computer at 4pm for a proper tea break. Decide what works for you and be the master of your own time. HERE’S AN IDEA FOR YOU...

The truly wealthy have time at their disposal. Don’t make the mistake of working all the hours God sends and then paying people to live your life for you: look after your children; walk your dog; prepare your food; drive your car. Cut back your hours the second you feel like things are passing you by. You don’t have to work to keep a battalion afloat, you can survive, nay thrive, on much less if you put in the time with your loved ones. DEFINING IDEA...

Clocks slay time... time is dead as long as it is being clicked off by little wheels; only when the clock stops does time come to life. WILLIAM FAULKNER, WRITER

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GIVE AND RECEIVE

‘… Remember that extreme altruism is no better and no nobler than extreme selfishness; both are mistakes.’ Altruism is great as long as you are also altruistic toward yourself. Don’t just give to receive but do ensure that you are not left on the shelf through a false sense of selfsacrifice. We learned earlier that Wattles is against you spending your time in charitable works, but this doesn’t mean that you have to be someone who is uncaring. One of the principles of the science of getting rich is to ensure that you always give people more in use-value than you take from them. This simple fact means that you are always going to be focused on the needs of others but it is an exchange rather than a sacrifice. You do not have to be selfish but you do have to think about situations that could be deemed to be ‘win-win’ and operate from a point of view of wanting everyone to be happy. This won’t always be possible but think of how satisfying it is when everyone is happy with the bargain or deal they’ve received. A recent survey found that people who regularly gave either time, money or both to charity felt both happier and healthier. In 2009 a total of 63.4 million Americans dedicated themselves to helping their communities. This amounted to 8.1 billion hours of service valued at $169 billion, according to a study by the Corporation for National 90

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and Community Service. Fundraising, feeding the hungry, tutoring and teaching were the most popular volunteer activities amongst those surveyed. It’s also good to note that the general tendency is for people to give more of both time and money as they become wealthier, with those in the wealthiest bracket surveyed (people earning between $5 and $25 million) giving an average of 70 hours per year of their time to charity. So don’t just donate to charity because you think you ought to; don’t help at that homeless shelter because you think it’ll make you look good. Find a cause that you really believe in and that you can make a notable contribution to – either financially, or with your time. The charity will benefit from your money, expertise and elbow power and you’ll get a warm, fuzzy glow from knowing you made a difference, however small or large. HERE’S AN IDEA FOR YOU...

When we think of giving, we often think of things or money but giving is an attitude, a way of life. If you have time for people, if you bother with the pleasantries or really take time to listen, that is one of the most important forms of giving you can do. DEFINING IDEA...

For it is in giving that we receive. FRANCIS OF ASSISI, SAINT

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MOVING FOR MONEY

‘No man was ever so misplaced that he could not find the right place, and no man was ever so involved in the wrong business that he could not get into the right business.’ There is an Eastern saying that if the land is heavy on you, move to relieve the pressure. Sometimes you need to move for greater opportunities to make your fortune. Sometimes no matter how hard you work or how efficient you are, you become bigger than the space in which you have been operating. The divine creative energy of the universe loves that because it wants to explore and experience through you, so don’t be surprised if an opportunity for travel or a move abroad comes up. There is always an attendant fear that happens with any move – will you fit in? Will the area be nice? Will you make new friends? How will your kids adjust to a new school? These are quite understandable fears but the energy of change demands a bit of risk from you and its rewards will be great. In 1968 a certain 21-year-old Austrian body builder, called Arnold Schwarzenegger, decided that he’d outgrown his home country. Had he stayed in Austria he might well have continued to have a successful career as a bodybuilder. But would he have reached the heights of earning $30 million per film (his fee for Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines)? He certainly wouldn’t have made it to Governor of California.

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There isn’t an actor alive who wouldn’t want to get called to Hollywood to do a film because that is the Mecca for film-makers. It is the same with a computer genius and Silicon Valley. Find out the place that is the heart of your own work ambitions and see if a move to that area is at all feasible. Yes, it is an upheaval, but do it with excitement and a brighteyed approach and you’re sure to reap the dividends. HERE’S AN IDEA FOR YOU...

