Let me (Jim Rohn) give you a scenario for setting your goals. When I started making my first list, Mr. Shoaff said, “Mr. Rohn, it looks like we’re going to be together for a while. I’ve got a suggestion for you. You are a twenty-five-year-old American male. Sure, you’ve made some mistakes, but now you’re on the road to better things. You’ve got the motivation to make a difference. This is American. The possibilities are endless. Why don’t you set a goal of becoming a millionaire? Millionaire… it’s got a nice ring to it.”
As he was about to explain why becoming a millionaire is a worthy goal, I thought, the man doesn’t need to teach me why. It would be great to have a million dollars! But he had a reason that was infinitely more compelling than mine. It is one of the greatest lessons I have ever learned, and I’m about to share it with you.
Here’s what Mr. Shoaff said: “Set a goal of becoming a millionaire for what it will make of you to achieve it. Set a goal that will make you reach for the stars.” What a great reason for setting goals! And here’s why: the greatest value in life is not what you obtain; the greatest value in life is what you become along the way.
The major question to ask on the job is not, “What am I getting here?” A much more powerful question is “What am I becoming here?” It’s not what you get that makes you valuable; it’s what you become along the way that makes you valuable.
Then Mr. Shoaff explained, “When you finally have become a millionaire, what’s important is not the money. You can just give the money away.” I did better than that. I lost it all! I was rich by the age of thirty-one–a millionaire!–and I was broke by the age of thirty-three. I didn’t have to give it all away, because I lost it all. I made many foolish mistakes.
You see, as a farm boy from Idaho, that early money drove me bankers. If I saw something I liked, I would ask, “How many colors does it come in? I’ll buy them all!” I just went crazy.
What an experience that was. I learned that Mr. Shoaff was right. When I found myself broke at age thirty-three, I discovered for myself that the money did not mean that much. It represented only a fraction of all my assets. And when I began concentrating on these other assets–my skills, my discipline, my family–the money came back into my life.
Let me give you the key phrase of setting goals: set the kind of goals that will make you a better person when you achieve them… or when you are in the process of achieving them. Always ask yourself, “What will this goal make of me? If I set this goal and go forward, how will this change me in the process?” What a wonderful new concept in the setting of goals!
* Source: Leading an Inspired Life by Jim Rohn