Lifestyle, according to Jim Rohn, is the fifth of the 5 major puzzle pieces of life. By lifestyle, Jim refers to learning how to live well and attaining the “good life.”

In this section, Jim goes over how you can combine the four other puzzle pieces of philosophy, attitude, activity, and results to cultivate the lifestyle you want. In his “How to Have Your Best Year Ever! seminar he shares an anecdote from a past attendee who told how he was able to improve his relationship with his daughters.

Major Pieces of the Life Puzzle – #5: Lifestyle

01:12:43: Now here’s the last one.

Number five is called lifestyle.

Lifestyle is simply learning how to live well.

The last of the five major pieces.

Here’s the ultimate challenge of life.

I’ve worked on this—you cannot believe how hard—since age 25.

And that is, after applying better philosophy, attitude, and activity, and picking now up results.

What are results for? Here’s my ultimate challenge on results, to fashion—good word to jot down,
fashion—fashion for yourself lifestyle, or what we call the “good life.”

That’s the ultimate challenge, to take your results, take your money, take your results, take the return,
take the equities you gathered, and now fashion for yourself a good life.

Like weaving a tapestry, and Mr. Shoaff gave me all kinds of examples on lifestyle.

He gave me two phrases that helped change my life. In case you have to leave early, let me give you these
two phrases, it will be worth the price of coming and being here today.

Just take these two phrases home, in case you have to leave early.

Here’s number one. Shoaff said, “Mr. Rohn, if you wish to be wealthy, study wealth.”

When he said that, I said, “My gosh. I don’t know anybody that studies wealth. Where am I going to learn
it?”

He said, “Never mind Mr. Rohn, now that you’ve met me. If you’ll be with me for a while,” he said, “and if
you’ll commit yourself.” He said, “I will teach you.”

And he taught me. He taught me the books. He taught me the stuff.

Changed my life.

By the time I was 31, I was a millionaire, the man taught me well.

If you wish to be wealthy study wealth.

If you were to show me your present economic plan, in a personal conversation between you and me, you say,
“Mr. Rohn, let me disclose for you my current economic financial plan for the future?”

Would I get so excited that I’d say, “Hey, I’m going to go across the country and lecture on your plan?”

And if the answer is, “No, Mr. Rohn, you probably wouldn’t want to go across the country and lecture on my
plan.”

Here’s my question to you.

Why not?

Why wouldn’t you have a superior, powerful financial plan that’s taking you to the places you want to go?

I’m asking you, if you find yourself caught like I was at age 25, make the personal commitment today and
say, “I’m going to study and I’m going to change, and five years from now, nobody’s going to be able to say,
‘How come you don’t have a superior plan, living in a superior country with superior opportunities?'”

Nobody’s going to be able to say that five years from now of me.

If you’ll make that commitment, I’m telling you, this will be one of the most exciting days of your life.

Not because of my seminar, It’ll be one of the most exciting days of your life because of your commitment
to the simple little process I’ve outlined for you.

Here was the second phrase.

Mr. Shoaff said, “Mr. Rohn, if you wish to be happy. Study. Happiness.”

I didn’t know happiness was a study.

My best hope for happiness at age 25 was to just go through the day with my fingers crossed, hoping
somehow, something would make me happy.

Shoaff said, “No, Mr. Rohn, happiness is not something you postpone. Happiness is not something off in the
future. Happiness is something you design, you’ve got to get the word. Happiness is something you design.
Happiness is a study. Happiness is a practice. Happiness is an art. It’s not an accident. It’s an art. And
anybody that wants to can study, practice the art of happy living. Happiness is like culture. Money doesn’t
make you culture. But culture is within the grasp of all of us.”

How much is a book on sophistication in the marketplace?

$4,000?

No, $40.

I’m telling you, in America, everything’s available. Everything’s within reach. All you have to be is
committed to it and make it a study. Culture is a study, sophistication is a study.

It’s not an amount, it’s not an account.

It’s a study.

Money doesn’t make you sophisticated and culture. I know a guy that’s rich and he’s a clod—the guy’s a
clod, he eats with his elbow in his soup. I mean he’s just a clod, nothing much more pitiful than a rich
clod.

I mean it’s a sad thing to see.

Money doesn’t make you sophisticated, only study and practice makes you sophisticated.

Only study and practice makes you cultured.

And only study and practice makes you happy.

Study and practice makes you rich.

Key phrase: Don’t be lazy in learning.

One, how to do well.

Next, how to live well.

Don’t be lazy in learning and practicing the art of economics, practicing the art of productivity, and
practicing the art of lifestyle.

Shoaff taught me in such simple terms.

Shoaff said, “Mr. Rohn, if you’re getting your shoes shined, and the shoeshine boy did an exceptional job.
You look down you got one of the world’s all time great shines. And you pay him, now you got little change
in your hand. Question pops in your mind, ‘Should I give him one quarter or two quarters as a tip for a neat
shine?'”

