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Issue 137 - June 18 - Jim Rohn's Weekly E-zine
Welcome to JIM ROHN'S WEEKLY E-ZINE
Jim Rohn International - Home of http://www.jimrohn.com
- The Official Site of America's
Foremost Business Philosopher
"There are two
parts to influence: First, influence is
powerful; and second, influence is
subtle. You wouldn't let someone push
you off course, but you might let
someone nudge you off course and not
even realize it." Jim Rohn
Today's issue includes:
1. Article - Nitty-Gritty Reasons by Jim
Rohn
1. NITTY-GRITTY REASONS by Jim Rohn
(excerpted from the book Seven
Strategies for Wealth and Happiness)
Wouldn't it be wonderful to be motivated
to achievement by such a lofty goal as
benevolence? I must confess, however,
that in the early years of my struggle
to succeed, my motivation was a lot more
down-to-earth. My reason for succeeding
was more basic. In fact, it fell into
the category of what I like to call
"nitty-gritty reasons." A nitty-gritty
reason is the kind that any one of us
can have -- at any time, on any day --
and it can cause our lives to change.
Let me tell you what happened to me . .
.
Shortly before I met Mr. Shoaff, I was
lounging at home one day when I heard a
knock at the door. It was a timid,
hesitant knock. When I opened the door I
looked down to see a pair of big brown
eyes staring up at me. There stood a
frail little girl of about ten. She told
me, with all the courage and
determination her little heart could
muster, that she was selling Girl Scout
cookies. It was a masterful presentation
-- several flavors, a special deal, and
only two dollars per box. How could
anyone refuse? Finally, with a big smile
and ever-so politely, she asked me to
buy. And I wanted to. Oh, how I wanted
to!
Except for one thing. I didn't have two
dollars! Boy, was I embarrassed! Here I
was -- a father, had been to college,
was gainfully employed – and yet I
didn't have two dollars to my name.
Naturally I couldn't tell this to the
little girl with the big brown eyes. So
I did the next best thing. I lied to
her. I said, "Thanks, but I've already
bought Girl Scout cookies this year. And
I've still got plenty stacked in the
house."
Now that simply wasn't true. But it was
the only thing I could think of to get
me off the hook. And it did. The little
girl said, "That's okay, sir. Thank you
very much." And with that she turned
around and went on her way.
I stared after her for what seemed like
a very long time. Finally, I closed the
door behind me and, leaning my back to
it, cried out, "I don't want to live
like this anymore. I've had it with
being broke, and I've had it with lying.
I'll never be embarrassed again by not
having any money in my pocket." That day
I promised myself to earn enough to
always have several hundred dollars in
my pocket at all times.
This is what I mean by a nitty-gritty
reason. It may not win me any prize for
greatness, but it was enough to have a
permanent effect on the rest of my life.
My Girl-Scout-cookie story does have a
happy ending. Several years later, as I
was walking out of my bank where I had
just made a hefty deposit and was
crossing the street to get into my car,
I saw two little girls who were selling
candy for some girls' organization. One
of them approached me, saying, "Mister,
would you like to buy some candy?"
"I probably would," I said playfully.
"What kind of candy do you have?" "It's
almond roca." "Almond roca. That's my
favorite. How much is it?" "It's only
two dollars." Two dollars. It couldn't
be! I was excited. "How many boxes of
candy have you got?" "I've got five."
Looking at her friend, I said, "And how
many boxes do you have left?"
"I've got four." "That's nine. Okay,
I'll take them all."
At this, both girls' mouths fell open as
they exclaimed in unison, "Really?"
"Sure," I said. "I've got some friends
that I'll pass some around to."
Excitedly, they scurried to stack all
the boxes together. I reached into my
pocket and gave them eighteen dollars.
As I was about to leave, the boxes
tucked under my arm, one of the girls
looked up and said, "Mister, you're
really something!" How about that! Can
you imagine spending only eighteen
dollars and having someone look you in
the face and say, "You're really
something!"
Now you know why I always carry a few
hundred dollars on me. I'm not about to
miss chances like that ever again.
And to think it all resulted from my own
embarrassment, that when properly
channeled, acted as a powerful motivator
to help me achieve.
How about you? What nitty-gritty reasons
do you have waiting to challenging and
provoke you into change for the better?
Look for them, they are there. Sometimes
it can be as simple as a brown-eyed girl
selling Girl Scout cookies.
