A Wise Man Once Said...

[dECLAN]

I had the privilege of meeting well known business philosopher Jim Rohn for breakfast one time. He gave me a piece of advice which stuck with me and has had a profound effect on my life.

His advice was...

Work harder on yourself than you do on your business...
...and the money will follow.

What sage advice have YOU received which has impacted YOUR life?

[Erin Pavlina]

Believe it or not, for me it was Robert Kiyosaki's Rich Dad, Poor Dad when he said to always pay yourself first. As soon as I started putting 10% of my income into savings I was out of debt in 6 months even though I'd been in debt for over 5 years. I still do this today. Learning to live off less than you make was a really important concept for me which has really served me well over the years.

[fourthdan]

I guess for me it would have to be a family friend. During a critical time in my life when there was a lot of pressure to make some important decisions he said

"there is no such thing as the RIGHT or WRONG decision. there is only THE decision."

made so much sense at the time, and still does.

[Josip]

Originally Posted by dECLAN

Work harder on yourself than you do on your business...
...and the money will follow.

Hmm, great tip. I never heard it before, but I allways used it and it works!

I thought it is mine invention, but Jim found it first.

The quote that changed me (one of the many):

If you want to be enthusiastic, act enthusiastic.

Dale Carnegie

Also, the habit to have a plan, but now I can't remmember quote about that.

[droren]

my mom told me this few months ago when I was in some bad situation
"make a lemonade from lemon"

[Sam]

I learned this in my school

"Honesty is the best policy"

[tomjen]

You become what you think about - Earl Nightingale

As for Honesty is the best policy, I was though in kindergarten that lying to authority is nessasary and if the authority is stupid enough, the right thing.

[Sadhana]

Originally Posted by Sam

I learned this in my school

"Honesty is the best policy"

Sometimes, I wonder though: suppose you have a grandmother on her deathbed; if the truth will make her unhappy and a lie will make her happy, which is better: honesty or dishonesty?

[Adam]

At first, I heard the phrase "Practice makes Perfect" all of the time... Seems like good advice, but there is an inherrent flaw in it. My father then told me that only "Perfect Practice makes Perfect." That's a lot more true, but who wants to go around practicing everything perfectly? Recently, I heard another take on that phrase, from one of my student's children... He said that "Practice makes Habit." That makes sense, and from that perspective it is perfectly attainable, so I blogged about it.

Is an eight-year-old boy a wise man? Well, if the message is clear, it doesn't matter how experienced the messenger is.

[gberardi]

Originally Posted by Napolean Hill

The master key to riches is nothing more or less than the self-discipline necessary to help you take full and complete control of your own mind. Remember, it is profoundly significant that the only thing over which you have complete control is your own mental attitude.

And since all action comes from thought, directing your thoughts leads to directed action.

[Dittert]

Originally Posted by Adam

He said that "Practice makes Habit."

Or, to be more alliterative, "Practice makes permanent."

[mrkpinero]

Originally Posted by droren

my mom told me this few months ago when I was in some bad situation
"make a lemonade from lemon"

You know, I've heard that so many times, but just now was the first time I realized what it meant.

I've been taught this by one of my business mentors.

Success comes in 3 steps:
1) Work hard
2) Pay attention
3) LUCK (Labor Upon Correct Knowledge)

"When proper preparation meets opportunity, that is LUCK."

[Yoshi]

One of my favourite quotes is: "A successful person is one who builds a firm foundation with bricks other people throw at him/her."

[KittyG]

Don't argue with a fool, from a distance can't tell who's who

[Fusebox]

Originally Posted by dECLAN

His advice was...

Work harder on yourself than you do on your business...
...and the money will follow.

That there is the advice I am living right now. Thanks to Steve's site and now this forum, I can see myself changing.
I just recently joined ToastMasters too. Life is sweet, and its only getting better.

PS: Now im not sure about exact quotes, but I was listening to the PhotoReading course last night, and in it Paul Scheele mentions, have a purpose before you start reading. I think this ideal should be applied to everything. Take minimum 10 seconds, define your purpose for the activity in question and begin.

[The Protagonist]

What you think
What you feel
and what manifests is always a match

- Esther Hicks

[Alvin]

Originally Posted by fourthdan

I guess for me it would have to be a family friend. During a critical time in my life when there was a lot of pressure to make some important decisions he said

"there is no such thing as the RIGHT or WRONG decision. there is only THE decision."

made so much sense at the time, and still does.

