The Resilient Mind - Mastering Your Destiny: The Laws of Success - Jim Rohn

Episode Date: November 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 Mastering Your Destiny, The Laws of Success, with Jim Rohn. Get access to the Mental Mastery Program and other exclusive episodes by becoming a subscriber. Enjoy. Seven points to sewing and reaping. Here's part of the philosophy that really helped me to make some changes in life direction. Number one, the law of sewing and reaping is negative. That's number one, which simply means, if you're so bad, you're so bad, you're,

reap bad. Now this is kind of third grade but it doesn't hurt to go over the basics. If you plant thistle seeds you don't get pumpkins. Honest no use looking for pumpkins. John says how come no pumpkins? Come on John the law's negative. That's outcome. Now here's number two. The law's positive which simply means if you're so good you reap good. If you plant pumpkin seeds, you don't get thistles. Not from pumpkin seeds. Mother Nature won't pull tricks on you or in the corner snicker and push new thistles and you planting pumpkin seeds. She won't do that. You will get pumpkins from pumpkin seeds and the reason is because the law is positive. Now here's number three. I got excited when I found out the full

dimension of this. See, you do not reap what you sow, but rather You always reap much more than what you sow. So the third key word is more. You don't get back what you put out. You get back much more than what you put out. And it works both positive and negative. On the negative side, it said, if you sow to the wind, you reap the whirlwind.

So you've got to get ready for that, or you will be naive. See, anybody can whether you will or not. See, that's the question. And here's a good question to ask. We are all buying somebody's plan. The question is, who's got you talked into doing what you're doing? Who's got you talked into your present plan?

See, ten years from now, you will surely arrive. The question is, where? But see, anybody if you want to can go searching for a good plan, pick it and start working it. And sure enough, as the time passes, as it surely will, five years from now, 10 years from now, then you'll be winding up where and what you want to wear, driving what you want to drive, living where you want to live, become what you want to become. But now is the time to fix the next 10 years. And who can?

Anybody. Here's number six. The sixth key to sewing and reaping. This is leveling with you now, as we promised. to do. There's one thing better than the truth, and that's the whole truth. And here's part of the whole truth of the law of sewing and reaping. Number six is you could lose. There are times when you just lose no matter what you do. It's that kind of planet. You reap what you sow. Yes, but what does that mean? Yes, but. Well, the farmer plants his crop in the spring, takes care of it all

summer loves his family works 10 12 hours a day six seven days a week is an honorable man come fall he's got a beautiful crop and he deserves every bit of it but the day before he sends the combines into the field a hail storm comes along and beats it all in the ground which means you lose somebody says well what did he do wrong answer nothing it's just that kind of planet sometimes it's going to hail on your crop and rain on your parade so you got to get ready for that or you will be naive that's just part of the life arrangement and don't press me why I was not in on some of the original decisions here so I don't know how it got set up but there's just time sometimes you lose that's part of life but now here's number seven the seventh key to

sowing and reaping. And it goes like this. It's just another way to quote the same law. And it goes like this. If you don't so, that's just another way to quote the law. If you don't sow, what? You don't reap. You don't even have a chance. So if you looked at your game plan tomorrow, you might come to the quick conclusion. I got to get some sowing going. How true. Get you some sowing. going. And remember, you've got plenty of time. You've got all the time there is. Some people spend enough TV time to make a fortune. The latest article on television watching in this country, according to the latest article, the average television is on in this country in every household

seven hours a day called the big seven. I asked a guy one time what his TV cost. He said about $450. I said, you forgot to look at the price tag. He said, what do you mean? I knew he was a TV watcher. I said, that television cost you, in my opinion, at least $12,000 a year. To watch it, not to own it. Owning it's cheap. Watching it is what's expensive. And I said, hey, 12,000 a year is too much to pay to watch TV. That's too much. Pay a little, but not 12,000. And he's the guy that said, I hope pay TV never comes. Okay. We're trying to cover an awful lot tonight, I realize that. But my time schedule is such that we just have to sort of give it all to you and let you sort the rest out.

I wish we had plenty of time for questions and answers and that whole thing, but our time is just limited. But we are trying to go through an awful lot, I realize that. But it looks like everybody's getting it. This is about the note-taking as crowd I've seen in a long time. Incredible. Does anybody have five pages yet? Anybody? Oh, fantastic.

