Dec 18 2008
I Can Make You Rich Too!
International NLP champion and author of many best-selling books, Paul McKenna spent 18 months exploring the minds of the super-rich to learn their success secrets, which he condensed into a user-friendly six-step template and made available in his latest book, I Can Make You Rich*. By Marie-Louise Cook.
Maybe it’s his self-confessed perfectionist streak but Paul McKenna is not going to rest until we are all happier, more confident and courageous, sleeping better, learning faster, mending our broken hearts, stopping smoking, improving our golf, getting thinner and most importantly, becoming a lot more appreciative of what we already have (which is, he says, the key to having an enriched life).
‘I am very driven,’ he admits during our interview. ‘I take my work very seriously. I want to make a positive contribution to the world. I get up each day and I think, “How can I make the world a better place? What can I do that’s positive?”
‘I want to get as many people as I can to be more positive, more optimistic. I want to make the technologies that I’ve developed easily available and as affordable as possible.
‘My vision of what I think I can achieve has gotten bigger, certainly since I started modelling high achievers.’ They are the same high achievers he interviewed and modelled for his book, and include Sir David Barclay, Sir Richard Branson, Stelios Haji-Ioannou, Sir Philip Green, Peter Jones, and Sol Kerzner. The late Dame Anita Roddick was also among his interview subjects. (“She was one of the great entrepreneurs, such an amazingly beautiful human being – positive, dynamic, strong, creative, good-humoured … everything you’d want in an entrepreneur. She wanted to inspire people, that was part of her mission.”)
Personal Success: Why another book on wealth creation when bookshops are already crammed with so many of them?
‘This isn’t like any of the others. Most of them tell you to buy real estate or invest in the stockmarket. There are some on the psychology of wealth but none of them have undergone the research that this has. Most of them are personal points of view, what the author thinks other people do and what they think they do themselves.
‘This is not my personal conjecture. I didn’t just summon up some abstract idea on how it’s done. I modelled people who are good at it.’
He used NLP to determine the strategies his role models use to create rich lives. ‘They are all unique and with different styles but they all share virtually the same template when it comes to making money which I think is astounding.
‘Some of the interviews I did over the telephone, some in person. It’s a very straightforward process, modelling. You’re asking somebody how it is they do what they do and you watch them and you listen to them… you watch where their eyes move. Do they make a picture? A sound? Are they going into a feeling? Are they talking to themselves? You unpack the sequence, the strategy of internal representations they make in their mind and you ask them questions. You see, a lot of these people are intuitive about what they do because they have done it so many times; they don’t need to consciously think it through.
‘If somebody is good at something, rarely are they conscious of how they do it. Peter Jones said to me, “It is fascinating… This is a real insight
into how I do the things I do.”
‘He thinks through a business plan and imagines it working and then he imagines every single thing that could go wrong, every obstacle. He downsizes it, and wonders if he can solve those problems. If he can then he gets a massive burst of motivation at that point. If he can’t, then he doesn’t go ahead with the project.
‘I would say to say Philip [Green], “How do you know which dress to choose for one of your clothes lines.” He would say, “I don’t know Paul, I just do.”
So I’d say, “Just walk me through it. Where do you go?”
“I go upstairs and they show me a load of dresses and I choose one.”
“Just before you choose that one, what do you do?”
“Well, I think to myself, ‘What’s that going to look like hanging on a rack in the shop?’”
‘He pictures it from different angles and asks himself, “How’s it going to look on the models? Can I see people buying this?” He’s making visual representations. Where the pictures appear will let you know how he is making his decisions’.
Halfway through the project, McKenna and Michael Neill, his collaborator and editor, decided the book was missing something crucial. ‘We thought this book was done but suddenly realised, “Oh my God, this is wrong. It’s just about making money. It needs to be so much more than that. Just helping people make money isn’t going to do it. That won’t be enough. This book has to have a spiritual, emotional element, which is the happiness side of it.”
‘I began to look at being rich in its widest sense and my friend, the Happiness Psychologist Dr Robert Holden pointed me in the direction of research that showed that money was only a partial factor in people’s happiness. We discussed this at length. I thought if all I did was create more miserable millionaires, I would have failed terribly in this task.
‘So this book became about being rich in every sense of the word. It’s a book about making money and it’s a book about being happy. It trains your brain to notice firstly where you get your richest experiences from and it trains you to go get more of them and to amplify the neuro-physiological states that are associated with that. So basically, it takes the default joy settings and raises them and creates more of them.’
Why was it so difficult to write?
