Jim Rohn Audiobook: The Art of Exceptional Living - Best Motivational Speech

[Music] I have two daughters they're a year apart Cindy's lives down in Southern California Linda lives in h Seaside she's married to Michael pong graio Michael used to work for George Lucas and Spielberg you know and all those movies Star Wars Indiana Jones he's a famous in the film community and television for his art skills got two emms for his Television work and they have given me two grandchildren Nathaniel is uh 12 and a half Natalie's 11 and I've got pictures in case you want no anyway one day uh my daughter Linda calls me on

the phone says hi Dad I said hi Linda she said just a moment and it sounded like she put the phone down on the table and I heard this clapping and she picked up the phone said Daddy did you hear that and I said yes she said that's in case you haven't Gotten any Applause lately so when I talk to Linda tomorrow in fact I'm going to go see the kids on Monday I'll say she doesn't need to clap for me on the phone right I got plenty of Applause in uh Santa Clara anyway let's

go back to work I never thought in my wildest imagination that I would ever be able to have something to say for two whole days I mean it just it's I'm amazed I'm I'm still amazed at what Happen in fact I was so excited to get here today to hear what I have to say right just amazing so let's talk now about the subject that uh exploded my life into change I've never been the same and that's uh personal development it's um subject I came in contact with when I was 25 years old I was

raised in Southwest Idaho I still have the old Family Farm my papa's gone he was 93 Mama's Gone she was uh 79 so it looks like I'm going to be around a long time good jeans my papa never retired when he died his paycheck was waiting for me that's pretty good right so um I intend to be around a long long time looks like but anyway I was raised in Southwest Idaho and still have the old Family Farm you know raising the normal crops in that part of the world and my neighbor raises Arabian horses

and I furnish Clover sometimes for him And some years it's potatoes and some years it's winter wheat and some years it's something else also got Vineyards got a new wine label just finishing up ran Bitner Dr Bitner is my partner Ron Bitner Vineyards the chardonay of last year was absolutely incredible but I you know went to college one year and halfway through my second year I quit unfortunately age 19 uh should have stayed in school right but I thought hey I'm smart enough to Get a job how much smarter do you need to be so

with that kind of shallow thinking back then you know I quit school and went to work a little later got married started a little family and you know sort of along in the sort sort of average ameran American family just young getting started and uh aged 25 you know I'm behind on my obligations creditors calling once in a while and I'm embarrassed by being in that Position very short on my promises to my family not feeling good about myself and then I had a chance to meet this extraordinary Man by the name of Mr scha

Mr Earl scha and a lot of you have already heard that part of my story a friend of mine had gone to work for him and he said you got to meet this man he's rich but he's easy to talk to and he's got a remarkable philosophy of life and business so I thought well I got to meet this guy had a chance to Meet him long story short he invited me to participate in his company and I was with him for uh five years before he died and he died at the early age of

49 but during that five years I learned these revolutionary things my parents laid a great foundation for me uh all those years which has lasted me all of my life but to open up business and to open up the world and open up opportunity uh that I could qualify for started with this man by the name of Mr Scha Mr real scha and here's one of the early subject he taught me called personal development and it's I've Illustrated it in so many ways but one of the best is when you're teaching kids Financial Independence when

I teach kids Financial Independence here's what I teach we get paid for bringing value to the marketplace but this will also serve as an introduction to personal development we get paid for bringing value to the Marketplace the key is to study the marketplace tomorrow we may talk about what I taught in Moscow profits are better than wages capitalism at the Grassroots is the Vitality of the nation so you study your marketplace now the key is to bring value to the marketplace now up here put time it takes time to bring value to the mar Marketplace

actually there's two parts to the value to Bring a product or a service and to be valuable to the marketplace to bring value and to be valuable and it takes time but we don't get paid for the time we get paid for the value so the key is to study the marketplace what do they need what could I bring and what could I become management leadership whatever so could I find something valuable to bring to the marketplace and Could I be valuable to the marketplace that is the key study the marketplace but then my mentor

said the main thing is to study yourself then when I teach economics to kids I teach America's latter decline starts down here at $5 an hour and this letter starts going up like this top income last year there's a whole variety of stories I'm sure one of the top was something like 26 million something like That for one year so we start at $5 an hour and we go up to 26 million now here's what we call this a heck of a ladder not much better way to describe it right that's a heck of of

a ladder so here's what everybody has the opportunity to claim the ladder now first all you need is what a chance that's all everybody needs is a chance and a Start and now education is to how to take advantage of your chance how to get started and use your education to move up this ladder speaking financially now there's a lot of ways to grow but speaking financially this is the deal so let's say you start at $5 an hour and really who cares uh where you start as long as you they let you on the

ladder so you start at $5 an hour now the first key is how do you increase the $5 and there's several philosophies to Increasing the $5 here's number one uh wait for them to raise the minimum wage right wouldn't that be one philosophy now the last time it took how many years right several years to raise the minimum wage which is okay I'm not saying it isn't okay it's one way to get an increase in uh income is to wait for the minimum wage okay here's the next philosophy to Wait for a raise which is

certainly legitimate now the question is how often do the raises come every six months maybe one year they do what a review what if you miss the review well you got to wait another six months or maybe a year so that might take quite a while to go from five let's say to six here's another philosophy go on strike here's the philosophy we call by Demand to demand more and if you don't give me more I'll go on strike I won't work which is one philosophy to get more by demand now here's the problem with

demand make the note kids need to learn it you can't get rich by demand you might get a few more pennies right you might get an extra dollar you might get an extra benefit or something but you can't get rich by demand here's why not that it isn't America and not that it isn't that economically now we're doing incredibly well but here's why you can't get rich by demand it's the wrong philosophy and here's what would be tragic all your working life to live in the right country and have the wrong philosophy so you can't

get rich by demand then how could you get rich in America it's very simple change your philosophy and what would be the new philosophy answer you get rich by Performance not by demand now my mentor says some people don't just make $5 an hour they've moved up to six how easy would it be to get to six probably pretty easy if you work for McDonald's they paid you $5 an hour hauling out the trash if you Whistle While You Haul out the trash they'll pay you $6 an hour right here's an unusual person they deserve

$6 just because of their attitude wear the hat say yay McDonald's okay so for that you get an extra what dollar an hour because the company recognizes hey looks like this is going to be an oncoming person so it's not that difficult to go from 5 to six but here's what's interesting some earn $50 an hour 10 times as much how could you multiply your income by 10 one you probably couldn't do it waiting for a raise certainly you couldn't do it waiting for them to change the minimum Wage and you certainly couldn't do it

by demand because usually when they make demands they don't demand that you multiply my income by 10 people don't go on strike for multiplying their income by 10 usually right it's just a little little increase so how could you go from 5 to 10 interesting but that's not the end of it can you think of somebody that makes $500 an hour am I Beverly Hills attorney Yes you can think of some right to make $500 an hour now 500 multiplies by 10 again not just once from $5 to 50 but from 50 to 500 is

multiplying by 10 again can you multiply by 10 and then multiply by 10 and the answer is yes one living in the right country is an advantage but here's the greatest Advantage having the right philosophy now $500 an hour is not the end of the story we go right on up to These top incomes would a company pay someone 26 million for one year's work and the answer is yes they do it all the time right not because this guy went on strike that's not how he gets the 26 million so a change in a

