The diseases of Attitude

By Jim Rohn

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It’s never that pleasant to talk about the negative, but we got to talk about it because life is part of negative. These attitude diseases are like weeds that grow in the garden, it’s a normal part of life. Here’s a good phrase to note, “negative is normal; it’s not successful, but it’s normal, it’s part of life”. And here’s the next key, in my opinion, you must learn to handle the negative, don’t ignore it, handle it. Now I know some people teach the other way, and listen to them and listen to me, and then make up your own mind. Right? Don’t be a follower, be a student.

But I say you got to handle the negative. You don’t have to live in it, you don’t have to dwell on it, but you do have to handle it; my opinion. I know some people teach, just turn your head real quick and say there’s no weeds, there’s no weeds, there’s no weeds, they’ll take your garden. So you’ve got to handle the negative.

Here’s what part of it is, it’s called the “Great War between Good and Evil”. Mr. Reynolds and I are working on a new book this year called the Great War between good and evil. And there is a war, the minute you were born you got involved in the war between good and evil, between darkness and light, between negative and positive, between evil and good, between tyranny and democracy, between weeds and human activity, I mean the war is on.

If democracy sleeps, guess who never sleeps? Tyranny. In the absence of light, guess what’s automatic, darkness. If good does not arouse itself and become active, guess what moves in, evil. It’s a war, a mental war, a physical war, a financial war between enterprise and ease, between accomplishment and failure, it’s a war. That’s why there’s an Old Testament phrase that gives the best advice for human activity when it says: six days labor, one day rest. Now, I’m sure we’ve taken that to mean don’t work all seven days, take one off. Here’s what it also means only take one off, or you’re liable to lose the war.

Now we’ve got it down to five and two, and maybe that’s not too dangerous, I don’t know. If God would have thought of five and two, he might have made it five and two, I don’t know, you can’t think of everything. But here’s what it does mean, enterprise is better than ease. If you rest too long the jungle overtakes the village.

Now, here’s the good news about the war between good and evil, Evil is no match for good but good must be active. Weeds are no match for human activity but if you stay in still, how far in will they come? All the way, they’ll grow right up around your shoes.

But if you get busy, how far back can you take them? As far as you wish, they are no match but you must be active. That’s why the six and one; make sure you’re not losing the war by taking off too much. Guess what the average years are after retirement? Six, which means don’t retire, your chances are too slim.

The war between good and evil, the weeds, you got to make sure you recognize the negative, handle it, deal with it, and then go on.

Let’s make a list of the diseases of attitude that can wreck all your chances to do well. One of the words that destroys everything is called neglect. And I found this out, a week of neglect could cost you a year of repair, is it worth it?

So what to be on the lookout for? Here’s the list if you were making it, you’d have the same list I’ve got. We’re not covering anything new tonight. This is a reminding session, not a teaching session, but it doesn’t hurt to go over it again.

Here’s the list: Attitude diseases:

INDIFFERENCE

Number one is indifference, the shrug of the shoulder; the guy’s not even concerned, he’s just drifty. This is called the mild approach to life, a disease known as mildness. The guy says, well, I can’t see getting all that worked up. Well, to be any kind of winner, you got to get worked up.

There’s one problem with drift: you cannot drift to the top of the mountain. And the good Lord said in the closing chapters of the Bible, here’s the best way to live one way or the other, that’s best. Hot or what’s next best. Cold is next best to hot, not the half baked, middle, lukewarm, not too hot, not too cold. What a sad way to live.

I think what it means is pick a direction and go with everything you got, just pick one and go.

Somebody says: Yeah, but what if it’s the wrong direction? You will find out quicker. It won’t take you 25 years to wake up and say, Oh no, I’ve been walking the wrong road.

I told my staff the other day, next best to prosperity is adversity, if one doesn’t get you, pray for the other. We all do better from one of two reasons: inspiration or desperation.

And I don’t wish anything bad on you tonight, but if you’re not inspired, I hope a wagon comes down your rut.

Whatever it takes to get you to try harder, read more, set your goals and go for it. Somebody asked me one time, what quality would I pick if I wanted to work with somebody?

