In the third chapter of Jim Rohn’s “How to Have Your Best Year Ever!” seminar, Jim discuss the five abilities that are essential to personal development.
In the transcript below he discusses these five abilities in detail:
- The ability to absorb
- The ability to respond
- The ability to reflect
- The ability to act
- The ability to share
The Ability to Absorb
02:30:03: Develop these five abilities, as part of your personal development quest, I call them the five abilities!
Here’s the first one, develop the ability to absorb. The ability to soak it up like you’re doing today. Be like a sponge. Don’t miss anything.
And not just the words, it’s true. Don’t miss the words. But don’t miss the atmosphere. Don’t miss the color. Don’t miss the scenario. Don’t miss what’s going on.
Most people are just trying to get through the day.
Here’s what I want you to be committed to do: Learn to get from the day.
Don’t just get through it, get from it. Learn from it. Let the day teach you!
Join the university of life.
What a difference that will make in your future.
Commit yourself to learning, commit yourself to absorbing, be like a sponge, get it?
Don’t miss it.
I’ve got a personal friend of mine who’s so gifted in this area.
I think he has soaked up and remembers everything that’s ever happened to him. He can tell you as a teenager where he was, and what he did, and what he said, and what she said, and how they felt, and the color of the sky and what was going on that day.
And the reason is because he gets it, he gets it, he gets it.
I’m telling you, it’s more exciting to have him go Acapulco, come back and tell you about it than it is to go yourself! He’s unbelievable. He’s got this extraordinary gift.
And why is it? When he’s there, he doesn’t miss anything.
Here’s a good phrase for you to jot down: Wherever you are, be there.
Be there to absorb it up. Be there to soak it up. Take a picture if you can, but take pictures of your mind.
Let your soul and heart take pictures.
Get it, capture it, absorb it.
It’s such an important ability to develop, the ability to get it, don’t miss it. Don’t be casual in getting it.
Key phrase: Casualness leads to casualties.
The Ability to Respond
02:32:18: Second, learn to respond.
The ability to respond means let life touch you. Don’t let it kill you, but let it touch you.
Let’s sad things make you sad. Let happy things make you happy.
I’m telling you, give in to the emotion—let the emotion strike you, not just the words, not just the image.
Let the feeling strike you, let the emotion strike you! Here’s what’s important: Our emotions need to be as educated as our intellect.
Our emotions need to be educated, as well as, our intellect.
It’s important to know how to feel.
It’s important to know how to respond.
It’s important to let life in, let it touch you.
I’m the greatest guy in the world to take to the movies. I get into a good movie.
I want a good movie—make me laugh, make me cry. Scare me to death. Teach me something. Take me high, take me low; just don’t leave me, as I was when I came in. Touch me. Do something to me. Wow!
I picked up the newspaper in Australia. The advertisement says, “See Dr. Zhivago on the big screen.”
I said, “My gosh, I gotta go see it on the big screen.”
I’d seen it—you know—two or three times before, but the big screen? I love the old theaters, right?
The balconies, and the chandeliers, and the draperies, and all the stuff—the big screen.
So I go one more time, see Dr. Zhivago. And sure enough, I’m swept away one more time, story of the Russian Revolution, Dr. Zhivago and that whole scenario.
I had always missed the importance of the ending of that movie until this time. The other times I’ve missed it. I’m telling you this time, I got it!
Comrade General said, “Tonya, how did you come to be lost?”
After he’d found her, right?
He said, “How did you come to be lost?
And she said, “Well, I was just lost.”
He said, “No, how did you come to be lost?”
She said, “Well, we were, you know, the city was on fire when we were running to escape. And I was lost.”
He said, “No, how did you come to be lost?”
And that’s what she didn’t want to say.
He finally pressed her again, “How did you come to be lost?”
She said, “Well, while we were running through the city, and it was on fire, my father let go of my hand, and I was lost.”
That’s what she didn’t want to say.
