Mike Litman's Interview with Jim Rohn (America's Foremost Business Philosopher, Bestselling Author, Motivational Speaker and Trainer) ....Continued from the previous post

 JIM ROHN REVEALS THE PRINCIPLES FOR SUCCESSFUL LIFE

Jin Rohn,

 

 

Mike: When you talk about reasons, Jim, don’t many of those strong reasons come out of a pain in one’s life?

Jim: Sure.      

Mike: Okay. Because I know from my own life that it can come

from necessity and it can come out of pain and trying to get

away from that.

Jim: The pain of not having $2.00 was pain enough.

Nobody else witnessed it, but me and the Girl

Scout. Of course, I’m sure she didn’t notice it

because she accepted my lie and moved on.

But, I said, “I don’t want this to happen anymore.”

It was such an incredible resolve and it was only

over $2.00. But it doesn’t matter what it is. If it’s

something you want to correct, something you never

want to happen again, that’s the beginning.

Mike: You’re well known internationally about the power of

goals, the key formula for success. Can you tell us about goals? The importance of goals, but more specifically, how do you set them? Do you think them? Do you write them down? Can you walk us through the

power and the process of goal setting?

Jim: In my two-day leadership seminar, I go through a

little workshop. It’s called Designing The Next Ten

Years.

It’s really a simple process.

Start making lists of what you want.

I teach the simple, simple ways. Others have got

some complicated ways of setting goals and deadlines and all that stuff. I don’t do that.

I just say to make a list of the books you want to

read. Make a list of the places you want to go. Start

making a list of the things you wish to acquire.

What kind of education do you want for your

family? Make a list. Where are the place you want to visit? Make a list.

What kind of experiences do you want to have?

Make a list.

Decide what you want. Then write it all down.

Put a lot of little things on there so you can start

checking some things off. Because part of the fun of

having the list is checking it off. No matter how small

it is.

My first list had a little revenge. Some of the

people who said I couldn’t do well. They went on my

list. I couldn’t wait to get my new car and drive it up

on their lawn. A few little things on revenge.

It doesn’t matter what it is. It’s your personal list.

You can tear it up and throw it away if you want and

then get started on it.

Later you can say as you look back, “I was all hot

on this idea. Now, here’s something I know that is

much better. I’m going to forget about that other

thing.” So, it’s an ongoing, continual process.

But, I have discovered that if you think about the

things you want” for you, your family, some goals are

individual, some are collective, some are family,some are business, just start with that. Rearrange it

any way you want to. You don’t have to have any

deadlines. You can look at the list after you’ve made

it and start putting a 1, 3, 5 or 10 number beside

each item. You know, “I think I can accomplish that

in about a year. I think I can accomplish that in about

three years. I think I can accomplish that in about

five years.” Something like that. But, it’s easy.

Success is easy. Especially in America it’s easy.

Bangladesh, it’s hard. Cambodia, it’s hard. America,

it’s easy.

If you don’t believe that, if you think easy is hard,

then you are in trouble all your life.

We’ve got to teach our kids. Some of them have

the concept that America is hard. They don’t

understand the difference between Bangladesh and

America.

The average income in Bangladesh is about

$100 a year. That’s what’s hard.

If you understand what’s hard and what’s easy,

you can say, “Wow, it ought to be easy here.”

The only reason for not doing well here, is not

applying yourself for some information to learn, and

then start to practice right away.

You’ve got to practice. You have to do the deal.

You read this book on good health, right? It talks

about nutrition and it talks about exercise Then in the

middle of the book the author says, “Now reader, set

this book aside. Fall on the floor and see how many

push ups you can do.” Then, of course, you don’t do

that. So, you read on and the author says, “If you

didn’t set this book aside and if you didn’t fall on the

floor to see how many push ups you can do, why

don’t you just give this book away? Why bother

yourself with reading if you’re not going to pick an

idea and try it?”

That’s such great advice.

Mike: Ok, I want to bring something up and see if you agree

with me on it.We’re talking about taking action. We’re talking about

planning, ambition, and taking those baby steps.

It seems to me, in my own personal life, when you start

taking the steps, start changing your thinking, start moving

forward toward a dream or vision, it almost seems like the

universe conspires with you to help you. Do you see that as

well?