shift in philosophy here starts to change everything now my mentor said you can climb this ladder Mr rone as high as you wish to climb it we're just talking economics now there's a lot of other values to go for but speaking Economically you can climb this ladder as high as you wish to climb it if you'll follow this philosophy here's what he said you that have been around for a while have heard me say it he said learn to work harder on yourself than you do on your job learn to work harder on yourself than

you do on your job I got the message age 25 then he added if you work hard on your job you can make a living which is Noble if you work hard on yourself you could make a fortune which is exciting I have never heard that kind of philosophy before working harder on yourself than you do on your job work hard on your job make a living which is fine work hard on yourself make a fortune which is super fine or working hard on yourself starts to multiply your value to the Marketplace so we're talking

about bringing value and being valuable to the marketplace and this is the key we don't get paid for the time we get paid for the for the value then he put it in the form of a philosophy that I've been teaching now all these years which is so important and now let me give you that philosophy he said success is something you Attract by the person you become success is something you attract by the person you become success is not something you pursue Chase run after success is something you develop something you become you attract

success tomorrow we're going to talk leadership here's the theme of leadership to attract Attractive people you must be attractive to attract skillful people you must be skillful to Attract committed people you must be committed so the whole key to unlock all the treasures whether it's economic Treasures or spiritual Treasures Financial social personal every way you can possibly think of is by your own personal development then he added one more which is so important and it's probably worth the price of the seminar here it is what you become is much more valuable than what you get

what you Become is much more valuable than what you get the major question to ask on the job is not what am I getting here the major question to ask on the job is what am I becoming here here not what am I getting what am I becoming so it's very important what you become because what you become attracts if you become cynical you attract cynicism what you become Attracts so this whole subject of personal development was so vitally important to me it changed my life I was a millionaire by age 31 and that was

just the economic part of it took me six years from age 25 to age 31 it was unbelievable so right country but a refinement of philosophy is what's important so let's now talk about personal development the first subject Is called the seasons an understanding of the seasons to illustrate the total aspect of life one of the best ways to illustrate for your children or for anyone one life situations is to use the illustration of the seasons so let's go through it here they are the seasons number one you cannot change the seasons until you get

your own planet Right you can't change the seasons they're set all of this has been set in motion but here's the next piece of information you can change yourself you can't change the seasons but you can change yourself life and business is like the changing seasons Frank syop saying life is like the seasons so now let's quickly go through The seasons this is a whole study in itself if I can just give you a little outline here some ideas and you can take it from there and and use it in whatever manner that would serve

you as well as to serve your own understanding of of time the passing of time first learn how to survive the winter speaking of life in its simplest aspect the first key to learn in your life on the spinning planet is to learn how to Survive now there's all kinds of winters right the winter of the calendar right the winter of this actual season but then there's Financial Winters and social Winters personal Winters but we understand those because we've all been through them barbar strian things it used to be so natural to talk about forever

but used to bees don't count anymore they just lay on the floor till we sweep them away you don't sing me love songs you don't say you need me And you don't bring me flowers anymore a winter song but we know what those lyrics are about you know we've been through those experiences the winters now here's the key on the winters some are long and some some are short some are easy and some are tough but they always come right after harvest right after fall Autumn so we cannot rearrange the coming of the Winters but

here's what we could do get stronger wiser and better so that we can survive better and our life will be less eroded by learning to handle the next winter the next winter of a divorce the next winter of an illness the next winter of a death in the family the next winter of a loss financially the next winter of a a crisis of whatever kind to be better equipped so here's the key to learn the seasons so that you can Approach it all in a very intelligent way for kids we teach the ant philosophy the

ant philosophy so for the kids that aren't here take this home for the kids that aren't here the ant philosophy and here's the little short list on the ant philosophy number one ants never quit if an ant is headed somewhere and you stop him he'll start looking for Another way how long will he look till he finds it or till he dies one way or the other he'll find it okay so that's a good philosophy just never quit like an ant here's the next part of the ant philosophy ants think winter all summer you got

to think negative when it's positive and not be disillusioned that's why ants always seem to be in a Hurry why are they in a hurry because they're thinking winter winter winter hurry hurry hurry get going go go go go so you must think negative when it's positive you must think winter when it's summer here's some of the best advice comes from classic tradition a great story says don't build your house on the sand in the summer why be given that advice because it's easy to get faked out in the summer right Blue Sky fleecy clouds

nice Weather so you build your house on the sand you say no you must not be faked out when it's nice you must think storm in the summer and not get faked out and if you think storm now you'll look for a rock on which to build your house now you're going to be safe so you can't think nice when it's nice you got to think storm when it's nice and if you haven't been through one of those storms you got to find somebody and say have you been Through one of those storms scare me

to death if you will please so I can so I will not be faked out here and I will keep searching right not to quickly build on the sand because it's nice but to build on a rock because it's not always going to be like this the seasons are going to come and change and if you're not educated to that degree now you suffer a great loss so the ant thinks winter in the summer now here's the next philosophy I'm sure the ant thinks summer in the winter the time to think positive is when it's

negative why because the negative won't last long how long is the winter isn't that long so the ant thinks summer in the winter this won't last long we'll soon be out of here just hang on it's not going to take that long how long is the night it's only a few hours come on there's never been a double night couldn't you make it a few more Hours and the story says yes the night just can't last for sometimes it seems like it's going to last forever and when you have insomnia right it seems like the

night will never pass but I'm telling you sure enough it will pass so learn to think day when it's night and then you must learn to think night when it's day an old Prophet said work while it's day work work while it's day because the night's coming right this was before Thomas Edison and the light you got to work when it's day because the Night Comes when you can't work of course now we can work day and night but back then you couldn't work when the night came so you had to get it going get

it in before the night came so this is a good idea now learn to think negative when it's positive learn to think storm when there is no storm learn to think winter in the summer but then we must learn to think summer in the winter we can make it Through few more hours right few more days won't be that long hang in here the spring will surely come okay so the winters of Life learn to express those to other people help them understand that as well as to try to understand it yourself now here's the

next season the spring spring is called opportunity not a guarantee it's guaranteed the spring will come but it's not a guarantee of a harvest here's the Key you must do something with the spring take advantage of the spring read every book you can get your hands on what to do with the Springs of your life take advantage of the day because the day follows the night it's an opport opportunity Now to turn things around it's an opportunity to have a better one than than the last one it's an opportunity for a new beginning a new

spring a new day a new beginning in business we learn to create An artificial spring because in an industrialized Society right seems like you know the seasons just don't mean that much you know when you're a farmer out there they mean everything but when you're not working on the line you know whatever so sometimes you got to create an artificial spring we're going to take the next 90 days and we're really going to pour it on like if you're in sales the next 90 days I'm going to make every Contact possible you just create an

artificial spring next 30 days next 90 days right bargain with your family say look I know we were going to do some things the next 90 days but if you'll postpone those for me I'll really pay back because I want to use this now as a springtime to go for it go for it go for it so spring is the is the chance to take advantage of another opportunity [Music] Now here's what you must do in the spring it's a very short season usually you must hurry you wouldn't ask a farmer to go bowling in

