# The Real Meaning of Success Jim Rohn Motivation

An episode of [JIM ROHN](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1579900012), 14 May 2026, 12 min.

Audio: https://anchor.fm/s/6543d7e8/podcast/play/119966439/https%3A%2F%2Fd3ctxlq1ktw2nl.cloudfront.net%2Fstaging%2F2026-4-14%2F9267b67d-8b85-4597-ab90-de86aa31dc21.mp3

Success is not built overnight. It’s built through the habits, standards, and discipline you practice daily. Self Discipline Hacks Playbook: https://topelevation.gumroad.com/l/etkzu

## Transcript

[0:00] Success is not a Ferrari. Success is not an automobile.
[0:03] It's not a house, it's not a place, it's not money in the
[0:05] bank. It's not $1,000,000.
[0:07] That's not success. Success is the continual
[0:10] unfolding of the design of your own life and pulling it off.
[0:13] That's what success is. The continual unfolding of the
[0:16] design of your own personal life and pulling it off in whatever
[0:20] degree you wish. That is success.
[0:23] Successful in doing whatever you want to do that makes sense to
[0:26] you, for you, your family, your responsibilities?
[0:30] Or take on responsibilities or refuse responsibilities.
[0:32] That's strictly all up to you. Most people think success
[0:36] changes your life. What actually changes your life
[0:40] is discipline. The ability to keep going when
[0:42] your feelings change. The ability to stay focused when
[0:45] distractions become comfortable. Because weak habits don't
[0:49] destroy people overnight. They do it slowly, quietly,
[0:53] repeatedly. That's exactly why the
[0:56] self-discipline Hacks Playbook exists, for those tired of
[0:59] starting over and ready to finally become consistent.
[1:03] Link in the description. We've been given the power of
[1:06] choice. Every life form except human
[1:09] beings operates by instinct in the genetic code.
[1:15] It has no multiple choice. Only humans have multiple
[1:18] choice. In the winter the goose flies.
[1:21] S Why 'cause he's a goose, can't fly N couldn't fly W if you said
[1:27] that the goose would be better to go West this year.
[1:28] He ignores that advice, keeps on flying.
[1:30] S why? Has no alternative, has no other
[1:34] way. He is only driven.
[1:37] All life form is driven by instinct in the genetic code.
[1:41] Except human beings. Now, why not human beings?
[1:44] Because here it is. We've been given the dignity of
[1:48] choice. We're not like a robot.
[1:52] We're not stuck like a tree using up all the nourishment.
[1:54] Nothing left. Now you died because you can't
[1:56] change location. Not true.
[1:58] Humans can go north-south, east, West.
[2:00] Humans can change, do anything they want to do.
[2:02] We've been given the dignity. But here's what's interesting
[2:05] about all life form except humans.
[2:07] Every life form except humans strives to the Max of its
[2:10] potential. How tall will a tree grow?
[2:15] As tall as it possibly can. You never heard of a tree
[2:18] growing half as high as it could?
[2:20] No, no, that is impossible. A tree grows as high as it can,
[2:27] drives down every route it can, produces every leaf it can,
[2:30] extends itself as far as it possibly can.
[2:32] Every life form extends to the Max.
[2:34] Except human beings. Now, why not human beings?
[2:36] Because we're not robots. We've been given the dignity of
[2:40] choice, and here's a couple of alternatives on the dignity of
[2:44] choice to be part of or all of you have the potential to be and
[2:48] you got the choice. Do a little to make yourself
[2:50] comfortable and forget the rest. Or do it all and there's nobody
[2:55] here to dictate. You got to do it all.
[2:56] That's nonsense. You got to be rich because we
[2:59] live in a rich country. That's nonsense.
[3:00] You don't have to be rich. You don't have to do it all.
[3:03] You can do a little, do some, do some more, take advice, but
[3:07] don't take orders. Take information, take training,
[3:10] take teaching, but don't take orders from no one that tells
[3:15] you how you need to live and what you need to own and what
[3:17] you need to do. Somebody says, well, you need to
[3:19] be successful, that that's a personal choice, being
