Secrets of the Millionaire Mind

Confession first: the title is a little cheesy. The first time I saw it, I assumed it was another get-rich pep talk. But I read it properly, and I got a lot out of it. It won't tell you which stocks to buy or how to invest in property. It's not about tactics. It's about the underlying principles, like reinstalling the operating system your money runs on.

Harv Eker grew up in Canada. By his own account, he started more than a dozen businesses that failed, and at his lowest he was living in his parents' basement. A wealthy family friend set him straight: if you're not as successful as you want to be, there's something you don't know yet. Rich people and poor people think differently; thinking drives action, and action drives results. He later borrowed $2,000 on a credit card to open a fitness store, grew it to ten stores in two and a half years, and sold half the company to a Fortune 500 firm. The book came out in 2005 and hit the New York Times bestseller list.

A lack of money is never the problem. It's a symptom. This line shook me most. We tend to put money after "because": because money's tight, I have to cut back or take on more work. But a shortage of money is a result. The real question is what's causing it.

Your "money blueprint" works like a thermostat. The book's sharpest metaphor. People try everything to change the temperature of the room: work longer, start side hustles, learn to invest, which is like opening windows and fanning the air. But if the thermostat on the wall is set to 77°F, the room drifts back to 77°F. The number set inside you decides your financial level. Eker notes that many lottery winners end up back where they started within a few years, while self-made people who lose everything overnight often earn it back fast.

The thermostat was set in childhood. Three sources: what you heard as a kid ("money is dirty"), what you saw (how your parents spent and argued about money), and what you went through. To change it, first notice it, then understand it, then separate those thoughts from who you are, and finally reset it.

Reading this, I kept thinking of the reality show Undercover Billionaire. In 2019, billionaire Glenn Stearns went undercover in Erie, Pennsylvania, with $100, a pickup truck and a phone with no contacts, and gave himself 90 days to build a million-dollar business from scratch. The barbecue restaurant he built, Underdog BBQ, was valued at about $750,000 at the end. Several things about him stuck with me: get out of survival mode fast, because you can't build anything while worrying about rent; find buyers before you find a product; hire people smarter than you, and know when to stay quiet around experts; chase exposure, since competitions and cameras are hidden leverage; and lose a battle to win the bigger war. It was the book's "millionaire mind" playing out live.

Of course, I discount the tactical parts of books like this, and Eker's later high-priced seminars have drawn their share of criticism. But the core idea, that you change what's visible by first changing what's invisible, I genuinely believe.

Read it if you've worked hard for years and your finances keep landing back where they started.

A lack of money is merely a symptom of what is going on underneath.