Now I want to get busy on the first couple of subjects for today. Everybody, that's OK, Say I'm OK. Here's the first subject that I've I've found so interesting, I want to share it with you. Then I want to talk about personal development of the subject that I started listening to age 25 that revolutionized my whole life from my mentor, Mr. Earl Schoaf. Here's an interesting subject. Just jot it down. It's called enlightened self-interest. Want to apply what you're hearing?
Top performers don't rely on motivation, they rely on systems. The self-discipline Master Playbook is a practical framework trusted by those who execute. It sharpens your focus, eliminates distractions, and keeps you accountable. You'll find the link in the description below. Don't just listen, act on it. Enlightened self-interest. It's a fascinating study to study the idea of self-interest, but just make this note. All of us, you know, have
self-interest. The key is it for it to be enlightened so that everybody wins and no one loses. Our first interest is to survive. What does it take to survive? Our second interest is to succeed. What does it take to succeed? What does it take for me personally to survive and to succeed? Can I legitimately be interested enough in the things that helped me both succeed and survive? And here's what I discovered. The answer is yes.
It's possible to exercise self-interest, but to do it in such a way that no one loses everyone benefits. Key phrase Life was not designed to give us what we need. Life was designed to give us what we deserve. We did not reap a harvest in the fall because we need it. We reap a harvest in the fall because we deserve it. Not necessarily from a moral standpoint. Of course, there are some moral laws as well, spiritual and moral laws, but just the basic laws that simply say if you wish
to reap, you must plant. So jot this down. Reaping is reserved for the planters, and the reason they reap is because they deserve it. They're the planters. They deserve to reap. Interesting Bible phrase. It says if if you keep knocking, you'll find open doors. Good phrase to jot down. If you keep knocking, you'll find open doors. Doors of opportunity. Doors of a chance to meet someone. Doors open for association. Doors open to find someone special. Doors open to find a a unique
business colleague. If you keep knocking the door, the phrase says, doors of opportunity are open to those who continually knock. So we don't find open doors of opportunity because we need them. We find them because we deserve them. Only those who knock deserve to find an open door. But the promise is if you continually knock, you'll find
doors of opportunity. It's as if you search, you will find, so make the note it's good finding is reserved for the searchers because they deserve it now. At first they may have needed it, but they now know that just needing it is not sufficient. But if they need it now, they must qualify for it. The reason why you're going to be blessed with good ideas this weekend is because you've come searching. You've gotten on an airplane to come searching, got on your automobile to come searching.
You got here searching. Now you're ready to receive. And for those who search, they will find answers. They will find plans, imagination to stir yourself into action for future benefit. So if you search to find a good idea, you must go looking and searching. You've got to go to church, you've got to go to class, you've got to go to the seminar, you've got to go to the library, you've got to go to the books if you wish to find. Rarely does a good idea interrupt you.
Rarely. But if you will search, you will find. So we get not what we need, but we get what we deserve. It's just if you ask, someone has an answer. If you keep asking, the answers belong to you, because by virtue of asking you to have qualified. So we don't get what we need, we get what we deserve.
The mother on welfare should be taught in some small manner that hopefully she can begin deserving the welfare check, not getting it because she needs it, but now starting to get it because she deserves it. If the welfare worker says to Mary, Mary, I've brought a bucket of paint and a paintbrush, and the next time I come, if the door is painted and the fence here in front is painted, I give you the check for $450, not the painting the door and painting the fence is
worth $450. It's not worth that much, but it is the beginning of the process. So make that note. I want to begin the process of deserving. What would that be? What process should I begin engaging in To deserve good health, To deserve a good relationship, To deserve prosperity, To deserve an enterprise, to deserve the opportunity to build a city? What must I do to begin the process of deserve?
So now the welfare worker comes back and the door is painted and the fence is painted, and now Mary gets the $450 to help take care of her children, not because she needs it, but because she's beginning to deserve it. Then the welfare worker thinks of some other project.
She said, Mary, if these weeds are gone and this little garden is cultivated, when I come back, now that the door is painted and the fence is painted, if the weeds are gone and this little garden is cultivated, you get the $450. And step by step, a new life is emerging, learning the process of deserving it. Not just needed. We teach our children at home, right? Child says I need $10.00. So that language doesn't work here. There's plenty of money here and
the vaults are full. But to say I need $10 is not how you open the vault. So the child says what? Wow, how can I get that $10 that I need? So here's what they learned to say. How could I earn $10? Now the vault opens up. Now the money starts to flow. How could I earn $10? What could I do to earn the money? Not to get the money because you need it. Maybe you need the money. That's all of us have needs.
But here the key is to figure out how to open the vault, how to open the bank, how to open this unbelievable flow of resources to come our way. And here's the key to deserve it, not to need it. You can't walk out to the field and say to the field, I need a crop. Here's what the field says, here's what the ground says. Who is this clown that brings me his need but brings me no seeds? So jot that down. Take your seed to the
marketplace, not your need. Don't disclose your need to the marketplace, only your willingness. We'll talk about that a little later today because the marketplace is not interested in your need, but they are interested in your seed. They're interested in your willingness to work. They're interested in your disciplines. They're interested in your eagerness. They're interested in your vitality and your work ethic. That's what the marketplace is interested in. Not your need, but your seed.
OK, we get what we deserve. Old Testament, God says if you'll move toward me, I'll move toward you. See, that's that's how you get those occasions to meet God, you must make the move. God could say you don't move, I don't move. You say, well, that's arbitrary. Well, when you're God, you can make it that way. Mastery begins with discipline. If you're ready to sharpen your focus, eliminate distractions, and unlock unstoppable momentum, discover the self-discipline Master Playbook.
It's a practical, no fluff guide trusted by achievers worldwide. Access your edge today and take control of your habits, your time, and your future. Available now. Link in the show notes. So the law says if you wish to receive. Now let's talk about enlightened self-interest. If you wish to receive, and we would call the wish to receive self-interest. But if it's enlightened self-interest, here's what it says. I understand that in order to
receive, I must give. Receiving is reserved for those who give. Receiving is not reserved for those who need it. It's reserved for those who deserve it. We deserve the receiving by giving. In fact, there's an extraordinary phrase in this little context, and here's what it says. It's better to give than it is to receive. Now, the uneducated person would find that difficult to ponder. Why would it be better to give than it is to receive? So let me give you one of the
better phrases for the day. Here it is. Giving starts the receiving process, so of course it's better to give than it is to receive. How much receiving do you wish? You must start the giving process for me to receive my additional fortunes for the future, not necessarily for the money, because I don't need the money. I take the money, but I don't. I don't need the money. But here's what I do need for someone to say a year from now, five years from now.
Mr. Owen, that seminar helped to change my life. And for whatever reason, I was brought here to this place for this time. And later someone says that, see, to receive that kind of thanks, it's unbelievable. Here's what you cannot buy that kind of thanks. You can't buy it with money. You have to earn it.