Solomon Success #24 – Leaders Work Hard; Slaves are Lazy

Jason Hartman talks with Jim Collins, a Pastor, Motivational Speaker, Businessman and Author, he is the Founder of Beyond Positive Thinking Ministries and the Pastor of Victory in Christ International in Jupiter, Florida.

Ten leadership success principles with you that will help you both in your personal life and in your business life. As I share each one, I’m going to give you an inspiring quote that applies to each principle; I’m going to give you a wisdom nugget from the richest man who ever lived; and we’re also going to have some fill-ins to keep the presentation exciting and fast moving. Ready for your first leadership success principle?

The first principle for success in leadership comes in the form of a definition of life. Here’s the best definition of life I’ve ever heard:

1. Life is opportunity mixed with adversity.

I can tell you exactly what your life is going to be like over the next 1, 3, 5, and 10 years. The one thing that’s a given in your life is this: Your life is going to include some opportunity, and your life is going to include some adversity; therefore, if you want to be a successful leader you’re going to have to maintain a “never-give-up” attitude.

Successful leaders know that opportunity mixed with adversity is a call for perseverance. Perseverance includes persistence and determination. Calvin Coolidge, 30th President of the United States said this:

“Press on. Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent.”

Question: How long should we give a baby to learn how to walk? After all, every fall is an adversity. Maybe after the third fall we should say, “Just stay down there.” No. How long should a baby take to learn how to walk? “Until” the baby walks. Great leaders possess an “until” mindset.

American inventor Thomas Edison had an “until” mindset. After failing at 10,000 experiments, he said, “I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work. ”
“Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.” –Thomas Edison

Leaders never quit.
Our first wisdom nugget comes from:
Proverbs 24:10 (NKJV)
If you faint in the day of adversity, your strength is small.

The first leadership success principle is “Life is Opportunity mixed with Adversity.”

2. The Paradox of Time: Nobody ever seems to have enough, but everybody has all there is.

Every single person alive today has one thing in common – 24 hours in a day. The rich and the poor both have 24 hours a day; the well and the sick both have 24 hours a day. See folks, time levels the playing field, doesn’t it? And because everybody has the same amount of time, you can no longer use the excuse “I don’t have the time,” because everybody has all the time there is.

Leaders take responsibility for their lives while others are making excuses.

“The price of greatness is responsibility.” –Winston Churchill

Proverbs 14:8 (NIV)
The wisdom of the prudent is to give thought to their ways, but the folly of fools is deception.

3. Success isn’t measured by how well you do compared to how well others do, but how well you do compared to how well you could have done.

Far too many people spend their time comparing themselves to other people and worrying too much about what other people think about them.

Be yourself – pursue your dream. Many people live their lives with the attitude: “I’m not who I think I am. I’m not who you think I am. I’m who I think you think I am.” Instead, focus on what God has called you to do, and then become excellent at it.

If you’re going to be a successful leader, the first person you have to lead is yourself, and leading yourself starts with believing in your own potential. People will find it much easier to believe in you if you first believe in yourself.

Here’s a story that everyone can relate to that exemplifies that: (Charlie Brown story – page 143)

Leaders believe in their own potential.

Former President Harry Truman said: “You cannot lead others until you first lead yourself.”

Identify your unique talents, work hard on developing them, and never quit.
You’ll be rewarded in life to the extent that you become excellent at what God has called you to do, not by comparing yourself to others, or worse, worrying about what other people think about you. Successful leaders work hard on themselves and they work hard on what God has called them to do.
Proverbs 22:29 (NKJV)

Do you see a man who excels in his work? He will stand before kings; He will not stand before unknown men.

4. Luck occurs when preparedness meets opportunity.

Abraham Lincoln said, “I will study and prepare myself and someday my time will come.”

John F. Kennedy said: “Leadership and learning are indispensable of each other.”