Comrade General said, “Tonya, that’s what I’ve been trying to tell you. Komarovsky was not your real father. He was not. I’m telling you, I’ve been looking all over for you, and I think I’ve found you. This man, my relative, Dr. Zhivago, the poet, I’m telling you, he was your father.”
And Comrade General said, “Tonya, I promise you this, if this man, your real father had been there, I promise you, he would never have let go of your hand.”
And I got it, this time I got it.
The other times—I’m eating popcorn, waiting for the movie to finish—I mean, this time, I got it. I got it.
I’m asking you to get it. Absorb and respond.
Maybe you heard the story about the, the Evangelist here in Texas way back in the horse and buggy days, used to put up these tents—in you know, these various Texas towns and hold tent revivals.
And he put up his tent, in one of these towns, expected a big crowd to come and hear him preach. And he got there, the first night of the tent revival, and he walked inside the tent, it was empty.
And he thought something must be wrong. He waited till eight o’clock, nobody showed up. He waited till 8:15, not a soul.
Finally 8:30, one lone cowboy wandered up on his horse, tie his horse up outside, came in, sat down on the front bench—big empty tent.
So the preacher thought, “Well, at least I better go down and talk to the cowboy.”
So he goes down and talks to the cowboy. And he says, “Cowboy, I don’t know what to tell you.”
He said, “I’m the preacher. And this tent was supposed to be full of people.”
And he said, “Something’s gone wrong. I really don’t know what to do. I’m embarrassed.”
And he said, “I don’t know what to do.”
And the cowboy said, “Well, you know, I’m not a preacher. I’m just a cowboy. So I can’t tell you what to do.”
But he said, “I know this. If I went out to feed my cattle, and only one showed up, I’d at least feed it.”
So the preacher said, “Hey, the cowboy is right. If you’ve got a message to share—if there’s one person or a thousand—don’t let your ego get in the way, you know, you should do the best you can.”
So he got kind of inspired by this conversation with the cowboy, jumped up on the platform, started preaching as if the tent was full of people. And he was so inspired. He just kept going, kept going, went for an hour, went for an hour and 15 minutes, hour and a half, finally wound down and quit.
Come down off the platform, talked to the cowboy again, said, “Well, cowboy. What did you think my sermon?”
Cowboy said, “Well, I’m not a preacher, so I can’t really tell. I’m just a cowboy.”
But he said, “I know this, if I went out to feed my cattle and only one showed up I’d feed it, but it wouldn’t dump the whole load on it.”
So if it seems like we’re dumping the whole load here today, I guess we really are—but you guys are working hard, does anybody have four pages of notes?
Oh, wonderful. Wonderful. My job, I’m getting it done. Wonderful.
We should give a prize one of these days for the most notes.
Fantastic. I congratulate you, you’re working as hard I am, I appreciate that.
Okay, we got some more work to do. So let’s go to work.
Everybody that’s okay say, “I’m okay.”
[Crowd: “I’m okay.”]
All right, I’d love to take you with me as my traveling audience.
Wow!
We’ve covered the first two abilities in the personal development quest. One is the ability to absorb, don’t miss anything, pay attention.
Good watch word for the 90s: Pay attention.
Things are moving so fast these days, you’ve got to pay attention. Pick it up, soak up the colors, soak up the sounds, soak up what’s going.
Second, respond. Let life touch you. Let the emotions affect you, as well as, the sights.
The Ability to Reflect
02:39:26: Now, here’s the third ability, develop the ability to reflect.
Reflect means go back over, study it again. Go back over these notes that you’re taking today. Go back through the cassettes one more time. Read the text one more time.
But there’s more to it than that.
Go back over your day.
I call it run the tapes again. So that the day locks in firmly.
Here’s some good times to reflect: One, at the end of the day.
Take a few minutes at the end of the day, go back over the day. Who’d you see, and what did they say? And what happened? How did you feel? What went on?
