Jonah bought a couple of tools and left the shop after about half an hour. They talked with Jesus about the new farm and life in general. As he walked away, he kept thinking that Jesus the son of Joseph was growing fast into a wise young man. And he was right.

The Making of a King

Jesus was born into working class family. His dad worked as a carpenter and became an apprentice there. He worked diligently as a carpenter with his father.

After his 30^th birthday, he switched careers and became a teacher. He taught, challenged and inspired the people around him.

His teachings spread around the world and are still pertinent even after 2000 years. He is one of the inspiring legends upon whose shoulders I stand. What can we learn about this man Jesus Christ?

Lessons from the King of Kings

1 –Diligence Pays

He knew that he was the son of God but he did not sit on his laurels. He was up and about, had a job as a carpenter and worked crazy hours to achieve his goals. Positive thinking will only take you so far. You need to put in the hours and apply yourself to reach your goals.

2 – Have a Mission

His mission on earth was to teach the word of God and die for our sins so we may have eternal life. His mission was not easy; he endured tribulation but did not waver.

Determine what your mission in life is and go for it. Develop a mission statement and spend your life fulfilling it. With a mission statement, everything falls into perspective. You define your own boundaries and prioritize things in your life.

Your mission is different from your goals. Think of your mission as your core values, and your goals as tools to live up to your mission.

3 – Stories Sell

Parable after parable, Jesus shared his lessons with people as stories. He realized that human beings are suckers for a good story. Stories teach and sell.

What is your story? Package your achievements, your desires and goals into stories and tell them. You will be more likely to get an audience with stories than with facts alone. Stories help connect people and turbo charge bonding.

4 – Be a Team Player

Jesus realized that he needed a good team to help pass on his message. He assembled a team of disciples and worked well with them. They taught the gospel even after he was gone.

Everyone is gifted or experienced in their own area. Knowing how to tap into the unique talents and experiences of people can transform you from zero to hero and beyond.

5 – Fear Not

Jesus’ teachings were going against the accepted teachings at the time. He was amassing enemies at an alarming rate. He would have slowed down but he did not. He believed that what he stood for was right and his message needed to be heard.

Do not let fear paralyze you. Fear prevents action and modifies behavior in ways that slow down your journey to victory… What kind of fears do you have? Are they limiting your success? What can you do to face or address your fears?

6 – Show Leadership

Jesus was able to influence others through his teachings, his character and style. He inspired people to want to live a better life instead of forcing them into it. He also empowered his disciples and delegated authority to them.

You will achieve more by being a good leader.

Do not just sit back and wait to be led. Chart your path, grow and give others the opportunity to follow you. A good leader needs to be strong and unwavering. A good leader must have a vision and empathy for his followers. If you want to be a better leader, care more.

7 – Be Prepared

Jesus did not just wake up and start teaching people. He studied carpentry, religion, law and other disciplines. If you want to be a roaring success story, put in the hours to learn and practice. Learn from the people who are already successful at what you aspire to do. Study and copy them.

Gain valuable experiences and do your home work before you embark on a journey. You would not climb Mount Kilimanjaro before thorough preparation…right? Be sucker for preparation if you want to avoid fatal mistakes.

8 – Shun Intolerance

Jesus talked with both the elite and the poor in society. He talked with the sinners and the people the masses rejected. He saved a woman who was about to be stoned for adultery. He ate at a hated tax collectors house.

He treated everyone with love and respect. People come in different in looks, shapes, beliefs, tastes, habits, views etc.

If you don’t accept or at least respect diversity in people, it will limit how high you soar. To rise above mediocrity, we must shun intolerance by taking active steps to respect diversity.

9 – Be Generous

Jesus gave his life to save us from eternal damnation. He endured gross injustices and violations to his human rights for greater good.

When at a party and the booze ran out, he was swift to change water into wine. He turned a few loaves and fish into a lavish bash.

Giving with an open heart will open floodgates of blessings in your life. If you practice the habit of giving, the universe will compensate you many times over. Be a cheerful giver.

Give something of value to people you meet. Not necessarily money but what you have in your reserves. When you give, you are making a deposit in your spiritual account and you will reap your rewards with the same measure you give out.

10 – Humility is not Cowardice

Even though he was the Son of God, Jesus came to the world and was born in a manger. He endured poverty and humiliation to achieve his goals. You may have to swallow humble pie to achieve some of your goals.

Avoid pride especially when things start looking up in your life.  Pride comes before a fall. A bloated ego as a result of winning can obstruct common sense.

Summary

I hope I did not step on too many toes through this blog post. Religion is a touchy subject for some. Having said that; there are many lessons we can learn from Jesus Christ. Take a moment to read the bible even if you are not a Christian. It is a book with pearls of wisdom on how to succeed in life and beyond. Be blessed.

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Apart from knowing exactly what you want in life, the next strong determinant of your success is your ability to achieve your goals. Having goals propels you ahead of the pack. But you are not the only one with goals. There are others who want a piece of the action. It comes down to you vs. them. So how do you win? You win through ability.

Ability comes down to your level of skill and talent. Talent is God given while skill is learned. Actor Will Smith reckons that “Talent you have naturally. Skill is only developed by hours and hours and hours of beating on your craft.”

I am Legend

Will Smith is our Inspiring Legend of the day. He is the actor of the movie “I am Legend”, a title that befits him.

I have watched all of Will Smith’s movies and followed his career since the days of Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. He has starred in many hit movies including Bad Boys, Bad Boys II, Independence Day, Men in Black, Men in Black II, I, Robot, The Pursuit of Happyness, Hancock, Enemy of the State and Hitch.

Most of us would say that Will Smith is a talented actor, and he is. But he has a different take on this. He says “I’m not afraid to die on a treadmill. I will not be outworked. You may be more talented than me. You might be smarter than me. And you may be better looking than me. But if we get on a treadmill together, you are going to get off first or I’m going to die. It’s really that simple. I’m not going to be outworked”. Will Smith has an incredible work ethic. He applies it to his work and exercise with the same vigor. It amplifies his talents.

When he first went to Hollywood, like other aspiring actors, he was not taken seriously. He was seen as just a rapper who had been lucky to have a breakthrough with a TV show and nothing more. But that did not dampen his spirit. He vowed to be the best actor in the world and got to work on himself.

First he analyzed what the top grossing movies had in common. He realized that they all had special effects and involved strange creatures and a love story. He chose his movies carefully based on his intended goal. His record speaks for itself.

He works harder than most actors. What appears like easy delivery is a result of hours and hours of practice. As a result, Will Smith became the only actor in history to have eight consecutive films gross over $100 million in the US domestic box office. That takes more than talent.

What about You?

There are things you are naturally good at. There are things that you do with ease that others struggle in. You may not have recognized it, but you have your talents.

The first step you should do is to take an inventory of your talents. What are you good at? Are you good with people? Are you a good problem solver? Are you a good writer? Are you good in music, dance, athletics, drawing etc?

Once you recognize what your talents are, and decide on the direction of your efforts; get to work. It is time to raise your skill level. It takes hours upon hours of practice to be really good in something. Race drivers do not rely on talent alone. Great writers do not rely on talent alone. Great mortgage brokers do not rely on talent alone. They put their heart and soul into skill development. Persistence is the name of the game.

“Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful people with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan “press on” has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race – Calvin Coolidge.

We take some skills for granted but they took hours of practice to develop. Walking, brushing your teeth, personal grooming, typing, reading etc. They all took time, and so will the other skills you need.

Learn from Will Smith and put in the hours to develop your skills. Find a mentor or a coach to help you improve your skills. Even world class athletes need coaching too.

The difference between being average and world class is not talent. It is relentless skill development. What have you done today to develop your skills?

Conclusion

A whisper of talent can lead to a roar of achievement. Will Smith turned his talent to roaring success through an incredible work ethic and skill development. What skills can you develop to improve your prospect for prosperity? The time to act is now.

P/s – Please share this blog post with your friend on Facebook or via email. I am trying to expand the readership of the blog and your support is highly appreciated. Your feedback and comments are also most welcome.

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Attitude Towards Discipline

Many people associate discipline with punishment. When growing up children learn that if they do not do what their parents or teachers want, they will be punished in some way. So they develop an uncanny ability to do just enough to avoid punishment. That ability becomes the genesis of mediocrity.

It is shocking how many people are like that. It is a negative trait that is honed overtime. To rise above mediocrity, you must change your attitude towards discipline.

Discipline means getting more out of yourself and giving your best towards your goal. Think of discipline as a surefire way of getting to your success. Learn to associate discipline with success not punishment.

If you are productive today, then slack off tomorrow, you will only get minimal results. Be disciplined everyday for the best results in your life.

Discipline Training

You can be trained or train yourself to be progressively more disciplined. If you can only concentrate at your job for 1 hour, try and add an extra half an hour. If you become comfortable with that, keep increasing the period until you get full concentration.

The best way to be disciplined is to learn how to set boundaries. Learn to say no to distractions from your goal. It may mean that you will not answer your phone when “in the working zone“. It may mean denying yourself some pleasures or finer things in life or set a limit to your sleeping hours.

Without boundaries, you will just go with the “flow”. Discipline is about taking deliberate action towards your goal not just going with the flow. Define what consists work or actions towards your goal, stick with it and eliminate all else.

Multitasking wastes time especially when switching from one task to another. Progressively train yourself to be more disciplined by  focusing fully on the task at hand.

Practical Discipline Examples

• Physical Health & Fitness – Be disciplined in taking care of your body. Do not just set new years resolutions in January to keep fit then forget it as the year progresses. Discipline means carrying on with your resolutions even when your emotional state has changed. Eat right and keep a regular exercise routine.

• Work – Many people do just enough not to get fired. The average office worker is productive for only half the time they are in the office. Research has shown that many workers spend time in idle socializing, checking email, reading news and other activities not directly related to their job. Set yourself apart by being more disciplined. Improve your productivity, work the required hours everyday and give your best.

• Financial Freedom – Many people read financial freedom books or attend seminars and resolve to change their financial future. But after the dust settles, they get back to the old habits. Financial freedom is a long road, expect to get bored or tired as you go along. Put in place automated systems, e.g. regular savings to help you carry on. Watch the small dollar bills regularly even as you aim for the the big bucks.

• Home & Family – Be disciplined in the amount of time you spend with your family. Be disciplined in taking action and responsibilities at home even when the going gets tough.

