Ancient scripture says, “Treat your body like a temple.” That is excellent advice. Treat your body like a temple, like something you’d take extremely good care of. Not a woodshed, a temple. And here’s why.
The mind and the body work together. You’ve got to have both functioning well. Here’s one of the best ways I (Jim Rohn) have come to look at the connection between the two. Your body needs to be a good support system for the mind and the spirit. Your body must support you with the strength, energy, power, and vitality to take you wherever you want to go.
Let me (Jim Rohn) tell you what I think messes up the mind the most: doing less than you can. It causes all kinds of psychic damage. Being less than you can be–trying less than you can try–somehow damages your mind, your self-image.
Here’s what I’ve discovered: the minute you turn this cycle around and start motivating yourself, you’ll see immediate rewards. Maybe not monetary ones, not yet. But it’s how you feel about yourself that’s of the greatest value. Discover all you can do. See how much you can earn, how much you can share, how much you can start, how much you can finish, how far you can reach, and how far you can extend your influence.
We get paid for bringing value to the marketplace. That is a simple statement of economics. We don’t get paid for the number of hours we work; we get paid for value.
Since that’s true, is it possible to become twice as valuable and make twice as much money in the same amount of time? The answer is: of course. Could you become three times more valuable than you are right now and make three times as much money in the same time? The answer is: of course. Could you become twenty times more valuable than you are right now to the marketplace and make twenty times as much money in the same time? The answer is: of course.
During the years when professional basketball was just beginning to become really popular, Bill Russell, who played center for the Boston Celtics, was one of the greatest players in the professional leagues. He was especially known for his rebounding and his defensive skills, but like a lot of very tall centers, Russell was never much of a free-throw shooter. In fact, his free-throw percentage was quite a bit below average. But this low percentage didn’t really give a clear picture of Russell’s ability as an athlete, and in one game he gave a very convincing performance.
It was the final game of a championship series between the Celtics and the Los Angeles Lakers. With about twelve seconds left to play, the Lakers were behind by one point and the Celtics had the ball. It was obvious that the Lakers would have to foul one of the Boston players in order to get the ball back, and they chose to foul Bill Russell.
When most people think of Ben Franklin, they remember the kite and the lightning bolt and the discovery of electricity. What a lot of people may not know is that Ben Franklin was one of the first writers to address “self-making.” When Franklin started Poor Richard’s Almanac in 1732, he used the blank spaces between the crop data and the weather information to insert clever bits of moral and practical advice.
I (Jim Rohn) am sure you’ve heard the saying, “Fish and company start to stink in three days.” That was one of hundreds of Ben Franklin’s comments on life. Another was, “Diligence is the mother of good luck.” You know, it’s amazing how hard-working, intelligent people have all the luck!
Picture for a moment a little wildebeest in Africa. Do you know how much time it has after birth to learn how to run with the pack so it’s not eaten by the lions? A few minutes! As soon as the little wildebeest is born, it tries to stand up. When it falls down, its mother nudges it and gets it to stand back up. Then it falls back down.
Finally, on little shaky legs, it tries to nurse. The mother pushes it away. She moves so it can’t nurse. Why? She’s sending a message: you can’t nurse now, you’ve got to develop some strength, or the lions will get you. You’ve got to get these legs strong. We don’t have much time.
Of all the things Mr. Shoaff taught me (Jim Rohn), the biggest challenge for me was personal development. It was hard to give up my old blame list. I was so comfortable blaming my shortcomings on the government, my negative relatives, the company, unions, the economy, interest rates, prices, and every other imaginable circumstance. It was quite a transition for me to change from blaming everyone and everything else to taking responsibility for my life.
But Mr. Shoaff made me realize the importance of making that transition with a simple statement. He said, “It’s not what happens in the world that determines the major part of your future. What happens, happens to us all. The key is what you do about it.” He encouraged me to start the process of change, to do something different in the following ninety days than I had done in the previous ninety days. And I’m asking you to do the same. Whether it’s picking up a book, starting a new health discipline, improving your relationship with your family–whatever it is, however small the action, you need to start the process.
Engaging in genuine discipline requires that you develop the ability to take action. You don’t need to be hasty if it isn’t required, but you don’t want to lose much time. Here’s the time to act: when the idea is hot and the emotion is strong.
Let’s say you would like to build your library. If that is a strong desire for you, what you’ve got to do is get the first book. Then get the second book. Take action as soon as possible, before the feeling passes and before the idea dims. If you don’t, here’s what happens. You fall prey to the Law of Diminishing Intent. We intend to take action when the idea strikes us. We intend to do something when the emotion is high. But if we don’t translate that intention into action fairly soon, the urgency starts to diminish. And a month from now the passion is cold. A year from now it can’t be found.