[3:21] successful. What we teach is the
[3:23] possibilities, the possibilities, and everybody
[3:25] chooses. Take a little, take a lot, do
[3:26] some, do nothing, ignore the subject.
[3:29] This is why I put this in here. You've got to learn to do that,
[3:36] Abraham Lincoln said. Since I would be no one's slave,
[3:40] I will be no one's master. Excellent philosophy.
[3:48] If a guy says, hey, I'm soon cashing it in, I'm heading for
[3:50] the mountains, I'm going to live in a little cabin, live off the
[3:52] land and feed the squirrels. If he goes and does that, guess
[3:56] what? He's a smashing success.
[3:59] Why? He's doing what he designed to
[4:01] do and went and did it and pulled it off.
[4:05] You can't say no, no, that that's not successful.
[4:07] That is the epitome of success is giving a design to your life
[4:12] and go pull it off, making progress in that direction that
[4:15] satisfies you. If it doesn't satisfy you, make
[4:17] alternatives and you change. And if you get some better
[4:20] ideas, sure, you may follow someone's suggestion and ideas,
[4:22] but not orders. Design your own life like you
[4:27] wanted. That will fit.
[4:28] Now if you take on some responsibilities now you got to
[4:30] consider those. Yes, you can ignore your
[4:32] responsibilities, but you won't feel good about that.
[4:36] Guess what the old prophet said? Some things that taste good now
[4:39] in the mouth turns bitter later in the belly.
[4:44] So you don't want to sacrifice. We all must suffer one of two
[4:46] pains. Regardless of your choice of
[4:48] lifestyle and what you want to do, we must all suffer one of
[4:51] two pains, the pain of discipline or the pain of
[4:53] regret. And what we suggest to everybody
[4:57] is to consider the disciplines, because disciplines weigh oz,
[4:59] regrets weigh tons. You don't want to substitute a
[5:05] discipline for a regret. In our opinion, that would be a
[5:09] poor choice. Now you can do it, but some
[5:13] things are poor trade-offs. The old prophet said what if you
[5:16] gained the whole world, but it cost you your soul?
[5:20] Would that be worth it? And with a bit of intelligence,
[5:23] we say, no, that doesn't seem worth it.
[5:24] Even if you got the whole world, if you traded your soul, that
[5:28] experience would be so bitter and so awful and so devastating,
[5:31] it wouldn't be worth it. What if you got some gain by
[5:35] greed instead of legitimate ambition?
[5:37] I'm telling you, it might taste good up front, but it's going to
[5:39] turn bitter in the belly. And a bit of that advice saves
[5:43] some people from devastation. Say, well, you're right, I
[5:45] better think twice about that. So we must confront all laws,
[5:50] spiritual laws, agricultural laws, basic laws, fundamental
[5:54] laws. We must confront all of those.
[5:56] But you still now can design your own life a little a lot go
[5:59] ENS OK, so approaches time management might be to step down
[6:09] to something easier that doesn't harass you with the constraints
[6:12] of time. Guy works for a company, says,
[6:15] oh, I got to own one of these. Finds out you've now got to work
[6:18] 24 hours a day all around the crock and you got to worry about
[6:21] all these people. Guys as heck with this.
[6:23] I'm going back where I used to be.
[6:25] I played G3 times a week and made three times as much money
[6:31] as a salesperson. Heck with this running a
[6:33] company, that's the deal right? Don't put yourself in the
[6:39] straitjacket of something that's not to your choosing and not to
[6:42] your liking. Now if you really want the
[6:44] prize, you know to become a multi millionaire and run a
[6:47] company, fine then you got to pay the price.
[6:49] But hey, it's strictly up to you.
[6:52] There's no requirements here. Where is it written?
[6:55] There is no law. The key is to try to design your
[7:00] life. Yes, you might try something and
[7:01] say this, this cost me too much. This I'm I'm away from my
[7:05] family, I'm gone. So this is valid.
[7:10] Little girl said to her mommy said daddy never plays with me.
[7:13] Comes home and he's got this briefcase and he disappears and
