Secrets Of The Millionaire Mind
April 8th, 2009
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What an awful book. I received this as a gift from someone who had some extra copies. I appreciate the gesture, and I would gladly link to them, if it didn’t reflect so poorly on their judgment. It’s that bad.
How Secrets of the Millionaire Mind
I don’t even need to tell you what’s wrong with it. I’ll let the author do that for himself:
“This is a special ceremony, so I’m going to ask you to eliminate any distractions right now. Stop munching, stop talking on the phone, and stop whatever you’re doing. Men, if you like, you can change into a suit and tie, although a tuxedo would be best. Women, a formal evening gown and heels would be perfect. And if you don’t have anything that’s classy or new enough, this would be an occasion to go buy yourself a brand-new dress, designer label preferred.
If you’re all ready, let’s begin. Please kneel down on one knee and bow your head in respect. Ready, here goes. ‘BY THE POWER INVESTED IN ME, I HEREBY ANOINT YOU AS ‘WORTHY’ FROM NOW UNTIL FOREVER MORE!’
Okay, we’re done. You can stand up now and hold your head high because you are finally worthy.”
Feel better now?
“The play account rule is that it must be spent every month. That’s right! Each month you have to blow all the money in that account in a way that makes you feel rich. For example, imagine walking into a massage center, dumping all the money from your account on the counter, pointing to the massage therapists, and saying, ‘I want both of you on me. With the hot rocks and the frickin’ cucumbers. After that, bring me lunch!’”
After that, bring me humility!
“[At my workshop] I then pull out a wooden arrow with a steel-pointed tip and explain that as a practice for this discipline [going beyond your comfort zone], you’re going to break this arrow with your throat. I then demonstrate how the steel point goes into the soft part of your throat, while another person holds the other end of the arrow against their outstretched palm. The idea is to walk straight into the arrow and break it using only your throat before it pierces through your neck.”
And if you survive this, next you drink the Kool-Aid!
I really don’t have much to say. For an infinitely better financial motivation book, try Rich Dad, Poor Dad
So why did I even bother writing a review? Because I had to say something. It greatly concerns me that a book like this can become a bestseller. We’re in an economic crisis because too many people checked their brain at the door when making financial decisions, and I don’t think books like this are going to help restore sanity to the American public.
Have any of you read it? Did you find it helpful? If so, tell me what I’m missing.
April 8th, 2009 at 11:39 pm
I read this book, quite awhile ago. What I do remember is not being all that impressed by it either, but I’ve always held the belief that certain books come to me at certain times for certain reasons. Even if there is one single thing in the author’s writing that will move me along in my journey, then it’s been a good enough read. Sometimes what makes a good book is a Recommended Reading section or a Forward by a guest. This book did something like that for me.
Suze´s last blog post..Gratitude for All Your Ideas
April 9th, 2009 at 5:47 am
Wow, the parts you quoted do look really bad, I’m surprised as I’ve heard good things about this one. Thanks for the honest review
Glen Allsopp´s last blog post..8 Things to Stop Doing Right Now
April 9th, 2009 at 7:13 am
95% of “wealth” books are pure crap. This includes Rich Dad, Poor Dad. Though, at least Rich Dad, Poor Dad doesn’t try to kill you with an arrow. You want to know the real “secret” of wealth? Pick something you like, and that has or could have a decent amount of customers, or has lots of capital flowing through it, and work your ass off. Or, be born into it. Those two things are how 99% of the wealthy, become wealthy. Thus, a first step toward gaining wealth is to replace the time spent reading “wealth” books and use it to work towards a goal. I wasn’t being critical of you Hunter, just the idea that books like this, even good ones, can make anyone but the author wealthy.
Chad @ sentient money´s last blog post..GM Going Bankrupt?
April 9th, 2009 at 9:50 am
Hi Hunter,
Although I didn’t become a fan of T. Harv Eker after reading this book, and I have to admit this is not the best wealth book around, I still did find some valuable lessons in it. I’m not sure how you could miss every bit of it. Below are a few examples.
“A lack of money is never, ever, ever a problem. A lack of money is merely a symptom of what is going on underneath. Your outer world is simply a reflection of your inner world. If things aren’t going well in your outer life, it’s because things aren’t going well in your inner life.”
