Attitudes, attitudes—how you feel. First of all, we're affected by what we know. Second, we're affected by how we feel about what we know—the emotional part.
Now, this is a major part of the five pieces: how I feel. Now there's a lot of different ways to feel. Here's one: if this is all they pay, I'm not coming early, and I'm not staying late on the job.
Right? We call that one way to feel. Isn't that a selection process?
If this is all they pay, I'm not coming early, and I'm not staying late. We call that your choice of attitude. Now, do you think that attitude, if you kept it for the next five years, would greatly affect your fortunes?
The answer is, of course! You cannot escape the accumulated effect of the selection of your attitude; you can't escape it. So, one of the major things to check is: how do I feel, and am I on my own track or off track with my attitude?
Now, attitudes are not that easy to fix; it's not that easy to get information. It's hard to look up attitude in the Yellow Pages. If you could put your car in the shop and go next door and get your attitude tuned, wouldn't that be nice?
Right? But where do you go? How do we engage in the kind of philosophical thinking that will refine our attitude to give us a chance for future fortune, rather than focusing on what will be missing in the future?
So, this is big attitude. Here's another attitude: no matter what they pay, I always come early, and I always stay late to invest in my own future. We call that another attitude about the same job.
Now, why would one person have one attitude and another person have another attitude? We call that the mysteries of the mind, right? I don't know; everybody has to choose for themselves.
Everybody has to decide through education. Now, if you didn't know what the consequences were going to be, it could be very easy to choose the wrong attitude and not discipline yourself to the right attitude. So a big portion of our life is affected by how we feel.
Let me give you just a quick list about the feelings that affect our lives. Number one: it's how you feel about the past. Boy, it's easy to carry the past as a burden instead of as a school.
It's easy to let the past overwhelm you instead of letting the past instruct you. How you feel about the past—hurts, losses, difficulties, times you failed, and times things didn't work— the accumulation of all of that is going to greatly affect your future in your life. One of the major things that affects your life is how you feel about the future.
Our life is affected by two major things: one is price, and the other is promise. And it's not that easy to pay the price if you can't see the promise. I think kids are having problems these days trying to pay the price because they can't see the promise.
But all of us wouldn't mind paying the price if we could have a clear view of tomorrow, next week, next month, next year. If we had the highest probability of how it's going to work out, do you think we would hesitate to pay? The answer is no.
But everybody hesitates to pay if the future isn't clear. So, to help the kids these days, we've got to do two things: help them to see the promise and help them pay the price. But we can pay if we can see.
My karate instructor said, "Mr Owen, you cannot believe the incredible feeling of walking down any city street unafraid. " I said, "Let's get on with the classes! " Right?
Hey, I will sweat; I will put myself through the paces. Right? What would we do for an extraordinary promise?
The answer is: the most unbelievable things. Would you crack the books? Would you burn the Midnight Oil?
Would you engage in the extra thoughts and the extra disciplines if the promise was adequate? And the answer is, of course. But who wants to read?
Who wants to burn the Midnight Oil? Who wants to put themselves through the paces if the promise isn't clear? Important: price and promise.
Here's number three: it's how you feel about each other. It's so important—attitudes about society, country, state, city, community, family, enterprise, office, company, corporation, division. It's so important to have a unique understanding about other human beings and what makes a good life, what constitutes a good life.
How you feel about each other: I've got a good phrase for you—"You can't succeed by yourself. " So, to have a unique refined sense of appreciation for each other is a prerequisite. It takes each other to build a society; it takes all of us to build a country, to build a nation.
It takes all of us to build a community. Key phrase: "You can't succeed by yourself. " I gave a speech not long ago to the Rotary Club of Culver City, California, and I was unusually affected by the Pledge of Allegiance that day.
Big, strong voices—it's a big, strong club—and it was going through my mind the next few days: the Pledge of Allegiance. And the more I thought about it, the more I realized what an important key document it is. Right?
The Pledge of Allegiance. So I started writing, and I wrote a discourse on the Pledge of Allegiance. I took each key word and did a little summary for our tape of the month club.
Wow! The Pledge of Allegiance is unique; it starts with "I" and ends with "all. " The pledge starts with "I" and ends with "all.
" It takes all of us to. . .
