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Jim Rohn was known as ‘America’s Foremost Business Philospher’. Unfortunately he passed on in late 2009, but he has left one hell of a legacy for all to tap into.
I was about 19 years old when I started my first business. I sold my car and bought the biggest Transit van you could buy and started moving bands about to gigs and also moved tech equipment during the day. Little did I know though, when listening to a tape given to me by some sales guys that I had met, that Jim Rohn would have such a profound influence on my future.
The guy on the tape, which I was listening to in said van, said something that to this day I have not been able to shift out of the back of my mind.
“Be employed and earn a living, be the employer and earn a fortune”
I only found out about 8 months ago that that man was Jim Rohn…
Now to follow just that mantra is a little bit uncouth, but when you are 19 that is all that you care about.. Money, chicks and good times. It was that short term philosophy that ended up being the downfall of my original one man megacorporation.
A better philosophy to live by, or guideline should I say is something else that Jim said…
“You Don’t Get Paid for the Hour, You Get Paid for the Value You Bring to the Hour”
He had a knack of making things so simple! To increase your means, you can’t increase the amount of hours in a day or week, but you can increase/augment/improve the person that works those hours.
And here is my challenge to you, which goes against the average philosophy of the modern adult. Always be looking to increase your value. I mentioned yesterday about how Donald Trump rebuilt his property empire from scratch, he could only do that because he was valuable. He had cultivated the knowledge of how to do it, which you don’t get from watching 4 hours of TV a day.
Always be looking to move out of your comfort zone and stretch yourself too. The bigger a person you become, the bigger an income you can command, or as I prefer to see it, the more people you can help. If you think that your education stopped when you left school, you are stifling your true potential to achieve anything that you want. If you want to be a business owner you are going to need to change that.
So nicely put, by Mark Twain…
“I have never let my schooling interfere with my education”
What that illustrates to me is the disconnect from traditional schooling and the eternal quest for understanding; for betterment of one’s self.
Once you get past the ‘sales’ and ‘product’ speil in the business arena and really look into what entrepreneurship is all about, you soon find out that the real name of the game is becoming a better entrepreneur, which more-often-than-not means becoming a better person in general too. It is your respective community that will be the pool that will permit you to succeed, but in return you need to bring value to the table, something that is useful to them that they can use… And bring it time and time again. That’s how you succeed. You bring more value to the table and to the hours that you work.
So if you haven’t begun your quest yet… And a quest it is. Always aim to become a bigger and better version of you and focus on what it is that you can do to help others. There is no succeed or fail, there is only progress.
I’m going to share with you quite possibly some of the most valuable mindset shifting theory I have personally used.
I want to illustrate to you the methodology of how I gave up smoking (scroll down to the bottom), with no outside help, after 16 years using this idea. My question is, have you ever looked at everything you do as aither ‘Active’ of ‘Passive’?
Right, let’s wind it in a bit and I will explain what I mean.
Look at the picture on the left; it depicts active and passive behaviour. Not gonna win any science prizes for that nugget am I? What I would like you to do though is to re-evaluate the terms ‘active’ and ‘passive’ into a more behavioural essence -
Active – think of terms more like ‘adding value’, ‘outputting’, ‘interracting’, ‘creating’, ‘giving’ (Alpha characteristics)
Passive – think in terms of ‘receiving’, ‘taking from’, ‘following’, ‘consuming’ (Beta characteristics)
80% of the Populous Are Sheep Put Out to Pasture
Now in terms of the ‘general state of affairs’, the natural setting for the populous (and the way that every Gov’t in history likes it) is on the ‘Passive’ setting. Gov’ts seem to like to have populi full of sheeple, that they can herd around and tell what to do (while stealing all of their money and making policy decisions so that they can steal more) without too much fuss.
Take note of how the average day is depicted by the mainstream media, go to work (passive – you are told what to do and when), come home and eat dinner in front of the TV (passive again). I think the main reason why I hate the TV so much is that is quite possibly the most passive or Beta thing that one can do. It adds no value to anything (unless you are researching specifically for something), you just sit there and ‘consume’.
The name of the ‘western lifestyle’ game is to ‘have more stuff’. Buying more stuff that you don’t need is a passive action; browsing the shops, passive action. This is where men shopping is actually more of an active action, men (generally) like to go to a shop specifically because they know it has what they are ‘actively’ looking for, they are in and out. (Men don’t get away so lightly when it comes to watching sport though, same issue as women shopping). Both gender stereotypes are passive.
Ok, so I have pointed out that most of the ‘default’ setting for the ‘western dream’ is passive, I want to share with you why an entrepreneur is anything but.
Entrepreneurship and the Herd
Entrepreneurialism, in its essence, is the seeking of ‘problem solving’ for reward. Problem solving is an ‘active’ action. You are actively seeking out solutions, whether that be by your own intelligence or finding swaythes of people for a project. Entrepreneurialism is an ‘active’ pursuit.
For instance, in my business I am seeking preserve and increase the value of peoples’ net worths, by educating and offering solutions to the current fiat fiasco. (Active)
Richard Branson is constantly set to ‘active’, the story of how Virgin Atlantic came about is a perfect example. His flight was cancelled, so he and many others were stranded, resulting in him chartering a plane, selling tickets and flying everyone home. Simple really lol
What Has All This Got to Do With Online Marketing?
The reason why so many online marketers fail, is because they set themselves in the default (education) setting and never implement. Trust me, I know what this can be like.