So that you capture that day, a day is a piece of the mosaic of your life.
Number one, don’t treat it casual.
Number two, get from the day.
And then number three, go back over the day so that it locks in that experience, the knowledge, the sights, the sounds, the panorama, the color motion picture of the day.
Just lock it in, so that it will serve you for the future, having that day and not missing.
Next, take a few hours at the end of the week, called time to reflect.
Go back over your daytime, or go back over your calendar, go back over your appointment book. Where did you go? And who did you see, and how did it feel, and what went on?
Capture that week, a week is a pretty good chunk of time.
Next, take half a day at the end of the month, called time to reflect, and do the same thing again, go back over what you read, go back over what you heard, go back over what you saw, go back over the feelings to capture it so that it serves you.
Next, take a weekend at the end of the year, to establish this year now firmly in your consciousness, firmly in your experience bank. So that you’ve got it, so that it never disappears.
Good ability to acquire: The ability to reflect.
Go back over—remember, remember, remember. It’s so valuable to be able to remember the thought, remember the idea, remember the experience, remember the occasion, remember the day, remember the weather, remember the emotion, remember the complexity, remember the highs, remember the lows—so valuable at the end of the day
Lock that day in, lock the month in, lock the weekend, lock the year in.
Old Testament says, “A unique scenario unfolded, according to the law, and that was, they worked nine years, and the 10th year was a sabbatical.”
The 10th year. Work nine, take the 10th year, and not just to relax, not just to replenish, not maybe just to get physically in shape—change of pace, we call it in the modern society—but not just for that.
I’m sure that in ancient days that sabbatical was to go over the last nine years, what went right, and what went wrong, and what worked well, and what didn’t work well.
And how did you grow? And how did you learn? And how did you change? And what have you got now after nine years, that you didn’t have at the beginning of the nine years?
See that’s so valuable. A sabbatical—a sabbatical, some time, some time.
There’s also something to be said for solitude when you reflect. Sometimes you can reflect with somebody—husband and wife reflect on the past year, right?
Parents reflect with their children on the past year. How did we do it, and how didn’t we do it, and how can we improve?
Colleagues can reflect with each other.
But now here’s one of the most important: You’ve got to learn to reflect with yourself.
There’s something to be said for solitude. There’s something to be said for taking those occasions to shut out the world, and shut out everything else for a while—for a while.
I’ve got a motorhome, that’s how I do it. I’ve got my motorcycle on the back and I head for the mountains and ride the Jeep trails, where there’s very few human beings on the Jeep trails, or out in the desert somewhere. It’s called my time to get away.
When you live a very public life, you treasure solitude.
A chance to reflect—go back over my life, go back over my skills, go back over my experiences, alone…alone.
There are some things you need to do alone: Ponder, think, wonder, read, study, absorb, soak in, see if you can’t become better this year than you were last year, better the next nine than you were the first nine.
Solitude.
There’s even a more modern advice that says, “Go to the closet for time of meditation, time of prayer.”
Go to the closet—closet meaning what? Away.
And there’s even a graphic description of the away. Said, “Enter into your closet and what?”
Got some students here, I’m sure, what?
[Crowd: “Close the door.”]
Close the door.
For what? Just to shut out everything. Life is experience, experience, experience, and touching, and seeing, and looking, and doing, and acting, and disciplines, and all the stuff.
But sometimes—this is where this reflecting is so important—shut the door.
Just shut the door, and wonder. Prayer, contemplation, thinking, and let things move in to your consciousness and awareness that no other way can it be done. Right?
Flying down the freeway—I’m telling you—it’s difficult to get through.
So many things to do. It’s difficult to get through, but times of solitude, times to reflect.
So this is so valuable, learn to reflect.
Now here’s why it’s important to reflect: To make the past more valuable to serve you for the future.
Here’s what’s really powerful, learning to gather up the past and invest in the future.
Gather up today and invest it in tomorrow, gather up this week and invest it in the next week, gather up this year and invest it in the next year.
