The Resilient Mind - When Life Hits Hard: Get Wiser, Get Stronger, Get Better - Jim Rohn

Episode Date: August 19, 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.

Here's my first subject for the day. It's called personal development. Of all the subjects Mr. Schof confronted me with when I met him at age 25, this was one of the most important. Setting goals, that was easy. Some other things that he offered to me, I got right away. Setting up a money system, I did that right away. Personal development, I'm telling you, it took a while to give up my old ways of blaming everything except myself for my situation. It was almost like going through withdrawals. Some of it was tough to say that it was me, not them.

When I said to Mr. Schof, this is all they pay, he said, no, that's all you're worth. I'm telling you, that was new stuff for me to ponder. When I said, it cost too much, and he said, no, you can't afford it. I thought, whoa, what a new way to look at it. I'm telling you, some of that drama of giving up that it was them, it was the economy, it was my negative relatives, it was my boss, it was the company, it was the company pay, the unions in the wage scale and circumstances. It took me a while to give that up.

It's like going through withdrawals. But when I finally did it and started this fresh journey of looking in, because that's where the problem was, that's where I had to get straightened out. And the drama happened for me in such spectacular fashion. The first six years of my economic life, I wound up broke, and the second six years I wound up rich. And this is how I did it.

Personal development. Jop this phrase down. The major value in life is not what you get. The major value in life is what you become. The major question to ask on the job is not what am I getting here. The major question to ask on the job is what am I becoming here? Because it's not what you get that makes you valuable, it's what you become. Now once I understood that, I started working on this thing called personal development.

Here's what Mr. Shoeff said. It comes from another piece of another seminar I do. Jot this down. Success is something you attrown. by the person you become. I used to think success was something you pursued, went after. I found out no, success is not something you go after. What you go after is usually like a butterfly you can't quite catch. Here's the key. Success is something you attract by becoming an attractive person.

In our further studies in leadership, we teach this. To attract attractive people, you must be... attractive. To attract committed people, you must be committed. To attract powerful people, you must be powerful. To attract dedicated people, you must be dedicated. So the whole key here is to go to work hard, not on other people, primarily. Go to work hard on yourself. And then Mr. Schof gave me that startling promise that I want to share with you. And here's what he said, it's changed my life all these years and I'm going to use it the rest of the years of my life. Here's what he said. Mr. Rohn, if you will change, everything will change for you.

I've never forgotten that. It still rings clear in my ears today. I can still hear it. And I've said it often enough the last 40 years of my business career so that it keeps ringing in my years as I've tried to stimulate that same phrase in other people's consciousness. Here it is. If you will change, everything will change for you.

If you will change, your income will change. If you will change, your health will change. If you will change, your health will change. If you will change, your future will change. If you will change, the equities that you had always hope for will start to grow and start to change. If you will change. Once I got that message, it turned my life around. Let everything change or not change.

Let the government change or not change. Let people around you change or not change. Let everything be the same, the turning of the seasons, let society continue on its way. You take a personal interest in your own personal development, and I'm telling you, you'll start to attract success. And I've got several parts now to personal development. Make these notes. Here's number one.

It's like the seasons. Understanding the seasons is one of the best illustrations that I can give you for personal development. Make this note, you cannot change the seasons. They're going to be however they're going to be. And the next note, life and business is like the seasons. Frank Sinatra sings. Life is like the seasons. And you cannot change the seasons.

the order has been established long before we arrived on the spinning planet, long before we became guests here. However that was done, boggles the mind to imagine how it was all done and accomplished. The Declaration of Independence of America says all people are created, equal,

and are endowed, I love that word, endowed by their creator, the certain unalienable, rights, life, liberty in the pursuit of happiness. Who knows the mystery of all that? How it was set up. But once you arrive here on the spinning planet, here's one of the most important

questions to ask. What is the setup? You gotta learn the setup. If you don't, right away our own experience now tells us you'll be in deep trouble. So learn the story of the seasons. You cannot change the seasons, but you can change yourself. That's the clue to the few.

You can't change the seasons, but you can change yourself. You can change your mind, you can change your direction. You can change your habits. You can change your thinking process. You can change your actions. You can change your disciplines. Any time you want to, you can set out on a new course. You're not a goose.