the spring he hasn't got time why the season is too short the planting season is too short you got to get it done fairly quickly and life at its longest is short the beat wrote life is very short which is true my father lived to be 93 but it seemed to be very short it Didn't seem that long so life is short for um John lenon it was extra short for Michael Landon life was extra short for my mentor died at age 49 that's extra short but life at the longest is short so you must

learn to appreciate opportunity and take advantage of it while it's day while it's time now we call Spring a window of opportunity if you have a chance to talk To someone the window's open it may not stay long so take advantage don't hesitate meet a new friend talk to somebody while the windows open now here's the season for everybody to understand because it is so applicable to our life and that's the season of Summer two things we must do in the summer nourish our values and protect nourish like a mother protect Like a father the

twin challenges in the summertime help to illustrate life that we are confronted with both good and evil is that the way it should be you got to ask somebody a little higher up than me we could get into probably a pretty great debate would there be good without evil here's the B best answer I've got in our finite position at the moment here's the best answer it doesn't seem Like it it seems like it takes the contrast to make a scenario to make an adventure now remember we didn't set it up so but here here's

what seems to be the setup opposites in conflict that seems to be the setup for a human Adventure one contesting against the other vying for the territory would there be light without Darkness we probably wouldn't call it light what gives us the value of one is The contrast of the other but darkness is always trying to move in and take all the territory but if you turn on the light it its energy starts to repel Darkness Darkness begins to move away move away and the the brighter the light the further away the darkness must move

if you walk into a dark room and turn on the light the darkness is what gone but here's the point to remember not very far the darkness seems to be yes it's gone But it it's waiting waiting for its chance that if energy light loses its energy Darkness has a chance not to move back in here's one of the the better realistic illustrations and that's health and illness at odds in your body illness trying its best to drive Health into a small corner and occupy the territory and health trying what to push illness into a

small corner there's This contest going on who's going to occupy the territory if one stays strong the other is diminished if the other gains in power then the other is diminished so what you must learn to do is cooperate with the positive side of everything in your body and your life sometimes we sabotage our own best interest the body needs a banana us sended a cocacola and the body says what is the deal Here I'm I'm Health trying to drive illness into a small corner I ordered a banana you send me a Coca-Cola so the

body could rightfully say What whose side are you on give us a break here we need every tool we can get to keep illness at Bay cuz if we get weak I'm telling you it moves in moves in moves in takes the territory so we're in the middle of this contest and here's what it's called opposites in Conflict here's one of the bigger conflicts Liberty and tyranny Liberty is the absence of tyranny but even though tyranny is is conquered it's not very far away the same goes on in your bloodstream red cor pusles to nourish

like a mother and give life white corpal to fight and kill like a father white corpal say just show me some in I'll kill it if I don't kill it what it killed you somebody's going to Get killed in this contest right good evil Liberty tyranny right health illness winning and losing it's right there's there's the struggle going on but here's the key it's the only way it seems it's the only way to create a human Adventure it doesn't seem to be any other way current L currently now some speak of a new Heaven and

a new Earth and maybe the whole Arrangement will be different could very well be but in this Current experience it seems like to create an adventure to create a unique human scenario we need opposites and conflict and that's the deal thank God for white cor pusles that think negative all day tyranny and Liberty Saddam Hussein takes over Kuwait what should we do somebody says well Kuwait what do we care well what if next he wants Saudi Arabia you say well it's a pile of sand what do we care well what if next he Wants Israel

you say well little Israel what do we care well what if next he wants the rest of the Mediterranean you say well yes I guess we've got to draw a line somewhere Yes somewhere you've always got to draw a line somewhere and tell illness hey you can't have anymore you got to throw up the barriers draw a line in the sand our President George Bush was right to draw a line in the sand put together The Coalition and put together a half a million troops and go kick Saddam Hussein out of Kuwait history demanded it

hired Chief white corp pusle General Schwarz scuff I met the general a couple of times he was the man to send so Liberty and tyranny in a contest and it's the only way to have a civilized society tyranny cannot be rehabilitated Tyranny can only be restrained so for Saddam Hussein we put a no-fly zone on top and a no fly zone on the bottom right to contain so that Liberty would have a chance the citizens of the world would have a chance that the world would have a better chance and we've got to fight these

skirmishes we've been fighting the them forever we got to fight them forever whether they're inside your own Body or whether they're in politics no matter where they are we must play this game we must fight this game but here's what it creates a great adventure let me give you the ultimate now could you win if you couldn't lose and the answer is no it doesn't seem like it you couldn't call it winning you can't win if you couldn't lose so that's the deal now negative positive would there be negative positive without negative no it doesn't

Seem like it it seems like this is the current setup you know for the foreseeable future it looks like it's been that way as long as we can remember and as long as the history tells us so here's what you want to do if you want the adventure you must learn to play this game to work with all the positive forces to defeat the negative forces as early and as soon and as much as possible to contain the ravages of disease that want to take you Early you got to fight back you can't just just

leave it somebody says well I got my fingers crossed not a good philosophy you got to take your vitamins you got to do the stuff you got to do the deal jump on the positive side of whatever you want and see if you can't help out in this Warfare and this push shove match that's the key so in the summer here's what you must do nourish the plants and the garden nourish your values like a mother give life whatever You start now you must nourishment and give it life don't neglect a new life if youve

started a new life what if you said to a brand new mother where is your baby she says I have no idea you would say no that isn't right if you start a new life you must care for it you must protect it you must give it life give it nourishment now here's the other part you must protect it like A father that's why the old wise men said we must learn to love and hate so underline that you must learn to love and and hate and the illustration he used was you must learn to

love good and hate evil to deal with the weeds in your garden you got to hate weeds you got to hate them enough to what kill them you can't say well poor weeds say no this ain't the deal poor Weeds don't go soft on this stuff man you got to hate evil you got to hate the weeds that are out to destroy your garden and Rob your children of the nourishment they deserve so here's the deal love like a mother hate like a father and here's the rest of it give life like a mother and

take life like a father you got to take the life of the weeds or they will take the life of your garden somebody's going to get Killed remember so you must be like a father any father would say to whatever threatens his family take three more steps toward this family you'll cease to exist I'm father I kill so send out the warnings send out the signals both mother and father reside here mother nourishes and father gives protection and yes it's possible to love like a father and hate like a mother just so you get both

done in fact nothing more dangerous than An angry mother especially in the Animal Kingdom mess with Mama Bear's Cubs if you're a threat to her Cubs she'll kill you that's that female mother instinct kill first talk later okay you got that now it's good advice we're going to learn in communication shortly you got to learn to put love and hate in the same sentence because it's vitally important sometimes you must say to your children What I love you but I hate what's going on they got to know what you love and what you hate you

don't hate ha them but you hate what's going on you hate the dangers so learn the good evil summer time now here's the greatest battle in the mind here's what you must not become in the summer in your mind a victim of yourself what is that Insidious voice inside your own head that says you're too short it'll never work for you You're too tall right it's over for you right it's never worked for you before what gives you any idea that it'll work for you now you've never been able to rise up and take charge

of your life what makes you think you can do it now there's going to be too many obstacles out there you'll never overcome them all what is that Insidious voice it's the same game going on inside your head that's going on in the world Liberty and tyranny and a push shove match and Here's what you've got to do cooperate with the positive side of your life and let Faith drive out doubt right let winning drive out losing let positive drive out negative but you got to get into the contest and why get into the contest

