The Major Key to Your Better Life Is YOU | Jim Rohn – The Challenge to Succeed (Full Seminar)

It's nice to see all of you. I want to thank you for coming tonight. There's a lot of places you could be besides attending a seminar, home with your family or visiting friends or having a party or whatever, but uh you've chosen to be here tonight and I appreciate that very much.

I keenly feel two responsibilities and I'm sure you can guess what those are. Number one is to make sure you get your money's worth right when you shell out your hard-earned cash. And I know the money for the seminar is not the end of the money, right? By the time you take your family out to dinner and hire a babysitter and put gasoline in your car, right, the tab keeps going up. And by the time you add it all up, it's fairly substantial. And when you spend your hard-earned cash, you want to make sure you get your money's worth. So hopefully by the time we finish tonight, um, you'll have your money's worth.

But I think I have a bigger responsibility and that is to make sure you get your time's worth. And I say that because time is more valuable than money. You can get more money, right? But you can't get more time. When you spend a day, you've got one less day to spend. So if somebody has the audacity to ask you to spend one of your evenings, they darn well better have something important, right? An evening is a chunk of your life. I wouldn't waste one of my evenings for anybody. Not anymore. Once I discovered how valuable they were, so hopefully by the time we finish tonight, uh you'll have your time's worth as well as your money's worth.

Okay, we're going to take a break about halfway. Uh not just for the smokers, but uh for everybody. Uh we can't sit here, write three hours straight. That would be asking a little bit too much. Somebody once said, "The mind can only absorb what the seat can endure." And I think that's true. So, we're not going to make you endure too long before we uh take a break along about midway. We'll stretch a little bit and then we'll come back and we'll finish up.

Does everybody have note paper? Some note paper. If you don't have some, borrow from your neighbor. Uh make sure you've got something to take notes on. This is a work session tonight. Okay? I have not come to entertain you. As you can tell by my opening joke, right, I wouldn't make it in Las Vegas. We don't have a dog and pony show tonight, but uh we've got some ideas to share. Like to have you capture them.

Also, if there's several members of one family, my suggestion is all of you take notes. One will capture what the other one might miss and that way you'll come up with a more complete set. I think you'll be happier about that. Okay. Hopefully everybody can find a seat tonight. It's kind of jammed in here.

Do we have any teenagers? Teenagers 19 years or younger, would you stand up? No cheating on this now. 19 years or younger, stand up wherever you are. All over the audience. Let's give him a hand. Hey, nice to see you. Thank you very much. I'm always flattered when the kids come.

I've got a good story for you. Two little boys in school. One was very bright, the other one wasn't very bright. Teacher gave a test one day, 10 questions, and she's looking at the papers. To her surprise, the little boy who isn't very bright has answered nine of the 10 questions. Perfect. And the teacher thought, "Well, that can't be right. He's not that smart." So, she looked at the other paper. The little boy who was very bright, he had answered nine of the 10 questions perfect. The teacher thought, "Well, something's wrong." And sure enough, the answers to the 10th question was the problem. The little boy, who was very bright, when he got to the 10th question, he didn't know the answer, and he was running out of time. So, he just wrote down, "I don't know the answer to this one." Turned his paper in. teacher looked at the other paper, little boy who wasn't too bright, and he had answered the 10th question. I don't know either. Turn his head, [laughter] which means don't cheat, I guess, right? It never works out well.

Okay. The ideas I want to share with you tonight, I started listening to at uh age 25 at a time in my life when I I needed some additional ideas to help get my life straightened out and headed in a little better direction. I got off to a pretty good start up in Idaho farm country where I was raised, southwestern corner of Idaho, little community of four or 5,000 people. In fact, my parents still live in the same little community where I was raised. I was just up to visit them last week and uh they're doing extremely well. My father's 79, my mother's 73 and they're still very busy, very healthy, got all kinds of projects going. Unbelievable land development. They're making money. I can't believe them. They've been a great example for me. They bought some property not long ago, signed up for a 30-year loan. I got to be impressed. I was up to visit him last year. We had a big party one evening. Lasted till about 2:00 in the morning celebrating and it was time to celebrate. My parents had bought gold at 125 and they were cashing in a big share of it at 680. And if you get to buy at 125, cash in at 680, you got to celebrate. So celebrate, we did. But anyway, that's where I got started. started.

I went to high school and um graduated. I went to college for a year, year and a half, and I quit. Decided I was smart enough and uh got me a job and went to work to see if I could make all of my ambitions come true. Couple of years later, I met a very beautiful young lady and I put probably my finest sales presentation on her. I promised her wealth and fame and fortune and world travel. and all those good things. I said, "It will probably be the finest decision of your life to marry me." And she bought that story, fortunately for me. And we got married, and I'm continuing to work hard to see if I can't make all these dreams and promises come true.

Well, 2, three years after I'd gotten married, it didn't look like my new bride had made such a wise decision. I'm now starting to struggle. I'm not destitute, but it isn't working quite like I had promised. I'm looking at my paycheck on Friday, $57, and that isn't quite what I'd promised. And already I had fallen into the someday honey routine with my wife. Right. Someday honey, you won't have to sit on this old furniture. Someday honey, you'll have a car of your own. I had already someday honeyed myself into trouble. Well, now I'm wondering what should I do? I'm struggling. I'm behind. Money is one of my problems. I got far too much month at the end of the money. If you've ever had that problem. I remember one time losing a $10 bill and I was physically ill for two days. Over $10. [laughter] And of course, my friends tried to be cheerful, right? They said, "Look, maybe some poor person that needed it found it." [laughter] I'm willing to admit to you that uh that really didn't help. At age 25, benevolence had not yet seized me. You know, I'm the poor person that needs to find $10, not lose $10. But that's where I was.

I thought, well, maybe I should go back to school. I've got one year of college. Doesn't look that good on an application. But I'm 25. I'm married now. My family's starting. I'm already working. and uh going back to school seemed like kind of a tough decision, but that's where I was at that time in my life, wondering what I should do to really turn it around and make the promises all come true.

Well, at age 25, good fortune came my way. And sometimes it's a little difficult to describe good fortune. Why do unique things happen to you when they do? I don't know. Part of that's a mystery to me. One of my friends says, "Well, things don't just happen. They happen just." Maybe that's it. I don't know. But my good fortune was at age 25, I met a very remarkable man. He was a businessman. He was wealthy. Apparently looked very happy, prosperous to me when I met him. And my good fortune was a few months after I met this unique man, his name was Mr. Schae, Mr. Earl Schae, he hired me, gave me a job, and I went to work for him. And I spent the next 5 years working for him. And during that 5-year period, Mr. Schae shared with me his ideas that helped to change my life. Unfortunately, at the end of that 5 years, Mr. Schae died. But I did get to spend 5 years with this very remarkable man. And the best thing he gave me during that period of time was not a job. The best thing he gave me was the benefit of his philosophy. How to be wealthy, how to be happy and uh his ideas worked for me.

Then about 16 17 years ago, I was living in Beverly Hills and I was going through all the notes that I'd gathered up during that period. In fact, that's one of the major things Mr. Schae taught me. Take good notes. Don't miss anything. Don't make your mind a filing cabinet trying to remember everything. Jot it down. If you hear a good sermon, take notes. If you read a good book, take notes. If you hear something good, jot it down. If you think something uh good, put it on paper. Then you can go over it. Repetition is the mother of skill. And someday those ideas, if you repeat them often enough, they'll take root and start to grow. And someday they'll show up in your bank account and your personality and your language and your dress and your lifestyle. So, he got me hooked on taking notes. And I did during that time and I've taken them now all these years. And on this particular day, I was going through all those journals and the idea occurred to me. Why don't I share this with other people? I've used it to build some of my other companies, but I'd never shared it with the public. And I thought, well, that' be an intriguing idea. See if I could put into words my feelings and my ideas that help me to make major changes. So, I thought, well, I might as well try it. So, I put the material together that I thought was the most important. And uh 17 years ago at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills, a few blocks from where I lived, I gave my first seminar. And fortunately, tonight you are not in on my first seminar. I struggled. It really wasn't quite that good. In fact, I'm willing to admit now it was so bad. If I hadn't have been conducting it, I'd have gone home. Right? That's how bad it was. But when you're doing them, it's hard to leave. But anyway, I struggled through it, did the best I could, and decided, well, I'll try it again, see if I get any better. Sure enough, I got a little more comfortable with making the presentation, and then I got invited other places to share my story, my ideas, and little by little, it started to grow. And finally, now it's become uh my major enterprise. I've arranged my other business affairs so I can spend most of my time now doing what I really like to do and that's share ideas, talk about things that matter with people who care. And now the seminar has been translated in several languages. So I get to travel to other countries and uh share my feelings and my ideas with other people around the world. And tonight I find myself in Anaheim and I'm pleased to be here.

What I would like to do is to share with you what I think made the major difference for me. I don't claim to have all the answers for doing well, but I've got some that worked for me. And what I would like to do is pass it along to you. That's the purpose of the seminar tonight, for you to pay your money, and spend some of your time to be here, is to see what you think of my ideas. Just capture them, take them home, and edit them as much as you wish. Throw out what you don't like, try what you do like, and uh see what happens. But give me your attention for the next little while and let's go through the ideas that I think the major things that help me to really make the changes in my life.

Okay, let me give you the table of contents first. I'm going to cover five subjects. Uh let me give you those five and then we'll come back and take them one at a time and we'll go through them. Okay. The first subject is personal development. which is the best place to start, right? If you don't start there, nothing much is going to happen. Here's the big challenge of life. You can have more than you've got because you can become more than you are. That's the challenge. And of course, the other side of the coin reads, "Unless you change how you are, you'll always have what you got." I have found in my experience that income does not far exceed personal development. Now, sometimes income takes a lucky jump, but sure enough, unless you grow out where it is, it'll usually come back where you are. Life has strange ways. If somebody hands you a million dollars, best you become a millionaire quickly. So, you get to keep the money. Otherwise, sure enough, it'll disappear. Somebody once said, "If you took all the money in the world, divided it up equally among everybody, it would soon all be back in the same pockets." Incredible. Success is something you attract, not something you pursue. Success is looking for a good place to stay. So instead of going after it, you work on yourself. Personal development. See the major question to ask on the job is not what are you getting. The major question to ask on the job is what are you becoming? See the big question is not what am I getting paid here. The big question is what am I becoming here? Because true happiness is not contained in what you get. Happiness is contained in what you become. So that's our major subject for tonight. personal development. Of all the assignments Mr. Schaef gave me at age 25, this was probably the most difficult. In fact, I'm still working on this one. I think it's an unending challenge to see what you can become.

The next subject is called basic laws. And it's good to study the basics. And I call these basics primarily because they come from the Bible. Now, I'm not a theologian or a minister and that'll be apparent, but Mr. shelf taught me that the Bible was a good textbook for ideas and stories and success equations, how to live the better life. I found out that was true. He also taught me that the Bible is as practical as it is spiritual. And I found out that's true. If you look at your bank account and your income and you're not happy, there are several places in the Bible to check to see what the heck's wrong so you can make the changes. And we're going to cover some of those tonight called basics. Okay.

The next subject is my favorite, setting goals. Mr. Schelf taught me how to set goals. What a favor that was. One morning at breakfast, shortly after I met him, he said, "Jim, let me see your current list of goals and let's go over them and talk about them." He said, "Maybe that's the best way I can help you get a better direction started." And I said, "I don't have a list." He said, 'Well, is it out in the car or home somewhere?' I said, "Um, no, sir." I don't have a list anywhere. He said, "Well, young man, that's where we got to start." He said, "I can tell you right now if you don't have a list of your goals with you," he said, "I can guess your bank balance within a few hundred." Which he did. >> And that got my attention. I said, "You mean my bank balance would change if I had a list of goals?" He said, "Drastrastically." That day, I became a willing student how to set goals. And sure enough, learning how to set goals changed my life. And I often wondered why no one had ever taught me how to set goals up until age 25. I went to high school, but if they offered it, I missed it. I went to college for a year, never heard it. I work for Sears [laughter] really. And to my knowledge, Sears never taught it, right? How to set goals. So here I am, age 25, married, my family starting, I've been to college, I'm working, and I still don't know how to set goals. But fortunately, when I was 25, I met the man who taught me how. And it revolutionized my whole life economically, socially, personally. It's incredible. So I want to share with you tonight what Mr. Schae shared with me, how to set goals. It can be a lifecher.

Okay. The next subject is the negative part of the seminar. Life is part negative. So we got to talk about the negative. And this subject is called diseases of attitude. Diseases of attitude. There's a lot of things that can wreck your chances to do well. We live in a rather dangerous world. So you got to be not only wise, you got to be careful. Now, attitude diseases are just as bad as physical diseases, right? High blood pressure, heart trouble. I mean, a lot of things lace your chances to do well. So, you've got to be careful. And attitude diseases are deadly. I mean, they'll destroy all the good things you start. Okay? So, we'll go through those attitude diseases, how to spot them, how to look for them, what they are, and and the cure. And I'm a pro on these because I've had them all. So, I can give you excellent advice on these.

Now, the last subject we're going to consider tonight is called the day that turns your life around. The day that turns your life around. And under this subject, we're going to talk about the emotions that can change your life. Human beings are emotional creatures. And emotions are powerful for life change. Now, of course, emotions are so powerful, they can go either way on you. Emotions can either build or destroy. So you really have to employ emotions properly. We call civilization the intelligent management of human emotions. If you can intelligently apply your emotions in the right direction, no telling what can happen could turn your life around one day would be sufficient. So we'll talk about those. Okay.