Jim: Absolutely!

A phrase in the Bible seems to indicate that

whatever you move towards, moves towards you.

It mentions that God said, ‘if you make a move

toward me, I’ll make a move toward you.’

If you move toward education, it seems like the

possibilities of education start moving your way.

If you move toward good health, the ideas for

better health, the information starts moving toward

you.

That’s good advice.

If you’ll just start the process of moving toward

what you want, it is true, mysteriously, by some

unique process, life loves to reward its benefactors.

If you start taking care of something, it wants to

reward you by producing and looking well.

If you take care of flowers, they seem to bloom

especially for you and say, “Look how pretty we are.

You have taken such good care of us. Now we want

to give back to you by giving you our beauty.”

I taught my two girls how to swim and dive. Of

course, like all kids, they’d say, “Daddy, watch me.

Watch me do this dive.” It’s almost like they’re

saying, ‘You’re the one that taught me. You’re the

one that had patience with me. You invested part of

your life in this process. Now watch me. Watch how

good I am.’

All of life wishes to do that. All life wishes to

reward its benefactor.

It could be something like a garden that grows

because you took the time to cultivate it, to pull out

the weeds, and take care of the bugs. Now, the

garden does extremely well for you as a reflection

back to you Because you are the one that invested

time, energy, effort, and a piece of your life.

Mike: Let’s stay here, Jim. Talk about the power of giving and

the word “tithing”. Can we talk about giving and what

happens when someone gives?

I teach a little formula for kids called seventy, ten,

ten, and ten.

This formula is about never spending more than

70 cents out of every dollar you earn.

The way it works is that ten cents is for active

capital, ten cents is for passive capital, and then ten

cents is to give away.

Whether it’s to your church, a benevolent

organization, or whether you let someone else

manage it, or you manage it yourself.

We’ve got to teach generosity right from the

beginning. I teach that ten percent is a good figure

to start with.

You know when you become rich and wealthy, it

can be 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, 90. Whatever.

But, ten cents is the start.

If you teach generosity, I’m telling you, kids will

give you a dime out of every dollar to help someone

that can’t help themselves.

It’s about what it does for you spiritually. Do it for

what it brings back to you in terms of self-esteem.

Help to enrich the world by giving, and not only

10 percent of your money, but maybe some

percentage of your time as well.

That investment is a smart investment.

It may bring returns to you immediately in ways

you don’t even know. It can do amazing things for

your character, your reputation, and your inner spirit.

It’s all worth it!

Someone might say, “Well, I gave to this

organization and they misused it.”

It doesn’t matter to you whether they misused it

or not. The key for you is that you gave.

They’ve got to be responsible on there own side.

No matter what though, giving is a major piece.

Then, the next step is giving somebody your ideas.

This mentor, I met when I was 25, Earl Schoff is

someone I have to thank for the rest of my life for

taking the time to share with me a bit of his

philosophy that revolutionized my life.

I was never the same again after the first year.

No one has ever had to say to me after the first year

I was with him, ‘when are you going to get going?

When are you going to get off the dime?’

I’ve never heard that since that first year that I

met this man who gave me his ideas and he did it

freely.

He did it with great excitement. Because he knew

that if he invested in me, I would probably invest in

someone else.

Sure enough, that turned out to be true.

Mike: Ok. It’s been 38 years or so. You’re entering your second

decade of doing this.

Where does the continuous passion and inspiration come

from for you? Why are you still doing this?

Jim: It’s very exciting because it’s made me several

fortunes and continues to do so.

But, part of the greatest excitement is when your

name appears in somebody’s testimonial.

You know, someone says something like, “I was

at a certain place in my life and I listened to this

person and it changed my life.

Mark Hughes, the founder of HerbalLife, used to

say that because he attended my seminar when he

was 19 it changed his life. He said, “I attended Jim

Rohn’s seminar and he was the first person that

gave me the idea that in spite of my background I

could make changes and become successful.”

You can imagine how that made me feel. It’s

amazing for me to have my name appearing in his

testimonial.

