Chapter #1 - The Life Puzzle
Time is more valuable than Money. You can get more Money but unfortunately you cannot get more Time.
Things dont just happen. Things happen just.
Ideas can be life changing, sometimes all you need is one more, in a series of ideas.
It's like dialing the numbers into the lock. You need all ideas.
"There was a sermon, preaching a sincere and honest presentation to a multitude of people. After the presentation there was a variety of reactions from the people. Some were perplexed, but I thought the presentation was pretty straight forward so I thought "they must be the perplexed people!". Others were mocking and laughing at the preaching, and I used to think "you shouldn't mock and laugh". But they are the mockers & laughers and nothing else should be expected of them.
I used be to naive and think "A liar shouldn't lie" but of course they should, that's why we call them liars.
Some don't know what's going on, and they're also easy to spot because they go "what's going on?" and they never know what's going on. You would also find that some of the people were believers, and so they believed in what was presented. And this goes on with all sorts of people, and the worst thing you could do is to try and correct them. Some do what they do, and some don't. This is the mystery of the minds and I don't try to change them anymore." - Jim Rohn
Be and live thankfully.
Stop being cynical. About people, the market, yourself, anything. It locks the flow away from you.
Don't be a follower. Be a student.
Take advice, but not orders.
Make sure what you do is the product of your own conclusion.
The Five Major pieces to the Life Puzzle:
#Philosophy - You gotta think, process information. If you have a lousy philosophy, you will have pennies in your pocket, and less in the bank.
People blame the government, taxes, the weather, being too tall, too short, too old, raised on a farm -- instead of blaming their philosophy.
Start by eliminating the obvious errors and start practicing discipline (An apple a day instead of a chocolate bar a day).
#Attitude - The Past does not equal the future. Learn from the past and set NEW GOALS. Without designing your future with goals, you take hesitant steps, not knowing where to go.
You gotta have a good attitude about everybody else, because it takes everybody else to make a market.
One person doesn't make a family, one person doesn't make a business, one person doesn't make a nation. It takes all of us to create something GOOD.
You gotta feel good about yourself, and understand your self-worth. If someone can do it - YOU CAN! Change from nothing to something. From poor to rich. If someone can change - YOU CAN! It starts with education of what you are currently messing up.. EDUCATION! Not motivation. If you have an idiot and you motivate him - Now you have a motivated idiot!
#Activity - God says: Plant the seed and I'll make the tree - A pretty good deal. What if you had to make the tree? It would keep you up late at night thinking "How do I make a tree?", but you don't have to make a tree. That's all figured out for you. All you have to do is plant the seed! Put wisdom and attitude, into action - into labor. Now you can perform a miracle.
Do what you can, do the best you can - there is no better advice than that.
Make a list - What am I not doing that would be easy to do? That could greatly change my health, my wealth. What am I neglecting that would be easy to do? Take care of your small part and the world will do its part.
One of Jesus' disciples (Peter) said "It's time to pay our taxes and we don't have any money." Jesus said "No problem". How could he say that? Well, word has it that he was a miracle-worker. If you handed a problem to a miracle-worker, what would he say? - No problem! You gotta surround yourself with miracle-workers. How many books would they read to solve something? As many as it takes! How early would they get up? As early as it takes!
So Jesus said to Peter: "Go fish". Now it happens that Peter was a fisherman - How clever.
Now if you should fish, and you could fish, and you don't fish. You've got no miracle..
You could change, you should change, you won't change.. that's called accumulated disaster. In 6 years you will be explaining instead of celebrating..
Jesus said to Peter "Go fish, and the first fish you catch, look in its mouth". Peter went fishing and the first fish he caught he opened its mouth and Peter saw coins. COINS! When he counted them, they added up exactly to enough to pay his taxes, AND Jesus' taxes! - That is what we call a miracle. Only because we don't know how it works, doesn't mean it doesn't WORK! It simply means we don't understand how it works!
You get your miracles by starting with the small things and cleaning up what you should be doing. Don't walk like others' do, don't postpone like others do. Take action on neglect! On discipline! DO what you CAN. Whatever your hands find to do - Do it with ALL your might, do it with ALL your strength, and do it with ALL your power. That kind of philosophy revolutionizes your life if you havn't picked it up lately. It's not the economy that's going to determine your next 6 years - it's your Philosophy! - About labor, activity, miracles. About soil, seeds, sunshine, the schools, the company, the nation, the planet. #1: do WHAT you can. #2: do the BEST you can.
#Results - Once in a while you gotta take a meassure, see how you're doing. You can't let too much time go by without checking! In the last 6 years, how much money have you saved in investing? Zero? You have -- MESSED UP! MESSED UP! Who sold you on that plan?
How many books have you read in the last 90 days? Zero? Wisdom of the World is available! You can read about EVERYTHING! If you have read zero books in the last 90 days, you have -- MESSED UP! In the last 6 months, how many classes have you taken? To improve your skills or to develop new skills, to go for the american dream. To Become rich and powerful, sophisticated, and healthy and influential.
How many classes have you taken? Zero? You have -- MESSED UP!
Some things you have to check every day, and others atleast by the end of the week. It's all about the results, the numbers. If the results are greater than expected - wooow! someone must have got it right! If the results are less than expected - Woa.. that tells something about the philosophy, attitude, and the activity called discipline.
Affirmations help, as long as they are truthful. The truth - will set you free.. To amend your errors! If you're broke, put a note on your refridgerator where you can see it every day. "I am broke!" that will get you thinking. If you need additional affirmation, you put up "I'm 40 and broke!" that oughta do it. To take it a step further "I live in America, I'm 40 and broke!" that will turn your life around. Something is wrong and somewhere I -- MESSED UP!
Success is a numbers game, gotta go for the numbers, gotta know what the numbers are. How committed are you - to taking what's available?
#Lifestyle - Learning how to live well. When you have laid the puzzle out and are achieving results, you can now fashion a good life. If you wish to be wealthy - study wealth. If you wish to be happy - study happiness. Don't be lazy in learning. Practice the art of productivity, practice the art of discipline, practice the art of lifestyle.
Chapter #2 - Personal Development
It can be difficult giving up your old "Blame list". It is so comfortable blaming your company, government, neighbors, the union, the economy, prices and circumstances and all that. There is a transition you have to make, and start blaming yourself.
It is not what happens.. that determines the major part of your future. What happens, happens to us all. The key is what you do about it. It's not what happens.. but what you DO about it. Start the process of making something different the next 90 days than you did the last 90 days.. Like picking up the books to read.
Do something different about your health disciplines, about your family.. Whatever it is, doesn't matter how small it is, start doing different things, with the SAME circumstances.
What you have at the moment, you have attracted by the person you have become. Take responsibility instead of putting it off on someone else. Pennies in your pocket, less in the bank, the creditors are calling, you are behind on your promises - You have attracted all that by the person you have become. How can you change all that? Very simple. If you will change -- Everything will change for you.
You don't have to change what's outside, all you've got to change is what's inside. To have more you simply have to become more. Don't wish things were easier - Wish you were better. Don't wish for less problems - Wish for more skills. Start working on yourself and it will all change for you. Once you pick up this formula, things are easy to figure out, easy to see what the problem is, and go to work on it.
#Money - We get paid for bringing value to the market place (also described as reality). It takes time to bring value to the market place - but we don't get paid for time. Mistakingly a man says "I'm making about 20 dollars for an hour." - Not true. If that was true you could just stay home and have them send your money.
