Title The Science of Getting Rich
Author Wallace D. Wattles
Year Published 1910
Kind of Book Self-help/Finance/Mindset
How strongly I recommend it 6/10
My Impressions This was interesting from a history of thought perspective. This guy was trumpeting the law of abundance and attraction in 1910! He lays down several principles about the secret that are found elsewhere (Napoleon Hill, Neville Goddard etc.) Some of the claims were a bit to fantastical for me and the fact that he spends so much time advocating for unquestioning faith rubbed me the wrong way. All around a decent short read about the law of attraction though.
Date Read Nov 2021
Practical Takeaways
Do not ask why these things are true, nor speculate as to how they can be true; simply take them on trust.
You must get rid of the thought of competition. You are to create, not to compete for what is already created.
rise entirely out of the competitive thought.
Give every one more in use value than you take from them in cash value.ie. make your service worth more than you change for it
Imagine with unwavering certainty that you already have the thing that you want and feel the gratitude you would feel if you already had it
cultivate the habit of being grateful for every good thing that comes to you
Know what you want, and be specific and definite.
Live in the new house, mentally, until it takes form around you physically.
Thank God for that which you don't have yet
Do not talk about poverty. Do not investigate it, or concern yourself with it.
Do not read anything which fills your mind with gloomy images of want and suffering.
Do not read the writing of muckrakers and pessimistic philosophers
Give your whole time and mind and thought to riches
When in doubt of what to do, prolong action and spend a day or two in gratitude A: and you will know what to do
Don't mess with the dead or the occult
To get rich easily=do what you are best at
To get rich satisfactorily=do that which you WANT to do
If you feel that you are not in the right vocation, do not act too hastily in trying to get into another one. The best way, generally, to change business or environment is by growth.
Do all that you can do in a perfect manner every day, but do it without haste, worry, or fear. Go as fast as you can, but never hurry.
Do not boast or brag of your success, or talk about it unnecessarily.
Have faith in your ability to meet any emergency when it arrives.
Want for everybody what you want for yourself
Do not bother as to whether yesterday’s work was well done or ill done. Do to-day’s work well.
Whenever you find yourself in a competitive mindset switch to abundance
Never speak of yourself, your affairs, or of anything else in a discouraged or discouraging way.
Never admit the possibility of failure, or speak in a way that infers failure as a possibility.
Do not read pessimistic or conflicting literature, or get into arguments upon the matter. Do very little reading, outside of the writers mentioned in the Preface. Spend most of your leisure time in contemplating your vision, and in cultivating gratitude, and in reading this book.
Big Ideas
There is enough in the world for no one to be in poverty
There is more than enough natural resources for everyone to have what they need in the world
There is one formless substance from which all material and immaterial things (like thought) are made
Before something exists in the world it must first exist in thought
Not thinking properly is what keeps people poor
Thoughts produces shapes in the formless substance from which all things are made
If you consume something (look at it/smell it/taste it/watch it) you will think about it and then the thoughts will create more of it in your life
Money allows us to do more, have more experiences, learn more, and give more
If you miss out on an opportunity, a better one will come along