We need to take a look into the future. There are four things to consider in terms of attitude. One is how you feel about the past. The best advice I can give you on that as treat. The past, as a school, let it teach you the mistakes. You've made the things that went wrong, the things that didn't work. Don't use the past as a burden to carry, and don't use the past as a club to beat yourself to death past losses, past failures past mistakes, but let the past be a school. Tough school.
Maybe. We've all been through some tough stuff. So if you feel good about the past draw from it for experience and let it teach you then, next is how you feel about the future. We've got to have the future. Well designed the future is called The Promise. And here's what we teach in our leadership series. The promise of the future can be an awesome Force for your own future. The promise of the future, designing the future. There's two ways to face the future.
One is with apprehension. And the other is with anticipation. I promise you in my travels around the world. Most people face the future with apprehension and here's why they don't have it. Well, designed, they've sort of left that up to someone else to fix. But here's the best way to face the future with anticipation and you can you can face the future with anticipation. If the future is clear.
If the future is well designed and I would like to have you consider some thoughts with me. That helped me to really change my future by giving it some thought and some consideration. And here it is in setting goals. It's very simple. Number one, decide what you want. You just take a little time. You sit down and say, what do I want? What kind of skills do I want? What kind of income do I want for the future? What would I like? Where would I like to go places?
I'd like to visit habits. I'd like to acquire skills. I'd like to have. You just take a little time. To think about what you want, economics friendships people. You'd like to. Eight places you'd like to go, you just take some time and then I suggest when you thought about what you want, for the future, make a list, just jot it all down. So really a very simple process and then here's number three. Keep all the old list. I'm telling you, this served me. So well, keeping my old list of
goals. I look back now. 10, 20 years ago at goals. I set lists I made and I smile now because here's what I thought was so important. Portent, you know, 20 years ago. Now, some of those things aren't even on my list. I've got a new list. I've grown, I've changed, I've matured, but I give you that advice. Decide what you want. Number to write it down. Number three, keep the old list, and then here's number four. When you get something that's on one of these lists, check it off.
Part of the fun of having a list is checking it off and then if you can add some drama to checking it off, see that is what really helps. I set a goal to go to Spain many, many years ago. And when I finally made my first trip to Spain, I had that journal with me that had that list in it. And while I had my journal on my lap, waiting for the wheels to touch down in Madrid, I waited until the wheels touch the runway, and I checked it all
just adding a little drama. So part of the fun of having a list is checking it off. Now, here's what's important about the lists in designing your future. If the future gets clearer, the price gets easier. Because you got to remember for every promise. There's a price to pay. Everybody's got to pay the price. Everybody's got to do the deal. Everybody's got to do, the disciplines. Everybody has to pay, but here's what I've discovered.
If the promise is clear and Powerful, the price is easy to pay. The price is some class of the price is a few books. The price is a few disciplines. The price is finding something that will make your life. Better make you grow, make you change, make you develop. So the first part of the key is to design the promise, then what is the price to pay? I am telling you the price will be easy. Anybody in my audience contain, no matter where you are, where you come from color, doesn't
matter. Religion, doesn't matter where you grew up, doesn't matter circumstances. Don't matter. I'm telling you, if you'll make the promise of the future, clear for yourself, the things you want, the places you want to go things. You want to have the person you want to become the skills. You want the homes, you want the future, you want the friends, you want, all of the values of life that you could possibly want. If you'll make that clear, make those lists and be serious about it.
I promise you, it's an easy price to pay. Anybody can pay it and the best advice I can give you is, if I can do it. You can do it. Farm Boy from Idaho raised in obscurity. I changed my life turned, it upside down, turned it all around found economics found future found promise. And if I can do it, you can do. So start setting your goals and see if you can't get a better excitement going. For the things you want to accomplish for the future.
Now, here's my third subject and that's called Financial Independence. Oh, by the way, before I get to financial Independence, let me cover one more point. One of the major reasons for setting goals is for what they make of you, in achieving them. My teacher, advise me, when I first got started at age 25. He said Jim. Why don't you set a goal to become a millionaire? He said, it's got a nice ring to it, you know, enough zeros to impress, your accountant, and he said I'm here.
Help you, you're only 25 years old. You've been to one year of college. You got a beautiful family, every reason to do it. Why don't you set a goal to become a millionaire? And he said, here's why. And I thought he doesn't need to teach me. Why wouldn't it be nice to have a million dollars? He said, no, then you'll miss it. He said, here's why for what? It will make of you to achieve it. I'm telling you that statement changed my life set.
The kind of goals that will make something of you to achieve them. He said, now, once you become a millionaire, what's important is not the money. I thought that's kind of strange teaching. He said honest, it isn't important. Is that you could just give the money away now, I did better than that. I lost it all the time. I was 31. I was a millionaire by the time I was thirty three. I was broke. And I'll tell you a little bit about that story later.
But when I lost all my money, guess what? I found out, mr. Chauffeurs, right? What was valuable was not the money. What was valuable was, what I became to earn the money. The skills. I had the knowledge, I had about the marketplace, the values that I had going, for me. They were more valuable than the money. And here's an important statement to remember, it's not what you get, that makes you valuable.
It's what you become. So part of the key here is to set the kind of goals that will make something of you don't set them too, low. So did you don't have to grow and you don't have to read and you don't have to try and you don't have to stretch. Don't set them too low, and then don't sell out. Don't go for something. That's going to cost you your virtue or cost, you your values or sell out your principles. There's a good Middle Road here to follow goals. That will inspire goals.
That will help you grow change. Develop, and become better than you are. Okay.