The Set Of The Sail
The Set Of The Sail : We’re huge proponents of personal developments and one of our favourite people who we have learnt from over the years is the late Jim Rohn.
The Set Of The Sail is one of his philosophical pieces on how we approach what life puts in front of us
The video has been watched thousands of times and many people have written and commented on his works on their blogs and websites. To save you trawling over the internet we thought you might like to listen to it here and as a bonus because we know some people just like to read we’ve had it transcribed for you below
The Set Of The Sail By Jim Rohn Transcription
It’s not what happens that determines your life future. It’s what you do about what happens. All of us are in like a little sailboat and it’s not the blowing of the wind that determines your destination. It’s the set of the sail. So jot this phrase down. It’s one of the best to understand. Kids need to understand it.
The same wind blows on us all, the wind of disaster, the wind of opportunity, the wind of change. The wind when it’s upside down, the wind when it’s favourable and unfavourable, the same wind blows on us all. The economic wind, the social wind, the political wind, the same wind blows on everybody.
The difference in where you arrive in one year, three years, five years, the difference in arrival is not the blowing of the wind, but the set of the sail. That’s what learning is all about. To set a better sail this year than last year. To set a better sail. The first six years of my economic life, I wound up broke. Second six years, I wound up rich. You say, “Well, the Democrats must have finally gotten power.” No, no, no. It was not a political change.
Here’s what changed the second six years of my economic life. It was my philosophy that changed. The set of the sail, the better thinking, correcting the errors of the past and picking up new disciplines for the future. That’s all I had to do at the end of the first six. Correct the errors of the past, and then pick up some new disciplines for the future, and my total life changed. The second six years was totally different than the first six of my working life. Guess who can do that? Anybody.
Now, you can keep on the same path for the next couple of years as you have the past two. But if you wish to, if you wish to, and maybe everything’s okay for you and you don’t need to, but if you need to make some changes, I’m telling you, you can start doing it today so that the next two years will be drastically different than the last two. Anybody who wishes to do that can, and you can do it between the ages 40 and 43, you can do it between ages 13 and 50. You can do it between ages 60 and 62. Any two years, any five years that you wish to drastically change from the previous five, you can do it, if you wish to. Now, this isn’t written. This is not a law. Here’s what it’s called, opportunity.
But if you don’t know you can change, if you don’t know you can drastically change your income, change your future, change your health, change your marriage, change everything. If you don’t know that, some people then go year after year, after year after year, not making much change. Simply because they didn’t get to the class. They never read the book. They never went to the seminar. They never made the discovery. They didn’t seek for the knowledge of how could I make my life better? If you just rock along, I’m telling you, it’s okay. Anybody can live any way they choose. But I’m here to tell all of you that if you wish to, it’s possible to make the next three years totally different than the last three.
All you have to do is just a few things. So we got that one now? It’s not the blowing of the wind that determines your income. It’s not the blowing of the wind that determines your fortune. It’s the set of the sail, and that’s why we gathered here today. Maybe I’ve got some ideas that’ll help you with a couple of little things about setting the sail of your thinking, that might drastically give you multiplied more benefit the next three years than you’ve gotten in the last three. So it’s not what happens. What happens, happens to everybody. Here’s what it says. For things to change, you have to change.
I was hoping the government would change and taxes would change, and economics would change and my boss would change and be more generous. I wished for everything to change and my teacher said, “No. Mr. Rohn, for things to change for you, you have to change.” Don’t wish it was easier. Wish you were better. Once I understood this, this altered the course of my life.
- Don’t wish it was easier, wish you were better.
- Don’t wish for less problems, wish for more skills. You don’t need less problems. You simply need more skills.
- Don’t wish for less challenge. Wish for more wisdom.
Accept the challenge because you can’t grow without a challenge. - You can’t get rich without a challenge.
- You can’t fly without gravity. You have to understand the challenge, but that’s the key to now develop wisdom to overcome the challenge.
- Don’t wish for less challenge but more wisdom.
Then here’s one more philosophy that helped change my life forever. You can do the most remarkable things, no matter what happens. Humans can do the most remarkable things, no matter what happens. Philosophies that changed my life.
To conclude as we wrote on our Facebook post today
The pessimist complains about the wind, ? the optimist expects it to change and the leader adjusts the sails.
Which one are you?
Why not leave us a comment and let us know either here on our blog or on our Facebook
Who Are We
We’re former accountants of a certain age with 5 great kids, 5 grandchildren and a cat called Vincent. We love skiing, the mountains and traveling the world and we’re passionate about helping others to start and build successful businesses online and providing the resources to do it. Our business is centered on online marketing, financial and business education for those in or approaching retirement. You can find out more and ways to work with us here
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