The Value of a Thought

What do you think of when you think of being rich? How would you measure a person’s wealth? Your answers to these two questions will reveal your current thinking on the subject, which is either holding you back or propelling you forward towards a richer life.

When you are truly rich you will not only have more than enough money, you will know that you can always create still more. Therefore, you will never fear not having enough and you will feel an inner confidence and happiness. So perhaps being rich is not about the size of your bank balance or what you own, maybe being rich is…

…living life on your own terms, according to your possibilities, not your limitations.

But if you are not rich yet, it’s not your fault, it’s not your parents fault, and it’s not even the current economic climate or the government or fate that’s to blame. It’s just an indication that your current wealth generating strategies are not serving you well. Your mind is like a computer, it’s only as effective as the software programs its running.

Almost ninety years ago, one of the richest men in the world was the legendary industrialist Andrew Carnegie. He was convinced that he had discovered the real secret of creating wealth and commissioned a young reporter named Napoleon Hill to interview 400 of the richest men alive to see if they too had used this secret to create their fortunes.

Hill spent the next twenty years meeting up with nearly every person on the list, and discovered that, without fail, they had followed the same simple blueprint for wealth. The book he eventually published “Think and Grow Rich” has become one of the best selling non-fiction books of all time.

The secret Carnegie and all the great achievers used to create riches in their lives was simply this:

All wealth is created with the human mind.

Look around you – how many things can you see that began as a thought in someone’s mind?

Do you drive a car or travel by airplane? At one time, oil was not considered to be of any use – it was essentially a waste product. Someone’s mind turned it from a waste product into one of the most valuable commodities in the world today.

The world’s best selling drink, Coca-Cola, was originally launched as a headache cure and was a total failure, until someone had the crazy idea of selling it simply as a refreshing drink!

What will the next big idea be? More to the point who will come up with it? Even more to the point, why not you?

You often hear people say that rich people are just lucky, or that they work harder, or that they are dishonest. In fact the truth is much simpler:

The difference between rich and poor people is that the rich have learned to recognise the value of their thoughts.

Therefore it is more beneficial when measuring someone’s wealth not to look at the amount of money they have in the bank or the total of their possessions but rather looking at the quality of their thoughts.

Rich thinkers will be rich regardless of the current size of their bank balance – they will always be looking for possibilities and living life on their own terms.

Poor thinkers may have big houses and wear fancy clothes, but their heads are filled with fears about the future and mistrust of those around them. They are driven to continually try to protect what they have or grab more from others.

Making money is just a skill, like learning to juggle or riding a bike. Once you have mastered that skill you will be able to make money no matter what circumstances you find yourself in or what is going on in the world around you.

That’s why you could take away all Richard Branson’s money and in a very short space of time he would have it all back – simply because the one thing you cannot take away is his ability to think rich and make money as a result.

This is the first key to your success – recognising that your riches are not in some far off place but they are waiting for you to find them inside your own mind. If you are going to go inside your mind to find them it would be useful to have a map of the territory you are about to explore.

In my articles over the coming weeks I will talk more about the working of your mind and explore in more detail the characteristics of rich thinkers.

 Gerry