There are a few things that are repeating over and over in my head. One is this horrible Milli Vanilli song that played on the radio a couple days back. “Blame it on the rain that was falling, falling.” For God’s sake, I’m humming (oops, I mean, lip syncing) the tune right now as I type this blog post. The other thing that continues to play in my head is the question I get asked routinely. “Mike, how do I make a million dollars?” Same question -- morning and night -- day in and day out. “Mike, how do I make a million dollars?”
The answer is probably not what you want to hear. It is definitely something you will never see said on an infomercial or “get rich quick” website. But here’s the truth: To make a million dollars you are going to need to work your ass off, plus some. You are going to have to work harder and smarter than you ever have. You are going to have to be relentless, even when (better put – especially when) you are at the point of mental, physical and/or emotional exhaustion.
But here is the key: Working harder, smarter and more passionately alone will rarely bring you much beyond an average life. There is one more critical part to making your fist million, and you must do this immediately and constantly.
And that first step is… drum roll please… believing your financial success to be a fact. Not just wanting to get rich, through all your hard work, but actually believing your financial windfall to be already true. And I am NOT saying lying to yourself – that doesn’t work. You have to believe to your core that you have already achieved your first million. Why? Because when we believe something, I mean truly believe something to be fact, we prove ourselves to be right.
Think about it. It can be as simple as the guy driving next to you on the highway. If you believe he is a jackass, even though he hasn’t done anything, you will set him up to be a jackass. Maybe you do the old classic maneuver by tightening up the space between you and the car in front of you. When jackass boy cuts you off to squeeze in, you have proven your belief right. See, he IS a jackass. You just knew it.
I got news for you bucko. To make your first million you have to “just know it”, just like you knew about the idiot on the road. If you want to make your first million, you need to believe it and then you will prove yourself to be right.
Road rage is one thing, but money is totally different. I mean, how can you believe in something that hasn’t happened yet? If a million bucks isn’t sitting in your bank account, how can you believe you have it? If it ain’t there, it ain’t there. Right? Wrong.
Since you must believe it, you can’t lie to yourself or pretend. You need to come up with a solution that fits the fact that you HAVE made a million bucks AND that it is not in your bank account. Here is the trick: Start repeating in your head, “I have made my first million, but the rest of the world and my bank account simply don’t recognize it yet. I know I HAVE made it, THEY just don’t know it… YET.” And with that little, truthful wordsmithing trick, you have given yourself the freedom to believe. And with the freedom to believe, fully believe, you will prove yourself right and make your first million.
Oh, yeah, and that guy in the lane next to you. He really isn’t a jack ass. I swear. He’s just all flustered over some Milli-Vanilli tune.
By Mike Michalowicz, Author of The Toilet Paper Entrepreneur