I love this.

Mine would be;

'Knowledge is only a rumour until it's in the muscle', a Paupa New Guinea proverb.

[Ali]

There is this old saying that I really like about how people must keep on seeking knowledge to progress in life. It is directed to people who live in their own little world and think they know it all

"between people and a good advice, a block of arrogance" - Imam Ali

Thanks

Ali

[KittyG]

Fish for a man, provide him dinner for one night.
Teach a man to fish, provide him with dinner for the rest of his life.

Or something along those lines . .

[Reyv]

Originally Posted by Margaret Mead

Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.

Very empowering. Or rather, very instrumental in shattering the veil of disempowerment that's been drawn over our eyes.

[Sam]

Originally Posted by Sadhana

Sometimes, I wonder though: suppose you have a grandmother on her deathbed; if the truth will make her unhappy and a lie will make her happy, which is better: honesty or dishonesty?

To be honest with you I may lie. I think we will seldom be in such situations.

It reminds me of what Warren Buffett told
"Your inner scorecard is more important than your outer scorecard. It's very important for people to evaluate how they behave over a lifetime morally and ethically and not be overly concerned with other people's impressions. Keep an inner scorecard: judge yourself by your own standards. This keeps you focused when you have many people giving you advice."

[Dbarker]

The book that got me going on my personal development philosophy was Glasser's Stations of the Mind. In it he said something like, "between stimulus and response, there is a gap. And in that gap you have a choice of response," or something along those lines. It basically created a mindset that we choose how we react to situations. I have yet to instill that in my mind fully, but feel reading that book created the metacognition that I use to try to get better every day.

[ReallyGoodIdeas]

To thine own self be true, and it must follow, as the night the day, thou canst not then be false to any man.

by Shakespeare
or more simply

Know thyself - written over the Delphic Oracle

This to me is the most important thing. Knowing yourself, it all goes from there...

Hazel

[gberardi]

Originally Posted by Yoshi

One of my favourite quotes is: "A successful person is one who builds a firm foundation with bricks other people throw at him/her."

Thank you for that one. I needed to read it. B-)


This past weekend, I read this one:

If you are tired of the world giving you lemons, shut down your lemonade stand!

[Milo Riano]

A quote from Gokongwei, a super Billionaire from the Philippines:

In every generation no matter how tough the competition, there will always be somebody destined to rise above the rest.

[b5fish]

Originally Posted by Erin Pavlina

Believe it or not, for me it was Robert Kiyosaki's Rich Dad, Poor Dad when he said to always pay yourself first. As soon as I started putting 10% of my income into savings I was out of debt in 6 months even though I'd been in debt for over 5 years. I still do this today. Learning to live off less than you make was a really important concept for me which has really served me well over the years.

I've never done that 10% thing properly, even though we were taught in high school that we should save 20% of our money, and invest it.
We were even shown those graphs of two savings accounts; the first account having X amount of money deposited once a year for two years, and then letting the interest pile up for the next 20 years, while the second account had nothing deposited for the first two years, then had $X deposited once a year for the remaining 20 years.
Surprisingly, the account that had more money was the former.
( I think X = $2,000, and I forget what the interest rate was, sorry.)

What I HAVE always done, though, was kept a jar where I would put all of my coins everytime I came in the room.
I have done alot of work where I need coins (I worked as a hawker at a sports arena, delivered pizza, and was a waiter, among other things), so this trick was very effective for me.
When you hide money from yourself, you forget you have it, and when you really need money for something, you always have a stash you can fall back on.
The only downside I ever had was all the time I spent rolling coins, but I can hardly complain about that.

After a couple years, I bought a "fancy" tin of cookies, simply because it had small (but seperate) areas inside the tray, and a lid.
This saved me alot of time later, what with no longer needing to sort my coins when it was time to roll them.
You could always use seperate containers, or those banks made especially for saving and rolling coins, though.

[starseed]

"Work on the inner and the outer will fall into place."

[escapee]

My all time favorite

Security is mostly a superstition. It does not exist in nature,
nor do the children of men as a whole experience it.
Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure.
Life is either a daring adventure, or nothing.
To keep our faces toward change and behave like free spirits
in the presence of fate is strength undefeatable.
- Helen Keller

From steve's article .