If the answer is yes, then good for you because you’re well on the way to being Rich and Happy. Pat yourself on the back and give yourself the afternoon off to fine tune your script with an even happier ending than the one you were planning, you deserve it. Well done!

If on the other hand the answer was no, then boo hiss and other such matinee type catcalls because you sir (or madam) would benefit by a radical shift in your thinking.

You probably believe that you need to work all the hours under the sun to be successful and use phrases like ‘live ain’t easy’ or ‘hard work never killed anybody’ Well that last one isn’t totally true, in fact it’s probably killed millions prematurely, but I’m not here today to discuss that.

Stop for a moment and think of yourself as being the hero in an epic Rich and Happy story. Really see yourself as that person you have always wanted to be. See what you'd see, hear what you'd hear and feel how it would really be to be Rich and Happy.

Do you think to have got there you'd have done things a little bit differently? Would you have taken a few more risks, followed a few more dreams and laugh in the face of fear a little more often?

Yeh of course you would, because you’re a hero!

You’d be one of the few people that really could have 'My Way' played at their funeral without everybody rolling their eyes and smirking. You’d not stop from asking that beauty (or hunk) for the last dance, you’d not take any crap from the boss that treats you with contempt, and you’d not spend half your life wishing you were somewhere else, with somebody else, doing something else.

You’re a hero and you’d live your life like one too.

So what stops you?

Life really is a story you know. It can be written any way you want to write it. The rules of your story are the ones that you want to abide by.

Ok, you may have been given a template to start with by family, friends and peers and they may be expecting you to do things in a certain way, but people probably expected Walt Disney, George Washington, Martin Luther King, Richard Branson, Gandhi and thousands of other mould breakers, trend setters and great leaders to do things in a certain way. Fortunately though, they knew they could change their story and change it they did.

If you like your life story, that’s cool stick with it, but if you don’t, change it. There’ll always be enough people telling you that it can’t be done, but that just makes it so much more fun when you show them that they are wrong and you are a hero!

A couple of people have asked what we can do for people that already bought the ebook and would also like the physical version. That’s a fair question and I’m more than happy if that’s you and you buy a hard copy too, to then send you an additional copy free of charge.

Just order as normal and tell me you demand a free copy in the comments field! No fibbing though because I’ll check.

Each book sold helps us put another 10 into the hands of people that either couldn’t normally afford to buy one, or wouldn’t be exposed to such material, so every penny counts.

Nobody Is Motivated By Money

We talk in the book about the simply amazing stat that people who are paralyzed in a road traffic accident are no less happy after recovery than people who have won a 7 figure salary in the lottery.

Time and time again research has demonstrated that money doesn’t motivate people (other than in the immediate short-term) and it doesn’t make them happy. Granted, not having any at all and being faced with the problems that can cause is a great way to ensure misery, but that’s not the same thing at all.

One of the main reasons we take so much time in 'How To Be Rich and Happy' helping people to understand what's important to them in terms of their values, is because that way they can then set meaningful and motivating goals.

NOBODY is motivated by money, people are motivated by what they think money will give them and that usually means happiness.

So what stops you working out what makes you happy and then seeing how much money you need to do that? Isn’t that a more sensible option?

What stops you downsizing and taking a job you love for less money or going back to school to satisfy a life-long ambition to be a teacher or a nurse? How about pulling your 401K to start up your own business?

If that applies to you I'll tell you what stops you, it's fear. But what’s the reason for the fear?

It’s the erroneous and self-limiting belief that you cannot earn less money than you do now and yet be happier.

The reality is you can and I know because I’ve done it and I know plenty of other people that have too.

Not only can you earn less money and be happy, you can earn less money and be more motivated and energized. Doing things you love puts you’re in alignment with your values and that’s about as motivating and inspiring as life gets.

You have one crack at life, just one, so find out what makes you happy and then look for ways to afford to do it.

“Not too bad, but I’ve had better weeks and my leg hurts a bit where that 320 lb lineman fell on it. On the other hand, I suppose it was better than shoveling snow….but not much”

Maybe fate conspires against people like me from ever being famous so we can only think flippant thoughts rather than expressing them to a perplexed public, but I digress.

