Provides helpful exercises and reminders for attitude shaping, goal-seeking and -setting, and for raising your personal standards for what kinds of life outcomes you are willing to conceive and work toward.
The Millionaire Course reminds me of another worthwhile book, Julia Cameron's The Artist's Way, in the sense that you "do" the book: you have to perform certain tasks and exercises, you will have to add certain habits and routines to your life, and so on.
This book is not for the passive reader. In fact, it's likely dangerous for the passive reader--that is, if that passive reader cannot tell the difference between reading and doing, and thus reads (and doesn't do) and remains in the blissfully ignorant state of thinking he's doing.
Finally, the book list included at the end of this book, as well as many of the titles the author mentions throughout the text, gives readers a tremendous resource for further reading and learning. See the end of this post for a list of books that struck me as valuable and worth reading.
Notes:
1) There are three stages in learning:
a) First you have to hear or read the information, with enough receptiveness so that you can take it in.
b) Then you have to reflect on it, and discover its meaning within your own experience. At this stage, information becomes knowledge.
c) Then you find new and creative ways you can apply it in your life, moment by moment, as challenges and opportunities arise. At this stage, knowledge has become wisdom.
2) Meta-learning ideas, for example the idea of a secret not really being a secret but "self secret" meaning you have to discover an idea or a concept in your own mind and apply it with openness. See for example from the Bhagavad Gita:
"I use the word secrets
not because these things are hidden,
but because so few people are prepared
to hear them today."
3) On being a "visionary" or literally envisioning what you seek. Add in repetition (of that envisioning), plus a belief in the product of your will.
Lesson 1: List and Affirm Your Goals
4) The "ideal scene" process: see also Stephen Covey's The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People.
5) "For years I had no money, and that was okay, and now I have money, and that's okay too."--Eckhart Tolle
6) "In an easy and relaxed manner, in a healthy and positive way, all the money I want and need is now coming to me, in its own perfect time, for the highest good of all." [This is the key "visualization affirmation" of the book, and readers of Émile Coué will likely find it familiar! It can be adjusted or adapted to anything: money, happiness, freedom from addiction... in face, people with money could stand to use and remember this sentence because it's so easy to lose perspective as you get more money.]
7) "What goals have you set for yourself? Are they written down? Do you remind yourself of them frequently?"
8) The "what are you doing, ideally?" questions (see photo below) remind me of the 21 Questions To Ask Yourself Annually from Ernie Zelinski's excellent book How To Retire Happy, Wild, and Free.
9) Take a piece of paper and write your ideal scene; this is the first step in creating the kind of life that you want. Also, "don't dream too small."
10) Listing your goals, then articulating them in a believable, positive affirmation form.
11) "Your subconscious mind always says yes." Thus if you say "but it's so hard to (save money/lose weight/etc)" your subconscious will say, "yes, it's so hard" and then make it be hard. I wonder at certain stages of my life (particularly in investing but also in other life domains), I'd become too grasping, too fearful of loss, causing me to get stuck in precisely this way.
12) "The universe is constantly saying yes to us, constantly supporting whatever we say and think and do. What are we telling ourselves that it is saying yes to? Are we telling ourselves we are on our way to success as we choose to define it, or are we telling ourselves that life is a struggle, and maybe we don't have what it takes to succeed, or don't deserve to succeed?"
13) "Write your list of goals, word them in the form of affirmations, and read them over repeatedly."
Lesson 2: Write Your Plan as a Simple, Clear Visualization
14) "For every major goal, write a short, simple plan. Summarize it clearly on one page." [In addition to my economic goals I'd like to add perhaps a creative goal like writing a book or a textbook/resource of some form, also YouTube channel goals as well.] "A single page plan for every one of your major goals, written in your own words."
15) This turns the desire/dream into an intention, "in an easy and relaxed manner, and a healthy and positive way, and its own perfect time, for the highest good of all."
16) In the business plan section here there's an interesting notion of limited partnerships for specific projects of your business, so for example funding a specific book project, rather than carving out equity for the full business. More like project financing, thus giving up equity/residual profits from a specific project rather than giving up equity/residual for the entire business in perpetuity.
17) Focus on clear and specific financial metrics and goals. "A specific numerical goal is something your subconscious mind loves to work on."