Now that's a lot to cover in one evening. But uh we'll keep at it here and see if we can't get it all done. I'd like to have you now jot down the theme of the seminar. Every seminar should have a theme. I guess we've got one. It's on some of our literature if you happen to notice it. But if you didn't, for your notes, here it is. The theme of the seminar goes like this. The major key to your better future is you. That's the theme of our seminar tonight. The major key to your better future is you. And I'd like to have you underline two words just to give it some added punch. Underline the word major and the word you. So that it reads the major key to your better future is you. Now my first suggestion is transfer this to a card or something where you can put it up where you can see it every day. Preferably put it up where you can see it at the beginning of the day before you go off to put the day together. This is a good phrase just to glance at to keep in mind as you're putting the day together. It's called the silent seminar. If you'll just let this talk to you during the day, I found it to be tremendously helpful. The major key to your better future is you.

For a big share of my life now, I didn't have uh this one quite figured out among a lot of things I didn't have quite figured out. Many things used to puzzle me back in those early days. I used to wonder why two people could work for the same company, one make twice as much money. Now, see, that used to puzzle me. And maybe they were the same age, graduated from the same school, live in the same community, work for the same company with the same products and the same services. They've got the same traffic, the same problems, and one makes a,000 a month, the other one makes 2,000 a month. Now, that was my puzzling question. Why would this long list be the same and the money twice as much? I asked, "What's the difference between a th000 a month and 2,000 a month?" And I don't mean a thousand a month, right? I could figure that out. But what what makes the difference? Why would one person do twice as well, three times as well, speaking economically? Now, I know there's more than one way to do well. I understand that. But in this little narrow area called compensation, what's the difference?

Well, back then with my faulty thinking, I'm trying to reason it out. I thought, well, maybe time makes some of the difference, right? Some people do better because they have more time. I used to say, Harold ought to be able to do well. He's got a lot of time. If I had all of Harold's time, I could do well. Now, that's got to be dumb, right? Number one, you can't get somebody else's time. A guy says to me one time, he says, 'You know, if I had some extra time, I could make some extra money. I said, 'Then forget it. There isn't any extra time. [laughter] Hey, when the clock strikes 12 midnight, that about wraps it up, right? I mean, you can look around the gongs there for a little more, but it's over. You say to the guy, "What are you doing?" He said, "I'm looking for extra time." See, they'll come and take you away, right? [laughter] There isn't any more time.

Now, if you can't get more time, which you can't, what could you get more of that would make a difference in economic results? And here's the key word, make it a part of your notes. We're going to consider it tonight. The word is value. And I have a little phrase for your notes. Value makes the difference in results. Value makes the difference. You can't get more time, but you can create more value. [clears throat]

Now, here's the first lesson of economics. Everybody should learn it from the time they're old enough to understand what a dollar means, how to earn one, how to get one, how to keep one, what to do with it. First lesson of economics, we primarily get paid for value. That's lesson one. Bringing value to the marketplace. That's how you get paid. You don't get paid for the time. I know it takes time to bring value to the marketplace, but you get paid for the value, not the time.

Now, since that's true, here's one of the key questions of the evening. Is it possible to become twice as valuable at the marketplace and make twice as much money in the same time? Could you become three times as valuable, make three times as much money in the same time? Is that possible? The answer is yes. If and it's always if, right? Life is known as the big if. Harry Truman once said, "Life is iffy." How true. And here's the big if. We're going to consider it tonight. It's possible to do much better at the marketplace if you go to work primarily on yourself. And that's the theme of our seminar tonight, learning to work primarily on yourself.

People have asked me for the last 24 years, how do you develop an above average income? And the answer is become an above average person. Develop an above average handshake. Some people want to be successful, they don't even work on their handshake. As easy as that would be to start on, they let it slide. They don't understand. Develop an above average smile. Develop an above average excitement. Develop an above average interest in other people. Develop an above average intensity to win. See, that'll change everything. Probably one of the most frustrating experiences in life is looking for an above average job with above average pay without becoming an above average person. It's called frustration.

And Mr. Schae gave me probably the greatest clue he gave me when I first met him. He said, "Jim, if you want to be wealthy and happy the rest of your life, just learn this lesson." Well, He said, "Learn to work harder on yourself than you do on your job." That was it. The beginning of the philosophy that helped to change my life. Work harder on yourself than you do on your job. When he said that, I suddenly understood why I was broke. I was a hard worker on my job. If anybody would have asked me age 25, "Mr. Ron, are you a hard worker?" I'd have said, "Yes, I'm a hard worker. Check my record. I work as hard as anybody." And that was true. I was a hard worker. I really was. But see, that was my problem. I was working hard on my job, but I wasn't working hard on myself. And that was my reason for lack of progress.

Some people look for more money, but they look for it in the wrong direction. The guy says, "I need more money. I'm going to go work on my boss." Well, [laughter] number one, bosses are notorious. They do not play fast and loose with a company till I've never seen a boss get excited and triple somebody's wages, right? I mean, they don't behave in such an irrational manner. So, see, that's not what you work on. Some people say, "Well, I'll go on strike for more." Well, big deal. The problem with that game is once you start it, it's never over. You'll always have to strike. And I'll tell you what you get by demand. Little bitty pieces. Barely enough. And now inflation beats that game, right? The guy demands 10%. Inflation's 12. He's behind two. I mean, it never ends. So, see, that's not the key to success. Maybe survival, but not success.

The guy in sales says, "I've got it. I'll get me some of those books that teach you the tricky sales, and I'll go leap upon my prospects, dazzling with my sales footwork. Grab their money before they know what's happened." Well, you can play those kind of tricks if you want to. My observation shows the last 24 years you wind up at the bottom of the economic ladder, not the top. See, it's not what you get by tricks. It's not what you get by demand. It's what you get by performance that counts. So that's one of the key phrases of the evening. It's performance that counts. And I discovered this performance comes from inside, not outside. For a share of my life, I'm looking for the answers to do well outside. Found out they were inside.

Then Mr. Schae gave me probably one of the most important clues among so many things he taught me. But this was in those early days. Mr. Schae was very kind, but he was also very abrupt and he had these interesting questions to ask. I'm giving him a little run day rundown one day on how things hadn't worked out for me. He said, "Mr. Owen, I've got the answer for you if you will listen carefully." And listen carefully I did that day and for the next 5 years. If somebody's wealthy and happy, you got to listen. He said, 'Jim, I've only known you a short time, but he said, 'It's already my honest opinion that for things to change for you, you got to change. That wasn't quite the answer I was looking for, but that's the answer he gave me, and I pass it along to you on this warm summer evening in Anaheim, California, 1981. For things to change for you, you've got to change. Otherwise, it isn't going to change.

Before I met Mr. Schae, I used to say, "I sure hope things will change, [laughter] right? That seemed to be my only hope. If it isn't going to change, I'm in serious trouble." And then I discovered it isn't going to change. So, I'm in serious trouble. See, I can tell you what the 80s are going to be like. You have dropped in to the right place. I did a seminar one time for Standard Oil executives and management in Honolulu and uh we're having a conference one day around this big conference table and one of them said to me, "Mr. Ran, you know some fairly important people halfway around the world. What do you think the 80s are going to be like?" I said, 'Gentlemen, I do know the right people. I can tell you. So, they all listened very carefully. And I said, gentlemen, based on my wide experience, I can really honestly say to you, in my opinion, in the 80s, it's going to be about like it's always been. [laughter] Aren't you glad you came? That's inside. I don't pass that around. Just everywhere. [laughter]

Now, of course, I said that to make a point, but I also said it because it's accurate. It's going to be about like it's always been. It isn't going to change. The tide comes in and then what? >> It goes out for 6 and a half thousand years that we know of recorded history and probably long before that. So, it is not going to change. It gets light and then what? >> It turns dark. 6 and a half thousand years. See, it's not likely to change. And we're not to be startled by that. And if the sun goes down, the guy says, "What's happen? What's happened?" It means he hasn't been here long, I guess. Right? It always goes down about this time. [laughter] The guy says, "Well, I don't like that arrangement." Well, you got to talk to somebody besides me, right? It gets light, then it turns dark. In rotation, the next season after fall is what? Winter. Pray tell. How often does winter follow fall? >> Every year regularly for the last six and a half thousand that we know of. See, it is not going to change. Now, some winters are long and some are short and some are hard and some are easy. But they always come right after falls. It isn't going to change. Sometimes you can figure it out. Sometimes there's no way to figure it out. Sometimes it goes well. Sometimes it gets in a knot. Sometimes it sails along. Sometimes it gets in reverse. See, that's not going to change. The last 6,000 years reads like this. Opportunity mixed with difficulty. That's how it reads. It isn't going to change.

The man says, "Well, if it isn't going to change, how will my life ever change? Answer, when you change." And whether I'm talking to high school kids or business executives, my message is always the same. And it goes like this. The only way it gets better for you is when you get better. Let me give you the four major lessons in life to learn. Here's four majors. It's good to study the majors. In our weekend seminar, we teach some people don't do well because they major in minor things. You've got to be on the lookout at the end of every week, end of every month. You got to check make sure you're not spending major time on minor things. We go through that whole series, majors and minors.

Now, let me give you two phrases before we get to the four majors. This will set it up and you'll see where I'm going. Two key phrases for your notes. Here's the first one. Life and business is like the changing seasons. That's the first phrase. Life and business is like the changing seasons. One of the best ways to describe life, it's like the seasons. Frank Sinatra sings, life is like the seasons. Now, here's the second phrase, very important. You cannot change the seasons, but you can change yourself. You can't change the seasons, but you can change yourself. And see, that's how life gets better for you. Not by chance, but by change.

Now, here's the four major lessons in life to learn. I've got my first book finished. Came out a couple of weeks ago. This is in it. The four major lessons in life to learn. Here they are. Number one, learn how to handle the winters. That's lesson one. They come right after falls with regularity. Some are long and some are short and some are hard and some are easy, but they keep coming. You must learn to handle the nights. They come right after days. You must learn to handle difficulty. It comes right after opportunity. You must learn to handle recessions. They always follow progressions for the last 6,000. See, it isn't going to change. The lesson you must learn is how to handle it. And there's all kinds of winters, right? The winter when you can't figure it out. The winter when it all goes smash. The winter when it turns belly up. The winter when it won't work. When you've run out of money and you've got a broken heart. See, those are winter times. There's all kinds. Economic winters, social winters, personal winters, when your heart is smashed in a thousand pieces and the nights are unusually long. Your prayers seem to go no higher than your head. It's winter time. Barbara Stysen sings, "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 and you don't say you need me and you don't bring me flowers anymore. A song of winter. But see, the disappointments come. Those are normal. That's part of life. But the question is, how do you handle it? How do you handle the coming winters and the disappointments and the downtimes? Well, you can't get rid of January by tearing it off the calendar. But here's what you can do. You can get stronger. You can get wiser. And you can get better. The winters won't change, but you can. And that's how life changes for you. See, before I understood when it was winter, I used to wish it was summer. I didn't understand. When it was hard, I used to wish it was easy. I didn't know. And then Mr. Schae gave me a part of his very unique philosophy when he said, "Don't wish it was easier. Wish you were better." See, that triggered my whole life change. Don't wish for less problems. Wish for more skills. Don't wish for less challenge. Wish for more wisdom. That's the key. So, that's lesson one. Learn how to handle the winters.

Here's lesson two. Learn how to take advantage of the spring. That's the second one. Spring is called opportunity. And spring follows winter. What a great place for it. If you were going to put it somewhere, that'd be the place to put it. Right after winter. And pray. How often does spring follow winter? every year with regularity 6,000. You can almost count on it. See, opportunity always comes. Days follow nights. Isn't that terrific? Opportunity follows difficulty. But here's what you must learn to do. Underline these two words in that key phrase. Take advantage. Underline those two. You must learn to take advantage of the spring. See, just because spring rolls around is no sign you're going to look good come fall. You got to do something with it. In fact, you have to get good at one of two things in life. Planting in the spring or begging in the fall or get somebody to do it for you. See, those are about the only alternatives. Now, here's what else you must do. Take advantage of the springs quickly because there's only a few. Just a handful of springs have been handed to each of us. They don't come forever. Life is fairly brief. So, you got to read every book you can get your hands on on what to do with your springs while they're here. And take advantage. They soon run out. The Beatles wrote, "Life is so short." And for John Linen, it was extra short, but life is brief. Elton John sings, "She lived her life like a candle in the wind." It's brief, so whatever you're going to do with your life, you got to get at it. Don't just let the springs pass, pass, pass.

Here's the third major lesson in life to learn. Learn how to protect your crops all summer. [laughter] You got to take care of what you start. Sure enough, as soon as you've planted your garden in the spring, the busy bugs and the noxious weeds are out to take it. And here's the next bit of truth. They will take it unless you prevent it. And that's the third major skill to learn. You've got to learn to prevent the intruder from taking all the good you start. It's one of the challenges Here's two key phrases under number three. First one, all good will be attacked on this planet. Maybe not the next one we get to, but on this one, all good will be attacked. Every garden will be invaded. Not to think so is naive. And here's the second phrase. All values must be defended. political values, social values, community values, family values, marriage values, friendship values, business values. Every garden must be tended all summer. Third major lesson.

Now, here's number four. Fourth major lesson in life to learn. Learn how to reap in the fall without complaint. Learn to reap come harvest time without complaint. Take full responsibility for what happens to you. It's one of the highest forms of human maturity. Accepting full responsibility. It's the day you know you've passed from childhood to adulthood. The day you accept full responsibility. And another note, learn to reap in the fall without apology, without apology if you do well and without complaint if you don't. That's maturity.