Make any one of us successful, and a unique, refined appreciation of all of us is what makes the eye of us do much better. That appreciation of society—it takes all of us to make a market. We need each other's ideas and inspiration, and once you have that sense of appreciation of all of us, now you and your place and your possibilities and your opportunities start to really soar when you understand how important it is within the framework of all of us.
So you can't succeed by yourself; it's hard to find a rich hermit. Now here's the big, biggie: it's how you feel about yourself. That's a major understanding.
Self-worth is the beginning of progress. How valuable are you? What could you do if you had all the skills?
If you took the extra classes and burned the midnight oil, what could you do? What true value could you become? That is one of the better exercises: what could I become in terms of value?
What could I really do in the marketplace—in enterprise, family, home, love, experience, marriage, friendship? How valuable could I become? Am I valuable enough to work on what all is still not functioning in my life to full capacity?
If I'm operating at 20%, what could I possibly do with the other 80%? And do I have it in knowledge, worth, value, and experience? Once you start understanding this part of you—understanding how valuable you are—it is a whole new experience.
Understanding self-worth, attitude plays a big, major part in how our life works out. It's never that pleasant to talk about the negative, but we've got to talk about it because life is part negative. These attitude diseases are like weeds that grow in the garden.
It's a normal part of life. Here's a good phrase to note: negative is normal. It's not successful, but it's normal; it's part of life.
And here's the next key, in my opinion: you must learn to handle the negative. Don't ignore it; handle it. Now, I know some people teach the other way, and listen to them, and listen to me, and then make up your own mind, right?
Don't be a follower; be a student. But I say you've got to handle the negative. You don't have to live in it; you don't have to dwell on it, but you do have to handle it.
In my opinion, I know some people teach just to turn your head real quick and say there's no weeds—just no weeds—they'll take your garden. So you've got to handle the negative. Here's what part of it is: it's called the Great War between good and evil.
Mr Reynolds and I are working on a new book this year called The Great War Between Good and Evil. And there is a war from the minute you were born. You got involved in the war between good and evil, between darkness and light, between negative and positive, between evil and good, between tyranny and democracy, between weeds and human activity.
I mean, the war is on. If democracy sleeps, guess who never sleeps? Tyranny!
In the absence of light, guess what's automatic? Darkness! If good does not arouse itself and become active, guess what moves in?
Evil! It's a war—a mental war, a physical war, a financial war—between enterprise and ease, between accomplishment and failure. It's a war!
That's why there's an Old Testament phrase that gives the best advice for human activity when it says, "Six days labor, one day rest. " Now I'm sure we've taken that to mean don't work all seven days; take one off. Here's what it also means: only take one, or you're liable to lose the war.
Now we've got it down to five and two, and maybe that's not too dangerous. I don't know if God would have thought of five and two; He might have made it six and one. You can't think of everything.
But here's what it does mean: enterprise is better than ease. If you rest too long, the jungle overtakes the village. Now here's the good news about the war between good and evil: evil is no match for good, but good must be active.
Weeds are no match for human activity, but if you stand still, how far in will they come? All the way! They'll grow right up around your shoes.
But if you get busy, how far back can you take them? As far as you wish! They're no match, but you must be active.
That's why the six and one: make sure you're not losing the war by taking off too. Guess what the average years are after retirement? Six!
Which means don't retire; your chances are too slim. Okay, the war between good and evil—the weeds. You've got to make sure you recognize the negative, handle it, deal with it, and then go on.
Let's make a list of the diseases of attitude that can wreck all your chances to do well. One of the words that destroys everything is called neglect. Neglect!
And I found this out: a week of neglect could cost you a year of repair. It isn't worth it. So what to be on the lookout for?
Here's the list. If you were making it, you'd have the same list I've got, right? We're not covering anything new tonight; this is a reminding session, not a teaching session.
But it doesn't hurt to go over it again. Here's the list of attitude diseases: number one is indifference—the shrug of the shoulders. The guy's not even concerned; he's just drifting.
This is called the mild approach to life—a disease known as mildness. The guy says, "Well, I can't see getting all that worked up. " Well, to be any kind of winner, you've got to get worked up.
There's one problem with drift: you cannot drift. To the top of the mountain, and the good Lord said in the closing chapters of the Bible, "Here's the best way to live: one way or the other, that's best; hot or what's next best, cold. The next best, the half-baked middle, lukewarm—not too hot, not too cold.