because that's how you create an adventure there is no other way it takes both you've got to learn to laugh yes but that's not what the wise men only said you can't just learn to laugh and keep on laughing no that's silly it says There's also a time to cry you've got to learn to both laugh and cry then it said you must be so sophisticated is not to laugh when it's time to cry then it furthers says You must learn to laugh with those that laugh and learn to cry with those that cry that

now gives you an understanding of what life is all about sadness and joy the contest the difference and yet it creates the adventure what if you went to listen to The symphony orchestra and the symphony only played little happy high notes all evening just little Pleasant happy high notes how much of that could you take say no don't you want to hear the crash of the symbols that scares you to death don't you want to hear here the the minor key of the music that shows you the tragedy as well as the Triumph and the

answers yes play me the whole Orchestra I can handle it because that's what life is all About positive negative what if the minister only prayed happy prayers every Sunday how much do that could you take happy happy every Sunday every Sunday happy happy how much how much could you take who's going to pray angry prayers who's going to pray frustrated prayers who's going to weep in public for the Lost Children it takes both you got to weep with those that weep and laugh with Those that laugh you got to have this full understanding of the

game you got to understand the highs and the lows the tragedy and the Triumph most of the music of the world is written in the minor key the key of paos and sadness and mystery and wonder you can't eliminate that from your life takes both to create an adventure but here's the adventure to overcome the evil to put evil in its place just like in your mind you got to stand guard at The door of your mind and see if you can't suppress see if you can't do battle with the negative forces don't become a

victim of yourself Beware of the thief on the street that's after your purse but also Beware of the thief in your mind that's after your promise and see if you can't engage in this mental contest and win the day that's the summer now here's one more season and That's the season of harvest here's the key to remember Harvest Time in Du season in due time when it's time and part of this is to develop the patience so that when it's time it will come but you cannot be impatient patience is part of the game here

you can't plant the seed and two three days later dig around and say where's my crop where's my crop say no come on that's foolish we take you away to some Safe place this you got to plant and what you got to plant and wait and exercise patience and then when it comes time you give it nourishment and you give it care and you give it protection and then you got to wait some more and you got to wait some more and you got to wait some more but here's what it says in do time

in due season when it's ready when it's time for you whatever it is financially socially personally economically whatever the time when it's Time your Harvest will come the old wise man said what run the race and the prize will be yours if you don't faint and sometimes in the summer it's easy when the Sun is hot to faint to spend less time but if you faint not if you're there ready after after this activity of Summer do the summer work just make the little not do the Work of Summer nourishing protecting whether it's family whether

it's business the work of Summer now the Harvest here's the key now to harvest to wisely use the resources when your Harvest comes now you can't blow it all you can't spend it all you can't live it all up remember the two parts to life one the full development of all your Potential second the wise use of all your resources tomorrow one of our major subjects is going to be the management of time time management if we have time we'll go through that otherwi I said I'm going to cover procastination but I've decided to put

that off till tomorrow the management now of your resources is when they Come an ancient story says they took the seven years of plenty and they didn't live it all up make the note you must take the seven years of plenty and not live it all up what did they do they used the seven years of plenty to get ready for the next seven years of famine the first seven to prepare for the next seven we'll talk more about that tomorrow Under Financial Independence so the subject of the seasons so vital so important such a

great illustration to almost every life situation you can think of it'll help your kids it'll help your business it'll help your management people your sales people everybody this could be one of our best seasons in terms of the world the Turning of the century everybody's thinking about the year 2000 a new centur Century a new millennium A New Beginning a new chance a new opportunity for World cooperation national International cooperation what can we do to play our small part in the whole wide ranging scheme of things it's good that everybody's thinking about this this could

be a new time a new chance a new opportunity right yes we've blown it in the past and we've messed it up in the past but maybe just maybe this time There's enough technology and enough s and enough spirit and enough righteousness and enough rightness enough stuff to make this the opening years of the next centuries some of the most promising years in the last 6,000 wow now make these quick notes and we're going to take a break the four steps to success these personal development subjects are just vitally important the first step to success

is Good good ideas you must be a collector of good ideas here's where my mentor did me the greatest of service and that was keeping a journal of good ideas here's what he said don't trust your memory what classic information don't trust your memory if a good idea comes jot it down one so you can review it two so that you capture it it won't be lost so All those years back then I started keeping a journal I got journals you wouldn't believe little cheap ones when I first started remember the Greg shorthand little books

little spiral things I Ed those because they must be broke yes you I wasn't doing very well so it cost I don't know a quarter or something now my journals are expensive this one cost $42 and I wish it would have cost more Cuz I'm doing really well my journal but but if you look at all my journals you can tell how my life was going say he was poor here and it looks like he was rich here and then he was broke again now looks like he's Rich again for sure so but here's the

key and we'll talk about this more also under time management something to pass on to the next Generation the collection of ideas that made you healthy the Collection of ideas that turned your life around the collection of ideas that caused you to learn extra skills and got the extra income the wise use of your resources the ideas you found on how to do that think of passing this on now to the Next Generation and the Next Generation this is so valuable but mostly now primarily for your own study so you can go back over what

you've collected and in a now different place same ideas but now that you're in a Different place you'll see it in a whole new light on how it will help change your business help change your career your future relationships and all the rest keeping a journal right now this is for serious students non-s serious students don't need to keep a journal but for serious students that are serious about their health and serious about their future serious about Gathering things to make a contribution to others keeping a journal that's Important a collection of good ideas first

step to success here's the next step a good plan you got to have a good plan you got to have a good health plan my mentor asked me when I'm 25 Mr R what's your current plan for your financial future and I said I don't have one right and that was obvious say you got to create a plan a good financial Plan if we finish the seminar tomorrow and and you lingered a while and gave me the details of your Current financial plan for the future would I get so excited about it I'd go across

the country and lecture on it you say no Mr rone you probably wouldn't want to lecture on my plan my next question would be what why not have you reached this point in your life's maturity and you don't have a plan that's got you up early and keeping you Up late that you're excited about unfolding we're going to talk more about about this tomorrow under Financial Independence here's one of the first things you must do if you're a parent build a financial wall around your family nothing can get through build a financial wall around your

family nothing can get through now there's other protections that a parent must engage in but here's one of the first ones since it's so Possible Living in America a financial wall around your family nothing can get through got to have a good health plan you know you can't be out of breath after the year 2000 you got to have the Vitality right you got to have the breath you got to have the Vitality so you got to have a good health plan you got to have a good financial plan you got to have a good

plan for your goals and plans and dreams And we're going to get into our Workshop tomorrow we'll go through all of that so number one's good ideas number two is good plans here's two more here's number three learning to handle the passing of time that's one of the big challenges in everybody's life learning to handle the passing of time and then here's number four the solving of problems and that's what life is all about taking them on finding Solutions Executing recording [Music] progress to receive more information on Jim Ron's speaking schedule and products please visit

his website at www.jim r.com where you can also subscribe to receive free the weekly jimr easy newsletter or you can call Jim's office at 800 92904 34 in the Dallas Fort Worth area please call 817 442 547 all mail should be directed to jimr International 2835 Exchange Boulevard Suite 200 South Lake Texas 76092 thanks again for listening and make it your best year ever here's to your success hi everybody this is Jim ran over the years I have repeatedly encouraged people in search of the good life to make use of a journal invariably at the

