The Challenge to Succeed (Part 3)

the whole world is governed by laws the universe in fact laws we call it the law of electricity we call it the law of gravity there's mathematical laws there's physical laws speed and velocity laws agricultural laws there's all kinds of laws now that we find ourselves on the spinning Planet you just have to learn what I call the setup learn the setup life's setup now we didn't set it up but we're here so you got to learn it and we should learn the setup for two basic reasons number one to keep from getting hurt it's one of the major reasons for learning so you won't get hurt it's the economically socially personally you can get hurt just not knowing ignorance is not Bliss ignorance is poverty ignorance is tragedy you gotta know or you're going to get hurt it's good to know not to walk out the 10-story window that's excellent information now what if a guy didn't know when he walks out now he's dead at the bottom somebody says well the poor guy didn't know you gotta know or you're going to get hurt okay now here's a parenthesis you don't have to like the setup I don't ask you to like how it is that's not what's important but it is important to learn how it is okay so you don't have to like it but you should learn it that's what I tell the kids right make sure you get the information what you think about it that's up to you what you're going to do with it that'll soon be up to you but make sure you get it see there's nothing worse than being stupid nothing I mean being broke is bad but being stupid is awful and what's really bad is being broken stupid right that's about the end of the world I mean there isn't anything much worse than that unless you're sick sick broken stupid I mean that is it right there's nowhere else to go so make sure you get the information it's key you don't have to like it but learn it if this big Monster's thing lifts up in the sky hangs there for a little while Cuts loose comes crashing down boom shakes the ground for five miles and then this big monstrous thing lives back up in the sky hangs her for a little while Cuts loose again comes crashing down boom shakes the ground for five miles it just keeps doing at this big monstrous thing lifting up and then crashing down boom now you might come along one day and say that's got to be a stupid arrangement which is okay you're entitled to your opinion but the first thing you should learn to do is get out from under it right that's number one you might have a great moral argument you might want to shake your finger at the sky but do it from over there right so you don't get smashed it's called your basic smart so number one learn so you won't get hurt whether you like it or not learn now here's the second reason for learning the setup to benefit it's called the plus of life and that's what life is Right both minus and plus the minus is tragedy heartache misery failure unhappiness but life is also happiness Prosperity good feelings so here's the key learn to get on the good side of the way things work now here's two of the basic laws and we'll take our break shof taught me these they come from the Bible now again I'm an amateur okay when it comes to the Bible I'm not a pro so you'll sort of have to take my way of putting it but here they are the first one is the law of use the law of use and it goes something like this whatever you don't use you lose lack of use causes loss on this planet maybe not the next one but on this one if you tie your arm to your body leave it there long enough you'll never use it again it's over for the arm now may not be over but it's over for the arm the only way to keep the use of this arm is what keep using it if you quit you lose automatically they don't bring it up for a vote you lose automatically when you quit now the same thing that goes for your arm goes for your brain mentality the same thing goes for all the human virtues ambition unused declines strong feelings unused diminish it doesn't grow it diminishes Faith unused decreases it's a law Vitality unused diminishes energy unused decreases the guy says well I'm going to save up my energy you can't do that that's like trying to save today put it on the end of the year see you can't do that they'll come take you away if you don't use today what it's lost the guy says well I work twice as hard tomorrow to make up for it see that's foolish you could have done that anyway today unused is lost a talent unused is lost and ability unused is lost so here's one of the key expressions of the evening take a new inventory of yourself starting tomorrow new project take a new inventory and make sure that all of your talent and ability and mentality and Ingenuity and vitality and strong feelings Faith courage make sure that all you've got is being used otherwise you lose now one of the best illustrations of the law of use is a Bible story called the parable of the talents the talent story interesting story if you haven't read it in a while just review it it's a good story an ancient story it says there was a Master with three servants he got them together one day and he said to the three I've got these talents and in those ancient days the talent was a measure of gold and he said to the three servants take these talents and see what you can do with them while I'm gone he said I'm taking a journey and I'll be gone for a while when I come back we'll get together go over the book see how you did he said here's five of these talents for you five here's two of them for you two and here's one for you one the master said take those talents see what you can do with them when I come back we'll get together we'll go over it all the servant said okay Master takes off according to the ancient story The Master comes back from his trip when he gets back he gets the three servants together and as he said he would he asks how did it go with those talents you're five what happened that servant said well I took the five talents you gave me and I put him to work a little shaky at first but he said things finally got rolling and he said I poured it on and he said my talents grew to 7 8 9 10. he said I doubled my talents from five to ten books will show Master said one heck of a job or something like that he said I gave you two talents what happened that servant said about the same thing happened to me I put those two talents to work poured it on they grew to three and then to four he said I doubled my talents from two to four books will show Master said well done he said I gave you one Talent what happened that servant said well I took the talents you gave me and I carefully wrecked it and I dug a hole and buried it and camouflaged it I suppose so nobody would steal it and he said fortunately nobody got it and he said I knew you were going to be here today so I dug it up here it is safely wrapped I did not lose it while you were gone according to the ancient story The Master said take that Talent away from him and give it to the man that's got 10. now you might say well I don't like that arrangement the poor guy's only got one Talent he's already got 10.

