7 Strategies for Wealth & Happiness | Jim Rohn
Everyone has a different idea about what wealth and happiness are. For some, having enough money in their bank accounts to buy anything they want is wealth.
For others, just being with someone they love counts as happiness.
And yet, a successful life is one that you live on your terms.
Wondering how you can achieve true wealth and happiness?
Well, 7 Strategies for Wealth & Happiness by Jim Rohn describes it all.
The author of this book was 25 and stuck in a job to make ends meet when he found John Earl Shoaff.
Shoaff, an entrepreneur, taught Jim to transform his life, resulting in Jim becoming a millionaire.
The book is based on the life lessons Jim learned from Shoaff.
What’s more, the lessons are a game changer for anyone struggling to make sense of our chaotic world.
The seven strategies in the book are as follows:
Let’s see what each of the seven principles implies.
Unlock the Power of Goals
According to Jim Rohn, our goals and dreams are the magical motivators that propel us in the right direction.
An unsuccessful person might spend their life trying to gain others’ approval, only to find that they’ve strayed from their vision.
You can avoid this by understanding what your goals are.
Identify the four motivators based on your goals. The book states four motivators that drive most people:
- The desire to feel worthy, validated, and recognized
- The feeling of being a winner
- The love or desire to do something for loved ones
- The desire to share and contribute, also known as altruism
Remember that your motivators don’t have to be these four only. Instead, you can have any reason to succeed. Just finding your unique reasoning is enough.
Once you’ve done that, outline your short and long-term goals. For example, where do you see yourself in the next one to ten years?
Short-term goals are achievable within a year, while long-term goals may stretch over a decade.
Seek Knowledge & Wisdom
We have grown up hearing ‘knowledge is power.’ But where do you learn what and how to learn?
The truth is that the quest for knowledge is an ongoing process. And only when you have sufficient knowledge can you gain wisdom. To do that, you must actively search for information in a purposeful way.
Once you capture valuable ideas and insights, save them using:
- Pictures or photographs
- Journal or diary entries
Consider these two ways to gain wisdom:
- Your Life Experiences: these are the best reflections on what you did, where you went, what worked, and what failed. With daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly reflections, you can study your life deeply. Consciously consolidate your past experiences and invest them into your future.
- Others’ Successes and Failures: do this by reading materials that help you grow and move toward your goals.
Jim Rohn recommends readings 30 minutes a day.
Listen to successful people. Their success stories are the best lessons you can derive wisdom from.
Lastly, observe how successful people carry themselves and interact with others.
Learn to Develop Yourself
Few understand this, but you’re not paid for your time when you work for someone. Instead, you’re paid for the value you create. So, to have more, you must become more.
As long as you have the ability and capacity, your income, responsibilities, and results will not outgrow.
Remember that you may trick others using gimmicks. You may even get a lucky break, but the reward won’t last…until you’ve developed yourself enough.
Development comes when you adapt to the seasons of life. For example, you must be prepared to face and come out of disappointment and setbacks. Above all, overcome the three self-imposed limitations:
- Procrastinating
- Blaming others
- Finding excuses
When approaching personal development, focus on these three aspects:
- Spiritual and ethical
- Physical
- Mental
- Spiritual and ethical aspects provide a crucial foundation of life.
- Physical aspects include exercise, a sound diet, and dressing for success.
- Mental aspects include considering what you learned from birth to 18 years of age. Maintain that learning curve throughout the rest of your life.
And don’t worry if you don’t attain personal transformation. Take baby steps.
For example, if you’ve set your eyes on a $1 million sales target, start by selling $10. If you want to run a marathon, start by running 1km daily.
Small challenges you conquer will help you develop the confidence and discipline you need to take on the bigger sharks.
Manage Your Finances
Managing finances is getting more challenging with every passing day.
Some people believe the more money they have, the easier they can manage. But that’s far from the truth.
Financial independence is all about how you allocate your money.
