21 Jan 2023

Disclaimer: This post is mainly my reflections from the book (ideas that I found interesting, stuff that I know but need constant reminding etc.).

Check out my Goodreads profile for all my book recommendations (maintained since 2021 Jan).

Book: How to get Rich

Author: Felix Dennis

Rating: 5 star

• First off, remove the “hate/discomfort” towards becoming rich. You live in a capitalist world and that’s the way the world works. Life’s pleasures can be achieved while focusing on getting rich.
• Also, “making” it in life is not just by being rich. Choose your variable, and commit. Typically, money is a great by-product and a great aim to have because everything else will follow. But it is not the end-all. You do you. The principles in this book however remain the same for any variable you choose.
• Understand that people who have “made” it in life are very similar to you and have gone through the same journey as you. They just made a decision, and committed. What’s stopping you?
  • Making money is a knack. The best part is that it can be acquired!
• You did not come into life to be average. Your decisions will decide if you remain average however.

 

• So what is really required to be rich:
  • Just believing in yourself, and trying. You won’t know until you know.
  • And then the typical that we know - tunnel vision, persistence, never give up
  • Execution!!!! If the execution is perfect, it sometimes barely matters what the idea is. Don’t sit around and wait for inspiration to strike. Get doing
  • A lot of people just idle away waiting for a big idea to strike. Do small, get building, most big companies started off small, the founder didn’t have an epiphany one day.
  • If you don’t believe in yourself, no one ever will.

 

• And what you should you watch out for:
  • Excuses galore at every stage. Young - lack of exp and capital, middle age - title and salary and advancement and opportunity cost, senior - life’s responsibilities and risks etc. People have made it in all these stages. Don’t fool yourself with excuses.
    • The earlier you take the risk, the better. You have less to lose, and everything to gain. Play the odds.
  • The vast mountain of conventional wisdom - great nuggets but a lot of survivorship bias. Plus, a lot of this conventional wisdom can daunt initiatives. Listen to everyone, take opinions but do what you believe in.
  • Don’t let life happen - take control and grow consciously.
    • Not busy learning is busy dying.
    • Ward off the sclerosis of the brain and hardening of the mental arteries. Curiosity on it’s own has led many into the valley of serious wealth
  • Most important: Don’t fear the fear of failure. Take that step from knowing to doing, that will make all the difference.
    • All the debating and risk analysis and pros and cons list will do nothing - it will not make the decision for you. You make the decision for you.
    • Knowing that the fear of failure is holding you back is a step in the right direction. But it isn’t enough, because knowing isn’t doing
    • Fear of failure = fear of internal embarrassment (letting yourself down) + fear of public embarrassment. The only argument against this is you won’t know until you do it. Until then, you are just taking the safe path to an avg life.
      • What will def happen with you: mockery prior to any attempt to better yourself, envy later or gloating during your failures. Be prepared to shrug it off. People will think about you for 2 secs in their life. It’s your life, you make it large.
      • Be prepared to fail, it will happen, multiple times. It’s easier said than done, but you will have to be ready to accept it.
      • Fear of failing in the eyes of the world is the single biggest impediment to amassing wealth. SHRUG IT OFF!
  • If you are slightly better off and on the way up, now is the time to consider whether you intent to make people richer or take control of your own destiny. But the time is now. Not 1 year later, not 5 years later, NOW.
  • Not being committed
    • Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to daw back, ineffectiveness, ignore etc. If you don’t commit, nothing will ever move you forward.
    • A regular pay check is like cocaine. More you work for others, more you blunt your desire to take risks. And it is the ability to take risk and live with them is what will set you apart from the world.

 

• About how you think about your job:
  • Your job is not your life. It’s a launch pad.
  • You are not part of a “team”. You are doing what you do to succeed in your mission. Do everything with that mindset. Look for ideas, understand how business works, get great at execution, develop great people skills, network etc. But not because you are part of a family. Everyone is looking out for themselves, you should too!
  • Working for others is a reconnaissance expedition - a means and not an end to itself. It is an apprenticeship and not a goal.
  • Don’t ever use “team spirit” as an excuse for not doing!

 

• About where should you think about starting your business:
  • Don’t be attracted by glamour. Growing industry is great, whether or not it is glamourous. Similarly, new or rapidly developing industries are better. More risk capital, ignore, and power of a rising tide.
  • Three factors: inclination, aptitude and fate.
    • Inclinations count a lot, pay attention. An understanding and passionate affinity with any subject, in combination with effective business skill (Sales, marketing etc.) is a tailor made solution for your search. Not always but mostly will lead you to the right direction. But the end goal is to rich, not confirm the prejudice of your inclination, so be wary
    • Aptitude: trial or error is the only way.
    • Fate: seize the opportunity when it presents itself. Luck is prep multiplied by opportunity.
  • Be okay with emulating or stealing ideas. Execution is what matters. The original doesn’t have to be the greatest. Don’t be obsessed with proving that your idea is right. You don’t have to have new original great ideas in your life, just become skilled at seeking out ideas and executing them. Make the ideas work, that is the name of the game.
  • Just don’t give up - keep looking, keep trying. You don’t have to be a wage slave!

 

• Concluding thoughts and quotes:
  • Think big, act small!! - this is the only thing you need to remember. Ownership is important - act and get ownership.
  • TRUST YOUR INSTINCTS Come to the edge. We might fall. Come to the edge. It’s too high! COME TO THE EDGE! And they came and he pushed and they flew
  • Ownership will be half of the law, doing an outstanding job will be the other half
  • The world is full of money. Some of that money has your name on it. All you have to do is collect it.
  • You have less time than you think you have - get to work!
  • Should you succeed, you may discover that you are not as happy as you once believed that wealth might make you. But is that a reason for not beginning?