18) Don't forget to include specific "scheduled laziness." The "polarity of life that includes loafing, relaxing, recharging, meditating, and resting."
Lesson 3: Discover Your Vocation and Purpose
19) Now that I'm retired from corporate work, what really is my vocation, what is my calling?
20) One reason for your existence is to find out what your purpose/passion is. "Until thought is linked with purpose there is no intelligent accomplishment."--James Allen
21) If you're working in harmony with your purpose life becomes much more effortless and easy.
22) On separating your purpose from monetary goals. Many aspects of your day to day life and much of your purpose can be found regardless of your financial situation. Thus consider this affirmation: "I now have peace and power. I now have grace, ease, and lightness." "Every millionaire discovers that being a millionaire is not the important thing in life: the important thing is to live the life you dream of living and to be the person you dream of being."
23) If you are having trouble finding your purpose, ask for it. [Somehow I knew the phrase "still, small voice" was likely to appear in this book...]
24) Summary of the steps so far:
* Write your ideal scene
* Make a list of goals, steps to get there
* Rewrite your goals in the form of affirmations
* Make a one-page plan for each important goal
* Reflect on and write your vocation and purpose in life
Lesson 4: See the Full Half of the Glass, the Benefits of Adversity, and Keep Picturing Success
25) See Marc Allen's friend struggling, continuously focusing on the "empty half" of the glass, on what was wrong, and on all the things that were preventing him from achieving his dreams and goals. Once again: "what we think about expands."
26) Solution thinking rather than merely thinking about your problems; what actions are you going to take, what are you going to do about it?
27) This book is helping me realize that I've internalized a lot of elements of this thinking with many years of exposure to literature just like this. This stuff works, but it requires repetition and practice.
28) Other ways to frame the central idea of this chapter (at least as I see it): "running towards failure" or reframing failure as something to be sought out--because it gets you to take action and move towards something, and then you can course correct. Also the idea of embracing adversity, wanting adversity and seeking it out ("the obstacle is the way").
29) At the same time you have to see and accept the empty part of the glass, not be delusional about it. "Hide nothing from yourself--the good, the bad, and the ugly--but don't focus too long on the problems. Get your creative mind working on solutions instead, and those solutions will appear."
30) "None of your excuses are valid." Boy oh boy does this ever ring a bell!!
31) More on gaining benefits from adversity: "Within every adversity is the seed of an equal or greater benefit."--Napoleon Hill, from Think and Grow Rich.
32) Remembering and writing down your dreams as a tool for unleashing your subconscious. [On this topic I've noticed that the more I got to bed concentrating on the idea that I intend to dream and remember my dreams, the more I do just that... what you think about expands!]
33) Reframing problems as gifts, or sources of opportunity; working out what possible outcomes of a given problem might happen, then going over 12 "what ifs" at a minimum to work out the dimensions of a problem and of possible solutions. This is Lenedra Carol's technique, and this is a way of unlocking a solution to a problem. See the "To Read" section below.
34) Experiencing resistance to our dreams: from other people, from within ourselves.
35) On being lucky: on the need to "deserve" or "merit" success as a metaproblem for many people, note that the Bible verse "ask and you shall receive" doesn't say "ask and you will receive--if you deserve it."
36) "Celebrate glorious failure!"--Playwright John Clark Donahue. Again, this is a reframing of failure as something to be run towards rather than something to be feared or avoided. This has been a huge insight for me, sadly it took me the bulk of my life to arrive at.
37) What is the benefit in this difficulty, what is the gift here? Make a habit of asking yourself this metaquestion when facing adversity or an obstacle; the act of asking the question automatically causes a reframing.
Lesson 5: Live and Work in Partnership With All
38) "The more you live and work in partnership with all, the happier, healthier, and more successful you will be."
39) The chalice and the blade: a "dominator" model (boss/employee as a sort of dom/sub work relationship) vs a partnership model.
40) Look at each relationship in your life, including your relationship with yourself (! -- great insight there), and see what model is operating: partnership or domination.
