Jim Rohn – Entrepreneur, author and motivational speaker
Now some decisions are incidental and some are small and some you know are part of a working day. But sometimes decision-making can be one of the most important days of your life.
May be a decision you have postponed and postponed and now you understand the penalty of postponing that decision. You’ve got to do something and finally you come to the conclusion today is the day. I now decide and whether you decide on a new direction. whether you decide on a refinement in philosophy, whether you decide to act when before you haven’t acted, you decide on a on a series of things that you’re going to do, you decide.
Deciding can be such an incredibly important, very exciting inspirational day. Also deciding sometimes starts the process of lifting our self-esteem. Sometimes when you look back on it, the day that you decided was just about as exciting as the day when you finally accomplished the project.
That when you finally made the decision you finally got the monkey off your back, as we say in English. You finally know got through whatever barriers kept you from making that decision and finally you made a decision.
And now it seems like the sky is blue and the air is clear and your mind is ready. And you know, the adrenaline starts to flow; things start to happen to you from that moment of decision. So that can be an incredible source of inspiration.
Now if you don’t follow through, it’s not going to last all that long.
If you decide and then you know postpone and you decide and… but you don’t still don’t get to it for a week or a month or a year, you know, soon all that energy and that source of inspiration is all dissipated. So deciding is inspiring but not for that long.
But once you decide it can be a very powerful day. But now, of course, now you must follow through. But if there are some things you’ve been postponing, some decisions you have just — haven’t gotten to. I would ask you to just take out your journal and just go through. What have I been postponing? It’s not going to be better for my health. It’s not going to be better for my future. It’s not going to enhance my finances.
Maybe a problem needs to be solved. I got to decide when I’m going to do it and how I’m going to proceed. I need to get to it. I promise you if you’ll go through some of that list and start making those decisions, your inspiration will start to flow and those could be very critically important exciting days.
Indecision is the thief of opportunity. Indecision means the door is still closed. Indecision means the opportunity waits. Indecision means what could be is postponed or may never be. You know that those are all the penalties of indecision. And sometimes we can’t make a snap judgment. We can’t decide immediately on something so important.
But after a while… after a while we must understand sometimes they have a penalty of putting off our decision-making. So one source of inspiration: deciding.
Here’s the next one: planning. Now that you’ve decided and you’ve started — you start making plans, it’s incredible what can happen as a source of inspiration. When finally what’s in your head, what’s in your imagination now finally starts to take shape on paper,
When I first heard about network marketing, I was 25 years old. And I heard some of the testimonials and I heard that people have gotten rich and I’ve heard that it’s changed people’s lives. And I’ve heard that you could start with nothing and become something.
But let me tell you what was exciting. When I finally made the decision, yes, I was going to be part of the industry. Yes, I was going to make it part of my marketing future, what was really exciting was when I sat down and started making plans. I started committing the imagination and belief to paper. I started writing it down.
I started as we often do drawing those circles. You know what if I had five, what if I had ten. And then when I had a concept of what that could bring for me, then I said how can I reach the first five? How can I reach the first ten? What could I do? Starting to make those plans I’m telling you I remember those days as if they were yesterday. They were so exciting.
I had a concept of what I wanted. I had a dream of what could happen for me if it could happen for others, maybe it could happen for me. But when I started putting it on paper and started making the plans, that was an incredible source of inspiration for me, because the plans seemed to now start making it real, that what I had thought about, what I dreamed about, now I’m actually getting to it by making a plan.
However you can make all the plans in the world and it is a source of inspiration for only so long. And you can make one plan and then you can make another plan and you can make some plans today and the next day you can make some more plans. And the next day you can make some more plans and it is a very exciting source of inspiration but only for a while.
I’m sure we would all agree that making plans, that inspiration wouldn’t last for a week. Now that inspiration now must drive you to do number three. The first source of inspiration is deciding. Second source of inspiration is planning.
And now here’s a big source of inspiration: beginning. Getting started. Actually turning thought and the notes on the paper, the plans, actually now committing it to action. Getting started. And beginning can be an incredible source of inspiration.
Guess what you can say when you begin a change in your diet. When you begin to take the Herbalife products. Guess what you can say? I’m on a new track. I have carved out for myself a new beginning. I’m on my way to the most incredible health. I will never be the same again.
I’m leaving the old undisciplined part of me. I’m leaving that behind. I’m a new person. I’m taking my first shake. I’m swallowing the first tablets. I made my first, you know, walk around the block that I thought about for so long and never did; I finally did it today. I’ve started. I have begun. That is an incredible source of inspiration. And that is to start to begin.
You cannot believe what can happen to your self-esteem. And many of you have already experienced it. I’m just asking you to begin something new in all the areas of your life. Maybe you’ve always thought about benevolence and you just haven’t gotten started or you haven’t made the plans or you haven’t made the decision. I’m asking you to start taking that stuff now that’s in your head, that imagination which is very powerful. And it’s a great source of inspiration in itself.
But then I’m asking you then to decide: use that inspiration. Then I’m asking you to make plans. Begin to make plans; use that inspiration and then if you take that first step, it can be the first step of an incredible journey.
And when Mark had his first meeting, when Mark recruited his first distributor, when Mark got his first customer, his grandmother using the product, when Mark got that first few yeses from people and he started the process as simple as it was, you know, from the trunk of his car, you know, as crude as the literature was in the beginning, it was a start.
And so beginning can be an incredible source of inspiration. And beginning can be many things. Beginning a new commitment to learning. You say I’m going to have a library second-to-none and I bought the first book of my new library today. I’m going to be surrounded by information and inspiration, the cassette tapes and the videos and the books. I’m going to have a library second to none. I’ve thought about it. Wouldn’t it be wonderful and you know I’ve started making plans.
You know, I’ve provided some space in my room for my expanded library. But here’s what’s exciting. I got the first book today. I’ve gotten started. This is just the first of many many books. This is the first of a whole flow of information for me. This is the first time.
You want to learn a new skill and you sign up for a class. Let’s say you want to learn accounting or something and you sign up for the class. And you take the first class. You get started. You’d thought about it. You made some plans for it. You made some time for it. But there’s nothing like sitting there in the class with the pen in your hand and the pad ready to take notes. Here I am. I’m starting on a new journey of learning.
