Entrepreneurial “Idiot” or “Mystic?” – You Judge…
I recently read Robert Shemin’s new book in one sitting on a flight to Vancouver, BC.
It’s titled, “How come THAT idiot’s rich and I’m Not?” and although he writes that the “idiot” in him made him wealthy (on page 21), if you get and read his book, you my feel he’s more of an entrepreneurial “mystic” of sorts.
You be the judge by listening to our live Virtual Book Tour. All I know is that Robert’s first sentence of the fifth paragraph on page 29 is worth 100 times what you’ll pay for his book.
I’ve been thinking about that 4-word sentence because it’s the most obvious, yet thought-provoking sentence I’ve read in a long time.
Here’s the sentence: “Real wealth is time.”
When you think about it, what the mega-wealthy buy most with their money is time.
Bill Gates doesn’t iron his own shirts. Steve Jobs doesn’t make his phone appointments. Oprah Winfrey doesn’t do house cleaning. They buy the time with their wealth by having others do it for them.
Frank Sinatra didn’t move pianos. He chose to “buy time” and outsource that task.
What about you? How much time do you intend on buying with the wealth you accumulate?
When you buy a Clear Pass in airports these days, you’re really buying time (specifically, by side-stepping the long lines at security checkpoints). My friend Bill Phillips buys time when he flies on his private jet.
I buy time for my family by hiring housekeepers, babysitters, gardeners, hot tub cleaners, handymen, IT professionals and the list goes on and on. The more wealth I accumulate, the more time I buy.
I don’t even plan my family vacations anymore … I let my “travel consultant” do it. Why? Because it buys me more time.
When you’ve get an extra 300 seconds to spare, I encourage you to make wish list of tools, skills and outsourcing resources that buy you more time.
For travel, maybe it’s a helicopter. For daily activities, maybe it’s a personal assistant. For fitness, maybe it’s a personal trainer. For diet, maybe it’s a personal cook. You decide :-)
Buying time may not automatically add years to your life, but it sure does instantly enhance the quality of your life.
Tags: alex mandossian, amazon bestseller, Info Marketing, information publishing, robert shemin, virtual book tour, wall street journal
Great post Alex. You’re absolutely right about that being worth the whole book.
I know Robert from being in the same home business for the past few years. It’s a “stream” of income for him lol.
I’ve got to spend a little time with him on occasion and he’s a very bright guy, as much as yes he can come off as quite the eccentric individual he’s nailed quite a few things on the head in that book in my opinion.
Great Post Again!
Real Wealth is Time is a theme that people like Timothy Ferriss – 4 Hour Work Week and Roger Hamilton of the XL Foundation – also promote.
I’d also like to throw into the mix that real wealth is love – if you don’t love the work you’re doing, or love the people you’re with, then you can have all the time you like and it can still be impoverished.
Thanks for the idea of a time list Alex – I’m not yet financially wwealthy so finding those things that I can do to save time – most necessary – is a challenge.
Kerry Atma
Whoa! I thought I was alone as far “mystic” defines. But, “shhhh” … it’s a secret not many know. Really heavy material around your written words Alex. And hey, I am not offended as I stick to one famous adage…
“As long as they read my name correctly, I don’t care what they say as long as they say it right”
Situation being, mystic can be confused as “idiot”. Bad for average thinking, incredibly good for educated people. Hey…don’t tell my secrets (where’s the smileys over here Alex?)
Finally a compatible teleseminar I may really need to assist, you made me rush to Borders Alex. Perhaps, a good thing…now I know I am not alone.
Rare to find, good.
A Friend.
Most people spend most of their time either feeling bad in some way, or being busy doing things that are supposeddly meant to free or shield them from feeling those bad feelings. Ask yourself the following question: what is (most) unwanted in my life right now?
To use an example related to the theme of this blog, let’s say that your answer was “Time is going by soooo fast”. Now, that in itself is not an unwanted condition (intrinsicaly); indeed a guy in prison might say it is a wanted condition because he is excited about the prospect of getting out of prison faster.
But people such as Robert Shemin and Alex who wrote this blog, and many more reading this blog, are likely experiencing the condition “Time is going by soooo fast” as an unwanted condition, meaning they somehow probably feel bad about it–e.g. they might feel stressed, powerless, anxious, etc. about it–thus making that condition an unwanted condition.
Such a person’s “natural” reaction is to want to “buy time” by having certain things in their life done by other people in exchange for money.
The 2 questions that beg to be asked, however, are: 1) “why do they want to delegate those particular tasks versus other ones?” and 2) “why were those tasks–the ones they now want to delegate–a part of their life in the first place?”
When I asked myself the above questions, I discovered that most of the things I was doing–that were using up a lot of my time–were things I was doing “in reaction” to feeling bad in some way about different things or circumstances in my life.
Something that going on, was triggering bad feelings. These not only took up a lot of my time while they were being felt (and made that time miserable), but they also led me to do other, previously-unnecessary things to no longer feel those feelings (or at least to get temporary relief from them).