You don't get paid for the hour, you get paid for the value you put in the time. Key question: Is it possible to become twice as valuable, and make twice as much money in the same time? Three times as valuable as you now are? Is that possible? - Of course. All you have to do to make twice as much money in the same time, to become more valuable.
If you help someone make 1 billion dollars, would they pay you 52 million dollars? Of course! It's chicken feed! And you would be worth a lot more!
Now why would someone get paid 9 dollars an hour? They're not very valuable - to the market place. Might be a valuable member of the church, but not the market place(reality). If you're not very valuable to the market place - you don't get a lot of money. Those are called - The facts! That's how it is.
You can't get rich by demand. Some are waiting for a raise, but it's easier to climb yourself! Why not just become more valuable? The key is to become more valuable - To the market place! The key, is to work harder - on yourself, than on your job!
If you work hard on your job, you will make a living. If you work hard on yourself, you can make a fortune! If you had known Jim Rohn at age 25, you would have said "Jim Rohn is a hard worker, how come he has pennies in his pocket and nothing in the bank?" Well he was working hard - on his JOB. And not on himself! Don't work on the outside, work on the inside. Work on all your abilities, and everything on the outside will change for you.
The 4 Major Lessons in Life to Learn
Life and Business is like the seasons - You can not change the seasons. But you can change - yourself. People cross their fingers and say "I sure hope things will chaaange". It isn't going to change! Ten years from now, based on all the information that is available, things are going to be like they have always been. There will be opportunity, and difficulty. And it's not going to change. How is your life then going to change? You have to change!
#Learn how to handle the winters - They always come after the Fall. How often? Every year for the 6500 years! Hoping for that to change is what we call naive. There is more than one kind of winter. Economic winters, Social winters, Political winters. We are acquainted with all these winter scenarios, we have been through them all. What do you do with the winters? You can't skip a month, so you have to get wiser, stronger, and better. Pickup the book and you will get wiser. If you're willing to do the pushup you can get stronger. If you're willing to practice through the paces you will get stronger. Don't look out there and wish it was easier - Wish you were stronger!
Anybody can get better, develop the skills, handling the upcoming winters. Don't wish away the winters, that's naive - wish for the skills, wish for the strength, wish for the wisdom.
#Learn how to take advantage of the Spring - Spring comes after.. Winter! How often? 6500 times so far, those are good odds! Spring is called opportunity, another day is called opportunity. Days follow nights, how about that? How often? Every time. The key here is to TAKE ADVANTAGE. Just because Spring comes, doesn't mean you're going to look good in the Fall. You gotta take advantage, you gotta do something with it. Read every book you can on what to do with your Springs. What to do with your opportunities, what to do with your days, what to do with your chances. Don't miss the educational process, don't miss the process of understanding, taking advantage. Opportunity keeps coming, but the KEY is taking advantage! Plant in the Spring - Or beg in the Fall. It doesn't mean you can't become a sophisticated begger, but you don't need the reputation. Learn to plant in the Spring. Take advantage swiftly and quickly, don't let the Spring pass you. Life is short.. At the longest, it's short! Seize the day, the moment, the opportunity. That's the key.
#In the Summer, learn to nourish and protect - We have got two challenges in the summer, in the personal development side of our life. That is to become capable, powerful enough in the summer, and wise enough in the summer, to nourish what's good and defend yourself against what's bad. Summer is an interesting time, it holds the possibilities of the promise of harvest time. But it also has the possibility of the threat. Sure enough as soon as you plant in your garden, the busy bugs and the noxious weeds are out to take it! They will take it - unless you prevent it! Nourish your values like a mother, go after the threats like a father. Nourish the garden, kill the weeds. That's called summertime, what a challenging time. Opportunity, and threat to the opportunity. You gotta learn to think positive, and negative. To threat back the threat. Nourish and Fight! You can't just think positive, that is naive! It's like your blood stream, red nourishes, and white fights. White core puzzles say: show me some infection and I'll kill it! Why? It's out to kill our body, it's out to kill our chances. it threatens our future, whatever threatens us, we threaten! Take sword to your enemies. Don't let the weeds take your garden, wreck your chances for harvest. Deal with your enemies in the summer. It's the struggle of life - Good and Evil. It's called 'the way things are'.
#Reap the harvest in the Fall - Without complaint. Take full responsibility. It's not the seed, not the soil, not the rain, not the sunshine, it's not the seasons that is to be criticized. We must take personal responsibility. So in the harvest, take personal responsibility, it's your crop! Whatever you reap, it's your crop. Take responsibility - no complaints. And the next one - no apology. No apologies if you have done well, and no complaints if you havn't. The lesson lies within.
Those are the four Major lessons to learn.
#Physical side of life - Gotta take care of yourself. Do not neglect to take care of yourself. The bible says "Treat your Body like a Temple." - That's a good phrase, a good suggestion. Something you take care of. A temple - Not a woodshed! A temple, the only place you've got to live currently. Some people don't do well because they don't FEEL well. They got the gifts, they got the skills. Maybe they just didn't take care of themselves, so they don't have the vitality. Key phrase: Vitality is a major part of success. So take care of yourself. A horse trainer feeds his horses with everything they need, being careful in choosing their nourishment so that they can run like the wind. But he doesn't feed himself and can barely walk up the steps. Some people feed their dogs better than they feed their kids.
There are other parts of the physical side. There is no second chance for first impression! God looks on the inside, people look on the outside! Now you say, people shouldn't judge you by how you look. well let me give you a clue - they do! You can't deal in should's and shouldn't! When people get to know you they are going to judge you by more than what there is to see, but FIRST they're gonna take a look! Here's a suggestion. Make sure the outside, is a Major reflection of what's going on inside. A couple of minutes a day, a study on nutrition. Stay healthy.
#Spiritual side of life - If you do believe in spirituality, in any manner. Study it and practice it. Do not neglect your values, do not neglect your virtues. Don't let it go unstudied, don't let it go unnourished - If you do believe.
Mental side of life - Part of the challenge is to develop mentally, learn, study, grow, change, it's what schooling is all about. And the human development takes time, takes incredible amounts of time. You can't cover everything in a 20 minute session. Animals live under pressure, the newborns has to run from the lions within minutes! Humans.. After 16 years we're not sure! Takes incredible amounts of time for personal development, for spiritual development, physical development. You gotta get ready mentally, to defend your virtues and your values. Or you will fall prey to other's ideologies.
You gotta have a library, and books to study. You don't need a big library. Clean out your closet and call it your library, and start acting intelligent. Start developing a library!
Here's what your library needs to show, that you're a serious student of things in life: Spirituality, Culture, Uniqueness, Sophistication, Economics, Prosperity, Productivity, Sales, Management, Skills, Values of all kinds. Let your library show you're a serious student!
Don't be casual in learning, don't be lazy in learning! Information is KEY. Learning is the beginning of Wealth. Learning is the beginning of Health. Learning is the beginning of prosperity. Learning is the beginning of Democracy. All values, all virtues, starts with the learning process!
Don't be lazy in gathering the library that will teach you and instruct you. Remember: Don't be a follower - Be a student! That's the key to all books, don't be a follower, be a student. You gotta sort out the weird stuff in the books. Unless you're weird, then you can just do the weird stuff.
You need food for thought. Not only nourish the body, but nourish the mind! Key phrase: It needs to be well balanced. Can't live on mental candy. Can't just be inspired, you gotta be taught! Gotta be educated!