it ought to be more Eve remember I didn't ask you to like it but this one I would ask you to learn because it simply means whatever you do not employ you forfeit it's a law so learn well the law of use now here's the second one and we're going to take our break second law from the Bible this one we've heard since we were small I'm sure it's called The Law of sowing and reaping in fact we've probably heard it so often we could quote it it says whatever you sow what you shall reap fairly blunt hopefully clear here's my first suggestion on the law of sewing and reaping don't try to beat it you might as well try sitting on the sun in the morning keep it from coming up you'll have better luck whatever you sow you reap now for a fair share of my life I'm a bit mixed up on how all this applies among a lot of things I was mixed up on I knew I wasn't reaping too good that I understood my problem was I was confused about what was causing it remember me with a funny list I thought those are the reasons why it isn't working out well and then Mrself gave me the clue that helped me figure it all out he said MrOwen I have another answer for you there's another way to quote this law that'll show you where the problem is so you can go to work on it right away all you need to know is where the problem is then you can go to work on it so he quoted me the law another way and I found out what my problem was here's the way you quote the law whatever you reap is what you've sown now I knew what my problem was whatever you reap is what you've sown if you don't like the crop who do you look up answer whoever planted it and where do you find who planted your crop answer in the mirror what I finally learned to do come fall was to go to the mirror that's where you go and if necessary you say a few skinny carrots I got to be unimpressed where were you last spring asleep didn't you read the books did you break your hole let me give you seven key points to the law of sewing and reefing let's take right down through the list of seven and it'll be break time seven points to sewing and reaping here's part of the philosophy that really helped me to make some changes in life Direction number one the law of sowing and reaping is negative that's number one which simply means if you're so bad you reap bad now this is kind of third grade but it doesn't hurt to go over the basics if you plant thistle seeds you don't get pumpkins honest no use looking for pumpkins John says how come no pumpkins come on John the law is negative that's outcome now here's number two the law is positive which simply means if you're so good you reap good if you plant pumpkin seeds you don't get thistles not from pumpkin seeds Mother Nature won't pull tricks on you or in the corner Snicker and push new thistles new planting pumpkin seeds she won't do that you will get pumpkins from pumpkin seeds and the reason is because the law is positive now here's number three I got excited when I found out the full dimension of this see you do not reap what you sow but rather you always reap much more than what you sow so the third key word is more you don't get back what you put out you get back much more than what you put out and it works both positive and negative on the negative side it said if you sow to the wind you reap the Whirlwind so you've got to get ready for that or you will be naive but now it also works positive if you plant a cup of corn in the spring how much corn do you reap in the fall not a cup you might as well keep the cup you got why go to all the trouble planting a cup of corn in the spring water it and take care of it all summer look after it carefully cross your fingers and pray why go through all that reason come fall you could well get a bushel for the cup a bushel for a cup it's called one of life's better deals guy says well yeah I'll figure out how that works if you get rich that's right that's right then how come more people aren't wealthy they don't study much so in reap the guy says well yeah you work where I work but the time you struggle home it's late you've got to buy the supper watch a little TV here's number four th key to sewing and reaping there are many ways to sow and reap there's many ways to change your life there's many ways to get promoted there's many ways to move up there's many ways for financial Independence there's so many ways to do well especially in this country you don't have to go without any if we lived in the middle of Africa the middle of India with economic disaster all around you might have some excuses for not doing well but not here there's too many ways here do you know what the gross national product of this nation was last year the Year of the Slowdown it was still 2 trillion 400 billion dollars there's been nothing like it in the history of the human race last year this country we now consider somebody desperately poor in this country and needs massive help if they make less than seven thousand dollars a year and the rest of the world doesn't average seven hundred dollars a year no wonder they call it the American dream there's so many ways [Applause] too many ways to do well and especially in California do you know where California would rank among the nations of the world in productivity if it was a nation number five Russian number two Japan number three Germany number four California number five and there's only 23 million people here I mean there's nothing like it in the whole world and Orange County foreign this is it there's four and a half billion people in the world and they all wish they lived in Orange County hey if you can't make it here forget it it's over take your chances on the next planet you've blown this one there's too many libraries there's too many classes there's too many seminars there's too much information there's too many books there's too much Capital there's too much help there's too much training here not to do well there's too many ways so find you some ways there's plenty here's the fourth key to sewing and reaping or five and that keyword is anyone anyone can sew and reap that's what's exciting anyone can now the question is