41) "Do I have an underlying belief that business has to be a struggle? Is it necessary to struggle in business? Is it helpful or useful?" I love questions like these: they get at the heart of implicit/subconscious views you might have on reality, and they enable you to step back and choose a different view of reality, one that might be more productive, more helpful, more practical, etc. The act of asking these questions is a profound act of agency, of self-directedness, of human will and empowerment.
42) On choosing an abundance mindset rather than a scarcity mindset. Adopting the self-fulfilling belief that the world is perfectly abundant.
43) On the idea of offering no inner resistance to what is, see Eckhart Tolle's The Power of Now.
44) Several pages of declarative recommendations for how to run a business: e.g.: splitting profits equally between owners and employees, giving generous benefits, generous vacations, profit-sharing plans, etc.
See also the authors example of a Swiss hotel that hired a new manager who required one-third of the profits to be retained in the business and then the other two thirds to be divided equally among owners and workers, later the business went from losses to significant profitability.
45) Expanding the idea of "partnership" and the idea of "employees" to mean anyone you work with under any circumstances, including the plumber at your house, your waiter/waitress, your child's teacher. etc., literally anyone you may interact with throughout the day.
Lesson 6: Avoid Management By Crisis With Clear Goals and Transparency
46) Management by crisis, doubts and fears, lack of strategy; these things obstruct our dreams, which need to be nurtured with quiet thinking, planning, clear goal-setting, plenty of brainstorming time, meditative time spent envisioning a future state, etc.
47) Learn how to settle arguments: (useful section here), specifically the foundational tool of listening without interrupting. "There's no need for argument--in fact it's not an effective form of communication at all. There is a much better alternative: listening, and working in partnership."
48) "Once you start arguing, you're getting nowhere. Stop arguing and listen to the other person. It rarely takes more than two or three minutes. Then take your turn without interruption. Let the other person say their peace without interruption and then ask them not to interrupt you just as you didn't interrupt them, and speak your peace. Ask what the other person wants from you, tell the other person exactly what you want from him or her. And then reach a win-win agreement using the 'what-ifs' technique. This technique is simple to explain but not easy to do."
49) "You simply cannot have an argument if you sit and listen to each other."
50) Avoid lawsuits at all costs, they're a waste of time and money, and they're unnecessary when we work in partnership and learn how to settle arguments. At the least use a mediator.
51) On mastering time: work expands to fill the time we allot to it. and the irony of having all sorts of labor saving devices filling our homes... and yet no time. It has more to do with our beliefs about time and we also rarely think about the nature of our beliefs about time or examine them consciously. [The book doesn't exactly frame it up this way but again it points us to ask metaquestions to ourselves about our belief sets--in this case about time, the nature of our busyness, how we spend/allocate our time and even our beliefs about our beliefs about these things--these are metaquestions that put us in a place to wield agency over time.]
52) On having an abundance mindset about time, that there is an abundance of time for me to do everything properly in its proper time.
53) Being conscious about our beliefs about money, how they're self-fulfilling, how thinking about the nature of these beliefs drives agency over money, etc.
54) "I found I can make a conscious decision to change my beliefs and create more money and more time in my life. The choice was up to me."
55) The author "asks" for a specific amount of money, a large amount to him. "In an easy and relaxed manner, in a healthy and positive way, in its own perfect time, for the highest good of all..." See also here Steve Pavlina's "million dollar experiment" which applies these ideas too.
Lesson 7: Love Change and Learn to Dance
56) When the author was 22 he played a game around a campfire with friends: "Imagine five years had passed, everything has gone as well as you can possibly imagine--what would your life look like?" and forgot all about it until age 30. Then played out the same thought experiment again and determined to remember it.
57) His inner critic tells him that this stuff is impossible, it's too many things, focus on one, it's too much work, etc.. [see also Mohnish Pabrai setting a goal of being a billionaire and being fine if he misses it by 90% or 95%.]
58) "Look at your life as an experiment. Make a compromise with all your doubts and fears; for a year or two, do what you can to move toward your ideal scene, in an easy and relaxed manner, in a healthy and positive way. See what happens!"
59) See the first of the four noble truths in Buddhism: that the world itself doesn't cause our disappointment, we cause our disappointment because we have expectations of how things should be. Thus it's best to learn to let go of resistance to change, and in fact embrace it, by letting go of expectations of how things should be.