Also Read: 7 Money-Saving Tips You Can Apply in 2023 (that Your Grandma Would Approve)
Here, you can apply the 70/30 rule to your income.
Start by fixing the following:
- 70% for necessities and luxuries
- 10% for charity or giving to the community
- 10% for wealth creation
- 10% for rainy days
In between all this, don’t forget to track your income and expenses and know where your cash flow is coming from. Besides that, always adopt a positive mindset towards money. And remember, there’s nothing wrong with wanting to make the most out of your wealth.
But it doesn’t have to be about compromising your values.
Instead, it’s about generating passive income that you can leverage in your retirement days.
Master Your Time
Someone once said, ‘If it worked like a 24-hour clock, I’d have moved the hands of life to one.
Unfortunately, it doesn’t work that way – you only have 24 hours a day, just like everyone else. And yet, it depends on how you use your time.
Generally, there are four main time management approaches that lead to different outcomes:
Drifters – these are people with no structure or concept of time. They drift from task to task without direction, ending up nowhere.
Nine-to-five managers – these people can only handle a limited amount of stress. They’d rather hold a 9-5 job with a fixed salary than face the challenges of running their own businesses. A 9-to-5er also tends to bring unfinished work home and compromise family time.
Workaholics – these people work more than ten hours a day with a single job. For them, it’s not a necessity, but because they feel good completing several tasks. Unfortunately, this approach doesn’t help people make more money because they focus on tasks instead of results.
Enlightened time managers – these people combine elements from the other three approaches. They set aside time for work, relaxation, and other priorities like family.
They don’t shy away from hard work. But they never work long hours for the sake of working. Instead, they focus on becoming productive and leveraging resources for their work.
You can become an enlightened time manager by:
- Saying no to distractions
- Working when you work, playing when you play
- Knowing yourself
- Controlling who can access you
- Using technology to automate or speed up your work process
- Asking the right questions to find the root cause behind problems
Surround Yourself with Successful People
It’s human nature to get influenced by the people surrounding them.
If you’re surrounded by spendthrifts, you’ll likely spend more money carelessly.
If your friends always cut corners, you’ll start doing the same, too.
To surround yourself with successful people, ask yourself these questions:
- Who do I spend the most time with?
- How do they influence me?
- Is the influence positive or negative? Do they move me toward or away from my desired life? Am I OK with this?
Answer these questions honestly, and make a conscious effort to disassociate yourself from negative people. If possible, cut ties with them altogether. If not, try to reduce or limit your association with them.
Finally, make it a point to expand your circle to include the right people. Seek out successful people who can help you achieve your goals or offer sound advice. If it takes treating them to a meal to build relationships, so be it.
Live a Rich Life
It’s a much-debated topic that money can’t buy happiness.
Even though money motivates people to work, travel, and enjoy life, it does NOT equal a wealthy lifestyle.
So, what makes a lifestyle rich?
Well, it involves:
- Expanding your potential
- Experiencing life to the fullest,
and
- Having deep, fulfilling relationships.
Often, we see people so immersed in earning money that they forget to enjoy what they already have. They ignore the simple joy of sharing a laugh with a special someone.
A cup of coffee with a loved one becomes a far-fetched dream. And smelling flowers on the way to work becomes an alien concept.
The best way to live an enriched life is by setting aside time for people and things you love and care about.
Understand that you’ll only be content with the money you’re destined to have. So, make being happy your goal and forget everything else.
If working on your dream job makes you happy, do that.
If giving to charities gives you peace of mind, take a step forward.
If spending quality time with your family and friends is your happy place, don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.
At the end of the day, your happiness and wealth lie in living life the way you like, not false perceptions set by society.
Now you know the seven strategies to live a wealthy and happy life.
It’s time to bridge the gap between knowledge and action.
At the end of the book, Jim Rohn leaves 4 questions for you to answer:
- Why should I try?
- Why not?
- Why not me?
- Why not now?
And we’ll end this blog with these questions for you:
- If not you, who?
- If not now, when?