Chapter 4
- The Great Law
- Start Where You Are
- The Reality Principle
- Becoming a Millionaire
- The Common Denominator
- Wasting Time At Work
- Action Exercise
Wealth and opportunities are contained more in the person you are and the way you think than in the assets you have acquired in life so far. Your future lies more in your ability to apply your mind and intelligence to your work and your life than it does in your current job or situation.
The Great Law
The Greek philosopher Aristotle first articulated the foundation principle of Western philosophy in about 350 B.C. It became known as the Aristotelian Principle of Causality (Stanford). Today, we call it the Law of Cause and Effect. This law says that for every effect in your life, there are specific causes. It says that everything happens for a reason. Success is not an accident. Failure is not an accident, either. What happens to you is not determined by luck or by coincidence. It is the result of unchanging law.
Start Where You Are
When I began studying self-made millionaires, I was living in a rented apartment with rented furniture. I has a used car that was not paid for and I was deeply in debt. I was between jobs and living off credit cards.
The first thing I found was that self-made millionaires did things differently from average people. I therefore, decided to stop doing what they were doing, which wasn’t working, and to start doing what they were doing. My life has never been the same since the decision.
To achieve something you’ve never achieved before, you will have to think in ways that you have never thought before.
The Reality Principle
The reality principle says that you must deal with the world as it is, not as you wish it would be. You must strive to be completely honest with yourself and your situation. You must refuse to engage in self-delusion and the hope that things will work out whether or not you do anything about them. (58)
Becoming a Millionaire
Your aim should be dramatically increase the probabilities of achieving financial independence by doing more and more of those things that will help you to achieve your goal. This principle applies to anything you want to accomplish.
The more different things you do that are likely to help you to achieve your goal, the more likely it is you will do the right thing at the right time. If you set clear, written goals, make detailed plans, and continually upgrade your skills to increase your income, you increase the probabilities that you will earn a good living.
If you study money and investments, save and put aside 10 percent to 20 percent of your income every month, keep tight control over your expenses, and think long-term about your financial life, you will eventually become a millionaire. It is not a matter of luck. It is just a matter of probabilities. (60)
Throughout your life, you must be constantly thinking about all the things you can do, in every area, to increase the probabilities that you will be successful in achieving your goals. You should leave nothing to chance. You should refuse to wish or hope, or trust to luck. You must take control of your situation. You are responsible.
As information and technology continue to expand and multiply times each other, and competition continues to intensify, more and more opportunities are opening up every day for the creative minority who are willing to take advantage of them. Your job is to find these opportunities, and if you don’t find them, create them for yourself. (61)
The Common Denominator
One of the discoveries in the research on self-made millionaires is the finding that most of them start off with little or no money. Most of them start off by saving their money carefully for a long time until they have enough to start a small enterprise or business.
The most important quality that self-made millionaires used to explain their success was the habit of hard, hard work.
Self-made millionaires work much harder than the average person. They start earlier, work harder, and stay later. According to many studies and interviews, self-made millionaires work an average of 59 hours per week. Some work considerably more, especially at the beginning.
Wasting Time At Work
The average employer
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Action Exercise
1. Identify the most valuable things you do at work. How could you organize your time so that you do more of them?
2. Resolve today to develop the habit of punctuality. Go on Lombardi time, and start arriving 15 minutes early for appointments.
3. Organize your day so that you come in and get started one hour earlier than your co-workers. Work through lunchtime, and stay one hour later.
4. Work all the time you work. Don’t waste a minute. If someone tries to distract you, say you have to get back to work, and then do it.
5. Look under your own feet for your personal acres of diamonds, opportunities to add more value right where you are. What could they be?
6. Resolve today to become financially independent. Become a student of money, wealth accumulation, and wealth creation. Becoming rich is a skill that you can learn.
7. Begin today to implement the 40 Plus Formula in your daily work life. Work on your job, or work on yourself to get better at what you do, 50 to 60 hours each week. Put yourself on the side of the angels.