You don't have to keep flying south. Every winter. You can live one way for five years. Tear up that script. Live another way for the next five years. You don't have to be without change. After today, you don't ever have to be the same, only by choice.

You can't change the seasons, but you can change the seasons, but you can change. yourself. So now let me give you the lesson of the seasons. Here they are. Number one, learn how to handle the winters. This is part of personal development that's absolutely essential. Learning how to handle the winters. Winters come right after fall, harvest, and pre-tell how often. Every year with regularity. I mean, you can't wish them away, you can't cross your fingers and hope this time it'll miss. Now, some winters are long and some are short and some are difficult and some are, some are, or easier, but they always come. And I want you to make that note. The winters of life will always come. We cannot escape any more than we can escape being on the spinning planet. We're here for a while.

And there's all kinds of winters. Financial winters and political winters, social winters, personal winters when your heart is smashed in a thousand pieces and the nights are unusually long. It's called wintertime. Barbara Streisand sings, It used to be so natural to talk about forever, but used to be don't count anymore. They just lay on the floor till we sweep them away.

You don't sing me love songs. You don't say you need me, and you don't bring me flowers anymore. A song of winter. But we're acquainted with the lyrics of the song. We've been through the experiences. So what about winter? Here's the best advice I can give you.

In the winter, you've got to learn how to handle it. They keep coming, a variety of forms. forms. You've just got to learn how to handle it. You can't get rid of winter by tearing January off the calendar. But here's what you can do with the upcoming winters of your life. Jot down this trio of words. You can get wiser, stronger, and better. That's what you can do. You can't change the winters, but you can change yourself. You can get wiser. You can read more books. You can attend more classes. You can have the benefit of more testimonials. You can make more notes become wiser, stronger mentally. You can grow. You can get stronger and you can

become better. Better than you were last year, this year you can be better. Better able to handle things this year than last year. Better able to handle this time the last time. Five years ago fell apart, not so anymore. Anybody can get better. I've gotten better. First time I started to talk in public I stood up. My mind sat back down. My knees were banging together, sweat pouring off my face, shaking like a leaf. It's called terror. Some of you have been there. But guess what I did?

I got up and did it again, and then I got up and did it. Again, I've done it now for about 35 years plus. Yes, it might seem easy now for me to step on the platform and talk to this many people for several hours. But no so to begin with. But there isn't anybody here that can't get better. You can get better. You can get better at being a parent. You can get better at marshalling ideas that kids can understand. You can get better at the vocabulary that'll

ring a bell with them. You can get better at telling the stories that'll inspire your daughter. Anybody that wants to can get better. Key phrase, don't settle for just the old skills. Don't settle for the get-along skills. Don't settle for the just get-by skills. Don't settle for the skills that help you to just maintain, you know, without going down the drain. Don't settle for that. Key phrase, strive for excellence. Strrive to get better. Strrive to grow. Strive to become more powerful, more articulate, better able to handle, more patient, more willing, more eager, and you'll be able to handle the upcoming winters. So that's number one. Learn how to handle the winters. Now here's number two.

learn how to take advantage of the spring. Uniquely enough spring follows winter. And pray tell how often. Every year for 6,000 that we know of called written history. I'd gamble on it one more time. Those odds are good. Every time is good odds. Can't beat that.

And what a great place for spring right after winter. If you were going to put spring somewhere, that would be the place to put it. God's a genius. Now here's what spring is called. Opportunity. Interestingly enough, opportunity follows difficulty. 6,000 years of recorded history.

Opportunity always follows difficulty. Expansion follows recession. Joy follows sorrow. Day follows night. Come on, we can put that together. Not be disturbed by it. It's called the rhythm of life. If the sun goes down, the guy says,

what's happened? What's happened? Means he hasn't been here alone. I guess, what do you mean? What's happening? Come on. It's part of the deal. Now that you've made it through the winter,

now the key is take advantage of the spring. And underline take advantage. Just because spring rolls around is no sign your future's guaranteed. You've got an opportunity now dropped in your lap. Here's what you've got to do. Seize the opportunity. You can't just hope that the opportunity

will sweep you along. What you've got to do is articulated. You've got to pass along the story. You've got to make the calls. You got to do the meetings. You've got to tell the story. You've got to translate it. It's called seize the spring. Spring is not a guarantee. Here's what spring is. Opportunity. Spring is called a chance. You've got to do something with your chances. Don't just let them pass. Now get busy with your spring because it doesn't last forever. George Harrison, one of the Beatles sings, all things must pass. The spring doesn't last all year. The sunrise doesn't last all day. The sunset doesn't last all night. It's called seize the moment.

