How To Think & Grow Rich

I was sick and tired of...

Author

KJ Rainey
July 29, 2023

May 2021…

I was sick and tired of never having enough money.

I was ready to do whatever it takes to escape being broke.

I was so desperate that I was willing to do something crazy….

I opened my laptop, went to YouTube, and typed something I never thought I would type:

best… money making… books

I hated reading, but I had no choice.

As I scrolled, trying to avoid actually commiting to a book, I kept seeing the same one over and over again.

Think & Grow Rich

I thought to myself… You don’t get rich by thinking.

But… I’m broke, so what do I really know?

I ordered the book.

As I read Think & Grow Rich, I began to understand the most important money making tool that has ever existed:

Your Mind

Earn with you mind, not your time.

- Naval Ravakant

But I had a problem with Think & Grow Rich.

I would read these “mindset” books, feel inspired, and then have no idea what to do.

I needed actionable steps.

What can I start doing today to start earning with my mind?

That’s what I want to share with you in this newsletter.

This is the guide I wish I had years ago.

It would have saved me so much time and made me a ton of money.

So let’s dive in…

How To Think & Grow Rich

You earn money two ways:

  • With your time. (Ex: construction worker, grocery clerk, or any other salary job)

  • With your mind. (Ex: creators, writers, business owners, investors, musicians, etc.)

When you trade your time for money, there is only one way to make more money…

Trade more time.

And that’s a terrible trap to be stuck in.

I know because I was stuck in it for years…

I got my first job the summer of freshman year.

I was out of school, my friends were gone , and I had plenty of time to make some money.

So I got a job at a store called Ace Hardware.

(Which was funny because I didn’t know the first thing about hardware.)

Everyday, old men would walk in and say something like…

Where can I find the 1/2 inch flat round quarter screw XL 78 in dark steel gray philip’s head?

And every time I would answer….

Uhhhh, let me check with my manager.

It was hell, but it paid the bills.

As I was working at Ace, I got offered another job to work as a mover.

I would move furniture all morning, and then work at Ace in the afternoon.

A few weeks went by, and I got another job.

work three jobs a day → come home → crash → do it again

The cycle would never end.

But… it all seemed worth it once the first check came in.

I had never seen that much money.

And I was on top of the world… for about 20 minutes.

I realized something terrifying that ruined my celebration:

I was trading every single hour of my day for money.

I literally couldn’t work another hour if I wanted to.

This was as much money as I could possibly make with my time — and it wasn’t that much.

I had hit the cieling.

From that day on, I promised myself I wouldn’t work a 9-5 for the rest of my life.

And last year I made good on that promise.

I quit my 9-5.

Now I work whenever I want, wherever I want, and I do what I love.

Today, I want to share with you exactly how I did that.

Making Money With Your Mind

As we learned in the How To Make Money letter…

Money = Value

If you want to make money, you need to create value.

So that’s the big question:

How do you create value with your mind?

I’m not an expert by any means, but I’ll show you the process that works for me…

Mental Blacksmithing

I learned this from my favorite game of all time — Runescape

In Runescape, you use skills to make money. (Just like real life)

My favorite money-making skills in the game were Mining and Smithing.

Here’s how it worked:

  • I used my mining skill to mine ores.

  • I used my smelting skill to smelt the ores into bars.

  • I used my smithing skill to smith the bars into weapons & armor.

  • I then sold the weapons and armor to other players.

And the coolest part about the whole process:

As I reached higher Mining & Smithing levels — I could mine better ores, smelt better bars, smith better armor, and then sell them for more money.

Real life is no different.

You can make money with your mind using this same process.

Let me show you…

Mining

Mining is the first step to creating value (money) with your mind.

But we aren’t mining ore — we are mining ideas.

Ideas are unrefined value.

The more ideas we mine, the more value we can create.

But mining ideas isn’t easy, which is why most people don’t do it.

Like actual mining — mining an idea requires time, dedication, and patience.

Most people think ideas are 100% random.

They assume ideas just fall out of the sky and pop into your head.

They wait for a “stroke of creativity” to hit them.

If it doesn’t come, they don’t create.

This is a great way to never make progress.

So instead of making excuses, create a process.

I’ll share mine with you here, but over time you should tweak it to find what works best for you.

My Mining Process:

1) Remove distractions.

You can’t create if you’re busy consuming.

Ever wonder why you have great ideas while taking a shower?

Showers aren’t magical.

It’s because that’s the only time most people are away from screens.

Feel free to move around physcially, as long as your mind isn’t stimulated.

Go for a walk, or simply sit and stare at a wall.

2) Set your focus.

Like mining in Runescape, you need to choose what ore you are going to mine.