One way we can prepare is by learning from our mistakes. They asked Tom Watson, founder of IBM, how he doubled his success rate and he answered, “I doubled my failure rate.” Successful leaders see failures as simply rungs on the ladder to success, but they use their mistakes as an opportunity to learn something.

Another way we can learn is more proactive. The late Charlie “Tremendous” Jones said: “You’ll be the same person in five years as you are today except for the people you meet and the books you read.”

It’s been said that 70% of college graduates never read another non-fiction book the rest of their lives. Statistics tell us that only 3% of Americans have library cards. Help me with your next fill-in. Leaders are…

Leaders are readers.
Proverbs 1:5 (NKJV)
A wise man will hear and increase learning, and a man of understanding will attain wise counsel.

5. Discipline weighs ounces, regret weighs tons.

Discipline says: “I’ll do what I know I should do, when I should do it, whether I like it or not, whether I feel like it or not.” Regret looks back on life and says: “I did what was fun and easy instead of what was hard and necessary.”

Leaders finish their assignments.
You can be a finisher in life by completing the work that God has called you to do. Give your life 100% of your efforts. When you work – work; when you play – play.

Well known writer and author Mark Twain said:
“Make it a point to do something everyday that you don’t want to do. This is the golden rule for acquiring the habit of doing your duty without pain.” – Mark Twain
Proverbs 12:24 (NLT)
Work hard and become a leader; be lazy and become a slave.

6. We become what we think about.

Question: Why do we become what we think about? Answer: Because thoughts produce words, and thoughts and words produce actions, and your thoughts, words, and actions determine the way your life turns out. Say it after me: “My thoughts, words, and actions… my life turns out.”
“Change your thoughts and you change your world.” – Norman Vincent Peale

Introduction: Welcome to the Solomon Success Show, where we explore the timeless wisdom of King Solomon and the Bible as it relates to business and investing. False profits and get-rick-quick schemes are everywhere. Let’s not get distracted by these. Instead, let’s go to the source: the eternal principles that create a life of peace, power, and prosperity. Here’s our host, Jason Hartman.

Jason Hartman: Welcome to the Solomon Success Show. This is your host, Jason Hartman, where we talk about Biblical principles applied to business and investing, learning from King Solomon, of course. And we will be back with fantastic guests for you in just a moment here. But be sure to visit our website solomonsuccess.org or solomonsuccess.com. Take advantage of our extensive blog library and our free content. I think you’ll find some fantastic things there. So be sure to visit us on the web at solomonsuccess.com.

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Jason Hartman: It’s my pleasure to welcome Jim Collins to the show today. He has got some fantastic material on principles of success in leadership as it applies to business and just your personal life and making improvements and big strides in every area. Jim is coming to us from Florida today, and it’s great to have you on, Jim. Welcome.

Jim Collins: Thanks so much, Jason. Great to be here.

Jason Hartman: Well, tell us about kind of your background if you would and how you came to develop The Ten Success Principles for Leadership.

Jim Collins: Jason, I’m a pastor and a motivational speaker, and I wrote a book called Beyond Positive Thinking: Success and Motivation Scriptures. My rewrite is soon to be republished, and I focus on success and motivation scriptures, and these ten principles for success and leadership simply come from two places. One, my years of experience and life and business and also my wife as a pastor, my experiences as a pastor. And then also, they come from the Bible and specifically, the writings of King Solomon, the richest man who ever lived.

Jason Hartman: Well, that is excellent. And we want to learn as much as we can from Solomon. Thus, the reason for the show. So we’re glad to have you. And I’ve just got to ask as a side here, tell how we happen to connect with you because it’s an interesting story. Our marketing manager Britney met you on her honeymoon and your honeymoon, so you’re both recently married, and congratulations to you. That’s fantastic.

Jim Collins: Thank you so much.

Jason Hartman: Tell us a little bit about The Ten Principles if you would. The first one you say, “Life is an opportunity mixed with adversity.” And you know, Jim, nowadays, there is a lot of adversity out there in the world. With the economy– We live in a pretty uncertain world nowadays. How is opportunity mixed with adversity?