Gotta have a sense of history, what has worked before, how it's always been.
Don't just read the easy stuff, you won't grow, you won't change. Tackle the more difficult stuff.
Here's another tip: Skip the trash. You might find something of value in it but main part is trash. You wouldn't go through the trashcan. Might find a crusty bread in there, but you wouldn't go through it.
You don't have time to read all the brilliant stuff, so skip the trash completely.
Read biographies, autobiographies, good and bad ones. Use them as examples and warnings. You need a book on Ghandi, you need a book on Hitler. One shows how high a person can go, and the other how low and despicable a person can go.
You need something on Accounting, don't need to be an accountant, but you gotta know something. Need something on Law, don't need to be a lawyer, but you need to know something. What to sign, what not to sign. backups, how to be safe rather than sorry! All of us need a little law. The more you read, the less you have to learn the hard way!
Be a student of economics, become financially independent by 35 or sooner if you find the opportunity. Study culture, sophistication. It's what makes us different, from the dogs, the animals, and the barbarians. Be a student of the dance, the art, and the music. Which is available for us all to participate in, as well as enjoy.
If you are a believer in Spirituality, study and practice it from the Bible and all available sources. Let your library show that you're a serious student.
#Keep a Journal. DONT TRUST YOUR MEMORY. If you are serious about becoming powerful, wealthy, sophisticated, healthy, influenctial, cultured, unique - Keep a Journal. If you listen to something valuable, write it down, come across something important - write it down. Later, your own Journals will be a good portion of your own library. Your Journals is one of the three treasures to leave behind.
#1 - your pictures. Take a lot of pictures. When the next generation is reading your Journals, wouldn't it be great if there were pictures there to describe the stories! A picture's worth? A thousand words! How long does it take to capture an event? Fraction of a second. How long does it take to miss the event? Fraction of a second. Take a lot of pictures.
#2 - Your Library. The library that you gather, that taught you, that instruct you, to help you defend your ideal. That helped you to develop a philosophy. That helps you to become wealthy, powerful, healthy, sophisticated and unique. The books that fed your mind and your soul. Your library is one of the greatest things to leave behind, stepping stones out of the darkness, into the light. Your books will be more valuable than your couch!
#3 - Your Journals. All the words and ideas that motivate you, that made you what you are, let it coach you again! read them again! If you hear a beautiful song, you don't say "that's enough, turn it off" you listen to it again, and again! Repetition is the mother of all skills!
The Five Abilities
#Absorb - Develop the ability to absorb, be like a spongue. Don't miss the scenario, don't miss the colors, don't miss what's in the air. Let the day teach you. Some only try to get through the day. Learn to get FROM the day. Take it all in! Where ever you are, BE there! Let your heart and soul take pictures of the moment.
#Respond - Let life touch you, don't let it kill you but let it touch you. Let sad things make you sad, let happy things make you happy. Let emotions affect you. It's important to know how to feel, to let life in! Soak up what's going on, and respond.
#Reflect - Go back over, study again. Go back over the notes, the cassettes, read the text one more time, go back over your DAY. Take a few minutes at the end of the day, go back over it so it locks in, the color, the emotion, the smell. Take a few hours at the end of the week to reflect over the past week. Take half a day at the end of the month to Reflect. Take a weekend at the end of the Year, to reflect and go over, remember. Work 9 years, and take one year to Reflect - What is different? How can I improve? Do it alone, reflect with yourself. To make the past more valuable, to serve you for the future. To make you even better than you were. Go over all your previous years and invest them into your next year! That's how you grow powerful!
#Act - Take action. Not hasty if it isn't required. but dont lose too much time. When the emotion is hot, and the emotion is strong. Immediate action, no matter how small! or the law of diminishing returns will strike. Start the process! Otherwise the wisdom is wasted, the emotion is spilled. Capture the emotion and put it into discipline. All disciplines affect each other. Everything matters, some more than others, but there isn't anything that doesn't matter.
Every letdown affects the rest of your performance. If you don't take the walk around the block, you probably won't have an apple a day, and you probably won't build your library and you probably won't have any journals and you probably won't be any wiser and you probably won't do anything better and in conclusion you have -- MESSED UP!
#Every new discipline affects the rest of your disciplines. That's why action is so important, the smallest action, the least action. TAKE IT. Cause when the accomplishment returns from that action, it will inspire you to take the next one, and the next one, and the next one! Walk around the block, it will inspire you to have an apple, have an apple will inspire you to get a book, a book will inspire you to get a journal, a journal will inspire you to grow, to get more skills.
#ALL disciplines affect each other. Every lack of discipline affects the rest. Every new discpiline affects the rest. The key, is to diminish the lack, and set up the new. One of the greatest temptations, is to EASE up a little bit. The slightest lack of doing your best, starts to errode. Neglect starts as an infection, and if you don't take care of it, it becomes a disease.
#One neglect leads to another. And the worst part, when neglect starts, it dimishes our self-worth, our confidence, Well how can you get back your self-respect? Start with the smallest discipline - I should, and I could, and I will. No longer shall I let neglect stack up on me and gives me excuses instead of results. That's the key to discipline.
How many percent of America owns a library card? 3% ! How much is a library card? It's FREE! 97% can't be bothered to go after the information! Walk away from the 97%, don't walk like they walk, don't talk like they talk, don't specialize in what they specialize in. Throw away the blame list they cling to. Well is it as easy as getting a library card? OF COURSE! How many are actually be bothered to try? ACT! LABOR WELL, DISCIPLINE YOURSELF WELL.
How many can retire independently when the time comes to retire? 5% ! If you take care of your personal development and take charge of your own retirement fund you can multiply it atleast by five, maybe ten, maybe by twenty. Maybe by a hundred.
Let the government take care of it, let some company take care of it and you have got to Divide by five!
Take charge of your own life! Your life will loosen up for you. Find out what people read, and DONT read it! Don't talk like they talk. Lend a hand but don't fall into their poor philosophical scenario! Don't blame what they blame! Don't use the excuses they use! It's the language of the poor!
A good scenario on doing the best you can.. Is the best you can do, all you can do? The answer is: No.. Strangely enough. If you right now fell to the ground and started doing as many pushups as you could. Maybe the best you could do would be 5. Is that all you can do? No! With some rest you could do 5 more! And if you rest a little you could do 15 more! How did we get from 5 to 15? It's a miracle!
Is it possible to get up to 50 pushups? OF COOOOOURSE! How? It's a miracle!! Do what you can, do the best you can! Don't rest too long! Make rest a necessity, not an objective. The objective of life is to ACT. Otherwise your next 6 years will be like your last 6 years. Unless you take advantage and make these personal changes. If you change, everything will change.
#Share - Pass along to someone else. If you pick up a new idea, don't let it stay! Pass it along! If you read a book and it affects you - pass along! Say "Hey I found a book, really helped me, got me thinking. I found a book, changed my health, got me inspired!" Pass it along! If you share with 10 different people, they get to hear it once. You get to hear it 10 times! So it's probably going to do more for you than it is for them! But it's called 'everybody wins'.
Sharing makes you bigger than you are. If you are full of ideas, pour them out! And more will be poured in! When you pour out you will become bigger. There is no lack of capacity, only lack of teachers. Some people don't practice their capacity and are too small to fit new ideas into. They won't get much because there is no room! No matter how much appreciation and prosperity and wisdom is poured over them!
