Written in plain English and peppered with stories, this book by T. Harv Eker had me hooked till the end, despite the continuous partial attention syndrome I suffer due to the end-of-year hustle.

Warning ⚠️: this book requires you to believe in the workings of the Universe. Otherwise, your mind will subconsciously reject some parts as psychobabble. For example, he advocates reciting declarations because they carry energy and help you communicate with the Universe, changing your body at the cellular level at the same time. You have to be comfortable with concepts like the Law of Attraction in order to be open-minded to his wisdom.

Which I am, I suppose. The part about developing oneself to be a money magnet and becoming a huge container resonated strongly with me because he suggested that the Universe abhors a vacuum and will rush in to fill up your money tank. I love both the metaphysical explanation and the imagery it conjured in my mind.

I think the main issue is that at the core of it all, I don’t particularly care about money. Perhaps I can attribute this to my late mum, who used to say “不要做金钱的奴隶。(Don’t be enslaved to money.” So, all this while, I have been focused on doing FUN and NOVEL things, even when they need me to take a pay cut. I’m glad that this book stimulated me to reflect on my money blueprint. I think for the sake of my children, I need to modify her 名言 (famous words) to something like “let money be your trusty multiplier”. I want them to have a balanced relationship with money rather than framing it in terms of a skewed master-servant power imbalance.

T. Harv Eker wrote about 17 wealth files that depict the differences in the ways of thinking between rich and poor people. Now I have read tons of financial literacy books, but I still took away 2 new ideas from Secrets. The first is to save for a joyous day (as opposed to a rainy day). I think this alleviates the fear and insecurity most of us have in regard to money because we now tackle saving from a position of strength and optimism. The second idea is to channel 10% of your monthly income to a “play” account so that your soul gets nourished.