Each Day Already is a Challenge

Sunday

"Rich people have big libraries. Poor people have big TVs.” - Jim Rohn

Jim Rohn? Who? I found that quote somewhere and wondered about the author. When I searched, I discovered that Jim Rohn has been a motivational speaker for about 40 years. How in the world did I miss that? Especially when I was in direct sales for years.

I've read books by Zig Ziglar and Brian Tracy, listened to audio tapes by both of them and Earl Nightengale and Wayne Dwyer. I've attended Tom Hopkins seminars. But until yesterday I had never heard of Jim Rohn.

One site lists more of his quotes:

A good objective of leadership is to help those who are doing poorly to do well and to help those who are doing well to do even better.

Character isn't something you were born with and can't change, like your fingerprints. It's something you weren't born with and must take responsibility for forming.

Discipline is the bridge between goals and accomplishment.

Don't just read the easy stuff. You may be entertained by it, but you will never grow from it.

Don't wish it were easier, wish you were better.

Effective communication is 20% what you know and 80% how you feel about what you know.

Failure is not a single, cataclysmic event. You don't fail overnight. Instead, failure is a few errors in judgement, repeated every day.

Formal education will make you a living; self-education will make you a fortune.

Happiness is not something you postpone for the future; it is something you design for the present.

Ideas can be life-changing. Sometimes all you need to open the door is just one more good idea.

If someone is going down the wrong road, he doesn't need motivation to speed him up. What he needs is education to turn him around.

If you are not willing to risk the unusual, you will have to settle for the ordinary.

If you don't design your own life plan, chances are you'll fall into someone else's plan. And guess what they have planned for you? Not much.

If you don't like how things are, change it! You're not a tree. For some reason, I like this one. I'm not a tree.

Miss a meal if you have to, but don't miss a book. Another good one.

Success is nothing more than a few simple disciplines, practiced every day.

Take advantage of every opportunity to practice your communication skills so that when important occasions arise, you will have the gift, the style, the sharpness, the clarity, and the emotions to affect other people.

Take care of your body. It's the only place you have to live.

The book you don't read won't help.

The few who do are the envy of the many who only watch.

The major reason for setting a goal is for what it makes of you to accomplish it. What it makes of you will always be the far greater value than what you get.

The major value in life is not what you get. The major value in life is what you become.

The reason that fiction is more interesting than any other form of literature, to those who really like to study people, is that in fiction the author can really tell the truth without humiliating himself.

The walls we build around us to keep sadness out also keeps out the joy.

The worst thing one can do is not to try, to be aware of what one wants and not give in to it, to spend years in silent hurt wondering if something could have materialized - never knowing.

There are only 3 colors, 10 digits, and 7 notes; its what we do with them that's important.

To solve any problem, here are three questions to ask yourself: First, what could I do? Second, what could I read? And third, who could I ask?

We must all suffer one of two things: the pain of discipline or the pain of regret or disappointment.

Whatever good things we build end up building us.

Whoever renders service to many puts himself in line for greatness - great wealth, great return, great satisfaction, great reputation, and great joy.

Without a sense of urgency, desire loses its value.

Words do two major things: They provide food for the mind and create light for understanding and awareness.

You cannot change your destination overnight, but you can change your direction overnight.

You don't get paid for the hour. You get paid for the value you bring to the hour.

You must take personal responsibility. You cannot change the circumstances, the seasons, or the wind, but you can change yourself. That is something you have charge of.

All of those are Jim Rohn quotes. He's like most other motivational speakers, from the information I gathered about him. These quotes aren't really saying anything new. Perhaps they're saying an old thing in a new way. (And I imagine his delivery makes them sound really profound.) Sometimes, though we just need reminders of what is true.

And that's a great segue.....reminders of truth...

Our pastor's sermon today was actually a re-run - about forgiveness, or as his sermon today said, "granting grace to the guilty."

One of the notes I made in the margin was:

We have all said the words, "I never want to be like __________" Fill in the blank. But as we focus on NOT being like _______________ we become just like him/her. You can become just like the person you do not want to be like, because that is your focus.

More tomorrow...