But, whether it’s Mark Hughes or someone else,

it doesn’t matter. Imagine this scenario: You’ve got someone who

says, “let me introduce you to the person that

changed my life five years ago. We were sitting at

Denny’s five years ago and he recommended this

book to me. He told me that it has really helped him.

SO, he recommended it to me. Well, as I look back

on it now, that was the beginning of some incredible

life changes for me. Look where I am today. I’m

telling you, it started five years ago at Denny’s on a

Tuesday morning when this person introduced me to

this book.”

So, you don’t have to give seminars. You don’t

have to give lectures. You don’t even have to write

books to affect someone’s life and to do it so well

that your name appears in their testimonial someday.

You know, someone says, “Here’s the person

who believed in me until I could believe in myself.

Someone who saw more in me than I could see at

the beginning.”

Mike: Let’s stay here, Jim. Because there’s something I want to

get across to people. It’s such a powerful a statement that

you talk about. I’ve heard you talk about the concept of sure,

we want to reach our destination. We want to reach our

goals. But, more importantly, Jim, can you talk about the

power in the being and the becoming?

Jim: Well, true. What we acquire of course is valuable.

But, the greatest value is not what we acquire. The

greatest value is what we become.

My mentor had an interesting way of teaching it.

When I was 25 years old he said, “I suggest, Mr.

Rohn, that you set a goal to become a millionaire.”

I was all intrigued by that. You know, it’s got a

nice ring to it - millionaire.

Then he said, “here’s why…” I thought to myself,

‘gosh, he doesn’t need to teach me why. Wouldn’t it

be great to have a million dollars.’ Then he said, “no

then you’ll never acquire it. Here’s why. Set a goal to

become millionaire for what it makes of you to

achieve it.”

Mike; Can you say that again please?

“Set a goal to become millionaire for what it

makes of you to achieve it.”

He said, “Do it for the skills you have to learn and

the person you have to become. Do it for what you’ll

end up knowing about the marketplace, what you’ll

learn about the management of time and working

with people. Do it for the ability of discovering how to

keep your ego in check. For what you have to learn

about being benevolent. Being kind as well as being

strong. What you have to learn about society and

business and government and taxes and becoming

an accomplished person to reach the status of

millionaire.

All that you have learned and all that you’ve

become to reach the status of millionaire is what’s

valuable. Not the million dollars.

If you do it that way, then once you become a

millionaire, you can give all the money away.

Because it’s not the money that’s really important.

What’s important is the person you have become.”

That was one of the best pieces of philosophy I

have ever heard in my life.

Nobody ever shared it with me like that before.

Another thing he said was, “beware of what you

become in pursuit of what you want. Don’t sell out.

Don’t sell out your principles. Don’t compromise your

values. Because you might acquire something by

doing so, but it won’t taste good.”

An old prophet said, “sometimes what tastes

good in the mouth finally turns bitter in the belly.”

Then, later we regret that we compromised or that

we did something incredibly wrong to acquire

something. It’s not worth it. If we do that, then what

we get is worthless.

If you use something like that to challenge

yourself to grow, to reach a certain level, I think it’s

wise. Because then you know where the true value is

and that is in the person you become.

Mike: I want to reverse back to about 90 seconds ago when you

were talking about your great mentor, Earl Nightingale. You

talked about the ability to express gratitude. To express

thanks. I feel, in my own life, an aspect of gratitude is very

important. So, number one, do you agree with that, and two, can you

talk about the power of that word - gratitude?

Jim: Well, it absolutely is very important.

I made a little list the other day as I reminisced

about the things that really made such an incredible

contribution to my life.

Number one on my list, of course, was my

parents. I was an only child. They spoiled me. They laid a

foundation for me that has kept me steady all these

years.

The more I thought about it, I thought, ‘what a

contribution they’ve made to my life.‘

A lot of it, at the moment, I couldn’t see. I didn’t

realize. But, as the years began to unfold, I realized

that what they taught me, the care they gave me, the

love they shared with me, that no matter what

happened to me, I always had a place I could always

go home to.

They provided that kind of unique stability.

They didn’t just say, ‘son, you can do it.’ It was

also the advice they gave me and the prayers they

sent me, no matter where I went around the world,

cause I believe in that, the power of prayer.