And you know what I picked first, number one strong feeling. Please, number one, give me somebody that feels strong about most anything. I don’t even care just so they believe it. Even if they disagree with me; wonderful, just so they disagree vigorously.

I’m not saying it’s easy to win those kind of people to your point of view but I’d rather do that, than to try to resurrect people from the dead, pump them up every month, pump them up. I pass.

The Good Lord needs a leader for the early Christians, remember the early days of the Christians, not like today. If you were to stand up in the early days and say, I’m a Christian, cut off your head, toss you and your wife in jail, let you rot. I mean, those were ugly days.

Being a Christian back then was not called socially acceptable. They didn’t have 125,000 in the Los-Angeles Coliseum to hear Billy Graham on a Sunday afternoon, not back in those days.

Back in those days when the Christians got in the Coliseum, it was a different story. I mean, the word was: stay out of the Coliseum, especially on Sunday. Last Sunday was lions 33 Christians, nothing. See, those were mean tough struggle days for the Christians.

Now when the days are mean and tough and struggling, you got to have some kind of leader. Do you know who the good Lord picked for the leader when the days were mean and ugly? Saul from Tarsus; that’s who He picked: Saul.

I tell you what, I would have picked him, you would have picked him, anybody would have picked Saul. Saul was one of those incredible guys, once he got into something, look out. Everybody in the community knew what Saul was in, because whatever he join, he flip all the switches, open up pool of dice, turn on all the fosters and go like mad. He was known as all-out-Saul. I mean he was something else.

Now at first it wasn’t working out well, Saul hated Christians, which makes a poor leader, right? I mean, that will work. Saul got this bug somewhere about the Christians, he got the hate in Christians and he hated them so bad every time somebody would say Christian, he’d fly into a rage.

And I guess he decided one day it was his mission in life to get rid of all the Christians. He was Saul anyhow, could do most anything he wanted to.

So he got in these letters of authority to go around to the various communities and hunt down the Christians. They said do whatever you want with them, Saul their unpopular anyhow, drag them in the streets, whip them, stone them, torture them, kill them.

You mentioned the name Saul from Tarsus to the early Christians, I’ll tell you what they would do. They would run, hide, lock the doors, leave town, dive underground. I’ve been in the catacombs of Rome where they hid, he was mean, I mean terribly mean.

But remember the story, one day Saul’s making in for Damascus, heard about some new Christian spies into a rage, takes off for Damascus. And the story is that he was angry. There’s a little sentence in the story that says: on his way to Damascus he was breathing out threatening and slaughter which meant he felt rather strong about the idea right? That strong.

But on this journey, according to the story, as Saul was making his way to Damascus, the good Lord looks down out of heaven and says there’s my man Saul, he’s got to be something else.

And according to the story, this great light shines out of heaven, knocks him flat right off his horse, grinds his face in the dirt and blinds him for three days. The Good Lord using recruiting tools we can’t use, when you’re a Lord, right?

To make a long story short, Saul from Tarsus becomes converted to Christianity, he became Saint Paul, the great leader, the apostle… and, without a doubt, the good Lord got him a dandy, the one he didn’t have to pump up every month.

In one of his letter writings he said: the things I once hated I now love, the things I once loved I now hate. You see…? that’s strong.

Here’s the key to the good life, learn to put everything you’ve got into everything you do. Whatever you are doing, pour it on. It will quickly open up into opportunity or quickly disclose to you that you ought to be doing something else. The delusion is if I had a better job, I’d really pour it on. See that’s delusion.

Wherever you are, pour it on, don’t give somebody half a job for a day’s pay. Pour it on, see that will help change your life; get rid of this disease.

INDECISION

Here’s the next attitude disease: Indecision; Mental paralysis, the guy can’t make up his mind and it becomes a disease. Pretty soon he knows he’s got it. The guy says, Well, I know I’m on the fence. But he says what if I get off on the wrong side? Listen, after a while it doesn’t matter. Just get up, any side will do.

A life full of adventure is a life full of many decisions, the ones that turn out to be wrong give you a better experience to make better decisions. So don’t see how many decisions you can get out of, see how many you can get into. That’s where the adventure is. So shake off this disease Indecision.