Jim Collins: First off, Jason, these ten principles, I don’t know that I can say that I originated them. “Life is opportunity mixed with adversity.” I don’t know if you’re familiar with the writings of Jim Rohn?

Jason Hartman: Oh, sure. Jim Rohn. I’m a huge fan. He recently passed away just maybe seven months ago.

Jim Collins: Yes. Yes, he did. He was– He was quoted by many people as America’s foremost business philosopher, and that’s where I got this first leadership success principle from. Jim Rohn said that. “Life is opportunity mixed with adversity.” And I can probably tell you and everybody else that I come in contact with. What your life is got to be, kind of like in the next one, three, five, and ten years, your life is got to include some opportunity, and your life is got to include some adversity. Therefore you know every successful leader has learned how to adopt and maintain a never-give-up attitude.

Jason Hartman: Yeah, you know. That’s like Calvin Coolidge quote. “Press on.” Everybody passes that one around, and it so true. And what do people need to do though, Jim, when things are looking down, and the challenges are just mounting and mounting and mounting in one’s life in order to just constantly understand that adversity is almost a gift in some way, isn’t it?

Jim Collins: It is. I like to phrase that. There’s no growth without adversity. It’s only when adversity comes do we have the challenge to grow and become more than we already are. And as a pastor, faith is very important to me, and faith is something that I share with people all the time. And I got two phone calls even earlier today, and two people are going through economic challenges right now. And I prayed with them. And after just sharing a little bit of wisdom with them from the Bible, I prayed with them and said, “Let’s just believe that God is always doing something in our lives that we cannot always see.” And I said, “Let’s just believe.”
So, to more specifically answer your question “What do we do when especially in times of economic adversity and when economic adversity challenges us?” And I’ve got to say, “We got to keep the faith!” I know that sounds simple, but we got to keep the faith because something bigger in our life than what we can see, than what we can feel, than what’s going on in the realm of our five physical senses. And we really need to embrace what the apostle Paul said in second Corinthians 5:7. “We live by faith not by sight, not solely by what we can see, and not solely by how we feel.” So that’s how I would more specifically answer that.

Jason Hartman: Absolutely. And you know, when you have that faith to pull through adversities, and you gain perspective as some time goes by, and you look back on those adversities, don’t they always seem much smaller, looking back on them, and how people grow and become bigger people by overcoming those adversities? They’re just not usually as big as they seemed at the time when you gain some perspective with time. And I know your next point is the paradox of time, so I think it leads in very well to that.

Jim Collins: It does, and you know I have a question on the leadership success principle. Number one: How long should we give a baby to learn how to walk? And the key word there is learn. And that’s the key. With every adversity, there’s an opportunity to learn. I’m right now wanting to start my pre-publication promotion for my new book, and there’s some things I want to do that I don’t know how to do. There’s some things that I’ve tried; they haven’t worked. Well, what am I got to do? Give up? Of course not. You know like the baby that’s learning how to walk, we keep pressing on until. How long do we give a baby to walk? Until the baby walks. How long should I take to keep trying to learn how to promote and make my new book a bestseller? Until my book becomes a bestseller. So great leaders do possess an “until mindset”.

Jason Hartman: Very good. That’s excellent. I love that. Nowadays we are so distracted in our culture, and there’s so many things going on. And everybody seems to say, “I’m too busy.”, “I don’t have enough time.”, and I know that throughout my life, I have struggled with time dramatically– using it well, being a good steward of time, and making sure to put it to its best use and understanding really that everybody has the same 24 hours a day. Tell us about the concept of “Nobody ever seems to have enough of it, but everybody has all there is.”

Jim Collins: Well, it’s interesting because time does let level the playing field, doesn’t it, Jason?

Jason Hartman: It sure does. It doesn’t matter how successful one is. Yeah, we’ve all got the same amount of time in our bank account, don’t we?

