Using Leverage of your mind to grow wealth

“The man who try to do something and fail are infinitely better than those who try to do nothing and succeed”

~ Lloyd Jones

Perhaps the most common but most often neglected tool for success is mind. Mind is the most powerful leverage of success all of us have been blessed with. If you have a sound mind, you are capable of achieving just about anything you set your mind to.

I have seen entrepreneurs start with nothing but a seed of thought and amassed greater fame and wealth and are sure to live behind great legacy when they are dead and gone.

MIND…Mind is the magic word.

Many millionaires and billionaires I have met never made it overnight. They instead use whatever leverage life offered to them. They fail many times, faced criticism but held onto their dreams with might. Robert Kiyosaki, the self-made millionaire, best known as the Rich Dad Poor Dad author said this;

“Those without leverage work for those that have leverages”.

Isn’t this interesting. Look at the number of employers and employees in the world and you will know perfectly why the rich and powerful use leverage.

I hope this book gives you enough courage to face the criticism and get over it. Let me say this again. Every time someone critics your work, that person without knowing makes your work even better. But you have to teach yourself to be open minded to openly receive criticism. I love criticism, because I grow every time someone criticizes me.

Next time someone criticizes you, walk over to him or her, smile and tell that person, “Thanks for making me a better person. I appreciate your contribution to my personal growth”. Watch how that person will react. Many people criticize just because they think they know more than you. When you tell them you appreciate their criticism and thank them for making your life better, some will soon realize how foolish they themselves are.

I have met and interviewed so many business executives and millionaires and a few billionaires for Business Intelligence Magazine, my online business magazine. In all my interviews, I have discovered one thing. It is the leverage of MIND that keeps them going. It is the MIND that helps them realize their wildest dreams. Now I don’t mean just carrying a mind around and expecting to be any better. Every successful men and women I know have disciplined mind. So that means having a disciplined mind is a success trait.

People who are successful seek for more education beyond what they learn in school. As a matter of fact, what you learn school is just enough to get you along. What you learn from the real world is what’s gonna make you realizes your wildest dreams. In one of my hubs, I will talk about Leverage of Education.

I am an agriculture graduate. I learnt animal and plant sciences. But I realized earlier enough that being just an agriculture graduate wasn't enough. So I actively studied successful people. For over a decade I was committed to studying, the famous, wealthy and powerful people because I wanted to be famous, wealthy and live a legacy when I am dead and gone.

I am not here to discredit these highly distinguished dedicated teachers. I must say I am a product of the formal education system. But the reality is you need more than just education. You need knowledge and you rarely find knowledge in classroom. Education is found in classroom. Knowledge is found in the field.

In real life business, you not only need theory, you need practice. You need mentors who have reached the top of business ladder. You need advice from someone who actually knows how to fit the nuts and bolts and get the business system up and running to generate cash flow and someone who knows how to manage the cash flow. You need to know someone who differentiates between an asset and liability and buys only assets. You don’t find this information in the classroom. That is critical as to why you must be careful who you get advice from. From those with PhD in theory or results. And remember, you have a mind; a thinking mind that is the leverage you have over sticks.

So much have change from the industrial age to information. Many years ago as written by Swami Satyananda Saraswati in his book Sure Way to Self-Actualization, great psychologist predicted that the present technological revolution would create many new psychological problems for humanity. These predications have come to pass. Throughout the world human beings have become burdened with tension and anxiety. They have lost their piece of mind. And most have simply forgotten than being success is a matter of following success principles and not mere chance of good luck.

Dr. Munroe said “success if the result of obedience to principles”

So what are principles? Principles are LAWs established to create an environment to successfully produce the performance of the promised. What does that mean? It says successfully produce the performance of the promised. The phrase “performance of the promised” implies future. That you are not there as yet. But if you follow the LAW or PRINCIPLES, you become successful. Simple as that.

Though success principles never change and still hold true today, their applications have changed a lot over the years. That is if you wish to write your way to fame, wealth and legacy, you need real life lessons and not only college degree. I love this old adage that goes like “Education will give you a career, knowledge will give you a fortune”…Just remember that most of the very successful people in the world never completed college education. All they needed was knowledge and if you have a sound mind and acquire enough knowledge, nothing will be impossible to achieve.

If you are saying, I need a college degree to be successful, look at the following graduates who became successful beyond their dreams: Thomas Edison, founder of General Electric; Henry Ford, founder of Ford Motor Co.; Bill Gates, founder of Microsoft; Ted Turner, founder of CNN; Michael Dell, founder of Dell Computers; Steve Jobs, founder of Apple Computer; and Ralph Lauren, founder of Polo.

A college education is important for traditional professions, but not for how these people found great wealth. And the same applies to you. If you wish to grow your wealth, you need more than just education. You need knowledge and success principles.

Let me give you one more example. There are financial advisors who sit on their comfortable officers giving all the best financial advices on investing. The question is, has this highly fancied accountant invested some money before or just lives from paycheck to paycheck. You be warned who you get advice from. Some of these teachers and advisors are not even better than you. They are commissioned agents who try to sell you their employers’ business ideas for commission.

Let me repeat here. You need more than just education. That means you need more knowledge apart from what you learnt in school. Jamie McIntyre’s book What I Didn’t Learn In School But Wish I Did is a good read. Order it and read it.

One of my mentors said this to me “You have to move with time…Cuz if you don’t, you will eventually become obsolete”. There is so much truth in those words. The world is moving so fast that even a new model of car created a year ago, ends up in the use car category the next year. So get the education and knowledge you need and move with time.

Success Mind Vs. Failure Mind

One of the biggest differences between the very successful people and those that just get by with life is in their thinking. Successful people think success and so become successful. Failures are failures simply because they think fail.

Harv T. Eker in his book Secrets of the Millionaire Mind listed 6 differences between rich and poor which I share with you here to help your grasp the point.

Honestly answer the questions that follow the 6 steps listed and you will see where you really stand when it comes to writing your way to fame, wealth and legacy.

1. Rich people believe “I create my life”. Poor people believe “Life happens to me”

Does your life as a best-selling author just happens to you by chance or you create it yourself?

1. Rich people play the money game to win. Poor play the money game not to lose.

Do you write to earn for survival or write to have massive wealth and abundance?

1. Rich people are committed to being rich. Poor are uncommitted to being rich

Are you committed or uncommitted to writing your way to fame, wealth and legacy?

1. Rich people think big. Poor people think small

How big is your dream? If no one laughs at your dream, than your dream is not big enough.

1. Rich people are bigger than their problems. Poor people are smaller than their problems.

Are you bigger than your problems? Do you face criticism with open mind or shrink in size or walk away from problems?

1. Rich people focus on opportunity. Poor people focus on problems

Standing on the shoulders of giants, do you see problems of opportunities?

I have discussed in a great deal in my book Maximize Your Personal Confidence and Motivation – For Unlimited Success that success begins in the mind.

A disciplined mind is the leverage successful people have over unsuccessful people. Though all of us were blessed with a mind, only few use it to their advantage. Some don’t use it at all. Now it’s up to you to decide to use the leverage of your mind to create the life you desire or live others people’s lives by following their mind. You have the leverage, use it or let other use their leverage of mind and use you as their tool.