Implementing what you learn is an ‘active’ activity, educating yourself is a passive pursuit, you are simply consuming content to get a better understanding (creating content is ‘active’ though, as you are seeking to add value to the readers’ lives in some way)
So what I am trying to say is to look at what you do in terms of active and passive behaviour. You will get stuff done and succeed if you spend most of your time doing ‘active’ stuff. You will also increase your sphere of influence too. Ears will start to prick up when you start adding value to other peoples’ lives, which can only be a good thing all round!
So, How Did You Use ‘Active’ and ‘Passive’ Theory to Give Up Smoking?
Ok, I want you to look at the whole thing the other way around. Look at it from the behavioural side. To be passive is to consume, to ‘take from’. What I did my best to do was to come at giving up smoking from a ‘passive’ angle.
I had admittedly been telling myself for a few years that ‘it would be nice to give up smoking one day’, but in realism ‘that day’ was never really coming, so I didn’t think too much more about it until one morning when I decided that that was the day, I was down to my last 2 cigarettes and couldn’t be arsed to go out and get anymore, so ‘why not today’ was what was going on in my head, a kind of test.
Right, here is where the mind games come in, these points are very important…
Officially, to myself, I haven’t given up smoking, I am just trying to see how long I can go without one (I am just over 6 months now). I believe that this is a very important aspect to bear in mind for 2 reasons -
As we are coming from a passive mindset we are ‘taking away’ energy from the whole ‘giving up’ thing. It is far too definite for our brains to say that ‘this is my last cigarette ever’. You are already fueling the argument, giving it too much power over you. Seriously, I like to think that I might take it up in my latter years again, you never know (I doubt I would, but it takes away the rigidity over you but so what if I do anyway? For now I don’t want to smoke, so I don’t)
When you want to have a cigarette, it is easier to try and push yourself that hour longer than it is to deny yourself totally. You keep telling yourself you can’t have a cigarette, you’ll drive yourself mad and end up having one (this is where I believe most people fail). Keep pushing yourself to see how far you can last, cos you may well find that 40 minutes have gone by before you come back to thinking about smoking again, just take note 40 minutes went past without you thinking about smoking? Maybe you can give it a bit longer, would be a shame to have to start all over again. Take pride in the length of time
Two Things You Definitely DON’T Want to Do
Here are 2 cardinal sins in my opinion that everyone does, and all it does is adds fuel of the ‘I’m giving up smoking’ mantra. Give it no attention is the idea, suck energy out of the behaviour don’t focus on it. Right here they are -
NEVER EVER tell anyone else that you are giving up, try not even to set a date for yourself. Again these 2 actions focus far too much light on what you are trying to do, and all they will do is make you anxious about it. This ‘I’m going to see how long I can go without one for’ game, and it is a game, is a 1 player game that only involves you. Someone elses opinion, help, whatever they wanna give you is not wanted nor warranted. No-one knew until day 5 that I wasn’t smoking. It was only when people started to realise by themselves that it came to light, but the convo following was short and they were put under the strictest instructions to never speak of it again, and definitely to NEVER ask me how it was going! (I told them I was seeing how long I could go for and that they should expect me to smoke again at some point soon) Again, any focus on it is not wanted (even worse is someone else’s presumptions). Give it no energy and the anxiety will fade. You are a ninja, and like a monk you are calmly taking control of your habits, calmly remember, we are not working ourselves up about it… Calmly.
NEVER EVER beat yourself up if you do smoke. Enjoy the cigarette (you prob won’t, depending on how long it has been). Just don’t get all down about it and feel sorry for yourself, and think that you are weak. By virtue that you are trying, you are strong, you can only fail if you stop trying. So, enjoy your smoke, but get back on the horse (no, not ‘get back on the smack’ lol) straight away and see how long you manage to play for this time.
So the long and short of it is to come to the table and take the spotlight off what you are doing. It is a game that you are playing so don’t even try to change any other habits. I even so much as sat with the smokers when I normally would, keep everything else the same. At the end of the day all that you are not doing is sticking a cigarette in your mouth and lighting it. When you look at it that way, it doesnt seem so hard, cos it ain’t really. If you make it out to be hard in your head, it will be.
“Whether you think you can or you can’t, either way you’re right”
- Henry Ford
You’re a badass ninja capable of anything, but you should already know that (no-one else needs to tell you).
(Oh, and if anyone asks if you want a cigarette because you don’t have one, deflect with the ‘oh I have just put one out’ line, or ‘oh, I have just had one thanks’. That’s prob the best way to get out of telling them anything about the little game that you are playing lol)
Don’t get me wrong, we all want to be efficient in our businesses, but is there sometimes a thing called ‘being too efficient’?
When you start out, that first email that pings your email inbox regarding your business is a thing of beauty. Someone has some questions about what you are offering…. Hooray! lol
The first thing, that I think we all have done, is to be efficient and answer the query straight away; we drop tools and get straight to it.
Now, let’s look at how that may appear to the sender of our message. He has messaged a ‘busy entrepreneur’ and got a reply to his email in a nanosecond. How busy is the entrepreneur really?
Efficiency is good, but it can be a double edged sword and give rise to an appearence of ‘I have been waiting by my indox for your email for days, as I don’t have anything else to do in my business’. It may seem a little far fetched, but you email some highly successful networker and you will get a reply… But maybe the next day, never within 5 minutes.
Jim Rohn was known as ‘America’s Foremost Business Philospher’. Unfortunately he passed on in late 2009, but he has left one hell of a legacy for all to tap into.
