Jim Rohn was one of the most influential and well respected motivational speakers in the self improvement industry. He inspired countless of people to dream bigger, to be more disciplined when it came to success, and all in a very basic manner. He wasn’t too big on hooey stuff like visualizations. His messages are simple and straight forward but if practiced and applied, can change your life. His passing was unfortunate but his words and wisdom will live on. The following is a list of Jim Rohn quotes on various topics.
On Success:
“Success is not so much what we have as it is what we are.”
“Success is the study of the obvious. Everyone should take Obvious 1 and Obvious 2 in school.”
“Success is 20% skills and 80% strategy.”
“Success is not to be pursued; it is to be attracted by the person you become.”
“Average people look for ways of getting away with it; successful people look for ways of getting on with it.”
“Success lies in the opposite direction of the normal pull.”
“I found it easier to get rich than I did to make excuses.”
“Life asks us to make measurable progress in reasonable time. That’s why they make those fourth grade chairs so small.”
On Personal Development:
“Don’t wish it were easier. Wish you were better.”
“What you become directly influences what you get.”
“Pity the man who inherits a million dollars and who isn’t a millionaire.Here’s what would be pitiful: If your income grew and you didn’t.”
“Income seldom exceeds personal development.”
“We can have more than we’ve got because we can become more than we are.”
“The big challenge is to become all that you have the possibility of becoming. You cannot believe what it does to the human spirit to maximize your human potential and stretch yourself to the limit.”
“Life is a unique combination of “what to” and “how to” and we need to give equal attention to both.”
“The most important question to ask on your job is not “What am i getting” The most important question to ask is “What am I becoming?”.”
On Happiness:
“Learn how to be happy with what you have while you pursue all that you want.”
“The greatest source of unhappiness comes from inside.”
“Happiness is not something you postpone for the future; it is something you design for the present.”
“How sad to see a father with money and no joy. The man studied economics, but never studied happiness.”
“Happiness is the art of learning how to get joy from your substance.”
“Happiness is not an accident. Nor is it something you wish for. Happiness is something you design.”
On Labor:
“You must learn to translate wisdom and strong feelings into labor.”
“Make rest a necessity,not an objective. Only rest long enough to gather strength.”
“For every promise there is a price to pay.”
“The miracle of the seed and the soil is not available by affirmation; it is only available by labor.”
“Without constant activity, the threats of life will soon overwhelm the values.”
“The few who do are the envy of many who only watch.”
“The soil says “Don’t bring me your need. Bring me your seed”.”
On Work:
“Learn how to say no. Don’t let your mouth overload your back.”
“Time is more valuable than money. You can get more money, but you cannot get more time.”
“Learn how to separate the majors and the minors. A lot of people don’t do well simply because they major in minor things.”
“Time is our most valuable asset, yet we tend to waste it, kill it, and spend it, rather than invest it.”
“Days are expensive. When you spend a day, you have one less day to spend. So make sure you spend each one wisely.”
“Never begin the day until it is finished on paper.”
“We can no more afford to spend major time on minor things than we can to spend minor time on major things.”
“The greatest definition of concentration I ever heard is “Wherever you are, be there!”.”
On Change:
“Don’t say “If I could, I would”. Say “If I can, I will”.”
“We generally change ourselves for one of two reasons: inspiration or desperation.”
“I used to say, “I sure hope things will change”. Then i learned that the only way things are going to change for me is when I change.”
“If you don’t like how things are, change it! You’re not a tree.”
“It doesn’t matter which side of the fence you get off on sometimes. What matters most is getting off! You cannot make progress without making decisions.”
On Communication:
“Learn to express, not impress.”
“Better understated than overstated. Let people be surprised that it was more than you promised and easier than you said.”
“It’s not the matter you cover so much as it is the manner in which you cover it.”
“The goal of effective communication should be for the listener to say, “Me,too!” versus “So what?”.”
“Be brief on the logic and reason portion of your presentation. There are probably about a thousand facts about an automobile, but you don’t need them all to make a decision. About a half dozen will do.”
“If you just communicate you can get by. But if you skillfully communicate, you can work miracles.”
On Reading:
“Books are easy to find and easy to buy. A paperback these days only costs six or seven dollars. You can borrow that from your kids! ”
“It isn’t what the book costs; it is what will cost if you don’t read it.”
“The book you don’t read, won’t help.”
“Some people read so little they have rickets of the mind.”
“I now have one of the better libraries. I’ll admit that i haven’t read everything in my library, but I feel smarter just walking in it.”
“Don’t just read the easy stuff. You may be entertained by it, but you will never grow from it.”