It's called seize the time. Seize the opportunity to see the sunset. It's not going to be there long. Seize the spring. It's not going to be here long. In space language, we call it window of opportunity. You've only got a certain amount of time to get the crop planet, get the story told,

get the calls made, get the seat in the ground. Then that season will pass. And if you blow it, you've got to wait for another whole turn of seasons before one comes around again. take advantage. Here's a good word, hurry. Now, don't be frantic. Underline, don't be frantic, but hurry.

There's an ancient script that says Old Testament. It said, work while it's day. Work while it's day. There's a sense of urgency in this. Work while it's day, why? The night. The night comes. The night's coming.

When what? You can't work. Back then when the sun went down, you couldn't work. Before Thomas Edison. Now we can work all night. But back then you couldn't. So the cry was, work while it's day. Get going, get going, get going.

Get going. It's while it's day because the night, the night, the night will shut everything down. And you've got to wait a time before you have another opportunity. I'm asking you to pick up the cry. Hurry, hurry, urgency, work while it's springtime. Get the seeds in the ground. Don't delay.

Seizure springs. Now here's the next one. Make the best of all of them. There's only a few. The longest life is brief. Just a handful of springs have been handed to each of. Somebody says, I got 20 more years. No, you got 20 more times. You got to look at it different than 20 years, 20 times. If you go fishing once a year, you've only got 20 more times to go fishing. Not 20 years, 20 times. That means you got to make the most of each time. So make this note. Each person you meet, make the most of each person. Make the most of each meeting. Make the most of each occasion.

Make the most of each phone call. Make the most of each contact. Make the most of each opportunity. Make the most of each class. Don't be lazy here. Don't drift here. Of all the places to have urgency and zero in, concentrate. This is it, springtime.

A chance to tell the story. A chance to sow some seed. A chance to pass it along. Don't miss it. Don't just let it pass. Now here's the next one, the season of summer. In a previous seminar, we went through the season of summer. But here's the season of summer in a nutshell.

In the summer, we must learn to nourish our values and fight our enemies. That's the season of summer. As soon as you've planted the garden, the busy bugs and the noxious weeds are out to take it. And guess what? They will take it unless you defend it. You've got to nourish your children. Yes, but you've also got to defend them. You've got to nourish your ideas, and you've got to defend it.

You've got to sustain yourself, and you've also got to defend yourself. To be a bulwark against ideologies that would reach in and try to destroy values vitality, but also a chance like a mother to nourish and give life. And that's the best analogy I can give you for your notes, nourish like a mother and fight enemies like a father. Give life like a mother, take life like a father, love like a mother, hate like a father. The ancient prophet said love good and hate evil.

And kids need to understand what we love and what we hate. Sometimes you've got to put love and hate in the same sentence. Sometimes you've got to say, I love you, but I hate what's going on. I love you, but I hate what's happening. Boy, that's important for kids to understand what we love and what we hate. One of the greatest conversions of all time, the man said, my conversion is complete. The things I once hated, I now love.

And the things I once loved I now hate. It's called complete conversion. I'm asking you to give clear signal to your enemies that you intend to be hostile. Give no quarter. The ancient story said they returned to rebuild the walls at the temple and the city for their future. And as they built the walls of the temple

in the city for their future, they had a trowel in one hand and a sword in the other hand. The trowel was for what? To build their future, and the sword was for what? Their enemies. I'm asking you to get good at both trowel and sword. I'm asking you to be ever vigilant. Nourish, nourish, give sustenance, give training,

give time, give heart, give soul, but also be on the lookout for the enemy. And sometimes they're subtle. The ancient script says, beware the little foxes that spoil the vines. Yes, the vineyard looks okay. Yes, the grapes look okay. Looks like we're going to have a pretty good harvest.

