The Man who Changed my Life

I've written an article about someone I consider a personal hero - Jim Rohn.

I think it is important to share some of the major concepts which changed my life that I’ve learnt (and continue to learn) since I was about 18 - and hopefully they have the same effect on you.

Firstly it must be said that this was not written with the intention to discredit the many who have contributed to my life, for I would not be me without all of those who have contributed so greatly and put wood on my fire along the way. That being said, I must admit my character or person has been moulded to a large extent by one person in particular - and the reason I say this is because he changed the way I think, and there is no truer statement than 'we are what we think about.'

Secondly it must be said that I am trying to encapsulate what I have learnt over years, in the form of hours and hours of listening to audiotapes and weekend seminars, watching videos and reading books, and wrap it up nicely all into one LinkedIn article. It will take all I've got to convey messages as powerful as his succinctly, so here goes.

I think the quote that resonates with me the most when I think of Jim Rohn is:

"For things to change for you, you have to change." - Jim Rohn

The reason I have used this quote first is because it was my first step into a world that I hadn't known about - personal development. It created an understanding in me of the fact that we truly are in charge of shaping our own destiny. If you don't like the way things are, change them - it really is that simple. Now a key distinction he made early on for me was that there is a vast difference between simple and easy. Problems often have simple solutions in theory, but in practice they can be difficult. Therefore it is possible for something to be both difficult and simple, simultaneously.

This quote led me on a path of personal development ever since, and I don't see myself stopping anytime soon.

In order to progress from here however (recognizing that you don't like something and that you want things to change), you must be prepared to take action. This begins with goal setting. To say Jim is an advocate of goal setting would be an understatement. It is the foundation of pretty much everything that is spoken about - not only with Jim, but with all of the role models I've ever looked up to. Goal setting is the first step in any form of progress - why? because if you don't know where you're trying to get to, how can you get there? Jim's presents in a way that is so simple to understand, and sometimes the concepts he teaches are things you already are aware of - so you almost feel silly not recognizing it the way he spells it out.

In the attempt to encourage goal setting, Jim says "if you don't make plans of your own, you'll almost almost always fit into somebody else's plan. Guess what someone else may have planned for you? Not much."

Jim taught me that in life the difference between having everything you want and not having what you want begins with simplifying the difference between success and failure. He says that "the formula for success is a few simple disciplines repeated every day" whereas "the formula for failure is a few errors in judgement repeated every day".

One of his many examples for this profound discovery would be that if you ate fast food one day, went home looked in the mirror and didn't put on any weight, did it again, had the same result, and then made the call that this wasn't bad for you based on limited information and that you could continue doing it forever. He urges us to look into the future at what our CURRENT actions and disciplines (or errors in judgement) are GOING to do, to and for us, in 3, 5, 10 years - because we all know that if you ate fast food every day for 10 years - you're likely to end up with all sorts of health issues, but the key is to be able to see that long before you get there!!!

The converse is true too. If you find yourself reflecting on the past years realizing that you are perhaps the person who is at the end of a 10 year daily fast-food ritual, and want to make major changes, one walk around the block won't immediately revolutionize your life. And you may not see results the first day, or week - but you must project into the future and see the results that will eventually come by repeated disciplines - see the person you want to be (and that your new disciplines are making you) and that will be what pulls you forward and motivates you in the hard times. The key is not to get discouraged - to realize that the time is going to go by either way, you just need to decide in advance where you want to be at that point in the future (weeks, months, year from now).

This methodology and way of thinking can be applied to every single aspect of life.

Another one of my favourite lessons - continuing on from the above is "What is easy to do, is also easy not to do." This is the key difference between success and failure. 99% of what we do on a day to day basis as humans is the same. It is the marginal difference that separates the have's and the have-not's.

An example of this is that it's easy to read a book for 30 minutes a day.

It's also easy not to.

It's easy to choose the healthier of two meal options.

It's also easy not to.

It's easy to jog around the block everyday for your good health.

It's also easy not to.

So your choice in life is between one of two easy's - easy to, or easy not to - and the difference in that simple decision, compounded over a lifetime, is staggering. "All you have to do is let those simple decisions accumulate for a period of time, and you find yourself living where you don't want to live, driving what you don't want to drive, doing what you don't want to do, having become what you really didn't want to become - and blaming everything else for it."