Here’s what Shoaff said, “If two amounts pop in your mind, always go for the higher amount, and become the
higher thinking person.”

That helped change my life.

Here’s what he said, “Become a two quarter person.”

Now you can tell that was a long time ago, when a quarter was a good tip. Now it takes dollars. But just
substitute 1992 dollars for quarters.

Shoaff said, “Hey, if you, you know are thinking one quarter or two quarter, and you say, ‘Well no, I’ll
just give him one quarter.'”

He said, “That’ll affect you the rest of the day. The rest of the day you’ll look down see this great
shine, you’ll say, ‘I gotta be really cheap, one lousy quarter tip for a shine.'”

But he said, “If you’ll go for the two quarters,” Shoaff said, “You can’t believe the extra happiness you
can buy for just an extra quarter. That’s called studying and practicing the art of lifestyle, which means
living well. Money doesn’t make you happy.”

A father wads up a $20 bill, throws it at his son. He says, “If you need the darn stuff that bad, take it,
just get out of my face.”

How sad a father with money and no joy. He studied economics, but he never studied joy.

I’m asking you to turn that around.

Turn that all around.

I did a seminar one time—St. Louis, Missouri.

When I finished a seminar like this, a man walked up and said, “Mr. Rohn, you’ve really gotten to me,”
said, “I’m going to change my philosophy. I’m going to change my attitude. I’m going to change my life. I’m
going change everything.”

He said, “You’ve touched me today.”

And he said, “You’ll hear about me. You’ll hear my story someday.”

I said, “Okay.”

A lot of people—right?—say things. Sure enough, a few months later, I come back to St. Louis.

Did another seminar.

When I finished my seminar, I saw this man come walking up. I didn’t remember his name, but he said, “I’m
sure you’ll remember me as the man who said, ‘I’m going to go make some changes. You’ve touched me today.'”

I said, “I do remember you.”

He said, “I’m telling you things are already happening for me. I cannot believe in just a matter of
months.”

He said, “One of the things I decided to change was my relationship with my family.”

He said, “My wife and I have two lovely teenage daughters. Parents couldn’t ask for any more beautiful,
lovely daughters.”

And he said, “I’m the only one that’s given myself trouble,” he said, “that these daughters of ours have
never given us any trouble.”

He said, “I’ve usually been the one all these years giving all the trouble and all the static.”

He said, “My daughters love to go to the rock concerts, and I’m always giving them trouble. They have to
beg me for the money. I say, “I don’t want you to go, you stay out too late, music is too loud. You’re going
to ruin your hearing, you won’t be able to hear the rest of your life.'”

And he said, “I just get on their case.”

And he said, “They keep begging, keep begging, finally, when they begged long enough, I say, ‘Alright,
here’s the money. If you have to go that bad, just go.’ That’s how I’d been up until now.”

But he said, “After I left your seminar I decided to change all that. Called lifestyle, living well,” he
said, “you won’t believe it. Not long ago, I picked up the newspaper and I saw an advertisement, and I knew
my two daughters—it was one of their favorite performers—was coming to town.”

He said, “Guess, what I did?”

He said, “I went down and bought the tickets myself, and brought them home, and put them in an envelope,
and when I saw my daughters later that day,” he said, “I handed them this envelope and I said to my two
lovely daughters, ‘You may not believe it, but inside this envelope are two tickets for the upcoming
concert.’ They could not believe it.”

And he also added, “You’ll be happy to know ‘begging days’ are over. Now they cannot.”

He said, “Now don’t open the envelope until you get to the concert. They said, ‘Okay.’ So they go to the
concert, come concert time, open up the envelope, hand the tickets to the usher, he says, ‘Follow me,’ and
he starts down front. The girls say, ‘Hey, hold it, hold it. Something must be wrong.’ He takes another
look, says, ‘No nothing’s wrong. Follow me.’ Tenth row, center. Now they cannot believe—tenth row, center.
The only tickets they were able ever to beg for was, right, third balcony—can’t see.”

He said, “I stayed up a little late that night. Sure enough, a little after midnight, my two daughters come
bursting through the front door. One of them lands in my lap. The other one’s got her arms around my neck.
They’re both saying, ‘You’ve got to be one of the all time world’s great fathers.'”

He said, “Mr. Rohn, you’re right, I can’t believe same money, different father.”

He said, “I’ve started making the changes and I decided to start with my teenagers, my girls.”

He said, “What a difference it’s making in my life.”

And I’m telling you, you can do that with your lifestyle. You can do it with your sales career. You can do
it with your management career. You can do it with any part of your life.

If you’re looking for equities unmatched, do not curse the only thing you have. Don’t complain about the
only thing you have, which is seed, and soil, sunshine, rain, miracle, and seasons.

But start changing and processing and evaluating things like recovering today.

And this process of change will take off for you.

You will not believe what can happen in such a short period.

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