Time Management

Something will master and something will serve. Either you run the day or the day runs you; either you run the business or the business runs you.

Learn how to separate the majors and the minors. A lot of people don't do well simply because they major in minor things.

Don't mistake movement for achievement. It's easy to get faked out by being busy. The question is: Busy doing what?

Days are expensive. When you spend a day you have one less day to spend. So make sure you spend each one wisely.

Sometimes you need to stay in touch but be out of reach.

Time is our most valuable asset, yet we tend to waste it, kill it, and spend it rather than invest it.

We can no more afford to spend major time on minor things than we can to spend minor time on major things.

Time is more valuable than money. You can get more money, but you cannot get more time.

Never begin the day until it is finished on paper.

Learn how to say no. Don't let your mouth overload your back.

Time is the best-kept secret of the rich.

Financial Independence

Shortly after I met my mentor he asked me, "Mr. Rohn, how much money have you saved and invested over the last six years?" And I said, "None." He then asked, "Who sold you on that plan?"

It is better to be a lender than a spender.

To become financially independent you must turn part of your income into capital; turn capital into enterprise; turn enterprise into profit; turn profit into investment; and turn investment into financial independence.

Financial independence is the ability to live from the income of your own personal resources.

If you depend on your company to take care of your retirement, your future income will be divided by five. Take care of it yourself, and you can multiply your future income by five.

I remember saying to my mentor, "If I had more money, I would have a better plan." He quickly responded, "I would suggest that if you had a better plan, you would have more money." You see, it's not the amount that counts; it's the plan that counts.

If you were to show me your current financial plan, would I get so excited by it that I would go across the country and lecture on it? If the answer is no, then here's my question: "Why not"? Why wouldn't you have a superior financial plan that is taking you to the places you want to go?

I used to say, "Things cost too much." Then my teacher straightened me out on that by saying, "The problem isn't that things cost too much. The problem is that you can't afford it." That's when I finally understood that the problem wasn't "it" - the problem was "me."

The Bible says that it is hard for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of heaven. It doesn't say that it is impossible!

Personal Development

To attract attractive people, you must be attractive. To attract powerful people, you must be powerful. To attract committed people, you must be committed. Instead of going to work on them, you go to work on yourself. If you become, you can attract.

We can have more than we've got because we can become more than we are.

The big challenge is to become all that you have the possibility of becoming. You cannot believe what it does to the human spirit to maximize your human potential and stretch yourself to the limit.

Pity the man who inherits a million dollars and who isn't a millionaire. Here's what would be pitiful: If your income grew and you didn't.

The most important question to ask on the job is not "What am I getting?" The most important question to ask on the job is "What am I becoming?"

It is hard to keep that which has not been obtained through personal development.

After you become a millionaire, you can give all of your money away because what's important is not the million dollars; what's important is the person you have become in the process of becoming a millionaire.

Income seldom exceeds personal development.

What you become directly influences what you get.

Communication and Persuasion

Better understated than overstated. Let people be surprised that it was more than you promised and easier than you said.

For effective communication, use brevity. Jesus said, "Follow me." Now that's brief! He could be brief because of all that he was that he didn't have to say.

You cannot speak that which you do not know. You cannot share that which you do not feel. You cannot translate that which you do not have. And you cannot give that which you do not possess. To give it and to share it, and for it to be effective, you first need to have it. Good communication starts with good preparation.

The goal of effective communication should be for listeners to say, "Me, too!" verses "So what?"

Learn to express, not impress.

Be brief on the logic and reason portion of your presentation. There are probably about a thousand facts about an automobile, but you don't need them all to make a decision. About a half dozen will do.

Effective communication is 20% what you know and 80% how you feel about what you know.

What is powerful is when what you say is just the tip of the iceberg of what you know.

It's not the matter you cover so much as it is the manner in which you cover it.

Books and Reading

Miss a meal if you have to, but don't miss a book.

Some people claim that it is okay to read trashy novels because sometimes you can find something valuable in them. You can also find a crust of bread in a garbage can, if you search long enough, but there is a better way.

Most homes valued at over $250,000 have a library. That should tell us something.

Everything you need for your better future and success has already been written. And guess what? It's all available. All you have to do is go to the library. But would you believe that only three percent of the people in America have a library card. Wow, they must be expensive! No, they're free. And there's probably a library in every neighborhood. Only three percent!

Some people read so little they have rickets of the mind.

I now have one of the better libraries. I admit that I haven't read everything in my library, but I feel smarter just walking in it.

Don't just read the easy stuff. You may be entertained by it, but you will never grow from it.

The book you don't read won't help.

Books are easy to find and easy to buy. A paperback these days only costs six or seven dollars. You can borrow that from your kids!

It isn't what the book costs; it's what it will cost if you don't read it.

Service

One customer, well taken care of, could be more valuable than $10,000 worth of advertising.

Good service leads to multiple sales. If you take good care of your customers, they will open doors you could never open by yourself.

How do you deserve a fortune? Render fortunes of service.

You have to do more than you get paid for because that's where the fortune is.

Whoever renders service to many puts himself in line for greatness - great wealth, great return, great satisfaction, great reputation and great joy.

Sophistication

Most people are just trying to get through the day. Sophisticated people learn how to get from the day.

Sophistication is understanding the difference between trinkets and treasures.

Don't spend major money on minor things. In the last ten years the guy has bought two tons of donuts and only two books - and the books are primarily filled with pictures.

Sophisticated people don't leave early. The man says, "Yeah, but I want to beat the traffic." Isn't that a great skill to have - beating the traffic!

It doesn't take a million dollars to learn the difference between a bottle of fine wine and a Pepsi. Sophistication is a study not an amount.