conclusion of a seminar a number of people are sufficiently inspired by learning of the Effect journals have had on my life to start using one of their own unfortunately inspiration and enthusiasm quickly fade in the face of all those blank pages instead of finding new answers to life the journal seems to open a Floodgate Of new questions such as what am I supposed to write should I only write about business events how often should I be writing what kind of Journal is best does spelling Count the purpose of these tapes then is not only to

explore the incredible value of recording your life's experiences but also to examine the endless uses and methods of keeping a journal hopefully by the conclusion of this program your questions will have been answered and you will be confidently embarking on a new adventure and achievement with the vehicle of pen and paper the first thing to understand about a journal is that it's your book And because it is yours you must be the one to select the size and style you feel most suits your needs and personal preferences like a favorite armchair a journal must be

comfortable enough that you will want to go to it often you may in fact find yourself experimenting with a variety of journals over the years as your needs and tastes change during the past 25 years I'd be willing to bet that I've tried almost every conceivable system of capturing Ideas on paper from loose leaf binders and file cards to Dime Store notebooks and hardbound volumes I've had big journals and little journals journals with line pages and journals with blank pages all of which met a certain need at a certain period in my life and believe

me you too will undoubtedly go through half a dozen different methods over the years and that's to be expected as you continue to grow and Develop you will soon C that last year systems won't likely meet this year's needs you see one of the keys to success is flexibility we must always be on the search for more effective methods to facilitate and accommodate new ideas but let's face it in the beginning the only thing that matters is that you develop the journal habit the journal we've included with this tape program may or may not be

Exactly what you're looking for but just start using it like ordering Chinese food for the first time the only way to find out which dishes you will or will not like is to try a few by using this journal to get you started you will not only develop the journal habit but you will also discover in the process of using it what you like or do not like about it then when you finished you can always look for a journal that is more tailored to suit your specific needs and I would suggest that when you

go to buy your second Journal that you take the time to get just the right one remember the use of anything received will always be in direct proportion to how it makes you feel when you use it the color and material of The Binding the texture of the paper the width of the lines or the absence of lines are important considerations if you feel lines tend to restrict your creative flow then go with blank pages If you feel uncomfortable with blank pages then choose line Pages hey it's your book make sure it reflects what you

are my latest Journal is a leatherbound volume for which I paid handsomely but it's worth every penny I spent the richness and the smell of the leather in themselves are enticing it's enjoyable just to hold it in my hands and two it's important to me to know that unique ideas are being stored in a suitable place somebody once asked me why I pay As much as I do for an empty book and my answer was simple I intend to put something valuable in it let's face it you wouldn't store precious gems in an empty cigar

box so why put a million-dollar idea in a 10-cent book just one bit of advice however bear in mind that a journal should be capable of going wherever you go a journal that requires more space than your briefcase permits or more room than your desktop allows for you more often than not it Will be left at home ga Gathering dust instead of thoughts and cobwebs instead of observations but let's get to the heart of the matter buying a journal is the easy part the real challenge lies in filling it up and that's what we want

to deal with now what should go into a journal if it is to have meaning and value in your life perhaps the best way to answer this question is to consider the purposes and Functions of a journal once the matter of why we should write is clear then the what we should write will become immediately apparent there are so many functions performed by a journal that I could conceivably spend the remainder of this tape and a half a dozen others discussing them but since more important than listening to my reasons for why you should be

keeping a journal is getting busy actually using your Journal I'll Try to limit the list and merely highlight some of the majors one of the unique character eristics of a journal is that it offers you an effective way to figure it all out to figure out life to figure out people to figure out business dilemmas and most important of all to figure out yourself there is something magical about writing down a problem it is almost as though in the very Act of writing what is wrong you start to Discover ways of making it right perhaps

the source of this magic lies in the objective perspective that writing affords you even though you are describing your problem your challenge your life your uncertainty and your indecision the fact that you are writing about it as opposed to mentally pondering it creates a space between you and the problem it is within this space that Solutions have room to grow you see writing about events and Circumstances that occur helps you to clarify exactly what is happening when we describe life to ourselves only in our minds our imaginations tend to feed false or distorted information about

how things are positive or negative when we describe a situation in writing however we become more factual more accurate and certainly more realistic then as we reread what we have written we create a new picture in our minds to replace the distort picture we Have been working with and once we finally see things as they are rather than as we think they are we can then see our way clear to make them better at the conclusion of this program you might in fact want to use this process to get your Journal started write about a

current dilemma you are facing Perhaps it is a personal problem a business matter a family issue or a financial problem whatever it is take the time to capture it on paper the Way it really is but remember writing out the problem is only the first step to creative problem solving and effective decision making the next step is to carefully analyze what you have written here are some of the key things to look for first exaggerations or distortions of the truth are you really telling it like it is take a another look perhaps your concern is

making it seem worse than it is or your enthusiasm Is making it seem better than it is second a tendency to blame circumstances or someone else for your problem instead of seeing yourself as the cause you see most of our difficulties are the result of either failing to do what we could have done or in doing in haste what we should never have done third a tendency to expect circumstances or still worse other people to change in order for your problem to be solved let Me remind you one more time that things get better when

you get better passive hope never has and never will improve human circumstances and finally look closely for weak points in the obstacle where you might attack to bring that obstacle to its knees remember David's slew Goliath with but one small Stone it usually doesn't take much more than a few minor adjustments in either Our attitude or our action plan to solve a major problem essentially you must learn to view your problems like a scientist who puts tiny organisms on a slide examine your circumstances through the lens of the microscope of Truth to see their real

nature their real perimeters and their real composition and two as you examine your problem do as any scientist would do record your Observations you see as you continue to refine your statement of the problem of the way it really is you will begin to move closer to the solution and speaking of solutions be sure to record the ultimate conclusion to your dilemma if it worked well then it is worth remembering and if it didn't work well as you had hoped it would then it is even more essential to record the outcome lest you should find

yourself Repeating mistakes instead of learning from them mistakes in judgment are nothing to be ashamed of surely most of our personal growth comes as a result of our errors but what is truly unforgivable is to make the same mistake twice every mistake has its own price tag but the most costly error anyone can make is an error unlearned and often repeated if something didn't work it may Be too late to undo the mistake but it's never too late to make adjustments and revisions in your thinking you see better decision making comes from the better thinking

habits and better thinking habits comes from practical experience learning both what to do and what not to do becoming a more effective thinker on paper is a sure way of becoming a more effective person in practice as step one for getting used to using your Journal then I would suggest Writing down problems that you encounter and recording all the steps you can take or did take to solve them as well as their eventual outcomes now I realize this is only a suggestion but please let me offer you a bit of ADV advice about suggestions you

see many people will hear this suggestion agree that it sounds like a good idea to try and even go so far as to mentally agree to do it sometime and therein lies the problem That nebulous word sometime we all know what happens to the promises we make to do something tomorrow or next week or as soon as we have a chance somehow we never quite get around to doing it my advice is that if you think a suggestion has Merit and that it's worth trying that you promise yourself you will do it make a firm