‘The job was so big: firstly to go and meet all these people and to model them and then to spend months going through all the transcripts and to work out a model based on what they were saying… taking that complex process and simplifying it into a form that the person in the street could understand. I wanted everyone who read it to get something significant from it.
‘There would have been no point having something that was a highbrow psychological discussion on how Richard Branson’s mind works… I wanted to be able to explain to the man in the street in six steps how he could do it himself. That’s where the work was.
‘This was a new area for me to write about. The other books I’d written before were on subjects that I was very familiar with – I’d been helping people lose weight and quit smoking for 20 years. I knew those areas inside out.
‘It was challenging too because I came up against my own blocks to wealth and had to work through those. They say, “If you want to learn something, go teach it.”’
As difficult as it was to write (and rewrite several times), it’s had a positive impact on his life.
‘I am now significantly richer in every sense from having undertaken this project and studying the people I did.
‘My experience of life has changed. I feel richer. I feel more confident about making money. I feel more creative in that area and the results have been very good, particularly recently. I also feel much more motivated. I’d say I feel happier and more determined in myself. I have a greater sense of what’s truly important.
‘Yesterday, I was walking down a street in Edinburgh … it’s the most beautiful vibrant city with amazing architecture… the sun was shining, there was a fresh breeze in the air, I could see the castle in the distance, somebody was playing the bagpipes… it was suddenly overwhelmingly beautiful and it just hit me and I turned to my friend and said, “I’m having a rich moment. My life is rich.”
‘We live in a consumer culture, which I like by the way but its objective is to sell you stuff, to make you notice what you don’t have and convince you that you need it and that if you don’t have it, you won’t have as much prestige or whatever. We’re conditioned by virtue of that to often feel a sense of lack. This book and the CD is a conditioning process to notice how much you already have.
‘When you ask people, “What would you change in your life? Would you change your friends? Would you change what you eat? Your job? Where you live?” most will say “No” to about 80% of the questions. That means they are already living rich.
‘We tend to take a lot of the good things for granted. Our brains work by generalising and making things habitual so that we don’t have to relearn the same things every day… we learn how to open a door or tie our shoelaces which is fine. It also means however that we tend not to notice when we’re having a lot of fun. Some of the most wonderful things that go on in our lives we take for granted.’
He expects to be criticised about the book. ‘Money is a highly charged emotional subject in this country, more so than sex. It’s probably easier to debate sex than it is money. When I suggest that you can make yourself rich and that’s a good thing, some people are offended. They resent rich people, they think of them as ‘fat cats’ and there I am suggesting they become one of them. It makes me a bad guy in their eyes.’
Not that he cares much about what his detractors say. ‘I’m a public figure – I expect to be criticised but I don’t like it when lies are told. I don’t expect everyone to like me. In fact, I’m quite disappointed that this book hasn’t pissed more people off.’
Really? Shall I change my review?
‘Yeah. Put what you want. We live in an envy culture and I’m not seeing enough evidence of that. All the reviews have been rather positive – there have been a few from people who haven’t understood it but I’ve been waiting for someone to say, “WHO THE HELL DOES HE THINK HE IS: I Can Make You Rich?” Actually, Private Eye had a pop at it – they called it, ‘You Can Make Me Rich’. But that’s kind of funny – it’s very humorous. I haven’t had anyone who’s been utterly disgusted. I was expecting some of that because I do consider myself a controversial character.’
Do you?
‘Oh yes, I quite like it.’
In what way do you consider yourself controversial?
‘I’m certainly not part of the psychological establishment. In fact, my ideas are in direct opposition to mainstream psychological thinking. I say some things that are possibly inflammatory – particularly about psychoanalysis: I called Sigmund Freud “a pervert” and I’ve said his theories are “a bunch of shit”. I attack the diet industry on a regular basis, or as I like to call it, “The Hate Your Body Industry” and I refer to statistical evidence that shows what they are selling hardly works for anybody and in fact, leaves most dieters overweight.
‘I’m controversial in that I’m a mix of educator and showman – the stage hypnotism shows are not really controversial now but they were at one point. What I’ve done is mixed showmanship with education and some people think that’s appalling. People find any number of things to get upset about so when I say “controversial” it’s not that I’m deliberately setting out to upset people because I wouldn’t want to do that at all but what I’m aware of is that some of the ideas that I’m putting out into the world will challenge the thinking of certain people and on that basis, they might be offended. I don’t get up and think, “Ooh, who can I upset this morning?” I think to myself, “I know this is going to upset some people because they have issues with it.”
Do you believe people create their own reality?