Incredible. Okay. Maybe you heard the story about the preacher down in Texas, southern part of the country. He was an evangelist back in the horse and buggy days. And he was very good at being an evangelist. And a lot of people used to come and hear him preach. And one day he put up his tent in one of these Texas towns and expected a big crowd as usual come here and preach and He got there first night of the tent revival walked in

7.30 time to start and to his surprise the tent was empty He thought well something must be drastically wrong So he waited till quartered eight nobody showed up eight o'clock zip Finally eight 15 One lone cowboy wandered up on his horse, tied his horse up outside, came in, sat down on the front bench, right, waiting for something to happen. The preacher thought, well, at least I better go down and talk to the cowboy. So he walks down, talks to the cowboy, and he says, cowboy, I'm the preacher. And he said, I don't know what to tell you.

Something's gone wrong. He said, this tent was supposed to be full of people. He said, I'm embarrassed. He said, you're the only one. that showed up and he said I really don't know what to do and the cowboy said well I'm not a preacher so I really can't tell you what to do you know he said I'm just a cowboy but he said I know this if I went out to feed my cattle and only one showed up I'd at least feed it the preacher thought hey the cowboy is right if you've got a good idea to share you should share it if there's one or a

thousand so he got kind of inspired by this conversation and he jumped up on the platform started to preach as if the tent was full of people just exploded and he went for an hour hour and 15 minutes just kept rolling finally he quit and when he finished he came down off the platform talked to the cowboy again says well cowboy what did you think i'm a sermon and the cowboy said well i'm not a preacher so i really can't tell you know he said i'm just a cowboy But he said, I know this. If I went out to feed my cattle and only one showed up, I'd feed it, but I wouldn't dump the whole load on it. So anyway, if it seems like we're dumping the whole load tonight, I guess we are. But gosh, everybody's doing well. I'm having a good time. I appreciate the response here tonight.

Okay, the next subject is setting goals. Let me show you what turned my life every way but loose. Mr. Schof dropped this idea on me, changed me completely. setting goals. Here's what can easily happen if you don't set goals. It's easy to let life deteriorate into making a living instead of designing a life and we all have a choice, make a living or design a life. It's easy to get trapped by economic necessity and settle for existence rather than substance. That's easy. But the best advice I can give you on how to break out of that trap is to learn how to set goals. Mr. Schof put it to me this way. He said, Jim, if you had enough reasons, you could do the most incredible things. I never forgot how he put that.

If you have enough reasons. See, reasons will change your whole life. Mr. Schof said to me, he said, Mr. Rohn, I think you've got plenty of intelligence, you've got plenty of talent, you've got plenty of ability. Probably what you lack is plenty of reasons. He said, I don't think your current bank balance is a true indication of your level of intelligence. I was happy to hear that. He said, I think you're much smarter than your present bank balance indicates. And that turned out to be true. I was much smarter.

But of course, my first question was, well, then why isn't it bigger? And he said, you don't have enough reasons. You've got enough intelligence. but not enough reasons. So see, reasons can change your life. Here's what else I found out. Reasons come first, answers come second. You don't get the answers to do well

till you get the reasons. Life has a mysterious way of hanging on to all the answers and only gives them up to the people that are inspired by reasons. So reasons make the difference in how your life works out. Now, what are some of the reasons for doing well? Let's go through a quick list called reasons for doing well. First is personal reasons. Some people do well for recognition.

Some people do well for respect. Some people do well for the way it makes them feel. They love the feeling of being a winner. Those are good reasons. I have some millionaire friends that keep working 10, 12 hours a day, making more millions. and it's not because they need the money. It's because they need the joy and the satisfaction and the pleasure that comes from being a constant winner.

And see, it's not just the money anyway. It's the journey, not the money. Once in a while somebody says to me, boy, if I had a million dollars, I'd never work another day in my life. That's probably why the good Lord sees to it. They don't get their million, right? They'd quit. They'd quit. Okay. Next is family reasons. Some people do extremely well for other people and that's powerful

Human beings can greatly affect each other Sometimes we will do things for somebody else. We will not do for ourselves We are made that way. I met a man one time who said mr. own to do all the things I want to do with my family around the world He said, I got to have at least a quarter of a million dollars a year. I thought incredible. Could a guy's family affect him that much? And the answer is, of course. How fortunate are the people that find themselves greatly affected by somebody for personal achievement?

