wealth mindset | rebekahjmarshall

Oh my goodness, this book was hard for me to slog through. I’m not exactly sure what was so challenging for me, but I was unable to keep focused for more than a few pages at a time. A Happy Pocket Full of Money by David Cameron Gikandi was chosen as a book club pick for a women’s trading group I’m a part of for Day Trading. I try to play along but this one did not do it for me.

Perhaps I have read too many “Think Yourself Rich” books and have grown weary of the sound bites and platitudes. There must be something to said concepts for so many wealthy people to espouse them. I’m not saying they are false, but perhaps the constant koan-like paradoxes have exhausted me. I don’t know. My brain could not jump from one metaphor to another quote to a different story across a leap of faith required to accept the link between quantum physics and wealth generation. It is probably a failing or weakness on my part, but the threads were too loosely connected for me to follow.

My favorite chapter was the last one, and no, not because it was bringing the ordeal to a close. It was truly the chapter that made the clearest argument that my brain could comprehend. It focuses on money as symbol, only worth the value ascribed by those using it in trade. There is advice about taxes, offshore accounts, investing, energy transfer, ethics, etc., but no practical advice about how to make ends meet when living paycheck to paycheck. It remains a theoretical argument only the rich can claim as proof of success, while pointing to the poor as proof of failure. At some point, those doing all they can to better themselves grow weary of being told if only they believe harder, invest smarter, and intuit better, they too can become rich.

Gikandi, David Cameron. A Happy Pocket Full of Money, Hampton Roads Publishing Company, Inc., 2008.

The following was repeated no less than 500 times in the book:
“I am wealth. I am abundance. I am joy.”
I decided to use those words with AI to see what kind of images would emerge. These are the result:

These images created by Rebekah Marshall’s prompts using AI on Gencraft.com website.

Since starting my trading journey, I have been reading many financial strategy/growth mindset-type books as part of a book club on one of my platforms. I have not been very impressed with many of them. Millionaire Success Habits by Dean Graziosi was a much more enjoyable read. Not only is it written in down-to-earth, simple language, but the anecdotes, advice, and examples are relatable and realistic. Some of his ideas are a little unconventional but make a lot of sense.

One such idea his suggests is to work on strengths rather than weaknesses. So much focus is spent on trying to improve our weaknesses in our competitive culture, but why? What if we put more of our energy into focusing on our strengths and passions? Then we can hire people to do the parts we don’t excel at. It’s a win/win. He has excellent advice on short bursts of intense focus on one task to achieve more than when we multi-task. He develops the idea that relationships with our employees and customers should be better thought out and inclusive of everyone’s needs. And he has wonderful strategies for organization, productivity, and confidence building.

His tone is authentic, experienced, and direct. There is no double-speak or confusing lingo, and each chapter provides actionable steps a person could take to improve their life. He provides insight on vanquishing the inner villain who wants to sabotage us, harnessing our inner hero who wants us to succeed, and creating one clear overarching goal or why that we are working toward. He’s the one who started the whole “What’s your Why?” that every service industry uses.

Graziosi, Dean, Millionaire Success Habits, Hay House, 2019.

rebekahjmarshall

Tag Archives: wealth mindset

A Happy Pocket Full of Money (Book Review)

Millionaire Success Habits (Book Review)