See that’s so powerful, rather than just hanging on one more year, hanging in there, seeing what’s going to happen.
Learn, study—this is part of the personal development quest—becoming better than you are, more valuable than you are.
Not just in terms of economics, in terms of motherhood, in terms of fatherhood, in terms of being a better brother, a better colleague, making a better contribution to the family, to society, to the community, to the church, to the office, to the commitment, to the partnership.
Doesn’t matter what it is that has value. Work on yourself, then you bring more value to the partnership, to the marriage, to the franchise, to the corporation, to the enterprise, to the community, to the nation.
Self development, personal development, the best contribution you can make to someone else’s self development, not self sacrifice.
Self sacrifice only earns contempt. Self development earns respect.
Pity the mother who says, “I’m just going to give up my life for my children.”
Self sacrifice is not noble. Self investment is noble from self development.
If I work on myself and become more valuable, think of what that will do for our friendship.
I used to use the old expression, “You take care of me, and I’ll take care of you.”
I found out how shallow and short ended that was.
And I changed it to read like this, “I’ll take care of me, for you. If you will please take care of you, for me.”
This is part of it, the personal development that we work harder on ourselves than we do on our job.
Now we bring that to the friendship, now we bring that to the marriage, now we bring that to the family relationship, as a father, as a mother.
And we develop the strength, and we develop power. That’s key. And it takes—I think—this scenario of disciplines, these abilities, to acquire those gifts, those skills, that value, so that we bring more.
Now, we bring more to the next week, we bring more to the next month, we bring more to the next year—if you follow this absorb, respond, and reflect.
I said to my father when he was about to turn 76, his 76th birthday.
I said, “Dear father of mine, can you imagine what it’s going to be like to gather up the last 75 years of your life and invest them in your 76th year?”
What a difference in philosophy, rather than just hanging on one more year, gather up 75 and invest them in the next one.
Gather up the last six years and invest it in the next year. See, that’s so powerful in communication—which we’re going to study soon—that’s so powerful.
So consider this.
One: The ability to absorb
Second: The ability to respond.
Third: The ability to reflect.
The Ability to Act
02:48:56: Here’s number four: Develop the ability to act.
Take action.
Not hasty, if it isn’t required, but don’t lose much time.
Here’s the time to act: When the idea is hot, and the emotion is strong.
That’s the time to act.
You say, “Mr. Rohn, I’d like to have a library like yours.”
See, if you feel strong about that, what you got to do is get the first book, and then get the second book before the feeling passes and before the idea gets dim—action pronto, action immediate, action as soon as possible.
Because if you don’t, here’s what happens, we call it the law of diminishing intent.
We intend to when the idea strikes, we intend to when the emotion is high. But now if you don’t translate that into action fairly soon, now the intent starts to diminish, diminish, diminish.
And a month from now it’s cold, a year from now can’t be found.
So act, set up a discipline when the emotions are high and the idea is strong and clear and powerful. That’s the time to set up the discipline.
Somebody talks about good health and you’re stirred, say, “Right, I need to get a book on nutrition.”
Get the book before the idea passes and do before the emotion gets cold. Go for the book, start the library, start the process, fall on the floor, do some push ups. Action, you’ve got to take action.
Otherwise the wisdom is wasted, otherwise the emotion soon passes. Unless you put it into a disciplined activity, capture it.
Disciplines is called how to capture the emotion and how to capture the wisdom and translate it into equity. Disciplines.
Now here’s what’s important about disciplines, all disciplines affect each other.
In fact, here’s a good philosophical phrase, everything affects everything else.
Nothing stands alone.
Don’t be naive in saying, “Well, this doesn’t matter.”
I’m telling you, everything matters. There are some things that matter more than others. But there isn’t anything that doesn’t matter.
Okay.
We all pity the man who says, “Well, this is the only place I let down.”
Not true.
Key to take home: Every letdown affects the rest of your performance.
