The Resilient Mind - Take Charge Of Your Life - Jim Rohn

Episode Date: November 11, 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 Take Charge of Your Life with Jim Rohn. Get access to the Mental Mastery Program and other exclusive episodes by becoming a subscriber. Enjoy. Here's the big challenge of life. You can have more than you've got because you can become more than you are. That's the challenge. And of course, the other side of the coin reads, unless you change how you are, you'll always have what you got.

I have found in my experience that income does not far exceed personal development. Now, sometimes income takes a lucky jump, but sure enough, unless you grow out where it is, it'll usually come back where you are. Life has strange ways. If somebody hands you a million dollars, best you become a millionaire quickly. So you get to keep the money. Otherwise, sure enough, it'll disappear. Somebody once said, if you took all of that you took all of that, you're not, you the money in the world, divided it up equally among everybody, it would soon all be back in the same pockets. Incredible. Success is something you attract, not something you pursue. Success is looking for a good place to stay. So instead of going after it, you work on yourself,

personal development. See, the major question to ask on the job is not what are you getting. The major question to ask on the job is, what are you becoming? The big question is, not what am I getting paid here. The big question is, what am I becoming here? Because true happiness is not contained in what you get. Happiness is contained in what you become. So that's our major subject for tonight, personal development. Of all the assignments Mr. Schof gave me at age 25, this was probably the most difficult.

In fact, I'm still working on this one. I think it's an unending challenge to see what you can become. The next subject is called basic laws. And it's good to study the basics. And I call these basics primarily because they come from the Bible. Now, I'm not a theologian or a minister, and that'll be apparent. But Mr. Shoeff taught me that the Bible was a good textbook for ideas and stories and success equations, how to live the better life.

I found out that was true. He also taught me that the Bible is as practical as it is spirit. And I found out that's true. If you look at your bank account and your income and you're not happy, there's several places in the Bible to check to see what the heck's wrong. So you can make the changes. And we're going to cover some of those tonight called basics. Okay, the next subject is my favorite, setting goals. Mr. Shelf taught me how to set goals.

What a favor that was. One morning at breakfast shortly after I met him, he said, Jim, let me see your current list of goals. see your current list of goals and let's go over them and talk about him. He said, maybe that's the best way I can help you get a better direction started. And I said, I don't have a list. He said, well, is it out in the car or home somewhere? I said, no, sir. I don't have a list anywhere. He said, well, young man, that's where we got to start. He said, I can tell you right now, Now, if you don't have a list of your goals with you, he said, I can guess your bank balance within a few hundred dollars, which he did. And that got my attention. I said, you mean

my bank balance would change if I had a list of goals? He said drastically. That day I became a willing student how to set goals. And sure enough, learning how to set goals changed my life. And I often wondered why no one had ever taught me how to set goals up until age 25. I went to high school, but if they offered it, I missed it. I went to college for a year, never heard it. I worked for Sears. Really? And to my knowledge, Sears never taught it, right? How to set goals. So here I am, age 25, married my family starting, I've been to college, I'm working, and I still don't know how to set goals. But fortunately, when I was 25, I met the man who taught me how, now and it revolutionized my whole life.

Economically, socially, personally, it's incredible. So I want to share with you tonight what Mr. Shove shared with me how to set goals. It can be a life changer. Okay. The next subject is the negative part of the seminar. Life is part negative, so we got to talk about the negative. And this subject is called diseases of attitude. Diseases of attitude.

There's a lot of things that can wreck your chances to do well. We live in a rather dangerous. world. So you've got to be not only wise, you've got to be careful. Now, attitude diseases are just as bad as physical diseases, right? High blood pressure, heart trouble. I mean, a lot of things lace your chances to do well. So you've got to be careful. And attitude diseases are deadly. I mean, they'll destroy all the good things you start. So we'll go through those attitude diseases, how to spot them, how to look for them, what they are, and the cure. And I'm a pro on these because I've had them all, so I can give you excellent advice on these.

Now, the last subject we're going to consider tonight is called the day that turns your life around. The day that turns your life around. And under this subject, we're going to talk about the emotions that can change your life. Human beings are emotional creatures and emotions are powerful for life change. Now, of course, emotions are so powerful they can go either way on you. Emotions can either build or destroy. So you really have to employ emotions properly.

