You Were Born Rich

You Were Born Rich

“Zig Ziglar might be the master of motivation, Mark Viktor Hansen (Chicken Soup for Soul) the master of storytelling, Anthony (Tony) Robbins can be the guru of personal development, but Bob Proctor is the master of thinking (thought). Bob Proctor collects thoughts like Imelda Marcos collected shoes. He connects them together in excellent sequences: one thought logically leads to the next until the entire method is constructed.”

This “quote” is often associated with Bob Proctor, creator of the (for many) cult book “You Were Born Rich.” Though he wrote a solid number of books during his career, 90% of people who’ve heard of Bob Proctor will immediately think of the book we’ll be dealing with today.

For those who don’t know, Bob Proctor is a Canadian self-help book author who looks the same (gray) for the last 40 years. If you haven’t seen him on some YouTube channel, then you maybe saw him in the famous (but controversial) documentary “The Secret,” which deals with a topic that always sparks debate, which is the “law of attraction,” whose big advocate in his books (and seminars) is precisely Bob Proctor.

The fact is that Bob Proctor was (and still is) quite criticized for his emphasis on the “law of attraction” (many consider him an expert in this area, i.e., this “law”), and that he’s misleading people that the “law of attraction” will solve everything. To be honest, I think the bigger problem is that people don’t understand how the “law of attraction” works, and that it’s not activated just by positive thinking and passivity. But about that some other time.

Even if Bob Proctor is a person who bores with the “law of attraction,” it seems to me that maybe that’s not the central theme of the book “You Were Born Rich” at all.

This relatively short book (about 150 pages and larger font), our expert Bobby divided into 10 areas:

1. Me and Money
2. How Much Is Enough
3. Self-Image
4. Let Go and Let God
5. Expect Abundance
6. The Law of Vibration and Attraction
7. Risk-Takers
8. The Razor’s Edge
9. Don’t Think Against Yourself
10. The Vacuum Law of Prosperity

Through these 10 chapters, Bob will share with us his thoughts, details from the past, some of his (business) events, as well as some life anecdotes and stories.

But who’s the “star” of these chapters? Money, “law of attraction,” Bob, the time you’ll spend on this book? 😀

In my opinion, I think the “star” of these chapters is our way of thinking (or to use an old Serbian word, mindset).

You see, although you’d most like to say this is another one of those characters selling fog with motivation (one important note: at one point Bob Proctor will start talking about life insurance policies and their significance and you’ll feel like this book will suddenly come down to just Bob convincing you to get a policy. Endure those few passages, after that Bob returns to normal :D), while reading this book, you have some strange, but simultaneously familiar encouraging vibration from somewhere. The reason is simple. Bob Proctor as a young man read the legendary book “Think and Grow Rich” by Napoleon Hill, and he swears by this book and believes it completely changed his life (realistically, the book is brilliant and is a classic for a reason). And later his mentor during advancement was also the famous Earl Nightingale. What inspired both Nightingale and Bob Proctor is one famous phrase they heard from Napoleon Hill, but which, realistically, has always been with the human race.

“We become what we think about.”

And this is primarily the focus of the book “You Were Born Rich.” The position that we can’t have material (or spiritual) wealth until we change our way of thinking and our attitude toward ourselves.

You’ve probably read quite a few books on this topic by now and think this book will have that “already seen” feeling. I thought that at first too, but as I progressed through the pages, every now and then I’d underline a sentence. To remind myself occasionally.

But there aren’t just thoughts and stories here. Bob Proctor has added a couple of simple techniques you can try, related to ways of thinking, visualization or writing down your visions (particularly interesting is an exercise that explains the point isn’t to say you want a lot of money, but also HOW MUCH EXACTLY you want, for it to make sense).

I’ll share here a couple of interesting thoughts from this book (that I underlined), you think about them too:

“Most people who fail to accumulate enough money to live the way they would like to live are the same people who are very easily influenced by the opinions of other people.”

“You must begin to understand that the present state of your bank account, your sales, your health, your social life, your position at work, etc., is nothing more than the physical manifestation of your previous thinking. If you sincerely wish to change or improve your results in the physical world, you must change your thoughts, and you must change them immediately.”

“Most religions preach that God is responsible for everything created in this world and I would completely agree with this sentence. However, as co-creators, human beings must bear responsibility for WHAT God creates in their life.”

“Start right where you are – build a picture of what you want and then act as if you already have it. To express it a bit differently: ‘Act the way the person you want to become would act.'”

“The trouble with those people who fail to achieve what they want is not that they lack the ability to do it, but that they don’t have enough faith contained in the principle ‘let go and let God’…”

“But what I want you to remember well is that, although Spirit is the essence of your being, it will never manifest into form or image without your help. So those people who sit and do nothing, saying ‘God will take care of me’ are only deceiving themselves. Because since it’s true that God helps those who help themselves, it follows that you must always do your part to start the creative process.”

And many other smart thoughts are in the book “You Were Born Rich.” If you think this book is just empty talk about motivation or the “law of attraction,” reread the previous passage/thought (I deliberately underlined it and bolded the second part). The point is that your positive attitude and thinking must be accompanied by appropriate action. But not in the ratio “95% positive thinking – 5% action” (which most of us do, and then wonder why there are no results), but we need to give a bit more “gas” to action. And not procrastinate (or to use an old Serbian verb, procrastinate) with taking actions. Any vision (and visualization) without action is just daydreaming. This way, you at least start some action (with the right vision), and whatever happens… at least something will be, right? 🙂

As I mentioned, the book is relatively short. Although Bob is a thinker and philosopher (“Better to say, bullshMFHMFMVHMMMMM!THUD!” – note from subconscious who at the last moment had a rag stuffed in her mouth and was locked back in the basement), the book doesn’t have such “weight” at all and reads easily.

Now, what conclusion to draw? The book is good, in the sense that it has many beautiful and smart (and applicable) thoughts. In the sea of today’s books, one might think this one can be skipped. But I think it’s a classic for a reason and worth reading sometime, if nothing else to have a bit more positive attitude toward money (however modern and expected the understanding that we all want it, it’s also a fact that a large number of people on one hand want money, and on the other hand have negative beliefs about it, and that quite “brakes” people). And even if you don’t want to buy (or read) the book “You Were Born Rich,” at least take and write down these few thoughts I’ve selected for you (and for myself). 🙂

I was “torn” for a longer period whether to take and read this book, and I’m glad I did it, for me it justified its price and time invested in it.

Dear reader, the book “You Were Born Rich” begins with this sentence: “Every human being is born rich, it’s just that most people are temporarily without enough money!” Do you think there’s some truth in that? 🙂

Bob Proctor’s website (Proctor Gallagher Institute)

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