The guy in question actually gave a much more coherent and sensible answer than I just offered. He went on to say it was the best day of his life after the days when his kids were born.

That’s a Rich and Happy mindset right there. Sure fame and glory are nice for some people, but they alone don’t make anybody Rich and Happy and more often than not they are highly transitory.

A few days later I was watching American Idol (the secret is out, this Life Coach isn't perfect) as the singing wannabes moved onto the Hollywood stage of the competition.

Mike Lynche (one of the competitors) wife was heavily pregnant and shortly before he was due to go on stage for his audition, her waters broke.

This was pure gold for the producers of the show as the guy chatted with his wife on the phone (on the external speaker of course so everybody else could listen) in the privacy of his room with only a camera and sound crew to keep him company.

In the following program it got even better for Fox and the program makers, as the women kindly went in labor live on the show just before her hubby was due to go on stage.

By now they had a camera crew with her too and there was one surreal scene as the father-to-be showed pictures of his wife in labor on his phone when it was obvious they could have simply cut live to the birth.

Let’s leave aside whether this is reality TV gone a tad too far for a moment, because that’s another post for another day. I have no doubt lots of people around the country were oohing and aahing as the shots of the 19 second old infant and proud mother were flashed on the screen.

The real point is this.

The father is without doubt a very good singer, whether he’s good enough to win Idol remains to be seen, although my highly untrained ear doubts it very much.

However, compare the footballers attitude toward the birth of his kids, with the guys on Idol. The footballer was saying winning the Superbowl which is one of the biggest occasions in sport and the pinnacle of achievement for any football player, came second to the arrival of his children.

Whereas the singer was saying with his actions, that the long-shot of winning a singing competition was more important than witnessing the birth of his first child.

It sounds harsh when you say it like that. I do understand if he wins the entire competition or maybe even gets to the last 3, he may be set for life financially, but it’s only money for goodness sake and there are things way more important than money.

I also realize that I am looking at this situation through my own lens and with my own values and that is distorting my view. And also if I’m being fair, I have no idea what his personal circumstances are or were at the time.

Having said all that I just cannot believe his decision was a Rich and Happy decision and I doubt he’ll look back on it in twenty years with pride, especially if he fails to make the last 24 on American Idol.

I’d really like to hear your take. Do you think I’m being harsh or do you agree that some things in life are way more important than chasing money and fame?

Well, I am neither a famous singer or a famous songwriter, so walrus seems a bit grand for me.

For my next bunch of posts though-  I am the guinea pig.

Let me give you some background info so you know what to expect with what you’ll be reading about.

I am in the midst of conducting a Rich and Happy experiment.  And the test subject is... me.

Here’s how this came about.

Even though I’ve been researching, documenting and putting to use the Rich and Happy formula for almost two decades, there are definitely still times when I get myself out of synch.

For example, about three months ago I felt like I had let things get a little out of control in my life.  I liked the ways I was spending my time each day, and lots of exciting opportunities were coming up.  Yet somehow it felt like I wasn’t doing a particularly effective job of guiding my life.

Normally I like just being in the flow, as long as the flow is in alignment with my Big Five for Life, and logging me lots of Rich and Happy minutes.  In this instance though, something was telling me that I needed to take the tiller and become a bit more proactive about which stops I was choosing along the river of life.

So I sat down with a blank note-book, and wrote on the front- My Rich and Happy Goals/Dreams/Ideal Life.

I’ve done this many times before, and for whatever reason, it seemed like the right time to do it again.

One of the ideas that had been floating around in my head for almost two years was that I wanted to go study Spanish in an immersion program.  There were multiple reasons for this.  The first is that I love to travel.  As a matter of fact, travel the world is one of my Big Five for Life.

So hanging out in a Spanish speaking country for a while and going to language school sounded pretty good all by itself.  Then there would be the added benefit that since I love to travel, having a greater command of the Spanish language would open up the ease with which I could adventure through spanish speaking countries.  And there are a lot of those.