What a sad way to live! I think what it means is: pick a direction and go with everything you've got. Just pick one and go!
Somebody says, 'Yeah, but what if it's the wrong direction? ' You'll find out quicker. It won't take you 25 years to wake up and say, 'Oh no, I've been walking the wrong road.
' I told my staff the other day, the next best of prosperity is adversity. If one doesn't get you, pray for the other. We all do better for one of two reasons: inspiration or desperation.
And I don't wish anything bad on you tonight, but if you're not inspired, I hope a wagon comes down your rut. Whatever it takes to get you to try harder, read more, set your goals, and go for it. Somebody asked me one time, what quality would I pick if I wanted to work with somebody?
And you know what I picked first? Number one, strong feeling, please! Number one, give me somebody that feels strong about most anything.
I don't even care, just so they believe it. Even if they disagree with me, wonderful! Just so they disagree vigorously.
I'm not saying it's easy to win those kinds of people to your point of view, but I'd rather do that than to try to resurrect people from the dead, pump them up every month—pump them up! I pass the good Lord needs a leader for the early Christians. Remember the early days of the Christians?
Not like today. If you were to stand up in the early days and say, "I'm a Christian," they'd cut off your head, toss you and your wife in jail, and let you rot. I mean, those were ugly days.
Being a Christian back then was not called socially acceptable. They didn't have 125,000 in the Los Angeles Coliseum to hear Billy Graham on a Sunday afternoon—not back in those days. Back in those days, when the Christians got in the Coliseum, there was a different story, right?
I mean, the word was: stay out of the Coliseum, especially on Sunday. Last Sunday was Lions 33, Christians nothing. See, those were mean, tough, struggle days for the Christians.
Now, when the days are mean and tough and struggling, you've got to have some kind of leader. Do you know who the good Lord picked for the leader when the days were mean and ugly? Saul from Tarsus, that's who he picked!
Saul! I'll tell you what, I would not have picked him. You would not have.
Anybody would have picked Saul. Saul was one of those incredible guys. Once he got into something, look out!
Everybody in the community knew what Saul was in, because whatever he joined, you flipped all the switches, opened up all the dials, turned on all the faucets, and he'd go like mad. He was known as "All-out Saul. " I mean, he was something else!
Now, at first, it wasn't working out well. Saul hated Christians, which makes a poor leader, right? I mean, that won't work.
Saul got this bug summary about the Christians; he got to hating Christians, and he hated them so bad. Every time somebody would say "Christian," he'd fly into a rage. And I guess he decided one day it was his mission in life to get rid of all the Christians.
He was Saul, anyhow; he could do most anything he wanted to. So he got these letters of authority to go around to the various communities and hunt down the Christians. They said, "Do whatever you want to with them, Saul.
They're unpopular anyhow. Drg them in the streets, whip them, stone them, torture, kill them. " You mention the name Saul from Tarsus to the early Christians, and I'll tell you what they would do: they would burn, hide, lock the doors, leave town, dive underground.
I've been in the catacombs of Rome where they hid. He was mean. I mean, terribly mean.
But remember the story? One day, Saul's making for Damascus, heard about some new Christians. Flies into a rage, takes off for Damascus, and the story said he was angry.
There's a little sentence in the story that says, "On his way to Damascus, he was breathing out threatenings and slaughter," which meant he felt rather strong about the idea, right? That's strong, that's strong! But on this journey, right, according to the story, as Saul was making his way to Damascus, the good Lord looked down out of heaven and said, "There's my man.
" And Saul, he's got to be something else! And according to the story, this great light shines out of heaven, knocks him flat right off his horse, grinds his face in the dirt, and blinds him for three days. The good Lord using recruiting tools we can't use.
But when your Lord… Right, to make a long story short, Saul from Tarsus becomes converted to Christianity. He becomes Paul, the great leader, the Apostle, and without doubt, the good Lord got him a dandy one! He didn't have to pump up every month.
In one of his later writings, he said, "The things I once hated, I now love; the things I once loved, I now hate. " See, that’s strong! Here's the key to the good life: learn to put everything you've got into everything you do.
Whatever you're doing, pull on it! It will quickly open up into opportunity or quickly disclose to you that you ought to be doing something else. The delusion is, "If I had a better job, I'd really pour it on.