I think this to be very true. Let’s see the next one…
“It’s not what we don’t know that prevents us from succeeding; it’s what we know that just ain’t so that it is our greatest obstacle. If you want to move to a higher level of life, you have to be willing to let go of some of your old ways of thinking and being and adopt new ones.”
Still not convinced? Here’s one more…
“No thought lives in your head rent-free. Each thought you have will either be an investment or a cost. It will either move you toward happiness and success or away from it. It will either empower you or disempower you.”
These are just a few of the principles I found at the beginning of the book. There are also the seventeen wealth files that are the core teachings of the book, which I think sound very logical.
Of course this book has its flaws, just like Rich Dad Poor Dad, but I do think there are still valuable lessons to draw upon in both books.
One thing I find quite stupid though is the declarations. That’s not what I’d adopt as a success habit.
On response to Chad, I’m afraid I can’t agree with you on this:
“…a first step toward gaining wealth is to replace the time spent reading “wealth” books and use it to work towards a goal.”
I don’t mean to say that you shouldn’t work towards a goal. Of course you should. But if there are valuable lessons to be drawn from wealth books like The Millionaire Next Door, why shouldn’t we devour our time in it?
If you strive to be rich, or simply attaining financial freedom, what makes you think it’s useless to learn from people who have already achieved it? Why do you think all successful people are avid readers? Please enlighten me.
Anyhow, I don’t mean this to be a personal attack to any of you. My intention is simply to exchange views and hopefully learn from one another.
Cheers~
Mark
Mark Foo´s last blog post..The 77 Traits Of Highly Successful People – Part 5/5
April 9th, 2009 at 10:11 am
Hi Hunter,
Your review of this book left me a little puzzled. Someone who can’t find any value from this book has completely missed the point.
Is this the greatest book ever written in the areas of money and success? Probably not.
I’m in the financial services business and meet people face to face in my office daily to go over their personal finances. Trust me when I tell you this Hunter, you are probably 100 times more knowledgable in this area than the average person.
Which means that when I give the average person this book and suggest that they study it, I see HUGE changes in their financial philosophies and in their results. That’s how I measure the value of the knowledge inside the book.
Of course, the trick is in finding the core messages the author is sharing and not focus on all of the other “stuff” that “turns you off” about the whole thing. I’d have to agree with Mark on this one Hunter. Just my opinion.
Keep on sharing.
Best,
Jeff
Jeff Fagin´s last blog post..It’s a Gift …
April 9th, 2009 at 12:20 pm
@ Mark
I don’t think it’s useless to learn from people who have done it. However, the vast majority of these books don’t give you any real information. I will use one of your quotes from the book to prove it:
“A lack of money is never, ever, ever a problem. A lack of money is merely a symptom of what is going on underneath. Your outer world is simply a reflection of your inner world. If things arent going well in your outer life, its because things arent going well in your inner life.
Lack of money is a problem and it has nothing to do with you or anyone’s “inner life.” Plenty of well adjusted people don’t have the first clue about making money and plenty of people with major issues know how to make tons of money. Having a good mind set is not the answer. Veture capitalists don’t invest in people just because of thier mindset. Maybe the problem is you need some ideas on how to find a venture capitalist…does the book tell you that? Now that would be useful.
Chad @ sentient money´s last blog post..GM Going Bankrupt?
April 9th, 2009 at 3:16 pm
The excerpts you shared I really did not like. Sounded like bubble gum.
I appreciate your honest and to the point review.
Bamboo Forest – PunIntended´s last blog post..How to Know if You’re an Enlightened Being
April 9th, 2009 at 8:44 pm
I’m sad now! There were parts of it that really blew my mind. (I am now greatly concerned that it doesn’t say much about my mind.)
Actually it’s been some time since I read the book, so I can’t remember anything specifically. But I definitely don’t remember thinking it was uber awful. Hm.
Hayden Tompkins´s last blog post..You Don’t Have to Find Your Purpose
April 9th, 2009 at 9:00 pm
Hi Hunter,
Having never read “Rich Dad, Poor Dad” or this book, I can’t say if one if one is better than the other. However, based on your review, I would go on what you said and pick up Rich Dad before buying this one. Thus far, you’ve never steered me wrong with your reviews.