One of the early signs of sophistication is not giving way to all inclinations but rather sending your emotions to school so they will learn how to behave.

Money doesn't make you sophisticated. Only study and practice make you sophisticated. Even people of modest means can become sophisticated because it is within study and practice. How much is a night out at the symphony? About thirty dollars. You say, "Poor people can't afford thirty dollars to go to the symphony." Yes, they can. It's only thirty Hershey bars!

We must teach our children not to spend their money a dollar at a time. If you spend your money a dollar at a time, you'll wind up with trinkets instead of treasures. You can't buy much of value a dollar at a time.

Parenting and Relationships

One person caring about another represents life's greatest value.

Your family and your love must be cultivated like a garden. Time, effort, and imagination must be summoned constantly to keep any relationship flourishing and growing.

The greatest gift you can give to somebody is your own personal development. I used to say, "If you will take care of me, I will take care of you." Now I say, "I will take care of me for you if you will take care of you for me".

The walls we build around us to keep out the sadness also keep out the joy.

There is no greater leadership challenge than parenting.

If you talk to your children, you can help them to keep their lives together. If you talk to them skillfully, you can help them to build future dreams.

Leadership is the great challenge of the 21st century in science, politics, education, and industry. But the greatest challenge in leadership is parenting. We need to do more than just get our enterprises ready for the challenges of the twenty-first century. We also need to get our children ready for the challenges of the 21st century.

Personal Responsibility

Don't become a victim of yourself. Forget about the thief waiting in the alley; what about the thief in your mind?

It is not what happens that determines the major part of your future. What happens, happens to us all. It is what you do about what happens that counts.

You say, "The country is messed up." That's like cursing the soil and the seed and the sunshine and the rain, which is all you've got. Don't curse all you've got. When you get your own planet, you can rearrange this whole deal. This one you've got to take like it comes.

Walk away from the 97% crowd. Don't use their excuses. Take charge of your own life.

Take advice, but not orders. Only give yourself orders. Abraham Lincoln once said, "Since I will be no one's slave, I will be no one's master."

You must take personal responsibility. You cannot change the circumstances, the seasons, or the wind, but you can change yourself. That is something you have charge of. You don't have charge of the constellations, but you do have charge of whether you read, develop new skills, and take new classes.

Your paycheck is not your employer's responsibility, it's your responsibility. Your employer has no control over your value, but you do.

Experience

Take time to gather up the past so that you will be able to draw from your experiences and invest them in the future.

Don't let the learning from your own experiences take too long. If you have been doing it wrong for the last ten years, I would suggest that's long enough!

Life is not just the passing of time. Life is the collection of experiences and their intensity.

It's easy to carry the past as a burden instead of a school. It's easy to let it overwhelm you instead of educate you.

Be like a sponge when it comes to each new experience. If you want to be able to express it well, you must first be able to absorb it well.

Discipline

Discipline is the bridge between goals and accomplishment.

We must all suffer from one of two pains: the pain of discipline or the pain of regret. The difference is discipline weighs ounces while regret weighs tons.

All disciplines affect each other. Mistakenly the man says, "This is the only area where I let down." Not true. Every let down affects the rest. Not to think so is naive.

Discipline is the foundation upon which all success is built. Lack of discipline inevitably leads to failure.

Discipline has within it the potential for creating future miracles.

The best time to set up a new discipline is when the idea is strong.

One discipline always leads to another discipline.

Affirmation without discipline is the beginning of delusion.

You don't have to change that much for it to make a great deal of difference. A few simple disciplines can have a major impact on how your life works out in the next 90 days, let alone in the next 12 months or the next 3 years.

The least lack of discipline starts to erode our self-esteem.

Education and Learning

Formal education will make you a living; self-education will make you a fortune.

We must learn to apply all that we know so that we can attract all that we want.

Learning is the beginning of wealth. Learning is the beginning of health. Learning is the beginning of spirituality. Searching and learning is where the miracle process all begins.

If someone is going down the wrong road, he doesn't need motivation to speed him up. What he needs is education to turn him around.

Don't see the mind for more than it is, but don't misread it for all that it can be.

Sharpen your interest in two major subjects: life and people. You will only gather information from a source if you are interested in it.

Education must precede motivation.

While you are in school, make sure you get the information. What you think about it, that's up to you. What you are going to do with it that will soon be up to you. But while you are there, make sure you get it. In fact, my advice is – Don't leave school without it!

Never begrudge the money you spend on your own education.

If you step up the self-education curve, you will come up with more answers than you can use.

Empathy and Caring

Show your contempt for the problem and your concern for the person.

Be sensitive to the plight of others. You have to know about the tragedies as well as the triumphs, the failures as well as the success.

How do you build a bridge between age 12 and age 40? By remembering.

One of the greatest gifts you can give to anyone is the gift of attention.

The more you care, the stronger you can be.

Don't operate on the heart with a hatchet.

Values

The major value in life is not what you get. The major value in life is what you become. That is why I wish to pay fair price for every value. If I have to pay for it or earn it, that makes something of me. If I get it for free, that makes nothing of me.

All values must be won by contest, and after they have been won, they must be defended.

Don't sell out your virtue and your value for something you think you want. Judas got the money, but he threw it all away and hung himself because he was so unhappy with himself.

Values were meant to be costly. If it doesn't cost much, we probably wouldn't appreciate the value.

Count the cost first. Don't pay too big a price for pursuing minor values.

These quotes are by Jim Rohn, America's Foremost Business Philosopher. To subscribe to the Free Jim Rohn Weekly E-zine, go to www.jimrohn.com or send a blank email to subscribe@jimrohn.com Excerpted with permission from The Treasury of Quotes by Jim Rohn. Copyright © 1994-2005 Jim Rohn International. All rights reserved worldwide.

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