DO IT FOR YOURSELF - Life-Changing Jim Rohn Motivation You Need
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You might draw a little circle. This is where you are. Ten years from now, you could be here or ten years from now, you could be here. And the difference in ten years between here and here could be significant in money and lifestyle, treasures, equity. In ten years, an incredible difference. But right here, a small difference in the change of discipline, the change of thinking to start you on this journey versus this journey.

Now it's also very important intellectually to know whether or not you're headed this way or this way. And once you decide 10 years from now, I think that the gathering of my intellectual and personal and spiritual and moral and economic treasure may not be that great. The key is to start right now making these changes to walk this new road. If you start early, the fortune belongs to you. If you start early.

All fortunes that are available to humans, if you start early, the promise looms large and the odds are heavy in your favor. Now, yes, it's possible to do some radical things starting late and still arrive with some good treasures and some good things. But when you haven't got that much time left, now sometimes the decision has to be so drastic people are not willing to make it and they're too tired and too weary and too ill.

and say, "Look, I don't have much time left. It's not going to happen for me anyway." It's easy to take that attitude. But everyone here, we've got the time over the next 10 years. We've got the time the next 20 years. We've got the time the next 30 years to make some repair now in our errors of the past and set up some new disciplines. And I'm telling you, that's going to change everything. What else could we do to make it better? How could we possibly improve?

This is called the possibility for life change starts with education. Don't be lazy in learning. Don't be lazy in picking up the ideas. Don't be lazy in learning from your own experience. To make your life work out worthwhile, you've got to have some ideas. You've got to have the information. So you've got to be smart. In fact, in this decade, you must be much smarter than you were in the last decade. You've got to read the books. You've got to come up with the information.

When I have a chance to talk to the high school kids, that's the theme of my talk. Get smart. There's nothing worse than being stupid. And if you will read the books, learn from your experiences, do all the things that you possibly can to get the information, sure enough, you'll be wiser this year than you were last year. Five years from now, I wish for you to arrive at a well-designed place. A place of productivity, a place that'll make you feel good about yourself, a place that'll give you honor and respect.

A place that will give you influence to touch other people five years from now that you couldn't do today. Where will you be in five years? Key phrase: We go the direction we face. If you start designing something at the end of this direction, sure enough, you will start going the direction you face. Wealth is a word that conjures a wide variety of mental images. And that is part of my purpose, to provoke that wide variety of mental images.

For that is where the dreams are, where inspiration comes from, where true incentive is born. To one person, wealth means having enough financial substance to be able to do whatever you wish with your life. To another, it may mean freedom from debt, freedom from the constant claim of obligation. To yet another, it means opportunity. And to many, wealth means a millionaire. Millionaire is a unique word.

It rings of success, freedom, power, influence, pleasure, possibility, benevolence and excitement. Not a bad mental image. We could talk about the wealth of experience, the wealth of friends, the wealth of love, the wealth of family, the wealth of culture, wealth of many kinds.

But I'm gonna focus on wealth in the sense of financial freedom. Wealth that comes from tremendous effort and enterprise and gets translated into currency and equity. For each of us, the amount of money required to be wealthy will differ. But the dream for all of us, I'm sure, is the same. Freedom from financial pressure, more freedom of choice. Freedom to enjoy our lives and the opportunity to create.

and to share our wealth. Above all, wealth represents the possession of great financial resources that improve the quality of your life and give you added dignity and an expanded lifestyle. So, decide for yourself what wealth means to you. Latch on to your own mental image of wealth and see if the ideas I'm about to tell you about will make sense.

I can only hope that they will provide you with the inspiration to put your plan into high gear. Once you do, will you soon enjoy a growing sense of freedom, dignity, self-worth, substance and lifestyle? Your economic future is not going to be determined by the economy, but rather your own philosophy.

I had one woman chastise me severely. She said, "Mr. Ron, you can't promise young people they can become wealthy and financially independent. It's just not in the cards these days. It takes everything a person makes just to keep his or her head above water and the wolf away from the door." I said, "No, that's not true." She said, "It is true.

You can't offer hope to all the people who listen to you telling them they can become financially independent, especially children. They'll be sadly disillusioned. It's not in the cards these days. I said, gosh, I wish I could persuade you otherwise. So I decided to use this illustration. I asked her, can you think of a couple right now who makes $5,000 a month?

She said, "Yes, if I think really hard, I could come up with a couple who makes $5,000 a month." I said, "What would they tell you? It takes just to keep their head above water and the wolf away from the door." She replied, "They'd say all of it." I said, "Now, if it takes all of it, how do you account for this extra $500?" Here's what happens.

There are errors in judgment when it comes to economic philosophy. Many people think it's the economy, but it's the philosophy. And if the second couple saved their extra $500 and lived like the first couple on $5,000, that $500 a month invested over the next 15 years would make them financially independent. The difference is not your paycheck.

The difference is your philosophy. The whole world benefits if we all leave more profit. Touch something and leave it better than you found it. I talked to a man who rents a lot of apartments, he said. Mr. Ron, you wouldn't believe it. When most people leave the apartment, it's trashed.

What a reputation to leave, that everything you touch gets dirty. You've got to turn that around. Train yourself to leave a profit instead. A friend of mine has made money on every car he's bought because when he sells them, they're in better condition than when he acquires them. The key for parents is to touch a life and leave it better than you found it.