I used to have that long list of reasons why I wasn't doing well. To explain, you got to explain, right? Otherwise, you're going to look bad. I used to have this funny list called reasons for not looking good. I used to blame the government. [laughter] I mean, you can believe that or not. It was at the top of my list. I had a lecture second to none. The government. That was on my list. I used to blame taxes. Look what you got left after they take everything and they expect you to do well. That was on my list there. prices. That one's easy, right? You walk into the supermarket with $20, come out with a little half bag. So, I had that on my list. I used to blame the weather. I blamed the traffic. I used to blame my car. I blamed the manufacturers. I used to blame the company. I blamed company policy. I used to blame the training program. I blame my negative relatives. They were always putting me down. I blame my cynical neighbors. They're just selfish, looking out for themselves. Won't loan you money. They were on my list. [laughter] I used to blame the economy. I blamed the community. That's a pretty good list for not doing well, isn't it? I thought it was good.

I'll never forget one day, Mr. Schae is very kind, but he was also very blunt. And this was no exception. And I'm glad he was blunt. There's a lot of things I'd have missed if he hadn't been blunt. One day, with sort of a curious look on his face, he said, "Jim, just out of curiosity, tell me, how come you haven't done well up until now?" Excellent question. [laughter] I thought, "Well, so I won't look too bad. I'll go through my list." [laughter] And this list I just gave you, I put that on him. And he was very patient. He let me go through the whole thing, the government, the weather. I went through this whole thing. When I finished, he looked my list over very carefully. He said, "Mr. Ron, big problem with your list. You ain't on it." [laughter] How brilliant. >> [laughter] >> When I went to work for him a few months later, I learned very quickly to tear up my list, reasons for not doing well. And I threw it away and I got me a fresh piece of paper and I put one word on it. Me. There's a Black Heritage Spiritual that says, "It's not my mother nor my father, nor my brother, nor my sister, but it's me, oh Lord, standing in the need of prayer. See, I used to blame everything outside.

And then let me give you a little philosophy that helped turn my life around. For your notes, here it is. It's not what happens that determines the quality or the quantity of your life. It's not what happens. And the reason is because what happens happens to about everybody. No different. The sun went down on all of us last night. A common event, a happening. And I found out that the same things can happen to two different people. One gets rich and one stays poor. Why is that? It's because it's not what happens, but rather it's what you do that changes everything. So that's a key phrase. It's not what happens, it's what you do. What happens is about the same. You might put that in parenthesis here. Same. What people do, that's what's different. Anything can happen, right? Everything can happen. I've heard all the stories. I've been one of the stories. Hey, we could all tell stories all night long, right? Happenings. Anything can happen. Have you heard of Murphy's laws? Anybody here heard of Murphy's laws? Okay, most of you have. Murf had these laws. One of them was if anything can go wrong, it will. That's one of Murphy's laws. He was not one of the great positive speakers of the day. But anyway, it's still true though, right? Anything can go wrong, everything can go wrong for sure. I've fallen out of the sky so many times. Once to the tune of a couple of million. Devastating. Took me a while to survive that one. Now, it wasn't all that much, but it was all I had. I mean, that's when it's much, right? When it's all you got. If you got three, two go. You got one left. You ain't looking that bad. But when it all goes, has anybody been there when it all went? Anybody? Come on, the rest of you liars. Come here. Hey, we've all been there, right? When it all went, of course, used to be a long time ago, right? When you ran out of money, got to zero, you were all through. Heck, now you can whistle right on by zero, right? I mean, [laughter] they will bury you. That's what they will do. But see, those are the happenings, right? Everything can happen. Anything can happen. But it's not the happenings, it's what you do about it. Somebody says, "Yeah, but you don't understand the disappointments I've had." Come on. Everybody's had their share. Disappointments are not special gifts reserved for the poor. Everybody has them. The difference is what you do about. It's not the weather. I used to blame the weather and I discovered it rains on the rich. So, see that won't help. Two men wake up one morning, there's a rainstorm on. One of them looks out his window, sees the rainstorm, and he says, "Wow, what a storm. With weather like this, they can't expect you to go out and make sales." He stays home. Same morning, the other guy looks out his window, sees the same storm, says, "Wow, what a storm." But he says, "You know what? With weather like this, what a great day to go out and make sales. Most everybody will probably be home. Especially the salesman. [laughter] See, that's the difference in how your life works out. It's not what happens, it's what you do.

So, here's one of the key questions of the evening. Starting tomorrow, what are you going to do that'll make a change in your life's direction? Good question. What are you going to do starting tomorrow that'll make a difference? Now, see, if you don't do something starting tomorrow that'll make a difference, guess what? It's going to be the same. [laughter] And see, that way you can guess what the next five years are going to be like. Look at the last five cuz the next five are going to be like the last five unless you major key tomorrow change it all or change a little or change something or don't change. It's choice time. You can do whatever you want. But it's nice to know any day you wish you can change your whole life. What can you do starting tomorrow that'll make a difference? Good question. What can you do with economic chaos, massive disappointment? What can you do with a broken heart? What can you do when it won't work? Good question. Two things will change your life. Howto's and why's. And we're going to cover both of those. But before we get to the details, what to do, let me give you the broad answer first. Here it is. Tomorrow you can do the most remarkable things no matter what happens. Let's start with that. Human beings can do unbelievable things, incredible things. A man can do the most amazing things with the most unaming circumstances. A woman can do the most remarkable things with the most disastrous circumstances. There's plenty of proof. I found out kids can do remarkable things. That is if they have remarkable things to do. I also found out if they don't have remarkable things to do. No

telling what they'll do. But see, kids can do remarkable things. People can do remarkable things. I'll tell you why human beings can do remarkable things. It's because they are remarkable. That's why they're not dogs, animals, fish, birds, amiebas. Humans are different than any other creation. When a dog starts with weeds, he winds up with weeds. And the reason is because he's a dog. But that's not true with human beings. Human beings can start with weeds and turn them into gardens. That's the advantage being a human versus being a dog. turning weeds into gardens. Human beings can turn nothing into something, pennies into fortune, disaster into success. And the reason humans can do those remarkable things is because they are remarkable.

So, if I had a word with you tonight, one-on-one, just you and me, I think my personal advice to you would be this year 1981, reach down inside of you and come up with some more of those remarkable human gifts. They're there waiting to be utilized. And then change anything for you you want to change. And I challenge you to do that because you can change. If you don't like how it is for you, change it. If it doesn't suit you, change it. If it doesn't please you, change it. If it isn't enough, change it. And I challenge you to do that because you can change. See, you don't ever have to be the same again after tonight. Only by choice. If you don't like your present address, change it. You're not a tree. >> [laughter] >>

Now, let me give you three steps to personal development. Let's get down to the nitty-gritty. What does it take to really make the changes starting tomorrow? It takes more than philosophical pronouncement. I know that it also takes more than enthusiasm. I know we're hearing a lot about enthusiasm these days, but see, that just won't do the job. We're still here on the old cliches of the 30s, right? To be enthusiastic, you must act enthusiastic. But see, that's not going to help. After you have leaped about, there are some things you got to do [laughter] or it isn't going to change. See, you can get all excited about lifting 200 lb till you get to the gym and then you need a new excitement. [laughter] And the new excitement is called discipline. Major step to human progress. Discipline. If there's one thing to get excited over, that's it. Get excited over your ability to make yourself do the necessary things. What could you make yourself do starting tomorrow that would change it all? No. Telling. Now see that's exciting. On any given day, you can massively change the direction of your life. Murder is a clear example that any one person on any given day can forever alter the course of their life. It just happens to be a negative act. But just as sure as you can commit a negative act, you can also commit a positive act and forever alter your life whenever you wish. Now that's exciting. And whatever that act might be that changes your life. The guy finally takes a shotgun to his car and blows out every window, destroys every tire, puts a 100 rounds in this shabby old thing, and he says, "I have driven this embarrassing thing for the last time. [laughter] And not only will I never drive it again, nobody else will ever drive it again. And he lets that shuddering thing stand there for a while as a monument to the day he said, "Today my life changes." Now, who can do that? Anybody. When can you do it? Whatever day you pick. [laughter]

Now, here's the key to discipline. Start with the little disciplines. Get excited over the little disciplines and get right on those because those will lead to the big ones. You can't handle the big challenges in life unless you take on the little ones. Make a list of all the things you can do. Get right on those. Discipline yourself for those. Both for the results and for the muscle and for the practice so that when life hands you some big challenges, you'll be ready. You'll have the muscle. But see, if you don't handle the small ones, you can't take care of the big ones. Okay, here's what else it takes for life change. Self-motivation. Key phrase, self-motivation. I don't know why we call it self-motivation. It's really the only kind there is. You got to motivate yourself. Cuz I found out you can't change people. They can change themselves, but you can't change them. Lord knows some. I've tried. But see, it won't work. People have to change themselves. I learned some of those lessons early. I built a little sales organization way back in those early days. I'm 25 and I had some nice people. I said, "I'm going to make these people successful if it kills me." I almost died, [laughter] right? I mean, you can't do that. [laughter] See, I've discovered this. Good people are not trained. They're found. You find good people. You don't make them good. You find them good. Training really is for the purpose of finding good people. You don't need much instruction for a good person. But too much training probably means you got the wrong people. So you got to find the right people. That's the key to getting a good job done. One of the major things we learn in management. Lesson one, don't send your ducks to Eagle School. [laughter] [laughter] Cuz it won't help. I mean, I'm telling you, it won't help. No matter how good your school is. And the little eagle badge and little eagle hat. I'm telling you, it won't help. It won't help. [laughter] You can tell whether your school's done any good, right? Is when it's over, right? The duck goes for his first rabbit and makes him a friend. You say, "No, no, no." Anyway, so it takes self-motivation to really alter your life. And you don't want to give self-motivation away to somebody else and make it somebody else motivating you. The guy says, "Boy, if somebody just come by and turn me on, what if they don't show up?" Right? See, you got to have a better plan for your life.

Okay. Now, if you're excited and you're ready to change, let me give you three steps to start life change that can change your life, your personality, your lifestyle. Everything can change. Here's the steps. Number one, find out how things work. The first key to doing better is find out. To change your life, really, you need ideas. There isn't anything an idea can't change. And Schae taught me the major problem is lack of an idea. Not a problem. At first, I didn't have any money. I said to Mr. Schae, "I don't have any money." He said, "That's not a problem." Now, see, up until then, I always thought it was, right? I was confused. He said, "No, no, the problem is lack of an idea on how to create money and wealth. It isn't lack of money. It's lack of ideas. So if you get the ideas, see you can change anything. Now to get ideas, you need a constant study of finding out. Now Schaeoff also said when you find out something that works, put the information in your journal. Don't use your head for a filing cabinet. Put it in your journal so that you can do the next best thing. Repetition, repetition, repetition. Go over it. And if you repeat it, go over it. Sure enough, someday, some mysterious day, the idea takes root, starts to grow and shows up in your bank account and your dress and your personality and your lifestyle. But capture the ideas in your journal. Find out how things work. Schaef gave me this word for my life change. He said, "Study." Great word. If you wish to be successful, study success. If you wish to be happy, study happiness. If you wish to be wealthy, study wealth. Don't leave it to chance. Make it a study. Some people just go through the day with their fingers crossed. See, that won't do it. You've got to study the things that can change your economic, social, spiritual, personal life. Now, here's a qualifying phrase, and we'll have several of these qualifying phrases throughout the seminar. Here's the first one. You may not be able to do all you find out. I understand that. You may not be able to do all you find out, but you should find out all you can do. See, you don't want to wind up at the end of your life and discover that you've lived only one/tenth of it and the other 9/10ths went down the drain. Not for lack of opportunity, for lack of information. So that's number one. Find out how things work.

Now, here's the best human virtue for finding out. Curiosity. Make a note of that. Curiosity. Be curious. You might add a word to it that'll help. Childish curiosity. What will kids do if they want to know something bad enough? Bug you. That's the phrase. They can ask a thousand questions. You think they're through? They got another thousand. They'll drive you to the brink. It's a virtue when you got to know. Be like a child. In fact, Jesus the master teacher said, "Unless you can become like little children, you might as well forget it. You don't have a prayer." Excellent advice. You got to be like children. Four ways in my opinion to be like a child. Number one's curiosity. Number two is excitement. Get excited like a child over your ability to make yourself do anything for change. Third is faith. Have faith like a child. Adults are too skeptical. And fourth is trust. Trust is a childish virtue, but the rewards are incredible. So be like a child.

Now, if you're curious, let me give you three ways to find out how to change anything, any life direction, any dimension. Here's three ways to find out how to change anything. Number one is to read. Become a good reader. All of the successful people I know and work with around the world, they're all good readers. Curiosity drives them to read. They got to know. They just read, read, read, read, read, read, read, read, read, read. Become a good reader. Now, that's my opinion. Listen to the other lecturers and listen to me and make up your own mind. Don't be a follower. Be a student. Okay? I say really for life change, you got to read. One way to learn is from your own experiences, but another way to learn is from other people's experiences. See, one book might save you five years if you read it. Did you know there's books on how to be stronger, more decisive, be a speaker, be a leader, have a better effect on other people, develop your personality? Did you know there's books on that and people don't read them? How would you explain that? And they can read. Did you know that hundreds of successful people have written their stories in books and they wrote down how they did it. and people don't read it. How would you explain that? The guy's busy, I guess. You know, you get tied up. The guy says, "Well, yeah, you work where I work. By the time you struggle home, it's late. You got to eat a bite of supper, watch a little TV, get to bed. You can't sit up half the night reading, reading, reading, reading. And the guy's behind on his car payment. Good worker, hard worker, sincere. But you got to be better than sincere and work hard. Otherwise, at the end of your life, you'll wind up cold, stony broke. You got to be better than a good worker. You got to be a good reader. my opinion.