60) Pepsi's CEO saying “Love change, learn to dance, and leave J. Edgar Hoover behind” with the Hoover reference as a metaphor for letting go of top-down, centralized decision-making, and moving from a dominant/sub relationship with your organization to a partnership-style relationship with your organization.
61) From The Power of Now: "To offer no resistance to life is to be in a state of grace, ease, and lightness. This state is then no longer dependent on things being in a certain way, good or bad... It seems almost paradoxical, yet when your inner dependency on form is gone the general conditions of your life, the outer forms, tend to improve greatly. Things, people, or conditions that you thought you needed for your happiness now come to you with no struggle or effort on your part, and you are free to enjoy and appreciate them--while they last. All those things, of course, we'll still pass away, cycles will come and go, but with dependency gone there is no fear of loss anymore. Life flows with ease. The happiness that is derived from some secondary source is never very deep. It is only a pale reflection of the joy of Being, the vibrant piece that you find within as you enter the state of nonresistance."
62) Viewing life as a dance rather than a struggle; not reacting to change or whatever life gives you. A dance rather than a race, a struggle or a battle.
63) Again: "In an easy and relaxed manner, in a healthy and positive way, in its own perfect time, for the highest good of all..."
Lesson 8: Discover Your Core Beliefs and Learn How To Change Them
63) Nine steps:
1: think of a particular problem, or area of your life you want to improve.
2: what emotions are you feeling?
3: what physical sensations are you feeling?
4: what are you thinking about?
5: what is the worst thing that could happen in this situation?
6: what is the best thing that could happen?
7: what fear or limiting belief is keeping you from creating what you want in this situation?
8: create an affirmation to counteract and correct the negative, limiting belief.
9: say or write your affirmation repeatedly, over a period of several days.
64) On limiting beliefs ("I believe it's hard to make money; I believe that I'm inadequate," etc.), and creating an affirmation to counteract those limiting beliefs ("I am enough; I am now creating abundance in my life; I am now living and achievng my goals in an easy and relaxed manner," etc.)
65) Affirmative belief examples:
* I have an abundance of time, plenty of time to do the things I want to do.
* I have everything I need to create success.
* I have an abundance of money to do the things that I want to do.
66) "It's very good to examine our worst fears--when we do, we usually realize that the odds of them actually happening are extremely slim." (I'll die in a gutter alone destitute with no friends; I'll be a bag lady)
67) Note also the value of the exercise of envisioning the best case scenario: it's a meta-exercise that sets you on the road of achieving your goal in a self-fulfilling way.
68) Engaging in the exercise of standing back and observing your thoughts and feelings, "watching the watcher".. there's the part of you that can stand back and observe, and then the part of you that is agitated, the part of you that can stand back and observe is not agitated, that part of you is calm, clear, at ease; see The Power of Now. "When you listen to a thought, you are aware not only of the thought but also of yourself as the witness of the thought. A new dimension of consciousness has come in... This is the beginning of the end of involuntary and compulsive thinking." On looking at your doubts and fears, acknowledging them.
Lesson 9: Grow at Your Own Pace, With an Architecture of Abundance
69) Business stages: infancy, adolescents, and maturity. "Remember when you're in the infancy stage that later on you'll have wonderful, warm memories of this. Just as parents have the stories they treasure about their children, you'll have your stories about the beginnings of your career or business. Enjoy this. As much as possible. Find a humor in it--there's a lot to laugh about."
70) "I slept and dreamed that life was joy,
I awoke and found a life was service.
I acted and behold! Service became joy."
--Rabindranath Tagore
71) See Lenedra J. Carroll's book The Architecture of All Abundance: what is a deeply satisfying human life?
72) Note that how as soon as you dare to dream about what you really want, a tremendous number of doubts arise, all based on fear. The idea here is to make a deal with your doubts and fears, talking your inner critics into a compromise to let you try the experiment... Ironically your inner critics are so sure you'll fail that they'll permit it. [(!!!) What a great technique to trick your own ego out of thwarting you...!]
73) Also, you can take a tremendous shortcut through all this by asking yourself: What do I want all that stuff for? What is the end result? "I now have a life of ease and fulfillment. So be it. So it is!" [This looks a lot like Jacob Lund Fisker's idea of "don't want it!" from his book Early Retirement Extreme.] Thus it might be way easier than you thought to have the kind of life you want, simply because much of it is already in place as things already are.