Every once in awhile I get a letter and someone

says, “Mr. Rohn, we are praying for you.” I read it

and think, ‘Wow. This is some kind of letter when

someone takes the time to say a prayer.”

My gratitude for that is just unending.

Mike: Talk about the power of prayer.

Jim: Who knows, you know, the mystery of prayer and

God.

In the Declaration of Independence it says, we

are created equal. But it says also that, we are

endowed by our creator with gifts and rights.

It’s a philosophy America believes in that we are

a special creation. That we have these gifts based

on a creator.

We open the Senate with prayer. We put on our

money “In God We Trust.” We are that kind a nation

really.

When I travel the world, people ask me, “how

come America does so well?” I say, “read the

money.” I think that is probably part of it. That kind of

trust, that kind of In God We Trust, implies prayer

and I think that it is so vital.

It doesn’t have to be in a church, synagogue,

mosque, or anywhere else. It doesn’t have to be in a

formal place. But, I think it’s a tremendous power.

Mike: We’re talking about the power of thankfulness, of

gratitude. Jim, I want to put on my world famous, internationally renowned, two-minute warning with you. All that means is

we have about ten minutes left to rock n roll, and shake and

bake.

Let’s talk about the best kept secret of the rich, time

management. Tell me about the importance of it and how we

become effective time managers.

Jim: Well, first is to realize how precious time is.

There’s not an unending supply of years in your

life. My father lived to be 93 and it still seemed very

short. I kept asking for another ten years, another ten

years, another five years.

Surely, Papa can live to be 100 I’d think.

I’d love to have him see the 21st Century, which

was not to be. But, ninety-three years still seems

short.

The Beatles wrote, “life is very short.” For John

Lennon it was extra short.

There is not an unending supply of the days and

the moments. The key is to utilize them to the best of your

ability. Don’t just let them slip away. Capture them,

like we capture the seasons. There is only so many.

In ninety years you have ninety spring times. If

some guy says, you know, “I got twenty more years.”

You say, “no. You got twenty more times.”

If you go fishing once a year you only have

twenty more times to go fishing. Now that starts to

make it a bit more critical. Not that I have a whole

twenty more years, but just twenty more times. How

valuable do I want to make these twenty times?

It doesn’t matter whether it’s going to the concert

or sitting down with your family, or taking a vacation.

There is only so many.

It’s easy not to plan and do the details necessary

to make them the best possible.

Then I have other little ideas like, ‘don’t start the

day, until you have it finished.’

Mike: Say that again, Jim.

Jim: Don’t start the day until you have it finished.

It’s a key for executives, a key for leadership. But

it’s also a key for a mother at home. It doesn’t

matter, whoever.

Plan the day to the best of your abilities.

There will be plenty of room for surprises and

innovations and whatever.

Give a good plan, a good schedule for the day.

Because each day is a piece of the mosaic of

your life.

You can either just cross your fingers and say, “I

hope it will work out okay,” or you can give it some

attention and say, “here’s what I would like to

accomplish in the next twenty four hours.”

Just look at it that way and do a lot of it up front

or maybe the night before. Start the day after you

finished it.

It’s like building a house. If I asked you, “when

should you start building the house that you want to

build?” and you say to me, “well, that’s a good

question. When should I start building the house?”

I’ve got an excellent answer for you. The answer is,

you start building it as soon as you have it finished.

You know, someone might say, “is it possible to

finish a house before you start it?” The answer is,

yes. It would be foolish to start it until you had it

finished.

Imagine if you just started laying bricks.

Somebody could come by and ask, “what are you

building here?” You say, “I have no idea. I’m just

laying bricks and well see how it works out.” They

would call you foolish and maybe take you away to a

safe place.

The key is that it’s possible to finish a day before

you start it. It’s possible to finish a month before you

start it.

I do business around the world with colleagues in

about 50 countries. To do business around the world

in 50 countries you can’t imagine all of the

preparatory planning that has to be done. Some

things are three years, five years, two years, one

year ahead in order to do that kind of global

business.

But, if you just learned to be disciplined enough

to start with the day plan, the month plan, your good

health plan, I’m telling you, you will take advantage

of time like you can’t believe.