We call civilization the intelligent management of human emotions. If you can intelligently apply your emotions in the right direction, no telling what can happen. Could turn your life around one day would be sufficient. So we'll talk about those. Okay. Now that's a lot to cover in one evening, but we'll keep at it here and see if we can't get it all done. I'd like to have you now jot down the theme of the seminar.

seminar should have a theme, I guess. We've got one. It's on some of our literature if you happen to notice it, but if you didn't, for your notes, here it is. The theme of the seminar goes like this. The major key to your better future is you. That's the theme of our seminar tonight. The major key to your better future is you. And I'd like to have you underline two words just to give it some added punch. Underline the word major and the word you. So that it reads the major key, to your better future is you. Now my first suggestion is transfer this to a card or something where you can put it up where you can see it every day. Preferably put it up where you can see it at the beginning of the day. Before you go off to put the day together, this is a good phrase just to glance out to keep in mind

as you're putting the day together. It's called the silent seminar. If you'll just let this talk to you during the day, I found it to be tremendously helpful. The major key to your better future, is you. For a big share of my life now, I didn't have this one quite figured out, among a lot of things I didn't have quite figured out. Many things used to puzzle me back in those early days. I used to wonder why two people could work for the same company, one make twice as much money. Now, see, that used to puzzle me. And maybe they were the same age. Graduated from the same school, live in the same community, work for the same company, with the same products and the services, they've got the same traffic, the same problems, and one makes a thousand a month,

the other one makes 2,000 a month. Now that was my puzzling question. Why would this long list be the same and the money twice as much? I asked, what's the difference between 1,000 a month and 2,000 a month? And I don't mean 1,000 a month, right? I could figure that out. But what makes the difference? Why would one person do twice as well, three times as well, speaking economically. Now, I know there's more than one way to do well. I understand that. But in this little narrow area called compensation, what's the difference? Well, back then, with my faulty thinking, I'm trying to reason it out. I thought, well, maybe time makes some of the difference, right? Some people do better because they have more time. I used to say, Harold ought to be able to do well. He's

got a lot of time. If I had all of Harold's time, I could do well. Now that's got to be dumb, right? Number one, you can't get somebody else's time. A guy says to me one time, he says, you know, if I had some extra time, I could make some extra money. I said, then forget it. There isn't any extra time. Hey, when the clock strikes 12 midnight, that about wraps it up, right? I mean, you can look around the gongs here for a little more, but it's over.

You say to the guy, what are you doing? He said, I'm looking for extra time. See, they'll come and take you away, right? There isn't any more time. Now, if you can't get more time, which you can't, what could you get more of that would make a difference in economic results? And here's the key word. Make it a part of your notes. We're going to consider it tonight.

The word is value. And I have a little phrase for your notes. Value makes the difference in results. Value makes the difference. You can't get more time, but you can create more value. Now, here's the first lesson of economics. everybody should learn it from the time they're old enough to understand what a dollar means, how to earn one, how to get one, how to keep one, what to do with it.

First lesson of economics, we primarily get paid for value. That's lesson one. Bringing value to the marketplace, that's how you get paid. You don't get paid for the time. I know it takes time to bring value to the marketplace, but you get paid for the value, not the time. Now, since that's true, here's one of the key questions. of the evening. Is it possible to become twice as valuable at the marketplace and make twice as much money in the same time? Could you become three times as valuable? Make three times

as much money in the same time. Is that possible? The answer is yes, if. And it's always if, right? Life is known as the big if. Harry Truman once said, life is iffy. How true? And here's the big if we're going to consider it tonight. It's possible to do much better at the marketplace if you go to work primarily on yourself. And that's the theme of our seminar tonight. Learning to work primarily on yourself. People have asked me for the last 24 years, how do you develop an above average income? And the answer is, become an above-average income. And the answer is, become an above-a-ableness. average person. Develop an above average handshake. Some people want to be successful they don't even work on their handshake as easy as that would be to start on. They let it slide they don't understand. Develop an above average smile. Develop an above average excitement. Develop an above average interest in other people. Develop an above average intensity to win. See that'll change everything.

Probably one of the most frustrating experiences in life is looking for an above average job with above average pay without becoming an above average person. It's called frustration. And Mr. Schof gave me probably the greatest clue he gave me when I first met him. He said, Jim, if you want to be wealthy and happy the rest of your life, just learn this lesson well. He said, learn to work harder on yourself than you do on your job. Then Mr. Schof gave me probably. one of the most important clues, among so many things he taught me. But this was in those early days.

Mr. Schof was very kind, but he was also very abrupt. And he had these interesting questions to ask. I'm giving him a little rundown one day on how things hadn't worked out for me. He said, Mr. Owen, I've got the answer for you, if you will listen carefully. And listen carefully, I did, that day and for the next five years. If somebody's wealthy and happy, you've got a list. He said, Jim, I've only known you a short time. But he said, it's already my honest opinion that for things to change for you, you got to change.