DOUBT

The next one is doubt. Doubt is like a plague and one of the worst is self-doubt, there are many but that’s one of the worst. The guy doubts himself, doubt if it will last that long for him, doubts if he can do that well, doubts if he can make that much, doubts if he can accomplish all that.

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A chronic excellent self-doubter, you can imagine what damage that does to your future.

So here’s the key, turn this coin over and become a believer. And there’s many things to believe in; one of the majors is yourself. The understanding of self-worth is the beginning of progress.

WORRY

Now if those three don’t get you, this one will, Worry. That’s a devastating disease, worry causes health problems, social problems, personal problems, family problems, it’s devastating.

Worry long enough it’ll drop you to your knees, could reduce you to begging. I know how bad this one is, I used to have it bad. I used to be known as a super worrier, not a super warrior; no super warrior. My family wished I’d have been a warrior.

I got those years to make up for, but I tell you what. My advice to you is do what I finally did on worry. Give it up. Who needs it? I’m not saying it’s easy, I’m saying it’s worth it.

It took me almost one year to kick the worry habit and it was not an easy year, it was one of the toughest years I ever spent but I finally got that monkey off my back. And I discovered you could live the most incredible life free of worry. Not free of challenge, not free of difficulty, free of worry. I learned how to do it and you can.

OVERCAUTION

Here’s the next attitude disease: Overcaution. Some people never will have much; they’re too cautious.

Now you can also be too reckless but you can also be too cautious. This is called the timid approach to life. And my caution was always the risk, risk used to drive me right up the wall.

I used to say what if this happens? It’s called the language of the poor. What if this happens, and on top of that, if this was to happen, look at the fix I will be in, I better not try. I could always ace myself out.

Then I’ll tell you what changed my whole life. When I finally discovered it’s all risky.

The minute you were born, it got risky. If you think trying is risky, wait till they hand you the bill for not trying. If you think investing is risky, wait till you get the tab for not investing. See it’s all risky, getting married is risky, having children is risky, going into business is risky, investing your money is risky, it’s all risky.

I’ll tell you how risky life is: you’re not going to get out alive, that’s risky.

The Englishman says well, if that’s the way it’s going to work out, let’s give it a go. Right? That’s what it’s for, give it a go.

Somebody says yeah, but I’m looking for safety and security. Fine, then huddle in the corner, will cover you with a sheet, bring you three meals a day and will protect you, feed you, look after you, care for you, we won’t let anything happen to you and you’ll probably live to be 100.

The guy said, well, yeah, I’d live to be 100. But what a way to live, right? What a way to live safe and secure.

Don’t ask for security; ask for adventure. Better to live 30 years full of adventure than 100 years safe in the corner. And see it’s not important how long you live; what’s important is how you live.

PESSIMISM

Here’s the next attitude disease. We’re almost through this motley list. In fact, we’re almost through. Hang on.

The next one is pessimism. Pessimism the deadly disease of always looking on the bad side, the problem side, the difficult side, checking all the reasons why it can’t be done. The poor pessimist leads an ugly life. He doesn’t try to figure out what’s right, he tries to figure out what’s wrong. He doesn’t look for virtue, he looks for faults and when he finds them, he’s delighted; how ugly!

This is the poor guy, looks through the window, doesn’t see the sunset; he sees the specs on the wind. And this is the poor guy who rushes up, takes such a leap of his senses, this guy rushes up and he says, I’ve got five good reasons why it won’t work, he’s so dumb he doesn’t know all he need is one, he’s got five.

To the pessimists, the glass is always half empty. To the optimists, the glass is half full.

Why would the same measure affect people two different ways? Answer: it all depends on how you look at it. Our lives are mostly affected by the way we think things are, not the way they are, the way we think they are affects us most.

There’s a subject we don’t have time to get into tonight called better thinking habits. One of the major things Shoaff taught me when I met him, he said poor thinking habits keeps most people poor, not poor working habits. Most people work hard, but they don’t think hard.