For example, I’ve done extended trips in Peru, Costa Rica, Panama, Mexico and Honduras, and they were great.  My only frustration was that although my Spanish language skills enabled me to cover the basics, it wasn’t nearly good enough to sit down and have a meaningful conversation with the people in those countries who only spoke Spanish.

And that just didn’t cut it, because I like meaningful conversations.  Especially when I have the chance to learn about the lives of people who live in cultures different from my own.

So that was one big reason.  The other was because I want my daughter to grow up speaking multiple languages.  Right now she gets English from her mom, me, and her environment, Chinese from her mom, and the occasional Spanish word from me.  Hardly the path to fluency for Spanish for her.  So me learning to speak Spanish more effectively would enable me to help her more.

So with notebook in hand I started writing.  And among the many items I wrote down, on page one I put- “I want to go learn Spanish in a 4 week immersion environment before my daughter turns 3.”

And there it was in black and white, or in this case, blue and white.  Just sitting out there waiting to become a reality.

In the How to be Rich and Happy book, we talk about how knowing what you want and writing it down has yielded amazing results for so many people.  There is, without a doubt, a certain power that comes from writing down what it is that you want to do, see, and experience in life.

I don’t know all the reasons it works.  It certainly keeps the items top of mind, so when opportunities arise, such as my re-scheduled engagement, you sort of already know what to do.

There’s also the group impact. Where when you write something down and tell others, then all kinds of people are pulling for you.

Then there also just seems to be an intangible element to it.  It’s like saying to the universe, “No, seriously, this is what I really want.”  So then the universe (insert God, Allah, Buddha, or your alternate preference for the word universe) kicks things into action to help make it happen.

Think of it like turning on the mac daddy of all OnStar systems.  Once you write down your desired state, the system kicks on and starts throwing the appropriate advise, resources, and opportunities your way.

Hey, it doesn’t really matter why it works.  The point is- it works.

And as it always has in the past, it worked again for me.  Two weeks after I wrote my intentions in my notebook, a client called and asked to reschedule a speaking event originally slated for the late fall. When I looked at my calendar I realized that because of the timing of the holidays, and some breaks I had scheduled in after the release of How to be Rich and Happy, that cancellation opened up a six week block of time.

When I told my wife about the schedule change, the first thing she said was, “Cool, let’s go to Costa Rica for the Spanish training you want to do.”

And that leads us right into the experiment.

I thought it might be useful to not only go through the experience of hanging out in Costa Rica for six weeks (It’s tough, but someone has to do it), but to also document the experience from the perspective of the Rich and Happy formula.  In other words, to be the participant as well as the observer to the experience of logging some major Rich and Happy minutes.

After all, while doing whatever you want, whenever you want can have a different look and feel for people depending on their interests, the challenges they face are often similar.

So just a few days into the experiment, here’s what I’ve faced, and what I’ve learned.

We arrived on a Thursday and by the time we drove across half of Costa Rica to where the school is, the day was pretty much shot.  Friday, Saturday, and Sunday were great.  The town where the school is located is right on the beach, very remote, not many people, and spectacularly beautiful.  Fits my ideal scenario of where to hang out for a while, which is a big reason we chose this location.

The place we are staying at will do perfect.  It’s really nice, and has enough creature comforts that I know my family has everything they need to enjoy their time while I’m in class.

The setting is excellent, the place is surrounded by jungle and we have seen monkeys and wild parrots right outside our windows at least twice per day.  The beaches are perfect for my little girl.  There are small shallow rivers for her to play in and tide pools to explore when the tide is low.

My commute to school literally is a 10 minute walk along the beach, including wading across a small river.  I stopped in the school during the weekend and it looked very nice and everyone was friendly.

So imagine my surprise, when about mid-day on Sunday I started to feel an emotion I haven’t felt in a long long time.  Something right in the neighborhood of trepidation and anxiety.

What the...?  Where in the world could that be coming from?  And why?  I’m in paradise on a six week vacation doing something that is right in the sweet spot of my ideal Rich and Happy life.

Why would I feel trepidation and anxiety?

Welcome to the world of values, beliefs, and lots of old code.

