I know what we've all been told - If you want to get rich, you’ve got to work hard!

But don’t you know people who’ve worked hard all their lives and are still really poor? I’m sure we all know a lot of people like this – maybe you’re one of them. We can call them the hard working poor.

Does that mean that getting rich doesn’t depend on how hard you work? Well, my answer to that is – yes and no. You see, it all depends on what you mean by ‘work.’

I am a great believer in effortlessness. But there is an important difference between being effortless and being lazy. You see, Effortlessness is not laziness; it is not inertia; it is not sitting back and doing nothing and expecting all good things to come your way. No, you’ve got to do something. Maybe you’ve got to do a lot. Maybe you’ve got to get up early, keep going all day long and get to bed tired and late, and maybe you’ve got to do that every single day.

I know people like that, we all do. From an outsider’s perspective, all they do is work, work, and work. And they are rich. These are the hard working rich.

What I’d like to suggest, however, is that the hard working poor are the only ones who are actually working, if ‘work’ is defined as something unpleasant, a chore. The hardworking rich aren’t really working hard – in fact, they’re not working at all. They are doing what they love. They get up early, looking forward to the day ahead, keep going all day because they are driven by the love of what they do, and go to bed late because they don’t want to stop doing it.

When the hard working poor go home, they try to forget their work, or they sit at the dinner table complaining about it, or they go to a bar or a pub and get drunk to try and forget about it. And the next day they don’t want to get out of bed because they don’t love what they’re doing.

You are probably not going to get rich doing nothing. Rock stars get rich doing what they love. People who own their own business get rich doing what they love. The hard working rich are simply following their dreams, doing what they love and feeling great about it. And, as I hope we all know by now, feeling great comes before everything else – happiness and inner joy lead to a great life, and that includes money.

If you’re hoping for wealth to drop into your lap so that you can quit your horrible job and do what you’ve always wanted with your life, I’m afraid you’re probably always going to be poor. You have to do what you love first, and then the rest will follow. This is how the world works.

There are no shortcuts, no secrets, no ‘money for nothing.’ Forget all the hype, forget all those ridiculous 'squeeze pages' with pictures of people sitting on a tropical island with a laptop, offering you the secret to making a fortune on the Internet or in the stock market, or whatever. Forget quick money and forget about trying to find 'the secret.'

What do you love? Think about it, dream about it. It all starts in your mind. Do what you love and the money will come to you. Then you’ll be one of the hard working rich. And you’ll never have to work another day in your life.