Did you move town to go to college? Maybe you even went to study in a different state? If you are willing to do that for your education then why not also for your work and money-making? Don’t be afraid of new towns and people – sometimes we can get stuck in a rut and all it needs is new views to inspire new ideas. DEFINING IDEA...

I always tell my kids if you lay down, people will step over you. But if you keep scrambling, if you keep going, someone will always, always give you a hand. Always. But you gotta keep dancing, you gotta keep your feet moving. MORGAN FREEMAN

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QUIT WHILE YOU’RE AHEAD

‘Man cannot live fully in body without good food, comfortable clothing, warm shelter, and freedom from excessive toil. Rest and recreation are also necessary to his physical life.’ Here Wattles give rest equal importance with basics such as food and shelter. You’ve made the big bucks but you’ve not stopped striving – at what point do you put down your hoe and rest a while? It is a question worth asking at the start of your journey so that your plan is complete. Many people continue working even when they’ve become multimillionaires because they are competitive with other people and they don’t want to fall behind on the rich list. This is no way to think. Because all your wealth will be made on the creative plane rather than the competitive, don’t fall into competitive thinking once you have made your money. Have a figure in mind for when you will retire and enjoy some leisure time. You don’t need to fear that you will then fritter away all your wealth because you know that the world is abundant and you can always make more money if you need it but have a plan for what will look like success to you and then do take time out to enjoy your wealth when it appears. This will be motivation for you when you are making your money and a reward for you when you have made it. Of course, if you thoroughly enjoy work and just want to keep going, then that is your right. 94

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In fact, research by Barclays Wealth suggests that among wealthy and entrepreneurial older people a new phenomenon, that of the ‘nevertiree’, is becoming more commonplace. In the survey, sixty per cent of respondents said that they envisaged always being involved in professional or commercial work regardless of their age. This tendency is even more common in emerging economies, where retirement planning is not so well established as in Europe and the US – people have always needed to continue working. People want to continue to feel useful and keep engaged with the commercial world, and they don’t want to become bored. If your job entails doing something you love (something we should all aim for) then why stop just because you’ve hit an arbitrary milestone? As long as you’re healthy and happy to continue what’s to stop you working into your seventies, eighties or beyond? HERE’S AN IDEA FOR YOU...

Do you have a retirement plan or do you plan to work until you keel over? Think hard about how you see your time in your dotage. Don’t leave it to chance or to ‘something’ll come along’ – start planning now so you can enjoy a stress-free retirement. DEFINING IDEA...

Many people take no care of their money till they come nearly to the end of it, and others do just the same with their time. JOHANN WOLFGANG VON GOETHE

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REINVENT YOURSELF

‘You will not fail because you lack the necessary talent to do what you wish to do. If you go on as I have directed, you will develop all the talent that is necessary to the doing of your work.’ Sometimes you need to change yourself to get what you want – be careful, however, not to confuse this with being a fraud. There is a technique in business management that is called ‘modelling’ – you find a role model for what you want to achieve and you mimic their approach down to every detail (clothes, mannerisms, ways of interacting etc.). It sounds disturbingly creepy and a bit mental but the spirit of this is useful. If you are a freewheeling hippie and you suddenly decide you want to become a corporate magnate, it is a rare bird indeed who can keep her feathers bohemian when entering a very conservative arena. It isn’t impossible, of course, there are many examples of eccentric yet successful people, but generally people prefer to work with their ‘type’ within certain industries. If you have a clear goal of, for example, becoming a top lawyer, watch how other top lawyers dress and behave; check out which publications they read and the places they go to socialize. As you become more familiar with the sort of person you want to emulate, one of two things will happen: you’ll either decide that the world of your role model is not for you or you’ll take to it like a duck to water. Either way, your process of deciding how to reinvent yourself will teach you much about who you are. 96

