The Millionaire Course Read online

  THE

  MILLIONAIRE

  COURSE

  BY MARC ALLEN

  BOOKS

  The Ten Percent Solution:

  Simple Steps to Improving Our Lives and Our World

  Visionary Business:

  An Entrepreneur’s Guide to Success

  A Visionary Life:

  Conversations on Personal and Planetary Evolution

  How to Think like a Millionaire

  (with Mark Fisher)

  A Two-Second Love Affair (Poetry)

  AUDIOCASSETTES

  Stress Reduction and Creative Meditations

  Stress Reduction and Creative Meditations for

  Work and Career

  Visionary Business: An Entrepreneur’s Guide to Success

  (Complete book on audio)

  MUSIC

  Solo Flight

  Breathe

  Petals

  THE

  MILLIONAIRE

  COURSE

  A Visionary Plan for Creating

  the Life of Your Dreams

  MARC ALLEN

  NEW WORLD LIBRARY

  NOVATO, CALIFORNIA

  Copyright © 2003 Marc Allen

  All rights reserved. This book may not be reproduced in whole or in part, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic, mechanical, or other without written permission from the publisher, except by a reviewer, who may quote brief passages in a review.

  Editing: Yvette Bozzini and Chris Cone

  Cover design: Mary Ann Casler

  Text design: Tona Pearce Myers

  Author photo: Michael Collopy

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  Allen, Mark, 1946–

  The millionaire course : a visionary plan for creating the life of your dreams / Marc Allen.

  p. cm.

  Includes bibliographical references and index.

  ISBN 1-57731-232-5 (pbk. : alk. paper)

  1. Success. I. Title.

  BJ1611.2 .A46 2003

  158.1—dc21 002153768

  First printing, April 2003

  ISBN 1-57731-232-5

  Printed in Canada on acid-free, partially recycled paper

  Distributed to the trade by Publishers Group West

  10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

  This book is dedicated

  to all of you

  who have the courage to dream.

  CONTENTS

  FOREWORD

  BY SHAKTI GAWAIN

  PREFACE

  BY TOM CHAVEZ

  INTRODUCTION

  BY MARC ALLEN

  LESSON ONE

  IMAGINE YOUR IDEAL SCENE;

  LIST AND AFFIRM YOUR GOALS

  LESSON TWO

  WRITE YOUR PLAN AS A SIMPLE, CLEAR VISUALIZATION

  LESSON THREE

  DISCOVER YOUR VOCATION AND PURPOSE

  LESSON FOUR

  SEE THE FULL HALF OF THE GLASS,

  THE BENEFITS IN ADVERSITY,

  AND KEEP PICTURING SUCCESS

  LESSON FIVE

  LIVE AND WORK IN PARTNERSHIP WITH ALL

  LESSON SIX

  AVOID MANAGEMENT BY CRISIS

  WITH CLEAR GOALS AND TRANSPARENCY

  LESSON SEVEN

  LOVE CHANGE AND LEARN TO DANCE

  LESSON EIGHT

  DISCOVER YOUR CORE BELIEFS,

  AND LEARN HOW TO CHANGE THEM

  LESSON NINE

  GROW AT YOUR OWN PACE,

  WITH AN ARCHITECTURE OF ABUNDANCE

  LESSON TEN

  GIVE ABUNDANTLY AND REAP THE REWARDS:

  THE TEN PERCENT SOLUTION FOR

  PERSONAL AND GLOBAL PROBLEMS

  LESSON ELEVEN

  BECOME MORE AWARE OF THE SPIRITUAL SIDE OF LIFE,

  THE POWER OF PRAYER, MEDITATION, AND RELAXATION

  LESSON TWELVE

  DO WHAT YOU LOVE TO DO, AND SUCCESS WILL FOLLOW;

  YOU CAN TRANSFORM YOUR LIFE AND YOUR WORLD

  BY DOING WHAT YOU LOVE TO DO

  AFTERWORD

  HOW THE PROCESS WORKS

  SUPPLEMENT A

  THE SHORT COURSE FOR ARTISTS,

  AND THE YOUNG, OVERWHELMED, OVERWORKED,

  AND HOPELESSLY LAZY

  SUPPLEMENT B

  THE EXPANDED COURSE

  BOOKS, AUDIO, AND VIDEO TO ENHANCE THE COURSE

  RECOMMENDED RESOURCES

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  INDEX

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  FOREWORD

  BY SHAKTI GAWAIN

  When he had literally no money. We were both living in a spiritual community where we worked in exchange for room, board, and basic expenses but earned no other money. Marc’s first task every morning was to figure out a way to get a dollar to buy a latte. Somehow, he always succeeded.