" See, that's delusion. Wherever you are, pour it! "Don't give somebody half a job for a day's pay.
Pour it on. See, that'll help change your life. Get rid of this disease: the next attitude disease, number two, indecision.
Mental paralysis. The guy can't make up his mind, and it becomes a disease. Pretty soon, he knows he's got it.
The guy says, 'Well, I know I'm on the fence,' but he says, 'What if I get off on the wrong side? ' Listen, after a while, it doesn't matter. Just get off; any side will do.
A life full of adventure is a life full of many decisions. The ones that turn out to be wrong give you better experience to make better decisions. So don't—see how many decisions you can get out of.
See how many you can get into. That's where the adventure is. So shake off this disease: indecision!
The next one is doubt. Doubt's like a plague, and one of the worst is self-doubt. There are many, but that's one of the worst.
The guy doubts himself, doubts if it'll last that long for him, doubts if he can do that well, doubts if he can make that much, doubts if he can accomplish all that. A chronic, excellent self-doubt—you can imagine what damage that does to your future. So here's the key: turn this coin over and become a believer.
There are many things to believe in; one of the majors is yourself. The understanding of self-worth is the beginning of progress. Now, my friends, if we don't get you this one, we'll worry.
That's a devastating disease: worry. Worry causes health problems, social problems, personal problems, family problems—it's devastating. Worry long enough, and it'll drop you to your knees; it could reduce you to begging.
I know how bad this one is. I used to have it bad—I used to be known as a super worrier, not a super warrior. My family wished I had been a warrior.
I've got those years to make up for, but I'll tell you what my advice to you is: do what I finally did on worry—give it up! Who needs it? I'm not saying it's easy; I'm saying it's worth it.
It took me almost one year to kick the worry habit, and it was not an easy year. It was one of the toughest years I ever spent. But I finally got that monkey off my back, and I discovered you could live the most incredible life free of worry—not free of challenge, not free of difficulty, but free of worry.
I learned how to do it, and you can. Here's the next attitude disease: overcaution. Some people never will have much; they're too cautious.
Now, you can also be too reckless, but you can also be too cautious. This is called the timid approach to life. My caution was always the risk.
Risk used to drive me right up the wall. I used to say, 'What if this happens? ' It's called the language of the poor: 'What if this happens?
' And on top of that, 'If this was to happen, look at the fix I'd be in, and I better not try. ' I could always talk myself out of it. Then I'll tell you what changed my whole life: when I finally discovered it's all risky.
The minute you were born, it got risky. If you think trying is risky, wait till they hand you the bill for not trying. If you think investing is risky, wait till you get the tab for not investing.
See, it's all risky. Getting married is risky; having children is risky; going into business is risky; investing your money is risky. It's all risky.
I'll tell you how risky life is: you're not going to get out alive. That's risky. The Englishman says, 'Well, if that's the way it's going to work out, let's give it a go!
' Right? That's what it's for: give it a go. Somebody says, 'Yeah, but I'm looking for safety and security.
' Fine, then huddle in a corner. Who will cover you with a sheet, bring you three meals a day, and we'll protect you, feed you, look after you, care for you? We won't let anything happen to you, and you'll probably live to be 100.
The guy said, 'Well, yeah, I'd live to be 100, but what a way to live! ' Right? What a way to live: safe and secure.
Don't ask for security; ask for adventure. Better to live 30 years full of adventure than a hundred years safe in the corner. And see, it's not important how long you live; what's important is how you live.
Here's the next attitude disease: pessimism. Pessimism—the deadly disease of all. Always looking on the bad side, the problem side, the difficult side.
Checking all the reasons why it can't be done. The poor pessimist leads an ugly life. He doesn't try to figure out what's right; he tries to figure out what's wrong.
He doesn't look for virtue; he looks for faults, and when he finds them, he's delighted. How sad this is! The poor guy who looks out the window doesn't see the sunset; he sees the specks on the window.
And this is the poor guy who rushes to take leave of his senses. This guy rushes up, and he says, 'I've got five good reasons why it won't work! ' He's so dumb he doesn't know all he needs is one—he's got five.
The pessimist—the glass is always half empty. The optimist—the glass is half full. Why would the same measure affect people two different ways?
Answer: it all depends on how you look at it. Our lives are mostly affected by the way we think. Things are not the way they are; the way we think they are affects us most.
