The Resilient Mind - Change Your Thinking to Improve Your Life - Jim Rohn

Episode Date: February 22, 2023

Jim Rohn was one of the best motivation speakers of our time. When he was alive he was Tony Robin's mentor.Take action and strengthen your mind with The Resilient Mind Journal. Get your free digital copy today: ⁠⁠⁠⁠Download Now⁠⁠  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to the Resilient Mind podcast. In this episode, you will be listening to Change Your Thinking to Improve Your Life with Jim Rohn. Get access to the Mental Mastery Program and other exclusive episodes by becoming a subscriber. Enjoy. Whatever it takes to get you to try harder, read more, set your goals and go for it. Here's the next attitude disease. Over caution. Some people never will have much.

They're too cautious. Now, you can also be too reckless, but you can also be too cautious. This is called the timid approach to life. And my caution was always the risk. Risk used to drive me right up the wall. I used to say, what if this happens? It's called the language of the poor. What if this happens?

And on top of that, if this was to happen, look at the fix I'd be, and I better not try. I could always ace myself out. Then I'll tell you what changed my whole life when I finally discovered. It's all risky. The minute you were born, it got risky. If you think trying is risky, wait till they hand you the bill for not trying. If you think investing is risky, wait until you get the tab for not investing.

See, it's all risky. Getting married is risky. Having children is risky. Going into business is risky. Investing your money is risky. It's all risky. I'll tell you how risky. life is. You're not going to get out alive. That's risky. The Englishman says, well, if that's the way

it's going to work out, let's give it a go. Right. That's what it's for. Give it a go. Somebody says, yeah, but I'm looking for safety and security. Fine, then huddle in a corner. We'll cover you with a sheet, bring you three meals a day. And we'll protect you, feed you, look after you, care for you. We won't let anything happen to you. And you'll probably live to be 100. The guy said, well, yeah, I'd live to be 100. But what a way to live. Right. What a way to live safe and secure. Don't ask for security. Ask for adventure. Better to live 30 years full of adventure than a hundred years safe in the corner. And see, it's not important how long you live. What's important is how you live. Here's the next attitude disease. We're almost through with

this motley list. In fact, we're almost through. Hang on. The next one is pessimism. Pessimism, the deadly disease of always looking on the bad side, the problem side, the difficult side, checking all the reasons why it can't be done. The poor pessimist leads an ugly life. He doesn't try to figure out what's right. He tries to figure out what's wrong. He doesn't look for virtue. He looks for faults.

And when he finds him, he's delighted. How ugly. This is the poor guy looks through the window, doesn't see the sunset. He sees the specs on the window. And this is the poor guy, right, who rushes up, takes such leave of his senses. This guy rushes up and he says, I've got five good reasons why it won't work.

He's so dumb he doesn't know. All he needs one. He's got five. To the pessimist, the glasses always half empty. To the optimist, the glasses half full. Why would the same measure affect people two different ways? Answer, it all depends on how you look at it. at it. Our lives are mostly affected by the way we think things are. Not the way they are. The way we think they are affects us most.

There's a subject we don't have time to get into tonight called better thinking habits. One of the major things Shove taught me when I met him, he said, poor thinking habits keeps most people poor. Not poor working habits. Most people work hard. But they don't. think hard and Schof taught me that the mind is like a factory a mental factory and whatever you think about all day long pours ingredients into this mental factory and that's what builds the economic social financial fabric of your life he quoted me a Bible phrase that says as you think so you become how awesome when he talked about poor thinking habits he had me I used to start the day reading the morning newspaper. I mean, you can believe that or not. I'd get

a cup of coffee and read the paper. I'd load up on wars and riots and murders and stabbings and killings and bank robberies and muggings and car wrecks and tragedies. I'd even read the back pages. I seem to like that stuff for some weird reason. I'd load up on all that and then I'd start the day. You can imagine the kind of days I used to have. You walk around on your financial knees. They call you economic pee-wee. The guy says, I want to be a great leader. Wonderful. The first thing we do is following to his house.

When we get there, we walk in and check his library, number one. Somebody says, well, why check his library? The reason is because what a man reads, pours massive ingredients into his mental factory. And the fabric of his life is built from those ingredients. You would not believe what some people have got in their house to read. You would not believe. One of the best dressed up words I know for a lot of it is trash.

Can you imagine dumping a barrel of trash into this mental factory every day and coming out with a rich, dynamic, positive life? It can't be done. You might as well try making a cake with cement. The kids back in Danbury, Connecticut, high school, they're asking me questions one day. I'm talking to the kids. Kids got good questions these days.

One of them said to me, Mr. Rohn, how do you build the good life? I said, it's simple. It's not easy, but it's simple. Here's how you build anything. Select the right ingredients, keep out the wrong ingredients, and it starts with thought. Everything starts with thought. So you must be wise and careful what you think about, because that starts everything.

You got to be wise and careful. I asked the kids, what would happen if somebody dropped sugar in my coffee? They said, well, you'd be okay. I said, what if somebody dropped strict nine in my coffee? They said, well, you'd be dead. I said, correct. Lesson one.

Life is both sugar and strict nine. You've got to be careful. I said, what if my worst enemy drops in the sugar? They said, will you be okay? I said, what if my best friend, even by accident, drops in the strychnine? They said, well, you'd be dead. I said, correct. Lesson two, watch your coffee.

You got to be careful. See, it doesn't matter who hands you the bad stuff. It doesn't matter where you get the bad stuff. It'll still do its damage on your bank account. Wherever you get it. Mr. Schof gave me one of the greatest phrases when I first met him when he said, Jim, every day, stand guard at the door of your mind. How important. Stand guard at the door of your mind.

And you decide what goes into your mental factory. Don't let anybody just dump anything they want to in your mental factory because you've got to live with the results. Okay, here's the last disease, and we're through with this list. In fact, we're almost through. Hang on. The last subject is very brief. The last disease, but this one is deadly. Engage in this one, indulge in it even slightly,

and you might as well forget the future because it's going to forget you. Complaining, crying, whining, griping, a Bible word called murmuring. See, that'll ace your future. Spend five minutes complaining, and you have wasted five. And you may have begun what's known as economic cancer of the bone. Surely they will soon haul you off into a financial desert and there let you choke on the dust of your own regret. I hope I said that well. So you won't forget. It's a deadly disease.

If you don't think it's bad, ask the children of Israel of Old Testament fame. Typical of us all, their story just happened to get in the book. Story says, children of Israel were slaves. God performed a series of dazzling miracles and got them out. and now they're heading for the promised land. Remember the story? Heading for the promised land. Tragedy of the story, they never got there.

Reason. From day one, they started to complain. They griped about the water. They griped about the weather. They whined and cried and griped about the food. They griped about the leadership. They whined and cried because it was. too far, too cold, too hot, too difficult, too miserable. I mean they whined and cried for years.

Finally God said, I've had it trip canceled. Or something like that. The story says they died in the desert, never got to the promised land, which I think means two things. Indulge in this long enough, you get your future canceled. And I guess it also means even God himself can only take so much. Just be on the lookout of the things that can destroy all the good you start. The war is on. And this evening, tomorrow, mentally, personally, socially, economically, you got to make sure you're winning the war. And this is part of it. Thank you for tuning into this episode. If you're enjoying the content, you can access exclusive material by becoming a subscriber. Continue strengthening your mind by listening to our other episodes.