Now, you don't have to read half the night, okay? Although, if you're broke, that's not a bad place to start, right? Get on with the cure. But put this in your notes. 30 minutes a day. Just devote 30 minutes a day to reading. Stretch it to an hour if you can, but at least 30 minutes. Half rich isn't bad. 30 minutes a day. Read something positive, something challenging, something inspirational, something instructional. At least 30 minutes a day. And here's the next clue. Every day, don't miss. Once you set this up, just don't miss. Miss a meal, but not your 30 minutes. Because you can get along without some meals, but you can't get along without some books. There's a Bible phrase that says humans cannot live on bread alone or just food. It says the next most important thing to food is words. Words nourish the mind. Makes us different than animals and dogs. Words nourish the soul. So humans have to have food and words in order to be happy and healthy. I told my staff the other day, some people read so little they've got rickets of the mind. They're undernourished mentally. So to get a good diet of words, I suggest good reading habits, 30 minutes a day.

Now, some people don't read because they don't read well. I understand that. And the national average is fairly poor. People have fairly poor reading skills. They're still trying to operate on awkward old skills of the past, right? Reading one word at a time. And with such poor skills, when you read, the mind usually wanders because you can think about a lot of things. The mind is an incredible mechanism. And if you read poorly, the mind wanders around thinking of other things while you're trying to read. Did you ever read a page and wonder what it said? Right? See, I got to read that again. Right? That's because the mind is just doing its job, right? Just wandering around. Did you ever read yourself to sleep? See, that's another problem. The mind says, "Who needs this?" Just shuts off, right? Untaxed, right? Poor skills. Or a guy looks at a book, 500 pages, and says, "No, you starting." Right? I mean, I'd never get through this one. Anyway, in our weekend seminar, we take a whole section about 2, three hours, and we go through reading skills. How to read a book a day is the title of that subject. And I'll tell you what, if you can read a book a day, it'll change your whole life. I mean a book a day will change your whole life. Expose yourself to a whole variety of things. Spiritual, moral, personal, economic, history, geography, everything. I mean, you can really change if you read a book a day. So, you might want to attend the weekend, get in on those reading class skills. It's incredible. A book a day will change your life. But hey, whether you read slow or fast or whether you read awkwardly or whether you read well, here's the key. Read. Don't miss. Here's what reading is. Reading is tapping the treasure of ideas. That's what reading is. Tapping the treasure of ideas. And ideas can change any part of your life. And if you've got a good excuse not to tap the treasure of ideas at least 30 minutes a day or spend the money and get the books, I'd love to hear it. Some people have excuses you wouldn't believe. I say, "John, look. I got this gold mine. I got so much gold, I don't know what to do with it all. Come on over and dig." John says, "I ain't got a shovel." I say, "Well, John, get you one." He says, "You know what they want for shovels?" [laughter]

Let me give you the two books that started my library at age 25. My library now is worth many many many thousands of dollars. But it started with two books. Mr. Schae recommended these to me. Got me started. Schae said become self-educated. He said standard education will get you standard results. And you can check those numbers and see if that's what you want. But if you want to go beyond that, you now have got to become self-educated. So he got me started on my library. He said one of the ways is build your library. Now I had a Bible, right? That was 66 books. So that's a pretty good deal. But here's what else he recommended. He said, number one, get the book Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill. Think and Grow Rich if you don't already have it. The title should intrigue you. Think and Grow Rich. I found that book in a secondhand bookstore. I paid 47 cents for it. I've still got it. It's one of the rare hardback covers. I read it several dozen times. Schae taught me repetition is the mother of skill. Some of the ideas in that book helped to change my life. As I look back on it now, the book was worth several hundred thousand and I bought it for 47 cents. What a lesson I learned the difference between cost and value. Before I met Mr. Schae, I used to ask, "How much does it cost?" After I met Mr. Schae, I asked, "How much is it worth?" I started basing my life on worth instead of cost, and everything changed. But that was book one, Think and Grow Rich.

The second book he recommended I get was a book on nutrition. Schae said study nutrition. I think that first book was by Adele Davis. Eat Right to Keep Fit. I think I've got lots of them now, but I think that was the first one. Schaef said study nutrition. And there's all kinds of books on nutrition. Just read them all. Some are a little weird, but but read them all. Right? If you're weird, do the weird stuff. I mean, whatever. But read them. Then make up your own mind. Remember, don't read and become a follower. Read and become a student. Make up your mind. Find a plan that works good for you. But get the books on nutrition. Here's what Mr. Schae said to me. Vitality plays an important part in doing well. Vitality. He said some people don't do well because they don't feel well. It's not that they're not intelligent. it's that they're ill. They don't have the zing and the fire and the vitality to do well. So, he put it right on me about studying nutrition. He said, "Jim, you wouldn't believe it." He said, "I got this friend of mine raises racehorses. The guy's got nine books on how to feed horses. He does not have a book on how to feed himself." He said, "My friend studies horse nutrition. studies it. Vitamins, minerals, trace minerals, protein, amino acids, carbohydrates, fats, enzymes, proper balance for his horses. Schae said he's a fanatic. And he said, "You ought to see his horses. They're magnificent, beautiful, powerful animals. They can run like the wind." And he said, "You ought to see him. He's a wreck." He said, "The guy feeds his horses better than he feeds himself." Do you believe that? In my later studies, I discovered some people feed their dogs better than they feed their kids, if you can believe that. Anyway, I didn't mean to give you a health lecture here tonight, okay? But hey, take care of yourself. Work on that part because it's one of the answers to doing well. There's even a Bible phrase that says, "Many times the spirit is willing, but the body's weak." Now, see, you're in trouble. And that is a problem. You wake up in the morning and the mind says, "Let's go get them." And the body says, "I can't even get out of bed." [laughter] So, you got to work on both sides of this. Right? Okay. But get your library started. Get the books. Put it together. Books are the trademark of civilization. It's fascinating to walk into someone's home and browse through their library because your library says something about you. So, put your reading together. Very important.

Here's the second way to find out how to change your life, and that's to listen. Get around successful people and listen. Now, you can also learn from unsuccessful people. Take notes on both negative and positive. On the negative, the notes are called what not to do. And you got to learn what not to do as well as what to do. So learn from the negative as well as the positive. Okay? Find out what poor people read and don't read it. Right? That's good information. Learn from the negative. But now you can also learn from the positive. Get around successful people. Listen to what they say. Listen to how they say it. It's important. We've all got about 16 waking hours. Practice listening those 16 hours. And I say practice listening because listening isn't easy. I found out it's easier to talk than it is to listen. But if you will practice listening the 16 hours you're awake, sure enough, from surprising sources comes great ideas. In sales training, we teach if you want to learn sales, listen to the kids. Kids have got to be the master salespeople of all time. They have no equal. Father tells his young son, "No, you cannot have an ice cream cone." 30 minutes later, he's licking on one. [laughter] That'd be 30 minutes worth listening to. They got moves you wouldn't believe. [laughter] Persistence runs deep like the ocean. And the kids never took a class on how to overcome objections. They already know how. They don't need classes. You tell kids no. That goes right on by. They give you three good reasons. You say no. It goes right on by. They give you three more. They're masters. So listen and learn.

Now, here's some of the best advice I've got for the whole evening. It won't get any better than this. This is it. Poor people ought to take rich people out to dinner and listen. That's some of the best I got. If a guy's not doing well, one of the first things he ought to do is find a guy that is doing well and offer to buy him his dinner. Spend 50, 60, $80 $100. Go for the full nine course. Start him on the juices nor get him started talking. The salad takes 15 minutes. Keep it rolling. Biggest steak in town takes 45. Keep it rolling. Pour on the dessert. Stretch that meal out about two hours. If you get a successful person to eat and talk for two hours, they're liable to drop ideas in your lap. Change your life. Multiply your income by two, by three, by five. But you're right. Poor people don't usually take rich people out to dinner. That's the problem. The guy said he's rich. Let him buy his own dinner. I'm not coming up with any money. And he says, "Besides, you work where I work. By the time you struggle home, it's late. You're lucky to get your own supper, let alone running around trying to find a rich man to feed. And the guy's behind on his house payment. good worker, hard worker, sincere. But you got to be better than sincere. Work hard, you wind up broke. You got to be better than a good worker. You got to be a good listener. And remember what you read and what you hear. Put the good stuff in your journal.

Here's the third way to find out how to change your life, and that's to observe. You can pick up a lot of ideas just by watching. Get around successful people and watch. Here's why. Success leaves clues. Watch how the man shakes hands. Watch how the lady responds. People who do well do certain things over and over and over and over. And if you're clever, you can pick them up. Watch it all. If a guy's making $10,000 a month, I'd watch how he walks. Maybe that's it. Copy his funny little walk. Somebody says, "Well, that's kind of a silly walk." Say it's $10,000. I haven't got the money yet, but I got the walk. [laughter] It's bound to start somewhere. What I ask you tonight is to be unusual and be a good observer of what's going on. You can pick up ideas that can change your life starting tomorrow. Just be a more careful observer. Now remember, there's two ways to see. One is called sight. See with your eyes. The other one is called insight. See with your mind. See with your eyes, you'll see things. See with your mind, you'll see answers. Put your eyes and your mind to work. And the best advice on developing sight and insight is pay attention. Don't miss anything. In the weekend seminar, we teach one of the greatest fatalities to success is preoccupation, lack of concentration. the guy's mind wanders. See, you wind up average. You've got to learn to zero in and concentrate. I read a good article one time, Reader's Digest. The title was, "Wherever you are, be there." Excellent. Don't miss anything.

Now, we've lingered a little bit long on number one here for personal development. find out how things work. But it's so very important, finding out. And I've given you three ways to find out. Now, here's the second step to personal development. Okay? Number one was find out how things work. Here's number two. Go to work. You must now take action on what you found out. In doing business around the world, we call it game plan. Put together your game plan. One of the major things we teach on the weekend seminars, game plans. How to game plan your office. If you're in sales, you need a game plan. Kids need a game plan. You need a home game plan, social game plan, a business game plan. Everybody needs game plans. financial independence game plan, your investment game plan. Don't think in your head. Put it on paper. Don't operate out of your mind. Operate from paper. I often ask somebody, "What are you going to do the next six months?" And somebody starts to tell me. I say, "No, don't tell me. Show me. Show me your game plan for the next six months. Then I can look at things and maybe I can help." But you got to operate from paper. Put it on a game plan. Take action on what you found out.

Now, here's the best word I know of to go with action. Massive. See, that'll change everything. Massive action is called the cure all. If you're going to make calls, make a few thousand. If you're going to make contacts, make a few thousand. If you're going to knock on doors, knock on a few thousand. See, that'll change everything. Here's the language of the poor. I'll try it a time or two and see what happens. It's the way poor people talk. The guy says, "Well, I'll give it 30 days." 30 days. You could guess his bank balance. You've got to have a better game plan. So, here's one of the major things to do starting tomorrow. Take a look at your game plan. If it isn't loaded with massive action, change it tomorrow action. The formula really works like this. Pick up a good idea, take heavy action. Pick up a couple of good ideas, take heavy action. That's the formula for success. Heavy action. [laughter] It's a good thing we can edit all this, right? [laughter] The formula for success, take heavy action on a good idea, right? That's the ratio.

Now, here's the key. Don't wait till you've learned two or three thousand things because that way you'll use up all the time and you could wind up smart and broke. And hey, it's okay to be dumb and broke, but if a guy's smart and broke, that's pitiful. Don't let your learning lead to knowledge, you'll become a fool. Let your learning lead to action, you can become wealthy. And there's many kinds of wealth. I understand that. Not just money. Money is one of the least of all values. I know some people with a lot of money that are very poor. Ivita sings, "As for fortune and as for fame, they are illusions. They're not the solutions they promised to be." So there's all kinds of wealth, but to get a big share coming your way, you've got to have a heavy action game plan.

Now, here's the third step to personal development, and we'll wrap up personal development. Step number three, it's just a little caution. And all through life, we need little cautions. This one simply says, don't try to beat the system. Find out how it works. Work it, but don't try to beat it. Some people learn just enough to start slicing it, shading it, thinning it, cutting corners, and looking for cheap answers. See, don't fall for that. you'll wind up with a cheap life. Find out how it works best and do it that way. Even though it seems to take a little longer, do it right. Don't compromise with right.

Under this step, here's another key. Be a quick learner. Don't let it take long to teach you. Learn quick. Don't run at the wall too many times. Learn quicker. One guy said he broke his nose seven times in the same place. Somebody says, "Looks like you'd stay out of that place." [laughter] Learn quicker. Now, the third point here is don't be stubborn. See, some people won't change even when a better way comes. They say, "Well, I've been doing it this way 30 years." Hey, be ready for change. If it's a better way, go for it. But don't try to beat it. Or you'll be like the guy that went to Las Vegas. He didn't have much money, so he didn't want to risk his money gambling. But he gets to Las Vegas and the jackpot bells are ringing, the money's flowing, the lights are flashing, and he can't help himself. He's got to gamble. But instead of gambling with his cash, he decides to play the mental gambling game. And the brilliant scheme he worked out goes like this. He'd pick a number like number three. Mentally, he would bet a certain amount of money on the number. And whether it won or lost, he would jot down that amount in his little pad. I would have won $5 if I have made that bet just to keep track of it. Win or lose. That way, come midnight, he can calculate how he's doing. winner, loser, how much only not his money. Keep his money. Just play this mental gambling game. So, here he is around the gambling table. Everybody else shelling out their hard-earned cash. He's got this brilliant scheme. Instead of betting with his money, he's betting with his mind. And he lost his mind, [laughter] which means don't try to beat the system, I guess.

Okay, we have covered personal development. By the way, it's the longest subject, so take heart. The rest of them are a lot shorter. The whole world is governed by laws. The universe, in fact, laws. We call it the law of electricity. We call it the law of gravity. There's mathematical laws. There's physical laws, speed and velocity laws, agricultural laws. There's all kinds of laws. Now that we find ourselves on the spinning planet, you just have to learn what I call the setup. Learn the setup. Life's setup. Now, we didn't set it up, but we're here, so you got to learn it. And we should learn the setup for two basic reasons. Number one, to keep from getting hurt. That's one of the major reasons for learning, so you won't get hurt. See, economically, socially, personally, you can get hurt just not knowing. Ignorance is not bliss. Ignorance is poverty. Ignorance is tragedy. You got to know or you're going to get hurt. It's good to know not to walk out the 10-story window. That's excellent information. Now, what if a guy didn't know and he walks out? Now he's dead at the bottom. Somebody says, "Well, the poor guy didn't know." Huh? You got to know or you're going to get hurt. Okay.