commitment now at the conclusion of this program you will have chosen one of my suggestions and that you will not do Another thing until you have opened your journal and written at least one page otherwise to be perfectly honest you might as well stop the tape now and give it and the journal to a friend for surely if you lack the discipline to start a journal it is highly unlikely that you will ever have the discipline to continue to use one either this leads us into a second function of your Journal which is the capturing

of good Ideas how many times as we go through the day do we come across a good idea a unique quote an interesting piece of information or even a significant personal Discovery and each time we do we mentally say to ourselves I must remember that now I'm willing to admit here that the human mind is a remarkable thing but I also know from experience that the human memory leaves a lot to be Desired I think Emerson captured it best when he made this statement I suppose that every old scholar has had the experience of reading

something in a book which has significance to him but which he could never find again sure he is that he read it there but no one else ever read it nor can he find it again though he buy the book and ransack every page how true what we do not somehow capture today is lost forever there are a lot of things in life that we can Trust but my experience has taught me that the human memory is most definitely not one of them there are so many sources of insight and inspiration all around us good

ideas flow in abundance from sermons and lectures from books and magazines television documentaries business meetings and conversations but obviously for you to capture the ideas it is essential as I mentioned earlier that your Journal Always be at your side I remember one time attending a church service in Carmel California the sermon that Sunday morning was excellent so I opened my journal and started taking notes but out of the 400 people in attendance that day guess how many of the others were taking notes not one so there I was taking notes in my journal from this

sermon and pretty soon the people around me were Starting to give me strange looks out of the corner of my eye I could see them nudging one another and Whispering I felt like some kind of spy I could almost hear them saying he's going to get out of here with some of this stuff and sure enough I did I got the stuff so what I'm suggesting is that you get in there and get out with some of the stuff let other people sit there thinking they can remember it all let Other people treat opportunity casually

but not you I would ask you to treat it seriously let other people wonder at the end of their lives where it all went wrong but not you let other people play while you work fool around while you study soak up the sun while you soak up ideas 10 years from now they'll still be trying to figure out how to pay the bills or wondering why their marriage isn't working out or why they don't seem to be getting a head professionally but Not you life always rewards the serious students for their labors so since we

all know that it's nearly impossible for most of us to remember the exact phrasing of an inspiring line or the specific details of a business conference over an extended period of time we've got to get serious about capturing it now generally if we wait until the end of of the day to describe events and happenings and conversations in our Journals the specific details have already escaped us at best we are left with scattered fragments and it's hard to build an exciting future from Mere bits and pieces of the past and present so I would encourage

you to get it all down as it comes your way Financial ideas personal development ideas time management ideas family ideas ideas business ideas everything you have the Good Fortune to come across if an idea is worth listening to worth reading Worth remembering then it is also worth capturing in your journal and there are many reasons for making the effort to capture good ideas not the least of which is the fact that the simple Act of writing something on paper helps to etch the idea more firmly in our conscious ious Minds to hear it or see

it or read it is one thing to take the time and make the mental effort to capture it with paper and pen is so much More second every idea has its time and place as Victor Hugo once wrote there is one thing stronger than all the armies in the world and that is an idea whose Time Has Come perhaps the ideas you capture today will not have any specific meaning or purpose in your life at this moment but ultimately at some future point in time when you march into battle the Armory of ideas you have

carefully and conscientiously assembled over the years Will serve you well here's another interesting phenomenon about ideas as we collect a variety of thoughts on any given theme or subject the there is a tendency for these individual ideas to come together and form themselves into a whole new idea much as the single flakes of snow when gathered together can be formed into snowballs and snowballs into snowmen or perhaps a more graphic example would be that of the igloo which Is after all a dwelling built entirely of tiny snowflakes which have been compressed by their weight and

Frozen together over a per period of time such that whole blocks of them may be cut out to build a structure the successful human being is one who has learned to diversify his interests and gather Knowledge from a variety of sources gather enough good ideas in one area of life and you will form a solid block gather enough solid Blocks together and you can construct a whole new life but be aware of one thing the mental Storage Bank of good ideas is very much like the bottom drawer of our desks or the extra drawer in

the kitchen that holds a collection of valuable items gathered over the years none of which can ever be found when we go to look for them again because of the chaotic manner in which they were stored we pour information into our Mental computers much like we dump old letters and store coupons into the extra drawer Helter Skelter and hence irretrievable one of the first things we attend to when setting up a new business is the development of a filing system for records so that we can easily locate information whenever needed when we move into a

new home we carefully pack all of our possessions in clearly labeled boxes so that we can find something again in a hurry if needed but when it comes to Facts to ideas to observations we have no system as though they are incidental rather than essential to our better future your Journal then provides you with a means of logically assembling and storing the pieces of information that come your way now there are many ways to assemble the data in your journal for easy reference for example you might find it helpful to keep an index at the

back of each volume so that you merely list the Highlights of your entries so that your index might read like this financial ideas Pages 5 53 96 and 104 or ideas for increasing company efficiency Pages 46 82 and 111 at one time I used to keep three journals one for personal observations one for business notations and a third for creative ideas for a book I was writing of course it didn't take me long to Discard that system carrying three journals Around The World Is No Easy Task then I tried using three colors of ink in

the same Journal so that at a glance I could focus on any one of the three areas while it was certainly easier carrying three pens than three journals it was still somewhat of a cumbersome system when the ideas are flowing Fast and Furious you don't always have the time to search for a red a green or a blue Pin the method I finally settled on was setting aside certain sections of my journal for specific uses for example at the back of my journals I have a separate section for recording my goals for listing interesting quotes

and for thoughts on new speech material perhaps you may want to set aside part of your journal for specific ongoing projects or interest that you feel might warrant a section of their Own choose one of these methods or devise a new one but make sure you set up some kind of system remember failure more often than not is attributable to lack of information about how to succeed each of us has the capacity to seek out the information we require to achieve our goals unfortunately we do not all have the discipline required to gather the data

systematically so that the raw material is easily accessible and ready to be put Into practical use the moment opportunity presents itself how sad it would be if opportunity came knocking on your door but you had to keep him waiting while you rumage through drawers and files for the key undoubtedly by the time most people have finally located the key opportunity has long since become impatient and and gone on to knock on the door of someone else next by taking the time to capture and assemble information in our journals We now have the added benefit of

being able to review these ideas whenever we wish you don't have to run back to the library to reread the book you borrowed last year or call a friend on the phone and try to reconstruct the conversation you had last month if you've captured the essence of the conversation or the highlights of the book in your Journal it will always be there for you to refer to and here is the key point for your journals to have their greatest value They must be frequently reviewed you see writing in journals is merely a way of capturing

information but it is by rereading our journals that we begin the process of translating information into practical knowledge about ourselves our environment our relationships our businesses our financial affairs our dreams and our own better future I would strongly urge you to set aside a day each week or at the very least each month to review your recent Entries and then once a year take all of your journals off the shelf and read them from cover to cover what you read will probably make an incredible story of personal growth you see more than anything else a

journal is a place to document the development of your own life it is a textbook of self-discovery and self-awareness in fact sometimes what you don't write can be as revealing as what you have written a friend of mine Recently shared with me the discovery that in rereading her journals she realized that everything she had written centered around other people's lives their accomplishments their failures their dreams their needs I finally realized she said that I had spent most of my adult Life as a mirror reflecting everybody else's existence rather than as a human being living a

