During my first trip to Warsaw several years ago, a mainstream reporter for a Polish magazine set up an interview with me. I give interviews night and day, in every country I visit, so I was eager to do this one, as well. Especially since I love Poland and its people.
But I wasn’t prepared for how the interview actually went.
The reporter was cute but stern. Her side-kick journalistic photographer was just as serious. In the reporter’s moderate English she asked me hard-nosed questions about the Law of Attraction, Polish people, my books and teachings, and more. No matter what I said, she didn’t like it.
At one point she asked, “Why are you teaching people to become rich?”
It was an interesting question. Under different circumstances it would seem like a silly question. Why not teach people to be rich? What’s wrong with being rich, anyway?
But it was obvious she was coming from a scarcity paradigm. Her mindset was set. My answers didn’t sit well with her. They couldn’t. From her perspective, my paradigm made no sense.
So instead of trying to teach her what an abundance paradigm is in a soundbite, I instead said something like, “I’m not teaching people to get rich, I’m teaching them to be happy.”
The reporter almost reeled back, her body posture suggesting she had just caught me in a grand lie, and she flipped through her notes.
When she found what she wanted, she looked at me and smugly said, “Didn’t you write a book called The Greatest Money-Making Secret in History?”
2003 Book on Giving
Now I had her.
“Apparently you haven’t read it,” I said. “When you read that book, you’ll discover that it is about giving away money.”
She stared at me. My answer didn’t compute.
I tried to explain to her about the power of giving; that if you want to attract money now, start giving away money now.
That didn’t sit well with her, either.
Give money when people are broke or jobless?
Give something, I countered. Start somewhere.
She looked confused, even angry.
The entire interview went like that. The resulting article was published as a feature in her Time-like Polish magazine. I have no idea what she actually wrote, as I don’t read Polish. (A Polish friend said, “You don’t want to know.”) It doesn’t really matter. I’m sharing it with you here because of a bigger lesson on giving.
Giving is one of the most powerful principles of all time. You’ve heard about it, from me or others. It’s not new.
But do you actually do it?
If you do give, do you do it in a big way, in a loving and trusting way, and every day?
Be honest.
I used to resist giving, too. If I gave at all, it was a tiny amount. It took me a long time to realize that my not giving, or not giving freely, was sending messages to my mind such as “There isn’t enough,” “I won’t get any more,” “I might need this for an emergency,” “I feel safer with this in my pocket,” and so it goes.
All fear based thoughts.
All self-reinforcing and self-fulfilling prophecies.
Guess what?
Great book on Giving
The more you hold on to that old limited thinking paradigm, the harder it really is to attract money (or anything else). Your scarcity mindset simply won’t let it in.
What can you do about that?
No B.S. marketer Dan Kennedy once told me the window you receive through is made bigger by the window you give through. Want to receive more? Then give more. It’s that simple.
But beware.
There’s a lot of self-sabotage in this area.
I’ve heard people say, “I joined a multilevel company and they send some of their profits to charities, so I am giving through them.”
No, you’re not.
Giving is when you give direct; when it comes out of your pocket.
I’ve also heard people say, “I can’t afford to give money, so I give time and services gratis.”
That’s a type of giving, but you’re fudging; you have to give money to receive money.
I’ve also heard people say, “I’d give if I knew where to give.”
Baloney. Give wherever you receive spiritual nourishment or inspiration. You know who inspired you today. You can be on the alert for who inspires you tomorrow. Give there.
I’ve also heard, “I feel uneasy giving money. I don’t know what they’ll do with it.”
Who cares what they do with it? Bob Proctor once said, “They can burn the money as far as I care.” Once you give it, it’s no longer yours. Don’t con yourself into thinking you need to control the money once it leaves your hands. Let go. Trust.
When I first started giving money, I felt uncomfortable. I was leaving my comfort zone. I was stretching limiting beliefs until they snapped and shot away. At that point, I started to receive money almost faster than I could give it away.
I then found great joy in giving. I expanded my giving to other things. For example, in just the last few weeks –
- I gave a brand-new music keyboard to a friend.
- I gave a brand-new iPad to another friend.
- I gave away one of my prized guitars.
- I gave away one of my cars. (!)
With Polish editors of my books
Some might argue that I can give away cars and more because I’m now wealthy, but that would be overlooking the fact that I got wealthy by giving in the first place.
Think about it.
I got wealthy by giving.
Yes, yes, yes, of course, I’ve done a hundred million other things to get wealthy, from writing and speaking to creating and promoting to being on radio, television and in movies, to following the very steps I reveal in my book, Attract Money Now.
“There are those who give with joy, and that joy is their reward.” – Kahlil Gibran
Giving to get rich is essential to attract success (and that’s why it’s one of the seven key steps in my book, Attract Money Now).
Giving is one of the most heart-expanding and exhilarating feelings.
Giving feels good.
Giving expands your heart and mind.
Giving makes a difference in the world.
