The Science of Getting Rich

By Wallace D. Wattles

Pro: The Science of Getting Rich offers great passages about our right to be rich and the destructiveness of a competitive mindset.

Con: Written in 1910, the language used can sometimes be distracting to the message.

Review:
I absolutely adore the way Wallace Wattles opens his book. He states, “Whatever may be said in praise of poverty, the fact remains that it is not possible to live a really complete or successful life unless one is rich.” The belief that lack, poverty and struggle are nobler than wealth is detrimental to experiencing abundance in your life. It is okay to want to create wealth. Wealth allows a person to be free of worry, free to experience love and joy absent of strain. Life was not meant to be harsh. It is our own beliefs about prosperity that make it so. In a book boasting the title The Science of Getting Rich, it was imperative that Wattles first and foremost addressed the mindset that prevents people from allowing themselves to accept the abundance that the Universe offers. He does this in a way that made me think, “Yes, that is true.” I felt free to then allow myself to think about the benefits of wealth and fully engage with the rest of his message.

Wattles’ book assumes that there is one permeating “substance” (call it God, Energy, Universe, etc.) whose default is abundant expansion,“increasing life.” By impressing our thoughts and goals into the “substance” we set ourselves on a course for wealth. He talks about using gratitude and our will to keep our mind focused on prosperity, i.e. have faith and belief.

A section of the book especially intriguing to my husband, Phillip, was about competition. When we compete with others, we are essentially stating that we believe that there is lack, and because there is lack, we must compete with each other to get our fair share. This is very different than believing that there is an abundance of wealth to go around for everyone; hence, you do not need to compete because there is enough for me and enough for you. At the time that Phillip read this, he was working in sales where each employee was asked to e-mail out their sales each day. So, at the end of the day, Phillip would have numerous e-mails of: sold $30,000, sold $50,000, … The company thought that this would be a good motivational technique by encouraging competition among the sales team. It just always made Phillip feel like he was not doing enough. After reading The Science of Getting Rich, he tried something different. He really embraced being on a sales team.

He began to pass leads along, he gave others ideas he thought could increase sales as a whole, he let competition go. He acted as if there was enough to go around. He believed it, and he ended the year with the highest sales in his department and a promotion. Thank you Mr. Wattles.

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