Jim Rohn - Leading an Inspired Life

L EADING
AN
I NSPIRED
L IFE

J IM R OHN

Published by Nightingale-Conant Corporation, Niles, Illinois

Distributed by SUCCESS Books, Lake Dallas, Texas

Copyright

No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval systems, without the written permission from the publisher. For more information, contact SUCCESS Books.

Copyright 1997 by Jim Rohn. Published in conjunction with Nightingale-Conant Corp.

Copyright 2010 by SUCCESS Media. All rights reserved.

Distributed by SUCCESS Books, an imprint of SUCCESS Media.

200 Swisher Road
Lake Dallas, Texas 75065
Toll-free: 866-SUCCESS (782-2377)
www.SUCCESS.com

SUCCESS is a registered trademark and SUCCESS Books and its colophon are trademarks of SUCCESS Media. All trademarks and registered trademarks included in Leading an Inspired Life are property of their rightful owners.

Hardcover ISBN: 978-1-935-94499-7

EPUB ISBN-13: 9781935944799

MOBI ISBN-13: 9781935944706

Contents

Foreword

Y oure going to learn a great number of ideas as you go through this book ideas that have helped successful people accomplish their goals, achieve certain wealth, and experience greater joy and satisfaction in their lives. My hope is that youll find these ideas very useful.

I dont know you personally; Im not familiar with your dreams or problems. But I dont need to be, because the ideas youre about to discover are fundamental to the art of winning. They are guaranteed to help you achieve your most inspiring dreams.

Where did these fundamentals come from? I didnt make them up. I first discovered them when I was twenty-five years old, a time in my life when I needed some new ideas to help change my direction. I wasnt destitute at the time, but I certainly needed some help. I guess we could all use a little help at age twenty-five.

I had gotten off to a great start in life. I was raised in Idahos farm country, in a small community of about five thousand souls. We were not far from the Snake River in the southwestern corner of the state, a great place to grow up.

After graduating from high school, I attended one year of college. Then I decided I was smart enough, so I quitwhich was but one of the many major mistakes I made in those early days. But I was ambitious and willing to work hard, and I figured that I wouldnt have any trouble getting a job which turned out to be accurate. So with a head full of dreams and ambitions, I started my first job.

About three years later, I got married, made lots of promises, and continued to work hard. A couple of years after that, we started a family. At age twenty-five, I began taking a new look at my life. My weekly paycheck amounted to a grand total of fifty-seven dollars. I was behind on my promises, behind on my bills, and discouragedfar from making the progress I should have made.

I was willing to work hard; that was not the problem. But it was clear that it was going to take more than hard work. And I didnt want to wind up broke at age sixty, needing assistance like so many people I saw around menot in the richest country in the world. What, I wondered could I do to change the direction of my life?

I considered going back to school. One year of college doesnt look that good on an application. But with my family growing, going back to school seemed like a tough decision. I didnt have any money to start my own business. Money was one of my problemsI always had far too much month left over at the end of the money, if you know what I mean. I remember once losing ten dollars and being physically ill for two days. Over a ten-dollar bill! Some of my friends tried to be cheerful. They said, Look, maybe some poor person who needed it found it. But that was not really helpful. At that time in my life, benevolence had not yet seized me. I was the person who needed to find ten dollars, not lose it.

So thats where I was at that time in my lifebehind on my dreams, constantly wondering what I could possibly do to change things for the better. Then good fortune came my way. Sometimes, its difficult to explain good fortune. Why do wonderful things happen to you when they do? I dont know. Its a mystery to me. My good fortune was meeting a very unique and successful man named Mr. Earl Shoaff. When I met him, I said to myself, I would give anything to be like him. I wonder what it would take?

To make a long story short, this very special gentleman took a liking to me. A few months after I met him, he hired me. I worked for him in several of his businesses until his unfortunate death five years later. The best thing he gave me during that time was not a job. The best thing he gave me was the benefit of his philosophythe fundamentals of living successfullyhow to be wealthy and how to be happy. Sure enough, his ideas worked for me.

I will always be grateful for meeting someone who made such a difference in my life. If Mr. Shoaff were still alive, I would call him and thank him again for sharing the ideas and inspiration that made the difference for me.

Now I have the chance to share these ideas with you. If you apply them to your own life, I know you will experience equally exciting results. And thats a promise.

Chapter One
A Magic Word: Discipline

We must unweave every strand of our cable of habits, slowly and methodically, until the cable that once held us in place becomes nothing more than scattered strands of wire.

How do you get a miracle going? Its all a matter of discipline. And it begins with one simple step: doing what you can do.

Discipline enables you to capture your emotion and wisdom and translate them into action.

Once you have seen and felt your ideal future, you will be ready and able to pay any price to get there.

The Bridge Between Thought and Accomplishment

I f there is one magic word that stands out above all the rest, it is discipline. Discipline is the bridge between thought and accomplishment, between inspiration and achievement, between necessity and productivity. Remember, all good things are located upstream from us. The passing of time takes us adrift, and drifting only brings us the negative, the disappointment, and the failure.

Failure is not a cataclysmic event. It is not generally the result of one major incident, but rather of a long list of accumulated little failings. If your goal requires that you write ten letters today and you write only three, you are down seven letters. If you want to make five calls and only make one, you are down four calls. If your plan calls for saving ten dollars today and you save none, you are down ten dollars.

The danger is looking at an undisciplined day and concluding that no great harm has been done. But add up these days to make a yearand then add up those years to make a lifetimeand it will become apparent how repeating todays small failures can easily turn your life into a major disaster.

Success, on the other hand, is just the same process in reverse. If you plan to make ten calls and you end the day having made fifteen, you are up five calls. You can see what a massive difference this sort of thing could make in a year and what wealth and accomplishment await over a lifetime.

Discipline is like a set of magic keys that can unlock all the doors of wealth, happiness, culture, high self-esteem, pride, joy, accomplishment, satisfaction, and success.

The first key to discipline is awareness of the need for and value of discipline, especially the discipline to make the necessary changes. What will it take? What must I do and what must I become to get all I want from life?