A Two-Step Quantum Leap in Prosperity

I was a poverty case for many years. It was kind of cool in my 20s, though when I hit 30, I decided to try to create some abundance in my life.

Many of my old friends are still struggling financially, and recently I had long talks with two of them — and realized in a new, simple way what was keeping them trapped in their endless struggles with their finances. I came up with two simple things to do that can help them take a quantum leap in prosperity:

(1) Clean up your debts.

The Chinese have it absolutely right: before each Chinese New Year, they have a great tradition of paying off all personal debt, so they start the year debt free.

It’s okay to have debt that you are managing to pay off. Long-term debts like mortgages or car payments, even student loans or credit cards are fine as long as you keep paying them down on schedule.

The kind of debt that hurts so many people is when they’ve borrowed money from friends or family — or anyone else — and are not paying them back. People hurt themselves emotionally and financially when they’ve agreed to make certain payments and have failed to do so.

If you’ve agreed to pay some person (or institution) a certain monthly amount and then defaulted on that, you are sending a powerful piece of programming — a negative affirmation, if you will — to your subconscious mind, saying in effect:

I DO NOT HAVE ENOUGH. I CAN’T PAY MY DEBTS.
I AM INCAPABLE OF KEEPING MY AGREEMENTS.

How can you possibly create a life of prosperity when you’re repeatedly telling yourself you’re incapable of it? It cannot be done. The solution is to clean up your debts: make new agreements with anyone you owe something to, and stick to those agreements. Even if you have to pay just a small amount per month, whenever you’re making a payment on time you’re sending another powerful piece of programming to your subconscious mind:

I HAVE ENOUGH.
I AM CAPABLE OF KEEPING ALL MY AGREEMENTS.
I AM CLEANING UP MY DEBTS
AND CREATING ABUNDANCE AND PROSPERITY IN MY LIFE.

If you’re going to miss a payment, contact the person you owe and re-schedule, so that you keep making these kinds of positive affirmations to your subconscious mind. You’ll find you’re fully capable of making every payment you have deeply committed to. And you’re on your way to a life of prosperity and abundance.

(2) Affirm your way to wealth.

There’s nothing new in this second piece of advice. It’s been said millions of times. Our thoughts have creative power. The more we repeat expansive thoughts, the more expansive results we see in our lives.

Find an affirmation or mantra or prayer or poem or song or anything else that works for you and repeat as often as necessary until you see the results in your life, and your affirmation is no longer necessary because it has become realized in your life.

Here’s a few that worked for me:

I AM SENSIBLE AND IN CONTROL OF MY FINANCES.
I AM CREATING TOTAL FINANCIAL SUCCESS,
IN AN EASY AND RELAXED MANNER,
A HEALTHY AND POSITIVE WAY,
IN ITS OWN PERFECT TIME,
FOR THE HIGHEST GOOD OF ALL.

I AM NOW TAKING A QUANTUM LEAP IN MY LIFE,
EMOTIONALLY AND FINANCIALLY.

You may have to find other words that have the same kind of impact that those words have had for me. But once you find the right words, and plant them in your subconscious mind, you see results in your life.

You naturally, easily and effortlessly, start thinking more expansively, more creatively. New, fresh ideas come to you. New opportunities appear. Plans come to mind. And the steps to take next become obvious and easy to take.

Soon you’re living in a brighter, far more expansive world.

The Magical Path: Q&A

The Magical Path
Q & A

Q: Right in the beginning you say your book is a course in real magic. Do you mean it? Is magic real?

A: Absolutely. Most people use different names for it. Business people call it strategic planning. The scientifically inclined call it physics or chemistry. You can even call it “intelligent design.” It is the art of creating something out of nothing — call it what you will. I’ve always liked the word magic, and I’ve always sensed that even though “stage magic” is fake, there is a long tradition of real, substantial magic.

Q: You write in your Introduction that “the magical path is a short path, a direct path to success as you choose to define it, and so is appealing and useful for a great many people, including artists, young people, the over-worked, underpaid, overwhelmed, or hopelessly lazy.” What do you mean by a direct path?

A: There are tried and true techniques that can have results that manifest very quickly. Going through a simple mediation called the Middle Pillar Meditation, for example, can have immediately positive effects on your health. It can also be used to attract more money into your life.