" Better thinking habits. One of the major things Mr Showoff taught me when I met him was that poor thinking habits keep most people poor—not poor working habits. Most people work hard, but they don't think hard.
He taught me that the mind is like a factory—a mental factory. Whatever you think about all day long pours ingredients into this mental factory, and that's what builds the economic, social, and financial fabric of your life. He quoted me a Bible phrase that says, "As you think, so you become.
" How awesome! When he talked about poor thinking habits, he had me. I used to start the day reading the morning newspaper.
I mean, you can believe that or not; I'd get a cup of coffee and read the paper. I'd load up on wars and riots, murders and stabbings, killings and bank robberies, muggings and car wrecks, and tragedies. I'd even read the back pages.
I seemed to like that stuff for some weird reason. I'd load up on all that, and then I'd start the day. You can imagine the kind of days I used to have.
You walk around on your financial knees; they call you economic peeeee. The guy says, "I want to be a great leader. " Wonderful!
The first thing we do is follow him to his house. When we get there, we walk in and check his library. Number one, somebody says, "Well, why check his library?
" The reason is because what a man reads pours massive ingredients into his mental factory, and the fabric of his life is built from those ingredients. You would not believe what some people have got in their house to read. You would not believe!
One of the best dressed-up words I know for a lot of it is trash. Can you imagine dumping a bale of trash into this mental factory every day and coming out with a rich, dynamic, positive life? It can't be done.
You might as well try making a cake with cement. The kids back in Danbury, Connecticut High School, were asking me questions one day. I'm talking to the kids; kids have good questions these days.
One of them said to me, "Mr Owen, how do you build the good life? " I said, "It's simple; it's not easy, but it's simple. Here's how you build anything: select the right ingredients, keep out the wrong ingredients, and it starts with thought.
Everything starts with thought. So you must be wise and careful about what you think about because that starts everything. You've got to be wise and careful.
” I asked the kids, "What would happen if somebody dropped sugar in my coffee? " They said, "Well, you'd be okay. " I said, "What if somebody dropped strychnine in my coffee?
" They said, "Well, you'd be dead. " I said, "Correct. Lesson one: life is both sugar and strychnine.
You've got to be careful. " I said, "What if my worst enemy drops in the sugar? " They said, "Well, you'd be okay.
" I said, "What if my best friend, even by accident, drops in the strychnine? " They said, "Well, you'd be dead. " I said, "Correct.
Lesson two: watch your coffee. " You've got to be careful. See, it doesn't matter who hands you the bad stuff; it doesn't matter who you get the bad stuff from, it'll still do its damage on your bank account, wherever you get it.
Mr Shaf gave me one of the greatest phrases when I first met him, when he said, "Jim, every day stand guard at the door of your mind. " How important! Stand guard at the door of your mind and decide what goes into your mental factory.
Don't let anybody just dump anything they want to in your mental factory because you've got to live with the results. Enemies of the mind—you've got to do battle with them. One of them is pessimism, which tries to get you only to see the negative side.
Of course, there's a negative side; life is part negative. What else is new? You may ask, "If the glass is half empty, it is half empty.
" Well, I've only been taught to see that it's half full. You might say, "Well, sure, it's half full, but it's also half empty. " I mean, can't you handle that?
I mean, you know that's not too difficult. But here's what pessimism would try to get you to do: believe that it's only half empty. And when pessimism comes to your mind, you've got to educate pessimism because pessimism is stupid.
Pessimism tries to get you to believe that it's only half empty. You've got to say, "Pessimism, you've never been to school; you're too dumb and stupid to know, of course, it's half empty, but it's not only half empty; it's also half full. " I'm asking you to be in charge.
Be in charge of your own mind. Be in charge of your own destiny. Do battle with your enemy.
In the summertime, you've got to learn to love like a mother, hate like a father, give life like a mother, nourish, take life like a father. The father says to whatever threatens his family, "Take two or three more steps toward this family and threaten them; you'll cease to exist. " I'm father; I kill.
Do battle with your enemies. Now, it's also possible to love like a father, hate like a brother. I'm not saying that it's impossible; nothing is more dangerous than an angry mother.
