Leading an Inspired Life - by Jim Rohn
ISBN: 1555254594Date read: 2016-08-24
How strongly I recommend it: 3/10
(See my list of 360+ books, for more.)
Go to the Amazon page for details and reviews.
Great beginning. Absolutely adored the opening of this book, about discipline. Loved it so much it made me jump out of bed and go work for a few hours in the middle of the night, totally inspired. But then the rest of the book was ridiculously generic, with the occasional great sentence. Still, worth getting for that first chapter alone.
my notes
Discipline is the bridge between thought and accomplishment.
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.
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 lifetime - and it will easily turn your life into a major disaster.
How tall will a tree grow? As tall as it can. Everything strives to become all it can possibly be.
That surging feeling of self-worth that comes from starting a new discipline - is almost as good as the feeling that comes from the accomplishment the discipline brings.
It doesn’t really matter how smart you are if you don’t use your knowledge.
Use discipline in applying your knowledge.
If we don’t make consistent self-discipline part of our daily lives, the results we seek will be sporadic and elusive.
Procrastination is almost the exact opposite of discipline.
Discipline then says, “Do it now, to the best of your ability.”
An immediate reward for lack of discipline is a fun day at the beach. A future reward of discipline is owning the beach.
Life will give you some pretty big challenges, but unless you practice on the small ones and master those, you don’t have a chance on the major ones. A man strides out of his house to go straighten out the corporation, and he has not yet straightened out his garage. Who’s he kidding? So work on all the disciplines, small as well as large, that will improve the quality of your life.
You can’t change people. They can change themselves, but you can’t change them.
If you want motivated people, you have to find them, not motivate them.
Imagine dropping to the floor right now and doing as many push-ups as you possibly can - and let’s say for some reason you haven’t been doing any push-ups lately, so the best you can do is five. But is five all you can ever do? No! If you rest a little, you can do five more. And if you rest a little more, you can do five more. How did we get from five to fifteen? It’s a miracle! If you continue that pattern, is it possible to get up to fifty push-ups? Of course! How do you go from five to fifty? It’s a miracle!
It begins with one simple step: doing what you can do. Once you have done that, you can keep working to bring your best to a higher level. Each time you complete an activity and take a rest, you’re preparing yourself for even greater accomplishment. But don’t rest too long.
Think of more ways and means to use your own wisdom, your own philosophy.
Children require discipline. They must have a structure built for them. They must have boundaries to work within so they feel secure and comfortable to explore and grow. They must learn to recognize what’s right and what’s wrong, what’s acceptable behavior and what’s not acceptable. Children require constant and consistent discipline. Otherwise, they’ll be confused as to how they’re supposed to behave.
For every disciplined effort, there are multiple rewards.
Learn the discipline of paying attention, or paying your taxes.
Learn the discipline of learning all you can learn, of teaching all you can teach, of reading all you can read.
A lack of discipline in the small areas of life can cost you heavily in the more important areas of life.
You cannot inspire others to sell more when that goal is inconsistent with your own conduct.
Nobody would mind paying the price if they could have a clear view of the future.
Do two things to help our kids: help them see the promise and help them pay the price.
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. The time to act: when the idea is hot and the emotion is strong.
Increase your motivation by quickly setting up the disciplines.
If you will change yourself, everything else will change for you. You don’t have to change what’s outside, all you’ve got to change is what’s inside.
Don’t wish it were easier, wish that you were better. Don’t wish for fewer problems, wish for more skills.
It’s amazing how hard-working, intelligent people have all the luck!
Work harder on yourself than you do on your job.
Doing less than you can messes up the mind the most: causes all kinds of psychic damage.
Go where the expectations are so strong that they provoke you, push you.
Long-term goals are the equivalent of a major journey. When you reach the point where you’ve achieved your long-term goals, your life will be fundamentally changed, and the process of getting to that point will have transformed you into a stronger, wiser, and higher-performing person.
The reason for setting goals is not what you obtain, it'ss what you become along the way.
Don’t set your goals too low.
Don’t join an “easy” crowd. You won’t grow.
Go where the demands are high. Go where the pressure is to perform, to grow.
Ambitious people see everything they do - and every discipline they adhere to - as a link in the chain of events and actions that will lead them to their final destination.
When you can see that every link in the chain will eventually lead you to the things you want most out of life and to the person you want to become, then you won’t grow discouraged, fearful, or impatient with today.
Don’t begin the activities of your day until you know exactly what you plan to accomplish. Don’t start your day until you have it planned. Don’t start your week until you have it planned.
“What’s in it for me?” can take you only so far. “What’s in it for somebody besides me?” can take you as far as you need to go.
The best money spent is the money spent to cultivate the genius of your own mind and spirit.
Don’t spend more for frivolous comforts and conveniences than you do for education.
“You have been working now for six years. How are you doing?”
I said, “Not very well.”
He said, “Then I suggest you not do that anymore. Six years is long enough to operate with the wrong plan.”
Hear or read something challenging, something instructional, at least thirty minutes a day, every day. Miss a meal, but not your thirty minutes.
I say, “John, I’ve got this gold mine. I’ve got so much gold I don’t know what to do with it all. Come on over and dig.”
John says, “I don’t have a shovel.”
I say, “Well, John, let’s get you one.”
He says, “Don’t you know what they want for shovels these days?”
Don’t be casual in getting it. Casualness leads to casualties.
Wherever you are, be there! Be there to absorb it. Take a picture if you can. Take pictures in your mind; let your soul and heart take pictures. Get it, capture it, absorb it.
Give in to the emotion. Let the feelings strike you.
Take a lot of pictures. Don’t be lazy in capturing the event.
Reflect means to go back over; to study again. Go back over your notes. Go back over your thoughts. And go back over your day.
Long ago: People worked for nine years, and the tenth year was a sabbatical used for relaxing, replenishing, getting in shape physically.
Change of pace: go over the previous nine years, to see what went right and what went wrong, what worked well and what didn’t work
Gather up today and invest it in tomorrow. Gather up this week and invest it in the next week.
Success is one of the best forms of motivation.
One person caring for another is life at its best.
The road to heaven is heaven.