And we are affected. The writer of a recent song said, if not for you, the winter would hold no spring, couldn't hear a robin sing. I just wouldn't have a clue, if not for you. So we can be affected. That might be one of the most stimulating reasons to do well, finding somebody. When Andrew Carnegie died, the wee little Scotsman that built a big steel industry, When he died, they opened up his desk, and in one of the desk drawers, they found a slip of paper. On that piece of paper, Mr. Carnegie had written his goal for his life, and he wrote it when he was in his 20s. And on that piece of paper, it said, I'm going to spend the first half of my life accumulating money.

I'm going to spend the last half of my life giving it all away. What a goal. He got so inspired by that goal that the first half of his life he accumulated $450 million. And the last half of his life, he gave it all away. Good question tonight. What's got you turned on? What's got you bombed out of sight to get up early and stay up late and hit it all day? Next question.

What's got you turned off? When I found the answers to those two questions, my life exploded into change. I finally found out what had me turned off and I got that cured. And then I got me a long enough list of reasons to turn me on. And once the lights went on for me, age 25, they've never gone out. I've fallen out of the sky a few times, but I've never lost that drive to make something unique out of my life. See, reasons altered my whole life. Now there's another list of reasons.

called nitty gritty hard little reasons sometimes those little reasons are the most powerful reasons that can change your life sometimes it doesn't take much i now carry several hundred dollars in my money clip it's only a few hundred dollars but it was one of those reasons turn my life around just before i met mr schoff i heard a knock at the door i go to the door and And there's a little girl standing there about this tall selling Girl Scout cookies. And she gave me one of the finest sales presentations I've ever heard. Special deal, several flavors, this whole package of stuff, $2. And with a big smile, she very politely asked me to buy.

And I wanted to. Big problem. I'm broke. I don't have $2. dollars. And to this day, I can remember the pain and the embarrassment. I'm a father, I'm a husband, I've been to college, I'm working, I'm 25, I don't have two dollars. And I didn't want to tell her that for some reason. So I did what I thought was next best. I lied to it. I said, hey, look, I've already bought lots of Girl Scout cookies. I've still got plenty stacked in the house,

which was not, but it seemed to get me off the hook for the moment. She said, well, gosh, that's wonderful. Thank you very much. And she went away. When she left, I closed the door, and that was the day I said to myself, I don't want to live like this anymore.

I've had it with lion. and I've had it with being broke. I'm never going to let this happen to me ever again. I promised that day I would work as hard as possible and would always carry plenty. It took me a little while, but now I do. It was one of those reasons. And I guess I carry plenty for two reasons.

One is the way it makes me feel, but also in case I bump into another Girl Scout selling cookies, right? I'm ready. I walked out of the Bank of America one time, up in Saratoga, California, where I used to live. Two little girls selling candy right outside the bank. Good place. Some girls' organization they're working for, right?

I come walking out of the bank. This first little girl walks up to me. She said, Mr. Would you like to buy some candy? I said, I probably would. What kind is it? She said, it's Alman Roca. I said, my gosh, that's my gosh. That's my favorite.

She said, Wonderful. I said, how much is it? She said, it's just two dollars. I thought incredible. I said, how many boxes of that candy have you got? She said, five. And her little friend was standing there.

She was selling candy too. I said, how many boxes have you got? She said, I've got four. I said, that's nine. I'll take them all. They said, really? I said, yeah, it's my favorite. I've got some friends.

I'll pass them around. They got so excited, put all this candy together. I reached in my pocket and gave them the $18. When I've got the candy and they've got the money, that first little girl looks up at me, she says, Mr. You are really something. How about that? Can you imagine only spending $18?

dollars and have somebody look at you in the face and say, you are really something. Now you know why I carry heavy, right? I'm not going to miss anymore. It was just one of those reasons helped to change my life. One of my nitty gritty reasons was budget finance. Budget finance used to grind my soul. Way back in those early days. I had fallen for one of those consolidation.

loans where you take all your little hard-to-pay bills put them into one big impossible to pay bill right i would get four or five payments behind this one guy used to call me day and night i don't think they're allowed to do that anymore harass me threatened to run me in front of the judge threatened to ruin my credit threatened to embarrass my family one day he said we're going to come get your car drag it rear end up down the street in front of your neighbors The guy even called me a flake. And back in those days, I'm broke, I'm pitiful. There's nothing I can do about it.

