Secrets of the Millionaire Mind: The Process of Manifestation T > F > A = R (Part 1 Summary)

This is a chapter-by-chapter summary of a book by T. Harv Eker’s Secret of the Millionaire Mind: Mastering the Inner Game of Wealth (2005) series. One chapter, one article. Read this summary, buy the book. Enjoy!

Process of Manifestation: T > F > A = R

“Thoughts lead to Feelings. Feelings lead to Actions. Actions lead to Results.”

(Harv Eker)

That’s what Eker calls the Process of Manifestation. Thoughts are at the root of every result. He then goes one step further and states that we are programmed or conditioned in a certain way. That’s why we think how we think. The primary sources of this programming include mainly our parents and siblings, but also friends, teachers, and media, to name only a few. In short, our life is a reflection of our thoughts, which again come as a result of how we have been programmed.

This is important in many ways. Look at our culture: How could we survive without the knowledge of our ancestors? We’re born into a world of culture and structure: How could we survive without the knowledge we’re given from our parents? We depend on our parents for a very, very long time. We’re all born helpless. So, in a certain way this programming is a necessity, but in the case of money, it is often a burden… That’s where your money blueprint (see the previous post) comes in. A blueprint, in general, is a preset plan or design. Let’s take a blueprint for a house as an example. Before you build the house, you make an exact plan of what you want to build. And then, you build what you’ve planned. Now, and this is important, we all have a blueprint for money, our money blueprint – a preset plan of how much money we’ll have and how we can handle it. Every child is taught how to think about and act in relation to money.

Our financial blueprint consists primarily of the information or “programming” we received in the past, and especially as a young child. “Your past conditioning determines every thought that bubbles up in your mind. That’s why it’s often referred to as the conditioned mind.” First of all, Eker suggests, we need to understand how we are conditioned. We are conditioned in three (3) primary ways:

#1 Verbal Programming: What did you hear about money, wealth, and rich people when you were growing up? “Save your money for a rainy” “Filthy rich!” “Rich people are greedy” “Money doesn’t grow on trees” “Money doesn’t buy happiness” “We can’t afford it” and so on. Eker says, “I’m sure you heard at least one of them. The problem is that all these statements… remain in your subconscious mind as part of the blueprint that is running your financial life. Obviously, such statements do not support your financial well-being.”

#2 Modelling: What did you see when you were young? How did your parents manage money? Did money come easily in your family or was it always a struggle? Was money a source of joy in your household or the cause of bitter arguments? All these things matter a lot because as kids, we learn just about everything from modeling. It is important to recognize that your way of being related to one or both of your parents in the arena of money.

#3 Specific Incidents: What did you experience when you were young around money, wealth, and rich people? This is close to modeling but maybe you can think of a specific personal incident. Maybe a huge fight your parents had that seemingly led to the divorce? Maybe you can still hear your father swearing about a rich neighbor? Such experiences shape your beliefs you now live by.

These are three (3) major ways that have conditioned us in terms of money. Basically, that’s your money blueprint, your pre-set plan for success with money. Eker highlights: “Your money blueprint will determine your financial life – and even your personal life. And again, you can have all the knowledge and skills in the world, but if your ‘blueprint’ isn’t set for success, you’re financially doomed. If you think poor about the rich, how are you ever going to be rich? If money has always been a struggle, chances are high that it always will be a struggle. That’s in your subconscious mind. When the subconscious mind must choose between deeply rooted emotions and logic, emotions will almost always win.” If you want to think like rich people, you need to change that programming… how?

You need to become aware. “AWARENESS is the first step of change,” emphasized Eker. That’s where you are right now. You thought about how you grew up around money and hopefully became aware of the fact that you’ve been conditioned in a certain way. Now, you need to UNDERSTAND what effects this conditioning had and still has on your financial life (I personally had a bad programming). It’s only through the understanding of what your conditioned mind does to you that you can become able and willing to change. Do you see that your money blueprint is not you but it is only what you’ve learned? You do have the choice in the present moment to be different (Yes I can!). That’s the third step of change: DISASSOCIATION. How you have been conditioned is not how you need to be and how you need to think. You have the choice! It is imperative you choose your thoughts and beliefs wisely.

Eker concludes: “Being aware and living consciously is probably the most important ingredient for substantial change. YOU make the choices in life. YOU are at the steering wheel. YOU know that you have been conditioned in a certain way and that this lies at the roots of your financial life. Now that YOU are aware, YOU can change!”

