The Naked Millionaire : The Ultimate Fast Track Guide to Wealth, Freedom and Fulfillment

excerpt

Your Self – Be an Authentic Millionaire

How to Simply Be Yourself (It’s all you need to be)

‘In the 21st Century, the real leaders will be the people with a unique personality, skill or product. And uniqueness never drops out of committees; it arises from deep within a person, from your essential self.’
Martha Beck – Finding your own North Star

Summary

Be clear on what you want to achieve, take ownership for everything that you do and say, and also for the talents that you already have, especially those you were born with. Make a true decision on what you are going to do, and then do it. As you do, help others, always over-deliver to customers and be persistently persistent. Then, and only then, will you find that perfect balance between happiness, wealth creation, and making a difference to yourself, others and the world.

The Naked Leader is you, not me, and the message is blindingly obvious.

It is entirely built on common sense, the stuff you already know, deep down. And, deep down, you already know that your future is your choice, and no-one else’s: as an individual, as a team or as an organization.

If you believe that, you are making a choice. If you do not believe that, you are also making a choice. After all, there are people out there in exactly the same, or worse, circumstances than you, who have gone on to achieve what you want to achieve, and more.

The single difference between people who achieve success and those who don’t is action.

What you actually do – how you act, and react – is everything. It doesn’t matter what you know, it doesn’t really matter what you say; your results always come down to one thing and one thing alone: what you do. What you, your people and your organization actually do, each and every day. Everything else is just noise.

If you want success (by your own definition) in any area of your life, know what you want to achieve. Know your desired outcome, take ownership, make a true decision, and then do something. And ask yourself the ultimate question of success:

Does what I am doing take me/us closer to achieving my/our desired outcome, or not?

If it does, do more of the same; if it does not, do something else – and keep going until you achieve what you want, or choose to give up.

And, to remove any fear, simply remember that one day you will close your eyes and you will die. So, get with the programme. Live life to the full, while you can, or don’t – your choice.

Why naked?

On the day you were born, naked, you had everything you needed, to be anything you want. On the day that you die, naked, you will look back on whether you achieved everything that you could have. If all
of this comes down to one thing, it is about fulfilling the promise of your first few seconds, while ensuring no regrets in your last…

Your truth, integrity and authenticity come from deep within, and your success will come from removing false, limiting beliefs that separate you from the essence of who you truly are, and always have been. It is this separation, from what you feel now to who you truly are, that is the root cause of many anxieties, worries and fears. When you accept that, then you start to move towards your major premise – your underlying belief system. Just reading this, and believing whatever you believe, is sometimes enough to bring you an inner peace and joy that reconnects you with your inner power.

Sustained success does not happen by accident or by chance. It happens as a result of a specific process, an exact formula.

The formula for guaranteed success

Tell everyone you know, destroy the mystery and hype surrounding business success, and personal leadership, forever.

1. Know where you want to go/be – the what – (dreams and outcomes). Have massive dreams or, at the very least, set a standard for yourself that is higher than anyone else can ever reasonably expect of you. Focus on what you want – not what you don’t want.
2. Know where you are now – the you – (ownership and honesty). Take ownership of everything that you say and do. Never say anything behind your close colleagues’ backs that you would not say to their faces. Always raise issues when they need to be raised.
3. Know what you have to do, to get to where you want to be – the moment – (choices and true decisions). From the moment you are born, until the moment that you die, you will only ever do something to the best of your ability for one reason and one reason alone, and that is because you want to – because you choose to. When you make a decision, make it ‘true’ – i.e. you will actually carry it through. It only takes a single heartbeat to make such a decision.
4. Do it! – the first action – the how – (action and persistence). Take one action. Then ask yourself: Does this action, this behaviour, this thought, take me closer to where I want to go, or closer to who I want to be? In other words, does it serve or help me, our team, or our organization, or does it not?

If ‘Yes’, do more of the same…

If ‘No’, then do something else, and if that doesn’t ‘work’ then…

Please put the next page on a wall where you can see it every day.

Do something else…
And if that doesn’t work, then do something else.
And if that doesn’t work, then do something else.
And if that doesn’t work, then do something else.
And if that doesn’t work, then do something else.
And if that doesn’t work, then do something else.
And if that doesn’t work, then do something else.
And if that doesn’t work, then do something else.
And if that doesn’t work, then do something else.
And if that doesn’t work, then do something else.
And if that doesn’t work, then do something else.
And if that doesn’t work, then do something else.
And if that doesn’t work, then do something else.
And if that doesn’t work, then do something else.
And if that doesn’t work, then do something else.
And if that doesn’t work, then do something else.

And if that doesn’t work, then do something else.
And if that doesn’t work, then do something else.
And if that doesn’t work, then do something else.
And if that doesn’t work, then do something else.

Or give up.

