Book of The Month Recommendation - September 10
'The Secrets of the Millionaire Mind – Think Rich to Get Rich' by T Harv Eker
Well here’s one for the sceptics! I will admit to approaching this book with a degree of suspicion, some of which, in my view, was justified. However, there is a great deal to like about this book.
The first half is very much about mindset and self-image and despite the style of writing being quite ‘US self-help’ speak, hidden amongst the hype and justification for being wealthy, which I think needs no justification anyway, there are some solid and well thought-out gems. For instance: ‘It’s not what we don’t know that prevents us from succeeding, it’s what we know that just ain’t so that is our greatest obstacle.’
Eker’s premise is that it is not lack of opportunity, intelligence, skill or ability that prevents most people being financially rich, it is the problem we have with our ‘Money Blueprint’ – the way we subconsciously view money based on our interpretation of our upbringing and other external influences, that has shaped the way we think about money which then determines how much we will have – or not.
An example of this is in the quote: ‘It’s not enough to be in the right place at the right time, you have to be the right person in the right place at the right time.’.....how true?
The author uses a very useful metaphor; he says that our physical world is merely the printout of the mental, physical and emotional world and trying to change our physical world is like trying to use an eraser to correct a letter we printed out from the computer on which we wrote it. In Mancroft we have an expression that unless we change the thinking that formed the behaviour in the first place, trying to change our behaviour is like to cure a leaky pen by wearing rubber gloves.
Throughout the book the author has given various ‘Wealth Principles’ and one I particularly like is: ‘Consciousness is observing our thoughts and actions so that you can live from true choice in the present moment rather than being run by programming from the past.’ I believe that living life more consciously is the only way to create sustainable change so we wholeheartedly approve of this quote!
A challenge from the author that I am going to take up is not to complain negatively - my word – about anything, out loud or even in our thoughts, for seven days. How about trying for a month! I think this will be a great test of my resolve because, despite knowing that everything and everyone is neutral, I do find myself having a moan about someone or something more often than is good for me.
As I read the book for the second time, I became more aware of how useful it can be. It is all too easy to think; ‘I know this’ when reading yet another concept with which you are familiar, but as Eker says, you only really know something if you are living it and I’m not perambulating across the H2O yet, so there are several reminders about my need to think about the way I think that I need to heed in this book.
The second half of the book is entitled ‘The Wealth Files’ which gives seventeen ways in which rich people think and act differently from poor and middle-class people. Now, if you consider yourself as belonging to either of these groups, you will ‘have’ to buy the book.
It would be all too easy to dismiss this book as another ‘Get Rich Quick’ attempt to make money out of the gullibility of people who think that becoming wealthy is an overnight thing whereas I believe that, as I’m sure you do that, other than winning the Lottery, it takes a little longer than ‘overnight’. In fact, if you would like to become wealthy in a financial sense, you could benefit greatly from reading this book and at the very least, if you feel you already are wealthy, you could get yourself and the book validated or simply shout at it.
The last quote I will give, which may soften any prejudice you have about books like this is: ‘But if you want to be rich in the truest sense of the word, it can’t only be about you. It has to include adding value to other people’s lives.’
It’s a quick, very worthwhile read, buy it!
Richard Jackson, co-founder of Mancroft