• Mind – Keep training your mind, feed it positive thoughts regularly, visit positive websites like this one, regularly. Train your mind to think outside the box. Keep learning new ideas and develop mental strength by stepping out of your comfort zone. Do this regularly.

• Time Management – We only have 24 hours in a day. Learn how to prioritize your activities and stick to a schedule. Do not take on more than you can chew, but when you commit to something, find the most time effective way of following through. If time management does not come naturally for you, train yourself to be more time conscious, productive and/or learn how to delegate.

Summary

Work towards your goal even when the going gets tough.  You will achieve a lot in your life if you stick to your mission day in day out. Don’t keep on falling in and out of love with your passion.

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You were born lucky

My sister says that I swim like sediment. But every time she says that, I am quick to remind her that I once won a swimming contest.

The average man’s ejaculate is 280 million sperms. Only 1 is required to make a baby. If you are reading this it means you won a nearly impossible swimming championship. Even champion swimmers Michael Phelps and Ian Thorpe never had to compete with that many people at the Olympics.

Always remember that you were once a winning sperm. Even when faced with life’s difficulties, remember you were born a winner. You were born lucky.

Create Your Own Luck

If you are waiting for your lucky day while lazing & sleeping all day, I have news for you; in your dreams!

You get lucky when you decide to be lucky.  Luck will meet you when you are ready for it. I have decided to be lucky this year. I will work hard for my luck, I will work smart for my luck, and I want to inspire you to do the same.

What kind of lucky break are you looking for? Are you looking to meet the love of your life? Are you looking for a recording contract? Are you looking at doubling your profits? Whatever your heart desires, you can do it if you put your all into it. Your luck is the sum total of your thoughts and actions.

You can create your lucky break by becoming clear on what you really want. No one can decide for you what your true desire is. Harness the power of your mind to zoom in on exactly what you need to do to achieve your goal.

For example, if you want to get your dream job, what are the right steps to follow? What contacts would you need? How would you position yourself to potential employers? Where would you find those employers in the first place?

Remember that you have to be in a game to win it. Spectators never legally score a goal. You have to practice and make it to the team. You have to turn up for the match. You have to do your part to get lucky. Action and thoughts are the building blocks of luck. They are the master keys of a lucky break.

A Few Lucky Men (and Woman)

• Richard Branson – He was busy selling his student magazine and distributing records on mail order. Then the unexpected happened. There was a postal strike and he suddenly realized just how reliant he had become to the postal service. That was the beginning of setting up of Virgin Megastores. He decided to invest in a place where young people could go buy records and listen to music. What could have been a death knell of his business, turned into a window of opportunity and luck.

• Napoleon Hill - He was working for a magazine that required him to compile success stories of people who had made it in life. One of his first assignments was to interview Andrew Carnegie, one of the richest men in the world at the time.An interview originally intended for three hours went on for three days and nights. Andrew Carnegie then decided to entrust Napoleon Hill with the task of teaching his success principles to the world. He introduced him to various rich men such as Henry Ford, and helped set in motion the study and philosophy that would turn Napoleon Hill into the success teacher of millions in the world for decades. What a lucky break!

• J.K. Rowling – J.K Rowling is a classic rag to riches story. She was on government welfare support while writing the first Harry Potter book. Within 5 years, she moved from welfare to multi-million dollar status by following her passion. Her book was first rejected by 13 publishers, before being taken in by Bloomsbury who advised her “to get a day job, since she had little chance of making money in children’s books.”Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows was released on 21 July 2007 and broke its predecessor’s record as the fastest-selling book of all time. It sold 11 million copies in the first day of release in the United Kingdom and United States. Harry Potter is now a global brand worth an estimated $15 billion and the last four Harry Potter books have consecutively set records as the fastest-selling books in history. Lucky indeed

• Sir Donald George Bradman – He was an Australian cricketer, widely acknowledged as the greatest batsman of all time. He practiced batting incessantly during his youth. This form of practice developed his timing and reactions to a high degree. He may have looked like an overnight sensation, a lucky bloke, but his luck was years in the making.

• You – You can create your own luck by setting your goals, and following your passion. Do not let that internal voice called fear stop you. Do not let the challenges of the road ahead cause you to despair. Set your mind right and take action towards your goals. It is only when you are out there doing it that you will meet your lucky break. Luck does not come to you while you sleep. You meet half way.

Some Lucky Quotes

• Be prepared, work hard, and hope for a little luck. Recognize that the harder you work and the better prepared you are, the more luck you might have. – Ed Bradley
• Diligence is the mother of good luck. – Benjamin Franklin
• I believe life is a series of near misses. A lot of what we ascribe to luck is not luck at all. It’s seizing the day and accepting responsibility for your future. It’s seeing what other people don’t see and pursuing that vision. -Howard Schultz
• People always call it luck when you’ve acted more sensibly than they have. Anne Tyler

Summary

You can use the power of your mind to attract luck to your life. Your thoughts and actions bring success that others may deem as your lucky break.

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We were on a stretch of road called Mombasa Road heading to Nairobi city centre. There had been many reported car-jackings around that road so other motorists were too scared to come to our aid.

Imagine this; a bunch of rough looking dudes, looking like gangstas, trying to flag down scared motorists for a lift to the nearest garage or service station. It was an effort in futility.

Someone suggested that we were scaring them coz of the sheer numbers. So we decided that some of us should hide, and have only one of us to try to flag down the speeding motorists. But even thugs had figured that one out. In fact some were way ahead of us. They were reported to have been using pregnant looking women with kids to flag down their prey. Looking back, in the light of the crime rate at the time, we were not in a position to be trusted. We were the epitome of Nairobbery.

Lets Talk About Trust, Baby…

Trust is stronger than love. No matter how much you love someone, if you cannot trust that person, it is hard for that love to bear fruits. It is hard to do business with people you do not trust. It is hard to communicate with people you cannot trust. Lack of trust destroys friendships faster than a snake’s venom.

It takes years to build trust. It is a slow process; just like nature. Trust does not grow as fast as the beans in Jack and the bean stalk.

It is the small things that you do to build trust that count. Small cumulative words and actions allow trust to thrive. You cannot impose trust. You cannot dictate trust. But you can help create an environment for it to flourish.

Trust is so important for success yet many people never really pause to think about creating a “trust strategy”. How do you gain and maintain the trust of the key people you need, to get ahead in life? How do you know whom to trust? How do you use the trust bestowed upon you responsibly? How can you piggyback on someone else’s trust?

A Unity of Purpose

There is a Swahili proverb that says “Mpanda ngazi na mshuka ngazi hawashikani mkono”. It is loosely translated as “someone heading North and someone heading South cannot hold hands”.

It is easier to trust someone after you know their goals. It is easier to trust a person if your goals and theirs are in harmony, and not in direct conflict. This applies to all spheres of life. An employee whose burning ambition is to create a competing business is not worth being on your payroll. A consultant who cares more about his fees than helping his client solve problems is not the best candidate for the job.

Pay special attention to what motivates the people you interact with. Pay attention to what makes them happy. What do they ultimately want? Do not ignore the link between goals and trust.

Positioning Yourself for Trust

People will use your goals in life to judge you, whether you know it or not. Whether you want it or not; it will happen. When setting your goals, add trust to the mix.

Allow me to refer to an earlier blog post I wrote last year. It was entitled – What is Personal Branding from Within? In that post, I applied a Bob Marley song to Personal Branding. I wrote “The truth outs. The truth about who you really are eventually comes out. You can fool some people sometimes, you can fool some people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time. The best way to enhance your personal brand is to change your internals; your thoughts, your emotions, your habits and your character”.

Who you really are eventually comes out. The best way to inspire trust is to be happy in your own skin. Be happy with the person you really are. Develop an unshakable character and habits.

Before you can seek to be trusted by others, you must be someone worthy of trust. People break others people’s trust not because they are bad people, but because of conflicting goals.

It pays to know what you want in life. You are less likely to hurt others if you know what you want and communicate it clearly, and in good time. If you have to fake who you are, then you will break someone’s trust eventually.

There is no shame in walking away from people or situations if they do not align with your objectives. Position yourself with people that accept you just as you are instead of camouflaging your real self. It is good for you and them in the long run.

Cultivating Trustworthiness

The little things that you do day in day out are the vital trust deposits into your trust bank. Unfortunately, that bank is a little strange. The numerous small deposits over time can only sustain one withdrawal. It is possible to erode 10 years worth of trust deposits with one withdrawal. Don’t prick the balloon of trust.

Reliability is the long haul trick to solid trust. Learn to keep the small promises. When you say you are going to do something, do your best to make sure that it is done.

Not everyone will trust you. It is hard for Osama and Obama to trust the same guy. Decide whose camp you want to be in. Work on building trust with the right people. Misdirected trust efforts are futile.

Summary

People will trust you more if they know that your goals are not in direct conflict with theirs. Make small baby steps to build trust with the people who matter. Trust can be built over the years but destroyed overnight. Gourd it ferociously when you get it.

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I did a degree in Marketing so I got to hear the word customer more than people doing courses such as Engineering, Medicine etc. I learned a great deal about customer relationships management, customer acquisition, customer retention, customer service etc. But it was still a limited view on the concept of “customers”.

Most people think of customers as someone who purchases goods and services from a vendor. Those are customers, yes, but there is more to it.

Defining Your Customers

Your customers are the people who help you make a living. Your customers are the people you have to satisfy to get ahead in life. If you are employed, your boss is your customer. If you are a politician, your voters are your customers.

Many people fail to achieve their true potential because they do not clearly define who their customers are. Who do you need to deliver value to for you to profit? Who do you need to please for you to make a fortune?

One of the mistakes that many small businesses make is to try and please everybody. You have to take your time and define, identify clearly, who you have to serve. Think carefully how you want to allocate your resources such as time, money, emotional engagement etc.

Do not spread yourself too thin. Laser target your efforts to those who matter. You can please everyone else in the next life time.

Amplifying Customer Satisfaction

Once you have identified whom it is that you need to please to get ahead, get to work. Find out what they need and over-deliver. Do not make promises you cannot keep. Commit to over delivering on your promises. Satisfaction is the difference between the promise and performance. The higher your promise is; the lower the satisfaction.

Don’t be boring. Boring is when you deliver exactly as you are expected to. Find interesting ways to wow! your customers. Turning up to work on time is expected, doing more than your call of duty to improve your company’s bottom line is amazing. Gravitate towards being amazing.

