Why is there a chapter on sex in the book, Think and Grow Rich?

What does sex have to do with growing rich or acquiring wealth?

And what in the world is “transmutation”?

The very first sentence in this chapter defines what the author of Think and Grow Rich means by the word:

“The meaning of the word ‘transmute’ is, in simple language, ‘the changing, or transferring of one element, or form of energy, into another.’”

The human race is perpetuated by the desire for sex. It is one of our primary drivers because it’s in our nature. It is inherently a creative urge.

Sex transmutation is the process of redirecting the mind from thoughts of expressing this desire physically to thoughts of another creative effort.

“The transmutation of sex energy calls for the exercise of will-power, to be sure, but the reward is worth the effort. The desire for sexual expression is inborn and natural. The desire cannot, and should not be submerged or eliminated. But it should be given an outlet through forms of expression which enrich the body, mind, and spirit of man. If not given this form of outlet, through transmutation, it will seek outlets through purely physical channels.”

Mastery of the skill of redirection of sex energy from physical expression to creative effort is what the book, Think and Grow Rich, says is necessary for the attainment of genius:

“Fortunate, indeed, is the person who has discovered how to give sex emotion an outlet through some form of creative effort, for he has, by that discovery, lifted himself to the status of a genius.”

Don’t be scared away by the title of today’s chapter of the book, Think and Grow Rich. The subject is not at all explicit and there’s a lot of wisdom to glean.

As this is a book club, we (as always) encourage you to read the book first and then listen to the accompanying book club podcast to get the most out of it. 👍🏼

Life is busy, but things are more or less fine. You don’t feel burned out right now. A little tired, maybe—exhausted, sometimes—but not burned out.

Sure, a break would be nice, but you can’t afford that right now.

You can’t afford to slow down. Too many things rely on you. Too many things depend on you. You’re focused on making ends meet.

Taking time to rest seems out of the question. Even if you wanted to, it’s not like you could.

The bad news is, burnout is in your future if nothing changes.

The good news is, we’re going to flip that around today and help set you free.

Find margin, discover guilt-free rest, and avoid burnout—all while getting everything done on time.

You have to have a plan, but a plan is useless without sufficient power to translate those plans into action.

“POWER is essential for success in the accumulation of money.”

Well then. We’d better figure out what power is!

“POWER may be defined as ‘organized and intelligently directed KNOWLEDGE’.”

This chapter discusses difference sources of knowledge, which may be organized and intelligently directed as power.

More specifically, the book goes into how to gain power through the “Master Mind”.

“No individual may have great power without availing himself of the ‘Master Mind.'”

You either have margin or you get burnout.

There’s no other way around it.

Margin is not a luxury you can’t afford. Margin is a necessity.

If you don’t have margin now, you will fall apart in the future.

You must create margin in your life before you think you need it.

Margin is the space between activities. It is scheduled nothingness. It is the intentional setting aside of time for the sake of reflecting, de-stressing, and resting.

Margin is time you don’t fill.

Sabbaticals are one form of margin. There are Weekend Sabbaticals, Seventh Week Sabbaticals, and Seventh Year Sabbaticals…

But you also need margin in each and every day. Let’s talk about how to get it.

This is the last episode of Ben and Dan’s podcast “takeover”! Sean will be back on the podcast next week.

We don’t think about time like we do money.

We all know (hopefully we know) that if you spend more than you earn, the debt will pile up. It might not hurt you today, but over time it will continue to hold you back.

Burnout has been recognized by the World Health Organization; that’s how prominent it’s become—or perhaps it’s always been this bad, and we’re just now recognizing it.

When we talk about burnout, we don’t talk about it as though we’re suffering from a disease.

But it is that damaging.

Download: MP3 (120.5 MB) We’re wired to be transactional. It’s linked to our survival. And in the modern world… that means we’re driven to make money. To make money, we need to do valuable work using our most precious resource: time. Hence the expression Time is money. It can be hard to imagine spending—squandering—that valuable  Continue Reading »

Download: MP3 (125.4 MB) Sean is taking off the month of July to write his next book, Sabbatical. During his absence, Ben and Dan will record new episodes of the show. Sean will return in August. At Craft + Commerce, Ben and Dan both started to get uncomfortable about something: “Doesn’t it seem like everyone  Continue Reading »

Hey, it’s Sean McCabe with a sabbatical episode. Today’s topic is on depression. Specifically, it’s an update on my recovery from depression and a continuation of episode 380: Recovery From Depression (Part 1). If you haven’t heard episode 380, go back and listen to that first.

It’s been nearly a year since my last episode on recovering from depression.

What inspired me to record a second episode on this topic was a message from a listener. He told me he had pushed himself too far because he was comparing himself to me some years ago.

“Sean’s not burned out, so who am I to be?”

Little did he know I actually was burned out! Of course, I didn’t know it at the time.

I talk about comparison in this episode and why you can’t go off of what someone else is projecting. You don’t know anyone’s full story or what they’re really going through. You have to focus on yourself and your own health. It’s not worth ignoring the warning signs.

If you’re going through a hard time right now, know that it’s temporary. It’s not forever. You will get through this. You will come out on the other side, and you will be stronger for it. There’s a reason you’re going through this. I know it feels hopeless sometimes, but there is hope.

We’re not here to convince you that you need to write every day. We’ve covered how it all starts with writing in half a dozen episodes. But even though you know writing is the key to producing your best work, to working through difficult problems, to being able to communicate with the people you want to reach…

You’re still not doing it.

We’re going to help you start writing every day: We’ll dive deep into how habits work and how to apply the latest science to the habit of daily writing. The show isn’t over until Ben, Dan, and everyone listening has a step-by-step roadmap to writing every day for the rest of their lives.