That wasn't quite the answer I was looking for. But that's the answer he gave me, and I pass it along to you on this warm summer evening in Anaheim, California, 1981. For things to change for you. You've got to change. Otherwise, it isn't going to change. Before I met Mr. Schof, I used to say, I sure hope things will change. Right? That seemed to be my only hope.

If it isn't going to change, I'm in serious trouble. And then I discovered it isn't going to change, so I'm in serious trouble. See, I can tell you what the 80s are going to be like. You have dropped into the right place. I did a seminar one time for Standard Oil, executives, and management. Honolulu and we're having a conference one day on this big conference table and one of them said to me, Mr. Rohn, you know some fairly important people halfway around the world. What do you think the 80s are going to be like? I said, gentlemen, I do know the right

people. I can tell you. So they all listen very carefully. And I said, gentlemen, based on my wide experience, I can really honestly say to you, in my opinion, in the 80s, it's going to be about like it's always been. Aren't you glad you came? That's inside. I don't pass that around just everywhere. Now of course I said that to make a point but I also said it because it's accurate. It's going to be about like it's always been. It isn't going to change. The tide comes in and then what? It goes out for six and a half thousand years that we know of, recorded history and probably long before that. So it is not going to change. It gets light and then what?

It turns dark. Six and a half thousand years. See, it's not likely to change. And we're not to be startled by that. If the sun goes down and the guy says, What's happened? What's happened? It means he hasn't been here long, I guess, right?

It always goes down about this time. The guy says, well, I don't like that arrangement. Well, you've got to talk to somebody besides me, right? It gets light, then it turns dark. In rotation, the next season. season after fall is what? Winter. Pray tell how often does winter follow fall? Every year regularly for the last six and a half thousand that we know of. See it is not going to change. Now some winters are long and some are short and some are hard and some are easy, but they

always come right after falls. It isn't going to change. Sometimes you can figure it out, sometimes there's no way to figure it out. Sometimes it goes well. Sometimes it gets in a knot. Sometimes it sails along. Sometimes it gets in reverse. See, that's not going to change. The last 6,000 years reads like this, opportunity mixed with difficulty. That's how it reads. It isn't going to change. The man says, well, if it isn't going to change, how will my life ever change? Answer, when you change. And whether I'm talking to high school kids or business executives, my message is always the same. And it goes like this. The only way it gets better for you is when you get better. Let me give you the four major lessons in life to learn.

Here's four majors. It's good to study the majors. In our weekend seminar we teach. Some people don't do well because they major in minor things. You've got to be on the lookout. At the end of every week, end of every month, you've got to check, make sure you're not spending major time on minor things. We go through that whole series. Majors and minors. Now, let me give you two phrases before we get to the four majors. This will set it up and you'll see where I'm going. Two key phrases for your notes. Here's the first word. Life and business is like the changing seasons. That's the first phrase. Life and business is like the changing seasons. One of the best ways to describe life. It's like the seasons. Frank Sinatra sings, life is like the seasons. Now here's the second phrase.

Very important. You cannot change the seasons, but you can't change the seasons, but you can't change yourself. You can't change the seasons, but you can change yourself. And see, that's how life gets better for you. Not by chance, but by change. Now here's the four major lessons in life to learn. I've got my first book finished. It came out a couple of weeks ago. This is in it. The four major lessons in life to learn. Here they are. Number one, learn how to handle the winters. That's lesson one. They come right after falls with regularity. Some are long and some are short and some are hard and some are easy, but they keep coming. You must learn to handle the nights. They come right after days. You must learn to handle difficulty. It comes right after opportunity.

You must learn to handle recessions. They always follow progressions for the last 6,000. See, it isn't going to change. The lesson you must learn is how to hand. handle it. And there's all kinds of winters, right? The winter when you can't figure it out, the winter when it all goes smash, the winter when it turns belly up, the winter when it won't work, when you've run out of money and you've got a broken heart. See, those are winter times. There's all kinds. Economic winters, social winters, personal winters. When your heart is smashed in a thousand pieces. And the nights are unusually long. Your prayers seem to go no higher than your head. It's wintertime.

Barbara Streisand sings, It used to be so natural to talk about forever, but used to bees don't count anymore. They just lay on the floor until we sweep them away. You don't sing me love songs, and you don't say you need me, and you don't bring me flowers anymore. A song of a song of love songs, and you don't say you need me, and you don't bring me flowers anymore. winter. But see the disappointments come. Those are normal. That's part of life. But the question is, how do you handle it? How do you handle the coming winters and the disappointments and

the downtimes? Well, you can't get rid of January by tearing it off the calendar. But here's what you can do. You can get stronger, you can get wiser, and you can get better. The winters won't change, but you can. And that's how life changes for you. See, before I understood when it was winter, I used to wish it was summer. I didn't understand. When it was hard, I used to wish it was easy. I didn't know. And then Mr. Schof gave me a part of his very unique philosophy when he said, Don't wish it was easier. Wish you were better. See, that triggered my whole life change. Don't wish for less problems. Wish for more skills.