‘Yes. However that has been somewhat misinterpreted. Some people see that if terrible things are going on in your life, if you have cancer or have some dreadful misfortune, it’s your fault and you’re to blame. I think that is a slightly twisted take on it. I think that it’s up to you to change the circumstances of your life. Do bad things happen to good people? Yes. Do good things happen to bad people? Bloody right they do. Nice people get cancer. Criminals get Lear jets. This notion has been made popular with The Secret which is, what you think about you create. I buy it up to a point. There’s a little bit more to it than that. See, I think that’s very much a Western Christian interpretation of karma. I do believe you reap what you sow. However, the Western interpretation of karma is if you do bad things, bad things will happen to you. Well, bad things happen to good people and vice versa. I see that you pull towards you the lessons that you most need to learn. Now sometimes, they may not be comfortable. They may be really horrible but perhaps if I were to use a Buddhist metaphor, it would be that is part of your karmic development. I’ve had quite enough development recently.’
Why did you create the situations that saw you end up in two major court cases? [Both of which he won.]
‘Well, firstly I don’t believe I’m fully the creator. I think to some extent that’s true but I created it inasmuch as by having a public career, I will attract criticism so in that sense, I’m the creator of it. I fully accept that. I knew when I got into show business, when I went on stage, got into newspaper articles, I would be criticised. By the way, that won’t be the last time that somebody will say something untruthful about me. Will it be the last time I go to court? I bloody hope so. But if I need to go to court again, I will. I just accept that life will have its challenges. I created detractors by being well-known and I think to some extent, by being successful.’
Great reframing on that.
‘Yeah. As we would say in NLP.’
As well as NLP, you’ve really championed Thought Field Therapy (TFT). Why?
‘I know Roger Callahan – he’s a tremendous human being. Very inspiring. Great personal integrity, very bright and really good-hearted. TFT works. He’s the creator of this amazing technology. It works most of the time with most compulsions, most phobias, it’s really easy to do, easy to demonstrate, looks a bit weird, so it’s kind of controversial and eye-catching. It’s something everyone should learn at school. I think it’s absolutely fantastic. When I find something that’s good, that works, that’s completely safe, I want to show everybody. I like him, I like TFT. So many people report to me, “I used to have this problem and I did this tapping thing and I thought it was a bit ridiculous but oh my God, it really works.”’
So why doesn’t he present any of your courses?
‘Roger does his own courses and has his own organisation. We specialise in NLP and weight loss but we refer people to Roger all the time and to Kevin Laye who does his training over here, he’s one of Roger’s star pupils. I see it as my mission to refer people, to make people aware of TFT in the mainstream, through the TV shows and books, but then to refer them on to Roger.’
Okay, let’s talk about you… Is there anything that you fear?
‘Sure, oh God yeah, loads of things. It’s good to have some fears. If I’m about to do a project, I’ll worry about it. “Is it going to be good enough? Am I going to be able to do this?” It’s not really fear, it’s more worry and actually some of that’s good – that’s part of being a perfectionist which is what I am. When I try something new sometimes, I’m frightened that it might not work but I do it anyway. If something was overwhelmingly scary, I wouldn’t go and do it.
‘The other day, somebody stole my phone off the table in a restaurant and I chased him down the street and the guy threatened to stab me and I was frightened but I kept chasing him until I got it back.
‘It probably was a stupid thing to do – big bloke but he just ran out of steam and he sat down and then he told me he had all these problems, how he had lost custody of his kids, and I ended up cheering him up, trying my best to sort of help him. The police still arrested him though.’
I love that: the lengths people will go to just to get an appointment with you!
‘I was more concerned with the phone numbers in it that I hadn’t backed up.’
That’s brilliant: you ended up giving him therapy while you both waited for the police to arrive!
‘It’s funny… people said, “You’ll fall for any sob story you will.”
I went, “Yeah, I probably will.” Some of my friends are policemen and I work for the police sometimes, working with witnesses who can’t remember the licence plate of a car or something like that, some details of a crime. They said, “You’re a soft touch, he probably made it all up.”
I would rather think the better of this person than not. If he did pull the wool over my eyes, then damn…’
He was good.
‘…I’d rather take the positive view of humans.’
How else do you spend your leisure time?
‘Big socialiser; love going to dinner parties. Got tons of friends. My manager Clare Staples has a dog, Mr Big, and he’s the most beautiful dog in the world and he has his own blog**. He’s a Great Dane and he comes into the office every day and I feel like he’s my dog too. My girlfriend is a
dog trainer and she has three dogs of her own and so walking dogs is a part of it. We love to walk the dogs. I have a comfy couch and a nice TV and I love to watch a movie. I like getting out into the country to see friends.