To Your Success,
2. Vitamins for the Mind by Jim Rohn
LEADERSHIP by Jim Rohn
Leaders, whether in the family, in
business, in government, or in
education, must not allow themselves to
mistake intentions for accomplishments.
Managers help people to see themselves
as they are. Leaders help people to see
themselves better than they are.
Leaders must not be naive. I used to
say, "Liars shouldn't lie." What a sad
waste of words that is! I found out
liars are supposed to lie. That's why we
call them liars -- they lie! What else
would you expect them to do?
We must learn to help those who deserve
it, not just those who need it. Life
responds to deserve not need.
My mentor said, "Let's go do it," not
"You go do it." How powerful when
someone says, "Let's"!
When dealing with people, I generally
take the obvious approach. When someone
says, "This always happens to me and
that always happens to me. Why do these
things always happen to me?" I simply
say, "Beats me. I don't know. All I know
is that those kinds of things seem to
happen to people like you."
We could all use a little coaching. When
you're playing the game, it's hard to
think of everything.
A good objective of leadership is to
help those who are doing poorly to do
well and to help those who are doing
well to do even better.
As a leader you should always start with
where people are before you try to take
them to where you want them to go.
Vitamins for the Mind is a weekly
sampling of original quotes, on a
specific topic, taken from The Treasury
of Quotes by Jim Rohn (TTOQ). TTOQ, a
beautiful, burgundy hardbound book with
gold foil lettering, is a collection of
over 365 quotes on 60 topics gathered
from Jim's personal journals, seminars
and books spanning over 37 years. To
order or to get more information on TTOQ
by Jim Rohn or Excerpts from TTOQ by Jim
Rohn or Brian Tracy, please click on
Monthly Specials.
4. DEVELOP THE DO-IT-NOW HABIT by Tom
Hopkins
Self-Discipline really encompasses
nearly everything in life. Do you
remember in school when you were given
30 days to write a term paper? Did you
start it that first night?
Most of us didn’t. Instead, we thought
about it every night. “Got to get moving
on that ratty project. But I’ve got
almost a whole month left--it can wait.”
As time goes by, worry about getting a
failing grade looms larger in our minds.
At first the pain of starting the term
paper is greater than our concern about
the failing grade, so after a week we
still haven’t started. Two weeks go by.
What are we doing every night before we
go to sleep? Worrying about that F. “I
better start. Tomorrow I’ll get moving
on it.”
A week before the term paper is due, the
F is getting larger--but it’s still not
quite large enough to offset the pain of
working at preventing it. All of a
sudden there are only three days left
before it’s due, and at last the F looms
larger than the pain of working on the
term paper. So we start.
As you lay it out you begin feeling some
enthusiasm. “This isn’t bad. I may get
an A if I do this and do that.” When you
walk in with your paper you’re happy,
but you wasted 27 days worrying about
starting. In other words, you operated
at a deficit emotionally for 27 days
when you could have been in the profit
column the whole time. Move into the
emotional profit column right now;
starting today, get your priority tasks
and actions handled promptly. Plan your
actions, then act on your plans. Apply
this determination to every area of your
life and it will make an enormous
difference in your income, growth rate
in business as well as, your
satisfaction and growth rate personally.
The portrait of a man who was being
called the Whiz Kid on Wall Street
appeared on the cover of a national
magazine a many years ago. He was one of
the first to put a conglomerate
together, and some of the federal laws
affecting business in the early 70’s
came about because of the trends that
his creativity set off. At the time he
was 42; he was running one of the
largest industrial combines in the
country, the conglomerate he had built
himself. So the magazine had assigned a
journalist and a team of researchers to
do an in-depth report on this
entrepreneur.
One of the researchers went to the small
city the dynamic executive had left 15
years earlier. A few items turned up
there about an alcoholic with the same
name who had been sleeping on park
benches at that time. The researcher
passed this information along, and as
the journalist was concluding his
interview with the Wall Street
powerhouse in his plush office, the
journalist laughed and said, “Believe it
or not, a man with your exact name was
sleeping on park benches and getting
ousted by the police when you lived in
your home town. I guess the poor guy was
a real wino. Isn’t that something?”
The president looked up and smiled.
“That was me,” he said.
The reporter was flabbergasted. “This
can’t be. You’re kidding.”
The president of the conglomerate leaned
back in his leather chair and shook his
head. “I’m not kidding. The wino
sleeping off drinks on park benches was
me.”