But I never forgot how the guy treated me. And when I met Mr. Schoeh, and I got my life straightened out, and the money started to flow, that was one of my first projects, budget finance. I poured it on day and night. I finally put all the money together. I owed them, which was considerable. I picked a day for the payoff. And when the payoff day came, I put the money in small bills in a big briefcase.

And I walked into the budget finance office on Wilshire Boulevard in Los Angeles. The guy who harassed me so often, his desk was about three back. I walked right up to his desk, startled him. He wondered what I was doing there. It was the first time I'd been there since I'd borrowed the money, right? Without saying a word, I opened up this briefcase, dumped this pile of money all over his desk. I said, count it. It's all there. I will never be back. And I turned around and stormed out. Now, that might not be noble. But if you haven't tried it, you've got to one time. It can be the

day that turns your life around. All you need is a reason that turns you on. One of my dear friends, Robert DePue, Bobby used to be a school teacher in Lindsay, Olive Capital of the world. Bobby taught school several years. Got a little weary teaching school. One day decided he wanted to get into sales. So without telling anybody, he'd just up and quit his job teaching school and jumped into sales. When he did, his brother made fun of him, laughed at him, put him down, said Roberts lost his mind. Had a good job teaching school. Now he thinks he's a sales. He's going to go down the drain, lose everything. Just put him down something fierce. Bobby said the way my brother acted when I got into sales, he said that made me so mad. I decided to get rich. And my question for you tonight is,

is it possible to get that mad? Of course. Wealth is not a matter of intelligence. It's a matter of inspiration. Today, Robert happens to be one of my millionaire friends. Bobby, rich Frank Sinopter said one time the best revenge is massive success hey get you a long enough list of reasons so that after tonight you never lack for inspiration you might not have all the answers right away but you can get the answers if you can get the reasons now let me give you a little simple formula for goal setting okay we take two two and a half hours on the weekend for the whole 10 year plan we don't have time for that tonight but let me get you started with a little simple formula Mr. Schof gave me and maybe this will be helpful. First of all,

I've divided goals into two parts. First is long range. Long range goals. That's your dreams. Your dreams for the next three, five, ten, twenty, thirty, forty years, actually the rest of your life. Your dreams. You've got to keep dreaming. Ronald Reagan, president, said to the joint session of Congress a few weeks ago, the republic is a dream. And if we don't keep dreaming. We will lose the Republic. Your better future is a dream for yourself and for your family. Where do you want to go? What do you want to do? What do you want to be? What do you want to see? You've got to dream dreams. There's a Bible phrase that says without dreams and visions. People perish. You've got to have something to go for that inspires the heart and the soul.

Dreams from the children of Sanchez, it says. Take the crumbs. from starving soldiers, they won't die. Take the bread from hungry children. They won't cry. But without dreams, we all will die. You've got to dream. Don't lose your dreams. For yourself, for your future, for your family,

the dreams of love and enterprise and travel and doing things, becoming something unique on your journey here. don't lose your dreams do some dreaming that's long-range goals you've got to have those so that's number one here's the second part of goals short-range short-range goals that's your goals for tomorrow this week this month this year the immediate future we call these confidence builders because if you set up something short range go for it get it latch on to it work hard accomplish it that starts building your strong feelings to go for your dreams now I've divided

goals into three categories here they are number one is economic that's your goals for money income business profits production economics make sure you've got your economics well planned economics plays a major role in everybody's life economics is major which means it ought to be meticulously well planned for tomorrow this week this month this year long range what if If you ask somebody tomorrow if you could see their meticulously well-planned list of economic goals, what would they probably say? They say, you're some kind of a nut? You must be weird.

