Written in 1910 Wallace D Wattles The Science of Getting Rich is considered by many to be a prosperity masterpiece. I have read this book over 40 times through out my life. I first read it when I was 18 sitting in my parents basement on Christmas. I knew from an early age I always wanted to be rich.
In the 20+ years since I read that book i’m not rich but I am well off. I attribute my success largely to this book. The ideas and concepts contained within are timeless and will work for anyone who is open minded enough to use them.
Below are my highlighted notes from The Science Of Getting Rich:
CH. 1 The Right To Be Rich
Whatever may be said in the praise of poverty, the fact remains that it is not possible to live a really complete or successful life unless one is rich.
CH. 2 There Is A Science Of Getting Rich
Once a person learns and obeys these laws, he will get rich with mathematical certainty. The ownership of money and property comes as a result of doing things in a certain way.
If getting rich is the result of doing things in a certain way, then any man or woman who can do things in that way can become rich. And if like causes always produce like effects, the whole matter can be brought within the domain of an exact science.
CH. 3 Is Opportunity Monopolized?
The individual worker, however, is not held down by the ignorance or the mental slothfulness of his class; he can follow the tide of opportunity to riches.
Everything you see on earth is made from one original substance, out of which all things proceed. New forms are consantly being made and older ones are dissolving, but all are shapes assumed by one thing.
There is no limit to the supply of formless sutff or original substance. The universe is made out of it but it was not all used in making the universe.
Original substance is alive with creative energy and is constantly producing more forms.
CH. 4 The First Principle in the Science of Getting Rich
Thought is the only power which can produce tangible riches from the formless substance. The stuff from which all things are made is a substance which thinks. A thought of form in this substance produces the form.
To think what you want to think is to think truth, regardless of appearances.
It requires power to think health when surrounded by the appearances of disease, or to think riches when in the midst of the appearances of poverty. But he who acquires this power becomes a master mind. He can conquer fate; he can have what he wants.
CH. 5 Increasing Life
What he wants is that you should make the most of yourself – for yourself, and for others. And you can help others more my making the most of yourself than in any other way.
Never look at the visible supply; always look at the limitless riches in the formless substance and know that they are coming to you as fast as you can receive and use them.
CH. 6 How Riches Come To You
When you rise from the competitive to the creative plane you can scan your business transactions very strictly.
Give every person more in use value than you take from him in cash value.
Even though you can cause your riches to come out of the formless substance which permeates all of your enviornment, it does not follow that your fortune will immediately take shape from the atmosphere and come into being before your eyes.
It will do so whenever people set it in motion by desire and faith and by acting in a certain way.
Holding the whole picture in his mind, he began living in the certain way and moving toward what he wanted.
CH 7. Gratitude
When good things come to us, the more gratefully we fix our minds on the Supreme Power, the more good things we will receive – and the more rapidly they will come. The reason for this is simply that the mental attitude of gratitude draws the mind into closer touch with the source from which the blessings come.
But, the value of gratitude does not consist solely in getting more blessings in the future. Without gratitude you cannot keep from being dissatisfied with things as they are.
The moment you permit your mind to dwell with dissatisfaction upon things as they are, you begin to lose ground.
CH 8. Thinking In The Certain Way
…all you need is to know what you want and to want it badly enough so that it will stay in your thoughts.
Dwell upon your mental picture until it is clear and distinct. Then, take the mental attitude for ownership toward everything in that picture. Take possession of it in your mind in the full faith that it is actually yours. Hold to this mental ownership; do not waver for an instant in the faith that is real.
The answer to prayer is not according to your faith while you are talking, but according to your faith while you are working.
CH 9. How To Use The Will
…you must use your will to compel yourself to think and to do the right things.
Use your mind to form a mental image of what you want and to hold that vision with faith and purpose.
Do not spend your time in charitable work or charity movements. All charity only tends to perpetuate the wretchedness it aims to eradicate.
Keep your mind fixed with faith and purpose on the vision of what you want.
CH 10. Further Use Of The Will
You cannot retain a true and clear vision of wealth if you are constantly turning your attention to opposing pictures, either external or imaginary. Do not tell others of past financial troubles.
CH 11. Acting In The Certain Way
We have not yet reached the stage of development in which a person can create directly from the formless substance without natures processes or the work of human hands. A person must act as well as think.
It is not your part to guide or supervise the creative process. All you have to do with that is to retain your vision, stick to your purpose, and maintain your faith and gratitude.
By thought, the thing you want is brought to you. By action, you receive it.
Cause a change of enviornment through action.
CH 12. Efficient Action
You must begin to do what you can do where you are, and you must do all that you can do where you are.
You can advance only by being larger than your present place.