Learn the art of subtle bragging. When you do something great, don’t hide it. Make sure your customer knows about it. I learned this one as a little kid. My parents were my customers. Whenever they wanted something done, I did it and subtly let them know “who did it”. It worked like a charm. It still does, even with other customers I get in life.

Your customers needs evolve. Do not stagnate. Change with the times. Survey your customers from time to time to find out what tickles their fancy. Be on the forefront of knowing when your customers are unhappy. You will make mistakes from time to time, when you do, be prompt to apologize and make up for it.

The customer is always right. Learn to see things from their perspective. Learn to put yourself in their shoes. Feel their pain. Solve their pain. Be of great service to your customers. They will love you for it.

Lastly, learn to automate your customer satisfaction. Customer needs are ever changing and the quicker you learn to make your work easier, the better it will be for you in the long term. Have systems in place to please your customer, whoever he or she may be.

For example, as a blogger, I have automated the blog subscription. Anyone who wants to get a daily dose of inspiration only needs to subscribe at the top of the site. The blog is then delivered via email without me lifting a finger (after posting it on the site).

Find ways of satisfying your customers without breaking your back. It is more sustainable that way. Set specific, measurable goals for pleasing your customers.

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Some people claim that setting new years resolutions is useless; they say that they tried it for a few years and it did not work for them.

2009 Resolutions

I have always set new years resolutions but always achieved less than I set out to achieve. But I achieve more than I would if I did not set them. The same would be true for companies that set annual goals. They may fail to achieve their goals, but they fare better than they would if they did not have any goals or guiding principles.

For example, in 2009 I set a goal of publishing 300 blog posts.  I was however only able to publish 185 blog posts. A part of me felt really bad that I did not hit the target. But I also realized that had I not set that goal, it is likely that I would have published less than 100.

It was my first year of blogging and I learned a great deal. My only regret is that after I realized that I had very few days to go to keep my promise of 300 posts, I froze. I could not get myself to write anymore.

There are no unrealistic goals, just unrealistic timelines. What I should have done is to adjust my timelines instead of being paralyzed into inaction.

Up the point I launched the blog, I had been making a living on the Internet for 7 years anonymously. I wanted to give back to the people who had unknowingly supported me over the years. On top of that, I wanted to connect with people and document my success and challenges.

Looking back, my 2009 goals were easy to achieve, yet I did not achieve all of them. This year, I am going to up the ante and for good reason. I always achieve just over half of my goals. What if I set out bigger goals? Would you prefer a full rabbit or half a goat?

2010 Resolutions

If 2009 was the year of coming out of the woodwork on the Internet, 2010 will be the year of PPP. In high school, we had a club called “People, Places and Plants (PPP)” from which I will draw a lot of inspiration this year.

The People

I am very lucky to be blessed with a great loving family. My sister and two brothers are with me here in Perth. We speak almost daily but see each other about twice a month. I will endeavor to spend more time with them, and keep in touch more with my family in Kenya.

If you are just joining us, please read a series of blog posts I wrote about people and relationships.

If I could sum up my plans and hopes for 2010, I would put it in one word “RELATIONSHIPS”. I am going to enhance my existing friendships, develop new friendships, business relationships and intimate relationships.

I have never consciously earmarked an entire year as my relationships year. Everything I do this year will be geared towards developing relationships. I will learn all there is about people, and develop relationships with them.

My writing, marketing and programming skills will come in handy as I develop community sites that will help people connect on this blog. I will learn to listen more and better maintain friendships than I have done in the past.

I have a huge list of goals and ideas for 2010 and 90% of them will make me a social animal. Maybe I should focus more on business but stuff that. I want relationships. I want to get intimate. I want to get deep. I want to help people connect. To inspire people and to make people feel better. I want to have a positive impact on the lives of people I interact with. I want to be a friend in need, a friend in deed.

In my previous lifetime, I had once developed software for relationship marketing online. 2010 sounds like a good year to revive that project.

Most of the relationships I will have in 2010 will be “long distance”. This blog has helped me reach out to people in 5 continents and I will continue enhancing those friendships electronically.

I realize that I have more in common with people across the world than some of my next door neighbors. But there is nothing that beats the physical presence of a friend. For this reason, I will be logging out of my computer more often to meet up with friends here in Perth. Perth has been home to me for 12 years and without a doubt, some of my best friends are within the metro area of Perth.

2010 will be one big party for me; hanging out with one friend today, and the next one tomorrow. I will be going to a friend’s party today, and inviting friends over at my place the next week. Am ready to meet and mingle. I have never been this open to new possibilities.

In short, 2010 I will spend 90% of my time and efforts pursuing relationships. Me reckons I will have a blast. I will keep you posted.

The Places

Try spending 12 years in the most isolated city in the world and you will feel the itch to move around. That is exactly how I feel right now. Perth is a beautiful city, but it is the most isolated city in the world. A whopping 2692 km from the nearest city of Adelaide.

Leaving home at the age of 18 to travel 8,902 km from Nairobi to Perth was a major turning point in my life. Everything was so new. The culture was foreign, the way of life was different. But over time, Perth has become home for me. However, I am now extremely curious about what lies across the Indian and Pacific Oceans.

Being in Australia has given me the opportunity to travel to a few Asian countries but I have never been to Europe or America. This year, I want to travel or live in one or both of those continents. My initial destination is likely to be Europe because I can visit many countries in a short time. I would love to explore the differences in history and culture that Europe has to offer. I plan to visit over 100 countries by 2015 and this is the year that I will start to seriously tick off my destinations list.

The travel bug has hit me and I am itching to fly away.

I will tie my travel with self improvement and relationships. I have met and will continue to meet people on this blog and elsewhere on the Internet, and hopefully meet them in person in Europe and America. It will be a great year to be exposed to more cultures, more people and develop intimate relationships with a whole new group of friends.

This year, I will officially become a global citizen. If there was a world passport, I would be on the application queue right now.

We have a saying in the Kikuyu tribe of Kenya that says “mundu utaumagaraga augaga no nyina urugaga”. It means that he who does not travel (not exposed) only thinks of his mum as the best chef in the world.

2010 will be my year of pushing the horizon literally. I want to meet all the other “chefs” so I can better compare. I will not settle for less just because that is what I am familiar with.

The Plants

Everyone is talking about climate change. Not to be outdone, I will endeavor to familiarize myself with this vital topic, really get familiar. There is a big debate on who is responsible for climate change and global warming, but instead of blame shifting, we should all seek to do something about it.

From my initial research on this topic, I have found that becoming a vegetarian is surprisingly one of the best personal steps we can all take to make a contribution to the environment. I really, really love my steak and it will be hard to saying goodbye to it.

So I will not be turning into a vegetarian overnight . But over time I will make the transition to be a full vegetarian. At first I will add more vegetables to my diet and cut down my meat eating days from 7 to 4. Over time I hope to cut down my meat consumption to nearly zero.

This text from the BBC website better articulates my decision to have less beef and dairy products.

A vegan in a 4×4 can do the climate more good than a meat-eater driving a hybrid car. Food for thought?

Livestock produce more greenhouse gases than all the world’s transport combined, with beef production singled out by a recent UN report as a particular enemy at the gate. Why? Because cattle belch. Methane is a greenhouse gas more than 20 times worse for climate change than CO₂emissions and cattle are full of it. There are 1.5 billion cattle and buffalo worldwide, each producing more greenhouse gas in a day than the average 4×4.
Cutting off beef is a good start but I am blessed with the means to do more. My other contribution to climate change will be to financially support green companies and ventures. I will support tree planting and other environmentally friendly programs. I will also highlight issues to do with the environment on this blog.

Summary

I have publicly written down my goals for 2010 and a private action plan for their achievement. My guiding principle will be to inspire people to be the best they can be. The site will continue to obsess about making a success out of you and me. On that note, I will transform this blog into a community of positive thinkers. Together we shall use the new site as a platform for personal development and building friendships.

On a personal level,  I will be guided by the simple principle of People, Places and Plants (PPP). I be writing about those areas and share my success and challenges with you. I look forward to your continued readership and support as we continue grow and improve.

Other articles you may enjoy :

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Like in the post yesterday, I am still setting up the stage for future articles that will form the basis of this blog. The purpose of this blog is to inspire you to be the best you can be. To help you think of ways to reach your true potential. To succeed in life, you need a tried and tested way of getting there.

Revealed: My blueprint for success:

1. It is all in the mind.
2. Bias for Action.
3. Oh Baby Steps.
4. Change Habits.
5. Track your  Progress.
6. Build on your Success.

1. It is all in the mind.

Even the Great Wall of China was once an idea. If you can think it, then you can do it or be it. You have to think in vivid terms what it is that you want to succeed in. Do you want to be in the first 11 of your soccer team? Do you want to shed 10 pounds? Do you want to graduate with honors? Whatever your goal is, you have to visualize it and believe that you can make it.

Mental preparation is the most important part of the blueprint. You are going to encounter bumps and hills on the road to success.  The last thing you want is to add to the obstacles through self sabotage. At your core, you must believe that what you want to achieve is congruent with your beliefs, otherwise you will sabotage yourself.

Once you have it clear in your mind that you really want the goal e.g to shed 10 pounds, then write it down on a piece of paper.  Write down your goal and read it aloud and create an action plan. Translate your desire for that goal into a practical series of doable tasks.

2. Bias for Action.

I am a computer programmer. One of the problems that we programmers have is that we tend to over analyze and think of the most creative ways of solving a particular problem. This comes at the expense of writing the software. We call it analysis paralysis.

Don’t spend a disproportionate amount of time and effort analyzing how to solve your problem or how to get to your goal. Instead, have a bias for action. Borrow from our friends at Nike – “Just Do It!”.

Every step you make towards your goal (action), will give you more confidence and lessons, even if you fail. Like this blog for example. I spent so much time last year thinking of what kind of features to have, what kind of community to cultivate etc. Those were just delaying tactics, I later realized. That is why this year, I decide to just do it. It may not be perfect, but at least it is out there, touching the lives of a few people.

3. Oh Baby Steps.

For many years I used to start lofty projects with big goals but never really got to  the finishing line. Why? I always wanted to hit it big. I got bored with the details. But as I grew older and wiser, I realized that it is the small baby steps that  count.

When does a baby give up trying to walk? When does a baby’s parent say to the baby… “Hey little, you have tried too many times. Give it up!”. Almost never. You must have that same tenacity of learning how to make those baby steps. Once you start making small practical steps towards your goal, you will feel better and be more likely to succeed.

