December 18, 2023

Wisdom from a Newsletter

This is from a newsletter I get…

He describes how, as a 25yo man, he was totally broke, and blamed the government, taxes, the high price of goods etc, for his lack of professional success. One day by happenstance, he met an entrepreneur named John Earl Schoaff who became his mentor, and helped change his life. Mr Shoaff taught Jim many things, but one specific conversation that changed Jim’s life went as follows.

This excerpt is from the book 7 Strategies for Wealth and Happiness by Jim Rohn

One morning, two weeks after I started working for him, Mr. Shoaff and I were having breakfast together. Just as I was about to finish my eggs, he said, “Jim, let’s take a look at your list of goals so that we can review and discuss them. Maybe that’s the best way I can help you right now.”

“But I don’t have a list with me,” I replied.

“Well, is it out in your car or at home somewhere?”

“No, sir, I don’t have a list anywhere.”

Mr. Shoaff sighed. “Well, young man, looks like this is where we’d better start.” Then, looking directly into my eyes, he said, “If you don’t have a list of your goals, I can guess your bank balance within a few hundred dollars.”

He guessed right. And that really got my attention. I was astonished. “You mean that if I had a list of my goals my bank balance would change?” I asked. “Drastically,” he said. That day I became a student of the art and science of goal-setting.