“Formal education will make you a living; self-education will make you a fortune.”
On Motivation:
“Without a sense of urgency, desire loses its value.”
“Humans have the remarkable ability to get exactly what they must have. But there is a difference between a “must” and a “want”.”
“Motivation alone is not enough. If you have an idiot and you motivate him, now you have a motivated idiot.”
“The best motivation is self-motivation. The guy says “I wish someone would come and turn me on”. What if they don’t show up? You’ve got to have a better plan for life.”
“If you wish to find, you must search. Rarely does a good idea interrupt you.”
“When you know what you want and you want it badly enough, you’ll find a way to get it.”
On Relationships:
“The walls we build around us to keep out the sadness also keep out the joy.”
“One person caring about another represents life’s greatest value.”
“You cannot succeed by yourself. It’s hard to find a rich hermit.”
“The greatest gift you can give to somebody is your own personal development. I used to say” if you will take care of me, I will take care of you.” Now I say “I will take care of me for you, if you will take care of you for me”.”
“Your family and your love must be cultivated like a garden. Time, effort, and imagination must be summoned constantly to keep it flourishing and growing.”
“You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with.”
On Lifestyle:
“Let others lead small lives, but not you. Let others argue over small things, but not you. Let others cry over small hurts, but not you. Let others leave their future in someone else’s hands, but not you.”
“There are three things to leave behind: your photographs, your library, and your personal journals. These things are certainly going to be more valuable to future generations than your furniture.”
“The word “tip” stands for “to insure promptness. “So when should you give it? Up front, of course. Sophisticated people don’t take chances on poor service, they insure good service.”
“Lifestyle is the art of discovering ways to live uniquely.”
“Some people have learned to earn well but they haven’t learned to live well.”
On Business:
“Don’t just let your business or your job make something for you, let it make something of you.”
“The worst days of those who enjoy what they do, are better than the best days of those who don’t.”
“My father taught me always to do more than you get paid for as an investment in your future.”
“One good customer well taken care of could be more valuable than $10,000 worth of advertising.”
“If you make a sale you make a living. If you make an investment of time and good service in a customer, you can make a fortune.”
“Don’t bring your need to the marketplace, bring your skill. If you don’t feel well, tell your doctor but not the marketplace. If you need money, go to your bank but not the marketplace.”
On Fear:
“Humility is a virtue; timidity is an illness.”
“One of the reasons many people don’t have what they want is neglect. Neglect starts out as an infection and then develops into a disease.”
“If you spend five minutes complaining, you just wasted five minutes. If you continue complaining, it won’t be long before they haul you out to a financial desert and there let you choke on the dust of your own regret.”
“Self-preservation has a tendency to lead to poverty.”
“We must all wage an intense, lifelong battle against the constant downward pull. If we relax, the bugs and the weeds of negativity will move into the garden and take away everything of value.”
On Goals:
“Reasons come first. Answers come second.”
“We all need lots of powerful long-range goals to help us past the short-term obstacles.”
“We must be careful not to let our current appetites steal away any chance we might have for a future feast.”
“I find it fascinating that most people plan their vacations with better care than they do their lives. Perhaps that is because escape is easier than change.”
“If you go to work on your goals your goals will go to work on you. If you go to work on your plan, your plan will go to work on you. Whatever good things we build end up building us.”
On Leadership:
“Leaders, whether in the family, in business, in government, or in education, must not allow themselves to mistake intentions for accomplishments.”
“My mentor said “Let’s go do it!” not “You go do it”. How powerful when someone says ,”Let’s”.”
“If you share a good idea long enough, it will eventually fall on good people.”
“We must learn to help those who deserve it, not just those who need it. Life responds to deserve, not need.”
“Lead the way by personal example and by personal philosophy.”
“The challenge of leadership is to be strong,but not rude; be kind,but not weak; be bold, but not bully; be thoughtful, but not lazy; be humble, but not timid; be proud, but not arrogant; have humor, but without folly.”
On Discipline:
“Discipline is the bridge between goals and accomplishment.”
“The least lack of discipline starts to erode our self-esteem.”
“Discipline has within it the potential for creating future miracles.”
“Discipline is the foundation upon which all success is built. Lack of discipline inevitably leads to failure.”
“We all suffer from one of the two pains: the pain of discipline or the pain of regret. The difference is discipline weighs ounces while regret weighs tons.”
“You don’t have to change that much for it to make a great deal of difference. A few simple disciplines can have a major impact on how your life works out in the next 90 days,let alone in the next 12 months or the next 3 years.”