Even great super achievers like Tiger Woods have to make those small baby steps every day to stay at the top of their game. Plan your game, have a bias for action and remember to make baby steps towards your goals every day.

4. Change Habits.

We are creatures of habit. There is no way you are going to achieve different results if you keep doing things in the same old fashioned way. Say for example you wanted to save up to buy a house. If you were not tracking your expenses or saving money, then you need to change that.

To achieve any goal in life, you need to change some habits. Think of the goal you want to achieve, and decide what habits would keep you from achieving that.  Then change those habits.

I have recently had a great interest in healthy living. If you want to improve your health and fitness level, you may have to change some habits e.g how much food you eat, what you drink, what type of foods tickle your fancy or how much exercise you do.

5. Track your Progress.

When you set out to achieve a particular goal, you must have check points and milestones to track how you are doing. With our earlier example of shedding 10 pounds, if you gave yourself 10 weeks to get to your goal, then you can set a goal of losing say 1 pound per week. Then weigh yourself every week to see if you are on track. No point waiting for 10 weeks to find out whether or not you got to your goal.

It is important that you set yourself realistic yet challenging deadlines for your goals. If you don’t meet your milestones, analyze why you missed the deadline, and make necessary amends.  Writing your goals helps in the tracking and accountability.

6. Build on your Success.

Once you reach your goals, you should look back on how far you have come. Be truly thankful, count your blessings and then move on to bigger things. Yes, it is like chasing the wind, but success feeds on success. Don’t rest on your laurels.

Say if your goal was to make a million dollars. Once you get to you goals, don’t shoot yourself. Do something with that money. Make other goals, that capitalize on the fact that you now have your million.

Even for goals that are not monetary, you can always build on your successes. Say your goal was to attract to your life the perfect life partner. Getting him or her to your life should not be the end. You should set goals on how to improve your relationship and live in harmony.

With time, as you have more successes under your belt, you will be surprised by the momentum they will build in terms of improving your self confidence and you level of satisfaction.

Summary

Success does not just happen. You must first purpose it in your mind, resolve to achieve and create an action plan. You should always have a bias for action and make steady baby steps towards the achievement of your goals.

Succeeding in life calls for a change in habits. As you walk through the journey towards success, remember to change your habits and keep track of your success along the way.  Once you succeed, remember to turn that success to your next success.

All the best in your goals. Your comments are most welcome.

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Life has plenty of systems

Did you know that a car is a collection of systems? Lighting System, Braking System, Lubrication System, Cooling System, Fuel System, Ignition System, Suspension System and many more. All these systems have to work together for the car to function properly.

A car without a braking system is a disaster waiting to happen. Do you have brakes in your life or are you hurtling down towards self destruction? Do you have self control or a moral code that determines how far or how fast you can go?

The success of a car is determined by more than one system working together. Success is not about one thing that you do. It is combination of habits and actions that you take. What good is a well paying job when you cannot get along with your family or your health is in ruins?

The trick is to understand what each part of life brings to the table. Determine how each of your activity impacts the others. Just as a car mechanic will not spend all his day inspecting the cooling system and ignore the fuel system, do not ignore parts of your life. Apportion the right amount of time for different people and activities in your life. In other words, find balance.

Are you well serviced?

A regularly serviced car runs smoothly and proves more useful to the owner over the long term. Some people try and save money by not taking their cars for service. This is short term thinking that costs more over the long term.

You can service yourself by constantly improving your skills, your thoughts and your relationships. Do not forget to spend time thinking about your life, checking your progress towards your goals, or performance.

There are different types of services that a car needs. A car may need a routine check up or tune up that helps it runs more efficiently. It also needs a log book service. A log book service is pre-determined by manufacturers based on the kilometers accumulated. This type of service helps the car runs efficiently over the long haul.

You can determine periodic periods for servicing yourself too. This can range from dental checks to annual personal goals setting sessions. Avoiding this type of service will cost you more over the long term.

Your car may be involved in an accident or work erratically. This will call for repair service. The older the car, the more the repairs required. Repairs left too long may cause a danger to the driver and to the car. If you have unresolved issues, or an area of life that needs correcting, take time to sort that out before it starts affecting other areas.

Are you insured?

Car mechanics do not always come cheap. If you want the best care, be insured. Have someone else foot the bill of repairs especially for unexpected repairs. You can self insure your car through regular servicing (against routine problems). Read more about this topic on my earlier article about insurance for the upwardly mobile.

Where do you want to go?

You are the master of the car. Likewise you are the master of your destiny. Determine where you want to go. Be in control of your own life.

Before you embark on your journey, make sure you have enough supplies for your journey. You would not want to go from Perth, Western Australia, to Adelaide, South Australia without having packed right or adequately serviced your vehicle.

What do people think about you?

Do you have a powerful personal brand? Does your reputation precede you? What kind of first impression do you make? Do you have a consistent brand image that gets the results you desire? Do you project an image of success or hardship?

Some cars are more equal than others. A Lamborghini and a Toyota Corolla are not cut from the same cloth. How you position yourself will determine what value people place on you. Today is your lucky day, I have prepared a personal branding salad bar for you.

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According to Wikipedia, “Kaizen (continuous improvement) is a Japanese philosophy that focuses on continuous improvement throughout all aspects of life. When applied to the workplace, Kaizen activities continually improve all functions of a business, from manufacturing to management and from the CEO to the assembly line workers.”

Instead of focusing on giant leaps towards your life goals, you can apply the principles of Kaizen to better yourself each and every day. Kaizen is all about making small changes and monitoring results, then adjusting. Instead of big overwhelming goals, you can have smaller goals, which can be rapidly adapted and accomplished.

Kaizen requires continuous improvement through standardization and improvement of processes. Let us look at practical ways of applying this concept to some aspects of your life:

1. Physical Health
2. Job & Career
3. Finances
4. Relationships
5. Mind

1. Physical Health

Your physical health determines the quality of your life. You may decide to loose weight or train in a particular sport for example. Instead of setting overly ambitious goals that may dampen your spirit if you don’t meet them, why not set smaller achievable goals?

Instead of driving to work, you may consider cycling instead. This is not only good for the environment, but it may be a good “standardized process” that will help you get to your goal of weight loss or fitness.

Focus on areas of your life that you can turn into little standardized processes that take you towards your goal. Then focus on improving those processes over time. In our earlier example of cycling, you can improve that “process” by investing in a better equipped bike and appropriate cycling gear.

2. Job & Career

The job market is constantly changing and you need to continuously improve your qualifications and abilities to stay competitive. Get into the habit of applying Kaizen to your job and career.

You can attend evening classes, short courses or seminars. You can also subscribe to relevant newsletters and magazines to stay abreast of changes in your industry and to stay on top of your game.

Kaizen can also be applied in the area of networking with people in your field. You can use Kaizen to refine your contacts building strategy.

Think of all the little ways you can improve your job and career every day. From time management to mastering specialized skills. There are a lot more ways of applying Kaizen to your career than I can list in a single blog post. Take out a notebook and write down at least 10 things you can do to improve your career prospects, not by giant leaps but by simple baby steps (Kaizen).

3. Finances

To become financially free, you need to have a plan. This would be a great place to apply Kaizen.

Kaizen is all about standardization of processes and continually improving those processes. Think of all the standardized processes you can apply to your finances.  I will give you a few examples:

• Setup an automatic investment account and deposit 10% of your pay before you even see it. Invest in mutual funds, stocks or whatever. But do it every month.
• Create a monthly budget. Many people don’t create and stick to an earnings and spending budget. You will be ahead of the pack if you create a budget and continuously improve your spending habits to maximize your quality of life and minimize wastage.
• Create a new stream of income. Consider turning a hobby into a side business that brings you some extra cash to take you towards your financial freedom.

4. Relationships

Relationships love Kaizen. You can apply Kaizen to your love life, your friends and your family. Continuously improve how you relate with other people. You can read books on this, or learn by observing others.

Spending quality time with your partner and listening to them can do wonders to your relationship. It is the little things that count (or so I have heard). Find lots of these little things and apply Kaizen on them, every day.

5. Mind

Your mind is your biggest asset. Improve your mind by feeding it everyday and planting good seeds in your brain. They will germinate and grow and determine the level of success you will get.

Success or failure is all in the mind. Think of all the little things that you can do to improve your mind. Is your mind clouded by jealousy or fear? Fight that battle. One battle at a time.

Kaizen can be applied in the following areas:

• The kind of thoughts doing the rounds in your mind.
• You self control, self mastery and self confidence.
• The image you have of yourself and your abilities.
• Time management and discipline.

Summary

Kaizen – A concept imported  from Japan, is a process of continuously improving your life by making incremental changes in your life. It involves turning your actions into standardized processes. Instead of making giant leaps, you improve your life everyday in small baby steps.

Other articles you may enjoy :

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This year, I have been unshackling myself from mental slavery. I earmarked 2009 as the year of unparalleled professional and personal growth. It has meant getting rid of some beliefs that were royally screwing my life and preventing me from getting ahead.

I decided to start this blog to share my experiences, lessons and thoughts with others…why? To inspire you to be the best you can be. It has not been an easy road exposing my life to people I might never meet. But it is a small prize to pay to make a positive contribution in your life. I might never meet you in person, but it is my hope that your success will inspire others too.

Early this week, I posted a blog post about setting up systems to serve you. If you have a good belief system… a collection of ideas, outlook, habits, and action triggers, you will succeed. The kind of belief system you set up will determine how high you rise and how far you go. To succeed, you have to let go of self limiting beliefs.

Will Smith is one of my favorite actors of all time. You can watch him on a video I posted in January 2009 on the about page of this blog. He said that he believes whole-heartedly that our thoughts, our feelings, our dreams; our ideas are PHYSICAL in the universe. Your belief system WILL manifest itself in your physical life.

I am living testimony that positive thoughts can transform a life. I had reached the depths sheol and did not like it down there. My beliefs and ideas were keeping me down. I tried the positive thinking “nonsense” and it surprisingly made absolute sense to me. I urge you to give it a try my friend. Commit yourself to a complete renewal of your mind through positive thoughts. What you think, you become. What you believe, you get.

Let us look at a few areas of life that a shaky belief system can cost you (and what to do about it).