Every letdown affects the rest. This is part of the educational process on personal development. If you don’t take the walk around the block, you probably won’t do the apple a day. If you don’t do the apple a day you probably won’t consist—you know, start building your library.
You don’t build your library, you probably won’t keep a journal, and you won’t take pictures, and you won’t do this, won’t do wise things with your money, won’t do wise things with your time, won’t do wise things with your possibilities, and relationships.
And the first thing you know six years of that accumulated and we say you have: Messed up!
So the whole key to reversing that process now is to start picking up these disciplines.
Now here’s the positive side: Every new discipline affects the rest of your disciplines.
Every new one affects the rest.
That’s why action is so important, the least action, the smallest action—take it! Because when you start accomplishing and the value starts to return from that one action, it’ll inspire you to do the next one, and the next one, and the next one.
You start walking around the block, it’ll inspire you to get an apple, get an apple, it’ll inspire you to get a book, get a book, it’ll inspire you to get a journal, get a journal, it’ll inspire you to grow, develop some skills. All disciplines affect each other.
Every lack affects the rest, every new affects the rest. The key, is to diminish the lack, and set up the new and you’ve started a whole new life process. Key.
Also one more thought on discipline, here’s the greatest value of discipline: Self worth, self esteem.
People are teaching self esteem these days, but they don’t connect it to disciplines. The least lack of discipline, and it starts to erode our psyche. One of the greatest temptations is to just ease up a little bit. Right?
The slightest lack of doing your best starts to erode the psyche. Instead of doing your best, doing just a little less than your best. Sure enough, you say, “Well, it’s just going to affect my sales.”
No, it’s going to affect your consciousness.
It’s going to affect your philosophy.
Now you’ve begun in the slightest way to affect your own philosophy.
Here’s the problem with the least neglect. Neglect starts as an infection. And if you don’t take care of it, it becomes a disease. And one neglect leads to another.
And the worst of all, when neglect starts it diminishes our self worth, our self confidence, our self value.
You say, “Well, how can I get back my self respect?”
I’m telling you, you don’t have to go to 29 classes, all you have to do is start the smallest discipline that now corresponds to your own philosophy like I should, and I could, and I will.
No longer will I let neglect stack up on me so that I will have the sorry scenario six years from now, giving some excuse, instead of celebrating my progress. That’s the key to discipline.
Okay? Let’s get kids involved in the least of disciplines.
One more and then one more, and then another one, and then another one, and then some more. And the first thing you know, you’re starting to weave the tapestry of a disciplined life into which you can pour more wisdom, and more attitude, and more strong feeling, more faith, and more courage.
Now you’ve got something, a vessel in which to put it, and now the equities start to flow, and the early return—I’m telling you—if you’ll start this process, the early return will have you so excited, you’ll commit yourself to this strategy for the rest of your life. You’ll never go back to the old ways.
Join a new crowd, join a new group, the disciplines to do it, take action.
I recommended the last time I was here, the little book, The Richest Man in Babylon, and I said I’ve lectured now to over 3 million people in the last 33 years.
And I’ve recommended this little book to almost all of them, I think, guess how many have actually gone and got this little book?
Answer: Very few.
My best guess is 10%.
Such an easy thing to do.
In that last seminar—right?—I suggested this little book. Number one, it’s easy to find. Number two, it’s easy to buy—the most you can pay for it, six, seven, eight dollars—you can borrow that from your kids.
And number three, it’s easy to read.
It’s in story form, that’s why I use it for teenagers, teaching them how to be rich by 40—35, if you’re extra bright—much sooner if you find a unique opportunity.
But if it’s easy to find, and easy to buy, and if it’s easy to read, why wouldn’t everybody go get it?
We don’t know! What do you know, you don’t know? I don’t know. Nobody knows.
Here’s how profound it is: Some do and some don’t.
Now here’s the numbers, about 10% do.
90% don’t, or won’t. We don’t know the mystery of that.
