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It is said that only a very emotional or tragic event can help you find a purpose, a direction, to change your life. For my mentor Jim Rohn, that emotional event happened at the age of 25. A little girl knocked on his door and gave him a presentation about Girl Scout Cookies. She politely smiled and asked him to purchase a box. He didn’t want to tell her that he was a 25 year old man with and couldn’t afford the $2 to buy a box of cookies. So he did the only thing he could think of, he lied to that little girl and told her he had already purchased some cookies earlier. She politely thanked him for his time and for supporting the Girl Scouts by buying some cookies earlier. He closed the door, and thought about what he had just done. How low could he get, lying to a Girl Scout over $2. That was the day that turned his life around.
For me, it was a recent trip back home, to India. I wasn’t born there, but the last time was 12-13 years ago. Reality hit me pretty hard. Homeless children, poverty, litter, illiteracy, all staring me right in the face. Here I was in my Kenneth Cole shoes, Aéropostale Jeans, Nike shirt, Bulova watch, Eddie Bower sunglasses, and a backpack with a cell phone, MP3 player, and laptop.
I thought about all the times I would spend at a coffee shop drinking lattes, while back in my home country, children were singing and dancing in the streets, trying to encourage people give them their spare change. The truth was that I was just like Jim, I couldn’t help them because I didn’t have the money. As successful as I was back home, globally, I hadn’t done anything. The world, so far, was not better off having me in it, and that was a wakeup call for me. That was, the day that changed my life.
I highly recommend Jim Rohn’s audio cd series “The Day That Turns Your Life Around.” For more information, please check the Recommendations page.