whether or not you will but can is not the question will is the question anyone can MrKeo says try my plan I put it together the keyhole plan put aside 145 a month for the next 30 years it's a million dollars with the tax advantages one million dollars thirty years Keo plan 145 a month not a bad plan become a millionaire now anybody can the question is who will that's the question son asked his father when his father's 50. we're rich right the Keo thing his father said no no we're not rich his son says well look at the Keel thing the 145 a month Keel thing he says yeah I know the Keel thing but I didn't go for that son says you didn't says no I picked another plan for the 145 dollars so what'd you do with 145 said well I bought beer and cigarettes see anybody can whether you will or not see that's the question and here's a good question to ask we are all buying somebody's plan the question is who's who's got you talked into doing what you're doing who's got you talked into your present plan see 10 years from now you will surely arrive the question is where but see anybody if you want to can go searching for a good plan pick it and start working it and sure enough as the time passes as it surely will five years from now 10 years from now then you'll be winding up wearing what you want to wear driving what you want to drive living where you want to live become what you want to become but now is the time to fix the next 10 years and who can anybody here's number six the sixth key to sewing and reaping this is leveling with you now as we promise to do there's one thing better than the truth and that's the whole truth and here's part of the whole truth of the law of sowing and reaping number six is you could lose there are times when you just lose no matter what you do it's that kind of planet you reap what you sow yes but what does that mean yes but well the farmer plants his crop in the spring takes care of it all summer loves his family Works 10 12 hours a day six seven days a week is an honorable man come fall he's got a beautiful crop and he deserves every bit of it but the day before he sins the combines into the field a hail storm comes along and beats it all in the ground which means you lose somebody says well what did he do wrong answer nothing it's just that kind of planet sometimes it's going to hail on your crop and rain on your parade so you got to get ready for that or you will be naive that's just part of the life arrangement and don't press me why I was not in on some of the original decisions here so I don't know how it got set up but there's just time sometimes you lose that's part of life but now here's number seven the seventh key to sewing and reaping and it goes like this it's just another way to quote the same law and it goes like this if you don't so that's just another way to quote the law if you don't so but you don't reap you don't even have a chance so if you looked at your game plan tomorrow you might come to the quick conclusion I got to get some stolen going oh true get you some soul and going and remember you've got plenty of time you've got all the time there is some people spend enough TV time to make a fortune the latest article on television watching in this country according to the latest article the average television is on in this country and every household seven hours a day called the big seven I asked a guy one time what his TV cost he said about 450 I said you forgot to look at the price tag he said what do you mean I knew he was a TV watcher I said that television cost you in my opinion at least twelve thousand dollars a year to watch it not to own it on and it's cheap watching it is what's expensive and I said hey 12 000 a year is too much to pay to watch TV that's too much pay a little but not twelve thousand and he's the guy that said I hope pay TV Never Comes okay we're trying to cover an awful lot tonight I realize that but my time schedule is such that we just have to sort of give it all to you and let you uh sort the rest out I wish we had plenty of time for questions and answers in that whole thing but our time is just limited but we are trying to go through an awful lot I realize that but uh looks like everybody's getting it it's about the note taking as crowd I've seen in a long time incredible does anybody have five pages yet anybody oh fantastic incredible okay maybe you heard the story about the preacher down in Texas southern part of the country um he was an evangelist back in the horse and buggy days and he was very good at being an evangelist and a lot of people used to come and hear him preach and one day he put up his tent in one of these Texas towns and expected a big crowd as usual come here and preach and he got there first night of the Tent Revival walked in 7 30 time to start and to his surprise the tent was empty he thought well something must be drastically wrong so he waited till quarter to eight nobody showed up eight o'clock zip finally 8 15. one lone cowboy wandered up on his horse tied his horse up outside came in sat down on the front bench right waiting for something to happen the preacher thought well at least I better go down and talk to the cowboy so he walks down talks to the Cowboy and he says Cowboy I'm the preacher and he said I don't know what to tell you something's gone wrong he said this tent was supposed to be full of people he said I'm embarrassed he said you're the only one that showed up and he said I really don't know what to do and the cowboy said well I'm not a preacher so I really can't tell you what to do you know he said I'm just a cowboy but he said I know this if I went out to feed my cattle and only one showed up I'd at least feed it the preacher thought hey the cowboy is right if you've got a good idea to share you should share it if there's one or a thousand so he got kind of inspired by this conversation and he jumped up on the platform started to preach as if the tent was full of people just exploded and he went for an hour hour and 15 minutes just kept rolling finally he quit and when he finished he came down off the platform talked to the Cowboy again says