I couldn’t write fast enough. I was on the edge of my seat and wanted to capture every ounce of content. I had never experienced anything like this.
A Jim Rohn seminar.
I was a kid fresh out of college, and the only reason I attended was because a friend procured a free ticket and the event included an open bar. Matt Foley was a decent representation of what I thought about “motivational speaking”… I was closed.
I was also a kid on the verge of being fired from my first real job. Nine months in and not a single sale closed. The truth is I wasn’t even close. I had some raw talent. No skills.
Twenty minutes into it Jim had me locked in. Twenty years later, I still have my notes. That night changed my life.
During his talk Jim casually referenced two books about success, Think & Grow Rich and The World’s Greatest Salesman. He paused and then said:
“The information in those two books can help you alter the course of your life. However, as sure as I am standing here, I know that for about every 100 people in the room, only four of you will actually read both of those books. That is a choice each one of us gets to make.”
He added, “The difference between where you are today and where you’ll be five years from now will be found in the quality of books you’ve read and people you’ve met.”
I read those books. The first two books in the success/business genre I ever read. I haven’t stopped.
When the world changes we need to change with it. The world is changing a lot faster today than it did twenty years ago and those principles are still relevant. In fact, our access to high impact information has exploded. What we do with the information is still a choice each one of us gets to make.
Information, insight and ideas are important. What is actually way more important is what happens next.
The way I close almost every talk I give today is a tribute to Jim Rohn and his insistence that we “go do something” when presented with new ideas.
Take Action Now
The enclosed video is an excerpt from a keynote presentation I recently delivered in Orlando. The idea still works for me.
I regret never actually sending Jim a note sharing the impact he had on my life before his passing. I hope someday I might be able to advance that gift and have the same profound effect on someone else.