Hey, I found out what success is. Success is doing what the failures won't do. Make sure you've got your economics well-planned. It'll put you in the top 5%. One of the key little subjects we talk about on the weekend is the seven fundamentals for wealth and happiness. And that's one of them. Well-planned economics. It's a fundamental if you want to do well. Join the top 5%. Anybody in this room can join the top 5% if you will. Now here's the second category of goals, things. Make a list of the things you want. And on my list of things, now I put everything, little things as well as major things. Doesn't matter how small it is. It goes on my list.

I used to just put major things, cars, homes. I don't do that anymore. I now load my list. with everything everything and the reason is part of the fun of having a list is checking it off that's it boy at the end of the day if you can go got it got it got it got it got it got it got it got it got it whatever it is right you get into the habit so load up your list the things you want now when you check off something major celebrate that's an important point to make celebrate your achievements Live it up. Have a party. When you reach something you've worked for for a while. See, we all grow from two experiences.

One is called the pain of losing. The other one is called the joy of winning. We need both of them. Amplify them as much as you can. Which also means make losing painful. If you set up something fooled around, didn't get it, put it on yourself. On the other side, if you did get it, congratulate yourself. Self-congratulations is a sign of maturity.

Seeking congratulations is a sign of immaturity. But hey, winning and losing, see, that's what it's all about. That's the name of the game. Now, some people lead such mediocre lives. At the end of the day, they don't know whether they're winning or losing. They got no clue. Guys just going through the day with his fingers crossed. There's a better way.

Okay, here's the third category of goals. Personal development. Put those goals together. Personal development goals. That's your goals to be stronger more decisive be a speaker be a leader Learn a language all kinds of skills. Okay, the whole weekend seminar was designed to improve all your skills So that you walk away more skillful and that's what you want the personal development skills. That's what attracts. That's what brings good things to your life the person you become more skillful Now this is quite a package to work on. economics things personal development for tomorrow this week this month this year long range okay that'll get you started now here's the simple formula for setting goals it goes like this a work on your goals that's step one work on them and I put

the word work there deliberately setting goals is plain hard work I don't want to you haven't come here tonight to kid each other it's work i know it's work that's why a lot of people just let it slide it's work many people work hard on their job but they don't work hard on their future they just let that slide and the work involved is making plans i know most people don't i understand that but don't let that be you guy says well yeah you work where i'm work by the time you struggle home it's late you've got to eat a bite of supper watch a little tv get to bed you can't sit up half the night plan plan plan and the guys be good worker hard worker sincere but you've got to be better than sincere working hard you got to be better than

a good worker you got to be a good planner somebody once wisely said the people who failed to plan or planning to fail. Well said. So work on your goals. Here's step two. Write your goals down. That's so important. I teach my staff around the world. Put your goals in your journal. Because one of the major people you want to study is yourself. Say here's the list of goals I put together three weeks ago. Here's the list of goals I put together two years ago. Here's some of the changes I made. Rearrangement of my priorities. I scratched these off. I put these. on. I've gotten these. Study your accomplishment. Study what your desires are. Put them on paper. Write them down. Here's another reason for writing your goals down. It shows you're serious about

doing better. And to do better, you've got to get serious. You don't have to be grim, but you must be serious. Everybody hopes things will get better. Every Everybody hopes. Poor people hope. That ought to tell you something. It means the future does not get better by hope. It gets better by plan. I used to have the affliction called passive hope. It's an affliction. It's bad. Probably what's even worse than that is happy hope. Now that is really bad. That's bad. Happy hope. The guy's 50 and he's broke and he's still smiling. See that's not good. So get serious about your goals. Put them on paper. Write them down. There's all kinds. His goals, her goals, their goals. Business goals, financial goals, financial independence goals, family goals. I mean, there's so many things to work on on this that if you don't get busy and work on it, sure enough the time will pass. And sure enough, five years from now you'll wind up where you don't want to be. wear and what you don't want to wear, driving what you don't want to drive, being what you don't want to be.

Now's the time to fix it. Now here's the third step to your goals. Check the size of your goals and the kinds of goals. How big they are, what kind they are affects you. And here's one of the important phrases of the evening. Your goals are affecting you whatever they are. Your goals affect your handshake. Your goals affect your attitude, personality.