Love like a father, hate like a mother, give life like a mother, take life like a father, or however you want to arrange it—just so you nourish your values, nourish your family, nourish what's valuable for you, nourish your organization, nourish your distributors, nourish your customers. Take care of your responsibilities, feed, nourish, but then I'm also asking you to do battle with your enemies. Take sword to.
. . Your enemies, whatever is going to destroy those values, take the sword to it.
If it's worry, take the sword to it. If it's a threat, threaten back. You've got to be like your bloodstream; a good illustration: red corpuscles to nourish like a mother, white corpuscles to fight and kill like a father.
You've got to do some negative thinking; you can't just think positive. Thank God for white corpuscles that think negative all day. White corpuscles say, "Just show me some infection; I'll kill it.
" Whatever threatens this body and its future gets threatened. Whatever's about to kill this body gets killed. I'm asking you to take the sword to your enemies, whether they're on the outside or whether they're on the inside.
Protect your family, protect your future, protect your values. Love, nourish, but also do battle with whatever is out there to do battle with you. And the last disease is deadly.
Engage in this one; indulge in it, even slightly, and you might as well forget the future because it's going to forget you: complaining, crying, whining, griping—a Bible word called murmuring. See, that'll ace your future. Spend five minutes complaining, and you've wasted five; and you may have begun what's known as economic cancer of the bone.
Surely they will soon haul you off into a financial desert, and they'll let you choke on the dust of your own regret. I hope I said that well so you won't forget—it's a deadly disease. If you don't think it's bad, ask the children of Israel of Old Testament fame, typical of us all.
Their story just happened to get in the book. The story says the children of Israel were slaves. God performed a series of dazzling miracles and got them out, and now they're heading for the promised land.
Remember the story? Heading for the promised land. The tragedy of the story: they never got there.
The reason? One, they started to complain. They griped about the water; they griped about the weather; they whined and cried and griped about the food.
They griped about the leadership. They whined and cried because it was too far, too cold, too hot, too difficult, too miserable. I mean, they whined and whined and cried for years.
Finally, God said, "I've had it," or something like that. The story says they died in the desert, never got to the promised land, which I think means two things: indulging in this long enough, you get your future cast, and I guess it also means even God Himself can only take so much. Okay, just be on the lookout for the things that can destroy all the good you start.
The war is on, and this evening, tomorrow, mentally, personally, socially, economically, you've got to make sure you're winning the war, and this is part of it. Take some courage from some of those that have been through the battle. They've given you their stories on the stage; they've been through it; they know what it's all about.
Take some courage from that, and in the summer, do battle. There wouldn't be positive without negative; it's part of the life scenario. Ancient scripture says it best: there's a time to laugh and a time to cry.
You've got to become so sophisticated and well-educated that you don't laugh when it's time to cry. You've also got to learn to cry well. How are you going to identify with others if you don't cry with them?
The negative side is very important, so don't ignore it. You need to let it be a part of the scenario. In fact, you need to learn to master it.
Negativity is not to be ignored; it's to be mastered. It makes us better than we are to wrestle with it. It makes us better than we are to acknowledge and fight tyranny that moves into vulnerable countries, ignorance that moves into your life, procrastination that robs you of your fortune, or poor health—that's the legacy of neglecting your health disciplines.
You've got to do battle with the enemies, those outside of you as well as those within. So learn how to handle the negative. Negativity can actually be a powerful force for change; it plays a key role in the day that turns your life around.
There are four stages to the day that turns your life around, and the first is disgust. Disgust is a negative emotion, but it can have a very positive motivating effect. Disgust says, "I've had it.
" What an important day that could be! I met a beautiful, accomplished, extraordinary woman in New York. She was the vice president of a company I did some work for.
I got to know her, and I found out her story. She never went to high school or college. I said, "How did you get here?
" She said, "Well, when I was a young mother, I once asked my husband for $10, and he said, 'What for? '" It's before that day was over I decided I would never ask again, so I started looking for opportunities, taking classes, and putting myself through school. Now I'm a vice president, and I make a lot of money.
I kept my promise because I've never ever had to ask again. That was her life-changing day, the day she said, "Enough is enough. " The next stage in a life-changing day is decision.
If you sat down today and made a list of changes you've decided to make, that list could furnish enough inspiration for the next 5 or 10 years. What an inspiring day, the day you bring yourself to decide to change your life! The third stage is desire—wanting that change badly enough.
