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The American Economic Ladder and Girl Scout Cookies
I LEARNED AN INTERESTING economics axiom when I was 25 years old. Essentially, this axiom states that we get paid for bringing value to the marketplace. The general idea is that no matter who you are if you bring value to the marketplace, you will be rewarded. This is how the marketplace works. I began my self-education when I was 25, and by the time I was 31 or so, I was a millionaire. I feel that it was due, in part, to the fact that I had embraced this concept wholeheartedly.
Keep the truth about the marketplace in mind. The marketplace isn’t some mysterious, unknowable place full of confusion. Instead, the marketplace is comprised of people. But this was just the beginning of my discovery. I learned a two-part, life-changing fact. Number one, you will be paid for what you bring to the marketplace, and number two, you get paid for what you become.
If you become a leader, a supervisor or an entrepreneur, you will get paid for that contribution. As I mentioned above, you get paid for what you bring, and you get paid for what you become. It is important to remember that companies, with the exception of monopolies, will usually continue to improve their products. In a similar fashion, you need to remember that you are your own product. Realizing this fact and embracing it is the essence of personal development.
Once I understood the possibilities of personal development, I literally found it difficult to sleep. In fact, for the first year, I hardly slept at all. For at that point, I understood a powerful fact: formal education gets you a job, but self-education is what makes you rich!
My Philosophy for Successful Living | Jim Rohn | Chapter 1: The American Economic Ladder and Girl Scout Cookies
The American Economic Ladder and Girl Scout Cookies
The importance of self-education and investing in your own personal development is something that you won’t learn about in high school or even college. However, I can’t stress enough that this is a critical aspect of success.
Let me give you a bit more background about my personal story. I quit school when I was 19, believing that I was smart enough to land a job. Soon after, I started a family; however, the money just wasn’t there.
The realization that I had to make a change came when I was 25. One day I heard the best sales pitch ever and wanted to buy the product that was being sold. In this case, believe it or not, the great sales pitch was from a Girl Scout, and the product was a $2 box of cookies. The problem was I didn’t have the $2 to spare. I told her that we already had all the Girl Scout cookies we could eat. I felt horrible lying to a Girl Scout about buying a $2 box of cookies! At that moment, I knew something had to change.
Determined to make that change, I began the process of finding a mentor who would help me transform my life. It was not just a process of finding a way to become wealthy, but a process of developing a philosophy of living and learning how to bring a unique and valuable service to the marketplace.
My Philosophy for Successful Living | Jim Rohn | Chapter 1: The American Economic Ladder and Girl Scout Cookies
The American Economic Ladder and Girl Scout Cookies
I found my mentor, who promptly began deciphering and debunking all my flawed thinking. He pointed out that my approach from ages 19-25 had simply not worked. He also told me that I desperately needed to abandon my excuses, such as “taxes are too high”, and encouraged me to forego my list of excuses. His advice was to list out all of my excuses and then rip that list to shreds. Then get a new piece of paper and put one word on it – “me.”
The answer to my problem was to deal with what was within me. He explained to me that the answer to solving my problems wasn’t to be found by listing out the obstacles, both real and perceived in the outside world, but instead by noticing the obstacles in my own thinking and approach.
This shift in perspective sparked my journey. One of the lessons I learned was that each individual’s personal income is determined primarily by his or her philosophy. If you refine and change your philosophy, then everything around you will change as well. This, of course, includes your income. This strategy works, and it’s amazing!
There is a good reason for the fact that just about everyone wants to come to America, and that reason is our amazing Economic Ladder. The American Economic Ladder ranges from people earning a few thousand dollars a year to hundreds of millions! But how can you go from making a few thousand dollars a year to making a few million? That is, well, the Million Dollar Question, isn’t it? The answer once again is philosophy.
My Philosophy for Successful Living | Jim Rohn | Chapter 1: The American Economic Ladder and Girl Scout Cookies
The American Economic Ladder and Girl Scout Cookies
You could wait for the government to raise the minimum wage, thus adopting what could be considered a philosophy of governmental intervention. However, you will never become a top-earner if you depend on that to happen. Nor can you depend upon the company you are working for to do it either.
You can try a philosophy of demand where you demand more money from your employer. This might increase your earnings. But will you really become a millionaire in the process? No. Even if you band together with other workers and go on strike, you will never become a top-earner using the philosophy of collective confrontation either. None of these philosophies or approaches will help you achieve your end goal. They just don’t work.
It is quite possible in America to become wealthy, but only if you have the correct philosophy. What does work, then? What works is the fourth philosophy, which I like to call the philosophy of performance and productivity. With this philosophy, you do what is necessary to improve yourself and your capabilities. You learn to do more and be more.
If you use the Philosophy of Performance and Productivity, the whole economic scale belongs to you, as you have opened up new possibilities for yourself. If you are working for a company, you will be more valuable, and you will earn more, move up the ladder, have more money, and that, in turn, will open up additional opportunities for you. This is potentially a never-ending cycle of benefit. You can go as far as you want to go because the possibilities are endless, especially in America.
My Philosophy for Successful Living | Jim Rohn | Chapter 1: The American Economic Ladder and Girl Scout Cookies
The American Economic Ladder and Girl Scout Cookies
If you think doing this is hard in America, think again. The average worker in Bangladesh earns about $200 per year! If you are walking around with the distorted idea that succeeding in America is too hard, then you have the wrong philosophy. That means you need to undergo a process of self-education.
Another misconception is that you can’t dramatically increase what you are earning. This also is just wrong. In America, there are people earning $5 per hour. However, you don’t have to look very hard to find people earning $50 per hour. Keep looking, and you will soon find those earning $500 per hour, such as a high-powered attorney. You see, it is all about bringing the right goods to the marketplace. And this Prosperity Ladder doesn’t end there, but, in fact, just keeps going up. Part of your self-education is to realize that there are possibilities and that they are all around you!
So remember, your income is determined by your ability to wish, envision and re-imagine yourself and your possibilities. The Economic Ladder of America doesn’t restrict anyone. In America, you can own as much real estate as you want, as many cars as you want, and as many boats as you want.
Here is the core of the philosophy. It all boils down to this: if you work hard on your job, you make a living. If you work hard on yourself, you can make a fortune. What is the reason for this truth? Success is not something you pursue. Success is something that you attract by becoming an attractive person. The way that you become rich is not by wishing your life was easier but instead by focusing on making yourself better.
My Philosophy for Successful Living | Jim Rohn | Chapter 1: The American Economic Ladder and Girl Scout Cookies
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