Learn to share.
#Learning how to set Goals - Your vision of the future. There is two ways to face the future.
One - With apprehension
Two - With anticipation
Guess how most people face the future? With apprehension. Why? They don't have it well designed. They have left the design of their future to somebody else! If you don't make plans of your own, you will fall into someone elses plan!
Guess what someone else might have planned for you? Not much.
If your negative relatives all turned positive, what would that do for your future? Not much.
If prices come down a little, what will that do for your future? Not much
If the economy gets a little better, what will that do for your future? Not much.
If circumstances become a little better, what will that do for your future? Not much.
If the weather gets a little better over the next 2 years, that will do? Not much.
Most people go with their fingers crossed with all of their hope in things that don't count much! That's why 10 years from now they will be driving what they don't want to drive, living where they don't want to live. Wearing what they don't want to wear. Doing what they don't want to do. Having what they don't want to have. And it all started by counting on something that's not gonna count much!
Well then how can my life dramatically change? You gotta count on YOURSELF. Your ability to design the future. It's called the promise of the future. If you don't know what the next 6 years will be like, you will take hesitant steps for 6 years!! No wonder it will be an empty life.
Now here's what's connected to the promise of the future: The price. The price to pay. The price is easy if the promise is clear. The price seems too much to pay if the promise isn't clear! If you can see it, you will want to pay! But if you can't see! You don't want to pay.
We will pay the most extraordinary if we can see the promise of the future. Set goals. Don't leave it to anybody else. Don't leave it to the company. Company has got their own goals.
Set your own goals! Personal goals, income goals, financial goals, health goals, spiritual goals. Where do you wanna go? Where do you want to live? What do you want to be? What do you want to see? It's in your hands.
Decide what you want and write it down! MAKE A LIST!
Your list will change, make a new list of what is important to you! That's how easy it is.
Why don't you set a goal to be a millionaire? Enough zeros to impress your accountant. But that's not why. Set a goal to become a millionaire, FOR WHAT IT WILL MAKE OF YOU TO ACHIEVE IT.
The greatest value in life is not what you get. The greatest value in life is what you become. Major question to ask on the job is not what you get.. It's what am I becoming here? It's what you become that makes you valuable.
Once you become a millionaire, what's important is NOT the money! It's the person you have become.
Set the kind of goals that will make something of you to achieve them. Always keep in mind.. 'What will this make of me?'. If I set this goal not only will I achieve it, but what will it make of me in the process? There is two parts to this.
#1 - Don't set your goals too low. Don't join an easy crowd. You won't grow. Go where the expectations are high. Go where the demands are high. Go where the pressure is on to perform, to grow, to change, to develop, to read, to study.
#2 - Don't compromise, don't sell out. Count the cost. Count the cost. Count the COST!
An ancient story says "Judas got the money!", well that's a success story? - Nooo.. it's true that 30 pieces of silver those days was a sizeable fortune! Well if a guy has got a fortune, that's a success story? Nooo.. you don't understand, his name was Judas!
Doesn't that ring a bell? Judas - the traitor! The traitor got the money. Judas got the money in his hand, and now he is unhappy! How can you be unhappy with a fortune? Well he wasn't unhappy with the money. He was unhappy with.. HIMSELF! The greatest source of unhappiness is self-unhappiness. It doesn't come from the outside. It comes from the inside.
Judas couldn't return the money for a deal that had already been made, so he threw his fortune away. After he threw his fortune away, he couldn't change what he became - a traitor. In total abject frustration he goes out and hangs his worthless self. Which all traitors should do to save the state the money.
Why such a tragic end? Because he wasn't happy with himself, he SOLD OUT! He paid too big a price.
What if you gained the WHOLE world, and it cost you your soul? Don't sell out, don't compromise your values. Don't compromise your virtues. Don't compromise your philosophy.
Key. Beware.
Behold the possibilities, behold the opportunities. Behold the drama, behold the awesomeness. Behold the uniqueness. Behold, Behold.
Beware. Don't sell out. Mark well of WHAT you become in the pursuit of what you want.
#Financial Independence -
If you have a dollar, you can't spend more than 70 cents. Most people spend at about 110%.
Out of every dollar from now on, never spend more than 70 cents. What do you do with the other 30 cents? Here is my best advice:
10 cents - Charity, supporting worthy projects, supporting people who can't help themselves.
10 cents - Active capital, to profit from yourself. Profits are better than Wages. Wages help you make a living. Profits help you make a fortune.
10 cents - Passive capital, invest it in others, where it's active. The Bible teaches: The borrower is servant to the lender.
Touch something and leave it better than you found it - That's a profit.
Some people leave their hotel rooms trashed. What kind of reputation would that give? Whatever you touch turns to trash. That's a poor philosophy.
Buy a car and sell it more than you paid for it. Why? Because you leave it better than you found it. Touch something and leave a profit.
#Ideal plan - Set up an ideal and work toward it. Well you say "If I had more money I would have a better plan" - Nooo. If you had a better plan you would have more money! Your philosophy is the set of the sail! Economy is NOT the set of the sail!
#Keep strict accounts - Do you know this expression? "I don't know where it all goes". Imagine having someone like that running your company. "It just gets away from me". You gotta have better disciplines than that. Don't let it become your philosophy. Keep strict accounts.
#New attitude - I used to say "I hate to pay my taxes!". That's one way to live.. Well doesn't everyone hate to pay their taxes? Nooo, some of us are way beyond that. Here's what taxes are:
Taxes is how you care and feed the goose that will lay the golden eggs!
Democracy. Liberty. Freedom.
Wouldn't you want to feed the goose that lays the golden eggs? Somebody says "The goose has eaten too much!". That's probably true, I understand that! But see, better a FAT goose than NO goose!
And here's the truth.. We ALL eat too much. Let not an apetite accuse another. Of course the government needs to go on a diet. So do most of us. But you need to understand that the goose that lays the golden eggs still has to be fed.
I used to say "I hate to pay my bills!", you open the mail and all you see are the windowed envelopes. Doesn't everyone hate to pay their bills? Nooo, some of us are way beyond that.
Is it possible to love to pay your bills? YES! Reduce your liabilities, increase your assets. Wouldn't you love to do that?
Start a new attitude here. Next time you pay a hundred dollars on an account, put a little note in there that says: "With great delight I send you these hundred dollars!". Keep the money in circulation. Love to pay your bills
Everybody must pay. Life has opportunities, but we must all pay, we must all share.
#Ancient story from The Bible -
Jesus and his disciples one day were standing next to the church treasury, watching people as they come by and put their offerings in the treasury. Some people put in big amounts, other modest amounts. Then a little lady came by and put in 2 pennies. Jesus said to his disciples "Look at that!" and they went "2 pennies? what's 2 pennies?". They didn't understand! She gave more than everybody else! How is that possible? I'm certain that those 2 pennies represented most of what she had, and if you give most of what you have, then you have given the most. It's not the amount. It's what it represents of your life that counts.
Here is what DID NOT occur in the scenario - Jesus did not reach into the treasury and got the 2 pennies to run after the lady and say "Here little lady, my disciples and I have decided that you're so pitiful, that you're so poor. That we decided to give back your 2 pennies". If it had occured, she would have been what? Insulted! She would have said "I know my 2 pennies is not much, but wouldn't you let me contribute with the most of what I have?"
Here is the wisdom - Everybody has to pay. Even if it's just - pennies. That's the key.
