Rockefeller – The difference between affluent people and the rest.

Lately, after I get home from my day job, I go out to the barn where I have a remodeling project going.  I am doing part of it myself – carpentry, my trade.  While I am out there by myself with the lights and my tool belt on, I have my ear pods in and am listening to something interesting.

Sometimes it’s an audiobook, sometimes a podcast, sometimes a TED talk, or something else.  I have a little notebook and a pen on the sawhorse to capture ideas that strike me as valuable.

This night I was listening to the autobiography of John D. Rockefeller Jr. on YouTube.  I learned a lot about him, his values and what he did, and about the era when oil was becoming an important fuel to power the world.

He used one simple word to describe the difference between people in the top 5% and the rest – “personality”.   He meant the collection of character traits that form your personality.

Some people have destructive habits, and some don’t.

Some people use their extra time to learn, and some use it for relaxation and entertainment.  (Some feel that learning IS relaxation and entertainment.)

Some want easy days, and some invest themselves into their days to have an easy life.

Some people think about what they can bring to the marketplace and take great responsibility and risk to do so, and others are happy to be small consumers in the same marketplace.

These distinctions about personality make no judgment as to what kind of life is good or bad, but just give a road map to those who strive to rise to the highest levels of success.

John D. Rockefeller created much value for countless people, retired early, gave much away, and passed his wisdom on to others as best he could. 

Be the person you WANT to be – TODAY

Do you want to be a better version of you?

The future can be now.

Today you can think like that person, talk like that person and act like that person.

You can be that better you today.

And when you believe it, other people will take you at your own assessment of yourself too.

Why not give it a try?

The Most Powerful Performance-Enhancing Drug

The most powerful performance-enhancing drug – how you talk to yourself.

It’s the most powerful drug known to mankind.  The performance edges that can be achieved from skillfully and consistent use of this drug include: increasing self-esteem, creating a dramatic boost in self-confidence, reframing and transforming meaning, and changes in behavior and attitude.

The ‘health warning’ that accompanies the powerful drug is in the fact that it is in abundance, is at no cost, and many people are simply not aware of its existence or power.  Therefore it can easily be misused and is often abused.

Individuals often suffer untold damage without knowing what it is or who the culprit is until it’s too late, and that makes it even more dangerous.

Even after the cause (careless use) and effect have been recognized and understood it can take potentially years to repair the damage.  Sadly, in many cases, the individual never fully recovers from its misuse, and it can destroy self-esteem, shatter confidence, and severely limit performance potential, particularly when the performance involves making decisions. – David Alred, The Pleasure Principle

Getting around different and better people

One reason there is segregation among classes, interests, talents and races is that people like people who are like them.  It’s been this way for ten thousand years.

But the problem is that if you are always around people who are like you, then you won’t improve.

“People seldom improve when they have no other model but themselves to copy.” – Oliver Goldsmith, 1759

People who are more ambitious than you, smarter than you, more educated than you, fitter than you, more self-disciplined than you, and more caring than you, etc – will do you good.

What is rubbing off the people around you onto you?

The key to being great at anything

What is the key to being great at anything?  

Self-mastery.

If you can control yourself, you can be a master.

Control your focus, your attention, your thoughts (story, expectations, emotions), and your actions.  Be self-disciplined.

If you can do that, you can harness the amazing powers within you to do something quite extraordinary.

Can you do it?