But if you were to look closer, the little foxes, the little foxes. So I'm asking you to nourish your vineyard, as truly you should, but I'm asking you also to look out for the little foxes, the little foxes that spoil the vine, the little lack of disciplines that cause disaster, the little lack of paying attention

that someday is going to ruin it all. I'm telling you, be vigilant. Now here's what else is important in the summer. Some of our enemies are on the outside, like Castro. On the outside, like the most despicable of all, Stalin, Hitler, Mussolini. And at the cost of much blood, we dealt with those enemies. and preserve freedom. Otherwise, we'd have lost it.

England almost lost it. Europe almost lost it. If it hadn't been for the might of America and the allies, we would have lost it. But we fought that battle at the cost of about 50 million lives. What price is freedom? Sometimes the calculation is beyond imagination. Sometimes the calculation, the heart can't even hold it.

The mind can't even comprehend it. the ultimate price that is paid to preserve liberty and freedom so that we can casually come and sit, well-dress, telling you it, cost a lot more than a little money to get in here and a little time to show up. What was really costly was some of those bloody conflicts where we had to put the enemy in his place, lest all of our future generations be lost

in the darkness of Nazism and communism. It's that kind of world. Be ever vigilant. But now here's the ultimate. Chop this down. Some of the enemies are on the inside. How subtle. Yes, beware of the thief in the alley that's after your purse.

But what about the thief in your mind that's after your promise? The thief in your mind that tells you you're too short. You're too tall. You're too old. It's passed you by. Everybody else is smart, but you're too stupid. And everybody else could probably figure it out. But you know, with your history, I mean,

I mean, you'll never be able to figure it out. I mean, all the mistakes you've made, you'll never be able to walk away from the ghetto or walk away from poverty or walk away from difficulty or walk away from heartache and sadness. But I'm here to tell you, you've got to resist the enemy. Even if you find it within yourself, underlined, deal harshly with your enemies,

even if you find them on the inside. The enemy of complaining that'll shrivel up your soul. No one would want you as a business partner. A chronic complainer, none of us would solicit their help. You've got to drive doubt into a small corner. Don't let doubt drive your faith into a small corner. See if you can't improvise. See if you can't call up faith, courage, power,

and drive your doubts and fears into a small corner. Yes, we must worry, but don't worry yourself to death. If you let worry loose, it's like a mad dog loose in the house. It'll have you in the corner. You've got to drive your worries into a small corner. Here's the key. Let worry serve you, but don't let it conquer you. Yes, you've got to worry some.

Three o'clock in the morning. Your daughter's not home yet. Best you worry. New York City, step off the curb. Yellow taxi's coming. Best you worry. Enough to get your feet back up on the sidewalk. But don't let worry conquer you.

Next is over caution. I'm telling you, being shy and being timid is not a virtue. you. It's an enemy. You can conquer it and drive it into a small corner. Pessimism, drive it into a small corner. Whatever tempts you to spend more time looking on the dark side than the bright side, spend more time with the problem than the answer, you've got to drive that tendency into a small corner.

You might not be able to eliminate it. Saddam Hussein, we couldn't kill him, but we put a no-fly zone on top and a no-fly zone on the bottom, and we dared him to move. And when he moved and started toward Kuwait not long ago, we sent the troops to let him know in no uncertain terms. You're going to have hostile action here. You've got to do that with yourself. Your tendency to be lazy, you've got to be hostile. Tendency to drift and let it slide, you've got to be hostile, even if you find it within yourself.

It's very important in the season of summer. Now here's the last one. the season of harvest. I got two things to consider in the harvest. Number one, reap the harvest without complaint. Come on, it's your crop. Who else's is it? You're the one that sold the seeds.

You're the one that either neglected or got the job done. You either did it or you didn't do it. You made the calls or you didn't make the calls. You either did the meeting or you didn't do the meeting. I mean, you lifted it up or you let it fall in the mud. You either articulated or you mumbled. I mean, you know, it's your deal. Jot this down.

Learn to take full responsibility. Anything less than that, I'm telling you, will start to erode your own psyche less than full responsibility. Once Schof made that clear to me, I'm telling you, I changed my life. He said, your paycheck is your responsibility. It's not the marketplace.

The marketplace is doing about the best it can. And if you're not doing the best you can, that's where the problem is. I'm telling you, that got to me. And I said I'm going to take from now on full 100% responsibility. Learn to reap in the harvest with responsibility. Complain not.

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