Mike: Jim, let’s bring up a few topics and go 30 to 45 seconds

on each, if we can. You’re one of the most effective communicators of the last 50 years or so. You’ve talked in front of 4 million people

and you’ve influenced millions beyond that through your

books and tapes. What’s the most important communication tip you can

give us right now?

Jim: You just need a desire to be a great

communicator and keep improving the art every day.

It’s easy to be careless with your language in

social areas, but that’s going to affect your business.

You just have to start practicing the art of better

language, whether it’s social, personal, home, or

family.

You can’t say, “oh, it’s with my family, so my

language doesn’t really matter.” It really does matter

because it’s so valuable for them. But, also because

it’s so valuable for you to practice the art.

It’s like this telephone conversation. If I thought,

‘well, I don’t have 35,000 people to talk to. So, I’ll

treat this conversation carelessly.’ I just learn not to

do that.

I want to give the most concise and best

information I can, even though it’s a telephone

conversation and not a big audience in some

auditorium.

Mike: So, we’re talking here about being on purpose, about

changing language, changing your mindset. When a person

goes for something, there are roadblocks to steer away from

There are adversities. Talk about the power of resilience.

Jim: You’ve just got to be able to come back. Come

back from a disappointment. It takes a bit of courage.

If you start a sales career and the first person

you approach says, “no”, you’ve got to have the

courage to talk to the second person.

If you start a little business, set up the first

meeting, and nobody joins, you’ve got to have the

courage to say, “I’ll set up another meeting. Because

if one person says no it doesn’t mean everybody’s

going to say no.”

You’ve just got to have that ability to come back.

You’ve got to understand the law of averages.

Not everybody is going to be interested in your

project. Not everybody is going to buy your product.

You can’t take it personally.

Then, if you get hit by poor health, you’ve just got

to do everything within your power to get well.

If you face a disappointment, you’ve got to come

back. From a divorce, you’ve got to come back. It’s

going to hurt for awhile, you’ve got to let it linger and

do whatever it’s going to do. But, then you’ve got to

build back.

That’s part of the game of life.

It’s no different for you, me, or anyone else.

Resilience, we all need it. Whether it’s health,

marriage, family, business, social, or personal.

Mike: Talk about the power of enlightened self-interest.

Jim: Yes, life doesn’t give us what we need. Life gives

us what we deserve.

If you want wealth, it’s okay to wish for wealth if

you pay the proper price for wealth.

Mike: So, there is a price to be paid.

Jim: You can pay the proper price without diminishing

anyone else. Once I learned that, I got excited about

being wealthy in my own self-interest. Everybody

wins.

Mike: What we’re talking about here is coming from a position

of integrity and creating wealth for the benefit of others.

I ask this question to a lot of the people, Mark Victor

Hansen, Robert Allen, and a lot of the people I have

interviewed. I always thought it was a melancholy question,

but they have told me it isn’t. We’re all going to pass on

some day. What do you want the world to say about Jim

Rohn when that day does come?

Jim: That he invested his life wisely and as best he

could to help as many people to change their lives as

possible and that he blessed his own life. That’s

really it.

Mike: You talk about self-education. You talk about how it’s

the seed of fortune. Are there any books out there, in

addition to your own at jimrohn.com, that you can

recommend to my audience?

Jim: Well, sure. Schoff recommended Think and Grow

Rich to me when I first started learning.

Mike: What was the most powerful thing you took out of Think

and Grow Rich?

Jim: Desire, determination, preset plans, never give

up, persistence, it’s got a wealth of information in it.

Mike: Anything else come to mind?

Jim: The Richest Man in Babylon helped me to

become a millionaire by age 32. Simple little book.

Easy to follow. Inspiring. The Richest Man in

Babylon, by George Clason.

Mike: Jim, we’re wrapping down the show tonight. Jim, it’s

been an absolute goldmine and a pleasure to share you with

my audience. Jim Rohn, thank you very much for appearing

on The Mike Litman Show.

Jim: It’s been a pleasure, Mike. We’ll do it again

sometime

To order the book, CONVERSATION WITH MILLIONAIRES by Mike Liman and other related books please visit www.successstrategies.com.ng