And I’m telling you ten years from now those numbers will still be the same, 10% will, 90% won’t.
The numbers don’t change, only the faces change. You’re looking at one of the faces.
I used to belong to the 90%, who couldn’t be bothered even if it was easy.
Guess how many people have a library card? Wisdom of the world available, transform your life in any value amount you want. By the way, how much is a library card in Texas?
Free! Here’s what free is: Easy.
I mean it can’t be any easier than free.
Somebody says, “Well, would you bring it by?”
Well, no at least you’ve got to go get it. No.
Wisdom of the world available, transform your life spiritually, socially, personally, economically, and every other way.
Teach you how to be rich, and powerful, and sophisticated, and healthy, influential. How many people have a library card? Answer: 3%, the other 97% couldn’t be bothered.
Guys specializes in happy hour, but he doesn’t have a card.
And now readily, and quickly, blames the government, blames his company, and blames policy, and blames the pay scale. When if he only knew, if he joined the 3%.
Here’s my advice to you today: Walk away from the 97%.
Don’t talk like they talk. Don’t act like they act. Don’t go where they go. Don’t specialize in what they specialize in. Throw away the blame list they cling to, start you a new life.
You say, “Well, is it as simple as getting a library card and join the 3%?”
And the answer is: Of course! Of course!
That’s how easy this stuff is. This is so easy. It’s so simple. It’s not complex.
You don’t need a 2,000 year old guru.
You don’t need multitrack affirmations. I’m telling you—you don’t! Affirmation without discipline is the beginning of delusion.
Key.
Don’t let somebody sweep you into some contrary way to nature itself. Says, “Unless you labor the miracle of the seed, and the soil, and the seasons, and God, all the other stuff that’s available— sunshine and rain—that’s not available to you by affirmation, it is only available to you by labor.”
So labor well, okay?
Learn well, discipline yourself well, and you can have all the treasures you want.
This stuff’s easy and simple. It’s not ocean waves and seagulls, you don’t have to move to Sedona, where all the force fields come together in Arizona.
Let’s teach our kids the simple ways to transform their health, number one, their economics, number two, their ability to communicate, number three, their life and treasure and lifestyle, number four, spirituality, number five, and the list goes on and on.
Let’s not leave out any of the least of disciplines that encourages us to do the next one, to do the next one, to do the next one. And the first thing you know, this whole scenario for you is spinning up, instead of out of control on the negative side, this is all you got to do.
It’s as simple as this. It’s as simple as a start, committing yourself to life change.
And once you start down this road—I promise you—you’ll join the 10% and the 3%.
We’re going to talk financial independence in just a little while.
Guess how many people can retire from the income of their own personal resources when it comes time to retire? Answer: 5%.
In the most independent country in the world, 95% are dependent, 5% are independent. Take charge of your own retirement.
I’m telling you, if you take charge of your own retirement through personal development and all these skills we’ve taught today, plus what’s coming up—financial independence—I’m telling you, if take charge of your own retirement, you can multiply it at least by five, maybe by 10, maybe 20, maybe by 100.
Let the government take care of it, some company take care of it, you’ve got to divide by five.
Take charge of your own life. Take charge of your own day, take charge of your own conversation. Take charge of your own family, take charge of your own possibilities.
Learn these skills, develop this kind of strategy, and I’m telling you life will open up for you.
Join the 3%. Join the 10%. Join the 5%. Walk away from the 95%.
In our leadership weekend we teach: Find out what poor people read, and don’t read it.
I’m telling you, don’t talk like they talk, lend a helping 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 called the language of the poor.
Switch gears, switch language, switch ideas, switch strategy, start with the simplest of disciplines. And don’t bemean any of these disciplines, the smallest of disciplines starts the process of life change.
And if you’ll invest in this thing called discipline, you can have whatever you wish, it’s called the beginning of a miracle.
Now, here’s the last clue on discipline: Do the best you can.