Don't wish for less challenge. Wish for more wisdom. That's the key. So that's lesson one. Learn how to handle the winters. Here's lesson two. Learn how to take advantage of the spring. That's the second one.

Spring is called opportunity. And spring follows winter. What a great place for it. If you were going to put it somewhere, that'd be the place to put it right after winter. And pray tell how often does spring follow winter? Every year with regularity 6,000. You can almost count on it. See, opportunity always comes. Days follow nights. Isn't that terrific? Opportunity follows difficulty. But here's what you must learn to do. Underline these two words in that key phrase. Take advantage. Underline those two. You must learn to take advantage of the spring. See, just because spring rolls around is no sign you're going to look good come fall.

You got to do something with it. In fact, you have to get good at one of two things in life, planting in the spring or begging in the fall. Or get somebody to do it for you. See, those are about the only alternatives. Now, here's what else you must do. Take advantage of the springs quickly because there's a lot of the springs quickly because there's only a few. Just a handful of springs have been handed to each of us. They don't come forever. Life is fairly brief. So you got to read every book you can get your hands on on what to do

with your springs while they're here. And take advantage they soon run out. The Beatles wrote, Life is so short. And for John Lennon, it was extra short. But life is brief. Elton John sings, She lived her life like a candle in the wind. It's been a very. brief. So whatever you're going to do with your life, you got to get at it. Don't just let the springs pass, pass. Here's the third major lesson in life to learn. Learn how to protect your crops all summer. You got to take care of what you start. Sure enough, as soon as you've planted your garden in the spring, the busy bugs and the noxious weeds are out to take it. And here's the next bit of truth. They will take it.

unless you prevent it. And that's the third major skill to learn. You've got to learn to prevent the intruder from taking all the good you start. It's one of the challenges. Here's two key phrases under number three. First one, all good will be attacked on this planet. Maybe not the next one we get to, but on this one, all good will be attacked. Every garden will be invaded.

Not to think so is naive. And here's the second phrase. All values must be defended. Political values, social values, community values, family values, marriage values, friendship values, business values. Every garden must be tended all summer. Third major lesson. Now here's number four. Fourth major lesson in life to learn.

Learn how to reap in the fall without complaint. Learn to reap come harvest time without complaint. Take full responsibility for what happens to you. It's one of the highest forms of human maturity, accepting full responsibility. It's the day you know you've passed from childhood to adulthood, the day you accept full responsibility. And another note, learn to reap in the fall without apology, without apology if you do well, and with a complaint if you don't. That's maturity. I used to have that long list of reasons why I wasn't doing well. To explain. You got to explain, right? Otherwise you're going to look bad.

I used to have this funny list called reasons for not looking good. I used to blame the government. I mean, you can believe that or not. It was at the top of my list. I had a lecture second to none. The government. That was on my list. I used to blame taxes. Look, what you got left after they take everything. And they expect you to do well. That was on my list there. Prices, that one's easy, right? You walk into the supermarket with $20, come out with a little half bag.

So I had that on the list. I used to blame the weather. I blamed the traffic. I used to blame my car. I blame the manufacturers. I used to blame the company. I blamed company policy. I used to blame the training program.

I blame my negative relatives. They were always putting me down. I blame my cynical neighbors. They're just selfish looking out for themselves. Won't loan you money? They were on my list. I used to blame the economy. I blame the community.

That's a pretty good list for not doing well, isn't it? I thought it was good. I'll never forget one day. Mr. Schof was very kind, but he was also very blunt. And this was no exception. And I'm glad he was blunt. There's a lot of things I'd have missed if he hadn't have been blunt. One day with sort of a curious look on his face, he said,

Jim, just out of curiosity, tell me, how come you haven't done well up until now? Excellent question. I thought, well, so I won't look too bad. I'll go through my list. And this list I just gave you, I put that on him. And he was very patient. He let me go through the whole thing, the government, the weather.

I went through this whole thing. When I finished, he looked my list over very carefully. He said, Mr. Rhone, big problem with your list. You ain't on it. When I went to work for him a few months later, I learned very quickly to tear up my list, reasons for not doing well, and I threw it away. I got me a fresh piece of paper and I put one word on it. Me.