  Marc was a musician, an actor, and a writer. Like many artists and most spiritually oriented people, he cared little about money and knew nothing about saving or managing it. Yet somehow in his unique, relaxed way, he always seemed to draw to him exactly what he needed.

  Fast forward to a couple of years later: Marc and I had both left the community, and we had each written books on personal growth that we were trying to figure out how to get published. So we borrowed a little money from friends and family and published them ourselves. That was the beginning of New World Library.

  Over the years I have seen Marc grow into personal, artistic, and financial success as a publisher and an author. He has had a positive impact on a great many people, including me. He always seems to be so relaxed and easy going, never in a hurry, always having time for friends and family, time to pet the cat or play a little music. And yet he has written some powerful books and, with persistence and patience, created one of the finest publishing companies in the world today.

  When he wrote Visionary Business in 1995, his impact grew into the business world. The book and his ongoing mentoring helped countless individuals and businesses to realize their dreams.

  Now, with The Millionaire Course, his impact is extending more broadly to reach a wide range of people who are serious about positively changing their lives and the world. I can vouch for the fact that Marc has practiced exactly what he preaches in this book and it has worked for him on all levels. Don’t be fooled by his low-key, understated style. This book is filled with practical wisdom that can help you create a fulfilled life.

  — Shakti Gawain

  Author of Creative Visualization

  PREFACE

  BY TOM CHAVEZ

  These days, when we read a daily paper or watch the news, we’re struck with a certain cold reality: You almost need to be a millionaire to just get by! We never know what’s going to happen or what an unexpected emergency might cost — even good insurance doesn’t completely protect us. It takes a small fortune to put a child through a good school, and far too many people can’t even afford to buy their own homes. What used to be considered great wealth — a million dollars in assets — is now something that a vast number of us would like simply for the security and comfort it can bring us and our families.

  The Millionaire Course was created to do just that. Taking this Course can bring us the kind of results that our dreams are made of: having time and resources and freedom to enjoy life, having power and authority, and — best of all — finding personal fulfillment.

  The nation, and apparently most of the world, is infatuated with the wealthy, and most people dream the great What if.... We need only witness the phenomena of big-buck quiz shows and lottery-mania. The chances of you and me becoming a millionaire via these processes are well documented — several-million-to-one at best.

  But what if, just what if, there was
a definite, specific, proven set of principles that, if followed, could help us live the life of our dreams? And what if we could achieve our highest goals and dreams by doing what we love to do, while adhering to compassionate, conscious values?

  This is exactly what this Course can do for anyone who is willing to commit to the program — to study it, to plan, and to act on that plan. This Course not only puts you on the right track philosophically and psychologically, it goes on to give you the real tools — the business plan, the vocabulary, even resources for financing — that you’ll need to complete the job. This is not simply a set of motivational ideas; it is precisely what it says it is: a visionary guide to creating the life of your dreams.

  This Course was created by a bona fide self-made multimillionaire who created his wealth using the principles he so clearly explains in this book. He draws from a great many resources, including every book and speaker that has had a major influence on his life and career; he refers repeatedly to some of the greatest entrepreneurial and motivational minds in history, men and women who inspired him and who will inspire you to develop a true visionary view of the vast potential of your own being.

  Your instructor in this Course, Marc Allen, calls his approach “visionary business.” He walks his talk, applying these visionary principles to the company he founded and built, New World Library, which has published an impressive collection of works by Eckhart Tolle, Shakti Gawain, Deepak Chopra, Riane Eisler, Barbara Marx Hubbard, Joseph Campbell, Dan Millman, Alan Watts, James Allen, Kent Nerburn, Richard Carlson, and many others.

  He is the author of Visionary Business, A Visionary Life, The Ten Percent Solution, and co-author of How to Think like a Millionaire. He is an inspiring speaker, and has appeared nationally on TV, radio, and in his seminars presenting these life-changing concepts.

  With the right tools, there are no limits to what you can achieve. It’s all here, minus one ingredient: your creative mind. Here is everything else you need — so let’s get on with the business of realizing our greatest dreams.

  — Tom Chavez

  CEO, Visionary Communications, Inc.

  THE

  MILLIONAIRE

  COURSE

  What is a deeply satisfying human life,

  and how do we design one?

  How do we share that information with each other?

  What are we here to do together,

  and what are we truly capable of

  in the realm of human excellence?

  The answers to these questions

  are not mysteries beyond our reach.

  Fulfillment of the promise

  of our soul’s nature is possible.

  It is why we are here. It is our birthright.

  The answers are found in the inner frontiers of Being.