Now, here's a parenthesis. You don't have to like the setup. I don't ask you to like how it is. That's not what's important. But it is important to learn how it is. Okay? So, you don't have to like it, but you should learn it. That's what I tell the kids, right? Make sure you get the information. What you think about it, that's up to you. What you're going to do with it, that'll soon be up to you. But make sure you get it. See, there's nothing worse than being stupid. Nothing. I mean, being broke is bad, but being stupid is awful. And what's really bad is being broke and stupid, right? That's about the end of the world. I mean, there isn't anything much worse than that. Unless you're sick, sick, broke, and stupid. I mean, that is it, right? There's nowhere else to go. So, make sure you get the information. It's key. You don't have to like it, but learn it. If this big monstrous thing lifts up in the sky, hangs there for a little while, cuts loose, comes crashing down, boom, shakes the ground for 5 miles, and then this big monstrous thing lifts back up in the sky, hangs there for a little while, cuts loose again, comes crashing down, boom, shakes the ground for 5 miles. It just keeps doing it. This big monstrous thing lifting up and then crashing down. Boom. Now, you might come along one day and say, "That's got to be a stupid arrangement." Which is okay. You're entitled to your opinion. But the first thing you should learn to do is get out from under it. Right? That's number one. You might have a great moral argument. You might want to shake your finger at the sky, but do it from over there, right? So you don't get smashed. It's called your basic smart. So number one, learn so you won't get hurt. Whether you like it or not, learn.

Now here's the second reason for learning the setup to benefit. It's called the plus of life. And that's what life is, right? Both minus and plus. The minus is tragedy, heartache, misery, failure, unhappiness. But life is also happiness, prosperity, good feelings. So here's the key. Learn to get on the good side of the way things work. Now, here's two of the basic laws and we'll take our break. Schae taught me these. They come from the Bible. Now, again, I'm an amateur, okay, when it comes to the Bible. I'm not a pro. So, you'll sort of have to take my way of putting it. But here they are. The first one is the law of use. The law of use. And it goes something like this. Whatever you don't use, you lose. Lack of use causes loss. On this planet, maybe not the next one, but on this one, if you tie your arm to your body, leave it there long enough, you'll never use it again. It's over for the arm. Now, it may not be over, but it's over for the arm. The only way to keep the use of this arm is what? Keep using it. If you quit, you lose automatically. They don't bring it up for a vote. You lose automatically when you quit. Now, the same thing that goes for your arm goes for your brain mentality. The same thing goes for all the human virtues. Ambition unused declines. Strong feelings unused diminish. It doesn't grow. It diminishes. Faith unused decreases. It's a law. Vitality unused diminishes. Energy unused decreases. The guy says, "Well, I'm going to save up my energy." You can't do that. That's like trying to save today. Put it on the end of the year. See, you can't do that. They'll come take you away if you don't use today. What? >> It's lost. The guy says, "Well, I'll work twice as hard tomorrow to make up for it." See, that's foolish. You could have done that anyway. Today unused is lost. A talent unused is lost. An ability unused is lost. So, here's one of the key expressions of the evening. Take a new inventory of yourself. Starting tomorrow, new project. Take a new inventory and make sure that all of your talent and ability and mentality and ingenuity and vitality and strong feelings, faith, courage. Make sure that all you've got's being used. Otherwise, you lose.

Now, one of the best illustrations of the law of use is a Bible story called the parable of the talents. The talent story. Interesting story. If you haven't read it in a while, just review it. It's a good story, an ancient story. It says there was a master with three servants. He got them together one day and he said to the three, "I've got these talents." And in those ancient days, a talent was a measure of gold. And he said to the three servants, "Take these talents and see what you can do with them while I'm gone." He said, "I'm taking a journey and I'll be gone for a while. When I come back, we'll get together, go over the book, see how you did. He said, "Here's five of these talents for you." Five. Here's two of them for you. Two. And here's one for you. One. The master said, "Take those talents. See what you can do with them. When I come back, we'll get together. We'll go over it all." The servant said, "Okay." Master takes off. According to the ancient story, the master comes back from his trip. When he gets back, he gets the three servants together and as he said he would, he asks, "How did it go with those talents?" You're five. What happened? That servant said, "Well, I took the five talents you gave me and I put them to work." A little shaky at first, but he said, "Things finally got rolling." And he said, "I poured it on." And he said, "My talents grew to 7 8 9 10." He said, 'I doubled my talents from 5 to 10. Books will show. Master said, "One heck of a job or something like that." He said, "I gave you two talents. What happened?" That servant said about the same thing happened to me. I put those two talents to work, poured it on, they grew to three and then to four. He said, "I doubled my talents from two to four. Books will show." Master said, "Well done." He said, 'I gave you one talent. What happened? That servant said, 'Well, I took the talent you gave me and I carefully wrecked it and I dug a hole and buried it and camouflaged it, I suppose, right? So nobody would steal it. And he said, fortunately, nobody got it. And he said, I knew you were going to be here today, so I dug it up. Here it is, safely wrapped. I did not lose it while you were gone. According to the ancient story, the master said, "Take that talent away from him and give it to the man that's got 10." Now, you might say, "Well, I don't like that arrangement. The poor guy's only got one talent. He's already got 10. It ought to be more even. Remember, I didn't ask you to like it, but this one I would ask you to learn because it simply means whatever you do not employ, you forfeit. It's a law. So, learn well the law of use.

Now, here's the second one, and we're going to take our break. Second law from the Bible. This one we've heard since we were small, I'm sure. It's called the law of sowing and reaping. In fact, we've probably heard it so often we could quote it. It says, "Whatever you sow, what? >> You shall reap." Fairly blunt, hopefully clear. Here's my first suggestion on the law of sowing and reaping. Don't try to beat it. You might as well try sitting on the sun in the morning. Keep it from coming up. You'll have better luck. Whatever you sow, you reap. Now, for a fair share of my life, I'm a bit mixed up on how all this applies, among a lot of things I was mixed up on. I knew I wasn't reaping too good. That I understood. My problem was I was confused about what was causing it. Remember me with the funny list? I thought those are the reasons why it isn't working out well. And then Mr. Schae gave me the clue that helped me figure it all out. He said, "Mr. Own, I have another answer for you. There's another way to quote this law that'll show you where the problem is so you can go to work on it right away. All you need to know is where the problem is, then you can go to work on it. So, he quoted me the law another way and I found out what my problem was. Here's the way you quote the law. Whatever you reap is what you've sown. Now, I knew what my problem was. Whatever you reap is what you've sown. If you don't like the crop, who do you look up? Answer. Whoever planted it. And where do you find who planted your crop? Answer. In the mirror. What I finally learned to do come fall was to go to the mirror. That's where you go. And if necessary, you say, "A few skinny carrots. I got to be unimpressed." Where were you last spring? Asleep? Didn't you read the books? Did you break your hoe? Let me give you seven key points to the law of sowing and reaping. Let's tick right down through the list of seven and it'll be break time. Seven points to sowing and reaping. Here's part of the philosophy that really helped me to make some changes in life direction.

Number one, the law of sowing and reaping is negative. That's number one. Which simply means if you sow bad, you reap bad. Now, this is kind of third grade, but it doesn't hurt to go over the basics. If you plant thistle seeds, you don't get pumpkins. Honest. No use looking for pumpkins. John says, "How come no pumpkins?" Come on, John. The law is negative. That's how come. Now, here's number two. The law is positive. Which simply means if you sow good, you reap good. If you plant pumpkin seeds, you don't get thistles. Not from pumpkin seeds. Mother nature won't pull tricks on you or in the corner snicker and pushing new thistles and you planting pumpkin seeds. She won't do that. You will get pumpkins from pumpkin seeds. And the reason is because the law is positive. Now, here's number three. I got excited when I found out the full dimension of this. See, you do not reap what you sow, but rather you always reap much more than what you sow. So the third key word is more. You don't get back what you put out. You get back much more than what you put out. And it works both positive and negative. On the negative side, it said if you sow to the wind, you reap the whirlwind. So you got to get ready for that or you will be naive. But now it also works positive. If you plant a cup of corn in the spring, how much corn do you reap in the fall? Not a cup. You might as well keep the cup you got. Why go to all the trouble planting a cup of corn in the spring? Water it and take care of it all summer. Look after it carefully. Cross your fingers and pray. Why go through all that? Reason. Come fall, you could well get a bushel for the cup. A bushel for a cup. It's called one of life's better deals. Guy says, "Well, yeah, I'll figure out how that works. You could get rich." That's right. That's right. Then how come more people aren't wealthy? They don't study much sow and reap. The guy says, 'Well, yeah, you work where I work, but the time you struggle home, it's late. You got to eat a bite of supper, watch a little TV.

Here's number four. Fourth key to sowing and reaping. There are many ways to sow and reap. There's many ways to change your life. There's many ways to get promoted. There's many ways to move up. There's many ways for financial independence. There's so many ways to do well, especially in this country. You don't have to go without any. If we lived in the middle of Africa, the middle of India with economic disaster all around, you might have some excuses for not doing well. But not here. There's too many ways here. Do you know what the gross national product of this nation was last year, the year of the slowdown? It was still $2 trillion. There's been nothing like it in the history of the human race. Last year, this country, we now consider somebody desperately poor in this country and needs massive help if they make less than $7,000 a year. And the rest of the world doesn't average $700 a year. No wonder they call it the American dream. There's so many ways too many ways to do well and especially in California. Do you know where California would rank among the nations of the world in productivity if it was a nation? Number five. The United States would be number one, Russia number two, Japan number three, Germany number four, California number five. And there's only 23 million people here. I mean, there's nothing like it in the whole world. And Orange County, [laughter] this is it. There's 4 and a half billion people in the world and they all wish they lived in Orange County. Hey, if you can't make it here, forget it. It's over. Take your chances on the next planet. You've blown this one. [laughter] There's too many libraries. There's too many classes. There's too many seminars. There's too much information. There's too many books. There's too much capital. There's too much help. There's too much training here not to do well. There's too many ways. So find you some ways. There's plenty.

Here's the fourth key to sowing and reaping or five. And that key word is anyone. Anyone can sow and reap. That's what's exciting. Anyone can. Now the question is whether or not you will. But can is not the question. Will is the question. Anyone can. Mr. Kio says, "Try my plan. I put it together." The Kio plan. Put aside $145 a month for the next 30 years. It's a million dollars with the tax advantages. $1 million 30 years. Kio plan. $145 a month. Not a bad plan. Become a millionaire. Now, anybody can. The question is who will? That's the question. Son asked his father when his father's 50. We're rich, right? The Kio thing. His father said, "No, no, we're not rich." His son says, "Well, the the Kio thing, the 145 a month Kio thing." He says, "Yeah, I know the Kio thing, but I didn't go for that." Son says, "You didn't?" says, "No, I picked another plan for the $145." So, what'd you do with the 145? Said, "Well, I bought beer and

cigarettes." [laughter] See, anybody can whether you will or not. See, that's the question. And here's a good question to ask. We are all buying somebody's plan. The question is who's who's got you talked into doing what you're doing. Who's got you talked into your present plan? See, 10 years from now, you will surely arrive. The question is where?

But see, anybody if you want to can go searching for a good plan, pick it and start working it. And sure enough, as the time passes, as it surely will five years from now, 10 years from now, then you'll be winding up wearing what you want to wear, driving what you want to drive, living where you want to live, become what you want to become. But now is the time to fix the next 10 years. And who can? Anybody?

Here's number six. The sixth key to sewing and reaping. This is leveling with you now as we promised to do. There's one thing better than the truth and that's the whole truth. And here's part of the whole truth of the law of sewing and reaping. Number six is you could lose. There are times when you just lose no matter what you do. It's that kind of planet. You reap what you sow. Yes. But what does that mean? Yes. But well, the farmer plants his crop in the spring, takes care of it all summer, loves his family, works 10, 12 hours a day, six, seven days a week, is an honorable man. Come fall, he's got a beautiful crop, and he deserves every bit of it. But the day before he sends the combines into the field, a hail storm comes along and beats it all in the ground, which means you lose. [laughter] Somebody says, "Well, what did he do wrong?" Answer, nothing. It's just that kind of planet. Sometimes it's going to hail on your crop and rain on your parade. So, you got to get ready for that or you will be naive. That's just part of the life arrangement. And don't press me why. I was not in on some of the original decisions here. So, I don't know how it got set up. But there's just time. Sometimes you lose. That's part of life.

But now, here's number seven. The seventh key to sewing and reaping. And it goes like this. It's just another way to quote the same law. And it goes like this. If you don't sow, that's just another way to quote the law. If you don't sow, what? >> You don't reap. You don't even have a chance. So, if you looked at your game plan tomorrow, you might come to the quick conclusion, I got to get some sewing going. How true. Get you some sewing going. And remember, you've got plenty of time. You've got all the time there is.

Some people spend enough TV time to make a fortune. The latest article on television watching in this country, according to the latest article, the average television is on in this country in every household 7 hours a day called The Big Seven. I asked a guy one time what his TV cost. He said about $450. I said, "You forgot to look at the price tag." He said, "What do you mean?" I knew he was a TV watcher. I said, "That television cost you, in my opinion, at least $12,000 a year to watch it, not to own it. Owning it cheap. watching it is what's expensive. And I said, "Hey, 12,000 a year is too much to pay to watch TV. That's too much. Pay a little, but not 12,000." And he's the guy that said, "I hope pay TV never comes."

