MENTOR & INSPIRATION >
Series: Jim Rohn – FDN Life Mentor of the Year
Part: II
(Read Part I: Jul/Aug 2019 Issue of FDN Life Magazine)
In our previous article featured in our Jul/Aug 2019 issue, we introduced you to our FDN Mentor of the Year, the late Jim Rohn. Probably one of the most inspirational life and wealth mentors of our time. We covered lesson 1 and 2, and learned that self-criticism could be one of the most crippling aspects to achieving anything in life. In this issue (lesson 3 & 4), we will learn about:
- The importance of paying attention to our personal philosophy about life, love, and money.
- The importance of changing our personal philosophy if it is hindering our evolution and growth.
- The power of our attitude.
BIOGRAPHY
DOB: 17 September 1930; died 5 December 2009
COUNTRY OF BIRTH: United States
FOCUS: Entrepreneur, Millionaire, Author & Motivational Speaker
WORK HISTORY
• Sears – Human Resource Manager
•1955: AbundaVita – Sales / Distributor
• 1957: NutriBio – Sales (Mentorship with John Earl Shoaff)
• 1957 – 1960: Built one of the biggest organizations during his mentorship.
• 1960: Nutri-Bio – Vice President
• 1963: Presented his first Public Seminar
“Change your philosophy, change your future.” – JIM ROHN
LESSON 3
“How do you feel about the past? Treat the past as a school. Don’t use the past as a burden to carry, and don’t use the past as a club to beat yourself up.” – JIM ROHN
REQUIREMENTS:
• Notebook
• Pen/Pencil
• YouTube Video
Video Start Time: 26:00
TAKE NOTES:
When we write down what we have learned, the act helps us remember, break down, and internalize information. To benefit the most from this lesson, listen to the seminar video provided and take notes as you follow along. Stop the recording whenever necessary.
LESSON 3 – KEY TAKE-AWAYS
2 OF THE 5 MAJOR PIECES TO THE LIFE PUZZLE
- #1 – PERSONAL PHILOSOPHY (WHAT WE KNOW)
- #2 – OUR ATTITUDE (WHAT WE FEEL)
Mr. Jim Rohn says, “It’s very valuable in laying the right foundation. We call these fundamentals or basics. There are fundamentals for sports. Fundamentals for the way you deal with your family. A few basic things that if you crack them, can make all the difference in your world. I believe in five of them and called them the 5-pieces to the life puzzle.”
Lesson Learned: Laying the correct foundation for your life, business, relationships, and personal perspective about concepts, ideas, and things in life, will determine your outcome. It is thus, imperative to lay the ‘correct’ foundation. Like my tennis coach, Blackie Swart, once said to me: “There is a misconception in the world when they say, ‘practice makes perfect.’ It’s NOT true. The CORRECT practice makes perfect. You can practice all you want, but if you are practicing the wrong technique, your tennis will suffer because of it. You have to learn the correct techniques to become a high-performance player in tennis.”
Moral of the story? It’s essential to learn the correct fundamentals that will steer your life in the direction you desire.
Let’s have a look at Mr. Jim Rohn’s first piece to the life puzzle:
FUNDAMENTAL #1 >
OUR PERSONAL PHILOSOPHY
- OUR PERSONAL PHILOSOPHY DETERMINES OUR LIFE
“Philosophy, in my opinion, is the major determining factor in how your life turns out. To form a philosophy, you’ve got to think. You have to use your mind. Process ideas.”
Lesson Learned: Our personal philosophy and how we view and process information is built up over many years. Starting as early as babies, through our toddler years, time as teens and far into adulthood. What happens or happened to us in our past can and does influence our personal philosophy.
Did you get hurt as a child?
Do you avoid certain types of people because of a bad experience?
Do you view money in a particular way because you were bombarded with concepts such as, “money doesn’t grow on trees?” “No, we can’t afford that.” “Do I look like the bank to you?” “We are poor.”
