Do you want to wake up every day knowing no matter how much you spend, by the time you go to bed at night your wealth will have increased again? 

Of course you do! Is there a recipe you can follow to accumulate as much as quickly? The answer (as you may have guessed) is YES. You too can become richer than you ever believed possible. You don’t even need to buy my e-book or sign up for my exclusive executive coaching program!

Wait, it gets better!

What I propose isn’t difficult, requires no up-front investment of capital, and offers almost instant returns that quickly become limitless over time!

Am I having a little too much fun with this? Possibly, but I’m just trying to make a point. We all want something that equates to endless wealth/happiness/joy/peace. And it’s ok to want that! In fact, I think it’s what everyone should have, and I believe everyone can get there, regardless of the difficulties in front of them.

I do not regard a man as poor, if the little which remains is enough for him. - Seneca

There is wealth that isn’t measured by money or possessions, but it is no less real and a lot more satisfying. I’m not here to sell you a training course or an e-book, or to ask you to subscribe to my 14-week steps-to-success personal development course. Although I do think there’s courses out there worth the investment. 

I’m someone who has failed spectacularly many times and finally learnt a pragmatic approach to success that I believe anyone can copy. I can’t even take any credit for the steps. They were discovered centuries ago, and simply continue to be rediscovered. My only claim to fame along this path is the superb thickness of my skull which steadfastly resisted allowing this precious knowledge to penetrate for so many years. My hope for anyone else reading this is that they are less thick-headed and can get there quicker.

Step 1 - Discover your true purpose

Every soul is deprived of truth against its will. - Plato

I know that I’ve faced many times the questions of what I should be doing and how I can know which path is the right one to take. These are common conundrums for many. 

So if everything else I’m suggesting hinges on this step, where on earth do you start? I’ll admit that this can take some time and effort, but it’s something that I believe anyone can do with the application of a little process and a willingness to collaborate with those around you:

• Make a list of the things you do or have done in life that make you feel the happiest; the things that make you ‘tingle’

• Find commonality in that list, look for the abstractions, talk it through with other people

• Write down a statement of what that might look like as your life’s purpose

• Experiment with it – try something out and see if it feels right

• Rinse and repeat until the hairs stand up and you can’t stop from smiling when you imagine doing nothing but things that support it

Don’t make the mistake of thinking everyone’s purpose in life is some monumental world changing theme ending in street parades and global adulation. Your purpose could be small or big – it really doesn’t matter. If it’s what brings meaning to your life then it is the right thing to do.

Step 2 - Pursue it passionately 

Bob Dylan said: 

He not busy being born is busy dying – from ‘It's Alright, Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)’

So, allow yourself to be reborn any chance you get. Embrace newness and change; Squeal and wail in delight and surprise; See everything in front of you as if for the first time; Suspend judgement in favour of wonder. 

Meditation can be the key to this (it certainly is for me). Detaching from self and becoming aware of non-self at many mindful points in the day allows that reminder of mortality to trigger. Remaining in that state of awareness makes being new again easy. It isn’t as some might think an opportunity to wallow in morbidity, but rather a release from the droning habit that life becomes; the habit that makes us efficient and productive, but stifles creativity and joy when we are lost within it.

If you really want to thirst for life; want to extract every drop of value from it, then you should live as close to death as you can. Some people do that by taking extreme risks with their physical form. I think meditation provides a much easier and more peaceful conduit to the same experience.

Step 3  - Remain unattached to outcomes

You have a right to the work, but not to the fruits - from the Bhagavad Gita

Ahh sweet outcome, how I covet thee 😉. We all do it, planning and plotting for the best possible results for our efforts. Often we are working from the noblest of intentions, but the world unfortunately has a terrible habit of not caring too much either way (or at least that’s how it can seem). Other people also have desired outcomes, and they may not always be harmony with yours. Whichever way you slice it you are doomed if you cannot learn to accept every outcome.

The best possible advice I have here comes from someone who faced some of the most tragic outcomes in history; at times for him it must’ve seemed like everything was out of control and that death and loss were his closest companions. But he wrote this to remind himself that no matter what, he always retained complete control over how he chose to accept what he could not control and what he chose to do next:

The impediment to action becomes action. The obstacle becomes the way. - Marcus Aurelius  

Step 4 - Acknowledge a higher power

When the light turns red as you approach, who do you blame? – me 😊

Secular or not you need this, trust me. We are not built to function in isolation, and we serve ourselves and others poorly when we are unable to surrender to something greater than ourselves. For me it isn’t a question. Without the understanding that there is always something greater than ourselves, and that we are unable to truly control anything outside ourselves, we are always at risk of disappointment with life.

You must understand and appreciate what you can control (your perceptions and your actions), but you should not ignore everything that is outside your control. To do so will encourage poor (or total lack of) planning and leave you unprepared when the outcome you receive is not what you wanted. 

But it is just as distracting to prescribe blame for what is not in your control; to associate each failed plan or sub-optimal outcome with some other individual or organization. Blame prevents us from taking responsibility for what we can control – ourselves. The acknowledgement of something greater than ourselves (however specific or non-specific you prefer) allows us to return our focus post-defeat to what we can do next. It lessens our need to dwell on what we never had as if it had been lost – because we can instantly understand the futility in railing against an ultimate higher power. 

Are you living the dream yet?

Don’t beat yourself up too much if you’re not there yet, or even if you can’t see how to get started. I’m not there yet either and I’ve been working on it for a long time. This is where that earlier quote from the Bhagavad Gita really helps me personally – the ‘work’ is all mine, so I revel in it. 

If you don’t know where to start or go next try this: take a step back and look for just one thing you can change. If you can see some sense in the recipe I’ve prescribed here then the first step, or the next step is much more important than knowing all the steps you’ll need.

Sometimes the harder we try, the further away everything seems to get. So perhaps you need to try a little less hard to get to where you’re going. Perhaps you need to lean a little bit on someone else or just allow time for a conversation that might help you see a place to start.

Learn more about the work that we do and the programs that we offer. Set up a call to start planning how you want to change the culture of your organization.

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About the Author:

KYLE RICHARDSON

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