Okay, we're trying to cover an awful lot tonight. I realize that, but my time schedule is such that uh we just have to sort of give it all to you and let you sort the rest out. I wish we had plenty of time for questions and answers and that whole thing, but our time is just limited. But we are trying to go through an awful lot. I realize that. But uh looks like everybody's getting it. This is about the note-taking crowd I've seen in a long time. Incredible. Does anybody have five pages yet? Anybody? Oh, fantastic. Incredible.

Okay, maybe you heard the story about the preacher down in Texas, southern part of the country. Um, he was an evangelist back in the horse and buggy days. And he was very good at being an evangelist and a lot of people used to come and hear him preach. And one day he put up his tent in one of these Texas towns and expected a big crowd as usual, come and hear him preach. And he got there first night of the tent revival, walked in. 7:30, time to start. And to his surprise, the tent was empty. He thought, "Well, something must be drastically wrong." So he waited till quarter 8. Nobody showed up. 8:00, zip. Finally, 8:15. One lone c cowboy wandered up on his horse, tied his horse up outside, came in, sat down on the front bench, right? Waiting for something to happen. The preacher thought, "Well, at least I better go down and talk to the cowboy." So he walks down, talks to the cowboy, and he says, "Cowboy, I'm the preacher." And he said, "I don't know what to tell you. Something's gone wrong." He said, "This tent was supposed to be full of people." He said, "I'm embarrassed." He said, 'You're the only one that showed up.' And he said, 'I really don't know what to do.' And the cowboy said, 'Well, I'm not a preacher, so I really can't tell you what to do. You know, he said, "I'm just a cowboy." But he said, "I know this. If I went out to feed my cattle and only one showed up, I'd at least feed it."

The preacher thought, "Hey, the cowboy is right. If you've got a good idea to share, you should share it. if there's one or a thousand. So he got kind of inspired by this conversation and he jumped up on the platform, started to preach as if the tent was full of people. Just exploded and he went for an hour, hour and 15 minutes, just kept rolling. Finally, he quit. And when he finished, he came down off the platform, talked to the cowboy again, says, "Well, cowboy, what did you think of my sermon?" And the cowboy said, "Well, I'm not a preacher, so I really can't tell." You know, he said, "I'm just a cowboy." But he said, "I know this. If I went out to feed my cattle and only one showed up, I'd feed it, but I wouldn't dump the whole load on it. [laughter]

So, anyway, if it seems like we're dumping the whole load tonight, I guess we are. But, uh, gosh, everybody's doing well. I'm having a good time. I appreciate the response here tonight.

Okay, the next subject is setting goals. Let me show you what turned my life every way but loose. Mr. Schae dropped this idea on me. Changed me completely. Setting goals. Here's what can easily happen if you don't set goals. It's easy to let life deteriorate into making a living instead of designing a life. And we all have a choice. make a living or design a life. It's easy to get trapped by economic necessity and settle for existence rather than substance. That's easy. But the best advice I I can give you on how to break out of that trap is to learn how to set goals.

Mr. Schae put it to me this way. He said, 'Jim, if you had enough reasons, you could do the most incredible things. I never forgot how he put that. If you have enough reasons, see, reasons will change your whole life. Mr. Schae said to me, he said, "Mr. Own, I think you've got plenty of intelligence, you've got plenty of talent, you've got plenty of ability. probably what you lack is plenty of reasons. He said, "I don't think your current bank balance is a true indication of your level of intelligence." I was happy to hear that. He said, "I think you're much smarter than your present bank balance indicates." And that turned out to be true. I was much smarter. But of course, my first question was, "Well, then why isn't it bigger?" And he said, "You don't have enough reasons. You've got enough intelligence, but not enough reasons." So, see, reasons can change your life.

Here's what else I found out. Reasons come first, answers come second. You don't get the answers to do well till you get the reasons. Life has a mysterious way of hanging on to all the answers. and only gives them up to the people that are inspired by reasons. So reasons make the difference in how your life works out.

Now what are some of the reasons for doing well? Let's go through a quick list called reasons for doing well. First is personal reasons. Some people do well for recognition. Some people do well for respect. Some people do well for the way it makes them feel. They love the feeling of being a winner. Those are good reasons. I have some millionaire friends that keep working 10 12 hours a day making more millions. And it's not because they need the money. It's because they need the joy and the [clears throat] satisfaction and the pleasure that comes from being a constant winner. And see, it's not just the money anyway. It's the journey, not the money. Once in a while, somebody says to me, "Boy, if I had a million dollars, I'd never work another day in my life." That's probably why the good Lord sees to it they don't get their million, right? They'd quit. They'd quit.

Next is family reasons. Some people do extremely well for other people and that's powerful. Human beings can greatly affect each other. Sometimes we will do things for somebody else we will not do for ourselves. We are made that way. I met a man one time who said, "Mr. Owen, to do all the things I want to do with my family around the world," he said, "I got to have at least a quarter of a million dollars a year." I thought, "Incredible. Could a guy's family affect him that much?" And the answer is, "Of course." How fortunate are the people that find themselves greatly affected by somebody for personal achievement and we are affected. The writer of a recent song said, "If not for you, the winter would hold no spring. Couldn't hear a robin sing. I just wouldn't have a clue if not for you." so we can be affected. That might be one of the most stimulating reasons to do well, finding somebody.

Next is benevolence. Some people are turned on by sharing and sharing can be one of the biggest turnons to do well. Some people do extremely well gathering up resources and then they divide them all up, sponsor all kinds of things, sharing When Andrew Carnegie died, the we little Scotsman that built the big steel industry, when he died, they opened up his desk and in one of the desk drawers, they found a slip of paper. On that piece of paper, Mr. Carnegie had written his goal for his life. And he wrote it when he was in his 20s. And on that piece of paper, it said, "I'm going to spend the first half of my life accumulating money. I'm going to spend the last half of my life giving it all away." What a goal. He got so inspired by that goal that the first half of his life he accumulated $450 million. and the last half of his life he gave it all away.

Good question tonight. What's got you turned on? What's got you bombed out of sight to get up early and stay up late and hit it all day? Next question. What's got you turned off? When I found the answers to those two questions, my life exploded into change. I finally found out what had me turned off and I got that cured. And then I got me a long enough list of reasons to turn me on. And once the lights went on for me, age 25, they've never gone out. I've fallen out of the sky a few times, but I've never lost that drive to make something unique out of my life. See, reasons altered my whole life.

Now, there's another list of reasons called nittygritty. Hard little reasons. Sometimes those little reasons are the most powerful reasons that can change your life. Sometimes it doesn't take much. I now carry several hundred in my money clip. It's only a few hundred dollar, but it was one of those reasons turned my life around. Just before I met Mr. Schae, I heard a knock at the door. I go to the door and there's a little girl standing there about this tall selling girl scout cookies and she gave me one of the finest sales presentations I've ever heard. Special deal, several flavors, this whole package of stuff, $2. And with a big smile, she very politely asked me to buy and I wanted to. Big problem. I'm broke. I don't have $2. And to this day, I can remember the pain and the embarrassment. I'm a father. I'm a husband. I've been to college. I'm working. I'm 25. I don't have $2. And I didn't want to tell her that for some reason. So, I did what I thought was next best. I lied to her. [laughter] I said, "Hey, look. I've already bought lots of Girl Scout cookies. I've still got plenty stacked in the house." which was not true, but it seemed to get me off the hook for the moment. She said, "Well, gosh, that's wonderful. Thank you very much." And she went away. When she left, I closed the door. And that was the day I said to myself, "I don't want to live like this anymore. I've had it with lying and I've had it with being broke. I'm never going to let this happen to me ever again. I promised that day I would work as hard as possible and would always carry plenty. It took me a little while, but now I do. It was one of those reasons. And I guess I carry plenty for two reasons. One is the way it makes me feel, but also in case I bump into another Girl Scout selling cookies, right? I'm ready.

I walked out of the Bank of America one time up in Saratoga, California, where I used to live. Two little girls selling candy right outside the bank. Good place. Some girls organization they're working for, right? I come walking out of the bank. This first little girl walks up to me. She said, "Mister, would you like to buy some candy?" I said, "I probably would. What kind is it?" She said, "It's Almanroa." I said, "My gosh, that's my favorite." She said, "Wonderful." I said, "How much is it?" She said, "It's just $2." I thought, "Incredible." I said, "How many boxes of that candy have you got?" She said, "Five. And her little friend was standing there. She was selling candy, too. I said, "How many boxes have you got?" She said, "I've got four." I said, "That's nine. I'll take them all." They said, "Really?" I said, "Yeah, it's my favorite. I've got some friends. I'll pass them around." They got so excited, put all this candy together. I reached in my pocket, gave them the $18. When I've got the candy and they've got the money, that first little girl looked up looks up at me. She says, "Mister, you are really something." How about that? Can you imagine only spending $18 and have somebody look at you in the face and say, "You are really something." Now you know why I carry heavy, right? [laughter] I'm not going to miss anymore. It was just one of those reasons helped to change my life.

One of my nitty-gritty reasons was budget finance. Budget finance used to grind my soul. Way back in those early days, I had fallen for one of those consolidation loans where you take all your little hard to pay bills, put them into one big impossible to pay bill, right? >> [laughter] >> I would get four or five payments behind. This one guy used to call me day and night. I don't think they're allowed to do that anymore. Harassed me. Threatened to run me in front of the judge. Threatened to ruin my credit. Threatened to embarrass my family. One day he said, "We're going to come get your car, drag it rear end up down the street in front of your neighbors." The guy even called me a flake. And back in those days, I'm broke. I'm pitiful. There's nothing I can do about it. But I never forgot how the guy treated me. And when I met Mr. Schae and I got my life started straightened out and the money started to flow, that was one of my first projects, budget finance. I poured it on day and night. I finally put all the money together I owed him, which was considerable. I picked a day for the payoff, and when the payoff day came, I put the money in small bills in a big briefcase. And I walked into the budget finance office on Wilshire Boulevard in Los Angeles. The guy who harassed me so often, his desk was about three back. I walked right up to his desk, startled him. He wondered what I was doing there. It was the first time I'd been there since I borrowed the money. Right. [laughter] Without saying a word, I opened up this briefcase, dumped this pile of money all over his desk. I said, "Count it. It's all there. I will never be back." And I turned around and stormed out. Now, that might not be noble, but if you haven't tried it, you've got to one time. It can be the day that turns your life around. All you need is a reason that turns you on.

One of my dear friends, Robert Dew, Bobby used to be a school teacher in Lindsay, olive capital of the world. Bobby taught school several years. got a little weary teaching school. One day decided he wanted to get into sales. So without telling anybody, he just up and quit his job teaching school and jumped into sales. When he did, his brother made fun of him. Laughed at him. Put him down. Said Robert's lost his mind. Had a good job teaching school. Now he thinks he's a sales. He's going to go down the drain. Lose everything. just put him down something fierce. Bobby said, "The way my brother acted when I got into sales," he said, "that made me so mad I decided to get rich." And my question for you tonight is, is it possible to get that mad? Of course. Wealth is not a matter of intelligence. It's a matter of inspiration. Today, Robert happens to be one of my millionaire friends. Bobb's rich. Frank Sinopter said one time, "The best revenge is massive success. Hey, get you a long enough list of reasons so that after tonight you never lack for inspiration. You might not have all the answers right away, but you can get the answers if you can get the reasons.

Now, let me give you a little simple formula for goal setting. Now, let me give you a little simple formula for goal setting. Okay? We take two two and a half hours on the weekend for the whole 10ear plan. We don't have time for that tonight. But let me get you started with a little simple formula Mr. Schae gave me and maybe this will be helpful. First of all, I've divided goals into two parts. First is long range. Long range goals. That's your dreams. Your dreams for the next 3, 5, 10, 20, 30, 40 years. Actually, the rest of your life. Your dreams. You've got to keep dreaming. Ronald Reagan, president, said to the joint session of Congress a few weeks ago, "The republic is a dream. And if we don't keep dreaming, we will lose the republic. Your better future is a dream for yourself and for your family, where do you want to go? What do you want to do? What do you want to be? What do you want to see? You've got to dream dreams." There's a Bible phrase that says without dreams and visions, people perish. You've got to have something to go for that inspires the heart and the soul. Dreams from the children of Sanchez. It says, "Take the crumbs from starving soldiers, they won't die. Take the bread from hungry children, they won't cry. But without dreams, we all will die. You've got to dream. Don't lose your dreams for yourself, for your future, for your family, the dreams of love and enterprise and travel and doing things, becoming something unique on your journey here. Don't lose your dreams. Do some dreaming. That's long range goals. You've got to have those. So that's number one.

Here's the second part of goals. Short range. Short range goals. That's your goals for tomorrow, this week, this month, this year, the immediate future. We call these confidence builders. Because if you set up something short range, go for it. Get it. Latch on to it. Work hard. Accomplish it. That starts building your strong feelings to go for your dreams.

Now I've divided goals into three categories. Here they are. Number one is economic. That's your goals for money, income, business, profits, production. Economics. Make sure you've got your economics well planned. Economics plays a major role in everybody's life. Economics is major, which means it ought to be meticulously well planned for tomorrow, this week, this month, this year, long range. What if you ask somebody tomorrow if you could see their meticulously well planned list of economic goals? What would they probably say? They say, "You some kind of a nut. You must be weird." Hey, I found out what success is. Success is doing what the failures won't do. Make sure you've got your economics well planned. It'll put you in the top 5%. One of the key little subjects we talk about on the weekend is the seven fundamentals for wealth and happiness. And that's one of them. Wellplanned economics. It's a fundamental. If you want to do well, join the top five%. Anybody in this room can join the top 5% if you will.