Barbara Swafford´s last blog post..Picture Yourself In Her Shoes
April 9th, 2009 at 9:08 pm
@ Suze, I agree that you can get something useful out of almost anything, and that’s why I finished reading this book. I’m sure I got something out of it, but unfortunately, not as much as I was expecting.
@ Glen, it did get some rave reviews on Amazon, so I guess a lot of people like it. Not sure why though.
@ Chad, I actually thought the first half of RDPD was fantastic, but then I wanted to see something practical in the second half, which unfortunately wasn’t there. But as a motivational book, I think it’s very good (though if it wasn’t a true story, he should have said so).
I agree with you about the secret of wealth, and I think the statistics support that. And I think people who are born into money tend to squander it. I don’t think many people spend large amounts of time reading books like this though – TV must consume far more time.
@ Mark, there are some decent tidbits in the book, but not a whole lot, and they’re things we’ve seen before. I think the author’s ideas would have been better suited for a blog post than a book. Your posts on the 77 traits of highly successful people, for example, is much better than this book.
As a side note, I think this shows that printed books are not necessarily better than ebooks just because of the approval process, as many people claim.
@ Jeff, good point, I’m not exactly in the target market for this book. I still think RDPD is far better for those people, however.
@ Chad, thanks for coming back to respond to Mark.
@ Bamboo Forest, as you’ve seen in the comments, some people liked it more than I did. But if this doesn’t appeal to you, that’s something we have in common.
@ Hayden, I guess it comes down to what you’ve read before. He mentions a lot of wealth principles that might blow my mind, if I hadn’t seen them so many times before. So maybe that’s what happened here – maybe you hadn’t read a lot of finance books, so the good parts were all new to you, and they outweighed the bad parts. Just guessing. Did you break the arrow with your throat?
@ Barbara, I’ll never steer someone wrong with a review. The worst that can happen is the other person might disagree because they value different things from me. That’s why when I’m looking for opinions, I don’t just read the words, but I consider who’s saying them. When you get a feel for how much your opinions are in sync with someone else’s, you’re able to read a review and decide how relevant it is to you personally.
April 9th, 2009 at 9:29 pm
@Hunter
I have never been an RDPD fan for a number of reasons. You mention one, the story is fictional. Another reason is that he has made money off the books, but none of his business ventures. I’m cool with people making money off of books, but I wouldn’t consider that good business experience to draw from (maybe specifically on publishing, but not much else).
The biggest reason is that he doesn’t seem trustworthy. To me, he comes across as a snake oil salesman. I wouldn’t buy a pack of gum off the guy let alone a how to book that could easily bankrupt me.
Also, I would definitely agree that people aren’t using a lot of time reading this type of book. Thus, they wouldn’t get much more work done, but my point was that even this little bit of work would do more for their wealth than most of these books.
Chad @ Sentient Money´s last blog post..GM Going Bankrupt?
April 10th, 2009 at 6:02 am
@Chad,
Interesting view you have here. Ok, here’s my view and see if it makes sense to you.
I agree a lack of money is a problem, but it’s only a superficial problem. We need to look more deeply into what actually causes the lack-of-money problem in the first place. We need to go to the root of the problem.
A lack of money is usually because either people don’t know how to make a lot of money or they don’t know how to keep their money. And to be able to make a lot of money or keep your money, you definitely need the right mindset. In other words, it has to do with your “inner life”.
Of course, having the right mindset is not the ultimate answer, but it’s definitely the first step in the right direction. A right mindset will set the right attitude. And I don’t think anyone would dispute that one needs the right attitude to succeed in life.
I’m not sure how venture capitalists work. And I agree they don’t invest in people just because of their mindset. But I’m also sure they wouldn’t want to invest in someone who doesn’t possess the right mindset or attitude. Agree?
A number of business people (angel investors) I spoke to told me that the first thing they look for in any business proposal is the attitude of the entrepreneur. If they don’t feel the passion, enthusiasm, and drive in the entrepreneur, they wouldn’t invest in the business no matter how good the business idea is.