This is the largest contributing factor to the gap between the successful and the unsuccessful. Here's how to become successful; do not NEGLECT to do the easy things you could do every day for a number of years.

Following simple disciplines and their effect on health, wealth, professional success, etc. Jim begins to discuss actual ways in which you can improve - moving more onto practical techniques as opposed to theory.

A key quote here is that in order to be successful, economically speaking, (and I know there is more than one measure of success) "you must work harder on yourself than you do on your job", and this stuck with me. If you are chasing financial independence, it is not your employer that will make you rich, it is your philosophy about bettering yourself and creating a plan that will get you to the places you want to be.

Three key questions Jim was asked by his own mentor are listed below - I suggest you ask yourself these questions:

How many classes have you been to in the last 90 days?

There are classes on everything. How to be a good manager, salesperson, public speaker, learn another language, start a business, get in shape, develop better relationships with your family and friends, and so many more.

Any skill you want, from beginner level to expert level. There's nothing you can't do!

How many books have you read in the last 90 days?

The wisdom of the world is available in books. Change your life & change your future. Develop any skill you want. Earn the kind of income you want, get the health you want, lifestyle you want, relationships with your family and friends that you want.

It's not hard. How much is a library card in your area? FREE. But free is easy, and when it's easy to, it's easy not to.

I can't stress the importance of books and how much they have made an impact on me in my life. People spend their entire lives, 30, 40, 50 years learning a craft, they write a book teaching you all they've learnt in that time, you can read it in a few hours, maybe a day, a week. Yet nobody reads the books.

How much money have you saved & invested in the last 90 days?

If you want to have accumulated a million dollars in 10 years time, yet today you haven't done something that steps you closer, and tomorrow you haven't, and yesterday you didn't - how do you think you're going to make it to your goal in 10 years? You have to take the little steps toward the big worthy goal. Inch by inch, day by day - this is how progress is made.

If the answer to all of the above questions is "zero" - I can tell you now, you're on the wrong track - but you can change all that.

Getting rich is easy. Especially in a country like New Zealand. The road to wealth might be a slow one - but the good thing is 95% of people are too impatient to take that road so your competition is only 5% if you choose to travel it - and even if you end up at the bottom of that 5%, you still end up financially independent and wealthy beyond your wildest imagination. 5% of people end up financially independent. 95% are dependent, on the government and everything else.

It's funny that also about 5% of people set goals. Ponder that.

The reason I say it's easy to get rich is that this is all it takes:

We live in New Zealand. There is endless opportunity. All you have to do is search for an opportunity. Find one, try it, if that doesn't work - search for another one, repeat the process. You'll never run out of opportunity in our country - I wouldn't be anywhere else in the world.

The numbers tell the whole story in relation to your answers to the questions above. Results are everything - Jim says that "all life asks us to do is make measurable progress, in reasonable time". He jokes and says - "for example how long do you expect your child to stay in fourth grade?... approximately?". His audience laughs, but he then compares it to a scenario in the workplace which might be more relevant to adults and allows you to see how important this is, and how numbers can tell the entire story:

New guy - John, starts on the job as a salesman. First week, John is supposed to make 10 calls. Friday afternoon, the manager goes to John - John, how many calls?

If John had done 20 calls instead of 10 - wouldn't that say something about John?

How about if John had made only 1 call - wouldn't that also say something about John? About his philosophy? About his attitude to work? About his disciplines?

Numbers tell the whole story.

Jim speaks about tackling problems and how life is like the changing seasons. Sometimes there are winters that we all face, the winters of life - but everyone has their winters, and we need to learn how to equip ourselves to deal better with ours. His key piece here is that we must focus on ourselves, not our problems - "don't wish it were easier, wish you were better. Don't wish for less problems, wish for more skills. Don't wish for less challenges, wish for more wisdom."

I have below shared a few links which will change your life permanently for the better.

(Re-read that. Think of the strength of this sentence. And guess what - it's free):

Change your life today. Or tomorrow - I'll give you overnight to think about it. :)

The reason this is worth sharing is if I can spread a message that changed me for the better, it might change someone else and if we could all be better contributing members of society, we all benefit. To change the world you must begin with changing yourself.

I wish you all the success possible.