Your goals affect the way you walk, the way you talk, the way you dress. All day long, we're being affected by our goals. Now, some people have goals, but they have such lousy goal. The effect is bad. I asked a guy one time, what are your goals for this month? The guy said, look, if I could just scrape up enough money to pay these lousy bills. That was his goal. I'm not saying it isn't.

the goal. It's a goal, but it's such a lousy goal. The effect is bad. You don't jump out of bed on Monday morning and say, oh boy, another chance to go out and scrape up the money to pay my lousy bills. See, you don't do that. Usually you say, oh, not another Monday. And some people have so given up on life. They have joined the thank God. It's Friday Club. How sad. Surely those are the same people when life is over for them will say, thank God it's over. Let me give you a Bible philosophy that teaches how to get whatever you want. That's the title of the next set of notes. How to get whatever you want from the Bible.

Now again, I'm an amateur when it comes to the Bible. I'm not a pro. But this I can quote and I think that'll be sufficient. How to get whatever you want. Here's what it says if you're ready. It says, ask. That's it. End of notes.

Ask. If there's one art in life to learn extremely well, that's got to be one of them. The art of asking. What does ask mean? Ask means. What do you want? And the formula is staggering. It says ask and what?

A guy ought to look into that. He says, yeah, but you. you work where I work, but the time you struggle home. It's late. You've got to eat a supper watch a little TV get to bed. You can't sit up half the night, ask, ask, ask. And the guys be, huh? See, you've got to be better than a good worker.

You've got to be a good asker. Now, let me give you three key points on asking and receiving. This can do it. Number one, asking is the beginning. of receiving. Asking starts a unique process, mental and emotional. I don't even know how it works. All I know is it works. It's like pushing a button and all this machinery starts working. I don't know how. It just works. There's a lot of things. You don't need to know how. Just work them. Some people are always studying the roots. Others are picking the fruit. I mean, it depends on what end of it you want in on.

Asking is the beginning of receiving. So start the process. Here's number two. receiving is not the problem receiving is automatic now if that's true receiving is not the problem what's the problem failure to ask might be one of your major problems I don't know check it out the guy says oh now I see it I got up last year and hit it every day but there's not a scrap of paper with my goals on good worker poor asker so you got to change that. Here's number three. Receiving is like the ocean. There's plenty, especially in California. It's like an ocean here. Success is not in short supply. It isn't rationed, and you stepped up to

the window and it was all gone. No, no, no. It's like an ocean here. Now if that's true, what's the problem. Well, some people go to the ocean with a teaspoon. Have you got the picture? See, what you want to do in view of the size of the ocean is trade your teaspoon for at least a bucket. And you'll look better down at the ocean. Kids won't make fun of you, right? Okay. Now, there's two ways to ask, and we'll wrap up goal setting. Two ways. Here's number one. Ask with intelligence. It didn't say ask intelligently, but I'm sure it meant that.

Don't mumble. You don't get anything by mumbling. Be clear, be specific. Intelligent asking means how wide, how high, how soon, when, what size, what color, how much. Define what you want and describe what you want. That's powerful. In the weekend seminar we teach, goals become like a magnet. They pull you that direction.

And the better you describe them, the more they pull. So ask intelligently. Here's number two. Ask with faith. That's the childish part of the equation. Believe you can get what you want like a child. Not an adult. Adults are too skeptical.

So the formula really reads, make plans like an adult, and believe in them like a child. And the most incredible things will happen. Just try it for 90 days. Just try it. You can always go back to the old ways. Just try it. Just 90 days, 90 days.

Now here's the last qualifying phrase on goal setting, as we promised to qualify everything. And it simply goes like this. Remember, you won't get everything you want. And we've already studied the reason for that. Simply, sometimes it hails on your crop. and rains on your parade. It's that kind of planet.

So you won't get everything you want, but if you will work this goal setting formula, you can get plenty for wealth and happiness. Okay, that's goal setting. We use it around the world. We recommend it. Now, maybe it won't work as well for you as it has for me. I don't know.