What problem are you trying to solve?

You need to make that problem clear to your subconscious.

When you focus your conscious mind on a problem, your subconscious mind will try to solve it.

Open a blank page in a notebook and write the problem at the top of the page.

I used this exact process to create this newsletter.

I wrote on top of my page, Newsletter Ideas and then brainstormed until I had a list.

The next day I wrote How To Think & Grow Rich at the top of the page and started mining ideas for this letter.

As you begin mining, your focus will wander to random things.

Don’t get frustrated.

Just return your focus to the problem.

With no distractions and a clear problem to solve, move on to step 3…

3) Dig.

Actual miners spend most of their time digging dirt.

Idea mining is no different — You will spend a lot of time digging mental dirt.

This is part of the process.

It took Einstein 10 years of mining to finish the Theory of Relativity

If you want to find diamonds, you will have to dig up dirt.

Once you remove distractions and set your focus, ideas will start to come you.

Don’t worry about judging your ideas, just spew them onto the page.

Set a timer for your mining session and don’t stop brainstorming until it goes off.

If you are serious about changing your life, you should be mining at least 30 minutes a day.

You can also mine for ideas by consuming content.

Instead of wasting time on cat TikTok’s, start consuming intentionally.

Listen to podcasts, read books, and watch videos on topics you are interested in.

When you come across an idea that makes your brain spark, write it down.

You can use those ideas to build off of later.

Once you mine plenty of raw material, move on to the next phase…

Smelting

Smelting

The process of applying heat to an ore, to extract a base metal.

Ideas need to be refined into their most impactful form.

To do that, we apply a little heat…

Filter your ideas using these questions:

  • Which ideas are most effective?

  • Which ideas are simple to execute?

  • Which ideas am I excited about?

Once you’ve curated your ideas, they need to be transformed into actionable advice.

We do this by connecting the ideas to each other and then connecting them to real-life.

For example:

I never cared about gut health.

It sounded like something a 45 year old mom would be worried about — not a gym bro like me.

But as I learned more about gut health, I started connecting the dots in my head.

Bad gut health → lower absoroption of nutrients (vitamins) → lower B12, zinc, and other vitamin levels → low energy or even worse… low testosterone.

Now I care.

If someone isn’t interested in your idea, it’s because you failed to make the idea interesting.

To change someone’s life with your ideas, you have to make them care.

That’s why we need phase three…

Smithing

Once you mine the ore and smelt it into a bar, you need to smith that bar into armor.

Once you have refined ideas, you need to structure them in a way that will be interesting to others.

Whether you are making content, selling a physical product, or creating music:

You need to learn how to sell.

When people here sales they immediately think of a sleezy, greesy-haried, used-care salesman who’s trying to pull one over on you.

Please don’t limit yourself to that false belief.

Sales isn’t good or bad — it’s neutral.

Learn to sell = Learn to influence

Sales gives you influence, whether you use it for good or bad, is up to you.

Take this letter for example.

But KJ you don’t sell any products?

Yes, not currently, but I am trying to sell you on something else:

Improving your life.

Even though I’m giving you everything I know for free, I still have to sell you on actually doing it.

We won’t dive deep into selling in this letter, but I do want to share a framework you can start using to sell your ideas.

The PAS Framework

1) Problem

  • What problem does your idea solve?

  • What is your target audience/consumer struggling with?

2) Agitate

  • How does it feel to have that problem?

  • How does it feel to no longer have that problem?

3) Solution

  • How can your idea/product solve that problem?

  • What are the simple, actionable steps to solve that problem?

Using this framework you can smith your ideas into useable weapons for others.

They can apply your ideas to their life and start solving their problems.

Solve Problems = Add Value

Armed with this process, you can create value (money) with your mind —not your time.

And the coolest part is…

As you practice this process you will get better at mining, smelting, and smithing ideas.

As you level up those skills, you will create more value for others…

Making you more money.

So to recap…

How to make money with your mind:

1) Mine ideas

  • Consume educational content you are interested in and write down impactful ideas.

  • Remove distractions, focus on a problem, and allow your brain to “dig” for ideas.

  • Write down every idea you have without judgement.

2) Smelt ideas

  • Curate your ideas using these questions:

    • Which ideas are most effective?

    • Which ideas are simple to execute?

    • Which ideas am I excited about?

  • Connect your ideas to each other, and then to the problems in your life.

3) Smith ideas

  • Frame your ideas in a way that will influence others.

  • The PAS Framework

    • Problem - What problem is my audience struggling with?

    • Agitate - What does it feel like to have that problem?

    • Solution - What are clear actionable steps they can take to solve that problem?

Thanks for reading and I'll see you next week. :)