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Don’t pigeon-hole yourself. If you always think of yourself as an accountant you’ll find it very hard to develop any other sort of career. George Foreman used to be a boxer, but now he makes an extremely good living selling his fat free grill. Conversely Mickey Rourke was an actor who decided to become a boxer – if he’d continued to think of himself as an actor he probably would not have been taken very seriously as a boxer (and it’s probably a good idea to be taken seriously if you’re planning on entering a small ring to get punched repeatedly by another guy). Helena Christiansen was a supermodel in the 1990s but now she’s to be found on the other side of the lens taking photos for the likes of Elle and Marie Claire. Just because you’ve worked in one career for 10, 20 or more years, even building up a reputation in that field, it doesn’t mean you can’t make a complete change if you really believe in your ability to reinvent yourself. One of the big problems with reinvention is that your past is not so easy to jettison, as many a politician with a half-smoked joint in his past has discovered. Look upon your reinvention as less of a break from the past and more of an evolution into the future. Shrugging off the aspects of yourself that are not working for you (heavy drinking or a morose personality) is easier if you see it as a phase that you were going through. You’re now in the phase of your life where you concentrate on success and wealth. HERE’S AN IDEA FOR YOU...

Action reinforces your reinvented persona. It is not enough to say that your new self is always on time if you are still tardy – you have to plant in the minds of those around you that you embody the qualities you now want attributed to you. DEFINING IDEA...

When things are bad, it’s the best time to reinvent yourself. GEORGE LOPEZ, COMEDIAN

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STAY OFF THAT BANDWAGON

‘While you are getting firmly established in this faith, you will do well to give up most recreations and pleasure; and to stay away from places where ideas conflicting with these are advanced in lectures and sermons.’ Ah, there he goes, wanting your soul again, but Wattles ain’t wrong when it comes to knowing how to stay focused… ‘Garbage in, garbage out’ was a phrase used in the early days of computing to say that if imperfect or incomplete data was put into a computer program, you shouldn’t then expect the computer to come out with a correct answer. Likewise, what you put into your system will effect what you get out. If, after reading this book, you set our Mr. Wattles aside and go watch horrendous news reports with people wringing their hands over global recession, you can expect to become infected with worry and concern over how you’ll survive in the current climate. You might find yourself clinging to a job that hampers you out of fear of losing it at a time when redundancies are happening left, right and centre. In short, you’ll fall back into a competitive mind set where there is not enough to go around and you’re scared of losing what little you have. Step back from the edge, my friend. Hell is indeed other people, but you don’t need to listen to them. You can eschew news quite easily and you can tune into more positive news via a number of new agencies that seek to give solutions-based reporting. If you have to avoid a few dinner parties because you know that they will be filled with depressing folk 98

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who will talk about the ills of the world, then so be it. Stay at home, read good books and eat good food and make your plans for rising in the world. You will not get a reputation for being a recluse because your success is dependent on other people. As long as you avoid energy vampires, your positive outlook will make you very popular with many of your friends. Nobody wants to hear gloomy predictions about the future, we all want cheering up. So be the cheerfulness you’d like to see in others. HERE’S AN IDEA FOR YOU...

Is there a bit of received wisdom that you have always held to because everyone in your family or social circle or community believes it to be true? Investigate the truth of the saying and think about whether you believe in it yourself, once you have all the facts. Then have the confidence to go your own way, if you don’t agree with the consensus opinion. Just don’t bring it up over dinner. DEFINING IDEA...

