M + M + M = Profound Wealth

When I got lost in the Himalayas with my compass, it was because I was nineteen and didn’t have the patience to wait in line for another day to get a trekking permit. I abandoned a year of planning and hopped a bus for the Everest Region. I went as far as I could go legally.

I managed to sneak onto the top of a bus during the night without getting caught. I hid amongst the luggage and made it through six checkpoints.
I was there for high-altitude training, thinking this was my ticket to the Olympics.

Let me stop and rewind for those who are reading this and wondering what on God’s earth would cause me to go to the Everest Region and beyond. Funny you should ask. To answer your question, I was with my family at the U.S. military base in Yokosuka-shi, a city located in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. I picked up a Runner’s World magazine and read an interesting article touting the benefits of high-altitude training. Although the article was referring to the Rockies, I decided then and there that I would train in the Himalayas. The mountains were higher, therefore the benefits would be so incredible that I was certain I’d then be the world’s fastest human in the 800-meter run. No, I wasn’t smoking pot. I was an eighteen-year-old man-child with questionable logic.

Now, back to my story. The thrill of training in the Himalayas quickly turned into my worst nightmare. I was lost within a couple of days. By the second week, I was genuinely scared for my life. By the third week, I was convinced that my life was over.

I’ll never forget the day I met a Nepalese man who was dressed like a cowboy. He lived in a hut perched on a cliff with the world’s best view of the Himalayas. Mount Everest was just to the left of us in all of her glory. He had a second hut that was used exclusively for cooking. Yak grazed on the plateau to the right of us. He used the yak for milk and meat. The only thing that would grow at that altitude was potatoes. He used the potatoes to make fries. I was shocked when he displayed a bottle of Heinz 57 ketchup. He hired a porter to deliver ketchup to his hut every six months. After what I had just been through, fries never tasted so good.

We swapped stories for some five hours. Yes, he spoke English. At the end of our time together, he drew me a map that saved my life. In parting he shared one final story with me.

He said, “There was this young man who wanted wisdom, so he went in search of the wisest old man.”

Smiling, I responded, “Continue, this is good.”

He continued, “Upon finding the wisest old man, this young man told him that he wanted wisdom.”

I could tell that this wasn’t just another good story. Something life-altering was brewing.

“The two of them went down to the sea, and proceeded to go into the water,” he said at a different tempo.

“Suddenly, the wisest old man grabs the young man by the neck and shoves him under the water and holds him there.” He continues telling the story, “Upon lifting him out of the water, the wisest old man asks, ‘What do you want?’ And the young man says, ‘Wisdom!’ The wisest old man then shoves him under the water and holds him under even longer this time.”

I’m thinking to myself, “The wisest old man’s strength is quite impressive.”
This philosophic Nepalese man says, “The wisest old man did this three times, asking the same question, ‘What do you want?’ Each time the young man said, ‘Wisdom!’”

As the Nepalese man was telling the story, I noticed my perception of him changing. He went from cool, to philosophic, to wise.

This now-wise Nepalese man brings his story to a close. “The wisest old man shoves him under the water again, and this time holds him much longer. When he lifts him out of the water this time and asked, ‘What do you want?’ the young man gasped, ‘Aaaaaiiirrr!’

The wisest old man said, ‘Until you want wisdom as much as you want air, you’ll never have it.’”

When he finished, he looked at me and said, “Rick, until you want wisdom as much as you want air, you’ll never have it.”

That day, deep in the Everest Region, my life was changed.

I share this story for a reason. Please lean in, as I’m going to whisper this. Until you want wealth as much as you want air, you’ll never have it.

Let this sink in for a bit.

Whatever is getting in the way of you generating wealth and financial freedom needs to be handled.

Now I’d like to introduce you to the “3 M’s”. The 3 M’s are mindset, make, and manage.

Mindset: Most people operate from a financial set point. To 10x, we must master the courage to interrogate our financial set point. One way to reprogram our beliefs is to list 200 reasons why you value making more money. This exercise is easier when you do it in the context of be, do, have, and give. In other words, who do you want to be, what do you want to do, what do you want to have, and what do you want to give? This exercise is powerful as it begins to reprogram our values. Our values are the seat and source of our desire. You can literally intensify desire when you authentically and deeply value what you really want. To intensify desire is like holding a rubber band and stretching it close to the breaking point. When you let go of one side, the tension propels the rubber band across the room.

Make: Next, you must learn to make money. To make money, you must believe in yourself, be passionate about your work, have a viable product or service (i.e. people are willing to pay you for it), accelerate business model innovation and implementation, and learn, practice, embody, and master the 12 Practices?. Don’t forget, this incudes getting better and better at closing sales using Dealmaker6?. You are a dealmaker.

Manage: Finally, you must learn to manage money. More money needs to be coming in than is going out. Much more. Implement financial metrics. Optimize these. Don’t avoid any issue you have around money. Run towards, not away. Get help. Simplify complexity with exponential technologies. Get better at, and find a competent person you can trust to take you to the next level. If you are big enough to have an in-house CFO, raise the bar and pursue money mastery.
Wealth is created when you have a good relationship with money. Do you, really? Money is not evil. It is neutral. Joe Moore says, "Money is a strange thing. It ranks with love as our greatest source of joy, and with death as our greatest source of anxiety.” Does this make sense to you?

This would be a very good time to be radically vulnerable. Be willing to break through so you can break free. Don’t blame market conditions or the economy. You create your own economy when you create and deliver superior value. Be extremely intentional about creating your personalized path to financial success. As you begin creating wealth through your business, consider owning and running several profitable companies. Also, leverage other wealth creation vehicles. Not all wealth creation vehicles are created equal, so do your due diligence. Think like a billionaire, and grow rich. You’re already wealthy? Become open to going to the next level. According to Roger James Hamilton, there are nine levels in the Wealth Spectrum. Be careful not to get stuck at any of these levels. I’ve read that there will be 11 trillionaires within the next 60 years. What if you became one of them? What elegant tweak could you make to add another billion, or trillion? We have just announced the official launch of our 36ixty B Team company, a team of the absolute best talent on the planet to help governments, billionaires, and multi-billion dollar companies find and implement these elegant tweaks.