Jim Collins: We sure do. And you know, the rich and the poor both have 24 hours in a day, best selling author has 24 hours in a day, a bestselling author has 24 hours in a day. And I have 24 hours in a day, who is not a bestselling author yet, but hope to be in the future. So, as we just continue, remember and embrace that philosophy that I call “the paradox of time”. Nobody ever seems to have enough, but everybody has all there is. We come back to one of the most important success principles: Leaders take responsibility for their lives while others are making excuses. So we can no longer use this excuse: “I don’t have the time”. Because we all have all the time there is.

Jason Hartman: What else does the Bible tell us about time?

Jim Collins: Well in Ephesians Chapter 5, the apostle Paul tells us that we should make the most of every opportunity. And I think that’s so important. And we should make the most of every opportunity. And what’s really interesting when we talk about the Bible and time is it’s interesting that not until God created the heavens and the earth, did time even come into being. I tell people all the time that there’s no time or distance in the spiritual level. In the unseen realm. In the realm of the eternal. There’s no time or distance. Only when God created the heavens and the earth did time built into a fact. I said so there has to be a purpose for our lives here on the earth when it comes to time. God obviously wants us to use our time wisely. And I think Solomon in Proverbs 14 and verse 8, he said, “The wisdom of the prudent to give thought to their ways, but the folly of fools is deception.” We have to give consideration to our time because it’s so important, and God wants us to be good stewards of our time while we’re here on the earth. Otherwise he wouldn’t have created the earth so that we could have a place to realize our God-given dreams. So that’s my thought on that.

Jason Hartman: Very good thoughts. As people, we tend to have this sort of natural ingrained thing that we do, and it is the comparison. Maybe the curse of comparison, almost. Where we’re constantly evaluating how our life is going compared to other people and the concept of keeping up with the Joneses, etc. But racehorses run the race with blinders on, and they don’t look at the other horses. They run the fastest race they can, do the best they can, and they don’t worry about the other horses. They have that sort of single-minded focus on just doing their best. What can we learn about comparison?

Jim Collins: Well, I think we can. What we can learn from comparison is contained right in the question. We can learn from it. We can learn from it. But I think there’s two aspects to comparison. And first, let me just quote our third leadership success principle. “Success isn’t measured by how well you do compared to how well others do, but how well you do compared to how well you could have done.” And I like to say it this way: Success is measured by how well you do compared to how well God thinks you could be doing. And I think that’s really, really important because when we live our lives to please God, then comparing ourselves with other people now really take some backseat. And I think there’s two aspects to comparison. Number one is far too many people spend their time comparing themselves to other people, but here’s what’s even worse. Far too many people worry about what other people think about them. And I like this, it’s kinda funny. People don’t really care about you that much. When you say, “I’m so hung up. I’m worried about what other people will think of me.” Well, I don’t think people are thinking of you as much as you think they are.”

Jason Hartman: Right. They’re thinking about themselves most of the time.

Jim Collins: It’s helped me so much because people, we just don’t have to worry about what other people think of us. Certainly we want to be respectful of other people, and we want to learn from other people, but we don’t want to compare ourselves to other people and we certainly don’t want to copy other people. I remember when I first started in the ministry. I said, “Okay, let me find the most successful ministries, and let me just do what they’re doing.” I mean that’s a great success principle. It’s find people who are successful doing what you want to do, and do what they’re doing. True. That is a great success principle. But let’s not copy them. Let’s learn from what they’re doing. And let’s adapt the successful things that they’re doing to our own lives with this hope: Let’s do and let’s become the best that we can be. And let’s do what God thinks we should do and what He’s called us to do. I like to tell people: Pursue your own dream. I like this attitude. I’d say many people live their lives with this attitude: I’m not who I think I am. I’m not who you think I am. I’m who I think you think I am. And I say, instead of living with that attitude “I’m who I think you think I am”, let’s instead focus on what God has called us to do, and then let’s become excellent at it.