  — Lenedra J. Carroll

  The Architecture of All Abundance

  INTRODUCTION

  BY MARC ALLEN

  WELCOME TO AN ADVENTURE

  As I slowly discovered the material in this Course, my life changed completely. My twenties had been marked by struggle and poverty. I felt a nearly constant level of anxiety and periods of depression. By the time I was in my mid- to late thirties, however, life had become an adventure, filled with discovery. My anxiety and depression had evaporated, transformed into a deep sense of peace and gratitude and even wonder. It is not an exaggeration to say that miracles and magic happened when I began to use the tools in this Course — the gifts from a great many generous mentors, teachers, authors, and others. I am filled with a sense of gratitude for the life I have created (with the help of my friends), and for all I have been given. I do what I love to do, and the world supports me with endless abundance.

  The best part of the adventure is that I’ve found it is something I can pass on to others. Within this book is an adventure you design yourself, for you will quickly see how to plan your own course. That’s what makes it so satisfying and meaningful: It is an adventure of your own making. You choose the destination, and the route as well. Along the way, it stretches your imagination in endless fascinating ways, and improves your life in a countless number of ways.

  Along the way you discover many keys. Many of them you have known for a long time; some of them you’ve perhaps already put to good use. This Course is a set of keys to the greatest adventure of all, for it gives us the tools to chart our own unique path, to create and live the life of our dreams.

  Where do these keys come from? The answer is a key in itself:

  Keys to success are everywhere.

  This book is filled with keys. Our lives, once we see it, are filled with keys. They’re all around us, everywhere we look. A river running through a forest, a purring cat, even the plant on your windowsill can show you how to live your life. A comment from a friend, a few words on the radio, part of a quote in a book or on the internet, even a fragment of a commercial can give you a key that can change your life.

  When I look back on the winding path of my life’s adventure, I realize that one of the most important things I did along the way was to take certain key phrases I heard or read and repeat them, over and over, and reflect on them. Over time, they become imprinted in memory, and come to mind in all kinds of situations in daily life, and become invaluable creative guidance, regardless of the circumstances.

  I invite you to do the same, and see the results. Even if you’re skeptical about the whole process, just try it as a worthwhile experiment, and see what happens in your life. Take any phrase from this Course that appeals to you in some way — many are highlighted in bold type — and repeat it, remember it, live with it for a while, and see how you can apply it in your life.

  These phrases have become words that guide me, and my life has changed dramatically as a result.

  A GREAT KEY

  Many of these keys are illusive, or baffling. Many seem simplistic, or obvious. Many are very much like Zen koans — cryptic little phrases that need to be meditated on before they are understood.

  Here’s a great one we’ve all heard:

  Work smarter, not harder.

  We’ve heard it a hundred times: Is it part of our life experience? Do we practice it? This is a good question to ask yourself: Are you working hard or working smart? Reading this book is certainly a step in the right direction.

  Here’s another one we’ve all heard before: When life gives you lemons, make lemonade. That little phrase is a great key to success, and we cover it in depth in Lesson Four. The title to that lesson is another key: See the full half of the glass, the benefits in adversity, and keep picturing success. The title of every lesson in this Course is a key in itself.

  Children’s songs, games, and stories are full of keys. “Row, row, row your boat, gently down the stream, merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily, life is but a dream.” That song has great insight and understanding. Those words are a key to a life well lived.

  There are keys in common phrases we often say to each other: “Take it easy,” we say — how many of us really do it? Those words are great advice for us all, every moment of our lives. Take it easy.

  One of the most powerful keys I ever discovered was simply a little exercise in imagining:

  You can create what you want in life;

  first you have to imagine it clearly.

  Imagine your ideal scene.

  This is a great key, and it’s simply a little writing exercise: Put your “ideal scene” in writing. This, for some mysterious reason, is a powerful process that helps us go a long way toward creating that ideal scene in our lives. We go into this in detail in Lesson 1.

  YOU DESIGN YOUR OWN COURSE

  You decide which part to work on, and you do it in your own way, according to your own impulses. This Course is multifaceted, offering you a wide variety of ways to create what you want in life.

  One of the best ways to work with this material is to go through the series of twelve chapters or lessons step-by-step, and then go back and roam through the material,
pick out what you want to focus on, and work with it more extensively. But you don’t necessarily have to work through the whole Course first to benefit from it, and if you’re drawn at any time to focus on one particular lesson, or even just one particular key, do that. Follow your own impulses; work with it in your own way. Take as much or as little time with each lesson as you need.

  There are three stages in learning:

  1. First you have to hear or read the information, with enough receptiveness so that you take it in.

  2. Then you have to reflect on it, and discover its meaning within your own experience. At this stage, information becomes knowledge.

  3. Then you find new and creative ways you can apply it in your life, moment by moment, as challenges and opportunities arise. At this stage, knowledge has become wisdom.

  Please put this book down every once in a while and reflect on what you have read. Apply it to your own life. It will be worth doing.