If you’ve read the value section in the How to be Rich and Happy book, you know how critical it is to understand your values.  They are at the core of who you are and when you are out of synch with them, it’s impossible to be logging Rich and Happy minutes.

If you’ve read the reviews on the book you’ve no doubt seen a lot of comments about the values section and how great it is.  Well, Tim, my co-author gets all the credit for that and I couldn’t agree more with the comments.  What he created is an excellent tool for deciphering a key piece of what it takes to be Rich and Happy.

And I’m glad he did because as I was experiencing those twinges of anxiety and trepidation I asked myself where the heck that was coming from and why?  And thanks to Tim’s value exercise, I had some great clues as to the answers.

One of my very top values is freedom.  Not surprising given that I’ve spent so much time   looking for the answer to how people get to spend their life doing whatever they want whenever they want.  Also not surprising given that I have created a life where I answer to no-one.

I left the traditional work-force almost a decade ago, I control my own schedule, I live on my terms, I teach and write about living your life, whatever that means to you, and I do everything possible to make sure I get to do whatever I want, whenever I want.

So imagine what just happened in my brain when it finally kicked in that for four weeks, four hours a day, every day, I am going to be on someone else’s schedule.

In addition to that, something else is starting to send massive warning bells through my system.  My previous formal training in learning Spanish was in high school.  Foreign language was a required subject for two semesters and so I took Spanish.  I would rate my overall high school experience to be poor, and my Spanish classes to be below that.

How I still remember this I have no idea, but for one semester my classmates and I had a very nice portly Jewish man from NYC who was teaching Spanish in a Catholic school, and who had never been to a Spanish speaking country.  I’m pretty sure he was about two pages ahead of us in the textbook.

The other semester we had a guy from Bolivia who had such a thick accent we couldn’t understand half of what he said.  I’m pretty sure he hated teaching and I do remember he had a general disdain for how lazy students were in America-  my classmates and I included.

Now to be fair, my overall goal with high school was to get through it and get the best grade possible for doing the least work possible.  And when it came to my Spanish classes they were just a necessary hurdle along the way to graduation.  At that time I saw no relevance at all as to why I needed to learn another language.

Regardless though, because of my previous experiences, my belief system about formal Spanish teaching consists of the following type of data:  boring, irrelevant, uninteresting, and often involves being harassed by authority figures.  A necessary evil that will occupy much of your time in ways other than you want to spend it.

Which means that when those beliefs are matched up with my high value of freedom,  my internal guidance system is starting to send out- what they heck are you thinking, and why oh why, are we going to re-enter formal Spanish training- types of signals.

Incredible isn’t it?  My rational mind is fully aware that what I am about to experience will be nothing like high school Spanish.  The school I will be attending got great reviews when I looked it up online, and everyone I’ve ever asked about immersion programs has always given them rave reviews both for the experiential elements as well as the impact on Spanish language competency.

Add on that that, I’m not a fifteen year old kid anymore who sees no relevance to learning a foreign language and doesn’t want to be in class.  I’m a seasoned traveler who WANTS to be fluent in Spanish, and who CHOSE to be in an immersion program.

That rational mind only has secondary data going for it though in terms of what this experience will be like.  And that secondary data is trying to compete with a belief system filled with old code that was written through first hand experience.

And thus the conflict.

If I wasn’t able to step back from the emotions and look at them from the position of an observer and analyst, I bet the emotions would be out of control right about now.  Perhaps so out of control that I would either be second guessing my decision to attend school again, or in a worst case, I’d completely talk myself out of it and bail on the idea.

I might walk away from six weeks in paradise spent logging an almost constant stream of Rich and Happy minutes.  All because of beliefs and code written in my brain a quarter century ago and the resultant values conflict they cause with my current state.

I can see that this is going to be a very interesting experiment.

More to come in the weeks ahead.

John.

Even though we have probably never have met, I don’t know anything about your life and I don’t spend all day staring into crystal balls whilst cackling manically, I still know.

And the reason I know what it is for you, is because it’s the same thing for everybody. It doesn’t matter what your upbringing was like, what nationality you are, how old you are, whether you are gay or straight, religious or atheist, democrat or republican, Coke or Pepsi, I still know.