‘I used to be a prolific reader but I don’t read so much now, I don’t know why. Don’t seem to.
‘I really like just spending time with my friends and talking. I used to be into nightclubs. That was the scene for me for a while. I went to a nightclub for the first time in ages recently and it was only because I was with people who were much younger than myself – I’m getting older – and now, I prefer to go to dinner parties. Tonight, I’m going to a dinner party and I’m going to sit next to interesting people, we’re going to drink fine wine and we going to have fascinating conversations. It’s going to be brilliant. I’m looking forward to it so much.’
You’ve been in the public eye for many years but what’s one thing that people probably don’t know about you?
‘I’m sick of being called an atheist. I’m absolutely not an atheist. I totally believe in God – I’m not religious though. I don’t like religion but if it works for you, I’m all for that. I’m not one of these people that thinks religion should be banned and I certainly don’t think that religion is something for stupid people as has been suggested in a rather condescending way by some of these books written by fundamentalist scientists recently. My parents are religious, they love it, they get a lot from it and I’m pleased for them. It doesn’t work for me however. Do I believe in God, an organising force for good, something greater than myself? Yes. Do I believe in some random Universe? Absolutely not.
‘I very much believe in God, I’m not religious but if I were, I suppose I’d be a Buddhist. I practice a fantastic meditation every day called “Big Mind” which was invented by an American Zen Master, Dennis Genpo Merzel Roshi. I love the process of Big Mind – I do that every day and it’s changed my life for the better.
‘I haven’t actually met Dennis yet – I’ve read his books, watched the DVD and we’ve been talking on the phone and I’m going to meet him soon but I’ve recommended Big Mind to everybody. It’s made a very positive difference – it basically takes you into the Satori state in a few minutes – what used to take months or even years of meditation is now achievable in a few minutes. In this age of psychological technology that’s totally fitting I think.’
Do you use hypnosis as well as meditation?
‘Regularly.’
Do you have any bad habits? Do you secretly gorge on biscuits or bite your nails?
‘Yeah, I’ve got loads of them. Sometimes I don’t follow my own advice, that is true. I overworked a couple of weeks ago and for the first time in about a year, I got a cold and actually, I’m really good at fending off a cold now – if I feel I’m getting a bit tired, I take some time off.
‘If I get stressed, I bite my nails. That’s about it really. I don’t know what else is a bad habit. It depends on your point of view really. Some people think swearing is a bad habit – I don’t give a f***.’
I want you to imagine it’s a year from today… and that it’s been your best year yet… What have you achieved? What’s your new current reality? [This entire sequence is lifted from his new book…]
‘Well, what I would have achieved is this: I’ll be doing television shows both here and in the United States, self-improvement TV shows. [The day we do the interview McKenna is given the nod for his new American interactive television show that will air from January]. I’ll be training more people. I will be working on another book. I’ll have a happy, harmonious, wonderful personal life. I’ll be in good health. And the companies will be working well. I’ll be sharing fun times with my friends and loving life. And I’ll be having even more of a positive impact on the world and reaching more people.’
And the book is I Can Make Your Kids Brighter?
‘No, I said that in another interview but I don’t know what I’m going to do. Maybe I’ll write a book about God.’
I Can Make You God?
‘You know what, I’ve just been looking at how well The Highway Code does. It’s on the best-seller lists all the time so I’m either going to do The Unofficial Highway Code or I’m going to change my name by Deed Poll to Department of Transport and bring out my next book under that name. That is a great title: The Highway Code. I’m thinking, I might do a sort of Highway Code Quick: learn the Highway Code in a fraction of the time it should take and feel confident for your driving test. It’s in the Top 10 all the time. I’m not entirely driven by commercial means but that is one that I was laughing with Michael about yesterday.
‘There are any number of books I could do. Child Genius is a good one. Just genius generally but I’d need to go and model some more geniuses first. It would be a big undertaking. I could do any number of books. I’ve been asked if I would do one on persuasion and influence. I don’t know. We will wait and see. I will suddenly get, as I usually do with this, some inspiration and God knows where it comes from and I will feel as if I have no choice and I have to go and do it. That’s one of those destiny things. People say to me, “It’s all worked out rather well for you” and I say, “Look, I don’t feel I have had much say in it. I felt compelled. I had to.” Of course, I did sit down and design my life but at the same time, I felt very driven and almost guided to some extent in destiny.’
That could be the name of this story: ‘God Made Me Do It: Paul McKenna.’
‘It’s all his fault! No, I am sure I chose to come as me in this life.’
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