In 1973 – or thereabout – a gentleman named Joe Karbo wrote a book with the title, A Lazy Man’s Way To Riches. The book sold like crazy, and the author made lots of money. When I heard about this book years later, I went after it. Trust me; if there was a lazy man’s way to getting rich, I wanted to know it.

But, just as I suspected before I bought the book, I discovered that before you could make a red cent with the sure-fire money-making ideas in Joe Karbo’s book, you had to do some hard work.

A lazy man’s way to riches? Forget it! It’s an illusion. Every rich man you find, whether he made his money in a clean way or in a dirty way, has worked hard for it.

Ask the prosperous entrepreneur about the many sleepless nights he endured, before he could get the first profit that he banked; or the crook about the excruciating mental calculations he had to make, before he could successfully con his victim of his savings, and you’ll get the idea of what I’m saying – that there is no lazy man’s way to getting rich.

With that fact embedded in your mind – that’s where I want you to store that fact, in order for you to truly understand, and take full advantage of the knowledge I’m sharing with you here – now let’s continue our journey to discovering how you can truly become successful in whatever you do, including having more money than you can consume alone.

In a recent post, I gave eight of the ladders that you have to climb to have a glimpse of what is called success. The ladders are: Principal Life Purpose, Realistic Confidence Laced With Boldness, Taking Positive Action, Savings Habit, Imagination, Enthusiasm, Self control, Covering Extra Mile.

Now, let us look at some of the other ladders, starting with Accurate Thinking. This is one capability that anyone who wants to achieve success in a great measure must possess. Accurate thinking helps you to separate fact from fiction.

What is accurate thinking? It is simply a process whereby you investigate something, until you are absolutely convinced that you know everything that you need to know about the thing or the situation, so that when you act on that knowledge, you know that you are not merely guessing.

Any man or woman, who conducts his life affairs in this manner, is assured of making the most of the opportunities that come his/her way.

Concentration.

This is the next ladder to be considered. If you are a careful observer of your behaviour, you would have discovered that concentrating on one thing for any length of time is one of the most difficult things for you to do.

Lack of concentration is largely to be blamed for failure dogging the steps of every unsuccessful man or woman that you will ever come across. I have personally had to battle this vice constantly in my own life. It’s an on-going battle, and most people don’t even know that it is a destiny destroyer.

The day you master the art of concentrating on a task until you complete it, is the day your success starts unfolding without concentration, success in anything is not in view.

Pleasing Personality

A pleasing personality is an indispensable attribute for anyone who wants to achieve success. The reason is simple: You cannot achieve success, without the cooperation of others. If people cannot get along with you, it will be extremely difficult for you to have people work with you.

Profiting from Failure

Some people hate the word failure. But I think it’s mostly misunderstood by the people who are afraid of it. Failure is nothing more than the fact that something did not turn out the way it was expected.

Well, if you tried something and it didn’t work out, the next thing to do, is to try the same thing in another way. And keep trying it in other ways, until you get it right. I like the story of Thomas Edison a lot. When he was trying to discover the incandescent light, he tried close to 10,000 tests – all of which didn‘t work! And this persistent man kept at it! Eventually, Edison had his way. He invented the light bulb!

Imagine if he had considered those times when he didn‘t achieve his objective as failures, and given up? Think about it!

The Golden Rule

The Golden Rule says, ‘Do unto others as you want them to do unto you.’ Yes? Easier said than done! But strict adherence to this rule can truly accelerate your progress to success, without incurring the wrath of anyone.

For example, one of the best ways to earn stress-free money is to render quality service to others. Every time you set out to do something great for other people, you always get in return, a measure of what you are giving out.

This is why the Golden Rule is such a great virtue to be observed by anyone who desires to create wealth with peace of mind.

Knowing these ladders that lead to enduring success is great. But it is usually of no value, if you don’t appropriate them, and make them a part of you. In other words, knowing what the Golden Rule says is nothing compared to actually doing what it says.

When I first got hold of this information from Think And Grow Rich, I got very excited about it. But I soon realized that they had no impact on me. It was when I decided that I had to start practicing the principles; when I decided to start “climbing the ladders” as it were, that I started to see changes.

And here is a confession that I believe is appropriate for me to make here: It’s not easy to adopt these principles. You really have to be dead serious about it; your determination to succeed must be such that nothing can make you to change your mind.

Then, of course, you need a coach!

Yes, you need a coach. A coach will help you to stay on course. He will be there for you when you are having doubt, whether you are on course or not. Because the coach has travelled on that road before, he will be able to hold you by the hand, and help you to cross over to the other side of the river.

That is the role I will be playing with my mentees. And what an invaluable service that is going to be for them. I didn’t get such help back in 1983. It was December 1983). And I wish I had. I would have moved faster than I did. That was my loss. Now, it‘s a gain for my mentees.

 

First published in January, 2013.