Epic Secrets To Wealth From The Richest Man Who Ever Lived

By Doug Bennett with special guest Jeff Buehner

If you had a chance to speak to the richest man who ever lived, what would you ask him? Would you ask him for a chunk of his wealth? Or would you like to find out all of his financial secrets – no holds barred?

If you chose the second option, then you’ll enjoy reading the rest of this article.

On the latest episode of my podcast, Goals Do Come True, I interviewed Jeff Buehner, author of The Sultan’s Seven Secrets. 

Over three decades ago, Jeff stumbled upon the writings of the richest man to ever walk the earth. Not Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos or Elon Musk, but the Sultan Musa of Mali. The Sultan embedded the principles of his success in a fairytale so compelling that centuries later, it’s an absolute classic (it’s probably your favourite fairytale, too!).

These principles completely changed Jeff’s life, transforming him from a construction worker, barely scraping by, to a business owner earning hundreds of thousands of dollars each month.

But what were these principles? And how can you apply them to change your own life?

A thief, a magical lamp, and the secret to success

Picture this: a boy born into abject poverty and forced to steal food to survive. One day, he meets an older thief who recruits him to steal loot from a cave. They agree to split the loot if the heist is successful, but the older thief double-crosses the boy, sealing him in the cave.

By now, you might have already caught on to the fact that this is the plot of Aladdin. However, this fairytale that we’ve all come to love was actually inspired by Sultan Musa’s story!

During his near-death experience in the sealed cave, Musa discovered that he could control his life by speaking a new language: the language of the gods. And you can too

To fully command this language, however, Jeff explains that you need to first understand the three core elements of the fairytale and what they each represent.

1. The main character

Jeff: “The first element of the fairytale is, of course, the character – Aladdin. Aladdin represents you. It represents that conscious mind – that part of you – that you think of as yourself.”

2. The genie

Jeff: “You also have this all-powerful genie who can get you anything you want if you know how to summon and command it in the language it obeys. This is your subconscious mind or the veiled mind. Do not doubt the power of this thing. Whatever it believes, it has the power to make true over time. It’s connected to all wisdom, power and knowledge. However, it will not unleash its power until it believes that that specific event and situation is congruent with your life.”

Our subconscious is the mechanism that controls all aspects of our lives. Believe it or not, it determines whether we achieve financial success or whether we remain at the bottom rung of the ladder.

However, this isn’t an invitation to simply sit back and let the events of your life unfold without taking action. What this means is that to control your subconscious to activate the life you want, you need to speak to it in the language it understands – the “language of the gods!”

3. The magic lamp

Jeff: “The magic lamp is what changed everything for Aladdin. It changed everything for me, and it also changed Musa’s life. This lamp is simply a piece of knowledge – some understanding that comes to you at some point in your life. It represents the language of the gods. In other words, it represents how to speak to that mechanism [your subconscious] and command what kind of life you want it to set up for you.”

How to control your subconscious

Jeff pointed out that the language our subconscious mind understands is the language of feelings. It believes what we think about ourselves and keeps our lives congruent with our predominant feelings.

This means that to create the life we desire, we must first visualise it and get our feelings in line with this vision, no matter how far away it seems. 

Jeff: “In the past, you’ve probably tried using your imagination to decide what you wanted out of life and to build those dreams. But nothing changed. Why? It’s because you didn’t do it long enough to get results. There’s a specific amount of intensity and time that you have to dedicate to activate these feelings before your subconscious mind hears it, believes it and obeys it.”

From experience, I know that conjuring daydreams about the life you want can feel like an absolute waste of time. In fact, it goes against our very conditioning! As kids, we were constantly told to “get our heads out of the clouds” and stop living in “la-la land”. 

Now, as adults, we must go against everything we’ve been taught so far and start “speaking the language of feelings.” It’s important to envision the life you really want and take out time each day to build this dream life. Over time, your subconscious will begin to believe it and start working actively to match “fantasy” with reality.

Jeff was kind enough to share a simple exercise that might help you along the way to the Eureka moment.

How to attain new levels of wealth

Jeff: “Pick three to five experiences that you’d like to have in the future and write them down. Next, try to experience those things right now in your imagination. You want to do this until you can truly answer the question, ‘what would it feel like to experience that thing or to be that person?’ Try this twice a day for at least 60 seconds. Let’s see what this might look like in action. Let’s imagine that there’s a car you’d really like to own someday.

I want you to experience that car by kneeling down, touching the tyres, and even wiping the dirt off your fingers – all in your imagination. Feel the upholstery on your back, turn the key and hear the engine roar to life. You have to experience the same feelings you’d have if you were actually in that car. As time goes on, those nice feelings will begin to affect your physical reality.

Don’t be surprised if some weird things start happening, e.g your boss getting a new car and giving you his old one – which just happens to be your dream car! So, don’t worry about the how. Strange coincidences will start popping up, and you probably won’t recognise the first few. But what’s happening is that your subconscious mind is now buying into the new feelings you’re commanding it with.”

Did you find this exercise helpful? Perhaps, it’s one you’d integrate into your daily life to help you attain new levels of wealth?

Either way, you might want to check out Jeff’s book, The Sultan’s Seven Secrets, for a deeper dive into the principles of success.

And if you’d welcome professional support to help you realise your financial goals, grab a copy of my guide to Work Optional Lifestyle Financial Planning® here.