There can only ever be one thing in your way if you think about it.

What do you think it is?

Now knowing your values maybe? How about lacking commitment? Not being lucky enough? Being too lazy? Having a terrible job that you just can’t leave because you need the money?

Of course it’s none of those things as I am sure you well know even though they all play their part to a greater or lesser extent.

The real reason you’re not as successful as you'd like to be is purely and simply because of your belief system.

I’m not totally sure which specific belief it is that stops you hitting the heights you'd like to achieve, but I do know for certain there is one lurking in the background, or in the some cases stomping around strutting its stuff in the foreground.

It maybe the belief that it’s simply not possible for somebody like you to be Rich and Happy or you don’t deserve it, or even that it’s too late in life to achieve your dreams. Or it could be you don't think your smart enough or brave enough or good looking enough?

You may not even know what it is, it may be squirreled away in a secret corner sabotaging your attempts to be successful in a multitude of ingenious ways.

Worse still, it will probably be in disguise. Shocking though it may seem, when you stop to question the little fella, he may even vehemently deny being a limiting belief.

He’ll sound incredibly plausible and have all the relevant paperwork documenting that he’s a ‘Fact’ and not a belief, but don’t trust him, he’s lying. He’s lying to you now, like he has always lied to you. He doesn’t even know how to tell the truth. In fact he can’t even remember what the truth sounds, looks or feels like.

Now before you take a baseball bat to him and bludgeon him into oblivion, let’s take a deep breath and a step back for a moment.

Consider this. Although he’s holding you back and stopping you living the life of your dreams, he’s not doing it because he hates you. In fact, it’s just the opposite. He’s doing it because he really, really loves you.

He’s there to protect you. He thinks if he convinces you to play things safe you’ll never be disappointed. After all, how can anybody be disappointed about not achieving something they never attempted in the first place?

You seldom hear people say, “Wow I’m so disappointed I didn’t get that job I never applied for” or “What a bummer I didn’t win that competition I never entered”

Those kinds of regrets are usually stored up until much later in life when it really is too late.

So how about you say thanks to him or her? How about you put your arm round his shoulder and tell him how appreciative you are? It's not him we want to attack, it's the belief itself.

Remember he is part of you and you can’t win an argument with yourself because part of you has to lose. This is a time for compromise, this is a time to talk things through and look for alternate ways to reach your dreams. So right here and right now, thank yourself. I'm serious, just say 'thanks' because you are doing the best you can.

A huge part of the Rich and Happy formula is to understand your beliefs are not facts. It is possibly THE biggest difference between Rich and Happy people and the rest of the population.

Successful people don’t adopt hand me down beliefs just because they can. They analyze each belief to see if it helps them. If it doesn’t they discard it and get a better one.

During the late 1950’s when the PGA wasn’t quite the force it is today, many golfers would room together at tournaments to save on cash. At the time the great South African golfer, Gary Player fell into the bracket of those sharing a room.

One day after a tournament in the north of the country in which he was doing really well, Player walked into his room and announced to his roomie “I absolutely love this northern Bent grass, it’s my favorite to putt on” His friend muttered something about not caring for it and Player went on to win the competition.

Two weeks later and the guys were playing in Florida and Player was once again performing well. After the third day with Player near the top of the leader board he strolled into his room and confidently announced “I absolutely love this Bermuda Grass, it’s my favorite to putt on”

“Wait a minute” said his friend “You can’t have it both ways, you said a while ago you preferred bentgrass”

“I can have it any way I want it” said Player, “I decide what I want to believe”

There are a great many people that would have thought he was being ridiculous and unrealistic. Unfortunately, we don’t know their names because they never hit the heights Player did because they were too busy clinging on to and defending their version of reality.

Make no mistake, that is what your beliefs are, your VERSION of reality, they're not reality itself.

YOU decide what you believe in and what is possible for you and you have two choices. You can let your belief system build by default, like the majority of people, or you can craft and design your beliefs to support you, a bit like Rich and Happy people do.