Too many people spend money they haven’t earned, to buy things they don’t want, to impress people they don’t like. WILL SMITH, ACTOR

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CULTIVATING CHEERLEADERS

‘You are a creative center from which increase is given off to all. Be sure of this, and convey assurance of this fact to every man, woman, and child with whom you come in contact.’ Most people will find other people to support them in their endeavours, but the cheerleading needs to start with you. It can be very embarrassing to hear nice things about yourself. We’re taught that modesty is a virtue and we shouldn’t be singing our own praises or even enjoying it when people praise us, but this is not right. You need to hear nice things about yourself because it helps your selfesteem and it ensures that you know that you deserve success, wealth and happiness. We can be so immune to hearing nice things about ourselves that we can labour under the false impression that nobody ever admires us. This is very unlikely to be true. Listen to people properly and make your pleasure at compliments known so that people are likely to tell you again how much they admire you and your work. You cannot project to others the idea that you are successful or wealthy if you don’t believe it yourself. Get into a Muhammad Ali frame of mind; as he famously said, ‘I am the greatest, I said that even before I knew I was.’ In other words, you need to think and act like you’ve already achieved your goal in order that people will treat you that way. And when people treat you as a success you’ll find it easier to achieve 100

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that success. By thinking confidently you therefore create a virtuous circle of achievement. Close your eyes and imagine someone you respect and admire telling you how proud they are of you. How does it feel? If you feel at all uncomfortable, keep doing this little bit of daydreaming until it fills you with pleasure. It doesn’t matter if your role model never says it in real life, the fact that you can accept it as a possibility is enough. HERE’S AN IDEA FOR YOU...

Create a box in which you put all the nice things that people say about you. This could be ‘thank you’ cards and emails or even pressed flowers from bouquets you’ve received. Fill your box with things that make you feel appreciated and loved. And don’t be quick to shrug off a compliment if it is paid to you. Show gratitude and drop a note in your box with the date and what that person said, so that years later you can still bask in the glow of a sincere compliment. DEFINING IDEA...

It is time for us all to stand and cheer for the doer, the achiever – the one who recognizes the challenges and does something about it. VINCE LOMBARDI, AMERICAN FOOTBALL COACH

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THINK BIG – THEN THINK BIGGER

‘No man ought to be satisfied with a little if he is capable of using and enjoying more,’ writes Wattles, sternly. This is the part that many who say they only want enough to be ‘comfortable’ may struggle with. The fact is that we have been told for many years now that our consumerism since the 1950s has gone haywire and we’re wrecking our planet and our lives with too much of everything. Wallace Wattles has no truck with that idea. He says that ‘to be content with less is sinful’ – strong words indeed. If you’re someone who likes a minimalist life and is always looking for ways to do more with less, this bit of advice may not sit well with you. Wattles has the toughest of words reserved for folk like me. He explicitly calls us ‘abnormal’ as his idea of normality is the man or woman who wants plenty. This is because there is no value judgement attached to the different parts of a person’s being: the soul is not exalted over the body nor the mind over the soul, and the body cannot take precedence over either. If you’re an ascetic, Wattles believes that you have elevated the soul above the body to your own detriment. It’s fine to have an aesthetic sense that craves minimal lines but deciding to only have a limited number of possessions, such that it starts to affect the bountiful nature of life, that’s a big no-no. So manifest that serene pagoda, but have it set in your lush, beautiful gardens in acres of land that you own. Why not? When you realize that you control 102

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your thoughts and you can think up anything for yourself, you become liberated from that thought that meanness is somehow more virtuous. In this philosophy of abundance, nobody loses out because everyone gains. There is no competition. Wattles believed that there will always be enough Formless Substance to create anything anyone wants or needs. HERE’S AN IDEA FOR YOU...

The savviest actors make the switch to becoming producers and directors once they hit a certain level of success in their careers. The reason for this is that the control of being a film-maker goes beyond anything you can have as an actor. Plus you’re age-proofing your career. Think strategically in everything you do so that you can hold the reins rather than being led. DEFINING IDEA...