Finances

• Generosity – What are your thoughts on giving? I have found that the more you give the more it comes back to you. Do not hoard the little you have thinking that you will start giving when you “get there”. Commit a certain percentage of your time and resources for generosity. If you cannot give $10 to your church when you have $100, it is unlikely that you will give them a hundred grand when you make a million.
• Sow and Reap – As a man soweth, so shall he also reap. What kind of seeds are you planting in your life right now? Whether you realize it or not, you are a farmer. You are always planting and harvesting. If you plant an extravagant lifestyle on credit, you will reap massive debt. If you sow an automatic investment strategy, then you will reap compounded returns.
• Don’t work for money – Do you believe that you have to work for money? That is not cool. Let money work for you instead. Don’t rock up to a job you hate every day for the rest of your life just for the paycheck. Find your passion, do what you like to do, not what money makes you do. The irony is that the more you do what you enjoy doing, the more money you will get.
• The quickest path to happiness – I have said previously on this blog that those who say money cannot buy happiness don’t know where to shop. I maintain that view, but let me add something… you can still be happy without spending your money. The quickest path to happiness is contentment.
• Gain Financial Literacy – Do you bury your head in the sand and let your accountant crunch the numbers for you? Do you say that you are not good with numbers or that finance is too complicated? Such a belief system can cost you a fortune. Get busy now and acquire financial literacy. Celebrities who hand over their money to money managers at times end up in the poor house if they do not pay attention to the details of their financial standing.

Career

• Flexible goals – Some people believe that just because their biology teacher said it, they have to become doctors. Just because you were good in math does not mean you should be an accountant. Be flexible and adaptable to changing times and opportunities in your career.
• It may take time to succeed – Career success does not happen overnight. Be prepared to put in the hours, effort and perseverance. Success is normally found just after others give up. Push yourself, don’t give up.
• Formal qualifications are not the “alpha and omega” of career success. You can succeed in a career that you did not earn a degree. I am a graduate in Business (Marketing & Information Systems) but what I do has little to do with what I studied at uni. I know a lot of people who have had career success in what they trained in. I also a lot of others that have succeeded in areas of their passion even though they do not have any formal training.
• Work on your strengths – In school we are taught to focus on our weak areas. To repeat until we get it. But real life is a little different. Work on your strengths instead of wasting your time on what you are not good at. You can always subcontract your weak areas if you find success on what you are good at.
• It is never too late – I recently read a story about a middle aged lady that had gone back to university to study law. She had been running a clothing store for 20 years. She went on to become a successful lawyer. Do not be stuck in a rut for fear of change. As long as you are not six feet underground, you can do whatever you put your mind to.

Relationships

• Treat yourself nice – How you treat and perceive yourself will have a dramatic effect on how others treat you. Think about it, when you meet new people, you treat them according to how they present or express themselves. Put your best foot forward and others will treat you accordingly.
• Relationships are forever – Think of creating win-win situations with others. Whether you are talking with your customers or wife, treat them with respect and set a foundation for an ongoing relationship.
• Birds of a feather – You will be judged by the company you keep. People you surround yourself with can infect you with their enthusiasm for life or their morbid desire for punishment.
• Stereotypes – Do not succumb to stereotyping yourself or others. Take time to listen and learn about others before making sweeping statements.

In Summary

You can do whatever your put your mind to. Your beliefs affect your relationships, your finances, your health and much more. Think positively and constantly re-evaluate your belief system.

Kindly share this article with your friends. I would love to hear your thoughts and comments on this topic. For the readers who have supported this blog in the last eight months, I say a big thank you. I appreciate you.

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Many of us are always looking to climb higher. Unfortunately, the higher you climb the more you realize how far you still to go. Do you spend your life looking for the next promotion, the next relationship, the next success?

I like a quote by Will Smith, he said “Too many people spend money they haven’t earned, to buy things they don’t need, to impress people they don’t like.” Breaking your back to amass a collection of luxuries you don’t need, to impress people you don’t care about sounds silly, but a surprisingly high number of people do that year in year out.

Internal Congruence

To be truly successful, you need to have internal congruence. Your mind and soul needs to be convinced that what you are doing is a worthy pursuit. Wouldn’t it be nice to find the quickest path to happiness instead of perpetually chasing the wind?

If one part of you wants to succeed and the other part says “hey man, is it really worth it?” then you are going to have problems. You are going to sabotage yourself more than Al-Qaeda operatives in Iraq sabotage Americans. You will be your own enemy in your success battles.

Finding Balance

Do you have an insatiable desire for wealth that is detrimental to your values and relationships? Taking business and success too seriously can lead to stress and emotional turmoil that can ruin everything else.

Since launching this blog, I have been writing on a wide array of topics ranging from Personal Branding, to Emotional Mastery to Relationships and Getting Rich. It is all about finding balance instead of chasing success in one aspect of life to the exclusion of all else. How would you like to gain the whole world and lose your soul? How would you feel if you became the richest man in your city and lose you family?

Take a piece of piece of paper and set your goals in all aspects of your life. Re-evaluate your quest for success and decide if you are paying a fair price. Is your job worth your family life? Is your night out worth your school grades? Is your career worth a little grass or more?

And the Bible Says…

Today I will leave you with the  scripture that inspired the title of this post.

Ecclesiastes 1 (New International Version)

1. The words of the Teacher, son of David, king in Jerusalem:

2        “Meaningless! Meaningless!” says the Teacher. “Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless.”

3        What does man gain from all his labor at which he toils under the sun?

4        Generations come and generations go, but the earth remains forever.

5        The sun rises and the sun sets, and hurries back to where it rises.

6        The wind blows to the south and turns to the north; round and round it goes, ever returning on its course.

7        All streams flow into the sea, yet the sea is never full. To the place the streams come from, there they return again.

8        All things are wearisome, more than one can say. The eye never has enough of seeing, nor the ear its fill of hearing.

9        What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun.

10    Is there anything of which one can say, “Look! This is something new”? It was here already, long ago; it was here before our time.

11    There is no remembrance of men of old, and even those who are yet to come will not be remembered by those who follow.

12    I, the Teacher, was king over Israel in Jerusalem.

13     I devoted myself to study and to explore by wisdom all that is done under heaven. What a heavy burden God has laid on men!

14     I have seen all the things that are done under the sun; all of them are meaningless, a chasing after the wind.

15     What is twisted cannot be straightened; what is lacking cannot be counted.

16    I thought to myself, “Look, I have grown and increased in wisdom more than anyone who has ruled over Jerusalem before me; I have experienced much of wisdom and knowledge.”

17     Then I applied myself to the understanding of wisdom, and also of madness and folly, but I learned that this, too, is a chasing after the wind.

18    For with much wisdom comes much sorrow; the more knowledge, the more grief.

Parting Shot…

I would love to hear from you regarding your thoughts about chasing the wind of success and finding balance. Your comments are highly appreciated. Kindly share this blog post with your friends on Facebook and other social Media.

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But this is not true.

It is true that existing governments keep the masses in poverty, but this is because the masses do not think and act in the Certain Way. If the masses begin to move forward as suggested in this book, neither governments nor industrial systems can check them; all systems must be modified to accommodate the forward movement.

If the people have the Advancing Mind, have the Faith that they can become rich, and move forward with the fixed purpose to become rich, nothing can possibly keep them in poverty.

Individuals may enter upon the Certain Way at any time, and under any government, and make themselves rich; and when any considerable number of individuals do so under any government, they will cause the system to be so modified as to open the way for others.

The more men who get rich on the competitive plane, the worse for others; the more who get rich on the creative plane, the better for others.

The economic salvation of the masses can only be accomplished by getting a large number of people to practice the scientific method set down in this book, and become rich. These will show others the way, and inspire them with a desire for real life, with the faith that it can be attained, and with the purpose to attain it.

For the present, however, it is enough to know that neither the government under which you live nor the capitalistic or competitive system of industry can keep you from getting rich. When you enter upon the creative plane of thought you will rise above all these things and become a citizen of another kingdom.

But remember that your thought must be held upon the creative plane; you are never for an instant to be betrayed into regarding the supply as limited, or into acting on the moral level of competition.

Whenever you do fall into old ways of thought, correct yourself instantly; for when you are in the competitive mind, you have lost the cooperation of the Mind of the Whole.

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. You are concerned with doing today’s work in a perfectly successful manner, and not with emergencies which may arise tomorrow; you can attend to them as they come.

Do not concern yourself with questions as to how you shall surmount obstacles which may loom upon your business horizon, unless you can see plainly that your course must be altered today in order to avoid them.

No matter how tremendous an obstruction may appear at a distance, you will find that if you go on in the Certain Way it will disappear as you approach it, or that a way over, through, or around it will appear.

No possible combination of circumstances can defeat a man or woman who is proceeding to get rich along strictly scientific lines. No man or woman who obeys the law can fail to get rich, any more than one can multiply two by two and fail to get four.

Give no anxious thought to possible disasters, obstacles, panics, or unfavorable combinations of circumstances; it is time enough to meet such things when they present themselves before you in the immediate present, and you will find that every difficulty carries with it the wherewithal for its overcoming.

Guard your speech. Never speak of yourself, your affairs, or of anything else in a discouraged or discouraging way.

Never admit the possibility of failure, or speak in a way that infers failure as a possibility.

Never speak of the times as being hard, or of business conditions as being doubtful. Times may be hard and business doubtful for those who are on the competitive plane, but they can never be so for you; you can create what you want, and you are above fear.

When others are having hard times and poor business, you will find your greatest opportunities.

Train yourself to think of and to look upon the world as a something which is Becoming, which is growing; and to regard seeming evil as being only that which is undeveloped. Always speak in terms of advancement; to do otherwise is to deny your faith, and to deny your faith is to lose it.

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.

Go on in the certain way, and if you do not receive that thing, you will receive something so much better that you will see that the seeming failure was really a great success.

A student of this science had set his mind on making a certain business combination which seemed to him at the time to be very desirable, and he worked for some weeks to bring it about. When the crucial time came, the thing failed in a perfectly inexplicable way; it was as if some unseen influence had been working secretly against him. He was not disappointed; on the contrary, he thanked God that his desire had been overruled, and went steadily on with a grateful mind. In a few weeks an opportunity so much better came his way that he would not have made the first deal on any account; and he saw that a Mind which knew more than he knew had prevented him from losing the greater good by entangling himself with the lesser.

That is the way every seeming failure will work out for you, if you keep your faith, hold to your purpose, have gratitude, and do, every day, all that can be done that day, doing each separate act in a successful manner.

When you make a failure, it is because you have not asked for enough; keep on, and a larger thing then you were seeking will certainly come to you. Remember this.

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.