REMEMBER: T > F > A = R

12 Rules for Life #10 Be Precise In Your Speech (Summary)

This is a chapter-by-chapter summary of a book by Jordan B. Peterson’s 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos (2018) series. One chapter, one article. Read this summary, buy the book. Enjoy!

“To be precise in your speech does two things...
it specifies your goal and it reduces uncertainty.”

(Jordan Peterson)

According to Peterson, there is an undivided connection between communication and reality. Language takes what’s unknown from chaos and gives it a name making it into a thing. Once that thing is addressed with a name then you can control it. A simple example would be the feeling of touch. Imagine that you see a pot in front of you for the first time. Without touching it you don’t know what’s wrong with it. Once you touch it you feel it’s too hot to hold it for too long. So, you give it a “name” – a hot pot. Now you can do something about it and use a pair of heatproof gloves to do your job.

On the other hand, the unnameable is terrifying, at least much more than the nameable. As an example, the movie The Ring didn’t describe and name the evil at all. Objectively speaking, in this movie the scary scenes are very few in number in comparison with other horror thrillers. It’s all about the unnameable. If you can’t name something then that makes it more terrifying to you. It also makes you feel weaker against it if you don’t actually know what it is. That’s why, according to Peterson, precise speech is important. I can bring things out of the realm of unspeakable. Words are not to be underestimated as they have a creative power. Don’t create more mark and darkness by imprecise speech!

Be Precise… Exercise, Practice… then Speak

How to Nurture Your Child to Be Creative #5 Praise the Process, Not the Results

If your child runs to you proudly presenting a new painting or model they’ve made, it’s any parent’s natural instinct to offer praise. However, over-enthusiastic praise can be unhelpful. Studies carried out by psychologist Professor Wulf-Uwe Meyer from the University of Bielefeld, Germany, reveal that from a very young age children are very cynical about whether praise is genuine or not. His studies found that by the time they reach primary school, children can become cynical to the point where they no longer really believe any praise and therefore truly genuine appreciation begins to lose its value.

So, it is vital to focus on praising the creative process rather than the creative product. Well respected studies by psychologist Dr. Carol Dweck, author of Mindset: The New Psychology of Success, suggest that we should take care to praise the effort and the process of doing the work, rather than commenting on the results. This will help your child understand that their creative work will become better with practise. “For example, tell them you really love the colours they chose in this painting, or that you know how hard they worked on their guitar practice to make that song sound so beautiful,” says Dweck. Dweck also revealed that if you focus on praising the process in a sensitive yet honest way, your child is far more likely to feel confident in the creative work they do, to recover (more quickly) from setbacks and better enjoy what they are doing. “Ultimately the way you praise doesn’t just affect how confident your child is,” says Dweck, “but also how intelligent or skilled they will become.”

Lord, Give Us Today Our Daily Idea(s)

Nurture Creativity: Ideas Worth Sharing

Pic from: andrewkonrad.com

“If you have an apple and I have an apple and we exchange these apples then you and I will still each have one apple. But if you have an idea and I have an idea and we exchange these ideas, then each of us will have two ideas.” (George Bernard Shaw)

I love watching TED Talks whenever I need inspirations to write or simply just curious to know random-but-informative stuffs. TED is a non-profit devoted to spreading ideas, usually in the form of short, powerful talks (18 minutes or less). Very interesting! TED believe passionately in the power of ideas to change attitudes, lives and, ultimately, the world. Their agenda is to make great ideas accessible and spark conversation. Their tagline is my favourite: “ideas worth spreading.”

We must learn to share ideas. I remember when I was in a primary school, teacher asked us to study and do our homework alone. No copying or discussing. Maybe that was why I refused or reluctant to share my ideas and have this spirit of competitiveness with my friends throughout my schooling years. Only after I went to the university, I slowly learn to share ideas. The history of great inventors and creative people proof that nobody is a self-made. No musician, artist or writer ever achieved greatness without studying the works of earlier masters and discussing thoughts with their contemporaries. Ideas are meant to be share.

Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak shared ideas together and foundered Apple (They also shared a love of practical jokes and technological challenges). Bill Gates and Paul Allen shared ideas and Microsoft was born. Malaysian Christian students then studied at University Malaya in Singapore saw the potential of students impacting students in campus. They shared ideas and their burden for the student ministry. Hence Fellowship of Evangelical Students (FES) Malaysia came to be. All of these happened because people share ideas.

