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Stop
Wishing for the Life You Want
By Jim
Rohn
To many
people, ambition is kind of a mystery.
The
dictionary says it is “an eager desire for distinction, power or fame.”
But what does
that really mean? Let’s start with the word eager.
All by
itself, eager is kind of exciting. Kids are eager for birthday parties. They
expect to be the center of attention, to get many presents, to eat too much.
For that
matter, I guess adults are eager for birthdays, too. (Unless, of course,
they’re embarrassed that the candles on their cake outnumber their
achievements.)
We can be
eager to see a ball game, eager to see our kids in a dance recital, eager to
see an old friend, eager to shop for a new car. Eager sounds
like a lot of fun!
But do
you ever hear people say they are “eager to live a better life,” “eager to have
a better family,” “eager to make a lot of money”?
Probably
not. And that’s a problem, because as I see it, living a better life, having
a better family and making a lot of money takes an eager desire.
We have
the remarkable ability to get exactly what we must have.
But there
is a difference between wishes and desires.
We’ve all
heard people say, “Oh, I wish I could just drop five pounds. I want to be a
little lighter.”
We’ve
probably said it ourselves. Although we might wish we could
breathe a little easier in our clothing, we have to have the desire to
exercise a little more and eat a little less.
The “I
wish I could lose weight” has to become “I have the eager desire to lose
weight.”
The
backbone of an eager desire to change is discipline. True ambition is
disciplined, eager desire.
I’m also
sure you’ve hear people talk about wishing they had more money to pay the
bills, take a vacation or just take a little pressure out of their lives.
But
before their lifestyle can change, their wishes need to become desires. If they
really desired change, they wouldn’t spend their evenings just watching TV and
wishing they were doing something more.
The
backbone of an eager desire to change is discipline. True ambition is
disciplined, eager desire.
It’s that
little part within us that says, “If I want to be ready for that meeting
tomorrow, I need to finish preparing for it today.”
“If I
want to make sure I can pay for my kid’s college education, I need to start
saving today.”
“If I
want a better life tomorrow, I need to start working on it today.”
Ambition
is a minute-by-minute, day-by-day mentality.
To have
the ambition to work toward a better family life, a newer car, a bigger house,
a financially secure future… you have to live it every moment.
Adapted from Leading an Inspired Life
For more than 40 years, Jim Rohn honed
his craft like a skilled artist—helping people the world over sculpt life
strategies that expanded their imagination of what is possible. Those who had
the privilege of hearing him speak can attest to the elegance and common sense
of his material. It is no coincidence, then, that he is still widely regarded
as one of the most influential thinkers of our time, and thought of by many as
a national treasure. He authored countless books and audio and video programs,
and helped motivate and shape an entire generation of personal-development
trainers and hundreds of executives from America’s top corporations.
Idaho Farm Boy Makes It
Born to an Idaho farming family in the
mid-1900s, Jim was ingrained with a work ethic that served him well throughout
his life. At 25, he met his mentor Earl Shoaff. And over the next six years he
made his first fortune, yet didn’t get into speaking until he moved to Beverly
Hills, Calif., when a friend at the Rotary Club asked him to tell his success
story, which Rohn titled “Idaho Farm Boy Makes It to Beverly Hills.” His speech
went over so well that he received more invitations to share it, and better yet,
they started paying him for it. In the beginning, he spoke in front of college
and high-school classes and at service clubs, before moving on to seminars in
1963, which launched him into the personal-development business. From then on,
he became a trailblazer in the self-help/personal-development industry,
impacting the lives of millions through his life-changing material.
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