The Lazy Man's Way To Riches

We had an advantage over most when we started the program because we were broke ... worse than broke ... we were in debt at least $50,000 at the time. We were living in an old house. We had eight of our kids with us at the time. We were driving a broken- down car.

So we really had very little to lose ... and accepted the program. I figured it was desperation time. “They say it will work. I'll try it.” And we tried it and we got some notable results really very quickly, which encouraged us to go on.

Now one thing I've noticed about people who write to me about the program is that they are setting high goals - goals you stretch for. They have to be goals that are meaningful to you and are important to you. I've had people write to me with a goal of five million dollars, or whatever it is. That's fine - if that's important to them.

I think some people set up goals in order to set up another failure. They see themselves as victims. They expect themselves to fail. They want to fail again, so they set up a goal that's really far-fetched and absurd. They set them so high that they say, “See, I tried this program and it didn't work either. That guy Karbo is a phony, too. I tried it for thirty minutes and it didn't work out.”

But I give you my word that it really works, if you work it. It is working now for untold thousands of others worldwide.

Someone drew an analogy which I thought was perfect: Imagine three people in apartments, one adjoining the other; and the electricity has been off and the electrician comes in and turns on the power.

The person in the first apartment says, “Gee, I thought something was supposed to happen.” Well, they forgot to screw in the light bulb. So they sat there and cursed the darkness.

The people in the second apartment had the light bulb screwed in and they said, “Gee, isn't that marvelous. Look, we have light now.” They had the electricity on and there was light.

The people in the third apartment had television, air conditioning, a sewing machine - necessities and joys of life. And they said, “Isn't it marvelous.”

The power remains the same regardless of your utilization of that power. It's just whether you decide to plug in or not, it’s just your choices that matter.

I think that most of us just don't plug in enough. We don't expect enough of ourselves, of our teachers, our family, our environment, and of others. I think that's the big answer.

The most gratifying things that have happened to me as a result of writing The Lazy Man's Way to Riches have been in terms of psychic rewards. I receive letters from many people, for example, who tell me of the changes in their lives.

One fellow told me he's made $200,000. 1 had a letter from another fellow who said he made $17,000 in one day.

Another fellow said he'd averaged $19,000 a month net, and on the back of his card he showed me how many vacations he'd taken during the time he was averaging the $19,000 a month.

Now, he's a pretty high-powered guy. He said he'd been fired from a job paying $60,000 a year before that, or $5,000 a month, so $19,000 a month to him wasn't the degree of step-up it might be for someone starting out making $100 a week. But it's still a heck of a jump up.

But the ones that really touch me are the ones that tell how other areas of a person's life have changed. I received a five-page letter from a mother who said that she and her son had not spoken to each other for years and he'd gotten the book and he called up and said, “Mom, I just want to tell you that I love you.”

She said he wouldn't tell her what it was that the book contained but she said, “Here's my $10. I've got to find out what process it was. I want to know what changed him, what made him feel that way.”

I have a letter from a fellow who said he'd had a stuttering problem most of his life. He said he'd cured it in three days using what we call Super Suggestion.

We've had hundreds of letters from people who say it has changed their lives in terms of how they feel about their families, their spouses, and their children.

Because our expectations are rewarded, what we get is what we expect out of life. If you want a better life, then raise your expectations. If you're making love to your spouse you don't want to say, “You're really pretty lousy.” That's not going to get the best results for you.

Speaking in terms of expectations, and self-image, and why it's so important ... when we bought our Cadillac I really felt very uncomfortable in it. In the first place, I was afraid I was going to get “taken,” have to part with a lot of money and was going to have to pay all these high prices for repairs and so forth. That bugged me a little bit. But, beyond that, I felt like kind of a showoff ... “Who does he think he is?” and so on. But I grew accustomed to it.

The interesting thing is that we now have a Rolls Royce and I feel very comfortable. I really do. I feel like I deserve it. Ask yourself whether, sitting in a Rolls Royce, you would feel that you deserved it, you had it coming, and you earned it. If the answer is “No,” then I suggest to you that there is something to work on in your self- image. Maybe a Rolls Royce isn't important to you. Clothes aren't important to me. I own two suits that are at least five years old, much to the consternation of my wife! I rarely wear a coat and tie.

But I am grateful for all that's happened to us. A lady who interviewed me for Forbes magazine asked, “Isn't this all coincidence? Couldn't it all be coincidence?” I said, “If it is, I'll settle for it.” It may be, but I thank God there have been a remarkable chain of coincidences; and a remarkable change in my life.

Material things are important, I think. My affirmation has always been that I have all the money I need to buy the things that make me comfortable and happy, so I don't have to think about money. Which is really the state to be in. You won't buy happiness, but, on the other hand, there's no reason to put it down. It makes misery a lot more comfortable.

I know many people who are very, very rich but are really quite unhappy - still trying to make a heck of a lot more in the hopes that will make them happy. I'm a very happy guy. I'm a very happy guy in terms of material things.