There's a black heritage spiritual that says it's not my mother, nor my father, nor my brother, nor my sister, but it's me, O Lord, standing in the need of prayer. See, I used to blame everything outside and then let me give you a little philosophy that helped turn my life around for your notes. Here it is. It's not what happens. that determines the quality or the quantity of your life. It's not what happens.

And the reason is because what happens happens to about everybody. No different. The sun went down on all of us last night. A common event, a happening. And I found out that the same things can happen to two different people. One gets rich and one stays poor. Why is that? It's because it's not what happens, but rather

It's what you do that changes everything. So that's a key phrase. It's not what happens. It's what you do. What happens is about the same. You might put that in parentheses here. Same. What people do, that's what's different.

Anything can happen, right? Everything can happen. I've heard all the stories. I've been one of the stories. Hey, we could all tell stories all night long, right? Happenings. Anything can happen. Have you heard of Murphy's laws?

Anybody here heard of Murphy's laws? Okay, most of you have. Murph had these laws. One of them was, if anything can go wrong, it will. That's one of Murphy's laws. He was not one of the great positive speakers of the day. But anyway, it's still true, though, right? Anything can go wrong, everything can go wrong, for sure.

I've fallen out of the sky so many times. Once to the tune of a couple of million. Devastating. It took me a while to survive that one. Now, it wasn't all that much, but it was all I had. I mean, that's when it's much, right? When it's all you got. If you got three, two go, you got one left.

You ain't looking that bad. But when it all goes. Has anybody been there when it all went? Anybody? Come on, the rest of you, liars. Hey, we've all been there, right? it all went. Of course, it used to be a long time ago, right? When you ran out of money, got to zero, you were all through. Heck, now you can whistle right on by zero, right?

They will bury you. That's what they will do. But see, those are the happenings, right? Everything can happen. Anything can happen. But it's not the happenings. It's what you do about it. Somebody says, yeah, but you don't understand the disappointments I've had. Come on Everybody's had their share Disappointments are not special gifts reserved for the poor Everybody has them

The difference is what you do about It's not the weather I used to blame the weather And I discovered it rains on the rich So see that won't help Two men wake up one morning There's a rainstorm on One of them looks out his window

See's the rainstorm and he says Wow, what a storm. With weather like this, they can't expect you to go out and make sales. He stays home. Same morning. The other guy looks out his window, sees the same storm, says, wow, what a storm. But he says, you know what with weather like this. What a great day to go out and make sales. Most everybody will probably be home, especially the salesman. See, that's the difference in how your life works out. It's not what happens. It's what you do. here's one of the key questions of the evening. Starting tomorrow, what are you going to do that'll make a change in your life's direction? Good question. What are you going to do starting

tomorrow that'll make a difference? Now see, if you don't do something starting tomorrow that'll make a difference, guess what? It's going to be the same. And see, that way you can guess what the next five years are going to be like. Look at the last five. Because the next five are going to be like the last five unless you made your key tomorrow change it all or change a little or change something or don't change it's choice time you can do whatever you want but it's nice to know any day you wish you can change your whole life what can you do starting tomorrow that'll make a difference good question what can you do with economic chaos massive disappointment what can you do with a broken heart What can you do and it won't work? Good question. So if I had a word with you tonight one-on-one,

just you and me, I think my personal advice to you would be this year, 1981, reach down inside of you and come up with some more of those remarkable human gifts. They're there waiting to be utilized and then change anything for you you want to change. And I change. And I change, challenge you to do that because you can change. If you don't like how it is for you, change it. If it doesn't suit you change it. If it doesn't please you change it. If it isn't enough, change it. And I challenge you to do that because you can change. See, you don't ever have to be the same again after tonight, only by choice. If you don't like your present address, change it. You're not a tree. Now let me give you three steps to personal development. Let's get down to the

nitty gritty. What does it take to really make the changes starting tomorrow? It takes more than philosophical pronouncement. I know that. It also takes more than enthusiasm. I know we're hearing a lot about enthusiasm these days, but see, that just won't do the job. We're still here on the old cliches of the 30s, right? To be enthusiastic, you must act enthusiastic. But see, that's not going to help. After you have leaped about, there are some things you've got to do. Or it isn't going to change. See, you can get all excited about lifting 200 pounds until you get to the gym. And then you need a new excitement. And the new excitement is called discipline.

Major step to human progress. Discipline. If there's one thing to get excited over, that's it. Get excited over your ability to make yourself do the necessary things. What could you make yourself do starting tomorrow that would change it all? No, tell. Now, see, that's exciting. On any given day, you can massively change the direction of your life.