I like thinking big. If you’re going to be thinking anything, you might as well think big. DONALD TRUMP

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GRADUATING FROM THE UNIVERSITY OF LIFE

‘Man must form a clear and definite mental image of the things he wishes to have, to do, or to become; and he must hold this mental image in his thoughts, while being deeply grateful to the Supreme that all his desires are granted to him.’ Congratulations, you now know what to do! Life can teach us a lot about the way things are but the truth is that our experience of it depends on the beliefs we hold. True maturity is when you cease to be affected by unhelpful influences. When we’re kids it is easy to give into peer pressure. We don’t want to admit to any difference between ourselves and others as we can sense that this will lead to possible rejection and bullying. When you become an adult, you can continue to labour under the false ideas of others or you can step up to the plate and become an example for others. You need to be prepared to be different, to swim against the flow of popular opinion in the pursuit of what you believe will work. Think about this advertising text used to promote Apple in the late 1990s: ‘Here’s to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The square pegs in the round holes. The ones who see things differently … While some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do.’ We all know how Apple has developed in leaps and bounds in the last 15 years. A company that was once thought of as a specialist, producing 104

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tools for those in the creative industries, is now leading the market with phones, tablet computers and music players. Ironically the once square peg in a round hole is now making the holes into which its competitors are having to fit. The Wattles philosophy is very healthy and wholesome in that it encourages you to cultivate a cheerful disposition, to work efficiently rather than to over-work, to feel gratitude for the good things in your life and to anticipate with faith more good things to come. However, this philosophy can be terrifying for those around us; once you take responsibility for your own success and joy, they are forced to abandon the excuses they’ve been using to keep themselves down as well. You leave the pack behind and become a leader. This can be challenging for many in your life, even your nearest and dearest. Exhibit your mature outlook by gently explaining why you think a more positive outlook is working for you. Point others in Wattles’ direction if you think they are ready or if they ask you what it is that is effecting this change in you. But don’t become an evangelist, you don’t need to convert anyone to your way of thinking, just show them its effectiveness by daily practice of the ideas within The Science of Getting Rich. HERE’S AN IDEA FOR YOU...

Remember that it is never too late for a career change. You can retrain and become something else at any point in your life. One of the worst things you can tell yourself is that you’re too old to do something. Admittedly it might be a bit hard to become an astronaut at 70 but you’re not too old to become wealthy doing something connected to your passion for astronomy. DEFINING IDEA...

When I was young I thought that money was the most important thing in life; now that I am old I know that it is. OSCAR WILDE

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THE MYTH OF LUCK

‘Talented people get rich, and blockheads get rich; intellectually brilliant people get rich, and very stupid people get rich; physically strong people get rich, and weak and sickly people get rich … any man or woman who has sense enough to read and understand these words can certainly get rich.’ Just don’t confuse possibility with luck. Wattles is very democratic about the possibilities open to all of us. Note however that we need to work at it. It’s not enough just to want to be rich – if we leave everything down to dumb luck we lose the power to control our own destiny; we’re victims of fate rather than masters of our lives. Certainly you may win the lottery or be discovered when Simon Cowell walks past your apartment while you’re singing in the shower but you stand more chance of making it big if you put the effort in. Research the market and invest in the right shares, create the next ‘must have’ item in the stores or go to that audition (and the next one and the next one). Think about it, how many successful people are there who got there just by luck? Well, it depends how you define the term. A recent study suggests that luck is not something random, which leaves us to the whims of fate, but is controllable and manipulable. Psychology professor Richard Wiseman spent ten years interviewing people who thought they were lucky, and others who thought they were unlucky, and analyzing the responses. He was able to ascertain that, unknowingly, the ‘lucky’ 106

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people were exercising several principles – in other words creating their own luck. As he explains in his book The Luck Factor, lucky people ‘create, notice and act upon the chance opportunities in their life’. In other words being in the right place at the right time is all about state of mind; you need to be receptive. He also noted that these people trust and understand their intuition a lot better than unlucky folk and that they are able to transform their bad luck into good fortune. Notably, their ‘expectations about the future help them fulfil their dreams and ambitions’. When you read through his book you see that a lot of his findings support what Wallace D. Wattles was saying more than a century ago. So yes, you could get lucky but it’s all a matter of what you put in to create that luck. HERE’S AN IDEA FOR YOU

