You’ve probably heard this story already…

When I was 33 I decided to become rich and made that my supreme and overriding goal. There were plenty of other things that I wanted to do – like reading books and playing sports and traveling – but I made them all distant secondary objectives. The lion’s share of my time and mental energy would be devoted to getting rich.

This one decision radically changed my life. I went from broke to kinda rich in about eighteen months and became a deca-millionaire about six years later.

Having a single supreme and overriding goal gave me laser-sharp focus and shark-like ambition. Day to day decisions about projects and people and protocols – once complicated – were easy to make. I simply asked myself, “Which is the option that will bring me more money?” And presto! The choices were clear.

It was also easier to make other, non-financial decisions. When a conflict arose between my supreme and overriding goal (like working all day Saturday) and something else (like spending the day with my family) I chose the former.

I didn’t abandon all my other duties. In fact I did them as well as I could. But they were always secondary.

And they were always noticed. By my family and my friends and late at night even by the other little selves that still lived inside my heart.

Making “getting rich” my supreme and overriding goal was ruthlessly effective. If I were restricted to a single piece of advice on growing wealthy I’d have to offer that as my suggestion.

But you know – as I did even back then – that there are other ways of being rich. For example:

1. You can be rich in your relationships with other people: friends, family and the community at large.
2. You can be rich in health: having a robust immune system, strong muscles, flexible joints and abundant energy.
3. You can be rich mentally – knowledgeable and skillful but also curious, excited, always eager to learn more.