Murder is a clear example that any one person on any given day can forever alter the course of their life. It just happens to be a negative act. But just as sure as you can commit a negative act, you can also commit a positive act and forever alter your life. Whenever you wish. Now, that's exciting. And whatever that act might be that changes your life. the guy finally takes a shotgun to his car and blows out every window

destroys every tire puts a hundred rounds in this shabby old thing and he says I have driven this embarrassing thing for the last time and not only will I never drive it again nobody else will ever drive it again and he lets that shuddering thing stand there for a while as a monument

to the day he said today my life changes Now who can do that anybody when can you do it whatever day you pick now here's the key to discipline Start with the little disciplines get excited over the little disciplines and get right on those because those will lead to the big ones You can't handle the big challenges in life unless you take on the little ones make a list of all the things you can do get right on those Discipline yourself for those both for the results and for the muscle and for the practice So that when life hands you some big challenges you'll be ready you'll have the muscle But see, if you don't handle the small ones, you can't take care of the big ones.

Okay. Here's what else it takes for life change. Self-motivation. Key phrase, self-motivation. I don't know why we call it self-motivation. It's really the only kind there is. You've got to motivate yourself. Because I found out you can't change people.

They can change themselves, but you can't change them. Lord knows some I've tried. But see, it won't work. have to change themselves. I learned some of those lessons early. I built a little sales organization way back in those early days. I'm 25 and I had some nice people. I said, I'm going to make these people successful if it kills me. I almost died. I mean, you can't do that. See, I've discovered this. Good people are not trained. They're found. You find good people. You don't make them good. You find them good. Training really is for the purpose of

finding good people. You don't need much instruction for a good person. Too much training probably means you've got the wrong people. So you got to find the right people. That's the key to getting a good job done. One of the major things we learn in management, lesson one, don't send your ducks to eagle school. Because it won't help. I mean, I'm telling you, it won't help no matter how good your school is. And the little eagle badge and little eagle hat. I'm telling you, it won't help. It won't help. You can tell whether your school has done any good, right, is when it's over, right? The duck goes for his first rabbit and makes him a friend. You say, no, no, no.

Anyway, so it takes self-motivation to really alter your life. And you don't want to give self-motivation away to somebody else and make it somebody else motivating you. The guy says, boy, if somebody just come by and turn me on, what if they don't show up, right? See, you've got to have a better plan for your life. Okay. Now, if you're excited and you're ready to change, let me give you three steps to start life change that can change your life, your personality, your lifestyle, everything can

change. Here's the steps. Number one, find out how things work. The first key to doing better is find out. To change your life really, you need ideas. There isn't anything, an idea can't change. And Schof taught me the major problem is lack of an idea, not a problem. At first I didn't have any money.

I said to Mr. Schaubb, I don't have any money. He said that's not a problem. Now see, up until then I always thought it was. Right? I was confused. He said, no, no, the problem is lack of an idea on how to create money and wealth. It isn't lack of money, it's lack of ideas. So if you get the ideas, see, you can change.

anything. Now to get ideas, you need a constant study of finding out. Now Schof also said when you find out something that works, put the information in your journal. Don't use your head for a filing cabinet. Put it in your journal so that you can do the next best thing. Repetition, repetition, repetition. Go over it. And if you repeat it, go over it. Sure enough, some day, some mysterious day. The idea takes root starts to grow and shows up in your bank account. and your dress and your personality and your lifestyle. But capture the ideas in your journal. Find out how things work.

Shof gave me this word for my life change. He said, study. Great word. If you wish to be successful, study success. If you wish to be happy, study happiness. If you wish to be wealthy, study wealth. Don't leave it to chance. Make it a study.

Some people just go through the day with their fingers crossed. See, that won't do it. You've got to study the things that can change your economic, social, spiritual, personal life. Now here's a qualifying phrase. And we'll have several of these qualifying phrases throughout the seminar. Here's the first one. You may not be able to do all you find out. I understand that.

You may not be able to do all you find out, but you should find out all you can do. See, you don't want to wind up at the end of your life and discover that you've lived only one tenth of it. And the other nine tenths went down the drain. Not for lack of opportunity, for lack of information. So that's number one. Find out how things work. Now here's the best human virtue for finding out. Curiosity.

Make a note of that. Curiosity. Be curious. You might add a word to it that'll help. Childish curiosity. What will kids do if they want to know something bad enough? bug you. That's the phrase. They can ask a thousand questions. You think they're through? They've got another thousand. They'll drive you to the brink. It's a virtue. When you got to know, be like a child. In fact, Jesus, the master teacher said, unless you can become like little children, you might as well forget it. You don't have a prayer. Excellent advice. You've got to be like children. Four ways, in my opinion, to be like a child. curiosity and number two is excitement get excited like a child over your ability to

make yourself do anything for change third is faith have faith like a child adults are too skeptical and fourth is trust trust is a childish virtue but the rewards are incredible so be like a child now if you're curious let me give you three ways to find out how to change anything any life direction, any dimension. Here's three ways to find out how to change anything. Number one is to read. Become a good reader.