- CIRCUMSTANCES DOES NOT ORDER YOUR LIFE
“Many people don’t think to blame their personal philosophy for what is going wrong in their life. Instead, they blame the government, the weather, the traffic, their company. Or that the tax rate is too high. These are all just stuff – excuses.”
Lesson Learned: Most of the time, the reason we are not doing well in life is because our personal philosophy is in error. We blame everything outside of ourselves instead of looking to the inside, at our own personal philosophy. It’s important to understand circumstances does not order our life. Our personal philosophy does. Change your personal philosophy – change your life.
- HUMANS WERE GIVEN A MIND TO THINK AND PROCESS IDEAS
“Unlike animals who have to operate mostly by instinct, humans were given the ability to think and process ideas. That is what makes us different . . . the ability to think. The ability to use our mind. And the ability to process ideas. Not just operate by instinct.”
Lesson Learned: Life doesn’t need to feel out of control, and as if you are operating by instinct. That is why we are blessed with a mind to think and come up with better ideas.
You might have become lazy to think for yourself. But just as an athlete practice athletics or a tennis player practices tennis, we have to exercise our mind to become better at thinking and solving problems. As such, we can improve our personal philosophy and think of new and better ways to create the life we desire.
- CREATING OUR DREAMS, EQUITY & VALUE STARTS WITH DEVELOPING OUR PHILOSOPHY
“Our goals for the future and our plans to achieve those goals all come from developing our personal philosophy. Philosophy helps us to process what is available. Example, you have available seed, soil, rain, sunshine, seasons, and the miracle of life. Now, you need to find the key to knowing what to do with all this ‘stuff.’”
Lesson Learned: Our personal philosophy in life determines how we see things around us; and how we view ourselves in comparison to others.
Furthermore, our philosophy determines how we see and use the talents, tools, or in other words, ‘stuff’ that is available to us. If we have the incorrect philosophy about the seed and soil, then these can help us create our dreams and the life we want. We, therefore, have to ask questions and ‘upgrade’ our philosophy to one better suited to using our seed and soil.
Firstly, you have to determine what is the ‘stuff’ available to you, and what laws govern them? How do I create a better lifestyle for myself with the seed, soil, rain, sunshine, and seasons given to me?
You see, each element (stuff) available to us is governed by fundamentals. In other words, laws (basics). These can be laws of nature. Laws of business. Laws of relationships. Therefore, whichever it is that we are interested in, we need to understand the laws and fundamentals that govern it. This starts with questioning our personal philosophy and updating it if in error.
- THE REAL PROBLEM IS YOU
“Each person’s personal philosophy will determine what they do with the seeds, soil, sunshine, rain, and seasons available to them. You don’t need better seed (economy) or soil (banks). You need a better personal philosophy. The fact is, when it comes to seeds, soil, rain, seasons, etc., that’s all you’ve got to work with. If you blame this stuff, you are blaming all that you’ve got. You can’t change your ‘stuff.’ You need to change your personal philosophy about them.” – JIM ROHN
Lesson Learned: Blaming the company you work with, the economy, taxes, or the country you live in for your circumstances will bring you nowhere. Rather focus on what has been given to you and change your personal philosophy about it. If you want life to change for you, you have to change. It starts with your perspective; your way of thinking and the way you use your mind. Change is not out there; it’s within you.
- START TODAY
“Don’t wait. You can change your life starting today.”
Lesson Learned: Our personal philosophy (perspective and how we perceive things), determine how we live our life. If your life has not gone the way you want it to, you don’t have to wait for things to get better. You can change your life by starting today.
- A DEFINITION OF SUCCESS & FAILURE
“Failure = A Few Errors in Judgement Repeated Every Day = Accumulated Disaster.”
“Success = A Few Simple Disciplines Practiced Every Day = Creates a Whole New Life.”
“You have to ask yourself: Are there errors in my current judgment?”
