Thinking-Rich.com

Have you ever encountered a get-rich-quick opportunity that seemed almost good enough to be true? The kind that really catches your eye and attention and gets the wheels spinning in your head? I know I have and I admit, I’ve even tried one or two.

It wasn’t quick and I’m still not rich.

The problem is that we often think, “Dang, it’s only $749. What do I have to lose?”

Much more than $749.

Whatever the amount, the money represents more than mere dollars and cents. It’s an investment. And if you invest your money in the wrong thing, you’re gonna lose not only the original sum, but the amount the money could have brought you if you had invested in the right thing.

You’ve lost the chance to put that money to use furthering your education, buying some inventory you know you could have sold (maybe not so quickly) on eBay, or paying off some bill or relative that’s been weighing on you.

You also stand to lose some faith in yourself and in others. It’s not good for our self-esteem to find out we’ve been taken. This is such a serious matter that most people won’t ask for their money back no matter what the iron-clad guarantee promised, because they don’t want to be seen as a failure. I mean, the sales letter promised a 3-year-old could make millions on the system - but you couldn’t?

Ouch.

And losing faith in others sucks just as much. Don’t you want to be in a business where people are respected and trusted? Don’t you want your customers/clients/whatever to feel grateful they encountered you and what you had to offer? Do you really want to associate or be associated with rip-offs?

You also lose a dream - no matter how fleeting - of creating the life you want to live. Paying to have your hopes taken away is worse than trying something on your own and failing. If you “fail” while creating your own way to wealth, it only means you’ve learned what doesn’t work. You’ve gained knowledge, experience, and maybe even found what does work.

Winning doesn’t have to come with someone else losing. Every one of us who actually cares about creating value and improving other’s lives with what we offer are hurt by the image presented by these jerks. I think believing in the “essential goodness” of people is a much saner outlook than living in distrust and fear. The get-rich-quick scum chip away at that essential goodness with every dollar and dream they steal.

You can be rich, but if you can’t say you didn’t take advantage of others, you’ll never be truly wealthy.

I began this blog with the intent of sharing my journey to wealth with you. Yeah, you don’t know me yet so why should you care, i know. Still, i hope to offer you some concrete steps, some new ways of thinking and reacting to money and hopefully some inspiration to set you on your own road to riches.

Other than the salary striptease, I haven’t done many personal posts, but I hope you’ll find what’s happening in my life right now interesting … I’m finding it to be terrifying, illuminating, exciting, dreadful and daring.

In past posts we looked at what feeling rich really meant … whether it was money or a lifestyle. Well, I’ve decided I’m going for both. We discussed waiting until retirement to enjoy the time we have. I’ve decided I’m going to enjoy my time so much now that I’ll never need to retire from what I plan to do.

In a quick summary of the past two weeks, I have:

• Quit my job of nine years without having another to replace it
• Decided to live in a state where I have no family, friends, colleagues or acquaintances
• Bought a house over the internet in a city I’ve never been to before
• Turned down the option of a position in my old company in my new city
• Contacted an agent to sell the house I live in now
• Cashed out my 401k with the intent to live jobless for at least a year
• Completely ignored the fact that I have such a phobia of travel that I haven’t gone more than 30 miles away from my home in 15 years

The Law of Attraction and simple manifestation have made most of this possible. But what do you think? Am I absolutely insane or do you find the thought invigorating? Brave or stupid? Refreshing or irresponsible?

I’ve thought all these things, believe me. One of the most troubling thought was the realization I’d be leaving my health benefits behind. That worried me until I started looking back through my medical records and could point to at least 90 percent of my health problems being directly related to the stress of my job. Health concerns not job related probably didn’t even add up to my deductable for each year.

So I may be irresponsible for not transferring and keeping my seniority, pension, and whatnot. But one thing about corporate America was the last straw - when I gave my resignation, not a single person in upper management said thanks for the nine years you’ve spent here, we’ll miss you, or sorry to see you go. And yes, before you ask, that was nine years with positive reviews and not a single write up or verbal reprimand.

Here’s to the next nine years. They may be scary. but they’ll be mine.

~$~

When life is up in the air it’s hard to stay on focus. It’s hard to remember your ultimate goals at times and some things get neglected. As with my life at the moment. As with this blog.

I’m in the process of moving several states away and was actually supposed to be there three days ago. But the moving trailer is still sitting out in front of my house and the neighbors are beginning to wonder if we’re really moving. I think they suspect I bought a huge ugly tractor trailer for storage or a laboratory for mad experiments.

What’s cool about the whole deal is that every delay and little insane glitch that happens has actually been to my benefit. I can be grateful for so much that would normally be frustrating. The fact that the carpet layers were two days late meant I could get more painting done without worrying about ruining the floors. Being here longer because the trailer won’t move means I could do more touch-ups to the house before putting it on the market.

What’s not cool is that I’ve had very sketchy computer access. So instead of the post I wrote to explain the extreme leap I’m making into the unknown in pursuit of thinking and living rich, you get this. I hope to be back on schedule soon. Until then, let me leave you with this brilliant quote from Anne Frank:

No one has ever become poor by giving.

~$~