Okay, now here's the second category of goals, things. Make a list of the things you want. And on my list of things, now I put everything, little things, as well as major things. Doesn't matter how small it is, it goes on my list. I used to just put major things. Cars, homes. I don't do that anymore. I now load my list with everything. Everything. And the reason is part of the fun of having a list is checking it off. That's it. Boy, at the end of the day, if you can go, got it, got it, got it, got it, got it, got it, whatever it is, right? You get into the habit. So, load up your list, the things you want. Now, when you check off something major, celebrate. That's an important point to make. Celebrate your achievements. Live it up. Have a party when you reach something you've worked for for a while. See, we all grow from two experiences. One is called the pain of losing. The other one is called the joy of winning. We need both of them. Amplify them as much as you can. Which also means make losing painful. If you set up something, fooled around, didn't get it, put it on yourself. On the other side, if you did get it, congratulate yourself. Self-congratulations is a sign of maturity. Seeking congratulations is a sign of immaturity. But hey, winning and losing, see, that's what it's all about. That's the name of the game. Now, some people lead such mediocre lives at the end of the day, they don't know whether they're winning or losing. [laughter] They got no clue. Guy's just going through the day with his fingers crossed. There's a better way.

Okay, here's the third category of goals. Personal development. Put those goals together. Personal development goals. That's your goals to be stronger, more decisive, be a speaker, be a leader, learn a language, all kinds of skills. Okay? The whole weekend seminar was designed to improve all your skills so that you walk away more skillful. And that's what you want. the personal development skills that's what attracts that's what brings good things to your life the person you become more skillful now this is quite a package to work on economics things personal development for tomorrow this week this month this year long range okay that'll get you started

Now here's the simple formula for setting goals it goes like this a work on your goals That's step one. Work on them. And I've put the word work there deliberately. Setting goals is plain hard work. I don't want to kid you. We haven't come here tonight to kid each other. It's work. I know it's work. That's why a lot of people just let it slide. It's work. Many people work hard on their job, but they don't work hard on their future. They just let that slide. And the work involved is making plans. I know most people don't. I understand that. But don't let that be you. Guy says, "Well, yeah, you work where I work, but the time you struggle home, it's late. You've got to eat a bite of supper, watch a little TV, get to bed. You can't sit up half the night. Plan plan. And the guys be high. Good worker, hard worker, sincere. But you got to be better than sincere working hard. You got to be better than a good worker. You got to be a good planner. Somebody once wisely said, "The people who fail to plan are planning to fail." Well said. So, work on your goals.

Here's step two. Write your goals down. That's so important. I teach my staff around the world. Put your goals in your journal because one of the major people you want to study is yourself. Say, here's the list of goals I put together three weeks ago. Here's the list of goals I put together two years ago. Here's some of the changes I made. Rearrangement of my priorities. I scratched these off. I put these on. I've gotten these. Study your accomplishments. Study what your desires are. Put them on paper. Write them down. Here's another reason for writing your goals down. It shows you're serious about doing better. And to do better, you got to get serious. You don't have to be grim, but you must be serious. Everybody hopes things will get better. Everybody hopes. Poor people hope. That ought to tell you something. It means the future does not get better by hope. It gets better by plan. I used to have the affliction called passive hope. It's an affliction. It's bad. Probably what's even worse than that is happy hope. Now that is really bad. That's bad. Happy hope. The guy's 50 and he's broke and he's still smiling. See, that's not good. So get serious about your goals. Put them on paper. Write them down. There's all kinds. His goals, her goals, their goals. Business goals, financial goals, financial independence goals, family goals. I mean, there's so many things to work on on this that if you don't get busy and work on it, sure enough, the time will pass. And sure enough, five years from now, you'll wind up where you don't want to be, wearing what you don't want to wear, driving what you don't want to drive, being what you don't want to be. Now is the time to fix it.

Now, here's the third step to your goals. Check the size of your goals and the kinds of goals. How big they are, what kind they are, affects you. And here's one of the important phrases of the evening. Your goals are affecting you. whatever they are. Your goals affect your handshake. Your goals affect your attitude, personality. Your goals affect the way you walk, the way you talk, the way you dress. All day long, we're being affected by our goals. Now, some people have goals, but they have such lousy goals. The effect is bad. I asked a guy one time, "What are your goals for this month?" The guy said, "Look, if I could just scrape up enough money to pay these lousy bills." That was his goal. I'm not saying it isn't a goal. It's a goal, but it's such a lousy goal, the effect is bad. You don't jump out of bed on Monday morning and say, "Oh, boy. Another chance to go out and scrape up the money to pay my lousy bills." See, you don't do that. Usually, you say, "Oh, not another Monday. And some people have so given up on life they have joined the thank God it's Friday club. How sad. Surely those are the same people when life is over for them will say, "Thank God it's over.

Let me give you a Bible philosophy that teaches how to get whatever you want. That's the title of the next set of notes. How to get whatever you want from the Bible. Now again, I'm an amateur when it comes to the Bible. I'm not a pro, but this I can quote, and I think that'll be sufficient. How to get whatever you want. Here's what it says. If you're ready, it says, "Ask." That's it. End of notes. Ask. If there's one art in life to learn extremely well, that's got to be one of them. The art of asking. What does ask mean? Ask means. What do you want? And the formula is staggering. It says ask and what? A guy ought to look into that. [laughter] He says, "Yeah, but you work where I work. By the time you struggle home, it's late. You got to eat a bite of supper, watch a little t TV, get to bed. You can't sit up half the night. Ask, ask, ask." and the guys beher. You've got to be a good asker.

Now, let me give you three key points on asking and receiving. This can do it. Number one, asking is the beginning of receiving. Asking starts a unique process, mental and emotional. I don't even know how it works. All I know is it works. It's like pushing a button and all this machinery starts working. I don't know how. It just works. There's a lot of things you don't need to know how. Just work them. Some people are always studying the roots. Others are picking the fruit. I mean, it depends on what end of it you want in on. Asking is the beginning of receiving. So, start the process.

Here's number two. Receiving is not the problem. Receiving is automatic. Now, if that's true, receiving is not the problem. What's the problem? Failure to ask might be one of your major problems. I don't know. Check it out. The guy says, "Oh, now I see it. I got up last year and hit it every day, but there's not a scrap of paper with my goals on it. good worker, poor asker. So, you got to change that.

Here's number three. Receiving is like the ocean. There's plenty. Especially in California, it's like an ocean here. >> [clears throat] >> Success is not in short supply. It isn't rationed and you stepped up to the window and it was all gone. No, no, no. It's like an ocean here. Now, if that's true, what's the problem? Well, some people go to the ocean with a teaspoon. [laughter] Have you got the picture? See, what you want to do in view of the size of the ocean is trade your teaspoon for at least a bucket and you'll look better down at the ocean. Kids won't make fun of you, right?

Okay, now, there's two ways to ask and we'll wrap up goal setting. Two ways. Here's number one. Ask with intelligence. It didn't say ask intelligently, but I'm sure it meant that. Don't mumble. You don't get anything by mumbling. Be clear. Be specific. Intelligent asking means how wide, how high, how soon, when, what size, what color, how much. Define what you want and describe what you want. That's powerful. In the weekend seminar we teach, goals become like a magnet. They pull you that direction and the better you describe them, the more they pull. So ask intelligently.

Here's number two. Ask with faith. That's the childish part of the equation. Believe you can get what you want like a child. Not an adult. Adults are too skeptical. So the formula really reads, make plans like an adult and believe in them like a child. And the most incredible things will happen. Just try it for 90 days. Just try it. You can always go back to the old ways. Just try it. Just 90 days. 90 days.

Now, here's the last qualifying phrase on goal setting as we promised to qualify everything. And it simply goes like this. Remember, you won't get everything you want. And we've already studied the reason for that. Simply, sometimes it hails on your crop and rains on your parade. It's that kind of planet. So, you won't get everything you want, but if you will work this goal setting formula, you can get plenty for wealth and happiness. Okay, that's goal setting. We use it around the world. We recommend it. Now, maybe it won't work as well for you as it has for me. I don't know. Maybe not. But what if it did? You got to try.

Now, here's the negative part of the seminar. We'll get through this as quickly as possible. In fact, we're moving toward the end here. The diseases of attitude. It's never that pleasant to talk about the negative, but we 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 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. My opinion, I know some people teach just turn your head real quick and say, "There's no weed. There's no weeds. There's 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. 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 on 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 off [laughter] 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 five and two. I don't know. 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.

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 much. Guess what the average years are after retirement? Six. Six. which means don't retire. [laughter] Your chances are too slim. Okay. The war between good and evil, the weeds. You 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. [clears throat] 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. Attitude diseases.

Number one is indifference. The shrug of the shoulder. 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 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 is next. Best of hot. Not the halfbaked 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 got. Just pick one and go. Somebody says, "Yeah, but what if it's the wrong direction?" You'll find out quicker. [laughter] 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, next best of prosperity is adversity. If one doesn't get you, pray for the other. We all do better from 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. [laughter] 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 kind 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. 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." Cut off your head. Toss you and your wife in jail. 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 Colosseum, it 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 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 have picked him. You would have picked him. 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 cuz whatever he joined, he'd flip all the switches, open up all the dials, turn on all the faucets, and 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 somewhere about the Christians. He got to hating Christians and he hated him so bad every time somebody would say Christian, he'd fly into a rage. And I guess he decided one life or one day it was his mission in life to get rid of all the Christians. He was Saul anyhow could do most anything he wanted to. So he got him 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. Drag them in the streets, whip them, stone them, torture them, kill them. You mention the name Saul from Tarsus to the early Christians. I'll tell you what they would do. They would run, 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 it for Damascus. Heard about some new Christians, flies into a rage, takes off for Damascus. And the story is 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 looks down out of heaven and says, "There's my man 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 [laughter] when you're 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 a doubt, the good Lord got him a dandy one. He didn't have to pump up every month. [laughter] 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 are doing, pour it on. 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 on. 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.

Here's the next attitude disease. 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-doubter. You can imagine what damage that does to your future. So, here's the key. Turn this coin over and become a believer. And there's many things to believe in. One of the majors is yourself. The understanding of selfworth is the beginning of progress.

Now, if those three don't get you, this one will. Worry. That's a devastating disease. Worry. Worry causes health problems, social problems, personal problems, family problems. It's devastating. Worry long enough, it'll drop you to your knees. 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. No super worrier. My family wished I'd have been a warrior. I 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, free of worry. I learned how to do it. And you can.

Here's the next attitude disease. over caution. 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. And 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. I better not try. I could always ace myself out. 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. We'll 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 100 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. We're almost through with this mly list. In fact, we're almost through. Hang on. The next one is pessimism. Pessimism. The deadly disease of 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 ugly. This is the poor guy looks through the window, doesn't see the sunset. He sees the specks on the window. And this is the poor guy, right, who rushes up, takes such 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. [laughter] To the pessimist, the glass is always half empty. To 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.

There's a subject we don't have time to get into tonight called better thinking habits. One of the major things Schaeve taught me when I met him, he said poor thinking habits keeps most people poor. Not poor working habits. Most people work hard, but they don't think hard. And Schae taught me that the mind is like a factory, a mental factory. And whatever you think about all day long pours ingredients into this mental factory. And that's what builds the economic, social, 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 and murders and stabbings and killings and bank robberies and muggings and car wrecks and tragedies. I'd even read the back pages. I seem 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 pee-wee. [laughter]

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 barrel of trash into this mental factory every day and coming out with a rich, dynamic, positive life? It can't be done. [laughter] You might as well try making a cake with cement.

The kids back in Danbury, Connecticut high school, they're asking me questions one day. I'm talking to the kids. Kids got good questions these days. One of them said to me, "Mr. 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 what you think about because that starts everything. You 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 strick nine in my coffee?" They said, "Well, you'd be dead." I said correct. Lesson one, life is both sugar and strick nine. You got to be careful. I said, "What if my worst enemy drops in the sugar?" They said, "Will you be okay?" I said, "What if my best friend, even by accident, drops in the strick nine?" They said, "Well, you'd be dead." I said, "Correct. Lesson two. Watch your coffee. >> [laughter] >> You got to be careful. See, it doesn't matter who hands you the bad stuff. It doesn't matter where you get the bad stuff. It'll still do its damage on your bank account wherever you get it. Mr. Schaef 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 you decide what goes into your mental factory. Don't let anybody just dump anything they want to in your mental factory cuz you've got to live with the results.

Okay, here's the last disease and we're through with this list. In fact, we're almost through. Hang on. The last subject is very brief. The last disease, but this one 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 have 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 there 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. Story says 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. Tragedy of the story. They never got their reason from day 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. Trip cancelled [laughter] or something like that." The story says they died in the desert, never got to the promised land, which I think means two things. Indulge in this long enough, you get your future kissed. And I guess it also means even God himself can only take so much. Okay. Just be on the lookout of the things that can destroy all the good you start. The war is on. And this evening, tomorrow, mentally, personally, socially, economically, you got to make sure you're winning the war. And this is part of it.

Okay. Here's the last subject. The day that turns your life around. Let me just quickly give you a list of four emotions that can change your life in one day. Emotions are powerful. Sometimes it doesn't take much to alter your whole life direction. Okay, here they are. Number one, disgust. Powerful emotion. Disgust says, "I have had it." See, that could be the day. The day you can say, "I've had it." And whether you've had it with something small or something major, the day you can say, "I've had it," may not be the day it ends, but the day it begins. That's what I said when that little girl scout left my door when I'm 25. I give her the big lie. She leaves. I say, "I don't want to live like this any more. I've had it with lying and being broke." Powerful day. The man's finally had it with mediocrity. He's had it with being a loser. He's finally had it with those awful sick feelings inside, knowing his wife is at the grocery store looking at two cans of beans. One marked 37 cents, one mark 39 cents. And the guy sick inside knows his wife's going to buy the 37 cent can and she doesn't even like the brand. Do you know why she's going to buy the 37 cent can? >> To save to sin. The guy sick inside finally says, "I've had it. Being on my knees in the dust looking for pennies. We're not living like this any moment. Could be the day that turns your life around. The day you can say, "I've had it." He walks into his closet and rips everything in it to shreds and says, "I've worn this embarrassing stuff for the last time. And not only will I never wear it again, no one else will ever wear it again." Commit an act that says, "I've had it." Powerful.