The key for leaders is to touch a business and leave it better than you found it. The key for employees is to touch a job and leave it better than you found it. Leave a profit. What a world this would be if everybody tried to leave it in better condition than they found it. Years ago, when I made the decision to turn my economic life around, I had to develop a new attitude as well as new concepts. Here's what I used to say.

I hate to pay my taxes. Mr. Cho said, well, that's one way to live. I countered, doesn't everybody hate to pay their taxes? He said, no, a few of us have gotten way past that once we understood what taxes are. Here's the purpose of taxes in our democratic society. Taxes are how you care for and feed the goose that lays the golden eggs.

Wouldn't you want to feed the goose that lays the golden eggs? How do you feel about feeding the goose? You may think the goose eats too much. That's probably true, but better a fat goose than no goose at all. And the truth is we all eat too much. Don't let one appetite accuse another. Of course, the government needs to go on a diet. So do most of us. But you still have to care for and feed the goose that lays the golden eggs.

The right attitude is so important. Here's what I used to say. I hate to pay my bills. I bring in the mail and there's nothing but these window envelopes. Bills, bills, bills, bills. Mr. Shouf said, well, that's one way to live. I said, doesn't everybody hate to pay their bills? He said, no, some of us are way beyond that. I said, is it possible to love to pay your bills?

He said, "Yes, reduce your liability and increase your assets." Wouldn't you love to do that? You can start by adopting a whole new attitude. The next time you pay $100 on an account, put a little note in there that says, "With great delight, I send you this $100." Billing agencies don't get many letters like that. What a great scenario.

Reduce your liabilities and increase your assets. Your financial picture is improving. You can learn to love to pay your bills. Think of it as keeping the money in circulation. Think of paying your taxes as feeding the goose that lays the golden eggs. It's all a matter of attitude. Here's the last attitude you need to adopt regarding wealth.

Everybody must pay. Of course, life is opportunity, but life is also price. We all must pay. We all must share. One of the classic biblical stories of all time describes a fascinating scenario. Here's my interpretation of that story. One day, Jesus and his disciples were standing by the synagogue treasury, watching people as they came by with their offerings. Some people came by and put in big amounts. Others came by and put in modest amounts.

Then a little lady comes by and puts two pennies in the treasury. Jesus said to his disciples, "Look at that." His disciples responded, "Two pennies. What's the big deal?" Jesus said, "No, you don't understand. She gave more than everybody else." They said, "Two pennies is more than everybody else." He said, "Yes, because I'm certain that her two pennies represent most of what she has." "And if you give most of what you have, then you've given the most. What a lesson to learn."

It's not the amount, it's what it represents that counts. There's a wisdom conveyed by what does not happen in this story also. Jesus did not reach into the treasury for this little lady's two pennies. He did not run after her and say, "Excuse me, my disciples and I decided that you're so pitiful and poor that we're giving you back your two pennies." I'm telling you that did not happen.

If that had occurred, it would have been highly insulting. She would have rightfully said, I know my two pennies aren't much, but they represent most of what I have. And you insult me by not letting me contribute what I want to contribute, even if it's only two pennies. She knew just as Jesus knew that everybody has to pay, even if it's only pennies. And whether you start with pennies or dollars or nothing at all, remember the three attitudes of wealth.

Once you begin thinking this way, you're free to create a splendid economic philosophy that will get you up early and keep you up late. It will get you thinking about ways to use your resources to realize your dreams for the future. That's what the road to financial independence is all about. At some point in life, everybody has to wrestle with their own financial ambition, whether we call it financial independence or becoming wealthy.

I know some people are a little uncomfortable with those kinds of phrases and I can understand that. We've all heard the saying, "Money is the root of all evil." Well, I believe that the love of money is certainly evil, but money itself is not evil. There is an evil way to acquire money, greed. And there is a difference between greed and ambition. Contrary to the movie Wall Street, greed is not good.

Greed is associated with getting something for nothing. Greed means hoping for more than your share. Greed leads to getting something at the expense of others. We call that evil. Greed is not good. Here's what is good. Ambition. Legitimate ambition. Legitimate ambition says, "I only want something at the service of others, not at the expense of others."

but at the service of others. Jesus gave us the greatest scenario for success when he explained that if you wish to be the greatest, you must find a way to serve the most. To many, service is the path that leads to greatness. Of course, many people forget this aspect of service in their quest for greatness. To be the greatest is a worthy ambition only if it's pursued with the goal of serving many. Serving many leads to great wealth. Serving many leads to great recognition.

serving many leads to great satisfaction. Zig Ziglar probably said it as well as anybody. If you help enough people get what they want, you can have everything you want. That's not greed. It's legitimate ambition at the service of others. But even in this context, some people feel ambivalent about their ambition toward wealth. They are a little disturbed by the self-serving nature of seeking their fortune. So I try to refer to this endeavor as a quest for financial independence

Here's my definition of financial independence. It's the ability to live solely from the income of your own personal resources. It's a worthy and legitimate ambition to render good service, to develop good skills in the marketplace, to become so valuable that you can live independently off of the income of your own personal resources.

You're not placing the burden on others to support you. And you have the ability and desire to support others because you know you could never have made it alone. That's why I think financial independence is such a worthy ambition.

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