We covered earlier—but here’s a good scenario for the do the best you can.
I’ve got a good question for you, is the best you can do all you can do? The answer’s no. Strangely enough.
If we all fell on the floor right now and did as many pushups as we possibly could—and let’s say for some reason you haven’t been into pushups lately—I can’t imagine why—but let’s say, let’s say the best you can do is five.
And you look up at the rest of us and say, “Hey, five is the best I can do.”
We can tell by the look on your face that’s probably true, five is the best you can do.
Now is five all you can do?
The answer’s no.
If you rest a little you can do five more. Wow!
And if you rest a little you can do five more. And if you rest a little you can do 15 more.
How did we get from five to 15? It’s a miracle.
And if you rest a little and you can do 15. Rest a little and you can do 15. Rest a little and you can do 20.
How did you get from five to 20? It’s a miracle.
Did you know you can keep doing that? Do a little more, rest a little, do a little more, rest a little, and finally get up to 50 pushups. Is it possible to get up to 50 pushups?
Of course!
How do you go from five to 50? It’s a miracle!
How do you get a miracle going?
Number one: Do what you can. Don’t leave out what you can—from writing a letter to your mother in Florida—start cleaning it all up—to doing the push ups.
Go from five to 50. It’s a miracle.
Number one: Do what you can.
Number two: Do the best you can.
Here’s number three: Rest very little.
Don’t rest too long.
Why?
The weeds take the garden.
Kids have got that figured out—you can’t rest too long.
Here’s the clue: Make rest a necessity, not an objective.
The objective of life is not to rest, the objective of life is to act.
Think of more disciplines, think of more ways and means in which to use your own wisdom and your own philosophy. And use your own attitude, your own faith, your own courage, your own commitment, your own desires, your own excitement, invest it, invest it, invest it, invest it in discipline so that it’s not wasted.
The smallest of discipline, and thereby transform your life. Join the 5%, join the 10%, join the 3%.
Guess when I went and got this little book, The Richest Man in Babylon?
The same day I heard about it. I went and got it.
Somebody says, “Well, Mr. Rohn, does that make you different than most other people?”
The answer’s yes!
Somebody says, “Well, why is that?”
We don’t know. We don’t know. What do you know, you don’t know. I don’t know. None of us knows. Some do. And some don’t. The numbers don’t change, only the faces change from those who get in on a seminar like this, listen to a dynamic sermon, read a book, listen to some cassettes, take seriously the next conversation of a friend who wants to level with you, and do something about it, and you could walk away from the 97%, and not live there anymore.
Because if you don’t, the next six years of your life will be like the last six.
Mr. Shoaff said to me, “Mr. Rohn, six years now you’ve been working, I’m telling you the next six years, your life is gonna be like the last six, unless you take advantage and start making these personal changes.”
I made the changes, totally revolutionized my life.
So take a look at the next five years of your life, it’s going to be like the last five unless, unless, unless, unless, you change. And if you will change, everything will change.
Join the 5%.
Ten years from now the numbers are going to be the same, but I’m telling you some faces in this audience can change and start showing up in the 3% crowd, and the 5% crowd, and the 10% crowd, and thereby dynamically affect your life and your future.
Develop these strengths.
The Ability to Share
03:05:53: Now here’s the last ability: Develop the ability to share.
Pass along to someone else. If you’ve picked up a good idea today, pass it along. Don’t let it stay, pass it along. A book—if you take one of these little books I’ve suggested home and it affects you— pass it along.
Hey, I found a book, it really helped me. I found a book, it got me thinking. I found a book, it changed my health. I found a book, it got me inspired. Pass it along, pass it along, pass it along.
Here’s what’s exciting about sharing.
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 what? “Everybody wins.”
When somebody shares, everybody wins.
Share your ideas, share your experiences, share your knowledge, you can have just as much pleasure as I do.
I said giving this seminar, this is one of my joys in life. Give a seminar like this—make the best investment I can of words, and spirit, heart, soul, and time. Energy.