It is not within the scope of this book to deal with the science of cultivating talent; but it is as certain and simple as the process of getting rich.

However, do not hesitate or waver for fear that when you come to any certain place you will fail for lack of ability; keep right on, and when you come to that place, the ability will be furnished to you. The same source of Ability which enabled the untaught Lincoln to do the greatest work in government ever accomplished by a single man is open to you; you may draw upon all the mind there is for wisdom to use in meeting the responsibilities which are laid upon you. Go on in full faith.

Study this book. Make it your constant companion until you have mastered all the ideas contained in it. 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 or sermons. Do not read pessimistic or conflicting literature, or get into arguments upon the matter. Do very little reading, outside of the writers mentioned in the Preface. Spend most of your leisure time in contemplating your vision, and in cultivating gratitude, and in reading this book. It contains all you need to know of the science of getting rich; and you will find all the essentials summed up in the following chapter.

About

The Get Rich Series is based on The Science of Getting Rich. It  is a classic book by Wallace D. Wattles. It is a practical manual intended for the men and women whose most pressing need is for money; who wish to get rich first, and philosophize afterward.

Discussion

I would love to hear you ideas and opinion on this chapter. Your comments are highly appreciated.

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We have not yet reached the stage of development, even supposing such a stage to be possible, in which man can create directly from Formless Substance without nature’s processes or the work of human hands; man must not only think, but his personal action must supplement his thought.

By thought you can cause the gold in the hearts of the mountains to be impelled toward you; but it will not mine itself, refine itself, coin itself into double eagles, and come rolling along the roads seeking its way into your pocket.

Under the impelling power of the Supreme Spirit, men’s affairs will be so ordered that some one will be led to mine the gold for you; other men’s business transactions will be so directed that the gold will be brought toward you, and you must so arrange your own business affairs that you may be able to receive it when it comes to you. Your thought makes all things, animate and inanimate, work to bring you what you want; but your personal activity must be such that you can rightly receive what you want when it reaches you. You are not to take it as charity, nor to steal it; you must give every man more in use value than he gives you in cash value.

The scientific use of thought consists in forming a clear and distinct mental image of what you want; in holding fast to the purpose to get what you want; and in realizing with grateful faith that you do get what you want.

Do not try to ‘project’ your thought in any mysterious or occult way, with the idea of having it go out and do things for you; that is wasted effort, and will weaken your power to think with sanity.

The action of thought in getting rich is fully explained in the preceding chapters; your faith and purpose positively impress your vision upon Formless Substance, which has THE SAME DESIRE FOR MORE LIFE THAT YOU HAVE; and this vision, received from you, sets all the creative forces at work IN AND THROUGH THEIR REGULAR CHANNELS OF ACTION, but directed toward you.

It is not your part to guide or supervise the creative process; all you have to do with that is to retain your vision, stick to your purpose, and maintain your faith and gratitude.

But you must act in a Certain Way, so that you can appropriate what is yours when it comes to you; so that you can meet the things you have in your picture, and put them in their proper places as they arrive.

You can really see the truth of this. When things reach you, they will be in the hands of other men, who will ask an equivalent for them.

And you can only get what is yours by giving the other man what is his.

Your pocketbook is not going to be transformed into a Fortunata’s purse, which shall be always full of money without effort on your part.

This is the crucial point in the science of getting rich; right here, where thought and personal action must be combined. 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.

By thought, the thing you want is brought to you; by action you receive it.

Whatever your action is to be, it is evident that you must act NOW. You cannot act in the past, and it is essential to the clearness of your mental vision that you dismiss the past from your mind. You cannot act in the future, for the future is not here yet. And you cannot tell how you will want to act in any future contingency until that contingency has arrived.

Because you are not in the right business, or the right environment now, do not think that you must postpone action until you get into the right business or environment. And do not spend time in the present taking thought as to the best course in possible future emergencies; have faith in your ability to meet any emergency when it arrives.

If you act in the present with your mind on the future, your present action will be with a divided mind, and will not be effective.

Put your whole mind into present action.

Do not give your creative impulse to Original Substance, and then sit down and wait for results; if you do, you will never get them. Act now. There is never any time but now, and there never will be any time but now. If you are ever to begin to make ready for the reception of what you want, you must begin now.

And your action, whatever it is, must most likely be in your present business or employment, and must be upon the persons and things in your present environment.

You cannot act where you are not; you cannot act where you have been, and you cannot act where you are going to be; you can act only where you are.

Do not bother as to whether yesterday’s work was well done or ill done; do to-day’s work well. Do not try to do tomorrow’s work now; there will be plenty of time to do that when you get to it.

Do not try, by occult or mystical means, to act on people or things that are out of your reach.

Do not wait for a change of environment, before you act; get a change of environment by action.

You can so act upon the environment in which you are now, as to cause yourself to be transferred to a better environment.

Hold with faith and purpose the vision of yourself in the better environment, but act upon your present environment with all your heart, and with all your strength, and with all your mind.

Do not spend any time in day dreaming or castle building; hold to the one vision of what you want, and act NOW.

Do not cast about seeking some new thing to do, or some strange, unusual, or remarkable action to perform as a first step toward getting rich. It is probable that your actions, at least for some time to come, will be those you have been performing for some time past; but you are to begin now to perform these actions in the Certain Way, which will surely make you rich.

If you are engaged in some business, and feel that it is not the right one for you, do not wait until you get into the right business before you begin to act.

Do not feel discouraged, or sit down and lament because you are misplaced. No man was ever so misplaced but that he could not find the right place, and no man ever became so involved in the wrong business but that he could get into the right business.

Hold the vision of yourself in the right business, with the purpose to get into it, and the faith that you will get into it, and are getting into it; but ACT in your present business. Use your present business as the means of getting a better one, and use your present enviornment as the means of getting into a better one. Your vision of the right business, if held with faith and purpose, will cause the Supreme to move the right business toward you; and your action, if performed in the Certain Way, will cause you to move toward the business.

If you are an employee, or wage earner, and feel that you must change places in order to get what you want, do not ‘project” your thought into space and rely upon it to get you another job. It will probably fail to do so.

Hold the vision of yourself in the job you want, while you ACT with faith and purpose on the job you have, and you will certainly get the job you want.

Your vision and faith will set the creative force in motion to bring it toward you, and your action will cause the forces in your own environment to move you toward the place you want. In closing this chapter, we will add another statement to our syllabus:–

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.

In order to do this, man must pass from the competitive to the creative mind; he must form a clear mental picture of the things he wants, and hold this picture in his thoughts with the fixed PURPOSE to get what he wants, and the unwavering FAITH that he does get what he wants, closing his mind to all that may tend to shake his purpose, dim his vision, or quench his faith.

That he may receive what he wants when it comes, man must act NOW upon the people and things in his present environment.

About

The Get Rich Series is based on The Science of Getting Rich. It  is a classic book by Wallace D. Wattles. It is a practical manual intended for the men and women whose most pressing need is for money; who wish to get rich first, and philosophize afterward.

Discussion

I would love to hear you ideas and opinion on this chapter. Your comments are highly appreciated.

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TO set about getting rich in a scientific way, you do not try to apply your will power to anything outside of yourself. You have no right to do so, anyway.It is wrong to apply your will to other men and women, in order to get them to do what you wish done.

It is as flagrantly wrong to coerce people by mental power as it is to coerce them by physical power. If compelling people by physical force to do things for you reduces them to slavery, compelling them by mental means accomplishes exactly the same thing; the only difference is in methods. If taking things from people by physical force is robbery, them taking things by mental force is robbery also; there is no difference in principle.

You have no right to use your will power upon another person, even “for his own good”; for you do not know what is for his good. The science of getting rich does not require you to apply power or force to any other person, in any way whatsoever. There is not the slightest necessity for doing so; indeed, any attempt to use your will upon others will only tend to defeat your purpose.

You do not need to apply your will to things, in order to compel them to come to you.

That would simply be trying to coerce God, and would be foolish and useless, as well as irreverent.

You do not have to compel God to give you good things, any more than you have to use your will power to make the sun rise.

You do not have to use your will power to conquer an unfriendly deity, or to make stubborn and rebellious forces do your bidding.

Substance is friendly to you, and is more anxious to give you what you want than you are to get it.

To get rich, you need only to use your will power upon yourself.

When you know what to think and do, then you must use your will to compel yourself to think and do the right things. That is the legitimate use of the will in getting what you want–to use it in holding yourself to the right course. Use your will to keep yourself thinking and acting in the Certain Way.

Do not try to project your will, or your thoughts, or your mind out into space, to “act” on things or people.

Keep your mind at home; it can accomplish more there than elsewhere.

Use your mind to form a mental image of what you want, and to hold that vision with faith and purpose; and use your will to keep your mind working in the Right Way.

The more steady and continuous your faith and purpose, the more rapidly you will get rich, because you will make only POSITIVE impressions upon Substance; and you will not neutralize or offset them by negative impressions.

The picture of your desires, held with faith and purpose, is taken up by the Formless, and permeates it to great distances-throughout the universe, for all I know.

As this impression spreads, all things are set moving toward its realization; every living thing, every inanimate thing, and the things yet uncreated, are stirred toward bringing into being that which you want. All force begins to be exerted in that direction; all things begin to move toward you. The minds of people, everywhere, are influenced toward doing the things necessary to the fulfilling of your desires; and they work for you, unconsciously.

But you can check all this by starting a negative impression in the Formless Substance. Doubt or unbelief is as certain to start a movement away from you as faith and purpose are to start one toward you. It is by not understanding this that most people who try to make use of “mental science” in getting rich make their failure. Every hour and moment you spend in giving heed to doubts and fears, every hour you spend in worry, every hour in which your soul is possessed by unbelief, sets a current away from you in the whole domain of intelligent Substance. All the promises are unto them that believe, and unto them only. Notice how insistent Jesus was upon this point of belief; and now you know the reason why.

Since belief is all important, it behooves you to guard your thoughts; and as your beliefs will be shaped to a very great extent by the things you observe and think about, it is important that you should command your attention.

And here the will comes into use; for it is by your will that you determine upon what things your attention shall be fixed.

If you want to become rich, you must not make a study of poverty.

Things are not brought into being by thinking about their opposites. Health is never to be attained by studying disease and thinking about disease; righteousness is not to be promoted by studying sin and thinking about sin; and no one ever got rich by studying poverty and thinking about poverty.

Medicine as a science of disease has increased disease; religion as a science of sin has promoted sin, and economics as a study of poverty will fill the world with wretchedness and want.