The journalist stared at him for a
moment and realized that the man was
telling the truth. He also realized that
now he had a whole new story. When his
apologies were waved aside, he said, “I
have to ask, what made you change?”
Listen to what he said because so many
people fit this mold: “When I was
sleeping under newspapers in the park 15
years ago, I knew that someday I would
do what I’m doing now. I was just
waiting until I was ready to start.”
Do you know how many people are like
that? “Well, next year’s my year. I’m
going to get to work then. You just wait
and see--right after the first of the
year I’m gonna start shaping up.” But of
course the time to get going never quite
comes for most people. They have good
intentions, but are lacking the two most
vital components of any good deed: the
motivation to begin and a strategic plan
to keep them moving forward.
You see, by not beginning, you’re not
risking failure, but you’re also
confining yourself to the level of
success you current have. If you’re
happy with that, fine. If not, make that
plan and get fired up!
If your potential for greater success is
nagging at you, don’t wait. Time is
flying by so fast. Start today to
achieve the greatness you know is within
you.
You can receive more information about
Tom Hopkins as well as receive 20% - 40%
off his audio and book products
including How to Master the Art of
Selling Anything, The Official Guide to
Success and The Academy of Master
Closing by clicking Other Authors. Also
Tom's best-selling program, How to
Master the Art of Selling Anything is
part of Package 3 in our "life/career
altering ideas and strategies" packages
listed under Topic 5 below.
"Life is not just
the passing of time. Life is the
collection of experiences and their
intensity." Jim Rohn
4. Jim Rohn Testimonials - June 10 -
June 17, 2002 Here are some of the dozens of testimonials and comments we received over the past week from E-zine subscribers.
Your weekly comments and in particular
Vitamins for the Mind motivate me and
keep me going. I want to share them with
as many other people as possible.
Absolutely amazing!
I simply love them and they always
motivate me when I need it. I have
printed each e-zine and I keep them in a
file, so that whenever I need motivation
I can read them. Together with the
Treasury of Quotes they are my
inspiration.
You have an excellent newsletter... I
very much enjoy Mr. Rohn's ideas and
input. I look forward to it each time.
I received my order one week ago and
haven't been able to keep me eyes and
ears away from the contents since. My
future is guaranteed by Jim's genius and
the incredible integrity of the Rohn
organization - bless you all. I'm very
interested in any smaller scale retreats
or conferences that Jim holds in any
part of the globe.
I am officially declaring Jim Rohn as my
mentor. I have been an agent for 1-1/2
years. His approach is more honest,
effective, and productive than all the
other motivators.
... We love receiving our
"inspirational" Ezine news each week. My
husband Marty and I went and saw Jim
Rohn in person - June 1998 in Melbourne
Australia. To this day, we speak about
the excellent opportunity we both had to
attend that Seminar. I believe Jim Rohn
has touched many peoples’ lives
including ours. Thank you Jim Rohn. We
just love receiving our "inspirational"
E-zine news each week. Every new person
we meet, we forward Jim's Ezine to them
- may be, Jim may change their lives
too. Wishing you health & happiness
always.
Yes, I have the Challenge to Succeed
audio program. I have listened to this
whole program no less than 5 times (in
less than a month). By the way, I did go
out and buy "The Richest Man In
Babylon". Thanks, Jim Rohn, for your
inspiration and guidance!
Everything I have purchased from Jim
Rohn International has bee life saving
and inspirational. Even my 17-year-old
loves to listen to Mr. Jim Rohn.
I love Jim Rohn!
Learned so much from The Weekend
Seminar, Skills for the 21st Century,
want to learn more!
The Challenge to Succeed is a Great
series! I can't wait to view the DVD's
from the
Weekend Seminar.
Thank you E-zine readers, for the
sincere and kind words of encouragement
and appreciation you sent us this week!
-- JRI
"We need a variety
of input and influence and voices. You
cannot get all the answers to life and
business from one person or from one
source." Jim Rohn 5. Copyright/Reprint Info - The contents of this E-zine may be copied, reproduced, or freely distributed for all nonprofit purposes without the consent of the author as long as the author's name and Credit Statement are included. Credit Statement Thank You For Reading. Make it a Great Week!
All contents Copyright © 2004 Jim Rohn International except where indicated otherwise. All rights reserved worldwide. Duplication or reprints only with express permission or approved Credits (see above). All trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Jim Rohn International
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