Hello. Thank you for joining me on today’s live video. This week I’ve started reading or listening an audible book The Ultimate Jim Rohn Library. Jim Rohn was a businessman and motivational speaker and massive in the personal development industry. In fact, he mentored Tony Robbins amongst others in his career. Jim Rohn’s has written many books, but the thing I like most about what he does are his speeches.
Unfortunately Jim died in 2009, so he is no longer with us. But throughout his career he recorded so many speeches,. The Audible book I’m listening to is a compilation of his speeches. The thing l like most in his speeches is way he describes things so clearly and in such simple terms.
He describes what he calls the fundamentals. These are a few key things which make all the difference. Jim, reckons there are a half dozens things that make 80 percent of the difference in our lives and how they turn out. Jim was taught those by his mentor a man called Earl Shoaff. Earl taught Jim to look for these few things that make the most difference and spend most of his time working on and doing these things.
Today I want to just dig into one of them, ‘Setting your Sail.’ Jim talks about the wind of circumstance and how that blows on all of us. That can be the experience of the winds of disappointment or despair or my case dyslexia. That same wind of circumstance are blowing in all of us and yet we all arrive at different destinations at the end of our journey, but we’re all sailing on the same sea.
Jim says, “It’s not the circumstance which makes it different, it’s actually the set of the sail or the way we think and react to those circumstances.” It’s what we do after we’ve set sail and then the wind changes, something happens and it’s what we choose to do in that circumstance.
We have to get back on our feet grab the rudder, set the sail in a new direction of our choosing and set sail again. He says, “It’s how we think and how we respond is a far better capacity to destroy our lives than any challenges we face and how quickly we respond to adversity is more important than the adversity itself.”
For me that wind of an example was my dyslexia. At the age of eight I was diagnosed with dyslexia and yes I had a great teacher to help me, but I chose to set my sail, read loads of books, put in massive effort to learn to overcome my reading, my reading out loud as well and also spelling and grammar punctuation, all the challenges that someone with dyslexia has. I chose to take action and yes that wind blew me in one direction but I set my sail in a different direction, which is the key here, I think Jim is getting at.
Yes the wind of change, the wind of dyslexia, the wind of whatever might be that challenges you in life can blow. But it’s not that wind which blows you in the direction which is important, it’s how you choose to set your sail. If you don’t bother setting your sail then you are purely at the mercy of that challenge, that wind. For me the dyslexia that wind blew me in one direction, but I set my sail in a different direction and ultimately that leads to a different destination over time.
It’s about choosing to set your sail in a different direction of your choosing and over time that leads you to a different destination. Yes that wind is constantly changing so we constantly have to be changing and reacting but it’s being responsive to that and constantly adjusting our sails as we go.I thought that was powerful.
I’ll share in notes below that there’s a lot of his speeches and audios on YouTube. They’re free as well, so you don’t necessarily need to pay for them. Here’s a link to one.
That’s all I wanted to share this week. Setting your sail and not being at the mercy of the winds of change or whatever might happen in your life. For me dyslexia didn’t ultimately decide my outcome in life it was an advantage in the end, because it made me work harder at my reading and writing and everything else, punctuation and spelling.
As always thanks for listening. Any comments or feedback please leave those below. I look forward to speaking to you again next week.
Jim Rohn puts it best. “Success is nothing more than a few simple disciplines practiced daily.” Are you ready to take your life to the next level? To start moving in a new direction? I would love nothing more that to see you go from stuck to succeeding; from surviving to thriving.
“Success is nothing more than a few simple disciplines practiced daily.” ~ Jim Rohn
I have created a seven (7) day challenge, for you. It introduces one new discipline I practice everyday.
“Success is not to be pursued; it is to be attracted by the person you become.” ~ Jim Rohn
Seven days will not change your destination, but if you commit to getting up everyday determined to get from the day and not just through it, you can change the direction of your life in seven short days.
“You cannot change your destination overnight, but you can change your direction overnight.” ~ Jim Rohn
Ready?