#Communication - How to affect people with your language.
Words can work miracles. Words are powerful. Words are almost godlike. God is in the words. In the beginning Jehova God said, what? Jehova God spoke - Let there be light. And what? There was light - Wooow! Words can create light!
Humans come pretty close. What if someone can't see, fumbling on their path to the future, don't know the next step to take, and you come along and share your story. And by the time you get through with your good presentation to this person, they now say "I can see" .. "Before you got here I was blind".. "I was in the dark".. Is it possible to create light with words? Of cooourse!
One person talking to another. Mother to daughter. Salesperson to a client. Doctor to patient. Nothing more powerful, aweinspiring than words. Having the ability to dramatically affect peoples lives and future.
#Keys to good communication -
Number one - Have something good to say! Communication starts with preparation. getting ready to speak this year, getting ready to speak next year. attend the classes, read the books.
#Interest - Develop interest in people, in life, what's going on, economics, politics, religion, social structure, possibilities, opportunities,
#Fascination - Turn frustration into fascination if you can! With fascination you LEARN! That's how kids learn so much in their first years!
#Sensitivity - Gotta understand where people are coming from, people are not like you, people who got challenges and problems. Gotta be sensitive to other people, in the pit they are currently in.
Here's what was said about Jesus. They said he was 'Touched' by where he found some people, he was touched by the misery he found some people in. And he was 'Moved'. 'Touched and moved'. If you want to communicate well you've got to be touched and moved. Not just by your own drama of life!
Remember when you're 40 and talking with a child who's 12. Remember when you were 12, remember the scenario. Go back. GO BACK and let it touch you again, let it hit you again.
#Knowledge - You gotta go through exercises like this, gather the knowledge from books, cassettes and videos. Learn! Major part in communication is preparation.
#Saying it well - Number one, Sincerity. Best place to start if you want to communicate well is let your sincerity show. Next is repetition! The mother of skill! Some say Rohn gives a good seminar, well he should! 33 years in speaking! Repetition.
#Briefly - If you communicate well you don't need many words.
#Vocabulary - Gotta work on that! A survey made in prison showed that a poor vocabulary, had more tendency to poor behavior! And when you think about it, it makes sense. Words are a way of seeing. And if you don't have a good vocabulary, you can't see very well! Can you imagine the mistakes in judgment when you can't see very well?
#Expressing - What's going on in your head, what's going on in your heart.
What if you can't see well? And you can't express well? You can imagine the tragic scenario of ten years of that. Twenty years of that, showing no improvement. Behavior now becomes a major problem, and that persons world gets smaller and smaller, because they can't see! And soon they don't need much more than a cell. Their world is so small anyway! They don't need a bigger place!
Why not add a new word to your vocabulary every day? So you can see more, see better. Express better. What's in your mind, soul and heart.
#Read your audience - If you're talking to a child you got to study the face of the child. So you know whether to shift gears, come on a little stronger, ease off a little. Might be too strong. Search for another illustration, soft, strong. A lot of that is dictated by - reading your audience!
How to read? By what you see - Body language tells us something. Whether to go on, whether to stop! If you're talking to someone and they're leaning towards the door - That means you gotta hurry! They're not gonna be here long!
Read what you hear! Talking to a child you gotta be brief, a child's attention span doesn't last very long. After 30 seconds they ask "How long is this gonna take?".
Listen to the response, now you know whether to shift gears, or change your language. Find a new illustration, soften.
Read what you feel - Picking up emotional signals. What if you meant to say "What's troubling you?" to someone you care for and instead you say "What's wrong with you?".. Communication.
#Intensity - Words mixed with hate, mixed with love, mixed with faith, mixed with courage. That's powerful. Words have an effect but words loaded with emotion has an incredible effect!
Put more of you into what you say! Don't be casual in language.
Emotions has to be meassured, it can't be too much for the occasion unless it has been called for! Don't fire a cannon at a rabbit! It's effective but you got no more rabbit!
Well chosen words, mixtured with meassured emotion.
The more you care, the stronger you can be! The more you care as a leader the stronger you can get on and solving problems! The more you care!
#Learn to handle the negative - There wouldn't be positive without negative. Part of the life scenario. There's a times to laugh, and a time to cry. You've got to be so sophisicated and well educated that you don't laugh when it's time to cry! Learn to master negativity, it is not to be ignored, but to be mastered. You've got to do battle with your enemies, on the outside, and on the inside.
#The positive - The day that turns your life around.
#Disgust - Is a negative emotion but it can have a very positive, powerful effect. Disgust says: I've had it! What an important day that could be.. If you had to borrow money from your family, say, 10 dollars. And the other person says: What for? Before that day is over, decide that you will never ever ask again. Study opportunity, find it, put yourself through what's necessary, become wealthy in the process. And you will never have to ask again. Enough is enough.
#Decision making - If you cleaned up a list of decisions, it could inspire for the next 5 to 10 years. What an inspiring day you could bring yourself to decide.
#Desire - Wanting something bad enough. Sometimes desire waits for a trigger. Who knows what the trigger may be, a song, a movie, a dialogue, a seminar, a sermon, a book, an experience, confrontation with an enemy. Whatever experience it is, it's so valuable. Welcome all experiences! You never know which one is gonna turn everything on! Don't put up walls! The same walls that keeps out disappointment, keeps out happiness! Take down the walls, let the experience teach you.
#Resolve - Resolve says: I will. Nothing can resist the human will, that will stake it's existense on it's purpose! Shortly put: I'll do it, or die! Promising yourself you will Never give up! How long should a baby try to learn how to walk? Until! Read your books UNTIL your skills change! Go to seminars Until you get a handle on things! Listen Until it makes sense!
You will practice until you develop the skills! Apple by apple, book by book. Don't miss the chance to grow, and to resolve to pay the price Until you learn, change, grow, become. Then you will learn some of life's best treasures, when you pay that price!
As leaders of the community, in sales, management, parenting, mentoring. Learn to help people with their lives - Not just their jobs. Touch people with a book, with a poem, with some words. Don't fail to say something that could be meaningful. Help people with their lives, help them set their goals. Help them with errors, help them with mistakes. Not just get along! Not just hang in there! Try to build lives! With communication! Help kids with their lives! Not just their homework!
Ancient script says - If you work on your gifts, they will make room for you. Your gifts will make a room for you, a place for you, an opportunity for you!
There are other parts of the physical side. There is no second chance for first impression! God looks on the inside, people look on the outside! Now you say, people shouldn't judge you by how you look. well let me give you a clue - they do! You can't deal in should's and shouldn't! When people get to know you they are going to judge you by more than what there is to see, but FIRST they're gonna take a look! Here's a suggestion. Make sure the outside, is a Major reflection of what's going on inside. A couple of minutes a day, a study on nutrition. Stay healthy.
#Spiritual side of life - If you do believe in spirituality, in any manner. Study it and practice it. Do not neglect your values, do not neglect your virtues. Don't let it go unstudied, don't let it go unnourished - If you do believe.
Mental side of life - Part of the challenge is to develop mentally, learn, study, grow, change, it's what schooling is all about. And the human development takes time, takes incredible amounts of time. You can't cover everything in a 20 minute session. Animals live under pressure, the newborns has to run from the lions within minutes! Humans.. After 16 years we're not sure! Takes incredible amounts of time for personal development, for spiritual development, physical development. You gotta get ready mentally, to defend your virtues and your values. Or you will fall prey to other's ideologies.
