4 Area Of Person development: lesson from Jim Rohn

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’ve 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, that if you took all the money in the world, and 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? So 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. Shoaff gave me at age 25, this was probably the most difficult. I’m still working on this one. I think it’s an unending challenge to see what you can become.

The Next Subject: Basic Laws
And it’s good to study the basics. 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. Shoaff taught me that the Bible was a good textbook for ideas and stories and success equations—how to live a better life. I found out that was true. He also taught me that the Bible is as practical as it is spiritual, and I found out that’s true.

If you look at your bank account and your income and you’re not happy, there are 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.

The Next Subject: Setting Goals
This is my favorite subject. Mr. Shoaff 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 and let’s go over them and talk about them. 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 if you don’t have a list of your goals with you, 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 of how to set goals. And sure enough, learning how to set goals changed my life. 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 of it. I worked for Sears, really, and to my knowledge, Sears never taught it: 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. Fortunately, when I was 25, I met the man who taught me how, and it revolutionized my whole life—economically, socially, and personally. It’s incredible. So I want to share with you tonight what Mr. Shoaff shared with me: how to set goals. It can be a life changer.

The Next Subject: Diseases of Attitude
Life is part negative, so we have to talk about the negative. And this subject is called diseases of attitude.

There are a lot of things that can wreck your chances to do well. We live in a rather dangerous world, so you have to be not only wise, but you’ve also got to be careful. Now, attitude diseases are just as bad as physical diseases—right? High blood pressure, heart trouble—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.

The Last Subject: The Day That Turns Your Life Around
This subject is called The Day That Turns Your Life Around. 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 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. It could turn your life around. One day would be sufficient. So we’ll talk about those.

The Theme of the Seminar
Every seminar should have a theme. I guess we’ve got one. It’s in some of our literature if you happen to notice it. But if you didn’t, for your notes, here it is:

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 to 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 at 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.