The book’s objective is to set people up with the right mindset, hence, the right attitude toward money. It’s not a book meant to teach people business skills such as securing funds from venture capitalists. Every book is meant for different things. If people want to learn a business skill, they can read other books meant for that.
Please share what you think.
Cheers~
Mark
Mark Foo | TheBigDreamer.com´s last blog post..The Only 3 Reasons Why You Should Stick To Your Job
April 10th, 2009 at 6:05 am
@Hunter,
First of all, a BIG ‘Thank You’ for your compliment. That’s awfully flattering!
I agree with you that not all printed books are necessarily better than ebooks. Brian Kim’s ebook How To Finally Find What You love To Do And Get Paid For Doing It is a very good example.
Even free ebook like Yaro Starak’s Blog Profits Blueprints is of extremely high quality. That’s why I never have a different set of standards for ebooks.
Cheers~
Mark
Mark Foo | TheBigDreamer.com´s last blog post..How To Keep Track Of Your Money
April 10th, 2009 at 9:07 am
@ Mark
“Of course, having the right mindset is not the ultimate answer, but it’s definitely the first step in the right direction. A right mindset will set the right attitude. And I don’t think anyone would dispute that one needs the right attitude to succeed in life.
I’m not sure how venture capitalists work. And I agree they don’t invest in people just because of their mindset. But I’m also sure they wouldn’t want to invest in someone who doesn’t possess the right mindset or attitude. Agree?”
I think we can agree on this in general. Though, I think our definition or view of the type of mindset being promoted by most of these books is different.
The books always seem to be more cheerleader and feel good than anything else. It reminds me of when little kid sports teams/leagues don’t keep score and then give trophies to everyone. The kids know who won and then we reward everyone? Everyone doesn’t win.
Another big issue I have with these books is they rarely work to make the reader understand the difference between good risk and bad risk. The arrow example form this book shows how poorly this author understands risk. This arrow exercise is bad risk, as success doesn’t get you much. Risk/reward is something the majority of human beings are bad at, and these books usually do a poor job of covering it.
“A number of business people (angel investors) I spoke to told me that the first thing they look for in any business proposal is the attitude of the entrepreneur. If they don’t feel the passion, enthusiasm, and drive in the entrepreneur, they wouldn’t invest in the business no matter how good the business idea is.”
I would also agree with this. However, I don’t see most “wealth” books giving anyone passion for something. People almost always need the spark for something to come from within, not from outside.
One of the books I do like, which handles mindset and actual business practices is Yvon Chouinard’s book, Let My People Go Surfing. Though, I wouldn’t consider it to be categorized with this book, the RDPD books, or most of what I would consider cheerleader books, as it provides hard examples of building a business. It also shows mindset, but doesn’t give you any exercises. The book demonstrates mindset by showing how much passion and work it takes to start Patagonia, through the real life experiences of the author.
Chad @ Sentient Money´s last blog post..GM Going Bankrupt?
April 10th, 2009 at 11:40 pm
@ Chad, I liked the book, I wouldn’t trust the guy. I’d be interested in playing the game and listening to the CDs out of curiosity, but I wouldn’t pay for them unless someone convinced me there’s new and useful information on them. I suspect that’s not the case.
@ Mark, those are two great examples of quality ebooks. And the Kindle is further blurring the presumed connection between “printed on paper” and “high quality.”
April 11th, 2009 at 6:02 am
Interesting discussion Mark. I hope none of comments came off wrong.
Chad @ Sentient Money´s last blog post..GM Going Bankrupt?
April 12th, 2009 at 1:16 pm
It’s been really interesting to read the posts about a book that when read most of you failed to understand. This book may not be for some those who read it OR what they just missed was the one or two jewels that were hidden between the lines that they failed to grasp. And I do understand.
Every book no matter how bad some feel it has been written has within it little jewels of imparted knowledge that one can use if one is willing to lose the pedestal that one placed themselves on and we all do that.
As I remember my lesson in that respect was received many years ago, after countless classes, books and seminars, when I thought I knew what I was talking about.
A friend of mine had just taken this seminar came to me with a glowing recommendation of it and said that I had to take it, that it was right up my alley so to speak. Respecting thier recommendation, I signed up to take it.