Do not talk about poverty; do not investigate it, or concern yourself with it. Never mind what its causes are; you have nothing to do with them.

What concerns you is the cure.

Do not spend your time in charitable work, or charity movements; all charity only tends to perpetuate the wretchedness it aims to eradicate.

I do not say that you should be hard hearted or unkind, and refuse to hear the cry of need; but you must not try to eradicate poverty in any of the conventional ways. Put poverty behind you, and put all that pertains to it behind you, and “make good.”

Get rich; that is the best way you can help the poor.

And you cannot hold the mental image which is to make you rich if you fill your mind with pictures of poverty. Do not read books or papers which give circumstantial accounts of the wretchedness of the tenement dwellers, of the horrors of child labor, and so on. Do not read anything which fills your mind with gloomy images of want and suffering.

You cannot help the poor in the least by knowing about these things; and the wide-spread knowledge of them does not tend at all to do away with poverty.

What tends to do away with poverty is not the getting of pictures of poverty into your mind, but getting pictures of wealth into the minds of the poor.

You are not deserting the poor in their misery when you refuse to allow your mind to be filled with pictures of that misery.

Poverty can be done away with, not by increasing the number of well to do people who think about poverty, but by increasing the number of poor people who purpose with faith to get rich.

The poor do not need charity; they need inspiration. Charity only sends them a loaf of bread to keep them alive in their wretchedness, or gives them an entertainment to make them forget for an hour or two; but inspiration will cause them to rise out of their misery. If you want to help the poor, demonstrate to them that they can become rich; prove it by getting rich yourself.

The only way in which poverty will ever be banished from this world is by getting a large and constantly increasing number of people to practice the teachings of this book.

People must be taught to become rich by creation, not by competition.

Every man who becomes rich by competition throws down behind him the ladder by which he rises, and keeps others down; but every man who gets rich by creation opens a way for thousands to follow him, and inspires them to do so.

You are not showing hardness of heart or an unfeeling disposition when you refuse to pity poverty, see poverty, read about poverty, or think or talk about it, or to listen to those who do talk about it. Use your will power to keep your mind OFF the subject of poverty, and to keep it fixed with faith and purpose ON the vision of what you want.

About

The Get Rich Series is based on The Science of Getting Rich. It  is a classic book by Wallace D. Wattles. It is a practical manual intended for the men and women whose most pressing need is for money; who wish to get rich first, and philosophize afterward.

Discussion

I would love to hear you ideas and opinion on this chapter. Your comments are highly appreciated.

Other articles you may enjoy :

1. Effect of Thought on Circumstances – Part 2 Men are anxious to improve their circumstances, but are unwilling...
2. The Power of Discipline Positive thinking and motivational writing turns you on. It activates...
3. Is your Belief System screwing you up? Today has been a very humbling experience for me. I...
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TO set about getting rich in a scientific way, you do not try to apply your will power to anything outside of yourself. You have no right to do so, anyway. It is wrong to apply your will to other men and women, in order to get them to do what you wish done.

It is as flagrantly wrong to coerce people by mental power as it is to coerce them by physical power. If compelling people by physical force to do things for you reduces them to slavery, compelling them by mental means accomplishes exactly the same thing; the only difference is in methods. If taking things from people by physical force is robbery, them taking things by mental force is robbery also; there is no difference in principle.

You have no right to use your will power upon another person, even “for his own good”; for you do not know what is for his good. The science of getting rich does not require you to apply power or force to any other person, in any way whatsoever. There is not the slightest necessity for doing so; indeed, any attempt to use your will upon others will only tend to defeat your purpose.

You do not need to apply your will to things, in order to compel them to come to you.

That would simply be trying to coerce God, and would be foolish and useless, as well as irreverent.

You do not have to compel God to give you good things, any more than you have to use your will power to make the sun rise.

You do not have to use your will power to conquer an unfriendly deity, or to make stubborn and rebellious forces do your bidding.

Substance is friendly to you, and is more anxious to give you what you want than you are to get it.

To get rich, you need only to use your will power upon yourself.

When you know what to think and do, then you must use your will to compel yourself to think and do the right things. That is the legitimate use of the will in getting what you want–to use it in holding yourself to the right course. Use your will to keep yourself thinking and acting in the Certain Way.

Do not try to project your will, or your thoughts, or your mind out into space, to “act” on things or people.

Keep your mind at home; it can accomplish more there than elsewhere.

Use your mind to form a mental image of what you want, and to hold that vision with faith and purpose; and use your will to keep your mind working in the Right Way.

The more steady and continuous your faith and purpose, the more rapidly you will get rich, because you will make only POSITIVE impressions upon Substance; and you will not neutralize or offset them by negative impressions.

The picture of your desires, held with faith and purpose, is taken up by the Formless, and permeates it to great distances-throughout the universe, for all I know.

As this impression spreads, all things are set moving toward its realization; every living thing, every inanimate thing, and the things yet uncreated, are stirred toward bringing into being that which you want. All force begins to be exerted in that direction; all things begin to move toward you. The minds of people, everywhere, are influenced toward doing the things necessary to the fulfilling of your desires; and they work for you, unconsciously.

But you can check all this by starting a negative impression in the Formless Substance. Doubt or unbelief is as certain to start a movement away from you as faith and purpose are to start one toward you. It is by not understanding this that most people who try to make use of “mental science” in getting rich make their failure. Every hour and moment you spend in giving heed to doubts and fears, every hour you spend in worry, every hour in which your soul is possessed by unbelief, sets a current away from you in the whole domain of intelligent Substance. All the promises are unto them that believe, and unto them only. Notice how insistent Jesus was upon this point of belief; and now you know the reason why.

Since belief is all important, it behooves you to guard your thoughts; and as your beliefs will be shaped to a very great extent by the things you observe and think about, it is important that you should command your attention.

And here the will comes into use; for it is by your will that you determine upon what things your attention shall be fixed.

If you want to become rich, you must not make a study of poverty.

Things are not brought into being by thinking about their opposites. Health is never to be attained by studying disease and thinking about disease; righteousness is not to be promoted by studying sin and thinking about sin; and no one ever got rich by studying poverty and thinking about poverty.

Medicine as a science of disease has increased disease; religion as a science of sin has promoted sin, and economics as a study of poverty will fill the world with wretchedness and want.

Do not talk about poverty; do not investigate it, or concern yourself with it. Never mind what its causes are; you have nothing to do with them.

What concerns you is the cure.

Do not spend your time in charitable work, or charity movements; all charity only tends to perpetuate the wretchedness it aims to eradicate.

I do not say that you should be hard hearted or unkind, and refuse to hear the cry of need; but you must not try to eradicate poverty in any of the conventional ways. Put poverty behind you, and put all that pertains to it behind you, and “make good.”

Get rich; that is the best way you can help the poor.

And you cannot hold the mental image which is to make you rich if you fill your mind with pictures of poverty. Do not read books or papers which give circumstantial accounts of the wretchedness of the tenement dwellers, of the horrors of child labor, and so on. Do not read anything which fills your mind with gloomy images of want and suffering.

You cannot help the poor in the least by knowing about these things; and the wide-spread knowledge of them does not tend at all to do away with poverty.

What tends to do away with poverty is not the getting of pictures of poverty into your mind, but getting pictures of wealth into the minds of the poor.

You are not deserting the poor in their misery when you refuse to allow your mind to be filled with pictures of that misery.

Poverty can be done away with, not by increasing the number of well to do people who think about poverty, but by increasing the number of poor people who purpose with faith to get rich.

The poor do not need charity; they need inspiration. Charity only sends them a loaf of bread to keep them alive in their wretchedness, or gives them an entertainment to make them forget for an hour or two; but inspiration will cause them to rise out of their misery. If you want to help the poor, demonstrate to them that they can become rich; prove it by getting rich yourself.

The only way in which poverty will ever be banished from this world is by getting a large and constantly increasing number of people to practice the teachings of this book.

People must be taught to become rich by creation, not by competition.

Every man who becomes rich by competition throws down behind him the ladder by which he rises, and keeps others down; but every man who gets rich by creation opens a way for thousands to follow him, and inspires them to do so.

You are not showing hardness of heart or an unfeeling disposition when you refuse to pity poverty, see poverty, read about poverty, or think or talk about it, or to listen to those who do talk about it. Use your will power to keep your mind OFF the subject of poverty, and to keep it fixed with faith and purpose ON the vision of what you want.

About

The Get Rich Series is based on The Science of Getting Rich. It  is a classic book by Wallace D. Wattles. It is a practical manual intended for the men and women whose most pressing need is for money; who wish to get rich first, and philosophize afterward.

Discussion

I would love to hear you ideas and opinion on this chapter. Your comments are highly appreciated.

Other articles you may enjoy :

1. Effect of Thought on Circumstances – Part 2 Men are anxious to improve their circumstances, but are unwilling...
2. The Power of Discipline Positive thinking and motivational writing turns you on. It activates...
3. Thought and Purpose UNTIL thought is linked with purpose there is no intelligent...
4. The Most Inspiring Carpenter Jonah had just bought a piece of land near Nazareth...
5. Is your Belief System screwing you up? Today has been a very humbling experience for me. I...
6. The Father of Positive Thinking If there was ever the need for a paternity test...

A story is told of a shy young man who wanted to succeed. He saw an older man from his home town fishing. He mustered some courage and approached the highly successful old man and asked, “What is the secret to your success?”. Without saying as much as a word to the young man, the old man grabbed him and pushed him down into the lake.

The young man struggled to free himself, but the old man was strong and held him down. After a few minutes of a shockingly fierce struggle the old man pulled out the young from the water. The young man was belligerent and held the old man by the neck. “Why were you trying to kill me?”, he asked.

The old man looked at the young man straight into his eyes and said “You see how much you wanted to breathe while under the water. If you shall desire success with such intensity, then my son success shall be right there waiting for you.

Chapter 7 – Thinking in the Certain Way

TURN back to chapter 6 and read again the story of the man who formed a mental image of his house, and you will get a fair idea of the initial step toward getting rich. You must form a clear and definite mental picture of what you want; you cannot transmit an idea unless you have it yourself.

You must have it before you can give it; and many people fail to impress Thinking Substance because they have themselves only a vague and misty concept of the things they want to do, to have, or to become.

It is not enough that you should have a general desire for wealth “to do good with”; everybody has that desire.

