Your Pathway to Prosperity

On the Path of Winners

    By Bayo Ogunmupe

This column introduces from this week a new series on how to attract,create, manage and share wealth. The Oxford English Dictionary defines wealth as an instance of prosperity. Whereas, wealth is simply the possession of money or assets, prosperity is the flourishing, thriving or succeeding in life. Wealth is about money but prosperity is about life; good fortune, abundance and wellbeing.
     The great theologian of the Methodist movement, John Wesley told his followers: Make all you can; save all you can and give all you can. History's most famous philanthropist, Andrew Carnegie noted: No man becomes rich unless he enriches others. Even more recently,the author of The One Minute  Millionaire, provided a similar creed for the enlightened business mogul: make millions, save millions, invest millions and give millions away.
     We celebrate the act of wealth creation, but we also recognise the joy of giving. Prosperity is best appreciated as a circle in which money is first attracted and created; then managed well and shared to good effect. People say money cannot buy happiness, we agree with them; since our findings confirm their  experience. Indeed, it is also true that the abilities to attract, create, manage and share wealth are important to living a contented life. Since many of us seek to be better off financially not to amass money for its own sake, but to be in control of our time and spend it in meaningful ways.
     Thus, the idea of prosperity suggests that we are stewards of wealth who create it from existing resources and eventually give it back in some form. But many argue that the phenomenal growth of wealth in the 20th century has caused our environmental degradation; but it is also true that without continued prosperity we will lack resources to research and invest in new energy sources or repair what has been damaged.
    However, if you understand wealth creation as part of the larger concept of prosperity, nothing should hold you back from your pursuit  of abundance. You have a duty to yourself and humanity to maximize resources, use your imagination and work hard to bring new valuable products into being. In making this, you may find that it is possible both to be well off financially and to live with a good conscience.
    Wealth creation does not happen in a vacuum. Thus, an aspirant must arm himself with thought provoking reads in economics, psychology and political economy. There is a natural divide between prosperity consciousness or the psychological aspects of creating wealth and the nuts and bolts of personal finance and economics.You must be well read on entrepreneurship, investing and more practical areas which will open your eyes and hearts to the metaphysical classics of abundance. Your ultimate aim should be to integrate both, so that you become a master of the inner and outer game of
wealth.
    We think of wealth as involving the ability to shape the world around us to profitable ends. Yet wealth 
really begins in the mind: with your ideas, vision, beliefs and character. You attract or repel wealth 
according to what you think and believe about yourself. Therefore it is never a waste of time to work on
your own self development.The Greek philosopher, Aristotle said: The hardest victory is the victory over self. But this is a victory that enables you to win in all other aspects of life.
    In his book: The Path of Prosperity, James Allen underscores this concept of an appropriate 
mindset, noting that a disciplined mind and a focus on serving others are basic to the achievement of
any prosperity.Napoleon Hill said in his Master Key to Riches, that definiteness of purpose and the 
desire to go the extra mile are essential to creating value or wealth. Max Weber's famous essay: The
Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, argues that the early Protestant merchants were able to
attract fortunes as a result of their intense preoccupation with the personal virtues of honesty and frugality.
    But there is a metaphysical basis for prosperity. Thus, there is need to achieve prosperity

consciousness, the lack of which simply indicates a separation from God or the universe; a lack that can be remedied through prayer, affirmation or visualization. This consciousness affirms that our 
emotional state of being can act as a magnet that attracts wealth.
    In Secrets of The Millionaire Mind,Harv Eker demonstrates the importance of the inner game by showing how each of us has a mental financial blueprint that either allows money to flow to us or stop.
You can change the blueprint, but the first step is to become a person open to opportunities rather than focused on complaints. In her bestseller of the 1980s,Do What You Love, the Money Will Follow, Marsha Sinetar asserts that the key to an abundant life is simply doing work you love. Not only that this leads to excellence in what you produce, which attracts greater rewards, but aligns your life with your deepest values and talents, creating for you a well of sustainable happiness. All of these have a common thread: Prosperity begins with prosperous thoughts, which in turn set up an emotional state
that can only attract good into your life.

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