While taking the first three day seminar I found myself carrying on this conversation in my head with myself about how I knew all about this and I knew all about that and wondered what I was to learn while I was there. Little did I know that what I thought I knew what was about to take a mild 180 deg turn and turn my life up side down. Here I was critiquing this course because of what I thought I knew when I should have shot that Inner critiquing voice and just listened. It wasn’t until the second of three seminars by the same organization that I got what I missed in the first one, and when I GOT IT, it hit me like a ton of bricks opening up me and my life to new plateaus. For those of you who are wondering about the phrase I GOT IT, it’s different for each of us, like a giant paradigm shift in our conscientiousness.
So for those of you who think they know it all, I feel bad that you are so self consumed as I was to the point that you may miss the little jewels that can have dramatic influences on your life or for no other reason give you something to impart to someone who can use it to the betterment of their life.
Now of course this isn’t meant to be a condemnation of all of you out there, just a thought to be considered as you go through the rest of your life.
April 12th, 2009 at 10:04 pm
@ Richard, a paradigm shift can happen at any time, can’t it? Sometimes when we least expect it.
April 13th, 2009 at 7:01 am
@Chad
Yes, it’s been a great and interesting discussion. Thanks for all the feedback!
Cheers~
Mark
Mark Foo | TheBigDreamer.com´s last blog post..The 77 Traits Of Highly Successful People – The Full List
April 14th, 2009 at 4:06 am
Woa woa woa woa woa… Hold on to your horses people!
Hunter, as much as I love you, I think you’re DEAD WRONG on this one.
It’s the BEST book in the world for people who come from poor families with poor mental attitudes.
The magic is in LIVING the “Wealth Files”
Sure, these principles might be simple but the effects come from practising them.
And the Jars System has helped me and many of my readers to succeed financially.
And I love the freedom I have of spending every cent in my Play Account to treat myself like Royalty =)
This might not be a book for you Hunter because it’s very basic and probably because you have a high prosperity consciousness but this is definitely for someone who’s on the other end of the spectrum.
P.S. The arrows aren’t painful at all!
Saiful´s last blog post..Why Accepting You Might Fail is a Step to Success
April 15th, 2009 at 6:30 am
Being the only book of this wealth generation style that I’d ever read, so I found some useful tidbits in it. Then I went to the free Millionaire Mind weekend program and lost all respect for the book (and almost any other type of marketing programs) because it was self-contradictory (never pay full price for something but value yourself and demand that people pay you your worth), pressure-tactic based (this other program we want you to buy is usually $6000 but if you buy it by the end of the weekend it will be $3000 and if you buy it in the next break, it will cost you only $1500), and outright deceitful (the speaker who wasn’t Eker used a story from the book and spoke in first person which made me believe that Eker’s story wasn’t true either).
Unfortunately it’s coloured my vision of all marketing programs and that’s made it difficult to develop my own marketing without feeling as shady as them.
Alex Fayle | Someday Syndrome´s last blog post..Addicted to Downloading: Procrastinating with eBooks
April 15th, 2009 at 10:15 pm
@ Saiful, some of the principles are helpful to people who haven’t encountered them before, but do you really think it’s better than RDPD?
@ Alex, I cringed as soon as I read “I went to the free Millionaire Mind weekend program.” I had an idea of what was coming. I’m not entirely thrilled with the need to market in a certain way, but I’m getting there. I think you have a good solution for now – outsource your copywriting, so you can focus on what you do best.
April 16th, 2009 at 6:01 am
It is much harder to have a shady marketing program if the product isn’t shady.
Chad @ sentient money´s last blog post..GM Going Bankrupt?
April 16th, 2009 at 11:03 pm
@ Chad, the product sets the stage for everything else, doesn’t it? You can still use false scarcity, yellow highlighting, and pics of bank statements, but that kind of stuff seems much less prevalent among good products.
April 18th, 2009 at 7:22 am
Agreed. Shady marketing is actually more work than real/legit marketing. Someone or some company with a legit product knows they don’t have to spend resources or moral capital on shady marketing techniques. Plus, no one with a good product wants to taint a good product with shady marketing.
Chad @ Sentient Money´s last blog post..GM Going Bankrupt?