The Certain Way
of getting rich
A line-by-line decoding of the metaphysics behind wealth creation — desire, substance, and the disciplined act of thinking truth regardless of appearances.
Desire is possibility seeking expression
"Wherever there is unexpressed possibility, or function not performed, there is unsatisfied desire. Desire is possibility seeking expression, or function seeking performance."
Wattles is overturning a very old assumption. Most traditions treat desire as something a little shameful — greed, restlessness, a hole to fill. He argues the opposite: desire is evidence of a capacity that already exists inside you and has not yet been used.
If you carry an unexpressed capacity — for leadership, for building, for teaching, for healing — that capacity itself creates friction. The pull you feel is not vanity. It is the potential asking, quite literally, to be performed.
Wealth, in this frame, is never the goal. It is the material required for that unexpressed capacity to finally take form in the world.
An innate musical capability produces an inner pull to compose and perform. The urge is not the person wanting attention — it is the music itself, already present as potential, seeking a way through.
A trained eye for pattern in DNA, health, and behaviour creates a restlessness to build, coach, and guide. That restlessness is organisational and diagnostic capacity looking for a body of clients to move through.
What is meant by "this Certain Way"
"The ownership of money and property comes as a result of doing things in a certain way; those who do things in this Certain Way, whether on purpose or accidentally, get rich; while those who do not do things in this Certain Way, no matter how hard they work or how able they are, remain poor."
This is the thesis of the entire book. Getting rich, Wattles insists, is not the product of luck, location, talent, or raw hours worked. It is a repeatable method — and like any method, it produces the same result for anyone who follows it, and fails for anyone who skips a step, regardless of how hard they push.
Think of it the way you'd think of a formula rather than a personality trait. Two founders can build for the same number of hours. One follows the exact sequence — creative thinking, a definite image, efficient action, honest overdelivery — and compounds. The other works twice as hard but skips a step, and stays flat. Effort was never the variable. Process was.
Thinking in the Certain Way
- Moving from a competitive mindset — wealth as a fixed pie — to a creative one, where new value is continuously generated.
- Holding a clear, definite mental image of the outcome you're building toward.
- Sustaining that image with conviction, faith, and daily gratitude, rather than reacting to the day's numbers.
Acting in the Certain Way
- Doing today's task with full efficiency — neither frozen in hesitation nor rushing in overwhelm.
- Carrying the "impression of increase" into every interaction — people should feel more capable after meeting you.
- Delivering more Use Value than the Cash Value you charge for it, every single time.
| Dimension | The Ordinary Way | The Certain Way |
|---|---|---|
| Primary driver | Fear of scarcity, competition, panic | Purpose, vision, creation |
| Work style | Long, chaotic hours driven by anxiety | Efficient, focused, deliberate action |
| Focus | Outdoing or undercutting competitors | Creating value that didn't exist before |
| Value exchange | Charges maximum for minimum effort | Use Value consistently exceeds Cash Value |
| Outcome | Burnout, inconsistency, limited growth | Predictable expansion, compounding trust |
What is meant by "Man is a thinking center"
If everything is made from one intelligent, formless substance — and a thought held in that substance produces form — then a human being is not simply a body drifting through it. Each person is a localised point where original thought can be generated and directed back into that substance.
Most people only ever function as receivers — like a radio picking up whatever signal is already broadcasting: circumstances, other people's opinions, the day's bad news. Being a "thinking center" means you are also capable of transmitting — originating a signal rather than only reflecting the ones already in the air.
"He has never thought of trying to cause the creation of new forms by impressing his thoughts upon Formless Substance."
This line names the default mode almost everyone operates in — even ambitious people. It is the competitive mode: fighting for a bigger slice of what already exists — a client someone else wanted, a market share taken from a rival. The alternative Wattles describes is the creative mode: using thought to bring something into existence that was not there before, instead of competing over a fixed pie.
Looking at a barren field
Sees "there is nothing here." The thought is a passive mirror of the current appearance — a reflection, not a creation. Nothing changes because nothing new was impressed on the substance.
Looking at the same field
An architect sees the same land and conceives a residential complex — drafts it, recruits a team, moves toward it. An invisible mental concept becomes a concrete structure. That is thought impressed on substance until it takes form.
One formless stuff, endless different shapes
"There is one original formless stuff... All the seemingly many elements are but different presentations of one element... this stuff is thinking stuff; a thought held in it produces the form of the thought... Man is a thinking center, capable of original thought; if man can communicate his thought to original thinking substance, he can cause the creation, or formation, of the thing he thinks about."
Strip away the poetic language and Wattles is making a specific claim, part of a philosophical tradition known as monism: one underlying substance, appearing as many different things. He adds one further claim — this substance is not inert. It is intelligent. It responds to thought the way clay responds to a potter's hands.
Water can be ice, steam, or liquid — different forms of the same H₂O. Wattles is saying everything you see is like that: different "shapes" of one underlying stuff, and the mechanism that shapes it is thought held with conviction.
Different shapes — one substance
Thinking truth, regardless of appearances
"To think what you want to think is to think truth, regardless of appearances... There is no labor from which most people shrink as they do from that of sustained and consecutive thought; it is the hardest work in the world."
This is the practical crux of the whole book — and the hardest part to actually live out.
Appearances are the temporary, external conditions in front of you right now: an empty bank balance, a slow launch, a client who said no. Truth, in Wattles' framing, is the underlying reality — that creative capacity is unlimited and abundance is continuously available, regardless of what the current numbers say.
Your senses show you appearances constantly. By default, the mind behaves like a mirror — it reflects back whatever is directly in front of it. Stare at lack, and the mind produces more lack-shaped thoughts, which produce lack-shaped decisions, which produce more lack. That loop is the "cognitive trap."
Observes $0 sales — the appearance, taken at face value.
Internalises failure — "This market is dead. I'm not suited for this."
Cuts prices in desperation, or quietly stops marketing altogether.
Observes $0 sales — the same appearance, held at arm's length.
Maintains vision — "Demand exists. The messaging needs work, not the mission."
Gathers data, adjusts positioning, refines the value proposition.
Worth flagging clearly: Wattles does not mean ignore your books or pretend a problem doesn't exist. He separates this from carelessness elsewhere in the text. It is about which thought you choose to dwell in and act from — not a refusal to look at reality.
The Certain Way, operationalised
Reframe desire
See your ambitions as natural capacities seeking constructive expression — not vanity, not greed.
Formulate a clear mental image
Define the financial, professional, and personal outcome down to precise, tangible detail.
Filter external inputs
Refuse to let a temporary bad number or a slow quarter shake conviction in the long-term image.
Execute in the creative realm
Focus on generating value and solving real problems, rather than competing on price or undercutting rivals.
Maximise daily Use Value
Make sure every product, session, or interaction gives more practical benefit than the price charged for it.
Maintain continuous gratitude
Acknowledge today's progress daily, so the mind stays anchored in abundance rather than lack.
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Mahroof CM
Mahroof CM is a biohacker, wellness entrepreneur, and software engineer, guiding people through health, mindset, and money using biology, behaviour, and timeless principles like the ones broken down above.
He is the first person teaching this subject in Malayalam — bringing Wallace D. Wattles' Certain Way, as carried forward by Bob Proctor, to the Kerala and Gulf Malayalam-speaking community for the first time.