Here’s what I (Jim Rohn) think would be a pitiful scenario: if your income grew and you didn’t grow. When your income takes some jumps, it’s vital that you quickly grow up to where your income is. Why? Because otherwise, your income will soon come back to where you are.
Somebody once said, “If someone hands you a million dollars, it’s best you become a millionaire, so you get to keep the money.” I’m telling you, success doesn’t want to hang around an incompetent person.
The problem with winning the lottery is the lack of self-development the person has gone through to be able to master and keep the money. The fortune is bigger than the person, rather than the person being bigger than the fortune.
If you’re a parent, use the challenge of parenting to personally grow. See what you can become. If you want to reach your children, you can’t lack stories and illustrations. You can’t lack wisdom and power. And the only way you can become the best kind of parent is by personal development, becoming better than you are, stronger than you are, wiser than you are. You are growing so that your investment grows. As your children grow, you grow. Your power grows. Your influence grows. Your wisdom grows. Your command of the language grows.
You see, that’s what is challenging: to be involved in a situation that makes you grow. If that situation is success, keep growing to be bigger than your fortune. If that situation is failure, keep growing until you’re bigger than the problem. Keep growing. Keep becoming.
* Source: Leading an Inspired Life by Jim Rohn