Many people are worried about sharing ideas with others. They get very protective of those ideas. They afraid that people will steal their ideas. It's okay. I understand, it happened to me. But I know this very well also that it’s better to share ideas and work collaboratively than isolate yourself. Take risk. Of course, I’m not encourage you to share everything including all the finest details of your ideas. What I want us to do is to be more open about an idea or two and asking for feedback – especially, that constructive criticisms – has always work better than working alone. Present your ideas. Consider asking your trusted friends, peers and colleagues for their thoughts. Try your online friends as well. Now, steal those ideas. In many cases, they might be able to connect you with someone else who can help turn your idea into reality. But, you won’t know unless you talk to others openly. “For good ideas and true innovation,” write Margaret Heffernan, “you need human interaction, conflict, argument, debate.”

The more you share your ideas,

The more ideas you’ll get,

The more options and adjustments you can make,

The more choices (that’s matter) you’ll have to make a good decision and action.

There is a time to keep secret, there is a time to share your idea.

That’s what creative people do.

God, Give Us Today Our Daily Idea(s)

Nurture Creativity: Mixing with Like-Minded Creative People

Like laughter, creativity is contagious. There’s nothing like mixing with creative people to nurture your own creativity. Jenny Hare, writer of Unlock Your Creativity, explains, “[Mixing with creative people] is a kind of alchemy – as though your creative souls sparkle in the air separately at first as you recognize a common creative flair, and then are magnetized to each other and dance together for a while. Ideas flow and you both feel uplifted and energized, and when you part you look forward eagerly to riding on the wave of creativity you’ve mutually started.” It sound very lofty at first as you read this, but when you really have found like-minded people that you long to be with, you just can’t wait to come back to “dance together” again.

Even though I love to hangout alone talking to myself (it’s a real fun way to discover deep hidden thoughts inside my head), I understand that I also need to mix with people, especially with like-minded creative people. For example, I once attended a motivational talk seminars by Dr. Peter Chee, president and CEO of ITD world, at Damansara. The attendees are a diverse community of bright, caring, supportive, open-minded people who are generous with their time, their learning, and their attention. It's also a great group of creative people. We had teachers, artists, university students, business people, nurses, pharmacists, author and a retiree. We were like-minded in a way that we are hunger for success in life and pursuit for continuous learning. I was struck by how simply spending time with people in a variety of other creative endeavours re-sparked my own creative juices. I found myself being more curious, more open, more optimistic, more interested and more interesting – all as a result of attending the seminar and interacting with like-minded creative people.

One of the basic tenets of creativity is to do things differently, and to do different things. So if you need to reignite your creativity, do something completely new. A simply broadening your horizons by mixing with like-minded creative people will also broaden your mind. Thus, try something new today. Here are my suggestions. Look for communities within the things you liked to do. Ask your friends or check Facebook groups (social media are great tools to find community). You will make numerous friends and strong connections from these communities. Meet people at different places such as conferences, seminars, talks or class. If you’re an activist like my colleague, then join the peaceful rally. If you love to make a difference in your community, join others to volunteer for something others might find intimidating; homeless assistance or elder care for example. You will meet people who are made of sterner stuff, and you might just learn some more about yourself. When I say mixing with like-minded people it doesn’t mean that they have to have a dozen of common hobbies or interests like you, but one or two will do. Share ideas, having fun together and mutual encouragements is the point.

“Meeting with other creative people in a mutually encouraging atmosphere is a great tonic

for your soul as well as your creativity” (Jenny Hare)

Plus, mixing with like-minded creative people also can effects your happiness,

inspirations and sense of belonging.

God, Give Us Today Our Daily Idea(s)

Characteristics of a Creative Person #4: Develop Comparisons to Illustrate Points

“I shut my eyes in order to see” (Paul Gauguin)

It is not enough to simply speak in terms of numbers when portraying the probable outcome of a new idea. There’s always more to an outcome than numbers. A creative person will adopt a metaphor or two to help others best get the complete picture.

An increase of 100 percent, for example, is like doubling a hundred ringgit. Doubling a hundred ringgit is like printing a hundred ringgit with banknote printer. Etc. In personal terms, learning a new word every day and using it in a sentence three or more times is like earning and advanced degree in English language. Studying a new language (as English is not my first language) means introducing an entirely new nation and society to your life. The creative person finds lots of comparisons and similarities to use in communicating ideas.

Creative people develop comparisons to illustrate points or ideas

Lord, Give Us Today Our Daily Idea(s)

*I recommend you to read Danny Cox and John Hoover’s Seize the Day (Book-mart Press, 1994), “Step Two: Developing Strengths” page 77-118.