If you’re normally a very methodical person who does a lot of research before making a decision, why not experiment with paying more attention to your instincts? Follow your gut for a while and make a note of the decision you needed to make, what your gut instinct was and what happened when you followed it. Did the decision pay off? What could you do in future to make better use of your innate understanding of a situation? DEFINING IDEA

Those who have succeeded at anything and don’t mention luck are kidding themselves LARRY KING

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THE BEAUTIFUL RICH

‘Getting rich is not the result of saving, or ‘thrift’; many very penurious people are poor, while free spenders often get rich.’ Make peace with the idea that money is good by appreciating the beauty and pleasure that money can buy. I am crazy about cathedrals. They seem to me to represent all that is beautiful about religious feeling. They are generally very peaceful within and often have the most spectacular stained glass and carving throughout. The architecture combines with the smell of incense and the sight of candles and makes for a glorious sight. But I can tell you that I have never heard of a cathedral that cost next to nothing to build and which costs nothing to maintain. That spiritual feeling of peace you get within a cathedral is built on millions of dollars. Money can buy you serenity and it can buy you peace and it can buy you beautiful architecture. Don’t resent the wealthy or only look at examples of ugliness in the rich; appreciate the beauty created by those who really know how to use wealth. Fill your eyes and head with images of money well-spent and you’ll soon be thinking of ways to spend your fortune to create new and ever-more-beautiful things. Money can also buy you ‘The happiest place on earth’, also known as Disneyland. If you’re talking about thinking big then you’ll have to try pretty hard to out-dream Walt Disney. Walt first came up with the idea for Disneyland on a trip to a much smaller fun park with his daughters, but did not start seriously planning it until 1952. Reading between the lines, it seems that he was probably quite difficult and demanding 108

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in achieving his dream. He called his artist friend, Herb Ryman, on a Saturday and insisted he make a detailed illustration of the park just two days before a meeting with potential financiers. He later added, changed and removed attractions, adjusting the final plans for the entrance 129 times while the park was under construction. As Marvin Davis, an original Disneyland designer recalls, ‘He wanted to see every idea that you could possibly have before he settled on something.’ He must have had a very clear picture in his mind, and when you think big, you want your finished article to be just right. Especially if it’s costing $17 million – rather a large sum in 1952. Since Wattles wants us to think big, there is no reason why you can’t have those beautiful images that you see, even if your vision is of grand palaces, a resort based entirely around your brand or artificial islands in the shape of palm trees. Your only limit is your imagination. HERE’S AN IDEA FOR YOU...

Scent is the most evocative of senses – can you smell rich? Indeed you can. We’ve all come across well-heeled men and women who smell gorgeously wealthy. The reason many designer houses launched a perfume range was to make luxury available to everyone – you may not be able to buy an outfit worth thousands but you can probably afford a bottle of designer perfume as a special treat. Let that be your starting point and the clothes will follow. DEFINING IDEA...

Money, which represents the prose of life, and which is hardly spoken of in parlours without an apology, is, in its effects and laws, as beautiful as roses. RALPH WALDO EMERSON

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DEALING WITH DISSATISFACTION

‘The visible supply is practically inexhaustible; and the invisible supply really is inexhaustible.’ Wattles wants us to keep growing, developing and wanting more, but this is not a sanction for dissatisfaction. Some people equate never being satisfied with successful people: we all know ball-busting bosses who are so detail-orientated that they are never satisfied. We also know that those people tend not to be the jolliest folks we meet. There is nothing wrong with being good at what you do – in fact, Wattles says that you ought to never leave anything undone in your job and you should be seeking to become ‘larger’ than your role so that the world has no choice but to give you more in life. However, this doesn’t mean that you should be dissatisfied with everything around you. You could have everything you ever wanted but it won’t be any good to you if you can’t enjoy it because you’re busy looking to the next thing. One of the biggest lottery winners ever in the UK gave an interview in which he called the win ‘a curse’; it caused strife within his family and his children became completely bored with everything. They had every toy they could ever want, but the joy of anticipation was lost. To avoid such a thing happening to you, you need to retain curiosity about the world around you and to keep dissatisfaction in check. When you go to a lovely restaurant for a meal, don’t look for the flaw in the perfect experience – enjoy the experience and the atmosphere. You 110

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will find that the more you focus on – and are grateful for – the good stuff, the fewer bad experiences you have. We all know the person who is always unlucky with bad service and a terrible meal when they go out and it always tends to be the person given over to complaining a lot. Don’t go down that route, allow the world to give you wonderful experiences by noticing everything wonderful about your life today. HERE’S AN IDEA FOR YOU...