And Shoaff taught me that the mind is like a factory, a mental factory, and whatever you think about all day long, pours ingredients into this mental factory. And that’s what builds the economic, social, financial fabric of your life.

He quoted me a Bible phrase that says, “as you think, so you become”. How awesome!

When he talked about poor thinking habits, he had me. I used to start the day reading the morning newspaper. I mean, you can believe that or not. I’d get a cup of coffee and read the paper, I’d load up on wars and riots and murders and stabbings and killings and bank robberies and muggings and car wrecks and tragedies.

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I’d even read the back pages; I seemed to like that stuff for some weird reason. I’d load up on all that and then I start the day. You can imagine the kind of days I used to have. You walk around on your financial needs, they call you economic Pee Wee.

The guy says, I want to be a great leader; wonderful. The first thing we do is following to his house. When we get there, we walk in and check his library, number one.

Somebody says, well why check his library? The reason is because what a man reads pours massive ingredients into his mental factory and the fabric of his life is built from those ingredients.

You would not believe what some people have got in their house to read. You would not believe. One of the best dressed up words I know for a lot of it is trash. Can you imagine dumping a bale of trash into this mental factory every day and coming out with a rich dynamic positive life? It can’t be done; you might as well try making a cake with cement.

The kids back in Danbury Connecticut High School. They’re asking me questions one day; I’m talking to the kids, kids got good questions these days.

One of them said to me: Mr. Rohn, How do you build the good life? I said it’s simple, it’s not easy, but it’s simple.

Here’s how you build anything. Select the right ingredients, keep out the wrong ingredients and it starts with thought. Everything starts with thought. So you must be wise and careful what you think about, because that starts everything. You got to be wise and careful.

I asked the kids: what would happen if somebody dropped sugar in my coffee?

They said: will you be okay?

I said, what if somebody dropped strychnine in my coffee?

They said, well, you’d be dead.

I said, correct. Lesson one. Life is both sugar and strychnine, you got to be careful.

I said, what if my worst enemy drops in the sugar.

They said, will you be okay?

I said, what if my best friend even by accident drops in the strychnine, they said, you’d be dead. I said, correct. Lesson two: watch your coffee, you got to be careful.

See, it doesn’t matter who hands you the bad stuff, it doesn’t matter where you get the bad stuff. It’ll still do its damage on your bank account wherever you get it.

Mr. Shoaff gave me one of the greatest phrases when I first met him when he said, “Jim, every day stand guard at the door of your mind.” How important! Stand guard at the door of your mind and you decide what goes into your mental factory, don’t let anybody just dump anything they want to in your mental factory, because you’ve got to live with the results.

Okay, here’s the last disease and we’re through with this list. In fact we’re almost through; hang on. The last subject is very brief.

COMPLAINING

The last disease but this one is deadly. Engage in this one, indulge in it even slightly and you might as well forget the future because it’s going to forget you: complaining, crying, whining, griping, a Bible word called murmuring. See that will ace your future, spend five minutes complaining and you have wasted five, and you may have begun what’s known as economic cancer of the bone.

Surely they will soon haul you off into a financial desert and there let you choke on the dust of your own regret. I hope I said that well, so you won’t forget it’s a deadly disease.

If you don’t think it’s bad, ask the children of Israel of Old Testament. Typical of us all, their story just happened to get in the book.

The story says, children of Israel were slaves. God performed a series of dazzling miracles and got them out. And now they’re heading for the Promised Land.

Remember the story? Heading for the Promised Land. Tragedy of the story: They never got there. Reason; from day one, they started to complain. They griped about the water, they griped about the weather, they whined and cried and griped about the food, they griped about the leadership. They whined and cried because it was too far, too cold, too hot, too difficult, too miserable. I mean, they whined and cried for years.

Finally, God said I’ve had it. Trip canceled or something like that.

The story says, they died in the desert, never got to the Promised Land, which I think means two things. Indulge in this long enough you get your future cast and I guess it also means even God Himself can only take so much.

Just be on the lookout of the things that can destroy all the good you start. The war is on. And this evening, tomorrow, mentally, personally, socially, economically, you got to make sure you’re winning the war and this is part of it.