The Resilient Mind - Success is Easy. That’s Why You’re Failing (Original Seminar) - Jim Rohn

Episode Date: May 15, 2026

A timeless message from Jim Rohn®Jim Rohn was a renowned motivational speaker who has been widely regarded as one of the best in his field during his time. He had an incredible ability to inspire and motivate people from all walks of life with his speeches and teachings. One of his most notable achievements was serving as a mentor to Tony Robbins, one of the most successful and well-known motivational speakers in the world today.SUCCESS® presents: Jim Rohn®. To discover more powerful messages and timeless teachings from Jim Rohn, visit: 👉 https://www.success.com/subscriptions/. Licensed for use from https://mindsetdrm.com/.Take action and strengthen your mind with The Resilient Mind Journal. Get your free digital copy today: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://bit.ly/Download_JournalExplore tools from past guests of the podcast. Some links below are affiliate links, meaning we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you:💓 HeartMath: https://www.heartmath.com/resilient 🧠 Muse: https://choosemuse.com/resilientmind 🌿 Brain Ritual: https://www.brainritual.com/THERESILIENTMIND🌍 The Resilient Mind Podcast is a proud member of 1% for the Planet — building resilient minds and a resilient planet. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

I grew up in this little small country town, went to high school, graduated, went to college one year. Halfway through my second year of college, I decided I was smart enough, so I quit. One of my major mistakes, I should have stayed in school, but I thought, you know, heck, I'm smart enough to get a job. And back then, that's all that occurred to me, right? If you're smart enough to get a job, how much smarter would you need to be? So foolishly, I quit school at age 19 and went to work. A little while later with some fancy promises I got married and started my family. And I'm out there doing what I thought was the best I could. But year by year, I kept falling a little further behind.

Not unlike, I guess, the average American couple out there trying to make it go. Working hard. Working hard was never my problem, but I just wasn't making much progress. And I started buying a little more than I could conveniently pay for on time. and pretty soon the creditors write are calling saying, hey, you told us the check was in the mail. What's going on here? And I'm getting embarrassed by that.

But the time I reached age 25, I've got pennies in my pocket, I've got nothing in the bank, the creditors are calling, I'm way behind on my big mouth promises to my family, and wondering, what could I do to make my life better? I'm willing to do anything. I just don't know where to go from here. And then good fortune.

came my way. And sometimes it's difficult to describe or to analyze good fortune. Why something remarkable happens to you at a particular time. One of my friends says, well, hey, things don't just happen. Things happen just. And maybe that's it, I don't know. But my good fortune was, when I was 25 years old, I had a chance to meet a very wealthy man. His name was Mr. Schof, Mr. Earl Schof. A friend of mine had gone to work for him. And he started telling me about this man. He said, you've got to meet this man. He's very rich, but he's easy to talk to. And he's comfortable to be around. And he's got a remarkable philosophy of life. He kept going on and on. And I thought, I got to meet this man. So I had a chance shortly after that to meet this Mr. Schoeff. And I was impressed. Obviously, he was rich. Within a few minutes, right, I'm dazzled. And I thought to myself, I'd give anything if I could be like that. that rich and easy to talk to. I mean, what would that take?

Then I thought, hey, if I could just get around somebody like him, if he would coach me and teach me, I would learn it all. And that was my good fortune. A few months later, this wealthy man hired me and I went to work for him. I spent five years in his employ, and then unfortunately he died at age 49. But I got to spend five years, his last five of his life,

the first five years of my new life, I got to spend spend with this remarkable man. And my dream came true. He took the time to teach me and coach me. And he shared with me the ideas that could change my life. He taught me the books to read. He taught me the disciplines. He taught me the skills. And the things he shared with me during that five-year period revolutionized my life. I've never been the same. The idea has changed my income, changed my bank account, changed my future. What a remarkable set of years. And what a transformation I made from farm boy from Idaho, raised in obscurity, parents of modest means. This man opened up the world.

My parents laid a great foundation for me that has served me well all these years. But Mr. Schof opened up the world. He opened the windows. He opened the doors. He turned on the lights. He gave me a glimpse of things I had never seen before. I walked through the door, took advantage of the opportunity, started making a study. of how I could go through the transformation and change

from what I was to what I wanted to be. And so I will always be grateful for meeting a unique person at the right time. If you meet someone when you're 75 that offers life-transforming ideas, I mean that's okay, but boy, if you can meet someone when you're 25, when you've got time to work on it, when you've got time to put it to work, it can be so valuable.