It is not enough that you should have a wish to travel, see things, live more, etc. Everybody has those desires also. If you were going to send a wireless message to a friend, you would not send the letters of the alphabet in their order, and let him construct the message for himself; nor would you take words at random from the dictionary. You would send a coherent sentence; one which meant something. When you try to impress your wants upon Substance, remember that it must be done by a coherent statement; you must know what you want, and be definite. You can never get rich, or start the creative power into action, by sending out unformed longings and vague desires.

Go over your desires just as the man I have described went over his house; see just what you want, and get a clear mental picture of it as you wish it to look when you get it.

That clear mental picture you must have continually in mind, as the sailor has in mind the port toward which he is sailing the ship; you must keep your face toward it all the time. You must no more lose sight of it than the steersman loses sight of the compass.

It is not necessary to take exercises in concentration, nor to set apart special times for prayer and affirmation, nor to “go into the silence,” nor to do occult stunts of any kind. There things are well enough, but all you need is to know what you want, and to want it badly enough so that it will stay in your thoughts.

Spend as much of your leisure time as you can in contemplating your picture, but no one needs to take exercises to concentrate his mind on a thing which he really wants; it is the things you do not really care about which require effort to fix your attention upon them.

And unless you really want to get rich, so that the desire is strong enough to hold your thoughts directed to the purpose as the magnetic pole holds the needle of the compass, it will hardly be worth while for you to try to carry out the instructions given in this book.

The methods herein set forth are for people whose desire for riches is strong enough to overcome mental laziness and the love of ease, and make them work.

The more clear and definite you make your picture then, and the more you dwell upon it, bringing out all its delightful details, the stronger your desire will be; and the stronger your desire, the easier it will be to hold your mind fixed upon the picture of what you want.

Something more is necessary, however, than merely to see the picture clearly. If that is all you do, you are only a dreamer, and will have little or no power for accomplishment.

Behind your clear vision must be the purpose to realize it; to bring it out in tangible expression.

And behind this purpose must be an invincible and unwavering FAITH that the thing is already yours; that it is “at hand” and you have only to take possession of it.

Live in the new house, mentally, until it takes form around you physically. In the mental realm, enter at once into full enjoyment of the things you want.

“Whatsoever things ye ask for when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them,” said Jesus.

See the things you want as if they were actually around you all the time; see yourself as owning and using them. Make use of them in imagination just as you will use them when they are your tangible possessions. Dwell upon your mental picture until it is clear and distinct, and then take the Mental Attitude of Ownership toward everything in that picture. Take possession of it, in mind, in the full faith that it is actually yours. Hold to this mental ownership; do not waiver for an instant in the faith that it is real.

And remember what was said in a proceeding chapter about gratitude; be as thankful for it all the time as you expect to be when it has taken form. The man who can sincerely thank God for the things which as yet he owns only in imagination, has real faith. He will get rich; he will cause the creation of whatsoever he wants.

You do not need to pray repeatedly for things you want; it is not necessary to tell God about it every day.

“Use not vain repetitions as the heathen do,” said Jesus said to his pupils, “for your Father knoweth the ye have need of these things before ye ask Him.”

Your part is to intelligently formulate your desire for the things which make for a larger life, and to get these desire arranged into a coherent whole; and then to impress this Whole Desire upon the Formless Substance, which has the power and the will to bring you what you want.

You do not make this impression by repeating strings of words; you make it by holding the vision with unshakable PURPOSE to attain it, and with steadfast FAITH that you do attain it.

The answer to prayer is not according to your faith while you are talking, but according to your faith while you are working.

You cannot impress the mind of God by having a special Sabbath day set apart to tell Him what you want, and the forgetting Him during the rest of the week. You cannot impress Him by having special hours to go into your closet and pray, if you then dismiss the matter from your mind until the hour of prayer comes again.

Oral prayer is well enough, and has its effect, especially upon yourself, in clarifying your vision and strengthening your faith; but it is not your oral petitions which get you what you want. In order to get rich you do not need a “sweet hour of prayer”; you need to “pray without ceasing.” And by prayer I mean holding steadily to your vision, with the purpose to cause its creation into solid form, and the faith that you are doing so.

“Believe that ye receive them.”

The whole matter turns on receiving, once you have clearly formed your vision. When you have formed it, it is well to make an oral statement, addressing the Supreme in reverent prayer; and from that moment you must, in mind, receive what you ask for. Live in the new house; wear the fine clothes; ride in the automobile; go on the journey, and confidently plan for greater journeys. Think and speak of all the things you have asked for in terms of actual present ownership. Imagine an environment, and a financial condition exactly as you want them, and live all the time in that imaginary environment and financial condition. Mind, however, that you do not do this as a mere dreamer and castle builder; hold to the FAITH that the imaginary is being realized, and to the PURPOSE to realize it. Remember that it is faith and purpose in the use of the imagination which make the difference between the scientist and the dreamer. And having learned this fact, it is here that you must learn the proper use of the Will.

About

The Get Rich Series is based on The Science of Getting Rich. It  is a classic book by Wallace D. Wattles. It is a practical manual intended for the men and women whose most pressing need is for money; who wish to get rich first, and philosophize afterward.

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After the move, Jack goes quiet for a couple of months. On the other hand, Alex sends you a thank you card, with a bottle of champagne and calls you for a house warming party. You realize that even Jack had a house warming party, only you were not invited. With all things being equal, who would you feel closer to?

Gratitude connects the giver and the receiver. If God gives you blessings and you show gratitude, you will be more connected to Him. Gratitude allows you to focus on the good of the giver and the good of what you have been given. The mind dwells on what you are grateful for. Whatever your mind dwells on will increase in your life. What are you grateful for?  How do you show gratitude to those that shower you with blessings?

Chapter 6 – Gratitude

THE illustrations given in the last chapter will have conveyed to the reader the fact that the first step toward getting rich is to convey the idea of your wants to the Formless Substance.

This is true, and you will see that in order to do so it becomes necessary to relate yourself to the Formless Intelligence in a harmonious way.

To secure this harmonious relation is a matter of such primary and vital importance that I shall give some space to its discussion here, and give you instructions which, if you will follow them, will be certain to bring you into perfect unity of mind with God.

The whole process of mental adjustment and atonement can be summed up in one word, gratitude.

First, you believe that there is one Intelligent Substance, from which all things proceed; second, you believe that this Substance gives you everything you desire; and third, you relate yourself to it by a feeling of deep and profound gratitude.

Many people who order their lives rightly in all other ways are kept in poverty by their lack of gratitude. Having received one gift from God, they cut the wires which connect them with Him by failing to make acknowledgment.

It is easy to understand that the nearer we live to the source of wealth, the more wealth we shall receive; and it is easy also to understand that the soul that is always grateful lives in closer touch with God than the one which never looks to Him in thankful acknowledgment.

The more gratefully we fix our minds on the Supreme when good things come to us, the more good things we will receive, and the more rapidly they will come; and the reason simply is that the mental attitude of gratitude draws the mind into closer touch with the source from which the blessings come.

If it is a new thought to you that gratitude brings your whole mind into closer harmony with the creative energies of the universe, consider it well, and you will see that it is true. The good things you already have have come to you along the line of obedience to certain laws. Gratitude will lead your mind out along the ways by which things come; and it will keep you in close harmony with creative thought and prevent you from falling into competitive thought.

Gratitude alone can keep you looking toward the All, and prevent you from falling into the error of thinking of the supply as limited; and to do that would be fatal to your hopes.

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.

The law of gratitude is the natural principle that action and reaction are always equal, and in opposite directions.

The grateful outreaching of your mind in thankful praise to the Supreme is a liberation or expenditure of force; it cannot fail to reach that to which it addressed, and the reaction is an instantaneous movement towards you.

“Draw nigh unto God, and He will draw nigh unto you.” That is a statement of psychological truth.

And if your gratitude is strong and constant, the reaction in Formless Substance will be strong and continuous; the movement of the things you want will be always toward you. Notice the grateful attitude that Jesus took; how He always seems to be saying, “I thank Thee, Father, that Thou hearest me.” You cannot exercise much power without gratitude; for it is gratitude that keeps you connected with Power.

But the value of gratitude does not consist solely in getting you more blessings in the future. Without gratitude you cannot long keep from dissatisfied thought regarding things as they are.

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. Then you will transmit these forms or mental images to the Formless, and the common, the poor, the squalid, and mean will come to you.

To permit your mind to dwell upon the inferior is to become inferior and to surround yourself with inferior things.

On the other hand, to fix your attention on the best is to surround yourself with the best, and to become the best.

The Creative Power within us makes us into the image of that to which we give our attention. We are Thinking Substance, and thinking substance always takes the form of that which it thinks about.

The grateful mind is constantly fixed upon the best; therefore it tends to become the best; it takes the form or character of the best, and will receive the best.

Also, faith is born of gratitude. The grateful mind continually expects good things, and expectation becomes faith. The reaction of gratitude upon one’s own mind produces faith; and every outgoing wave of grateful thanksgiving increases faith. He who has no feeling of gratitude cannot long retain a living faith; and without a living faith you cannot get rich by the creative method, as we shall see in the following chapters.

It is necessary, then, to cultivate the habit of being grateful for every good thing that comes to you; and to give thanks continuously.

And because all things have contributed to your advancement, you should include all things in your gratitude.

Do not waste time thinking or talking about the shortcomings or wrong actions of plutocrats or trust magnates. Their organization of the world has made your opportunity; all you get really comes to you because of them.

Do not rage against corrupt politicians; if it were not for politicians we should fall into anarchy, and your opportunity would be greatly lessened.

God has worked a long time and very patiently to bring us up to where we are in industry and government, and He is going right on with His work. There is not the least doubt that He will do away with plutocrats, trust magnates, captains of industry, and politicians as soon as they can be spared; but in the meantime, behold they are all very good. Remember that they are all helping to arrange the lines of transmission along which your riches will come to you, and be grateful to them all. This will bring you into harmonious relations with the good in everything, and the good in everything will move toward you.

About

The Get Rich Series is based on The Science of Getting Rich. It  is a classic book by Wallace D. Wattles. It is a practical manual intended for the men and women whose most pressing need is for money; who wish to get rich first, and philosophize afterward.

Discussion

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About

The Get Rich Series is based on The Science of Getting Rich. It  is a classic book by Wallace D. Wattles. It is a practical manual intended for the men and women whose most pressing need is for money; who wish to get rich first, and philosophize afterward.

Discussion

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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.

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