Maybe not. But what if it did? You got to try. Okay. Here's the last subject, the day that turns your life. around let me just quickly give you a list of four emotions that can change your life in one day emotions are powerful sometimes it doesn't take much to alter your whole life direction okay here they are number one disgust powerful emotion disgust says i have had it see that could be the day the day you can say

I've had it. And whether you've had it with something small or something major, the day you can say, I've had it. May not be the day it ends, but the day it begins. That's what I said when that little Girl Scout left my door when I'm 25. I give her the big lie. She leaves. I say, I don't want to live like this anymore. I've had it with lying and being broke. Powerful day. The man's finally had it with mediocrity he's had it with being a loser he's finally had it with those awful sick feelings inside knowing his wife is at the grocery store looking at two cans of beans one mark 37 cents one mark 39 cents and the guy sick inside knows his wife's going to buy the 37 cent can and she doesn't even like the brand do you know why she's going to buy the

37 cent can to save to sin. The guy sick inside finally says, I've had it. Being on my knees in the dust looking for pennies, we're not living like this any. Well, could be the day that turns your life around. The day you can say, I've had it. He walks into his closet and rips everything in it to shreds

and says, I've worn this embarrassing stuff for the last time. And not only will I never wear it again, no one else will ever wear it again. Commit an act that says, I've had it. Powerful. Here's the next one. Decision. And decision making is powerful and it's emotional. That's those knots in the pity your stomach, right?

Waking up in the middle of the night in a cold sweat, trying to decide. We sometimes call it inner civil war. What shall I do? Well, for progress you must decide. The best advice I can give you came from a wealthy friend of mine who said, If it's easy, do it easy. If it's hard, do it hard. Just get it done.

If you went home tonight and in the next few days cleaned up a whole list of decisions, that might furnish enough inspiration. for the next 10 years. I found this out many times after you've decided getting on with it is easier than deciding. Sometimes decision is the toughest part. Here's the next emotion, desire, wanting to bad enough. And I don't know how to tell you to want to.

That's something you've got to come up with. There's two things I know about desire. Number one, it comes from inside, not outside. You don't send off for it. Number two, I know desire can be triggered by something. Who knows what it might be? Sometimes desire waits and sleeps for something to happen. Maybe it's a book, maybe it's a song, maybe it's a sermon, maybe it's a lecture, a seminar, maybe it's the conversation of a friend, a

happening and event. Who knows? The best I can vice I can give you is what I give my staff. It goes like this. Welcome every experience. You never know which one is going to turn it all on. Even the bad experiences. Sometimes from the bitterest experience comes the greatest awakening. So let down the barriers, take down the walls. The same wall that keeps out disappointment, keeps out happiness. Let life touch you. Don't let it kill you, but let it touch you. Here's the last one. This one's powerful resolve resolve says I will two of the most powerful words in the language I will Benjamin Disraeli once said nothing can resist a human will

that will stake even its existence on the extent of its purpose shortly put I'll do it or die see that's powerful that could be the day that turns your life around the world has a strange way of stepping aside when somebody says, I'll do it or die. The man says, I will climb the mountain. They've told me it's too high, it's too far, it's too rocky, it's too difficult. It's never been done before, but it's my mountain I will climb it. Pretty soon you'll see me waving from the top or dead on the side because I ain't coming back. The best definition I ever got from the word resolved came from a little junior high girl in Foster City, California up north. I'm talking to the junior high

kids one day. I love to ask kids definitions. They come up with beauties. I got to the word resolve and I asked, who can tell me what resolve means? And I got several hands and they were all pretty good, but the last one was the best. Little girl, about three rows back, held up her hand. She said, Mr. Ruhn, Mr. Rillan. I think I know what resolve means. I said, darling, what do you think it means. She said, I think it means promising yourself you will never give up. I said, that's it. Webster, stand aside. That is the definition. Promise yourself you will never give up. I asked the kids, how long should a baby try to learn how to walk? How long? How long would you give your average baby before you shut them off? How long? See, any mother in the world would say,

crazy. My baby's going to keep trying until it learns how to walk. What a magic formula. Now let me show you what triggers all emotions into activity that brings results. And results is the name of the game. Here it is. Action. Finally, you must do something about how you feel. Jesus the master teacher said, don't just be listeners. Be doers. The world admires the doers. 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 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 in. 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 till 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 a 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. 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, then 100 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 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 who 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. 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. 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 Shof 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. own 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 strict nine

they said well you'd be dead i said correct lesson two watch your call Copy. 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. Indulging this long enough, you get your future kinsed. 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've got to make sure you're winning the war. And this is part of it. tuning into this episode. Continue strengthening your mind by listening to our other episodes.