Here's the next one. Decision. And decision-m is powerful and it's emotional. That's those knots in the pit of your stomach, right? Waking up in the middle of the night in a cold sweat trying to decide. We sometimes call it inner civil war. What shall I do? [clears throat] Well, for progress, you must decide. The best advice I can give you came from a wealthy friend of mine who said, "If it's easy, do it easy. If it's hard, do it hard. Just get it done." If you went home tonight and in the next few days cleaned up a whole list of decisions, that might furnish enough inspiration for the next 10 years. I found this out many times after you've decided. Getting on with it is easier than deciding. Sometimes decision is the toughest part.

Here's the next emotion. Desire. Wanting to bad enough. And I don't know how to tell you to want to. That's something you've got to come up with. There's two things I know about desire. Number one, it comes from inside, not outside. You don't send off for it. Number two, I know desire can be triggered by something. Who knows what it might be? Sometimes desire waits and sleeps for something to happen. Maybe it's a book, maybe it's a song, maybe it's a sermon, maybe it's a lecture, a seminar, maybe it's the conversation of a friend, a happening, an event. Who knows? The best I can advice I can give you is what I give my staff. It goes like this. Welcome every human experience. You never know which one is going to turn it all on. Even the bad experiences. Sometimes from the bitterest experience comes the greatest awakening. So let down the barriers. Take down the walls. The same wall that keeps out disappointment keeps out happiness. Let life touch you. Don't let it kill you, but let it touch you.

Here's the last one. This one's powerful. Resolve. Resolve says, "I will." Two of the most powerful words in the language. I will. Benjamin Draeli once said, "Nothing can resist a human will that will stake even its existence on the extent of its purpose." Shortly put, "I'll do it or die." See, that's powerful. That could be the day that turns your life around. The world has a strange way of stepping aside when somebody says, "I'll do it or die." The man says, "I will climb the mountain." They've told me it's too high, it's too far, it's too rocky, it's too difficult, it's never been done before, but it's my mountain. I will climb it. Pretty soon you'll see me waving from the top or dead on the side cuz I ain't coming back. The best definition I ever got from the word resolve came from a little junior high girl in Foster City, California, up north. I'm talking to the junior high kids one day. I love to ask kids definitions. They come up with beauties. I got to the word resolve and I asked, "Who can tell me what resolve means?" And I got several hands and they were all pretty good, but the last one was the best. Little girl about three rows back held up her hand. She said, "Mr. 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 what you think about because that starts everything. You 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 strick nine in my coffee?" They said, "Well, you'd be dead." I said correct. Lesson one, life is both sugar and strick nine. You got to be careful. I said, "What if my worst enemy drops in the sugar?" They said, "Will you be okay?" I said, "What if my best friend, even by accident, drops in the strick nine?" They said, "Well, you'd be dead." I said, "Correct. Lesson two. Watch your coffee. >> [laughter] >> You got to be careful. See, it doesn't matter who hands you the bad stuff. It doesn't matter where you get the bad stuff. It'll still do its damage on your bank account wherever you get it. Mr. Schaef 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 you decide what goes into your mental factory. Don't let anybody just dump anything they want to in your mental factory cuz you've got to live with the results. Okay, here's the last disease and we're through with this list. In fact, we're almost through. Hang on. The last subject is very brief. The last disease, but this one 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 have 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 there 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. Story says 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. Tragedy of the story. They never got their reason from day 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. Trip cancelled [laughter] or something like that." The story says they died in the desert, never got to the promised land, which I think means two things. Indulge in this long enough, you get your future kissed. And I guess it also means even God himself can only take so much. Okay. Just be on the lookout of the things that can destroy all the good you start. The war is on. And this evening, tomorrow, mentally, personally, socially, economically, you got to make sure you're winning the war. And this is part of it. Okay. Here's the last subject. The day that turns your life around. Let me just quickly give you a list of four emotions that can change your life in one day. Emotions are powerful. Sometimes it doesn't take much to alter your whole life direction. Okay, here they are. Number one, disgust. Powerful emotion. Disgust says, "I have had it." See, that could be the day. The day you can say, "I've had it." And whether you've had it with something small or something major, the day you can say, "I've had it," may not be the day it ends, but the day it begins. That's what I said when that little girl scout left my door when I'm 25. I give her the big lie. She leaves. I say, "I don't want to live like this any more. I've had it with lying and being broke." Powerful day. The man's finally had it with mediocrity. He's had it with being a loser. He's finally had it with those awful sick feelings inside, knowing his wife is at the grocery store looking at two cans of beans. One marked 37 cents, one mark 39 cents. And the guy sick inside knows his wife's going to buy the 37 cent can and she doesn't even like the brand. Do you know why she's going to buy the 37 cent can? >> To save to sin. The guy sick inside finally says, "I've had it. Being on my knees in the dust looking for pennies. We're not living like this any moment. Could be the day that turns your life around. The day you can say, "I've had it." He walks into his closet and rips everything in it to shreds and says, "I've worn this embarrassing stuff for the last time. And not only will I never wear it again, no one else will ever wear it again." Commit an act that says, "I've had it." Powerful. Here's the next one. Decision. And decision-m is powerful and it's emotional. That's those knots in the pit of your stomach, right? Waking up in the middle of the night in a cold sweat trying to decide. We sometimes call it inner civil war. What shall I do? [clears throat] Well, for progress, you must decide. The best advice I can give you came from a wealthy friend of mine who said, "If it's easy, do it easy. If it's hard, do it hard. Just get it done." If you went home tonight and in the next few days cleaned up a whole list of decisions, that might furnish enough inspiration for the next 10 years. I found this out many times after you've decided. Getting on with it is easier than deciding. Sometimes decision is the toughest part. Here's the next emotion. Desire. Wanting to bad enough. And I don't know how to tell you to want to. That's something you've got to come up with. There's two things I know about desire. Number one, it comes from inside, not outside. You don't send off for it. Number two, I know desire can be triggered by something. Who knows what it might be? Sometimes desire waits and sleeps for something to happen. Maybe it's a book, maybe it's a song, maybe it's a sermon, maybe it's a lecture, a seminar, maybe it's the conversation of a friend, a happening, an event. Who knows? The best I can advice I can give you is what I give my staff. It goes like this. Welcome every human experience. You never know which one is going to turn it all on. Even the bad experiences. Sometimes from the bitterest experience comes the greatest awakening. So let down the barriers. Take down the walls. The same wall that keeps out disappointment keeps out happiness. Let life touch you. Don't let it kill you, but let it touch you. Here's the last one. This one's powerful. Resolve. Resolve says, "I will." Two of the most powerful words in the language. I will. Benjamin Draeli once said, "Nothing can resist a human will that will stake even its existence on the extent of its purpose." Shortly put, "I'll do it or die." See, that's powerful. That could be the day that turns your life around. The world has a strange way of stepping aside when somebody says, "I'll do it or die." The man says, "I will climb the mountain." They've told me it's too high, it's too far, it's too rocky, it's too difficult, it's never been done before, but it's my mountain. I will climb it. Pretty soon you'll see me waving from the top or dead on the side cuz I ain't coming back. The best definition I ever got from the word resolve came from a little junior high girl in Foster City, California, up north. I'm talking to the junior high kids one day. I love to ask kids definitions. They come up with beauties. I got to the word resolve and I asked, "Who can tell me what resolve means?" And I got several hands and they were all pretty good, but the last one was the best. Little girl about three rows back held up her hand. She said, "Mr. Ron, Mr. Ran, I think I know what resolve means." I said, "Darling, what do you think it means?" She said, 'I think it means promising yourself you will never give up.' I said, that's it, Webster, stand aside. That is the definition. Promise yourself you will never give up. I asked the kids, how long should the a baby try to learn how to walk? How long? How long would you give your average baby before you shut him off? How long? [laughter] See, any mother in the world would say, "You're crazy. My baby's going to keep trying until it learns how to walk." What a magic formula.

Now, let me show you what triggers all emotions into activity that brings results. And results is the name of the game. Here it is. action. Finally, you must do something about how you feel. Jesus, the master teacher, said, "Don't just be listeners, be doers." The world admires the doers. Another Bible phrase says, "Faith without action is useless. Some people these days are big on affirmations. You got to be very careful of affirmations. There's a thin line between faith and folly. The best clue I can give you on affirmations is this. Affirmation without discipline is the beginning of delusion. And there's nothing worse than delusion. The guy keeps walking west looking for the sunrise. I mean, delusion is bad. However, affirmation with discipline can bring the most spectacular results.

When the Jewish people surveyed the Holocaust at the end of World War II, for them it was a holocaust. 39 million people lost their lives World War II. 19 million were Russian. But compared to the population, it was not quite the Holocaust visited on the Jewish people. Six and one half million Jews perished World War II. 6 and 12 million. That was a Holocaust after Hitler's final solution. And the Nazi Jack Boots and Aishman and Borman had done their evil task. Six and 1/2 million. When the Jewish people counted the dead, surveyed the Holocaust, and mourned the loss, those that survived together said, "Never again." That was the affirmation. Never again will we take our families silently walk to the box cars and let them ship us through the night to Ashvitz. Never. Well, that's good to make an affirmation, but the next question is, what are you going to do to back up the affirmation? They said, 'Well, number one, we'll build a nation. Then they said, we'll build an army. Wow. And a navy. My and an air force. And we'll buy some bombs. My bullets. Wow. We'll spend a big portion of the national treasure. We'll even spend some of Israel's finest lives. We mean it. Never again. That's called backing up affirmation with discipline. Does it work? Well, yes. They've been tested four times in war on their affirmation in the last 25 years. Four times major. The next to the last war was called the six day war. as if to say, "Didn't we tell you ever?" Make sure you always have a game plan to match your wishes. Otherwise, they will always be wishes.

The day that turns your life around. Let me give you four questions to take home when we're finished. These are called questions to ponder. And this wraps it up. Gosh, you've been a great audience tonight. How fantastic for so many people here. It's been unbelievable. I really enjoyed it. I could talk all night, but >> I'm staying here, right? So, I got a maid, right? and you got some uh ways to go. Okay, here's the questions I want you to take home in closing.

First question is one of the major questions of the world. Why? Why should you try? Why read that many books? Why go that far? Why earn that much? Why share that much? Why learn all that? Why get up that early? Why put yourself through that much? Why try for all that? Good question. Why?

One of the best answers to why is the second question. Why not? What else are you going to do with your life? Why not see how many books you can read, how far you can go, how much you can earn, how many friends you can make, how much personality you can develop, influence you can have, how many things you can accomplish, how far you can go and what you can see. Why not? You got to stay here till you go. Why not?

The third question is why not you? Why not you? Some people have done the most incredible things with limited start. Why not you? Some people have done so well they get to go. They get to see it all. They get to do it. They get to be there. They get to have it. They get to enjoy it. Why not you? Why not you watching the morning mist rise over the mountains of Scotland? Exploring the mysteries of Spain, soaking up history in London. Why not you? You got to take a stroll through the Palace of Versailles. Why not you? You got to have lunch in one of those neat little sidewalk cafes in Paris. I mean, Denny is okay, but you got to try Paras. Someday you got to gaze directly at the Mona Lisa. I can show you where to find the most exquisite seashells in Miami and the Bahamas. I know where they are. Why not you? You got to shop on Fifth Avenue in New York. You got to stay at the Waldorf Atoria. Have dinner at Lucha's sliced roast goose on a bed of apple strudel. Why not you? You got to drink in an Arizona sunset. You You got to see the world. You got to read the books. You've got to do the enterprises. You've got to be involved in commerce and love and travel and experiences. You got to do it all. Why not you? You've got to know the results that come from splendid discipline. There's nothing like a view from the top.

And the last question is, why not now? Don't postpone your better future any longer. Get at it tomorrow with new vigor. Get you some new books. Ask some new questions. Set some new goals. Get you a new journal. Start your projects book. Get a game plan going. Do some more reading. Start to make changes. Have conversations. Make contact. And do it now. And if you will, I have a feeling one of these days we'll be hearing your story. You'll make us a phone call, write us a letter, get in touch with us, and let us know what's happening to you. I want to thank you for being here. My final comment would be ask for God's help, which may sound a little strange coming from a strictly commercial company. We are not a religious order, but if you would allow me a personal word, that would be it. I think humans are unique, but we could all use a little help. But of course, you got to do your part. That's what we've talked about mainly tonight. Do your part, and I think God will do his part. It's a two-way street. And we do play a part. There's a story about the man who took a rock pile in two years, turned it into a fabulous garden. People came from everywhere to see it. One day a guy came by, saw the garden, thought it was fabulous, but he wanted to make sure the gardener didn't take all the credit. So to get his point across, he meets the gardener, shakes his hand, and says, "Mr. Gardener, remember you and the good Lord together have this beautiful garden here." And the gardener said, "Hey, I understand that. I know what you mean." He said, 'If it wasn't for the sunshine and the rain and the miracle of the seed and the soil and the seasons, there would be no garden for sure. But he said, 'You know, you should have seen this place a couple of years ago when God had it all by himself. [laughter] And I think that's true. We do play a part. I'm glad I was not an angel. I think humans have a lot more fun. You've made it a splendid evening, and I want to wish you the very best. Look forward to seeing you on the weekend. Make sure we get the little white slip of paper and let's be in touch. I wish you the best. Good night. God bless. [applause] Thank you. Thank you. Appreciate it. Thank you.