So I wish Mr. Schof was still alive today. If he was, I'd be calling him right one more time, I'm sure, today saying, you won't believe what's happened to me. The television cameras were on, and I had a chance one more time to tell my story. I'd give him that message, but he isn't alive. But I did promise him before he died that I would translate best I could to the people that I would associate with the same information he gave me. did I know it was going to be in public seminars. I set out to be an entrepreneur just like he was.

So I did translate these ideas for my management, my salespeople who worked for me, but I didn't know I was going to have someday a worldwide audience. And now I have that opportunity. Okay, let's start with subject number one. I call it the five major pieces to the life puzzle. Five major pieces. to the life puzzle. I've got some questions now for you to jot down and then we'll launch into this subject. This will lay the foundation.

I've got a few other subjects I want to share with you before the day is finished, but this one will get us started. Jot these questions down. Question number one, what makes life valuable? Interesting philosophical question.

What makes life valuable, human life? Now that we find ourselves on this spinning planet, a chance to live a human life, what would make it be? valuable. Second question, what makes life worthwhile? Third question. What makes life work well? Good practical question. Now, under work well, we could put, you know, spiritually, socially, personally, economically, physically, there's a lot of different aspects to making life work well.

But that'll suffice because those questions I think are very vitally important. What makes life worthwhile? what makes it valuable, what makes it work well, and all the aspects. If your life doesn't work well in some aspects, what would you fix? And I've got some good answers on that. And I've boiled it down to what I call the five major pieces to the life puzzle. I think these are the most important things to work on the rest of your life that would give you the best chance to have everything you could possibly hope for. And if some aspects of your life are not working well,

I think the ability to fix it would be wrapped up in the rest of your life. these five pieces. Interesting question. What if a hundred teenagers today were to ask any one of you to spend a day with them, and here's the question they would ask, what five major things should I work on the rest of my life that would give me the best chance to have everything? To have the money and the joy and the pleasure and the satisfaction, the self-esteem, live the kind of life I would really like to live. What five major things should I work on the rest of my life that would give me the best chance. The question is, what list of five things would you give them? Isn't that an interesting question? What if we all made a list right now of the five most important things we

think a person should work on the rest of their life that would give them the best chance to have the money and the joy and the prestige and the productivity and the satisfaction make life work well? Then wouldn't it be interesting if we all had a chance to see each other's list? That'd be interesting, right? We could probably get a great debate going. What if these lists were different? I'm about to show you my list of five, but what if you had a chance to see my list,

and you said something like this, Mr. Rohn, if I had 100 teenagers, I wouldn't waste their time talking about these five things. Here's the five things that I would spend time talking to teenagers that I think would give them the best chance to have everything called, quote, the good life. So we could probably get a good debate going on on someone's list of five versus someone else's list of five.

But here's what you're going to have a chance to do today. You're going to have a chance to see my list. So let's see how close my list might come to yours. Five major pieces to the life puzzle. What makes it work well? What makes it worthwhile? Now, before I give you the list, let me give you my formula. It's how I got this list.

Formulas are always important. We call it a good place to start. You've got a good formula. This particular formula, my mentor, Mr. Schof, gave it to me when I was 25. I've used it now all these years. I've shared it with my business colleagues doing business around the world. We now all use it. Simple basic formula, but I think you'll find it interesting.

And here's the formula for your notes. There's usually about a half a dozen things that makes 80% of the difference. That's the form. There's usually about a half a dozen things that makes 80% of the difference. Now, what's interesting about this formula is it's not exactly half dozen and it's not exactly 80%. This is just sort of a unique way to say it. Here's another way we might say it. Keep looking, whatever the project is, keep looking for the few things that makes the most difference.

Boil it down to the most important components that'll make, that'll take care of most of the project is. that'll take care of most of it. And I think if you look through a lot of major subjects, you'll come to this same conclusion. To be good in sales, there's about a half a dozen major things to practice that'll give you an 80% chance of really being good in sales. For a management career, there's about a half a dozen things. For a good marriage, there's about a half a dozen things.