And then it finally hit me; I finally “woke up”: what if I could simply get rid, ONCE AND FOR ALL, of those negative emotional reactions, then not only would I have the time available that I would have previously spent feeling bad, but I would also no longer need to spend any time fighting against, taming, or shoving down those bad feelings (and I am clear that the latter is what took up most of my time in the past).
This was clearly a much simpler and more cost-effective way to SAVE TIME and to have more time available–WITHOUT HAVING TO MAKE A LOT OF MONEY TO BUY as much time as possible. And the best part of it was that this saved time, is actually experienced in a state of FREEDOM from feeling bad since I gave up feeling bad independently of having to change anything in my circumstances; i.e. I didn’t have to do all sorts of other things in order to feel good–those things most people try to do, and rich people buy with their money, in an attempt to feel better.
So I agree with Robert when he says “Real wealth is time”, but IMHO it means “when you don’t waste your time reacting with bad-feeling emotions to life’s circumstances, or trying to cover up those negative emotions with all sorts of activities–such as eating, drinking, taking drugs, shopping, internet-surfing, watching TV, and even rushing around making business deals, etc.–that’s when you have REAL FREEDOM which is REAL WEALTH–a state of inner peace and freedom that most people can’t even dream of and rarely attain.
But that need no longer be the case, because it is now absolutely quick and easy and effortless to stop feeling those negative emotions–no matter what they may be and no matter what may seem to have been the triggers for them up until today.
It is possible to create UNCONDITIONAL FREEDOM from any negative, bad-feeling emotional reaction–right now–and to be permanently free from such reactions. Which leaves an eternity of time available to fulfill your heart’s desires, the true desires of your innermost SELF, rather than spinning your wheels chasing an unreachable and really unnecessary carrot.
Real Wealth = TIME . . . Brilliant!
That’s such a foreign concept to most people.
Perfect example of HOW rich people think DIFFERENT.
Hi Alex,
It is a good one. Real wealth is time. But that is relative. I just lost my job 3 wks ago, so at the moment I have a lot of time. Yeah!
However, it is too easy to waste that time. Checking emails, new launches, to buy “Pain killers” for the pain I am in.
Unless you are totally focused about what you want to do, take massive action (ie use your time wisely), then having more time is not going to help.
Hey, ask any lady, if she gets a bigger handbag, she’ll just fill it up! Unfortunately, in IM there is info overload. Every day my inbox is full of great offers, great launches.
Get serious, choose one. Forget all the bells & whistles until you get A off the ground (of your internet biz). Getting T, X, Y is not going to help. In fact, they tend to confuse you. So you keep spinning your wheels. Wicked cycle. Gurus know that but keep promoting their launches as the `CURE’.
Newbie doesn’t mean stupid, I read in another blog. Was it you Alex? Or Rich Schrefen. I like you Alex, you have practical blogs.
The reason that `Idoit’ is a millionaire now and not so many of us, is because he was `stupid’ or `simple’ enough to start with the basics. Sometimes, we can be too clever for our own good. Sabotage ourselves. Get that new program. Join that coaching group/network, etc. THEN I will start. I will read, watch…others do it!
Why don’t you write a book Alex, called, “Come on, IDIOTS, Just Do IT!”
Well Alex,
If Real Wealth = Time
–>We are all wealthy because we all are given the same amount of Time-24 Hours each and every day.
Not SO
It’s HOW we use the TIME we are given that makes us Wealthy or NOT Wealthy.
Alex, You are one of the better people I know who uses Time to it’s fullest. You are Wealthy.
Thanks for teaching us all and paving the road.
To your and our continued success
Racheli Smilovits 954-567-7300
info@loans-4-u.com
http://www.loans-4-u.com
Bio http://www.MeetRacheli.com
http://www.yourmortgagecafe.com
have read that book too. Fantastic read.
It is about action taking and how proactive rich people are.
I once read a closely related book where a rich person break their avg life down into minutes and second and asked them self what can I do with these to make me more money.
Sometimes it is just about asking the higher self and acting upon that info. Even if it is not right we gave it a shot and know what not to do next time.
Hi. I am in fact a RUB-a VP at an elementary school, and the owner of a small bakery business with my husband. We have worked hard for the past 20 years and there is not much to show for it other than lots of people who respect our work and our efforts. But now at 41 we are both very tired of the 24/7 life style. My husband and I and our two lovely girls work hard but if I had to really think about why we do all of this, my answer would be: to one day obtain enough wealth so that I could have the time and freedom to write books, to teach children that inner wisdom is much more valuable than doing well at a prescribed curriculm and to spend time enjoying the world! I am a little wary bc like so many self help book lovers, I have yet to find one teacher who can really help us break through all of the chains and bad habits and poor thinking that have kept my husband and I here in debt and working hard. I look forward to reading this book and Alex I thank you for the opportunity and for your wisdom in sharing your knowledge to those of us who aspire to making life all that it can be.
take care,
Diana