You gotta have a library, and books to study. You don't need a big library. Clean out your closet and call it your library, and start acting intelligent. Start developing a library!
Here's what your library needs to show, that you're a serious student of things in life: Spirituality, Culture, Uniqueness, Sophistication, Economics, Prosperity, Productivity, Sales, Management, Skills, Values of all kinds. Let your library show you're a serious student!
Don't be casual in learning, don't be lazy in learning! Information is KEY. Learning is the beginning of Wealth. Learning is the beginning of Health. Learning is the beginning of prosperity. Learning is the beginning of Democracy. All values, all virtues, starts with the learning process!
Don't be lazy in gathering the library that will teach you and instruct you. Remember: Don't be a follower - Be a student! That's the key to all books, don't be a follower, be a student. You gotta sort out the weird stuff in the books. Unless you're weird, then you can just do the weird stuff.
You need food for thought. Not only nourish the body, but nourish the mind! Key phrase: It needs to be well balanced. Can't live on mental candy. Can't just be inspired, you gotta be taught! Gotta be educated!
Gotta have a sense of history, what has worked before, how it's always been.
Don't just read the easy stuff, you won't grow, you won't change. Tackle the more difficult stuff.
Here's another tip: Skip the trash. You might find something of value in it but main part is trash. You wouldn't go through the trashcan. Might find a crusty bread in there, but you wouldn't go through it.
You don't have time to read all the brilliant stuff, so skip the trash completely.
Read biographies, autobiographies, good and bad ones. Use them as examples and warnings. You need a book on Ghandi, you need a book on Hitler. One shows how high a person can go, and the other how low and despicable a person can go.
You need something on Accounting, don't need to be an accountant, but you gotta know something. Need something on Law, don't need to be a lawyer, but you need to know something. What to sign, what not to sign. backups, how to be safe rather than sorry! All of us need a little law. The more you read, the less you have to learn the hard way!
Be a student of economics, become financially independent by 35 or sooner if you find the opportunity. Study culture, sophistication. It's what makes us different, from the dogs, the animals, and the barbarians. Be a student of the dance, the art, and the music. Which is available for us all to participate in, as well as enjoy.
If you are a believer in Spirituality, study and practice it from the Bible and all available sources. Let your library show that you're a serious student.
#Keep a Journal. DONT TRUST YOUR MEMORY. If you are serious about becoming powerful, wealthy, sophisticated, healthy, influenctial, cultured, unique - Keep a Journal. If you listen to something valuable, write it down, come across something important - write it down. Later, your own Journals will be a good portion of your own library. Your Journals is one of the three treasures to leave behind.
#1 - your pictures. Take a lot of pictures. When the next generation is reading your Journals, wouldn't it be great if there were pictures there to describe the stories! A picture's worth? A thousand words! How long does it take to capture an event? Fraction of a second. How long does it take to miss the event? Fraction of a second. Take a lot of pictures.
#2 - Your Library. The library that you gather, that taught you, that instruct you, to help you defend your ideal. That helped you to develop a philosophy. That helps you to become wealthy, powerful, healthy, sophisticated and unique. The books that fed your mind and your soul. Your library is one of the greatest things to leave behind, stepping stones out of the darkness, into the light. Your books will be more valuable than your couch!
#3 - Your Journals. All the words and ideas that motivate you, that made you what you are, let it coach you again! read them again! If you hear a beautiful song, you don't say "that's enough, turn it off" you listen to it again, and again! Repetition is the mother of all skills!
The Five Abilities
#Absorb - Develop the ability to absorb, be like a spongue. Don't miss the scenario, don't miss the colors, don't miss what's in the air. Let the day teach you. Some only try to get through the day. Learn to get FROM the day. Take it all in! Where ever you are, BE there! Let your heart and soul take pictures of the moment.
#Respond - Let life touch you, don't let it kill you but let it touch you. Let sad things make you sad, let happy things make you happy. Let emotions affect you. It's important to know how to feel, to let life in! Soak up what's going on, and respond.
#Reflect - Go back over, study again. Go back over the notes, the cassettes, read the text one more time, go back over your DAY. Take a few minutes at the end of the day, go back over it so it locks in, the color, the emotion, the smell. Take a few hours at the end of the week to reflect over the past week. Take half a day at the end of the month to Reflect. Take a weekend at the end of the Year, to reflect and go over, remember. Work 9 years, and take one year to Reflect - What is different? How can I improve? Do it alone, reflect with yourself. To make the past more valuable, to serve you for the future. To make you even better than you were. Go over all your previous years and invest them into your next year! That's how you grow powerful!
#Act - Take action. Not hasty if it isn't required. but dont lose too much time. When the emotion is hot, and the emotion is strong. Immediate action, no matter how small! or the law of diminishing returns will strike. Start the process! Otherwise the wisdom is wasted, the emotion is spilled. Capture the emotion and put it into discipline. All disciplines affect each other. Everything matters, some more than others, but there isn't anything that doesn't matter.
Every letdown affects the rest of your performance. If you don't take the walk around the block, you probably won't have an apple a day, and you probably won't build your library and you probably won't have any journals and you probably won't be any wiser and you probably won't do anything better and in conclusion you have -- MESSED UP!
#Every new discipline affects the rest of your disciplines. That's why action is so important, the smallest action, the least action. TAKE IT. Cause when the accomplishment returns from that action, it will inspire you to take the next one, and the next one, and the next one! Walk around the block, it will inspire you to have an apple, have an apple will inspire you to get a book, a book will inspire you to get a journal, a journal will inspire you to grow, to get more skills.
#ALL disciplines affect each other. Every lack of discipline affects the rest. Every new discpiline affects the rest. The key, is to diminish the lack, and set up the new. One of the greatest temptations, is to EASE up a little bit. The slightest lack of doing your best, starts to errode. Neglect starts as an infection, and if you don't take care of it, it becomes a disease.
#One neglect leads to another. And the worst part, when neglect starts, it dimishes our self-worth, our confidence, Well how can you get back your self-respect? Start with the smallest discipline - I should, and I could, and I will. No longer shall I let neglect stack up on me and gives me excuses instead of results. That's the key to discipline.
How many percent of America owns a library card? 3% ! How much is a library card? It's FREE! 97% can't be bothered to go after the information! Walk away from the 97%, don't walk like they walk, don't talk like they talk, don't specialize in what they specialize in. Throw away the blame list they cling to. Well is it as easy as getting a library card? OF COURSE! How many are actually be bothered to try? ACT! LABOR WELL, DISCIPLINE YOURSELF WELL.
How many can retire independently when the time comes to retire? 5% ! If you take care of your personal development and take charge of your own retirement fund you can multiply it atleast by five, maybe ten, maybe by twenty. Maybe by a hundred.
Let the government take care of it, let some company take care of it and you have got to Divide by five!
Take charge of your own life! Your life will loosen up for you. Find out what people read, and DONT read it! Don't talk like they talk. Lend a hand but don't fall into their poor philosophical scenario! Don't blame what they blame! Don't use the excuses they use! It's the language of the poor!
A good scenario on doing the best you can.. Is the best you can do, all you can do? The answer is: No.. Strangely enough. If you right now fell to the ground and started doing as many pushups as you could. Maybe the best you could do would be 5. Is that all you can do? No! With some rest you could do 5 more! And if you rest a little you could do 15 more! How did we get from 5 to 15? It's a miracle!