well Cowboy what did you think I'm a sermon and the Cowboys said well I'm not a preacher so I really can't tell you know he said I'm just a cowboy but he said I know this if I went out to feed my cattle and only one showed up I'd feed it but I wouldn't dump the whole load on it so anyway if it seems like we're dumping the whole load tonight I guess we are but uh gosh everybody's doing well I'm having a good time I appreciate the response here tonight okay the next subject is setting goals let me show you what turned my life every Way but Loose Mrself dropped this idea on me changed me completely setting goals here's what can easily happen if you don't set goals it's easy to let life deteriorate into making a living instead of Designing a life and we all have a choice make a living or design a life it's easy to get trapped by economic necessity and settle for existence rather than substance that's easy but the best advice I I can give you on how to break out of that trap is to learn how to set goals Mrself put it to me this way he said Jim if you had enough reasons you could do the most incredible things I never forgot how he put that if you have enough reasons see reasons will change your whole life Mrself said to me said Mrown I think you've got plenty of intelligence you've got plenty of talent you've got plenty of ability probably what you lack is plenty of reasons he said I don't think your current bank balance is a true indication of your level of intelligence I was happy to hear that he said I think you're much smarter than your present bank balance indicates and that turned out to be true I was much smarter but of course my first question was well then why isn't it bigger and he said you don't have enough reasons you've got enough intelligence but not enough reasons so see reasons can change your life here's what else I found out reasons come first answers come second you don't get the answers to do well till you get the reasons life has a mysterious way of hanging on to all the answers and only gives them up to the people that are inspired by reasons so reasons make the difference in how your life works out now what are some of the reasons for doing well let's go through a quick list called reasons for doing well first is personal reasons some people do well for recognition some people do well for respect some people do well for the way it makes them feel they love the feeling of being a winner those are good reasons I have some millionaire friends that keep working 10 12 hours a day making more Millions and it's not because they need the money it's because they need the joy and the satisfaction and the pleasure that comes from being a constant winner and see it's not just the money anyway it's the journey not the money once in a while somebody says to me boy if I had a million dollars I'd never work another day in my life that's probably why the good Lord sees do it they don't get their million right they'd quit they'd quit okay next is family reasons some people do extremely well for other people and that's powerful human beings can greatly affect each other sometimes we will do things for somebody else we will not do for ourselves we are made that way I met a man one time who said MrOwen to do all the things I want to do with my family around the world he said I got to have at least a quarter of a million dollars a year I thought incredible could a guy's family affect him that much and the answer is of course how fortunate are the people that find themselves greatly affected by somebody for Personal Achievement and we are affected the writer of a recent song said if not for you the winter would hold no spring couldn't hear a robin sing I just wouldn't have a clue if not for you so we can be affected that might be one of the most stimulating reasons to do well finding somebody next is benevolence some people are turned on by sharing and sharing can be one of the biggest turn-ons to do well some people do extremely well Gathering up resources and then they divide them all up sponsor all kinds of things sharing when Andrew Carnegie died the wee little Scotsman that built a big steel industry when he died they opened up his desk and in one of the desk drawers they found a slip of paper on that piece of paper MrCarnegie had written his goal for his life and he wrote it when he was in his twenties and on that piece of paper it said I'm going to spend the first half of my life accumulating money I'm going to spend the last half of my life giving it all away what a goal he got so inspired by that goal that the first half of his life he accumulated 450 million dollars and the last half of his life he gave it all away good question tonight what's got you turned on what's got you bombed out of sight to get up early and stay up late and hit it all day next question what's got you turned off when I found the answers to those two questions my life exploded into change I finally found out what had me turned off and I got that cured and then I got me a long enough list of reasons to turn me on and once the lights went on for me age 25 they've never gone out I've fallen out of the sky a few times but I've never lost that drive to make something unique out of my life see reasons altered my whole life now there's another list of reasons called nitty-gritty hard little reasons sometimes those little reasons are the most powerful reasons that can change your life sometimes it doesn't take much I now carry several hundred dollars in my money clip it's only a few hundred dollars but it was one of those reasons turned my life around just before I met MrShelf I heard a knock at the door I go to the door and there's a little girl standing there about this tall selling Girl Scout cookies and she gave me one of the finest sales presentations I've ever heard special deal several flavors this whole package of stuff two dollars and with a big smile she very politely asked me to buy and I wanted to big problem I'm broke I don't have two dollars and to this day I can remember the pain and the embarrassment I'm a father I'm a husband I've been to college I'm working I'm 25.