Q: You talk about your own “magical path” in the Introduction. Can you give us a quick version of it?

A: When I left college, I was in very bad health, physically, mentally, and emotionally. I wandered into a bookstore in Madison, Wisconsin, that specialized in western magic — something I was completely unfamiliar with. I left with a stack of books — and the first one I read, called The Art of True Healing by Israel Regardie had an immediate, positive healing effect on my life. That’s where I discovered the Middle Pillar Mediation, which not only stimulates your body’s natural healing systems, but can be used for all kinds of things, including wealth creation.

As it says in the book, These are the methods by which the dynamic nature of the subconscious can be stimulated so the human personality becomes transformed into a powerful magnet attracting to itself whatever it truly desires or is necessary to its welfare.

Q: Can we easily learn some of these techniques?

A: Yes, the book is filled with very specific exercises and techniques that anyone can learn. The only skills you need are to be able to dream, imagine, read, and write.

Q: Do you really believe that you have created your success through magic?

A: I have no doubt about it. And I never had to make some kind of leap of faith in these techniques, never had to come to believe anything. I just tried these meditations and exercises, and saw that they worked in my life.

Q: Are you saying you don’t have to believe in any of this — all you need to do is try it and see the results in your life?

A: Absolutely. Just try some of these exercises with an open mind, and see what happens.

Q: Some people have really negative views of magic, in any form.

A: Yes, and it’s kind of sad to me, because those views are based on fear. There are some people who misuse magic, it’s true. It can be used for good or ill. But we only want good in our lives, so we only use the powerful tools of magic for the highest good of all. One way we often end sessions is by affirming This, or something better, is now manifesting in totally satisfying and harmonious ways, for the highest good of all. This simple little affirmation keeps you on the right track. When using magic properly, there is nothing to fear at all.

Q: One of my favorite chapter titles is “Time and Money and the Core Belief Process” — what’s that all about?

A: It’s one of my favorite chapters too. Time and money are two major issues in most people’s lives, and they’re intricately related. I learned from James Allen’s brilliant book As You Think (originally called As a Man Thinketh) that it’s not only possible to master time and money, the process is not all that difficult. It simply involves taking a good, long look at our underlying beliefs about time and money — and then to understand that those beliefs are not necessarily true in themselves (in fact, lots of other people have very different beliefs), but they become true in our experience if we believe them. Once we realize this, we can learn to change whichever deep, underlying beliefs are not helping us to master time and money.

Q: You often say you try to give away the essence of what you know every time you speak, including interviews like this. What is the essence of what you know?

A: When you get down to trying to express the essence of what you know, the words can sound way too simple, or puzzling or enigmatic, like zen koans. The last 30 pages of the book are filled with quotes I call “Magical Passages,” because they all contain the essence of what I know. There are many ways to express it. Here’s one: You have everything you need: a miraculous body, a phenomenal brain, and a vast and powerful subconscious mind. Now it’s just a matter of focusing your mind in the right direction.

So be it. So it is!

Q: Can you give us an example of a few more of the “Magical Passages” at the end of your book?

A:

There is an ever-mysterious process of creation;
we can call it many things.
We will never understand how the process works,
but we can consciously set it in motion.
The tools we use are simply our dreams and imagination.
_____________

All creation starts with a spiritual impulse,
then becomes a thought, then an emotion.
When thought and emotion are focused,
physical creation is the result.
_____________

I close my eyes and see a field of light.
and I feel that light, and life,
in every cell of my body,
nurturing and healing every cell.
And I know that light,
and light, and love,
is who and what I am,
now and forever.
_____________

You
are a unique
creative genius, capable
of realizing your most expansive
dreams in life and fulfilling your true purpose,
moving up, and helping others move up, the pyramid
of human consciousness to self-actualization and fulfillment.
_____________

So be it. So it is!

Success With Ease / The Short Course

In 2003, The Millionaire Course was launched. It’s nearly 300 pages long, and contains just about everything I ever learned that helped me move from complete poverty to a pretty amazing level of prosperity. Over the years, the book became a live course we started calling Success With Ease — a better title, I feel, for there are many people for whom the word “millionaire” is a far-too-distant goal — or a goal they’re simply not interested in achieving. Everyone, however, wants to be successful as they choose to define success. And who doesn’t want success with ease?

