Creating a Better Life

Work Harder On Yourself Than You Do On Your Job

One of my favorite quotes from Jim Rohn is:

Learn to work harder on yourself than you do on your job.

I’ve finally started getting over a few days of a nasty flu bug… the kind that takes you down and keeps you wanting to work on only one thing - getting better.

The positive side of times like these is that we really get to use the time for reflection.

One of the things that I’ve been reflecting on is…

Just what am I working on? Things that I want to work on? Or things that others want me to work on?

Just how much of what I do, or don’t do, is directly related to what others think I should, or shouldn’t, be doing?

Don’t get me wrong… in order to live with other people, their needs must be taken into account. Life in general isn’t all about me.

But my life specifically is.

For instance… because of the sickness, I haven’t been to my “day job” since Saturday. For the first couple of days, my monkey mind just kept on berating me about it - they depend on you, what’s wrong with you, come on - you can get there…

Thank god I now know better than to give in to that. Looking at the situation rationally, I knew it was best to take the time to get better.

And I have. Whatever it is that I allowed into my experience is still hanging on, but the rest that I allowed myself, along with the vitamins that I just started taking, seem to have gotten me over the hump and now I’m back on track.

So sometimes working on yourself just means identifying your own needs and taking care of them. For those of us who are used to living our lives for the needs of others (or at the very least, believing that we should be), this can be tough. But it’s something that we must learn to do if we want to create our better lives.

Another great quote from Jim Rohn:

The greatest gift you can give to somebody is your own personal development. I used to say, “If you will take care of me, I will take care of you.” Now I say, “I will take care of me for you if you will take care of you for me”.

Let’s take care of ourselves for each other.