Sometimes desire waits for a trigger, waits for something to happen. It may be a movie, a seminar, a sermon, a book, a confrontation with an enemy, or a conversation with a friend who finally levels with you. Whatever.
The experience is so valuable; here’s my best advice: welcome all experiences. You’ll never know which one is going to turn your life around. Don’t put up walls.
The walls that keep out disappointment also keep out happiness. Take down the walls. Go for the experience; let it teach you.
The last stage of a life-changing day is resolve. Resolve says, “I will. ” These are two of the most powerful words in the language.
The best definition of resolve I’ve ever heard came from a junior high school student in Foster City, California. I was addressing her class one day, and we were discussing some keywords. I asked the kids, “Who can tell me what resolve means?
” Some didn’t know the answer, and some tried to guess. The last answer I got was the best. This girl, about two rows back, said, “I think I know, Mr Rone.
I think resolve means promising yourself you’ll never give up. ” I said, “That’s the best definition I’ve ever heard. ” She’s probably giving her own seminar somewhere today.
Promise yourself you’ll read the books until your skills change. You’ll go to seminars until you get a handle on what they’re teaching you. You’ll practice until you develop the skills.
Never give up until you’ve gotten what you want. Don’t miss the chance to grow. Resolve that you’ll pay the price until you learn, change, grow, and become what you want to be.
You’ll discover some of life’s best treasures when you pay that price. It’s not what happens that determines the major part of your future. It’s not what happens; what happens happens to us all.
The key is what you do about it. It’s not what happens; it’s what you do about it. If you will start that process of change, do something different the next 90 days than you did the last 90 days.
Like picking up the books to read. Do something different, like the new health disciplines, relationships with your family—whatever it is; it doesn’t matter how small it is. If you’ll start doing different things with the same circumstances—since we cannot change the circumstances, but we can change ourselves, we can change what we do.
Then he gave me another secret to success when he said, “What you have at the moment, Mr Rone, you’ve attracted by the person you’ve become. What you have at the moment, you’ve attracted by the person you’ve become. ” A few little simple principles here: once you understand these, it starts to explain so much.
Now, sometimes it’s a little tough to take—blaming yourself instead of the marketplace, taking responsibility instead of putting it off on someone else. Those transitions sometimes are a challenging mission, and this one was a little tough for me. He said, “Mister, you’ve got pennies in your pocket.
You’ve got nothing in the bank. The creditors are calling; you’re behind on your promises. ” He says, “Here’s how that occurs—you’ve attracted, up until now, the things to you because of the person you’ve become.
” Now I said, “Well, how can I change all that? ” He said very simply, “If you will change, everything will change for you. You don’t have to change what’s outside; all you’ve got to change is what’s inside.
” There are two phrases I’d like you to ponder for a moment. The first is that life and business are like the changing seasons; that’s one of the best ways to illustrate life. It’s like the seasons that change.
Here’s the second phrase: you cannot change the seasons, but you can change yourself. Now, with those two key phrases in mind, let’s turn to what I consider to be the four major lessons in life to learn. The first lesson is this: learn how to handle the winters.
They come regularly, right after Autumn. Some are long, some are short, some are difficult, some are easy, but they always come right after Autumn. That is never going to change.
There are all kinds of winters—the winter when you can’t figure it out; the winter when everything seems to go haywire. One writer called it the winter of discontent. There are economic winters, social winters, personal winters—when your heart is smashed into a thousand pieces.
Wintertime brings disappointment, and disappointment is common to all of us. So learn how to handle the winters. You must learn how to handle the nights; they come right after days.
You must learn how to handle difficulty; it always comes after opportunity. You must learn to handle recessions; they come right after expansions. That isn’t going to change.
The big question is, what do you do about winters? You can’t get rid of January simply by tearing it off the calendar. But here is what you can do: you can get stronger, you can get wiser, and you can get better.
Make a note of that trio of words: stronger, wiser, better. The winters won’t change, but you can. Before I understood this, I used to wish it were summer when it was winter.
When things were difficult, I used to wish they were easy. I didn’t know any better then. Mr Chaw gave me the answer from a part of his very unique philosophy when he said, “Don’t wish it were easier; wish you were better.
Don’t wish for fewer problems; wish for more skills. Don’t wish for less challenge; wish for more wisdom. ” Here is the second major lesson in life: learn how to take advantage of the spring.