If you ever feel like giving up, remember that you will never know whether, if you had just kept going for a bit longer, then you might have moved forward. Many entrepreneurs believe that it is at the moment of your biggest despair that you come closest to the moment of your biggest breakthrough. If you give up, you will never know, but you will always wonder…

Your reaction

Your reaction to what you have just read will have everything to do with whether or not you are going to complete your adventure, and become a Naked Millionaire.

You may find this message – be the very best that you already are – an inspiring one. Great. Thank you for being inspired. However, please know this: I really don’t care.

Inspiration is simply not a strategy. It’s what you do with that inspiration that really matters.

I don’t want to know how you feel about what I write, or say – I want to know what you personally are going to do.

Or, when you hear this message – be the very best that you already are – it may make you feel rather sceptical, or even cynical. Great. Thank you for being sceptical, or even cynical. However, please know this: I really don’t care.

Being sceptical or cynical is simply not a strategy. It’s what you do with those feelings that really matters.

I don’t want to know how you feel about what I write, or say. I want to know what you personally are going to do.

When you hear this message – be the very best that you already are – it may make you feel very open-minded – in other words, you believe it may be true, or it may not. You are open to both possibilities. Great. Thank you for being so open-minded. However, please know this: I really don’t care.

While being open-minded may sound good, it is simply not a strategy. It’s what you do with your open mind that really matters.

I don’t want to know how you feel about what I write, or say. I want to know what you personally are going to do.

What you feel will determine what you believe – or it will, if you let it. What you believe will determine what you do – or it will, if you let it. Your adventure towards being a Naked Millionaire, towards achieving anything in your life, in your career or in your organization, will come down to one thing and one thing alone: what you do. What you personally do, each and every day, in each and every moment – starting right now.

Whether or not you succeed on your own personal journey will also come down to how much you want to succeed.

The killer question

If it’s all so simple, why isn’t everyone doing it?

1. ‘Simple’ does not equal ‘easy’. Indeed, ‘simple’ is often dismissed or looked down on, by jargon-speaking academics, expensive consultants and highbrow media.
2. Because ‘common sense’ has become not so common.
3. It can be hard to simply be yourself. At work, or when starting a company, we can feel the need to conform, or seek a compromise view. I am not saying these things are ‘right’ or ‘wrong’, but conformity and compromise won’t help you on this adventure.
4 And the biggest of them all – you went through childhood.

‘We’re born to win, but programmed to fail! We are programmed into the negative from the moment we come into this world. It starts with our upbringing. By the time you reach the age of 18, you’ve heard the word ‘no’ 200,000 times, seen 30,000 acts of violence, and have received more than 12 million messages in the form of advertising telling you how to look, what to eat, and how to feel. No wonder most of us grow up with a negative self-image!’
Desi Williamson – Get Off Your Assets! How to Unleash the Power in You

Think, just for a moment: at home, how often did you hear the word ‘no’ when you were a child? At school, how often you were taught what to think, rather than how to think? How many ‘rules’ did you learn at a young age?

‘Speak when you are spoken to.’ (Great advice for communication.)

‘Children should be seen and not heard.’ (Know your place.)

‘Don’t talk to strangers.’ (Best avoid a career in selling.)

As a Naked Millionaire, you must reverse this teaching. The very best salespeople, entrepreneurs and business people learn to love the word ‘no’. This sets them apart from their competitors – making that next sales call, sending their book off again after many rejections, taking on board all the feedback you will receive without being hurt, or taking it personally…

Choose your beliefs with care

We start to form our beliefs when we are young. We form beliefs from listening to our parents, teachers, friends and family. And these beliefs (such as which football team is best!) can have an extraordinary power and stay with us for the rest of our lives.

How many of the following ‘facts’ or beliefs do you still hold as true?

There are seven colours in a rainbow.

There are as many colours in the rainbow as the eye can see. Rainbows, like sunlight, contain a continuous spectrum that does not neatly divide into red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet.

The Great Wall of China is the only man-made object visible from the moon.

The only thing you can see from the moon is a beautiful sphere, mostly white (clouds), some blue (ocean), patches of yellow (deserts), and every once in a while some green vegetation. No man-made object is visible on this scale.

If you don’t know it now, you will never know it.

Often told to students just before they sit an exam – absolute rubbish! Our short-term memories serve us well in recalling what we have just taken in (the same applies for meeting notes, shopping lists and the key points of the talk you are about to make at an event).

You are not enough.

No matter what your age, your knowledge or experience, you all no doubt have been told many times that ‘you are clever’ or ‘you are stupid’ or ‘you are good’ or ‘you are bad’. These comments are always – just someone else’s opinion. The only fact, the only indisputable fact, is that you are. Full stop. As you read that again – ‘you are’, and you think about what that means for you, it may be that you are feeling a little more excited about your journey ahead.

Your three key actions

• Be clear on the exact outcomes, the results that you want.
• Take personal ownership and accountability for everything that you say and do – there is nothing ‘wrong’ with you.
• Make a true decision – decide to go for what you want and that you will settle for nothing less, then take one action on your journey. If it takes you closer to where you want to go, do more of the same. If not, then do something else, and so on until you succeed. What you do is all.