Jim Rohn, the Man Who Spawned the Motivational Industrial Complex
Before Tony Robbins was selling fire-walking seminars, he was a broke 17-year-old janitor scribbling notes at a Jim Rohn personal-development seminar.
Emanuel Jim Rohn, who liked to be called Jim, was the architect of the modern global motivational industry. He was a soft-spoken, Johnny Carson lookalike whose philosophies still echo in today’s motivational empires that include Tony Robbins, Mel Robbins, Simon Sinek’s “Start with Why” concept, Les Brown and even Joel Osteen’s megachurch.
Below are my favorite seven secrets from the man who taught entrepreneurs how to design a life worth living.
It’s About the Winning, Not the Money
Rohn said it might seem funny that billionaires attended his seminars to learn how to earn more money.
“It’s not because they need the money. It’s because they need the joy and the satisfaction and the pleasure that comes from being a constant winner.”
Winners take risks that losers don’t, according to Rohn.
“If you think trying is risky, wait until you get the bill for not trying,” he said. “Don’t ask for security. Ask for adventure.”
But he also urged wealthy friends to pay taxes without complaint, and he mocked classless friends who read trashy books and ate with their elbows in their soup.
Watch Your Coffee
What happens if your worst enemy puts sugar in your coffee? You’ll be fine.
What happens if your best friend accidentally puts strychnine in your coffee? You’ll be dead.
Moral of the story: “Watch your coffee.”
Life is both sugar and strychnine.
“It doesn’t matter who hands you the bad stuff,” Rohn said. “Every day, stand guard at the door of your mind.”
Get Out of the Way
Rohn told a modern fable of a big monstrous weight that keeps falling from the sky and shaking the ground near you. You can rightfully argue it’s stupid that this weight keeps falling.
“But the first thing you’ve got to do is get out from under it.”
Lesson: Don’t analyze a crisis until you’re sure it won’t crush you.
The Art of Asking
Rohn said the Bible had a magic formula for getting what you want: Ask and ye shall receive.
The art of asking is one of the most important things to learn. He called for an unlimited mindset, stressing that we need to ask for big things, not small; and set big goals, not small.
“Some people go to the ocean with a teaspoon,” he said. “Trade your teaspoon for at least a bucket.”
Once you start asking for things, don’t be surprised when you get much more than you asked for.
Find Your Reasons to Succeed
Rohn was determined to get himself out of poverty in his 20s after he was humiliated on his own doorstep.
He was so broke, he lied to Girl Scouts about why he couldn’t afford to buy a $2 box of cookies. So he vowed to become successful.
Your reasons can be anything.
Rohn had a friend who decided to get rich to spite his brother belittling him. And he knew a woman who chose to get rich so she wouldn’t have to grovel to her husband.
Success starts with a decision you make on “the day that turns your life around.”
“If you have enough reasons,” he said, “you could do the most incredible things.”
Work Harder on Yourself Than You Do on Your Job
This is Rohn’s bedrock principle: “Don’t wish it was easier; wish you were better. Don’t wish for fewer problems; wish for more skills.”
He taught that personal-development goals should be stronger, more decisive.
“Be a speaker. Be a leader. Learn a language—all kinds of skills. That’s what attracts. That’s what brings good things to your life: the person you become.”
He stressed that in order for things to change for you, you’ve got to change yourself.
Success Is Up to You
When Rohn was 25, his mentor, Earl Shoaff, asked why he wasn’t living better.
Rohn pulled out a long list of excuses blaming the government, prices, the weather—he even blamed neighbors who wouldn’t lend him money.
In response to this, Shoaff said: “Mr. Rohn—big problem with your list. You ain’t on it.”
Rohn dumped his excuses and started a new list with one name on it: Me!
He became a lifelong devotee of lists. He made lists of goals and lists of things he wanted to buy, marking them off as he won and celebrating his victories.
He told this perfect parable for success: Two salesmen wake up one rainy morning and look out their windows.
One stays home and says, “With weather like this, they can’t expect you to go out and make sales.”
The other salesman replies, “What a great day to go out and make sales. Most everybody will be home—especially the salesmen!”