We recently presented the Success With Ease Course as a 12-download audio series (available on my website). I’ve had several people, however — including a few young relatives of mine — who found the book and the audio course too long. They wanted the Cliff Notes, the condensed version. So I came up with the Success With Ease Short Course, specifically for artists, young people, and the overwhelmed, overworked, or hopelessly lazy.

It’s extremely simple, involving four steps anyone can take:

1. Decide what you want to do with your life.

Decide to do what you love.

2. Do it, in whatever way you can, and keep doing it.

Sooner or later, you’ll get good at it.

3. Imagine yourself being successful

doing what you love to do.

4. Make a plan,

and take the first obvious steps.

How much simpler can you get?

Perhaps it’s all you need to chart your course to remarkable success — doing what you love, in an easy and relaxed manner, a healthy and positive way.

Be well, be in peace,

— Marc Allen

The Power of a One-Page Plan

The older I get, the simpler things get. And I can put what I know in simpler words.

The simpler the better.

“You must make things simple,” said the great architect I.M. Pei. “You must break down your complex projects into simple steps, and take one at a time.”

Over the years, I devised a very simple system that I have used to rise out of poverty and into pretty remarkable success. The essential part of the system is:

1. Dare to dream your ideal. Start with the end in mind, and keep it in mind.
2. Make a list of all the goals necessary to create your ideal life. Rewrite your goals as affirmations, and start affirming you are now creating those goals.
3. Make a one-page plan for each goal. Keep your plan simple.

Plan your work and work your plan.

Can it really be that simple? Absolutely.

Be well, be in peace,

— Marc Allen

How You Can Be Lazy Yet Successful

Someone emailed me some very good questions the other day — questions that intrigue a lot of people:

Can someone who’s lazy really be a successful professional?

The answer is: Yes, absolutely! There are a lot of people who have understood and mastered time and money enough so that they’re successful and lazy as well. How did they do it? In a great many different creative ways of course — everyone is absolutely unique and develops their own unique methods that lead them to success. The way I did it was so simple that I can teach it to nearly everyone:

The day I turned 30, I took a sheet of paper and wrote “Ideal Scene” at the top. Then I dared to dream the kind of life I wanted ideally. It included financial success, but it also included having
a life of ease. I didn’t want to work too hard. I wanted plenty of time for other creative things, and for family, and fun. In fact — ideally — I wanted to be pretty lazy a lot of the time. That’s my natural inclination, and has been since I was a kid.

My ideal is to work when I feel like it, and not work when I feel like doing something else, especially if it involves lying down flat on my back.

I started affirming that I was becoming successful — in fact I was creating the life of my dreams — in an easy and relaxed manner, a healthy and positive way, in its own perfect time, for the highest good of all.

After I affirmed it a few thousand times over a few years, some pretty remarkable changes started happening in my life — including going from rags to riches, in my own lazy way.

Is it possible to be lazy and productive at the same time?

Absolutely. Most of us think that we have to be active all the time to be really productive. And where does that lead? To burnout, or illness, or something else that limits or destroys your productivity. But if we allow ourselves to be lazy, what happens for almost every healthy being is that after a period of time, we wake up one day and find we’re filled with energy. There’s nothing we’d rather do than be highly productive.

So many people feel they have to work 40 or 50 or even 60 hours a week — but half the time, they’re not being productive anyway. Sometimes during the day it would be far better to take a nap, because you wake up with more energy and get more done in the long run.

I live my ideal week: I don’t do mornings, ever. I have no plans before noon. I don’t do Mondays either: That’s my day to myself, with no plans at all (my favorite day of the week).

When I go into my office Tuesday afternoon, I’m energized. I really look forward to it — there’s nothing I’d rather be doing. I work Tuesday through Thursday afternoons, usually. Friday afternoon is a swing day — I might work or do something else. Saturday I’m at home. And Sunday is family day — I never work on Sunday.

That’s a fairly lazy week — I usually don’t work much over 20 or 25 hours a week. But it’s enough: I’ve built a company that has fulfilled my dreams in every way, including financially, for the past 30 years.