[7:15] works on his papers and tells me to go to bed.
[7:18] And she's tried to explain to look, your father loves you very
[7:21] much, but he's so busy at work he can't get everything done.
[7:23] He has to bring it home. She said why don't they just put
[7:26] him in a slower group? Not a bad idea.
[7:36] If you haven't got time for your kids, you should consider a
[7:38] slower group. It's not the money, it's not the
[7:43] success. You got to make sure everything
[7:45] works, not something at the expense of everything.
[7:49] And this something at the expense of everything turns out
[7:52] to be too costly. Life in its best and most
[7:57] fulfilled, I think is a balancing act to make everything
[8:00] work. A mother's got the challenge, a
[8:02] father's got the challenge. And all of this imbalance, it's,
[8:05] you know, even the tug of war and trying to make it work.
[8:09] His husband and wife with, you know, a little different
[8:12] concepts. Guy's a baseball player and gets
[8:16] four, $5,000,000 a year. And his talent takes him right
[8:19] 185 games, whatever the games are that they play, that's a
[8:23] pretty tough one to do. Gone most of the time.
[8:27] Should he go where his talent leads or should he should he
[8:29] work at the bank from 9:00 to 5:00?
[8:33] It's a challenge to try to fit, compromise, make it work, make
[8:37] all systems work so you don't sacrifice everything for
[8:40] something. And it's all a dilemma, she
[8:45] says. Go conquer the world and be home
[8:47] by 5:00. And he says, wow, that's a real
[8:52] challenge, right? But if you've got partners now,
[8:56] it's it, it's this combination of working it out.
[8:59] But let me tell you what, it can be worked out.
[9:02] Here's what happens if you ignore it.
[9:04] It just gets worse. You just got to confront and
[9:06] say, let us work it out so that we bless our life with all of
[9:11] the systems that furnish us with a good life.
[9:15] And guess what? It never ends.
[9:17] This trying to balance your life with everything.
[9:22] So in the management of time, step down to something easier.
[9:27] Rearrange your program. Pick up someone else's advice,
[9:31] not orders, but advice that says, hey, I went for the money
[9:35] instead of and cost me too much. Here's the real time management.
[9:42] Make yourself more valuable, get more from yourself so that you
[9:49] become much more accomplished in an hour than it used to take a
[9:53] week. That is the easiest of time
[9:57] management is to make yourself more valuable.
[10:02] So now let me quick give you the rundown here.
[10:05] Some key pieces to time management key phrase.
[10:09] Either you run the day or it runs you.
[10:13] Getting in charge, mastering the situation.
[10:16] This is the big challenge. I remember some companies I
[10:21] started years ago, I'd start the company.
[10:22] I'm running the company. First thing, you know, the
[10:24] company's running me and along about that second year, I say
[10:29] hold it, hold it. I used to be in charge and now
[10:35] I'm out of control. I used to have it on the run.
[10:38] Now it's got me on the run. And the same is true whether
[10:42] it's a company or an enterprise Oregon, whether it's it's the
[10:44] day. The key is you just got to take
[10:47] charge and say I'm going to start getting a handle and
[10:50] taking charge of my day and not let it get out of control
[10:54] because it's so easy to be persuaded and distracted by, you
[10:57] know, things that use up time take up time.
[10:59] And then first thing you know, it's it's all out of control.
[11:03] Here's the key we've all learned.
[11:04] Maybe we just need to be reminded it's not the hours you
[11:07] put in, it's what you put in, the hours that kept guy comes
[11:13] home at night exhausted, falls into the chair and says I've
[11:15] been going, going, going. Here's the key, Doing what?
[11:21] Here's what we learned. Don't mistake movement for
[11:23] achievement. Busy, busy, busy.
[11:26] That may not be the deal. That is the doing what?
[11:29] That's the deal. Some people are busy all day
[11:32] long doing.

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