Book Review: Secrets of the Millionaire Mind by T.Harv Eker

Secrets of the Millionaire Mind

Secrets of the Millionaire MindWith a subtitle of “Think to Get Rich” I was always going to struggle with the sentiment of Secrets of a Millionaire Mind – our February choice for Business Book Club. My scepticism was fairly quickly supported when the exemplar of how a millionaire thinks was Donald Trump – quite frankly if you have to think like Donald Trump and move in circles with people like Donald Trump to be a millionaire I’ll give is a miss.

There were also several parts of the book which was uncomfortable with my ethos. In one chapter Eker talks about how generous millionaires are in their charitable giving, with the example of one person who made it their mission to be the largest donor to the local hospital every year (to me this is more showmanship than philanthropy). In another he talks about how there are tax breaks from having your own company over being an employee. For me, if millionaires are so generous, they should just pay their taxes, thus reducing the need for charity. Rant over!

I think I realised fairly early on in the book that I haven’t got a millionaire mind, BUT, I have taken a lot from this book and ended up actually enjoying it.

Money Blueprint

So, what have I learned. The number one think I have taken from the book is that most of us are conditioned NOT to be millionaires. Throughout our life we are thrown phrases about working hard for our living, what job are you going to do, time is money, you must be careful with your money, save for a rainy day etc. All of these are safe. For most of us we have a money blueprint handed down by parents that we either continue or we rebel against and it is difficult to move away from this blueprint. Having read the book I realise that I am not a risk-taker: I might be slightly more so than my parents in that I have my own business, but I like to stay in my safe zone. Recognising that I have a money blueprint is probably the start of making some changes. These might not get me to being a millionaire, but should make me more money than I have now.

So here are ten things I have learnt from the book and I am going to work on:

  1. Action – as Eker says, we all wish we were millionaires, but to make money you have to put your ideas into action. I’ve always got new ideas, so now I am going to build on my improved habits learned from Atomic Habits and put  more into action.
  2. Self-promotion  – as a typical Brit, I am far too modest, I need to shout about my achievements much more
  3. Focus on opportunities
  4. I am going to learn to be a good receiver – whether it be compliments or business I am going to say thank you and not be embarassed
  5. I am going to start managing my money into seperate accounts to allow more to work for me
  6. I am going to look at ways of making passive income and actually put things in place to do this – see number 1 above!
  7. I am going to do things that are out of my comfort zone – I very rarely push myself to do things I am uncertain of.
  8. I am not going to say “I can’t afford” or “I haven’t got the time” – instead I will take up opportunities that I am offered.
  9. I am going to do more learning – not just through Book Club, but through online courses.
  10. I will look at problems and be bigger than they are.

Despite my cynicism I managed to take a lot out of this book and I think anyone will do so – even if it is just a few ideas to move you forward to be the best you can be.

If you are interested in joining the Business Book Club in York, read more here