I teach people that, daily, you have to prime yourself.
You have to do something for 10 minutes minimum.
If you don't have 10 minutes, you don't have a life.
The first time I wake up in the morning--
people always ask me, how do you still help all the time?
Part of it is, I attend all these seminars.
I teach all this.
But the real reason is--
You prime yourself.
I prime myself.
That's what I've done for years.
It's like, I change my body with this radical breathing
pattern or a movement.
There's many ways to do it.
But then I do it for 10 minutes.
I don't want to be the astronaut that, he went to the moon, that
was his idea of adventure, and then
they all came back more depressed
because, what do I do for the rest of my life?
So the wind on my face, my children's faces, anything.
And the reason for gratitude is, the two emotions that mess us
up the most are fear and anger.
And you can't be grateful and fearful simultaneously.
They don't go together.
And you can't be angry and grateful simultaneously.
So if you literally start today cultivating
that-- this is the part I was talking about, creating
a highway to happiness.
And then I do three minutes of my Three
to Thrive-- what are three outcomes or results I'm
really committed to?
And I see them as done and fulfilled.
For that day?
I usually look at something that's six months to 12 months
out--
something that's a little bigger.
But I feel it's fulfilled and done and I give thanks for it.
And you're at the end of those 10 minutes,
and usually, it's 15 or 18 for me--
I am so wired.
Now I've done that for years.
It's been the base of me.
What's different with suffering is measuring it moment
to moment, Oprah.
And then the third one for me is, OK, how do I love more?
Because love, to me, is an action.
It's not a word.
It's not emotion.
It's like, if you love, you act accordingly.
So love, and what can I do in a loving way, and then what
can I be grateful for?
And that little three-step process ends the suffering.
Almost everything you do from the time you get up
in the morning is habit.
So start to think about yourself.
What would be the best habits to have?
Now I have written a book called Million Dollar Habits.
It has 12 chapters.
12 critical areas of life.
And in each chapter, there's 20 or 30 habits.
So let me give you some of the best.
Number one, develop the habit of daily goal setting and goal
orientation.
What does this mean?
This means when you go to sleep at night,
think about your goals for the coming day,
make a list for each day of all the goals--
the little goals you're going to accomplish that day,
keep a journal, and write down your goals on a regular basis.
When you're driving through the day, think about your goals.
When you talk to other people, think about your goals.
You see, you do become what you think about most of the time.
You do achieve what you think about most of the time.
So all successful people and all wealthy people
think about their goals most of the time.
Second of all, be results oriented.
Now results-oriented people are always
thinking about the most important things
that they can do right now to achieve
their most important results.
Successful people make a list of everything they have to do
and before they start working, they
set priorities on the list.
Here's a great way to become result oriented--
actually, it's life changing.
Ask yourself, once you have your list for the day,
if I could only do one thing on this list
before I was called out of town for a month,
what one activity would I want to be sure to get completed?
And put a circle around that, and start on that activity
immediately, first thing.
And then discipline yourself to work nonstop until you
complete that one activity.
This simple technique has taken people from rags
to riches all over the world for at least 100 years.
Pick your most important task and start on it immediately,
and then discipline yourself to stay
with it until it's complete.
Another habit that you can establish
is to become people oriented.
Recognize that everything that you achieve in life
is going to be with the help, or support, or cooperation
of other people.
So always think, what is it that other people want and need
from me?
How can I help other people so they'll want to help me back?
If you're in sales, top sales people
think about their customers all the time.
They think about who their customers are,
and what their customers want, and how
they can help them the most, and how they
can help them even more today.
In their relationships, successful people
are very focused on the most important people
in theirs worlds--
both personal and in business.
Another habit you can have is to stay healthily in it.
Think about your health most of the time.
Think about eating less food and better food.
Think about daily exercise.
Think about getting lots of rest.
Remember, to be successful in our competitive world,
you need a lot of energy.
To have a lot of energy, you've got to eat good foods,
get lots of rest, and exercise all the time.
One of the most important habits is
that of character and honesty--
is always tell the truth, no matter what the price.
