7 Strategies for Wealth and Happiness by Jim Rohn
Your level of meaningful success is equal to your level of self-development
Back when we were in high school, many of us learned to work hard to get good grades. When we encounter a challenge, we just put in more effort, and this is our main strategy for success. This worked well enough in college, since many of our classmates spent much of their time partying.
However, at the grad school level and professional level, just grinding harder seems not to work like it used to. After all, you are now surrounded by people who can grind as hard as you. Rather than success, this old strategy seems to lead to burn-out.
If I look around at my professional circle, I could put the people into three categories to describe the way they work and live:
Most people just continue to work harder, and all this extra hard work doesn’t yield them much more in terms of satisfaction and advancement. Some people belong in the “work smarter” category. They take time to network, set goals, and read self-development. This group gets more opportunities for advancement than the “work harder” group. Finally, there’s a tiny group of people who “work smarter” AND “work on self”. This people in this group are committed students of life, leadership, and philosophy, and to this group belong the true rewards of life.
What It’s About. Before the many self-improvement authors of today, there was Jim Rohn. He has had a significant influence on many of today’s self-development personalities such as Tony Robbins. He writes in a style that is easy to grasp, using many analogies and stories. In this short (150-page) book, he outlines 7 strategies which points the way towards greater effectiveness in life through the path of self-development. The seven strategies are:
- Goal Setting
- Knowledge Seeking
- Learning How to Change
- Controlling Your Finances
- Mastering Time
- Surrounding Yourself with Winners
- Learning the Art of Living Well
All seven topics are extremely beneficial to explore. I’ve personally found the goal setting chapter to be transformative in my life. We are encouraged to set goals, but often we don’t know how. This book talks about setting goals beyond the superficial.
Who Might Benefit From Reading? If you are in the “work smarter” or “work on self” category, this work deserves a spot in your library. I return to this book often to refresh my thinking on topics such as time management. It represents a philosophy that is unknown to most, but allows those who grasps it, a way to improve oneself and enjoy what life has to offer.
If you want to be wealthy and happy, learn this lesson well: Learn to work harder on yourself than you do on your job. ~ Jim Rohn via his mentor Earl Shoaf