All of the successful people I know and work with around the world, they're all good readers. Curiosity drives them to read. They've got to know. They just read, read, read, read, read, read, read, read, read, read, read, read. Become a good reader. Now, that's my opinion. Listen to the other lecturers and listen to me.

and make up your own mind. Don't be a follower. Be a student. I say really for life change you got to read. One way to learn is from your own experiences, but another way to learn is from other people's experiences. See, one book might save you five years if you read it. Did you know there's books on how to be stronger? More decisive. Be a speaker. Be a leader. Have a better effect on other people. Develop your personality. Did you know there's books on that and people don't read them? How would you explain that? And they can read. Did you know that hundreds of successful people have written their stories in books and they wrote down how they did it and people

don't read it? How would you explain that? The guy's busy I guess. You know, you get tied up. The guy says, well, yeah, you work where I work but the time you struggle home it's late you got to eat a bite a supper watch a little TV get to bed you can't sit up half the night reading reading reading reading and the guy's behind on his car payment good worker hard worker sincere but you got to be better than sincere and work hard otherwise at the end of your life you'll wind up cold stony broke you got to be better than a good worker you got to be a good worker you got to be a good reader. The whole world is governed by laws, the universe in fact. Laws. We call it the law of

electricity. We call it the law of gravity. There's mathematical laws. There's physical laws. Speed and velocity laws. Agricultural laws. There's all kinds of laws. Now that we find ourselves on the spinning planet, you just have to learn what I call the setup. Learn the setup. Life's setup. Now we didn't set it up, but we're here, so you got to learn it. And we should learn the setup for two basic reasons. Number one, to keep from getting hurt. It's one of the major reasons for learning so you won't get hurt. See economically, socially, personally, you can get hurt just not knowing. Ignorance is not bliss. Ignorance is poverty. Ignorance is tragedy.

You've got to know or you're going to get hurt. It's good to know not to walk out the 10-story window. That's excellent information. Now what if a guy didn't know when he walks out? No, he's dead at the bottom. Somebody says, well, the poor guy didn't know. You gotta know, or you're gonna get hurt. Now here's a parenthesis. You don't have to like the setup.

I don't ask it to like how it is. That's not what's important, but it is important to learn how it is. Okay, so you don't have to like it. So you don't have to like it, but you should learn it. That's what I tell the kids, right? Make sure you get the information. What you think about it, that's up to you.

What you're going to do with it? That'll soon be up to you. But make sure you get it. See, there's nothing worse than being stupid. Nothing. I mean, being broke is bad, but being stupid is awful. And what's really bad is being broken stupid, right? That's about the end of the world.

I mean, there isn't anything much worse than that. Unless you're sick. Sick, broken, stupid. I mean, that is it, right? There's nowhere else to go. So make sure you get the information. It's key. You don't have to like it, but learn it.

If this big monster's thing lives up in the sky hangs there for a little while, cuts loose, comes crashing down, boom, shakes the ground for five miles. And then this big monstrous thing lifts back up in the sky, hangs up for a little while, cuts loose again, comes crashing down, boom Shakes the ground for five miles. It just keeps doing that this big monstrous thing lifting up and then crashing down boom Now you might come along one day and say that's got to be a stupid arrangement Which is okay. You're entitled to your opinion, but the first thing you should learn to do is get out from under it, right?

That's number one. You might have a great moral argument. You might want to shake your finger at the sky, but do it from over there, right? So you don't get smashed. It's called your basic smart. So number one, learn so you won't get hurt, whether you like it or not. Learn. Now here's the second reason for learning, the setup, to benefit.

It's called the plus of life. And that's what life is, right? Both minus and plus. The minus is tragedy, heartache, misery, failure, unhappiness. But life is also happiness, prosperity, good feelings. So here's the key. Learn to get on the good side of the way things work. Now here's two of the basic laws, and we'll take our break. Shof taught me these. They come from the Bible. Now again, I'm an amateur, okay, when it comes to the Bible, I'm not a pro. So you'll sort of have to take my

way of putting it. But here they are. The first one is the law of you. use, the law of use. And it goes something like this. Whatever you don't use, you lose. Lack of use causes loss on this planet. Maybe not the next one, but on this one. If you tie your arm to your body, leave it there long enough, you'll never use it again. It's over for the arm. Now it may not be over, but it's over for the arm. The only way to keep the use of this arm is what? Keep using it. If you quit, you lose automatically. They don't bring it up for a vote. You lose automatically when you quit. Now the same thing that goes for your arm goes for your brain,

mentality. The same thing goes for all the human virtues. Ambition, unused declines. Strong feelings. Unused, diminish. It doesn't grow. It diminishes. Faith unused decreases. It's a law. Vitality unused diminishes. Energy unused decreases. The guy says, well, I'm going to save up my energy. You can't do that.