74) Do things in an easy and relaxed manner. "Take it easy"
Lesson 10: Give Abundantly and Reap the Rewards: The Ten Percent Solution for Personal and Global Problems
75) Save at a minimum 10%, give away at a minimum 10%
76) "If universal charity prevailed, Earth would be a heaven, and hell a fable." Charles Colton
77) On generosity and how it is "generative," it makes me wonder if we should be (literally) tithing or more, should we significantly step up the charitable stuff we do?
Lesson 11: Become More Aware of the Spiritual Side of Life: The Power of Prayer, Meditation, and Relaxation
78) What animates us? What is the difference between when someone dies, at one moment we see them animated, the next moment not: Spirit has left (or the Tao, Force, Being, whatever word you want to put in here.
79) The author's own near death experiences.
80) Four levels of Being:
* The physical body,
* The emotional body (many people carry great pain in this body and it impacts their entire life),
* The mental body (this is where most of us live, most of our formal education exists here, most of us have a constant stream of words/chatter/endless mental commentary going through our consciousness),
* The spiritual body
81) Using consistent prayer and meditation to get access to our spiritual reality, our inner spiritual world, to experience Being or oneness.
82) See the Bhagavad Gita: four types of people on the spiritual path:
* Those who are world-weary or ill physically or disturbed mentally
* Those who are dissatisfied with and wish to improve their lot in life, those who want more prosperity or satisfaction or fulfillment
* Those who realize that the spiritual path is far more valuable than anything else in life, and seek a life of the spirit
* Those who have already attained a state of constant awareness and realization of their spiritual nature. These people speak nothing, and need nothing. They have realized the reality of our spiritual nature.
83) "If we pray, our prayers will be granted. If we seek to be guided by spirit, we will be guided by spirit, and everything else in our lives will fall into place perfectly."
84) On daily rituals to acknowledge Spirit: the author when he wakes up tries to remember his dreams, writing them down if anything is worth recording, then he breathes then "runs the energy" through his body, focusing on parts of his body that might need healing, etc. Then he might do creative visualizations of, say, a new ideal scene or about some project. Then praying on the behalf of someone else and a quiet walk with prayer outside, giving thanks to the Creator for the beautiful day, for many other things. This set of rituals produces an attitude of gratitude in him. Then God quotes Eckhart Tolle to him! "Remember: to offer no resistance to life is to be in a state of grace, ease, and lightness."
85) On declarations, issuing decrees ("So be it." "So it is.") used as a tool of generativity.
86) On the power of meditation: stillness, non-activity, doing nothing, putting yourself in a state that is the opposite polarity of activity. "It brings mental clarity to complex situations, and calmness to adverse situations."
87) A discussion of types of meditation to practice:
* watching your thoughts (finding the space between your thoughts)
* counting breaths
* Zen/samadhi/stillness meditation
* third eye meditation, etc.
88) Katsuki Sekida on how, after sitting in meditation for a while, we naturally enter into a state of absolute samadhi [read: the highest state of mental concentration that people can achieve while still bound to the body] where we are completely conscious, silent and aware. We can thus train ourselves to be in a state of positive samadhi where there is no extraneous thought in our mind as we are focused on the object of our attention, whatever it may be (a single exhalation, an object, the cup of coffee you're drinking, etc). "Remind yourself throughout the day to let go of thought as much as possible. Find moments, even if very brief, to sit in silence."
89) Reflect on this phrase from The Power of Now: "To offer no resistance to life is to be in a state of grace, ease, and lightness." Resist nothing.
90) On creative visualization (see Shakti Gawain's book Creative Visualization)
91) "Teach us to care, and not to care. / Teach us to sit still." --T.S. Eliot
92) See the Unity Church prayer: "Let there be peace on earth and let it begin with me."