Is it possible to get up to 50 pushups? OF COOOOOURSE! How? It's a miracle!! Do what you can, do the best you can! Don't rest too long! Make rest a necessity, not an objective. The objective of life is to ACT. Otherwise your next 6 years will be like your last 6 years. Unless you take advantage and make these personal changes. If you change, everything will change.
#Share - Pass along to someone else. If you pick up a new idea, don't let it stay! Pass it along! If you read a book and it affects you - pass along! Say "Hey I found a book, really helped me, got me thinking. I found a book, changed my health, got me inspired!" Pass it along! If you share with 10 different people, they get to hear it once. You get to hear it 10 times! So it's probably going to do more for you than it is for them! But it's called 'everybody wins'.
Sharing makes you bigger than you are. If you are full of ideas, pour them out! And more will be poured in! When you pour out you will become bigger. There is no lack of capacity, only lack of teachers. Some people don't practice their capacity and are too small to fit new ideas into. They won't get much because there is no room! No matter how much appreciation and prosperity and wisdom is poured over them!
Learn to share.
#Learning how to set Goals - Your vision of the future. There is two ways to face the future.
One - With apprehension
Two - With anticipation
Guess how most people face the future? With apprehension. Why? They don't have it well designed. They have left the design of their future to somebody else! If you don't make plans of your own, you will fall into someone elses plan!
Guess what someone else might have planned for you? Not much.
If your negative relatives all turned positive, what would that do for your future? Not much.
If prices come down a little, what will that do for your future? Not much
If the economy gets a little better, what will that do for your future? Not much.
If circumstances become a little better, what will that do for your future? Not much.
If the weather gets a little better over the next 2 years, that will do? Not much.
Most people go with their fingers crossed with all of their hope in things that don't count much! That's why 10 years from now they will be driving what they don't want to drive, living where they don't want to live. Wearing what they don't want to wear. Doing what they don't want to do. Having what they don't want to have. And it all started by counting on something that's not gonna count much!
Well then how can my life dramatically change? You gotta count on YOURSELF. Your ability to design the future. It's called the promise of the future. If you don't know what the next 6 years will be like, you will take hesitant steps for 6 years!! No wonder it will be an empty life.
Now here's what's connected to the promise of the future: The price. The price to pay. The price is easy if the promise is clear. The price seems too much to pay if the promise isn't clear! If you can see it, you will want to pay! But if you can't see! You don't want to pay.
We will pay the most extraordinary if we can see the promise of the future. Set goals. Don't leave it to anybody else. Don't leave it to the company. Company has got their own goals.
Set your own goals! Personal goals, income goals, financial goals, health goals, spiritual goals. Where do you wanna go? Where do you want to live? What do you want to be? What do you want to see? It's in your hands.
Decide what you want and write it down! MAKE A LIST!
Your list will change, make a new list of what is important to you! That's how easy it is.
Why don't you set a goal to be a millionaire? Enough zeros to impress your accountant. But that's not why. Set a goal to become a millionaire, FOR WHAT IT WILL MAKE OF YOU TO ACHIEVE IT.
The greatest value in life is not what you get. The greatest value in life is what you become. Major question to ask on the job is not what you get.. It's what am I becoming here? It's what you become that makes you valuable.
Once you become a millionaire, what's important is NOT the money! It's the person you have become.
Set the kind of goals that will make something of you to achieve them. Always keep in mind.. 'What will this make of me?'. If I set this goal not only will I achieve it, but what will it make of me in the process? There is two parts to this.
#1 - Don't set your goals too low. Don't join an easy crowd. You won't grow. Go where the expectations are high. Go where the demands are high. Go where the pressure is on to perform, to grow, to change, to develop, to read, to study.
#2 - Don't compromise, don't sell out. Count the cost. Count the cost. Count the COST!
An ancient story says "Judas got the money!", well that's a success story? - Nooo.. it's true that 30 pieces of silver those days was a sizeable fortune! Well if a guy has got a fortune, that's a success story? Nooo.. you don't understand, his name was Judas!
Doesn't that ring a bell? Judas - the traitor! The traitor got the money. Judas got the money in his hand, and now he is unhappy! How can you be unhappy with a fortune? Well he wasn't unhappy with the money. He was unhappy with.. HIMSELF! The greatest source of unhappiness is self-unhappiness. It doesn't come from the outside. It comes from the inside.
Judas couldn't return the money for a deal that had already been made, so he threw his fortune away. After he threw his fortune away, he couldn't change what he became - a traitor. In total abject frustration he goes out and hangs his worthless self. Which all traitors should do to save the state the money.
Why such a tragic end? Because he wasn't happy with himself, he SOLD OUT! He paid too big a price.
What if you gained the WHOLE world, and it cost you your soul? Don't sell out, don't compromise your values. Don't compromise your virtues. Don't compromise your philosophy.
Key. Beware.
Behold the possibilities, behold the opportunities. Behold the drama, behold the awesomeness. Behold the uniqueness. Behold, Behold.
Beware. Don't sell out. Mark well of WHAT you become in the pursuit of what you want.
#Financial Independence -
If you have a dollar, you can't spend more than 70 cents. Most people spend at about 110%.
Out of every dollar from now on, never spend more than 70 cents. What do you do with the other 30 cents? Here is my best advice:
10 cents - Charity, supporting worthy projects, supporting people who can't help themselves.
10 cents - Active capital, to profit from yourself. Profits are better than Wages. Wages help you make a living. Profits help you make a fortune.
10 cents - Passive capital, invest it in others, where it's active. The Bible teaches: The borrower is servant to the lender.
Touch something and leave it better than you found it - That's a profit.
Some people leave their hotel rooms trashed. What kind of reputation would that give? Whatever you touch turns to trash. That's a poor philosophy.
Buy a car and sell it more than you paid for it. Why? Because you leave it better than you found it. Touch something and leave a profit.
#Ideal plan - Set up an ideal and work toward it. Well you say "If I had more money I would have a better plan" - Nooo. If you had a better plan you would have more money! Your philosophy is the set of the sail! Economy is NOT the set of the sail!
#Keep strict accounts - Do you know this expression? "I don't know where it all goes". Imagine having someone like that running your company. "It just gets away from me". You gotta have better disciplines than that. Don't let it become your philosophy. Keep strict accounts.
#New attitude - I used to say "I hate to pay my taxes!". That's one way to live.. Well doesn't everyone hate to pay their taxes? Nooo, some of us are way beyond that. Here's what taxes are:
Taxes is how you care and feed the goose that will lay the golden eggs!
Democracy. Liberty. Freedom.
Wouldn't you want to feed the goose that lays the golden eggs? Somebody says "The goose has eaten too much!". That's probably true, I understand that! But see, better a FAT goose than NO goose!
And here's the truth.. We ALL eat too much. Let not an apetite accuse another. Of course the government needs to go on a diet. So do most of us. But you need to understand that the goose that lays the golden eggs still has to be fed.
I used to say "I hate to pay my bills!", you open the mail and all you see are the windowed envelopes. Doesn't everyone hate to pay their bills? Nooo, some of us are way beyond that.
Is it possible to love to pay your bills? YES! Reduce your liabilities, increase your assets. Wouldn't you love to do that?
Start a new attitude here. Next time you pay a hundred dollars on an account, put a little note in there that says: "With great delight I send you these hundred dollars!". Keep the money in circulation. Love to pay your bills
Everybody must pay. Life has opportunities, but we must all pay, we must all share.