Huna, Hawaiian Shamanism, contains the belief that every time you criticize something, you create tension in your body and, over time, you can make yourself ill with this tension. The way around it is to compliment what you honestly can. If you can only see flaws and imperfections around you, that will be your focus and dissatisfaction your reward but if you see the beauty and love in all things, the more content and happy you will be. DEFINING IDEA...

I never felt hard done by and never wanted for anything, but I grew up in a wealthy area where I saw people being handed things on a plate. So it made me want to earn some money and be able to buy things for myself. HOLLY VALANCE, ACTRESS AND SINGER

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HEALTH IS THE GREATEST WEALTH – SO INVEST IN IT

‘Only those who are emancipated from financial worry, and who have the means to live a care-free existence and follow hygienic practices, can have and retain health.’ Wattles is here mirroring what a lot of health professionals know – poverty can seriously affect your health. A lack of money means that you often only go for affordable food, often the most processed and unhealthy on the market. Fresh fruit and vegetables, organic bread, free-range eggs and seasonal produce can often be quite expensive to obtain, especially in cities where it tends to be the preserve of the wealthy. Health insurance and private healthcare is extremely expensive and preventative medicine is something that you can only think about once you have surplus income. Many with financial problems are beset with high blood pressure, depression and addictions in trying to cope with the misery of poverty. And it is not only the poor who suffer from addictions, as the comic actor Robin Williams once quipped: ‘cocaine is God’s way of saying you’re making too much money’. Now, as we know, God doesn’t think there is such a thing as too much money, but there is money obtained in an incorrect, competitive way. The stress of looking after money that you think might dissipate tomorrow, like a morning dew, means that your health can be affected even when you’re doing quite well. If you feel out of control in any area of your life, get help. Go to your 112

HEALTH IS THE GREATEST WEALTH – SO INVEST IN IT

doctor and explain how you feel and see if you can get help for any addictions you have. Almost every major city and many small towns now have 12 step programmes for dealing with addictions. While Wattles says that it is not good to focus on what you want to have gone from your life, it can help initially to at least admit you have a problem if you’re not strong enough to combat it alone. Another way to avoid a number of health problems is by eating less but better. As said before, good food can be expensive but you also have to think about portion size. A fair sized portion of meat for dinner should not be bigger than the palm of your hand (not including your fingers) – many of us eat a lot more than that. Look after your health and your wealth by ensuring you buy the best produce but consume less of it. HERE’S AN IDEA FOR YOU...

Forget expensive gyms, start running. Once you have a decent pair of trainers and perhaps a session with a personal trainer to ensure you are not doing anything to injury yourself, you are good to go. It’s free and you can do it anywhere – and almost at any time. Get rid of the stress of a hard day at work by going for a run. Or set yourself up for the day by going for a run before work. DEFINING IDEA...

Early to bed, early to rise, keeps you healthy, wealthy and wise. BENJAMIN FRANKLIN