Be well, be in peace,

— Marc Allen

Work Smarter, Not Harder

It happens only when I am still
Then, sometimes, a small voice comes
Whispering in my heart
Words that guide my life
Words that know the power of words
To change the world
Yes
Words create our world
Sustain and destroy our world
And that is why
The dreamers are the saviors of the world

That last line is from James Allen, in As You Think: "The dreamers are the saviors of the world." Great success begins with a dream. Working skillfully, working smarter not harder, begins with first daring to dream and then daring to write a plan to reach that dream. It's as simple as that.

The stock market is up today, and I earned more money today, doing absolutely nothing (except writing some of this), than I earned in total in the first 35 years of my life. (Of course, when it goes down I lose more money than I made in my first 35 years - but, in the long run, the stock market is still a good place to have some of your assets.) I've learned something over the years about the great wisdom of the phrase we've all heard a hundred times:

Work smarter, not harder.

When I was 30 I decided to start a publishing company. I had no money, no job, and no knowledge of business. I simply decided to do it and started affirming In an easy and relaxed manner, a healthy and positive way, I am creating total success. Sometimes I'd add in its own perfect time, for the highest good of all. And I discovered over the years how powerful those repeated affirmations can be.

The first five years of the company, however, were chaos. We lost money every month. I was affirming that I was creating success, but I was blocking the power of those words to become fulfilled thru my doubts, frustrations, fears, and limited thinking.

During the first five years we kept consulting with other people, trying to find the right mentor, someone that would take our hands and guide us. We learned a lot from other people during those years, but no one stepped up and told us how to run the show. I finally realized I had to be that person.

I can probably trace the moment that my company began to be successful - it was the moment I stopped looking for someone else to guide me because I finally realized, after five years of looking elsewhere, that the best possible guide was within me.

The best possible guide and mentor for you
is within you.

Instead of asking other people the important questions you have, ask yourself first. See what answers you get.

Ask the teacher and visionary within you for
guidance, and you'll get it.

Ask and you will receive.

I often just wander around my yard asking myself questions. (I remember a phrase from an old Buffalo Springfield song: Well hello, Mr. Soul, I dropped by to pick up a reason. Whoever wrote
that song was doing exactly the same thing.) I ponder things, just by asking myself questions, and then quietly listen and hear what words emerge.

Over the years I've often pondered the words Work smarter, not harder. I stroll around and ask myself, What do those words mean? I know they're meaningful words, important words, words that can help me tremendously.

A funny thing happens with words and phrases like that: They're so obviously true that they're repeated, over and over and we've heard them so many times that we just blow them off because they're clichés. Oh yeah, the mind says, I've heard that before. I know that.

Yes, we've heard it before, but do we really know what it means? Has it had any effect in our lives? I've always had the sense with that phrase - and with so many other great words - that if we really understand those words, they can be applied in our lives. They can change our lives. That is how powerful they are!

Work smarter, not harder.

What do those words mean? I've gotten many different answers to that question over the years. Here are a few of them:

(1) Hard work is not the answer.

This runs counter to a lot of our early conditioning. Doesn't it take hard work to succeed? Isn't working hard a virtue?

It is, to a point. But our society has taken it to an extreme, and the result is a workaholic, Type-A culture that has forgotten to relax and enjoy life. Don't work too hard. Take it easy, in fact. In the long run, working with ease will accomplish more than working from stress.

(2) Dare to dream. Look at the big picture.

These words are powerful, life-changing words:

The dreamers are the saviors
of the world.

- James Allen, As You Think

(3) Make a plan.

What does it mean to work smart? It obviously means looking at the big picture, your long-terms goals, and then making a plan.

To work smart is to set a clear, concrete goal in your mind, and to keep focusing on that goal and taking whatever steps can lead you to that goal.

These are just some of the words that come to me when I ask myself what it means to work smarter, not harder. Sometimes the words I hear from within are words I've heard elsewhere, from James Allen, Eckhart Tolle, Jesus, Buddha, Thoreau, Gandhi, Martin Luther King or many others. Sometimes the words are completely original, as far as I know.

The most powerful words for you are the words you hear in your mind when you ask yourself questions and then listen silently for the answers.

The best answers are those
that come from within you.

Work smarter, not harder.
Dare to dream, make a plan, and go for it,
one small step at a time.

Be well, be in peace.

-Marc Allen

Recent Interview with Tiferet Journal

Check out my recent interview with Tiferet Journal.

Enjoy!

Marc