#Ancient story from The Bible -
Jesus and his disciples one day were standing next to the church treasury, watching people as they come by and put their offerings in the treasury. Some people put in big amounts, other modest amounts. Then a little lady came by and put in 2 pennies. Jesus said to his disciples "Look at that!" and they went "2 pennies? what's 2 pennies?". They didn't understand! She gave more than everybody else! How is that possible? I'm certain that those 2 pennies represented most of what she had, and if you give most of what you have, then you have given the most. It's not the amount. It's what it represents of your life that counts.
Here is what DID NOT occur in the scenario - Jesus did not reach into the treasury and got the 2 pennies to run after the lady and say "Here little lady, my disciples and I have decided that you're so pitiful, that you're so poor. That we decided to give back your 2 pennies". If it had occured, she would have been what? Insulted! She would have said "I know my 2 pennies is not much, but wouldn't you let me contribute with the most of what I have?"
Here is the wisdom - Everybody has to pay. Even if it's just - pennies. That's the key.
#Communication - How to affect people with your language.
Words can work miracles. Words are powerful. Words are almost godlike. God is in the words. In the beginning Jehova God said, what? Jehova God spoke - Let there be light. And what? There was light - Wooow! Words can create light!
Humans come pretty close. What if someone can't see, fumbling on their path to the future, don't know the next step to take, and you come along and share your story. And by the time you get through with your good presentation to this person, they now say "I can see" .. "Before you got here I was blind".. "I was in the dark".. Is it possible to create light with words? Of cooourse!
One person talking to another. Mother to daughter. Salesperson to a client. Doctor to patient. Nothing more powerful, aweinspiring than words. Having the ability to dramatically affect peoples lives and future.
#Keys to good communication -
Number one - Have something good to say! Communication starts with preparation. getting ready to speak this year, getting ready to speak next year. attend the classes, read the books.
#Interest - Develop interest in people, in life, what's going on, economics, politics, religion, social structure, possibilities, opportunities,
#Fascination - Turn frustration into fascination if you can! With fascination you LEARN! That's how kids learn so much in their first years!
#Sensitivity - Gotta understand where people are coming from, people are not like you, people who got challenges and problems. Gotta be sensitive to other people, in the pit they are currently in.
Here's what was said about Jesus. They said he was 'Touched' by where he found some people, he was touched by the misery he found some people in. And he was 'Moved'. 'Touched and moved'. If you want to communicate well you've got to be touched and moved. Not just by your own drama of life!
Remember when you're 40 and talking with a child who's 12. Remember when you were 12, remember the scenario. Go back. GO BACK and let it touch you again, let it hit you again.
#Knowledge - You gotta go through exercises like this, gather the knowledge from books, cassettes and videos. Learn! Major part in communication is preparation.
#Saying it well - Number one, Sincerity. Best place to start if you want to communicate well is let your sincerity show. Next is repetition! The mother of skill! Some say Rohn gives a good seminar, well he should! 33 years in speaking! Repetition.
#Briefly - If you communicate well you don't need many words.
#Vocabulary - Gotta work on that! A survey made in prison showed that a poor vocabulary, had more tendency to poor behavior! And when you think about it, it makes sense. Words are a way of seeing. And if you don't have a good vocabulary, you can't see very well! Can you imagine the mistakes in judgment when you can't see very well?
#Expressing - What's going on in your head, what's going on in your heart.
What if you can't see well? And you can't express well? You can imagine the tragic scenario of ten years of that. Twenty years of that, showing no improvement. Behavior now becomes a major problem, and that persons world gets smaller and smaller, because they can't see! And soon they don't need much more than a cell. Their world is so small anyway! They don't need a bigger place!
Why not add a new word to your vocabulary every day? So you can see more, see better. Express better. What's in your mind, soul and heart.
#Read your audience - If you're talking to a child you got to study the face of the child. So you know whether to shift gears, come on a little stronger, ease off a little. Might be too strong. Search for another illustration, soft, strong. A lot of that is dictated by - reading your audience!
How to read? By what you see - Body language tells us something. Whether to go on, whether to stop! If you're talking to someone and they're leaning towards the door - That means you gotta hurry! They're not gonna be here long!
Read what you hear! Talking to a child you gotta be brief, a child's attention span doesn't last very long. After 30 seconds they ask "How long is this gonna take?".
Listen to the response, now you know whether to shift gears, or change your language. Find a new illustration, soften.
Read what you feel - Picking up emotional signals. What if you meant to say "What's troubling you?" to someone you care for and instead you say "What's wrong with you?".. Communication.
#Intensity - Words mixed with hate, mixed with love, mixed with faith, mixed with courage. That's powerful. Words have an effect but words loaded with emotion has an incredible effect!
Put more of you into what you say! Don't be casual in language.
Emotions has to be meassured, it can't be too much for the occasion unless it has been called for! Don't fire a cannon at a rabbit! It's effective but you got no more rabbit!
Well chosen words, mixtured with meassured emotion.
The more you care, the stronger you can be! The more you care as a leader the stronger you can get on and solving problems! The more you care!
#Learn to handle the negative - There wouldn't be positive without negative. Part of the life scenario. There's a times to laugh, and a time to cry. You've got to be so sophisicated and well educated that you don't laugh when it's time to cry! Learn to master negativity, it is not to be ignored, but to be mastered. You've got to do battle with your enemies, on the outside, and on the inside.
#The positive - The day that turns your life around.
#Disgust - Is a negative emotion but it can have a very positive, powerful effect. Disgust says: I've had it! What an important day that could be.. If you had to borrow money from your family, say, 10 dollars. And the other person says: What for? Before that day is over, decide that you will never ever ask again. Study opportunity, find it, put yourself through what's necessary, become wealthy in the process. And you will never have to ask again. Enough is enough.
#Decision making - If you cleaned up a list of decisions, it could inspire for the next 5 to 10 years. What an inspiring day you could bring yourself to decide.
#Desire - Wanting something bad enough. Sometimes desire waits for a trigger. Who knows what the trigger may be, a song, a movie, a dialogue, a seminar, a sermon, a book, an experience, confrontation with an enemy. Whatever experience it is, it's so valuable. Welcome all experiences! You never know which one is gonna turn everything on! Don't put up walls! The same walls that keeps out disappointment, keeps out happiness! Take down the walls, let the experience teach you.
#Resolve - Resolve says: I will. Nothing can resist the human will, that will stake it's existense on it's purpose! Shortly put: I'll do it, or die! Promising yourself you will Never give up! How long should a baby try to learn how to walk? Until! Read your books UNTIL your skills change! Go to seminars Until you get a handle on things! Listen Until it makes sense!
You will practice until you develop the skills! Apple by apple, book by book. Don't miss the chance to grow, and to resolve to pay the price Until you learn, change, grow, become. Then you will learn some of life's best treasures, when you pay that price!
As leaders of the community, in sales, management, parenting, mentoring. Learn to help people with their lives - Not just their jobs. Touch people with a book, with a poem, with some words. Don't fail to say something that could be meaningful. Help people with their lives, help them set their goals. Help them with errors, help them with mistakes. Not just get along! Not just hang in there! Try to build lives! With communication! Help kids with their lives! Not just their homework!
Ancient script says - If you work on your gifts, they will make room for you. Your gifts will make a room for you, a place for you, an opportunity for you!