life of my own in the pages of a journal our Innermost feelings and dreams are revealed as are our strengths our weaknesses our positive attributes and our negative habits and characteristics if not in the words themselves then at least between the lines of what we have written are the shadows of self-doubt Pride Envy jealousy anger just as actions speak louder than words so too will journals often say more than what we have written a journal end should also Capture your observations and reactions for somewhere between what we see and what we do will be revealed

what we are capture on paper the events the circumstances and happenings of your life describe the near miss you had while driving to work on the freeway outline your observations of people's beh Behavior at the office party paint the picture of your day at the beach the pounding surf the soaring gulls the distant Sails and then when you have written about what your eyes have perceived and your ears have heard go one step further and describe your feelings your emotional responses to life describe your feelings when you learn that John got the promotion that you

felt was rightfully yours or when you learned that Sally is getting married married next month to your ex-husband describe it all don't miss any of the events of your life capture The joy of your victories as well as the agony of your defeats and remember it doesn't have to be a Monumental occurrence to be worth capturing truly most human lives consist of and devolve around minor happenings so even a minor event in your response to it can have a major impact on how your life turns out you see part of The Human Experience perhaps the

most important part lies in learning to translate these events which Occur outside of us into words and emotions within our inner Worlds the better we become at describing what goes on around us the better we will be able to understand some of the conflicts and turmoils which take place within us cause and effect always go hand in hand trying to understand or deal with the effects without clear picture of the cause is a rather hopeless situation to be in remember that all human emotions are Effects which can be traced back to particular events or causes

a better understanding of events will always give us a clearer picture of the effects we may be experiencing also on the subject of events and feelings you will find as you begin to open up and really tell it like it is that your Journal becomes an excellent empathetic friend one who will listen to all you have to say about your Joys your pain your fears Or your concerns and I would strongly urge you to get these emotions out of your head and onto the page for powerful negative emotions are diminished by writing and Powerful positive

emotions become explosive you see writing about your fear reduces its strength and capturing your excitement magnifies its power and feel free to say it all these are your private collections your personal Recollections they are not going to be Read aloud at the next staff meeting used in court against you or published in the New York Times write freely don't let anything inhibit your flow of your thoughts write in half sentences break all the rules of grammar and punctuation if you choose draw pictures make diagrams anything goes neatness doesn't count and neither does spelling this is

one place where you should feel free to say it all and say it As You Wish by the way if you feel uncomfortable abandoning the rules of your eighth grade English teacher then this too should tell you something about yourself hey you are even free to do the worst thing of all use somebody else's words glue in newspaper articles cartoons quotes whatever you wish no one is is going to give you an F for plagiarism in your Journal there is only one suggestion I would offer concerning the format of Your journal and that is to

record the date time and location of each entry not only will this provide you with a means of measuring your progress your growth Trends the different phases of your life and your changing attitudes but where and when you write can in themselves provide interesting Revelations a man wrote to me several months ago to share such a discovery he made from his journals it seems that in reviewing his Writings of the past year he had noticed a definite negative pattern emerging every entry on a Wednesday afternoon or evening outlin thoughts of self-doubt discouragement and uncertainty about

the direction he was headed in it did not take long for him to track down the source of those defeating thoughts Wednesday was the day when he had lunch with two colleagues from his former place of employment to test the validity of his Theory he flipped back to the Wednesdays when due to illness Vacations or business matters the lunch had not taken place and sure enough there were no negative entries on those particular days having reached the conclusion that these luncheons were costing him far more than the price of the meal it did not take

him long to take the necessary steps to solve The Dilemma others have discovered such interesting Tendencies as writing about Personal concerns while at the office and business matters at home or feeling particularly inspired and eager before leaving for the office in the morning and completely exhausted and innervated by 10:00 a.m. remember everything affects everything else your environment your associations your family your friends even your occupation has an effect on you so too do the books you read the television programs you watch and the Conversation you engage in but influencers are often very subtle making it

difficult to detect the effect they are having until the damage is done like tiny little holes in a tire which can go undetected for hundreds of miles the little pin Pricks of subtle negative influences will eventually leave you just as deflated after a while your your Journal then becomes like a photograph album capturing moments in your life the only difference Is that a photograph album kept for many years reveals physical changes in yourself and your environment while journals over a period of time reflect mental changes within yourself and about your environment but perhaps the most

important function your Journal performs lies in the area of communications first and foremost your Journal gives you a chance to talk to yourself and to hear what you are saying About your life your future your relationships and your goals as you begin to develop the habit of writing down your problems recording your observations emotions and reactions to Life's events you will undoubtedly find yourself both posing and responding to a whole new set of questions about your past present and future why did I say that why does he always make me feel that way way if

I follow this course where will I be 5 years from Now as you begin to both ask and answer yourself on paper you will be amazed at the incredible leaps in personal understanding and self-awareness you will experience and remember any positive change which occurs within you will ultimately manifest itself in a positive result outside of you in your social or professional World your attitude your bank account your habits and even your appearance we stand forever exposed to Life and to the endless variations that make up the human drama our task as human beings is twofold

first we must effectively translate what is going on around us into terms we can comprehend and second we must effectively Express what is going on within us into terms the rest of the world can understand despite the major techn technological advances enabling us to communicate globally and perhaps even extraterrestrial I would suggest that While our means of communication has greatly improved we are still living in the Dark Ages when it comes to saying what we mean and understanding the meaning of what is being said as William James wisely observed the most immutable barrier in nature

is between one man's thoughts and anothers as much as we live together work together try together grow together discover together explore together and even pray together man is truly an Island unto himself cut off from other human Islands by the Deep channels of non-communication writing in your Journal is one of the best ways I know of to develop more effective communication skills as you become better at describing life to yourself you will find that you become better at describ ascribing yourself to life put into more practical terms as you become better at saying what you

really want and how you really feel to Yourself you will be able to better express yourself and your feelings to others and in return better able to understand what others are really feeling and really saying to you you see communicating with people our own age or who have similar educational backgrounds incomes professions or beliefs is a relatively easy process but what about the two people who are to all outward appearances radically different a Teenager and a 40-year-old father a high school dropout and a college professor a successful lawyer and an unemployed Auto worker now the

real challenges of communication begin to manifest themselves but they are challenges that using a a journal can help us overcome you see regardless of the differences in our outer worlds inside human beings are all basically alike we've all known sorrow maybe not from the same event but we've all experienced the emotion we've All known the joy of achievement perhaps in different circumstances but certainly the same feeling regardless of our outward differences those basic human needs and emotions will always provide a common ground or build a bridge for effective human Communications you see by the time

we have reached adulthood most of us have experienced almost every aspect of the human drama in one form or another the Problem is that most of the experiences have gone right on by us we have never taken the time to capture them to ponder them to analyze how we felt at that time how we responded to others while we were in those circumstances or what our priorities and needs were during that period in our lives suppose however that you took the time to capture the events and happenings of your life on purpose with paper and

pen so that you always had a Wealth of experiences from which to draw imagine now what an incredible impact this awareness could have on your life how it could help to bridge the gap between you and your children your clients your Associates your neighbors you see if you will but take the time to capture how it is for you at any given point in your life then you will always be in a position to relate to how it might be for someone else at this moment in their Lives the situations might be different but the