That's like trying to save today, put it on the end of the year. See, you can't do that. They'll come take you away. If you don't use today, what? It's lost. The guy says, well, I'll work twice as our job. tomorrow to make up for it. See, that's foolish. You could have done that anyway. Today unused is lost. A talent unused is lost. An ability unused is lost. So here's one of the key expressions of the

evening. Take a new inventory of yourself. Starting tomorrow, new project. Take a new inventory. And make sure that all of your talent and ability and mentality and ingenuity and vitality and strong feelings. Faith, courage. Make sure that all you've got is being used. Otherwise, you lose. Now, one of the best illustrations of the law of use is a Bible story called the Parable of the Talents. The Talents story. Interesting story if you haven't read it in a while. Just review it. It's a good story. An ancient story says there was a master with three servants. He got him together one day and he said to the three, I've got these talents. And in those ancient days, a talent was a measure of gold. And he said to the three servants, take these

talents and see what you can do with them while I'm gone. He said, I'm taking a journey and I'll be gone for a while. When I come back, we'll get together, go over the book, see how you did. He said, here's five of these talents for you, five. Here's two of them for you, two. And here's one for you. One. The master said, take those talents, see what you can do with them. When I come back, we'll get together. We'll go over it all. The servant said, okay, master takes off. According to the ancient story, the master comes back from his trip. When he gets back, he gets the three servants together. And as he said he would, he asks, how did it go with those talents? You're five. What happened? That servant said,

well, I took the five talents you gave me and I put him to work. A little shaky at first, but he said things finally got rolling and he said, I poured it on. And he said, my talents grew to seven, eight, nine, ten. He said, I doubled my talents. from five to ten books will show master said one heck of a job or something like that he said i gave you two talents what happened that servant said about the same thing happened to me i put those two talents to work poured it on they grew to three and then to four he said i doubled my talents from two to four books will show master said well done he said i gave you one talent what happened that servant said well I took the talents you gave me and I carefully wrapped it and I dug a hole and buried it.

And camouflaged it, I suppose. So nobody would steal it. And he said, fortunately, nobody got it. And he said, I knew you were going to be here today. So I dug it up. Here it is, safely wrapped. I did not lose it while you were gone. according to the ancient story the master said take that talent away from him and give it to the man

that's got ten now you might say well i don't like that arrangement the poor guy's only got one talent he's already got ten it ought to be more even Remember, I didn't ask you to like it. But this one I would ask you to learn because it simply means whatever you do not employ, you forfeit. It's a law. So learn well the law of use. Now here's the second one and we're going to take our break. Second law from the Bible.

This one we've heard since we were small, I'm sure. It's called the law of sewing and reap. In fact, we probably heard it so often we could quote it. It says, whatever you sow, what? You shall reap. Fairly blunt, hopefully clear. Here's my first suggestion on the law of sewing and reaping. Don't try to beat it.

You might as well try sitting on the sun in the morning. Keep it from coming up. You'll have better luck. Whatever you sow, you reap. Now, for a fair share of my life, I'm a bit mixed up on how all this applies. on how all this applies, among a lot of things I was mixed up on. I knew I wasn't reaping too good.

That I understood. My problem was I was confused about what was causing it. Remember me with a funny list? I thought those are the reasons why it isn't working out well. And then Mr. Schof gave me the clue that helped me figure it all out. He said, Mr. O'n, I have another answer for you. There's another way to quote this law that'll show you where the problem is so you can go to work on right away. All you need to know is where the problem is. Then you can go to work on it.

So he quoted me the law another way and I found out what my problem was. Here's the way you quote the law. Whatever you reap is what you've sown. Now I knew what my problem was. Whatever you reap is what you've sown. If you don't like the crop, who do you look up? Answer, whoever planted it. And where do you find who planted your crop? Answer, in the mirror. What I finally learned to do come fall was to go to the mirror. That's where you go. And if necessary, you say, a few skinny carrots?

I got to be unimpressed. Where were you last spring? A sleep. Didn't you read the books? Did you break your hole? Thank you for tuning into this episode. Continue strengthening your mind by listening to our other episodes. Thank you.