by Farrukh Dall
Jim Rohn (1930–2009), was a legendary motivational speaker and writer and widely regarded as one of the most influential thinkers. He is considered to be ‘America’s foremost business philosopher’ whose work helped launch or further the career of many others in the personal development industry, including Anthony Robbins, Mark Victor Hansen, Brian Tracy, and Jack Canfield. He authored countless books and shared his philosophies for over 46 years through books, public speaking, audio and video programs impacting the lives of millions. Years ago, I read his philosophy “Ant Philosophy of Success” but I can still recall it and its high impact on my life. Professor Rohn emphasized on inculcating reading habit for a successful life and to seek Eudaimonia (human flourishing). We have selected few of his sayings for our book, ‘Read Readable’, some of them are reproduced here;
We must not permit anything to stand between us and the book that could change our lives.
And the issue is not that books are too expensive! If a person concludes that the price of buying the book is too great, wait until he must pay the price for not buying it. Wait until he receives the bill for continued and prolonged ignorance.
There is very little difference between someone who cannot read and someone who will not read. The result of either is ignorance.
Reading is essential for those who seek to rise above the ordinary.
The habit of reading is a major stepping-stone in the development of a sound philosophical foundation. And in my opinion it is one of the fundamentals required for the attainment of success and happiness.
“Successful people have libraries. The rest have big screen TV”.
“The difference between where you are today and where you’ll be five years from now will be found in the quality of books you’ve read.”
“Everything you need for better future and success has already been written. And guess what? All you have to do is go to the library.”
Poor people have big TV’s. Rich people have big libraries.”
The only thing worse than not reading a book in the last ninety days is not reading a book in the last ninety days and thinking that it doesn’t matter”.
It isn’t what the book costs. It’s what it will cost you if you don’t read it.”
Books are what you step on to take you to a higher shelf. The higher your stack of books, the higher the shelf you can reach. Want to reach higher? Stack some more books under your feet! Reading is what brings us to new knowledge. It opens new doors. It helps us understand mysteries. It lets us hear from successful people. Reading is what takes us down the road in our journey. Everything you need for a better future and success has already been written.”
The things that change your life are: the people you meet, the classes you take, and the books you read”.
Successful people are action oriented and they have bigger libraries than TV’s.
Anthony Robbins, in Awaken the Giant Within, writes;
”Years ago I got hooked on a habit that turned out to be one of the most valuable of my life: reading at least 30 minutes a day. Jim Rohn, one of my teachers, told me that reading something of substance, something of value, something that was nourishing, something that taught you distinctions, was more important than eating. ‘Miss a meal,’ he said, ‘but don’t miss your reading.’ Remember: leaders are readers.”
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/jim-rohn-his-foresight-books-reading-farrukh-dall