Giving widens that inner window to allow you to receive more.
While my Polish reporter in Warsaw may still be writing her articles from her old school scarcity mindset and scratching her head over self-help authors like me who teach people how to “get rich,” you and I know one of the greatest money-attracting and life-enhancing secrets of all time: giving.
And yes, you can get rich giving.
But the only way to find out if this really works is to actually go do it.
Your move.
Ao Akua,
PS – I wrote my little book, the one I mentioned above and told that Polish reporter about, The Greatest Money-Making Secret in History, back in 2003. You can buy it at Amazon but you can read it for free as part of a larger book on giving by Dr. Rick Barrett called Give to Live. Go get it. Then read it. Tell others about it. And then go give something to somebody right now.
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19 Comments
Hi Joe, nice story you posted here. Do you finally know what the Polish reporter wrote in her articles? (in english?)
I remember a statement about giving by one of spiritual teacher in my country. He said that giving/tithing is investment. Investment in God fund. So because its investment, so it will give us a return of investment. And because it is God fund, the return will be profitable and with high rate 🙂
Thank’s Joe for all your work.
Hi Joe, Thank you for a great article. I once gave a homeless person £10, and not even 5 days later, completely out of the blue, my aunt flew in to stay with me. On her departure she handed me £100 cash. Money I didn’t expect. And it happened another time after that. I since accepted it as true. Give money and I shall receive more money in return.
Hani
Dear Joe,
Thank you for this post. Your story with the Polish journalist really made me smile 😀 A great lesson 😀
I must admit, that I still have some resistance in giving freely… Then I think, that i might be a trap to give to receive. then you are not giving freely.
Is it a matter of practising? Practising giving with your heart, so that you don’t really expect to get anything back?
I have experienced people giving me money or stuff, and then afterwards sent me a “bill”, if you know what i mean? that they expected me to do something for them because they gave me….
Warm greetings,
Claus 😀
Dear Joe,
Thank you for this post. Your story with the Polish journalist really made me smile 😀 A great lesson 😀
I must admit, that I still have some resistance in giving freely… Then I think, that i might be a trap to give to receive. then you are not giving freely.
Is it a matter of practising? Practising giving with your heart, so that you don’t really expect to get anything back?
I have experienced people giving me money or stuff, and then afterwards sent me a “bill”, if you know what i mean? that they expected me to do something for them because they gave me….
Warm greetings,
Claus 😀
Great article. Joe really illustrates the point so well about the importance of giving.
Cheers
Dear Dr. Joe Vitale, thank you very much for this, I agree with every words you said. But I would like to share with you some what I have noticed by looking at my life. I try to give in different ways, I can even say that it`s a special poit in my mind, but I see that it goes hard, it looks like “a wrong giving”. For example: I never can make a good and right gift for my friends (even if I try to do it), I can never choose and buy something really good, I struggle thinking of the choice with none or very small result. My gifts DON`T WORK, I hope you understand me. All my giving is included – money, gifts, care and so on. I watch people who give easy and right without thinking of it, but for me everything goes hard, so I make a conclusion that either I don`t love to give or I don`t have enough energy, because each giving is giving of energy. Or should we give when we want or inspared and what we want? But perhaps then I won`t give anything. So my question is how to find the right way to solve this. Thank you very much again.
Hi Joe, I agree with you and I also agree with Keripik (the first commenter).
Giving will not make us poor, but it will make us richer instead. But I believe that we should also give because of God. We should not give just because we want to feel the joy, or just because we want the reward.
We give because we want to help, and because our wealth is not actually ours. It is actually God’s and so we need to use it because of Him. If we give because of God, it is truly an investment for our lives in the hereafter.
Well, that’s just my belief Joe.
HA! I love this. I love how you specifically named the ways that people fudge or make it okay that they hold on tight to their money. It made me think about a few circumstance where I’m a little weasel about my money. Ewwww! New decision just made about how I will handle those in the future. =)
BTW-Can I be your friend? I like the stuff you give! 😉 KIDDING! You’ve given to me and Eva huge by always giving us your time when nobody knew who the heck we were. You da bomb!
Timing is great. Because my little brother which is a fool about girls, just hit $80 bill on his (and my) mom’s cell so I need to give away my earnings from 3D Model sells! 🙂 My very first earning for a “call-girl” bill. I was a bit upset about this. But your timing is great as always and after reading these now I feel better.
I understand the Polish lady also. My Turkish mom and dad always angry about rich people. I’m asking them “how we could get rich if we keep hating rich people”. Giving You and Jack Canfield as example – to let them see how you guys designed your lives from scratch. I hope I’ll be the role model to let my family see how these stuff working.
BTW would you like to give me a hard copy version of Attract Money Now with autograph??!!! 😀
I didn’t experience breakthrough in my finances until I started giving. Back in 2005, I was 25 years old and made roughly $24,000 that year… and then the next year, when I really stepped to the plate and started giving like a madman… I saw doors opened, debts payed off… and oh yeah, did I mention I did over $350,000 that year.