The Rich and Happy manual takes you through the process of how you do this, but you have to really want to take control and you have to put a bit of effort in. Neither myself, John nor anybody else can do this for you, only you can do this.

As  Johnny B Truant so brilliantly put it in this review of the book:

"You wouldn’t buy a book called How to Make a Pie, read it, declare, “That was interesting,” set it aside, and then get all mad the next morning when no pie appeared on your window sill. Most people understand that if you want pie, YOU HAVE TO ACTUALLY BAKE THE ####### PIE."

So what are you waiting for? It's time to get baking.

Without any doubt a lot of rich people pass through the doors of The Encore on an hourly basis. If I tell you it’s $300 to rent a cabana for the day, $30 to use the gym (yes, even for guests) and draining the mini bar would require half the population to then refinance their home to pay the bill, you will understand what I mean.

I do wonder though, how many of its guests are both rich AND happy?

I seldom gamble, although that wasn’t always the case. In my early twenties I liked nothing better than a day at the horses or a night at the casino, but that was then and this is now.

The reason I stopped gambling is easy to explain and it is part of the Rich and Happy formula covered in detail in the book.

The pain of losing was always worse then the joy of winning. At the time I presumed that was just me and that other people were different. However, when I was researching ‘How To Be Rich and Happy’ it became apparent that’s not the case, and we’re all pretty much wired up that way.

When people gamble, the uncertainty of the result is what gets them hooked. The dopamine that is released when we win is more powerful and more pleasurable exactly because of it’s randomness, and the brains inability to predict when it will arrive. Thus wins create an intense dopamine rush not unlike that of taking cocaine or any other powerful stimulant.

There is also something called loss aversion which makes people more susceptible to chase losses. Loosing feels so bad, they are compelled to try and get their money back. Thus they lose the ability to recognize their behavior is more likely to lead to increased losses.

A couple of days after we got to Las Vegas I decided to do some people watching. It’s something I rarely get time to do these days, but rather than brave another day in the scorching 108 degree heat, I thought I’d give my lobster tinted skin a break and wander around the casino.

It doesn’t matter what time of day it is or what day of the year it is, there are always people playing the slots and the tables and hoping to strike it big even at 7.30am. Vegas thrives on the illusion that it can create rich and happy people on the turn off a card. An trust me when I say it is an illusion.

Unfortunately, as I wondered the floor watching people play the slots as well as Blackjack, Poker and Craps I was struck by how few people seemed to be even remotely enjoying what they were doing.

In fact, other than the occasional cheer and round of high fives for a big win, the whole room was thoroughly somber and depressing. The majority of these people weren’t playing for fun, they were playing because they believed they could beat the odds and come out ahead.

In terms of financial planning that is right up there with pouring all your 401K into one of those changes machines you see in supermarkets that usually yield about a 93% return.

Do Rich and Happy people gamble? Sure they do, but they approach it with a different frame of mind. They see gambling as entertainment because they know almost nobody gets rich purely from playing games where the odds are always stacked heavily against them.

Rich and Happy people know to set their limit before they start playing and to mentally write than money off as the cost of the fun of playing. Then when the money is gone, so are they.

They know they are not above being effected by their dopamine neurons, the rush of the unexpected win and from suffering loss aversion just the same as anybody else, but they plan ahead.

They also know there is no such thing as playing the ‘houses money’ The term used to describe the situation by many gamblers when they are ahead. If Rich and Happy people are 50% up, they know that money is as valuable and as much theirs, as the money back home or in their bank account.

They don’t start making rash bets simply because they have only had the money a few moments. That doesn’t lead to a Rich and Happy life, it leads to a poor and miserable one, and if that is really what you want, just check this out.

I’m sure there were some Rich and Happy people staying at the Wynn Encore, although I didn’t see many of them playing the craps table at 7.30am or at any other time come to think of it.

Note: You can now download the first three sections of the book for free by clicking on the download button on the home page.

The book is on on pre-sale for 48 hours only starting on Tuesday 22nd September. We are offering our readers the chance to buy the book for half price two weeks before the full release as a way of saying thanks for all your support.

And finally, if you'd like to be an affiliate when the book goes live please contact Tim through this form.