For good health, there's not a thousand things you have to work on. There's not 500 things you have to do every day. About a half a dozen will take care of most of it. Now, what was exciting about this formula when Mr. Schoefer shared it with me was, if there's only a half a dozen things, I could learn it. I mean, if there's 500 things probably left me out. You know, I only went to one year of college

halfway through my second year. So if it's going to take a lot of education, it's probably going to leave me out. But when he said, no, there's about a half a dozen things it'll take care most of it. Whatever the project is, I said, then if it's a half a dozen, I can learn it. So here's what I found out.

Life change really is very simple. It's really very easy. For financial independence, there's about half a dozen things. No one, especially in this country, needs to go without financial independence because it's not that difficult to master. There's not a thousand things to learn.

You don't have to go through all of the technology over a lifetime. Just a few things. major things that'll take care of most of it, and you've got it made. When I have a chance to share with my teenage friends, by the way, I've got a new book coming out, hopefully, Nick, this year, if we can get it done this year for my teenage friends, and I think the title is going to be, of course kids should pay taxes. It's going to be a good book. You'll enjoy it. And in boiling things down for my teenage friends, that's what they're

interested in knowing. Can I do it? Can someone like me master? it. And the answer is always yes. I tell them I got rich for the time I was 31. I was a millionaire by the time I was 31. My teacher taught me well that six years from being broke at age 25 to being rich at age 31. And kids say, wow, how did you do that? Here's the best news I give them. It was easy. Best news they've heard for a long time. Here's somebody talking to you that got rich by age 31 and he says it was easy. Three major reasons why I got rich for the time I was 13. Let me give you those. Number one, I lived in America. I mean, that takes care of most of it. A democracy, a place of freedom. Everybody wants to come to America because it's easy here.

People have them plotted in scheme for 40 years saying if I could just get to Poland, everything, it'd be okay. No, everybody wants to come here. Neil Diamond sings. Looks like everybody's coming to America. Right? They're not building rafts to get to Cuba. Everybody's trying to get to America. They're not squeezing through the fence to get into Mexico. Right? Everybody wants to come to America. Because this is it, right? It's easy here. Live in a country of freedom, a country where you can read every book you want to read, attend every class you want to attend, try everything you want to try. This is it. America. America's easy. For some teenagers that haven't heard that story before, take it to them. America is... Bangladesh would be hard.

The average yearly income in Bangladesh is $100. That's hard. America? You got it. Cambodia would be hard. The Khmer Rouge killed 2 million Cambodians so that the 5 million that were left would do the deal. That's hard. America.

You got it already. In about 90 days you can have that memorized. No problems here. I got rich for the time I was 31. Number one, I lived in America. Here's number two. I found opportunity. And that's what you're all about. Opportunity. Starting opportunity, preaching opportunity, living opportunity, practicing opportunity and offering opportunity. How much opportunity is there in America? It's unprecedented. Opportunity beyond the wildest imagination of most people who live everywhere else in the world. I found opportunity. Now here's number three. I found a teacher. willing to teach me. Somebody who took the time to translate ideas that I could understand a foreign boy from Idaho.

And that's how I did it. Those three basic reasons. Lived in a democracy of freedom, found opportunity, found a teacher willing to teach me. And I was rich by 31. Now someone says, well, Mr. Ron, if it was so easy to get rich by age 31, how come everybody else around you

during that same period of time? How come they didn't get rich? Here's why. It's easy not to. That's the best advice I can give you. In case you have to leave early, that's the heartbeat of my whole seminar. What's easy for one should be easy for all. Someone says, no, no, Mr. Rohn.

For all the rest of the people around you during that time, for them it was hard, and for you, it was easy. That's not true. You couldn't debate me on that point in front of this intelligent audience. What's easy for one is easy for everyone. However, let me put it now in a philosophical phrase, since I tend to be a bit philosophical. Here it is.

What's easy to do is also easy not to do. That's the difference between success and failure. That's the difference between pennies and fortune. That's the difference in flourishing and not having much. That's the difference between trinkets and treasures. What's easy to do is also easy not to do. I can give you in one sentence how I got rich by 31. Here it is.