basic needs and emotions never are we don't have to dress alike or go to the same schools or be the same age or sex to feel the same way use your Journal then as a textbook for life life use it to capture the full range of human emotions that you continuously gather from your experiences I promise you that if you will take just a little time to capture your experiences the end result will More than repay you for the time you invest now here's another question frequently posed about using a journal the question is how

often should I be writing the answer to that is simple as often as you wish and as often as you need there are two extremes to avoid never writing in your journal and constantly writing in your journal in the first instance you will be participating in life without capturing it and in the latter case you will be Capturing life without participating in it life should be a delicate blend of both observation and action and let me stress again that the first discipline to be mastered in using a journal is to develop the habit of always

having it with you if you do not open it for weeks at a time that's okay just get into the habit of carrying it without much effort on your part plenty of opportunities for putting it to use will present Themselves also the simple Act of carrying your Journal speaks to the world it says I am a conscious Observer and participant in life's events when you present yourself to Life as a serious student life will respond by providing you with an endless opportunity to learn and grow and develop and enhance any and all aspects of your

life remember no tape program no book no seminar and no encouragement for me can Help you to develop the discipline to use your Journal experience has taught me that the most I can hope to do is trigger your interest and enthusiasm recently I had the chance to address a group I had spoken to several months before the last time I had been with them I had given one of my all time time best speeches on the importance of thinking on paper with a particular emphasis on using a journal they were an Enthusiastic and responsive group

and it appeared from the many letters and cards that flowed in after my speech that my ideas had been particularly well received however just after I was introduced the second time I asked the group one question how many of you are now using a journal I am sad to report that out of a group of almost 500 only a few hands were raised the rest of the audience exchanged sheepish Glances much as you might give your doctor when he asks you if you have cut down on Smoky the mysterious workings of the human mind never

cease to amaze me we all know what is good for us we all know that it will keep us healthy or happy or prosperous but somehow we fool ourselves eles into believing that we'll start tomorrow tomorrow I will buy that book and read it tomorrow I will go on that excise program tomorrow I will speak to John about that problem some people will actually listen to this tape agree that keeping a journal could indeed change their lives dramatically and yet never get around to writing the first page but don't let that be you I assure

you that by the time you have finished listening to this program the only thing that will stand between your intent and your accomplishment will be your ability to discipline yourself to get started and believe me once you get started once you Make the effort to begin once you develop the journal habit you'll be giving your own lectures to friends and Associates about its rewards in the final analysis whether you decide to start a journal and still more important whether you exercise the discipline to to use it the decision and the action must come from inside

you no wise counsel from any Source will ever replace the intensity that comes from a Personal commitment to Excellence it is often said that reality is the best beginning and perhaps it might also be the best beginning for your Journal one of the first entries you will want to consider making is a complete account of how it is for you right at this moment in your life what's got you turned on what's got you turned off how is it going at home at work are you happy frustrated excited perplexed worried Doubtful or any or all

of the above you may want to write a brief description of how it's going in each area of your life and honestly tell it like it is perhaps in your writings you will uncover a particular void in your life that needs to be filled or a major obstacle that must be tackled if things are to work out for you as you want them to use your journal to then chart out a course of action to eliminate whatever is standing between you and your better Future examine your progress outline the steps you've taken or could still

take but the time you've dealt with these issues your Journal will have already become invaluable if you find you are still having difficulty getting anything on paper one of the first entries you might consider making is an explanation of why you bought the journal in the first place if you will but pause to consider what you hope to achieve by using a Journal then what to put into its pages will be obvious if for example you bought a journal to record your feelings then write about your feelings if you bought it to keep track of

business developments then write about your meetings your clients and the ideas you have about improving the products or Services of your company a journal should be used in response to a specific need a need to express to analyze to ponder to explain to record To consider or to examine some or all of the elements and aspects of your life and remember there is no correct set of procedures for keeping your Journal journals are as Unlimited in possibilities as are the individuals who use them journals and Life share one unique characteristic both provide you with a

space to fill as you wish and for those who are not yet sure how they wish to fill life spaces a journal offers you a chance to Paint mental pictures of the Limitless paths you could travel in a novel an author places imaginary characters in imaginary circumstances and then predicts their behavior and responses to these events so be the author of your own life life create on paper a set of circumstances then place you in the middle of them how would you feel about doing that what would it be like to live in that City

being there how would you feel having those responsibilities or Those freedoms pick a direction and travel with your imagination to new environments to new positions to New Opportunities create on paper an ideal job describe an ideal relationship State an ideal income outline an ideal code of personal Behavior design an ideal lifestyle then take your dreams and transfer them into written goals with priorities and deadlines list the specific steps you Must take in order to achieve them and then write out a detailed plan of action take your dreams for your mind to the page and then

take them from the pages of your journal and make them happen in your life learn to paint these mental pictures and then like an artist create something of substance on the canvas of your life using all of your available resources add new color new depths New Dimensions new meanings to where and who You currently are by exploring where and who you still can be set yourself free and explore the possibilities of life with paper and pen there's no risk involved you cannot fail stretch yourself mentally expand your inner Horizons and you will find that life

will respond in kind by presenting you with new opportunities and associations new experiences from which to grow and learn and new circumstances in which you will become more than you had previously Dreamed possible remember the advice of Napoleon Hill who wrote that whatever the human mind can conceive and believe it can also achieve Ponder all Al the biblical suggestion that as a man thinketh so he becomes and know without the shadow of all doubt that whatever you create on the pages of your Journal you can with enough belief commitment discipline and desire create in your

Life in closing I would like to share with you the following thoughts from Will and Ariel Durant's 100 page Masterpiece the lessons of History civilization they wrote is not inherited it has to be learned and earned by each generation a new consider education not as the painful accumulation of facts and dates nor merely the necessary preparation of the individual to earn his keep in the world but as the transmission of our Mental moral Technical and aesthetic Heritage as fully as possible to as many as possible for the enlargement of man's understanding control embellishment and enjoyment

of life if a man is fortunate he will before he dies gather up as much as he can of his civilized Heritage and transmit it to his children and to his final breath he will be grateful for this inexhaustible Legacy knowing that it is our nourishing mother and our lasting Life gather up all you can the hopes the Sorrows the lessons the friendships the achievements and the disappointments gather it all that it may teach you and in turn that the lessons you have learned may become perhaps part of the Legacy that you leave behind for

your children and indeed The World At Large let your journals capture your personal history and in doing so they add to the history of all mankind and to our Collective Heritage truly the most valuable treasure anyone can leave behind is the knowledge they have acquired in their one lifetime it has been suggested that what we are a unique creation of unlimited possibilities and potential is God's gift to us and that what we do with all that we are the works we do the lives we enrich and the contributions we make are our gifts to God

may your life be devoted to becoming all that you can Become and may your journals capture every moment of the adventure to receive more information on Jim Ran's speaking schedule and products please visit his website at www.jim ran.com where you can also subscribe to receive free the weekly jimr easy newsletter or you can call Jim's office at 800 92904 34 in the Dallas Fort Worth area please call 81744 2547 all mail should be directed to jimr International 2835 exchange bouevard site 200 South Lake Texas 76092 thanks again for listening and make it your best year

ever here's to your success