"The difficulties you meet will resolve themselves as you advance. Proceed, and light will dawn, and shine with increasing clearness on your path." -- Jim Rohn
Jim Rohn (September 17, 1930 - December 5, 2009) was an American entrepreneur, author and motivational speaker. His rags to riches story played a large part in his work, which influenced others in the personal development industry.
"A good objective of leadership is to help those who are doing poorly to do well and to help those who are doing well to do even better.""A novel is never anything, but a philosophy put into images.""Affirmation without discipline is the beginning of delusion.""Asking is the beginning of receiving. Make sure you don't go to the ocean with a teaspoon. At least take a bucket so the kids won't laugh at you.""Better understated than overstated. Let people be surprised that it was more than you promised and easier than you said.""Character isn't something you were born with and can't change, like your fingerprints. It's something you weren't born with and must take responsibility for forming.""Discipline is the bridge between goals and accomplishment.""Don't bring your need to the marketplace, bring your skill. If you don't feel well, tell your doctor, but not the marketplace. If you need money, go to the bank, but not the marketplace.""Don't just read the easy stuff. You may be entertained by it, but you will never grow from it.""Don't wish it were easier, wish you were better.""Effective communication is 20% what you know and 80% how you feel about what you know.""Either you run the day or the day runs you.""Failure is not a single, cataclysmic event. You don't fail overnight. Instead, failure is a few errors in judgement, repeated every day.""Failure is simply a few errors in judgment, repeated every day.""For every disciplined effort there is a multiple reward.""Formal education will make you a living; self-education will make you a fortune.""Give whatever you are doing and whoever you are with the gift of your attention.""Giving is better than receiving because giving starts the receiving process.""Happiness is not something you postpone for the future; it is something you design for the present.""Ideas can be life-changing. Sometimes all you need to open the door is just one more good idea.""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.""If you are not willing to risk the unusual, you will have to settle for the ordinary.""If you don't design your own life plan, chances are you'll fall into someone else's plan. And guess what they have planned for you? Not much.""If you don't like how things are, change it! You're not a tree.""If you go to work on your goals, your goals will go to work on you. If you go to work on your plan, your plan will go to work on you. Whatever good things we build end up building us.""It doesn't matter which side of the fence you get off on sometimes. What matters most is getting off. You cannot make progress without making decisions.""It is the set of the sails, not the direction of the wind that determines which way we will go.""Labor gives birth to ideas.""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.""Let others lead small lives, but not you. Let others argue over small things, but not you. Let others cry over small hurts, but not you. Let others leave their future in someone else's hands, but not you.""Make measurable progress in reasonable time.""Maturity is the ability to reap without apology and not complain when things don't go well.""Miss a meal if you have to, but don't miss a book.""Money is usually attracted, not pursued.""Part of your heritage in this society is the opportunity to become financially independent.""Some people plant in the spring and leave in the summer. If you're signed up for a season, see it through. You don't have to stay forever, but at least stay until you see it through.""Success is doing ordinary things extraordinarily well.""Success is neither magical nor mysterious. Success is the natural consequence of consistently applying the basic fundamentals.""Success is not to be pursued; it is to be attracted by the person you become.""Success is nothing more than a few simple disciplines, practiced every day.""Success is steady progress toward one's personal goals.""Take advantage of every opportunity to practice your communication skills so that when important occasions arise, you will have the gift, the style, the sharpness, the clarity, and the emotions to affect other people.""Take care of your body. It's the only place you have to live.""Take time to gather up the past so that you will be able to draw from your experience and invest them in the future.""The book you don't read won't help.""The few who do are the envy of the many who only watch.""The major reason for setting a goal is for what it makes of you to accomplish it. What it makes of you will always be the far greater value than what you get.""The major value in life is not what you get. The major value in life is what you become.""The more you know the less you need to say.""The reason that fiction is more interesting than any other form of literature, to those who really like to study people, is that in fiction the author can really tell the truth without humiliating himself.""The walls we build around us to keep sadness out also keeps out the joy.""The worst thing one can do is not to try, to be aware of what one wants and not give in to it, to spend years in silent hurt wondering if something could have materialized - never knowing.""There are only 3 colors, 10 digits, and 7 notes; its what we do with them that's important.""Things that I felt absolutely sure of but a few years ago, I do not believe now. This thought makes me see more clearly how foolish it would be to expect all men to agree with me.""Time is more value than money. You can get more money, but you cannot get more time.""To solve any problem, here are three questions to ask yourself: First, what could I do? Second, what could I read? And third, who could I ask?""We get paid for bringing value to the market place.""We must all suffer one of two things: the pain of discipline or the pain of regret or disappointment.""Whatever good things we build end up building us.""When you know what you want, and want it bad enough, you will find a way to get it.""Whoever renders service to many puts himself in line for greatness - great wealth, great return, great satisfaction, great reputation, and great joy.""Without a sense of urgency, desire loses its value.""Words do two major things: They provide food for the mind and create light for understanding and awareness.""Work harder on yourself than you do on your job.""You cannot change your destination overnight, but you can change your direction overnight.""You don't get paid for the hour. You get paid for the value you bring to the hour.""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.""Your philosophy determines whether you will go for the disciplines or continue the errors."
Emanuel James "Jim" Rohn was born in Yakima, Washington to Emanuel and Clara Rohn. The Rohns owned and worked a farm in Idaho where Jim grew up. He was an only child.
Jim graduated high school 3rd out of a class of 140. He went to college for a year and a half before dropping out and joining the work force. At age 25, according to his accounts, he was working as a stock clerk for Sears collecting a weekly $57 paycheck. He wasn't broke but struggling financially, unable to see a way that would lead to his personal ambitions. Around this time, a friend invited him to a lecture given by John Earl Shoaff, an entrepreneur who impressed Rohn with his wealth, business accomplishments, charisma and life philosophy. In October, 1955, Rohn joined Shoaff's direct sales organization, and began a process of personal development that culminated in his becoming a millionaire by age 31. Shoaff, who had challenged Rohn at age 25 to reach for this goal, died one year before Rohn achieved it at age 31.
Rohn was invited by a friend to come and tell his "rags-to-riches" story to his rotary club. He accepted and titled his talk "Farm Boy Makes It To Beverly Hills." The talk went so well that soon others began asking him to speak at various luncheons and other events. In 1963, at The Beverly Hills Hotel, he gave his first public seminar. He then began presenting seminars all over the country, telling his story and teaching the personal development philosophy he felt had led to his accomplishments. He presented seminars for more than 40 years.
Tony Robbins worked for Rohn, who mentored Robbins during his early career. Others who credit Rohn for his influence on their careers include authors Mark Victor Hansen and Jack Canfield (Chicken Soup book series), author/lecturer Brian Tracy, and author/lecturer T. Harv Eker.
He was the recipient of the 1985 National Speakers Association CPAE Award for excellence in speaking. He is also the author of 17 different books, audio and video programs.