Lesson Learned: You’ve got to be smarter and adapt a smarter philosophy. You can’t repeat the same error every day for six years. Be smarter than that. You have to look at the errors you are committing to today and determine what the long-term cost will be?
Start addressing the errors in your judgment (personal philosophy) and replace them with good disciplines – practiced continuedly. It’s straightforward. It’s a matter of choice.
Could, should, would, don’t = disaster.
- FIND THE SOLUTION
“Everyone has it within their power to change their life. You don’t have to change country or go and live on another planet. But you do have to change philosophy. How? Find the errors in your philosophy and replace them with good disciplines. How do you find good disciplines? Ask for another book. Attend another seminar. Ask for another idea.”
Lesson Learned: Solutions and answers are all around us. They have been for millions of years. The question is, are we willing to search and put in the work to find and apply them?
- START WITH SOMETHING SIMPLE
“You can always start with something simple. Why not start with eating an apple a day? Walk around the block instead of sitting? If you don’t start there if you don’t start with something simple, where will you start?”
Lesson Learned: Learning to handle smaller, less complicated lessons and disciplines will help you learn the skills and personal philosophy to handle the more complicated issues when they arise.
LESSON 4
REQUIREMENTS:
• Notebook
• Pen/Pencil
• YouTube Video
START VIDEO AT:
Time: 47:45 (Start video at 47:50 min for Lesson 4)
LESSON 4 – KEY TAKE-AWAYS
FUNDAMENTAL #2 >
OUR ATTITUDE (WHAT WE FEEL)
- LET THE PAST BE A SCHOOL
“Don’t beat yourself over the head with your own failures. Let the past be a school, not a club you beat yourself up with.”
Lesson Learned: Use your past as a teaching ground to learn and grow from. It’s no use dwelling on the past or getting lost in it. Feeling sorry for yourself and using your past as an excuse will bring you nowhere in life except to a pit of despair that grows deeper and deeper with each passing year.
- HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT THE FUTURE? – DID YOU SET YOUR GOALS?
“Set your goals for the future. Goal setting is very important. A promise of the future is a formidable force. Without a future well designed, we take hesitant steps.”
- HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT EVERYONE ELSE?
“You’ve got to have a good attitude about it because it takes everybody else to create a market. One person doesn’t make a family. One person doesn’t make a company. It takes all of us. You need people.”
Lesson Learned: Your attitude about people, your clients, and those you work with influences your business and life. It’s important to know when your personal philosophy and feelings about others are not conducive to a productive and fruitful relationship that is mutually beneficial.
- HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT YOURSELF?
“Understanding self-worth is the beginning of progress. If I can do it, so can you. If someone can think of it, so can you. Nothing is impossible for you to achieve if you have self-worth.”
Lesson Learned: Value yourself. If you don’t feel worthy, and if you don’t feel yourself to be of value, you will cut yourself short your whole life. Reclaim your self-worth and know you can reach your dreams and desires. Look at those who have walked the road before you. If they can do it, so can you!
In this issue, we looked at the first two fundamentals Mr. Jim Rohn discusses to changing our life around for the better.
First, we need to determine our personal philosophy and if there are some errors in our judgment. By implementing some small changes and disciplines to correct our philosophical errors, we can turn our life around.
Secondly, our attitude about life, love, money, ourselves, others, and the world around us will affect our lifestyle and potential on this planet. Self-worth is very important. So, put in the necessary actions today to start a whole new chapter.
Don’t wait! Do it today.
Did You Like This Article?
What do you think? Did you find any of Mr. Rohn’s concepts and ideas of value? Do you now have a better understanding of how you can improve your own life? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
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2 Responses
Hi Mari. I like a lot this blog series of you from video , i learn a lot!
Good Morning Alexandra. So glad you liked it. Jim Rohn has been one of my most inspirational mentors. Learned a lot from him over the years. Continue watching the rest of the video while taking notes. Have a great week!