Everyday is either a successful day or a day of failure.
…Not the number of things you do, but the efficiency of each separate action that counts. Every act is, in itself, either efficient or inefficient.
Every inefficient act is a failure.
Every efficient act is a success.
In saying that you must hold your vision while you are doing each act-however trivial or common place-I do not mean to say that it is necessary at all times to see the vision distinctly to it’s smallest details. During your leisure hours, you should focus your imagination on the details of your vision in order to fix it firmly in your memory.
CH 13. Getting into the Right Business
The different faculties are tools. IT is essential to have good tools, but it is also essential that the tools should be used in the right way.
When you are in doubt wait. Fall back on the contemplation of your vision and increase your faith and purpose. And, by all means, in times of doubt the indecision, cultivate gratitude.
Whenever you find yourself hurrying, stop. Fix your attention on the mental image of the thing you want and begin to give thanks that you are getting it. This exercise of gratitude will never fail to strengthen your faith and renew your purpose.
CH 14. The Impression of Increase
Every living thing is under that necessity for continuous advancement. Where increase of life ceases, dissolution and death set in at once. People instinctively know this, and hence they are forever seeking more. This law of perpetual increase is set forth by Jesus in the parable of the talents. Only those who gain more retain any. “From him who hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath.”
Simpy feel the faith and let it work out in every transaction. Let every act and tone and look express the quiet assurance that you are getting rich-that you are already rich. Words will not be necessary to communicate this feeling to others. They will feel the sense of increase when they are in your presence, and will be attracted to you.
You must impress to others that they will feel that in associating with you they will get increase for themselves. See that you give them a use value greater than cash value you are taking from them.
Beware the competitive mind.
CH 15. The Advancing Man
Do all the work you can do, everyday, and do each piece of work in a perfectly successful manner.
Hold it in such a way that every person who comes in contact with you-whether foreman, fellow worker, or social aquaintance-will feel faith and purpose so that every one will get the sense of advancement and increase from you. People will be attracted to you, and if there is no possibility for, and if there is no possibility for advancement in your present job, you will very soon see opportunity to take another job.
CH 16. Some Cautions and Concluding Observations
Never speak of the times as being hard or of business conditions as being doubtful. Times may be hard and business doubtful for those who are on the competitive plane, but they can never be so for you. You can create what you want, and you are above fear.
Train yourself to think of and to look upon the world as a something which is becoming-which is growing-and to recard seeming evil as being only that which is undeveloped. Always speak in terms of advancement.
CH 17. Summary of The Science Of Getting Rich
THERE is a thinking stuff from which all things are made, and which, in its original state, permeates, penetrates, and fills the interspaces of the universe.
A thought in this substance produces the thing that is imaged by the thought.
Man can form things in his thought, and by impressing his thought upon formless substance can cause the thing he thinks about to be created.
In order to do this, man must pass from the competitive to the creative mind; otherwise he cannot be in harmony with the Formless Intelligence, which is always creative and never competitive in spirit.
Man may come into full harmony with the Formless Substance by entertaining a lively and sincere gratitude for the blessings it bestows upon him. Gratitude unifies the mind of man with the intelligence of Substance, so that man’s thoughts are received by the Formless. Man can remain upon the creative plane only by uniting himself with the Formless Intelligence through a deep and continuous feeling of gratitude .
Man must form a clear and definite mental image of the things he wishes to have, to do, or to become; and he must hold this mental image in his thoughts, while being deeply grateful to the Supreme that all his desires are granted to him. The man who wishes to get rich must spend his leisure hours in contemplating his Vision, and in earnest thanksgiving that the reality is being given to him. Too much stress cannot be laid on the importance of frequent contemplation of the mental image, coupled with unwavering faith and devout gratitude. This is the process by which the impression is given to the Formless, and the creative forces set in motion.
The creative energy works through the established channels of natural growth, and of the industrial and social order. All that is included in his mental image will surely be brought to the man who follows the instructions given above, and whose faith does not waver. What he wants will come to him through the ways of established trade and commerce.
In order to receive his own when it shall come to him, man must be active; and this activity can only consist in more than filling his present place. He must keep in mind the Purpose to get rich through the realization of his mental image. And he must do, every day, all that can be done that day, taking care to do each act in a successful manner. He must give to every man a use value in excess of the cash value he receives, so that each transaction makes for more life; and he must so hold the Advancing Thought that the impression of increase will be communicated to all with whom he comes in contact.
The men and women who practice the foregoing instructions will certainly get rich; and the riches they receive will be in exact proportion to the definiteness of their vision, the fixity of their purpose, the steadiness of their faith, and the depth of their gratitude.
The End
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