But I also have a wife I love and who loves me, and kids I love and who love me. That's the real riches. A friend of ours gave us a picture we

treasure at our house. The inscription is that a man is truly rich who loves his family and friends. And that's true. That's the ultimate riches. That's the riches that can give you satisfaction, fulfillment and happiness.

But don't deny yourself the other if that is important to you. You can have everything in the world you want - everything in the world you really want. Not because this is what your family expects of you, expects you to want, or society expects you to want ... but what you really want.

Do clothes turn you on? Does a big house turn you on? Does traveling turn you on? What do you really want? You can have everything in the world you really want.

But you can't set goals for other people, and you can't let other people set goals for you. It has to be everything in the world you really want. Determining what those things are, is the biggest problem - deciding what you really want, what's important to you. And those things change, and modify.

I had a phone call about 2:00 in the morning from a friend of mine in Chicago who asked, “What do I do from here? I've reached all my goals, now where do I go? What do I want?”

I said, “Well, do either one of two things: enjoy what you've achieved or set new goals.” I like this guy very much. He's the fellow I wrote about in The Lazy Man's Way to Riches who originally sold me a dock for our house, and we became friendly. The kid had really been struggling, and now has done very well financially. He's very comfortable, has lots of leisure time, and so forth. He's decided that he doesn't want anything anymore.

My friend went to Yale where he was an outstanding swimmer and could have been Olympic material if that was what he wanted to do, but he decided that the discipline was more than he really wanted to undergo.

Somebody came up to him one day and asked, “What do you do?” Roger said, “Well, I climbed one of the biggest mountains around here,” and he added that he'd gone to Mammoth mountain and skied, and he swims two miles a day. And the guy says, “No, what do you do?” And my friend Roger said, “You mean making a living - selling nuts and bolts? But that's not what I do. That's not what I am. I am this guy who does what he feels like doing.” Too many people confuse what they do with who they are. Roger knows who he is.

He's got something wonderful on the shaving mirror at his home and it says, “What nice thing can I do for someone else today.” And he does something nice for someone else every day. He's that kind of a guy. He really is. Now that's a completely wonderful human being as far as I'm concerned.

Just to sum it up ... I think there are three Eves in the story of creation:

CONCEIVE - First we have to get a concept of what we really want. And that's really the toughest part, especially if you're having some problems - to imagine yourself in a better situation. So conceive. You have to have a concept of where you're going.

BELIEVE - The second Eve is believe, because you have to believe the concept. You have to put it into the present tense because the subconscious mind is an idiot mind; it is a computer. It simply accepts the information that's fed into it. It makes no judgment. And if you're saying, “Gee, I have a poor memory,” or “I never get it right,” or “I always goof up,” that information is stored and when you have to make a decision, that's exactly the information you draw upon, isn't it? Because that's all there is stored there.

ACHIEVE - The final Eve is achieve. You have to act as though the concept were true. It really is as simple as that. It may shake you up, as it did me at first, when you figure that it's the only possible way out. It's like the guy lying on Skid Row and saying he's either going to die there or he's going to try to put the pieces of his life together, and take full responsibility for what's happened and to realize that it isn't so difficult as he'd like to think it is.

To do what you want requires examining how you feel about things, what your attitude is. The only world that's real is the world you see. If you don't like the world you see, then you have to change the way you're looking at it. The world is constant so how come it looks so much better to someone else than it does to you.

And, of course, the Adam in the story of creation is the “up and at ‘em! “ All success is action based.

To summarize How to Manage Your Life, you can have everything in the world you want if you're willing to pay the price. That has gotten in my way at times when I have decided the price is too great and I've cast a goal aside, just as the potential Olympic swimmer decided the discipline involved just wasn't worth it to him. It depends upon what the price is.

Only you can decide whether the price is worth it, or you can “cop out” - find excuses, and continue being a victim: “I can be rich, too, if I want to be a crook like him.” You cannot have a goal in conflict with other goals; but if it's anything other than that, I think it's a cop-out. Look at it carefully. It has to be your goal.

Material things are a kind of measurement, really. It depends on how you keep score - whether your ambitions include owning a yacht, a jet, a couple of vacations homes or whatever. Once you reach a certain plateau, then beyond that it's just really a question of keeping score and getting remuneration for your time and so forth.

I think of it more in terms of career achievement. Sometimes you think that a certain level of success is unattainable, and that gets in people's way if they really believe that.

They should believe that they're capable of anything they want - if the price is worth it – if they're willing to put in the study time or the working hours. You have to see yourself as being comfortable in that situation, whatever elevation it is.

You can have everything in the world you really want if you're willing to pay the price, and there is always a price to pay. The price you pay for failure you pay all your life with misery, envy, bitterness, regret, resentment, and disappointment. The price you pay for success you only pay once.

But that will require some changes. You can decide to change, and when you do, then your life will change for you.

The Chinese say, “Doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result is insanity.” Another way of saying it is, “Keep