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MAKING THE MIND YOUR FRIEND

Wattles wrote that ‘it is the nature of intelligence to enlarge itself, and of consciousness to seek to extend its boundaries and find fuller expression.’ He was talking about the collective mind of the living substance that all things are made from but he could just as well have been talking about your individual mind. Nobody wants to be bored and limited and a drudge. People want joy and pleasure and happiness. Your mind wants those things too but, much like a child’s, it is beset by irrational fears and worries about socalled ‘reality’. The way to reassure your mind is to gently bring its attention to the truth. When a child wakes up in the night sobbing about the monster in the cupboard, you turn on the light and show him the inside of the cupboard so that he knows there is nothing in there. In the same way, you have to reassure yourself that the monsters of failure and poverty are not real, there is success and wealth enough for all and all you have to do is follow the techniques set forth by Wattles to obtain it. At the end of The Science of Getting Rich Wattles suggests that you should, ‘spend most of your leisure time in cultivating your vision … and in reading this book.’ That might be a little limiting for all but the most hard core Wattles fan but it is very difficult to sustain belief in anything beyond a few weeks so it is important to revisit the ideas to ensure that you are on track. If your mind rebels at any part of the programme, ask it to take it on faith for a while. It may be frustrating 114

MAKING THE MIND YOUR FRIEND

for your mind to hear ‘just because’ but if you promise that the end results will be to your benefit, you may very well find that your mind comes on board. The other important – and helpful – fact is that the collective mind is the same as your mind and it also wants you to succeed. Once you start noticing the techniques starting to work, the collective mind will do more in order to meet your expectations. If you can fascinate your mind with the job of proving itself right when it comes to positive thoughts then you’re halfway there already. HERE’S AN IDEA FOR YOU...

Consider doing an affirmation to train your brain into thinking good thoughts about money. You don’t even have to say it out loud. Say something positive like ‘I am rich, happy and healthy’ and say this as many times as you like in your mind. Be especially sure to turn to your affirmation when thoughts of lack and worry intrude. DEFINING IDEA...

I have about concluded that wealth is a state of mind, and that anyone can acquire a wealthy state of mind by thinking rich thoughts. ANDREW YOUNG, CIVIL RIGHTS ACTIVIST

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CONCLUSION – HOW TO KEEP YOUR WEALTH THINKING INTACT

‘Read this book every day; keep it with you; commit it to memory, and do not think about other “systems” and theories. If you do, you will begin to have doubts, and to be uncertain and wavering in your thought; and then you will begin to make failures.’ Wattles goes a bit ‘culty’ on us here but he isn’t saying this out of some inflated ego. He really wants us to internalize the method laid out in his book and to make use of it. I won’t go so far as to say that you have to commit the book in your hands to memory but it is worth dipping in and out of whenever you are losing the plot a bit with regard to your wealth. The more you can get that important formula we mentioned right at the start into your everyday life, the better. Here it is again: ‘There is a thinking stuff from which all things are made, and which, in its original state, permeates, penetrates, and fills the interspaces of the universe. A thought in this substance produces the thing that is imaged by the thought. Man can form things in his thought, and by impressing his thought upon formless substance, can cause the thing he thinks about to be created.’ Beyond that, you also need to practise daily and continuous gratitude for your present life. This keeps the connection with the divine clear and strong. You need to ensure you behave fairly with everyone you have dealings with and you need to ensure you give everyone more in ‘use-value’ than you take from them. 116

CONCLUSION – HOW TO KEEP YOUR WEALTH THINKING INTACT

All of these things might sound simple but keeping your mind on this process can be very hard. Things are always occurring that put paid to your best intentions. Daily life can conspire to make you unhappy. Colleagues and bosses can be a source of conflict. Even your loved ones can discourage you with their own fears and worries. Sticking to positive thoughts and a clear vision with lots of gratitude on top can sometimes feel like a Herculean task. Wattles is quite adamant that the lazy in mind won’t succeed, so his book is asking quite a lot of you. It wants you to become a ‘mastermind’ and to gain mastery over your internal conversation and your subconscious beliefs. It is no mean feat. But if you can gently bring your mind back to the way that you should be thinking, you will soon find that good things come to you – and it won’t be unexpected as you will start to expect that the world will move to make your dreams come true. There is no greater gift than thinking that the entire creative cosmos is on your side and is working toward your happiness. In these times of strife and worry, use our friend Mr. Wallace Wattles’ words not just as a comfort but as a blueprint for success. He assures us that this is an exact science so study it diligently and enjoy the wealth and bounty of the glorious world around us.

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