I (Jim Rohn) did a seminar one time in St. Louis, Missouri. When I finished, a man walked up and said, “Mr. Rohn, you’ve really gotten to me. I’m going to change my philosophy. I’m going to change my attitude. I’m going to change my life. I’m going to change everything. You’ve touched me today, and you’re going to hear about me. You’ll hear my story some day.”
Well, a lot of people have said the same thing to me, but I’m always encouraged when I hear someone express the desire to grow. So I wished him luck and said I hoped to see him again someday.
Sure enough, a few months later, I was back in St. Louis to do another seminar. When I had finished, I saw this man come walking up. He said, “I’m sure you’ll remember me as the man who said that I’m going to make some change, that you touched me.” And of course, I did remember him.
He said, “I’m telling you, things are already happening for me. I cannot believe the improvements I’ve made in just a matter of months. One of the things I decided to change was my relationship with my family. My wife and I have two lovely teenage daughters. Parents couldn’t ask for any more beautiful, lovely daughters. And I’m the only one who’s giving them trouble. These daughters of ours have never given us any trouble. I’ve usually been the one all these years giving all the trouble and all the static.”
He continued, “My daughters love to go to the rock concerts, and I’m always giving them trouble. They have to beg me for the money. I tell them, ‘I don’t want you to go. You stay out too late. The music is too loud. You’re going to ruin your hearing. You won’t be able to hear the rest of your life.’ I just get on their case. But they keep begging, begging, begging. Finally, when they beg long enough, I say, ‘All right, here’s the money. If you have to go that bad, just go.’ But that’s how I’ve been up until now.”
“After I left your seminar, I decided to change all that. You won’t believe it. Not long ago, I picked up the newspaper and saw in an advertisement that one of my daughters’ favorite performers was coming to town. Guess what I did… I went down and bought the tickets myself and brought them home and put them in an envelope. When I saw my daughters later that day, I handed them this envelope and I said to them, ‘You may not believe this, but inside this envelope are two tickets for the upcoming concert. And you’ll be happy to know, begging days are over.’ They couldn’t believe it.”
“I asked them not to open the envelope until they got to the concert. They agreed. So, come concert time, they open up the envelope and hand the tickets to the usher. He says, ‘Follow me,’ and he heads down toward the front. The girls say, ‘Hey, hold it, hold it. Something must be wrong.’ He takes another look and says, ‘No, nothing’s wrong. Follow me–you’re sitting 10th row center.’ Now they really cannot believe it! The only tickets they were able ever to beg for were in the third balcony, where they couldn’t see.”
“I stayed up a little later that night. Sure enough, just after midnight, my two daughters come bursting through the front door. One of them lands in my lap, the other one’s got her arms around me neck. They’re both saying, ‘You’ve got to be one of the world’s all-time great fathers.'”
He concluded, “Mr. Rohn, you were right. I can’t believe that with the same money, I can be such a different father. What a difference it’s making in my life.”
That is a true story. And it’s something you can do with your lifestyle, your sales career, your management career. You can do it with any part of your life.
If you’re looking for equities unmatched, do not curse the only things you have: seed and soil, sunshine and rain, miracles and seasons. Instead, start changing and processing and evaluating things in a new way, and this process of change will take off for you. You will not believe what can happen in a short period of time.
* Source: Leading an Inspired Life by Jim Rohn