I don’t have to work this hard. But I gladly work this hard.
Why?
I want the return—your words touch my life. See, that’s heavyweight stuff. You can’t buy it with money. But I’m telling you you can get the same thing started by recommending a book.
Somebody will read that book, and then they’ll read another one, and they’ll read another one, and they’ll come to you someday and say, “You got me started, that book you recommended turned my lights on. Turned my mind around, got me thinking, got me pondering, and I’ve been on track ever since.”
You can get just as much praise as I do. If you’ll share—share—with your children, share with your colleagues, share with everybody that comes within your grasp. Share!
Now, here’s what sharing does, it not only helps you, it helps the person you share with.
Here’s what else it does, it makes you bigger than you are.
If I had a glass of water up here and it was full, question, can that glass hold any more water? If it’s full? If the glass is full, can it hold any more water?
The answer’s yes, but for it to hold more, you’ve got to pour out what’s already in. That’s what I’m asking you to do.
If you’re full of ideas, if you’re full of good things, I’m asking you to pour it out, pour it out, pour it out. Why?
I’m telling you more will be poured in, poured in, poured in.
Next, when you do pour out, you become bigger. It’s not like a glass that stays the same. Human beings have the ability to grow in consciousness, and awareness, and capacity. It’s unlimited.
Capacity. I’ve found out kids don’t lack capacity. In Europe, kids speak, what, two, three, four, five, six languages.
When I grew up, my father spoke German, never taught me. My mother spoke French, never taught me.
They were trying to get away from all the Old World languages back then, had no concept how valuable languages were going to be in the future, just didn’t know.
So they abandon the German, abandoned the French, I could’ve learned all three languages instead of just English.
My girls went to high school, went to school in Beverly Hills. They turned that around, in first grade now in Beverly Hills school system, they offer three languages besides English: French, German, Spanish. Why? Because kids can learn two languages just as easy as one.
Question: How many languages can a child learn? Here’s how many, as many as you’ll take the time to teach them.
They do not lack capacity. They only lack teachers. Wow!
And I’m telling you, the same thing is with you, you don’t lack capacity. But here’s how you expand your capacity, and that is to share what you’ve got.
Now you get bigger, share some more, now you get bigger.
I’m here for a very self interest reason, if I share with you my consciousness grows, if I share with you, I get to hear this again.
Somebody asked me not long ago, said, “Mr. Rohn, how are you doing with all this stuff? You get on everybody’s case pretty hard. How are you doing with all this stuff you teach?”
I said, “Well, best I can share with you is this. Listen to me very carefully, but don’t watch me too close. This stuff’s easier to lecture on than it is to do, I understand that. I’m working on it just like you. But hey, pour out what you’ve got so that your capacity grows.”
Now why should you want your capacity to grow? Very self interest reason—here it is: to hold more of the next experience.
You mean to tell me that sitting in this audience, some people will get more out of it than others?
The answer is yes.
If you haven’t been into expanding your own capacity lately, you might not get much from this seminar. But if you’ve been into expanding your capacity, you’ve been sharing, and you’ve been doing all this stuff, I’ll tell you, I’ll tell you what all this could mean to you today.
This chance to grow, change, develop, absorb, take in. I’m asking you to expand and grow.
So you can hold more of the next experience.
Some people can’t be very happy. You can pour happiness out on the whole world, and some people can’t be very happy. Why? They’re not big enough.
If you’re small, you don’t get much. Small in comprehensions. Small in the ability to think and wonder, small in appreciation. No matter how much is poured out.
Prosperity can be poured out on the whole country.
Some people don’t get much, why? They’re too small, too small in their thinking, too small in their ability to share, have not expanded to their full capacity.
Don’t be like that.
Now, some people aren’t going to get much because they’ve got their cup turned upside down!
You couldn’t put anything in.
Learn to share. It’s a glorious, glorious experience.