Giving is the ONLY way to live in my book!
Two points seem apposite to me:
The first is from Ben Sweetland’s “Grow Rich While You Sleep”
“You can now see that a rich life is a blending of all the desirable elements of life.” (page 22 in my p.b. edition)
The second is the title of a book which enabled my parish priest and myself to re-arrange some of our thoughts about giving and about having possessions. The title was simply “Die Broke.”
We can’t take it with us. Sharing “the desirable elements of life with others” seems an important part of our contribution to human happiness, therefore.
Hi Joe, Great post. I am from Poland and I can imagine that journalist. She must have been very unhappy person, hopefully not anymore after meeting you. After travelling around the world for the last 3 years I am currently living in Colombia, where more them 50% people live in mystery. Surprisingly most of them are happy. Yes, it is weird but Colombians are one of the happiest people in the world. My question is: When I walk the street every 10 minutes somebody ask for a coin – 5 cents usually. Would you give it away? Or it creates a bad habit of begging for money? I can practice giving everyday but does it make sense?
BTW: Why don¨t you add Facebook comments under each post, so people can interact with your blog in both ways? I am pro web´designer If you don¨t know how to do it I might help you with it. Send me a private message.
Regarding getting rich giving, I must say that your article is really persuasive. I enjoy reading your articles. They are beautiful pieces of art work and convey ideas in an warm and encouraging way.
Two questions for you:1.The amount of giving
After reading your book “Attract Money Now” and listeing to your clearing
audios, I start to change “some” of my behaviors, especially regarding giving, but only to a small extent. I gave to my family, to charity and started to purchase CDs from the bands I love as an encouragement to them.
But I found out that there is a boundary as regards to the amount I give. I feel comfortable giving under a certain amount, anything exceeding that, I get back to my old self and hesitate. Is there anyway I can get through the paradigm? Is there a limit to the amount we give?
The other question:In my upbringing, the recognized money management is “A penny saved is a penny earned”. I believe this saying comes from a scarcity mind-set. If so, anyone who follows this rule will not attract money into his life. However, we have a very successful business tycoon who observed this creed and was
one of the richest man in our country. (http://pubs.acs.org/cen/news/86/i43/8643news1.html)
Does this contradict to the getting-rich-giving concept?
I look forward to your reply on these two quesitons.
Ah well. As a Polish translator that spent most of her years in Poland I can see where the journalist came from. It is still the old, mental blockage, inherited by millions and nourished in the communist period. Very, very difficult to break, especially in the small towns.
I still see this mentality clearly during each visit in Poland. That is why I prefer my family to come to me (UK) and see things at a different perspective.
I couldn’t get my head around this ‘giving’ idea. Something was blocking me. I simply did not understand, why should I give away when I have not that much. But I asked for clearance. Then at some point it struck me like a lightning. I was already giving loads, without even realising. As you stated several times, give away to someone/somebody inspiring, in a way that brings you even more joy. Not only I found a charity that is very important to me (to do with very special dogs), but I also love to support every child in my family and among friends (not with money). No one ever asked me to do that and no one relies on my support (I admit I was worried about it a bit) but my giving comes back to me in such amounts that is dazzling! Thank you Joe! I’d love to take part in translating your books/brochures/articles – to express my gratitude!
I was just about to go to bed and felt an impulsive urge to donate money to charity. Which was weird because I don’t really donate money to charity. Anyway the idea of giving to charity had been bouncing around in my head for a long time and I had extra money to spare so I donated $100 to Charity: Water. I would like to do that at least every month from now on. And by the way it seems like a great organization that stands for a great and noble purpose. Directly after making the donation I was “attracted” to visit your site and happened to find this post. I know I did the right thing and want to continue to do so. Thanks for your great inspiration Joe!
Recently, I’ve been helping out kids who don’t have proper education by inviting friends to come with me and go to remote areas in our city and bring educational books that we’ll donate afterwards.
When I was younger, I had so much anger against people who I think are “dumb” – yes, I was that bad. But then, a friend of mine shared this story about a boy who was trying really hard to attain education but couldn’t because he just didn’t have the money and his parents don’t really like the idea of him going to school.
Fortunately, that friend also gave me a Free Tapping eBook. It helped me out a lot and made me realize that I have been to selfish to see what others have been going through and why they are sometimes like that.
I just stay positive all the time and not wallow that I don’t have money. Fortunately, it worked for me! 😀
Also, people need to learn emotional freedom techniques
I found your post really interesting and it has really improved my knowledge on the matter. You’ve assisted my understanding on giving, which is usually a hard to tackle subject and not a lot of people can do this with the ease you seem to. Thank you.
You’ve inspired me to give. I just gave money to my younger brother because he really inspires me… I am certain that I’m attracting more money into my life because of this!
Thank you Dr. Joe Vitale!