93) When meditating or relaxing "the important work is still getting done." This is a useful idea to keep in mind in a Western, Type-A culture. Even one attentional breath may help you let go of your thoughts for a moment and regain perspective. "When you were full of problems there is no room for anything new to enter, no room for a solution. So whenever you can, make some room, create some space."--Eckhart Tolle
94) On being "a part-time hermit," having frequent day or two-day retreats from everyone and everything, emerging from them rested energized and relaxed. "A call to inaction"
95) Understanding the polarity of action and stillness: our culture is very good at focusing on action but we ignore the other side of this polarity. This is where all the rejuvenation, light and meaning is in our lives.
Lesson 12: Do What You Love to Do, and Success Will Follow; You Can Transform Your Life and Your World by Doing What You Love to Do
96) [Find what you love to do, do what your passion is, follow your passion... honestly this kind of stuff I can't stand! Instead you have to do is find the Venn diagram where 1) work that you like to do intersects with 2) work you get paid well for where both intersect with 3) work that you're very good at. You need all three for the game to work.]
97) Using an "and then what?" exercise, starting with: If you had all the money you needed what would you do; and then what, and then what, etc., to try to identify things that you truly love to do.
98) "Our purpose is to evolve into something greater, to transform our lives and our world for the better."
99) The things you wish in your dreams will manifest, in an easy and relaxed manner, for the highest good of all.
Afterward: How the Process Works
100) Returning to the book's central idea of "your ideal scene" which you imagine/visualized in great detail, and then affirm goals related to it; in effect you are asking your subconscious mind to show you the next step toward that goal. It isn't clear how it works, it doesn't matter: "At the core of this course is a simple process. I have seen repeatedly--in my own life and in many others--that it works, but I have yet to fully understand how."
102) The author uses this example: "In an easy and relaxed matter, and a healthy and positive way, I am now taking a quantum leap--personally, emotionally, and financially." Note that this affirmation is not clear, not well-defined, the author couldn't express it more clearly than that, but it felt right to him to say those words. And then the book The Power of Now fell into his lap and he published it.
103) I have to confess it's very difficult to keep the sentence "in an easy and relaxed manner in a healthy and positive way in its own perfect time" in mind when your investment portfolio is cratering...
Supplement A:
[This is a short course for "hopelessly lazy" readers who don't want to plow through the entire book.]
104) It's interesting when you settle for an executive summary of something, when you settle for the bullet points and not the actual whole text, the cognitive experience of the thing is incomplete. It becomes just another forgettable blog post, just another clod of unrecallable pablum--and it doesn't change your habits or change your thinking. It goes to what a book is all about, what a book-length form of communication is all about and why it may very well need to be book-length in order to have a proper effect on you, the reader: it changes you as you read it, much the value of it comes from its length. Many ideas can only be communicated through book length concepts. Of course this is not to say that everything must be book-length or deserves to be book-length: there's no shortage of examples of people puffing what should be a short forgettable article into a longer, equally forgettable book. You know these when you see them.
105) For a reader that actually reads the full book, this short course is just a simple review, and as such it's quite helpful. I do not recommend reading only this part, however, but rather recommend using it as a helpful way to better groove and organize the book's ideas in your mind once you've already read the full work.
To Read:
James Allen: As a Man Thinketh
Catherine Ponder: The Dynamic Laws of Prosperity
***Lenedra J. Carroll: The Architecture of All Abundance (this is the mother and manager of the singer Jewel by the way, interesting)
Mark Fisher with Marc Allen: How to Think Like a Millionaire
Riane Eisler: The Power of Partnership; The Chalice and the Blade
Kent Nerburn: **Letters to My Son; *Neither Wolf Nor Dog: Small Graces: Simple Truths: *Calm Surrender
Patanjali: Yoga Sutras
Barbara Marx Hubbard: Conscious Evolution
Deepak Chopra: Creating Affluence
Neale Donald Walsch: Conversations with God
Shirley Ann Jones: Simply Living: The Spirit of the Indigenous Peoples
Dorothea Brand: Wake Up and Live
Catherine Ponder: The Dynamic Laws of Prosperity
Marc Allen: The Ten Percent Solution
Carlos Castaneda: The Teachings of Don Juan
***Jack Hawley: The Bhagavad Gita: A Walkthrough for Westerners
***Katsuki Sekida: Zen Training; Two Zen Classics
Shakti Gawain: Creative Visualization
Israel Regardie: The Art of True Healing
Foundation for Inner Peace: A Course in Miracles