If you ready, say I'm ready. Ready. Here it is. I did not neglect. Now you've got to underline that. I did not neglect to do the easy things that I could do every day for six years. Now once you've got that you've got the heartbeat for life change. Underline did not neglect. Major reason why people don't have it all. Neglect. How else would you describe it? Especially living in a country like this. And here's the problem. problem with neglect for your notes. It starts as an infection. And if you don't take care of it, it becomes a disease. Indulge in neglect long enough and it'll have you by the throat.

Shutting off air supply, shutting off opportunity. Neglect is a disaster. Now here's the further compounding of the disaster. One neglect usually leads to another. Neglect to do wise things with your money, then you'll neglect probably to do wise things with your health. Neglect to do wise things with your health, you'll probably neglect to do wise things with your friendships. Neglect to do wise things with your time. Neglect to do wise things with opportunity. I'm telling you, it starts to compound.

Once the house starts coming down, it starts coming down. And it finally falls in disrepair. So the whole clue to life change, number one, is to clean up all neglect. Because the rest of it is basic and simple. I mean, how difficult is it? My mama taught good health. My mama extended her life. The doctor said at least 10, 15, maybe 20 years by the study of good nutrition.

And she passed it on to me, passed it on to my father. My father's 92, healthy as can be. I passed the big five-old a lot of years ago, healthy as I can be. I got two daughters, 34 and 35, completely healthy, all their lives. I got two grandkids, healthy as can be. Mama taught us about hell of anything. About a half a dozen things, I'm telling you. So the key is to not learn another hundred things.

People aren't healthy because they know a thousand things. No. People are healthy because number one, they find out the half dozen things. That's number one, find out. And number two, do not neglect to practice. That's the whole key. I can't give it to you in any simpler form. Find out the half dozen things.

Now, sometimes it takes a while to find those major things. things. We pick up one or two and then we let it go. Finally we master it. But the rest of it is simply do not neglect. If you'll just start cleaning up neglect, mama taught an apple a day. Does what? I got a good question for this intelligent audience. What if that's true? You say, well, if that's true, Mr. Oll, that would certainly be easy to do. Then what is the problem? It's easy not to do. That's the problem. The problem is not lack of information. The problem is simply we don't do the information that's been handed to it.

Simple stuff. An apple a day keeps the doctor away. Anybody can do it. But what's easy to do is easy not to do. Or the guy messed up to say. Guy says a Hershey bar a day. You say, no. No, you've been watching too much television.

It's not Hershey bar. It's what? Apple. And if you lack the refined intelligence and you go for the Hershey bar instead of the apple, then you got to put up with your own poor health. It's nobody's fault with your own. A few basics you won't practice,

a few ideals you won't let them serve you. Then you got to put up with your own empty bank account, empty heart, empty soul, not enough vitality, not enough health. I'm telling it. Anybody that wants to can rearrange all of that. And here's where life change starts. For your notes, I can't give it to you in any simple form. Here it is.

It starts with an apple. Where else would you start if you wanted to improve your life? You don't need the exotic stuff, I'm telling you. You know, California's part weird where I'm from, right? They're teaching crystals rubbed crystals. That'll do it. But they're teaching sleep under pyramids. That'll do it.

California's part weird. California teaches, some of them are moving to Sedona, Arizona. I'm telling you, where the force fields come together. And if you can live where the force fields come together and rub a crystal and sleep under a pyramid, then it'll really be 60s. But I'm telling you don't need that. Basic, one, two, three stuff is what did it for me. The exotic stuff, if you want to pursue it, fine, but I don't suggest.

You don't need to walk on fire. You know, Tony's a very special friend of mine. He went to work for me when he was 17. But I never taught him his fire walk. I said, Tony, you've got to do water instead of fire. And I can kid Tony because he's a very dear friend of mine. But anyway, honest, you know, when I talk to kids, they're so happy to know they don't have to do five. You don't need the tricky stuff.

You don't need to, we don't need to teach our kids how to channel, I don't think, and find a thousand-year-old guru to guide the rest of your life. That's spooky stuff. In my opinion, you know, don't fool with it. You'll be out on a limb with Shirley. Anyway, you know, pursue whatever you want to. But the man who gave it to me gave it to me in simple, basic ABC form. He said, there's only about a half a half a little. a dozen things in any one category and the rest of it is do not neglect thank you for listening

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