Words are almost God-like. If somebody can’t see how he can possibly be successful, and you come along and tell him your story, choosing the best words you can, you have done him an immense favor. When you finish, he says, “Before you got here, I was blind. Now I can see.” Are words that powerful? Yes, words are that powerful.
You’ve probably heard or used phrases like these at some point: “Before you got here, I was in the dark.” “While you were talking, some things dawned on me.” “Once you explained that, the sun started coming up.” Are words that powerful? Yes. A diet of motivational words can feed the mind and inspire us to faith, vision, and articulation. With words, we have perception. With words, we have the ability to contemplate ideas, think of solutions and create dynamic situations in our own head. Although this power is almost beyond comprehension, I (Jim Rohn) know it is there.
What is it that makes language powerful? I (Jim Rohn) can give you a simple answer: words filled with emotion. Words themselves are powerful, but not nearly as powerful as those loaded with human emotion. Hate, love, anger, contempt, caring, and compassion are all part of the full spectrum of human emotion available to all of us. Emotion is what makes language powerful enough to accomplish the task, move somebody to action, correct a problem, or find a solution.
We need the full range of emotion. In fact, things can get a little complicated, because at times you’ve got to put love and hate in the same sentence. When you feel it, it’s important to say it. Think about how often you have to say to your children, “I love you, but I hate what’s going on.” It’s crucial for kids to know what you love and what you hate. I love you, but I hate where you’re going. I love you, but I hate who you’re around. It can be extremely difficult to explain both your love and your hate, but you’ve got to learn to do it. You’ve got to express it; you can’t just ignore it.
To be able to get along well with others, to be able to work well with others, to be able to live well with others, to enhance your rapport with others, you must be a good communicator.
Let me give you some tips on good communication. The first is to have something worth saying. This comes from cultivating your interests, sensitivity, and knowledge. And second, now that you’ve got something worth saying, say it well.
When expressing yourself, keep a few important concepts in mind. Number one is sincerity. The best communication occurs when both people are sincere: one person sincerely wishing to learn or listen, and the other person sincerely wishing to share his thoughts.
An enriching lifestyle is a matter of awareness, values, education, and disciplined taste. It is an art that brings joy as it is practiced; it’s not just a subject to be studied. It is the deliberate decision to savor and enjoy all the experiences and possibilities of life. Having an enriching lifestyle means expanding your knowledge and experience with books, people, films, and new adventures. So appreciate everything and everyone with whom you come in contact. You can begin expanding your lifestyle today.
Think of something you can do today to make yourself feel richer and better about your life. Make a phone call, reserve tickets to a concert, send flowers, write a thank-you note, plan a trip of new discovery, or begin to read a classic. I (Jim Rohn) would bet that within fifty miles of where you are right now there are some places you have never seen, some foods you have never tasted, some experiences you have never had.
I (Jim Rohn) have come up with what I think is the major role of grandparents in our country. The major role of grandparents in this country should be to teach their grandchildren how to be wealthy, cultured, and happy. Grandparents should not have to say, “I’ve worked all my life, now I need help.” They should be able to say, “I’ve worked all my life, now I can help.”
If you are not financially independent by the age of fifty, it doesn’t mean you live in the wrong country. It doesn’t mean you live in the wrong community. It doesn’t mean you live at the wrong time. It doesn’t mean you are the wrong person. It simply means you have the wrong plan. I’ve discovered that you can be a nice person with the wrong plan. You can be a sincere person with a poor plan.
A man I (Jim Rohn) know has an MBA from Harvard and an engineering degree from MIT. He’s a smart guy. He’s semiretired now and doing what he likes best: teaching college courses in economics and business planning. But when he teaches economics, he also teaches personal economics. This is the philosophy that he starts his classes with: “Decide how you want to live now, versus how long you want to work.”
This means that if you spend everything you make now, you’ll have no choice but to work longer and harder. But if you start investing in your financial future now, you’ll have many choices. You can retire early, travel more, continue your career, or start a new career later in life. Once again, it all comes down to choices. Think tomorrow today… and live better tomorrow.
Let me (Jim Rohn) recommend a book for you to read: The Richest Man in Babylon, by George Clason. Perhaps you’ve already read it. Read it again. It’s just a small book–you can read it in one evening. I call it the appetizer for the full discourse on the subject of financial independence. The major theme of this book is that what you do with what you have is more important than what you have. What you do with what you get is more important than what you get.
What we do with what we have says so much about us. It reveals our philosophy of life, our attitude, what we know and what we think, and the make-up of our character. It is a reflection of our thoughts and our value systems.
It also reveals our abilities to weigh and perceive. The outer is always a reflection of the inner. Remember, everything is symptomatic of something. It is a wise policy to pay attention to symptoms, for they can be the early signs of a poor choice of philosophy or a signal that something important is being misread, misunderstood, miscalculated.
At some point in life, everybody has to wrestle with their own financial ambition, whether we call it financial independence or becoming wealthy.
I (Jim Rohn) know some people are a little uncomfortable with those kinds of phrases, and I can understand that. We’ve all heard the saying, “Money is the root of all evil.” Well, I believe that the love of money is certainly evil, but money itself is not evil.
There is an evil way to acquire money: greed. And there is a difference between greed and ambition. Contrary to the move Wall Street, greed is not good. Greed is associated with getting something for nothing. Greed means hoping for more than your share. Greed leads to getting something at the expense of others. We call that evil. Greed is not good.