And the final characteristic-- the final habit--
is that of self-discipline.
And I have written and spoken upon this
for years and years and years.
But self-discipline seems to be the foundation habit that
makes everything else possible.
And the best definition of self-discipline
is that self-discipline is the ability
to make yourself do what you should
do when you should do it, whether you feel like it
or not.
You see, anybody can do it if they feel like it.
It's when you don't feel like it and you do it anyway
that you eventually develop the self-discipline that
makes everything else possible.
If you learn to give, you will what?
Receive.
Maybe not in the manner in which you
gave, maybe not in like kind--
someone will save energy for you because you've
saved energy for them--
but in some mysterious ways, it always comes back to us.
If you give, you will receive.
In fact, here's what it says--
that for the uneducated, is a little bit strange.
It says, it's better to give than it is to receive.
Now see, if you didn't understand, you would say,
that doesn't quite make sense.
Surely, it would be better to receive than to give.
And the answer is, no; it is much better
to give than to receive.
And here's why.
It's what we call being and having
intelligent self-interest.
Nothing wrong with self interest, as long as you do it
the intelligent way.
Here's the key-- it's better to give
than it is to receive because giving starts the receiving
process.
So to act intelligently in your own self-interest, which
is good, it's much better to give than it is to receive.
Because if all you do is receive,
that may be very limited, but if you give--
and giving starts the receiving process coming your way from
unknown resources and from unknown places--
back it comes around to you because you became a giver.
That's one of the unique mysteries of life.
We give to receive, and it's better
to give than it is to receive.
So that's what mama said, turn out the lights,
make a contribution.
Why not make the easy ones?
Here's what else-- we talked about it at our lunch break
today to those who were there.
It raises your self-esteem plus your self-respect
that you do things that the average person doesn't do.
Maybe if they were taught, they would.
Maybe if somebody mentioned it, they would.
But it's easy for most everybody to just go on their way.
And if they're not interrupted by a good idea that says,
hey, it's so easy to make a contribution,
this one would be easy-- turn out the lights
when you leave the hotel room and make a contribution.
That's interesting.
Next, is the phrase, in terms of environment,
always leave something better than you found it.
I talked to a man one time who rented out
a long list of apartments.
And he said, Mr. Rohn, you wouldn't believe it,
but when somebody rents an apartment,
they usually leave it worse than when they rented it.
I said, you've got to be kidding.
He said, no, a high percentage of people leave it trashed.
If they stay six months or stay one year,
they leave it trashed--
not just "not better," but trashed.
I said, that's impossible.
Why would anyone do that?
Mama said to me, no, leave it what?
Better than you found it.
See, that's just a commitment to your own self-esteem.
And why not do it, if it makes a contribution
to your self-esteem?
It's called intelligent self-interest.
Intelligent self-interest.
Self-interest says, I wish to be ruler over many;
and intelligent self-interest says,
I understand how to do that-- be faithful
when the amounts are small.
If you'll take care of the few, we
will someday give you a position of very high importance
over many.
But if you don't be disciplined when the amounts are small,
why would we trust you when the amounts are large?
Brian mentioned that earlier.
Why would life give you a fortune
to manage if you couldn't manage the gifts of a few?
Interesting philosophy to consider--
your own self-interest.
Leave the contribution.
I'm even aware of it when I leave a restaurant
and I get me a toothpick.
And you take off the little cellophane off the toothpick.
It's easy to throw it by the cash register or somewhere
where it looks like other people have done the same.
Mama said, put it in your pocket.
Somebody says, wow, a little piece of cellophane--
what difference does it make?
It doesn't make that much difference,
only in your self-respect.
Take your trash home and deposit it.
How much does it cost to clean up
the trash on the highways in America?
Mega, mega, mega millions.
Wouldn't people take home their own trash
and deposit it there rather than scatter it
on the highways across America?
And the answer is, most people do not.
It's so easy to throw it out the window.
But now, add this-- it's so easy to keep it in your car and have
a few more points in your favor on self-esteem--
feeling good about yourself, doing things
that most people don't do.
If everybody did it, what a different country
we would have.
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