Spring is opportunity, and spring always follows winter. What a great place for spring, right after winter! If you were going to put it somewhere, that would be the place to put it.
God is a genius. Days follow nights; opportunity follows difficulty; expansion follows recession, and this all happens with regularity. You can count on it.
However, the mirror of spring is no sign that things are. . .
Going to look good in the fall, you must do something with the spring. In fact, everyone has to get good at one of two things: planting in the spring or begging in the fall. So take advantage of the day, take advantage of the opportunity, and read every book you can get your hands on to learn how to take advantage of the spring.
Get busy quickly on your springs—your opportunities. There are just a handful of springs that have been handed to each of us. Life is brief, even at its longest.
Whatever you are going to do with your life, get at it. Don't just let the seasons pass by. The third major lesson in life is this: learn how to nourish and protect your crops all summer.
Sure enough, as soon as you've planted, the busy bugs and noxious weeds are out to take things over. And here's the next bit of truth: they will take it unless you prevent it. There are two key phrases to consider with the third major lesson.
The first is: all good will be attacked. Don't press me for a reason; I was not in on some of the early decisions, so I don't know why. I just know that it's true.
Let reality be your best beginning. Every garden will be invaded. The second phrase is: all values must be defended—social values, political values, friendship values, business values—all must be defended.
Every garden must be tended all summer. If you don't develop this skill, you'll never wind up with anything of value. The fourth major lesson in life is this: learn how to reap in the fall without complaint.
Take full responsibility for what happens to you. One of the highest forms of human maturity is accepting full responsibility. Learn how to reap in the fall without apology if you have done well and without complaint if you have not.
That's being mature. I'm not saying it's easy; I'm saying it's the best way to be. The seasons don't work for you or against you; they just are what they are.
They are guaranteed to come every year, bringing both the positive and the negative. So it's up to you to remember the four major lessons in life, prepare for them, and make the most of everything they offer. Now I want you to answer this question: what kind of person must I become to achieve all I want?
And I'll give you time to write that down now. What kind of person must I become to achieve all I want? Now we've got two things working: what you become helps you to achieve, and what you achieve helps you to become.
The more you become, the more you can achieve, and the more you achieve, the more you can become. Who knows which affects the other the most? So now just write this exercise.
Start with a few sentences; we won't have time for you to, you know, take a lot of time, but just start. Start with a few sentences about your concept of the person you think you must become to achieve what you want. This is time for a little truth here: maybe you need to become much wiser than you are at the moment.
You need to become stronger; you need to have better health. Maybe you need a little coaching to really become the person you want to become. I'm going to have to have some coaching—physical coaching, spiritual coaching, developing skills coaching.
To be the influence you want to be, you've got to build an incredible reputation. What kind of person must I be to attract all that I want in my life, and the people that I want, and the opportunities that I want? When you knock on the door and opportunity opens, you must stand there as a very attractive person or you may not be invited.
One of the most mysterious and unique phrases that Jesus ever used—here's what he said: "I stand at the door and knock, and if you open the door, would you probably invite him in? " This extraordinary person—you say, “Wow, yeah! ” And he said, “If you invite me, I'll come in, sit down, and talk things over.
” For you to be that kind of attractive person, if you knocked on the door of opportunity and it opened, and you stood there, would you be the kind of person that opportunity would say, “Come right in and sit down, and let's talk about the future? ” In conclusion, understanding and managing our attitudes is crucial for achieving success and happiness in life. We've discussed various attitude diseases that can hinder our progress, such as indifference, indecision, doubt, worry, overcaution, pessimism, and complaining.
Each of these attitudes can sabotage our efforts and prevent us from reaching our full potential. However, by recognizing these negative attitudes and actively working to overcome them, we can transform our lives for the better. We must learn to cultivate positive attitudes, such as determination, belief in ourselves, courage, optimism, and gratitude.
These attitudes empower us to take risks, make decisions, overcome challenges, and seize opportunities. Ultimately, the quality of our lives is determined by the quality of our attitudes. By adopting a proactive and positive mindset, we can navigate life's challenges with resilience, creativity, and optimism.
Let us strive to stand guard at the door of our minds, carefully selecting the thoughts and attitudes that shape our destiny. With the right attitudes, we can create a life filled with purpose, fulfillment, and abundance.