Jason Hartman: When God truly knows our potential, too. When we get out of the comparison game, and we’re looking towards fulfilling our own best potential, we are pleasing God.

Jim Collins: Absolutely. Absolutely. No question about it. And to become a successful leader, the first person you have to lead is yourself, and part of leading yourself, Jason, of course, is believing in your own potential. And we both know that when it comes to confidence, people will find it much easier to believe in us if we first believe in ourselves. So leaders do believe in their own potential.

Jason Hartman: No question about it. One of the great quotes that Earl Nightingale and Denis Waitley have used over the years, and I don’t know if Jim Rohn exactly uses it, but, “Luck is what happens when preparedness meets opportunity.” In your fourth rule, it’s similar to that. Tell us about luck and preparedness and opportunity and how you kinda create your own luck.

Jim Collins: Oh, I first heard that phrase from, in a Zig Ziglar presentation when he said, “Luck occurs when preparedness meets opportunity.” And I heard it in a Zig Ziglar presentation at a network marketing opportunity meeting. And basically I think what that means is that we can prepare ourselves for the opportunities that God brings into our lives. And I like to replace the word “luck” with the word “success”. So it reads, “Success occurs when preparedness meets opportunity.” We’ve all heard people say this about other people, “So-and-so is so lucky. They get all the breaks.” But we don’t realize the blood, sweat, and tears, for lack of a better phrase, that those people went through and put into the success that they’re now enjoying. We don’t see all the hours of study and preparation that they went though in order to be prepared for the opportunity that came along their way. And now we see someone who’s successful in business, successful financially, and we think, “Uh, they got so lucky.” Well, maybe they got lucky, but I think a more accurate assessment of their success is they were prepared when the opportunity came knocking at their door.

Jason Hartman: The unprepared will only look foolish when opportunity comes. Everybody has opportunities. Life is filled with opportunities, but those who seize the opportunities are those who are prepared and ready when that opportunity comes, right?

Jim Collins: I agree. It’s so important. And one of the way– I like what Abraham Lincoln said, “I will study and prepare myself, and someday my time will come.” John F. Kennedy said, “Leadership and learning are indispensable of each other.” And one way we can prepare is by learning from our mistakes. And they asked Tom Watson, founder of IBM, how he doubled his success rate, and he answered, “I doubled my failure rate.” And I like to say that successful leaders see failures as simply rungs on the ladder to success, but they use their mistakes as an opportunity to learn something. One writer put it is this way, “Failure is the cost of learning to do something right. It is the key to success.” And I like that.

Jason Hartman: In every failure, at least a failure in the right direction, your failing forward is one more obstacle out of the way and one step closer to that success we all seek. Jim Rohn also said– he’s such a great thinker of our time– “The pain of discipline weighs ounces. The pain of regret weighs tons.” Tell us more about that.

Jim Collins: Well, discipline says, “I’ll do what I know I should do when I should do it, whether I like it or not, whether I feel like it or not.” Regret looks back on life and says, “I did what was fun and easy instead of what was hard and necessary.” And leaders finish their assignment. I think that’s so important. Leaders finish their assignment and really when we talk about that phrase, “Discipline weighs ounces; regret weighs tons.”, we’re really talking about overcoming procrastination.

Jason Hartman: Procrastination is a tough one for a lot of people. And I know that, someone gave me a book on procrastination, and I decided to read it later. That’s a joke.

Jim Collins: I hear that.

Jason Hartman: Yeah. Are there any other techniques or thoughts that you have on overcoming procrastination?

Jim Collins: I think the number one thing is just to do it. When we don’t feel like doing something, if we just do it. I like the phrase “Action cures fear.” When we postpone things, when we procrastinate doing things, I think one of the reasons we do it is we fear. We fear that maybe it’s got to be a waste of time. We fear that maybe something that we’re doing is not going to work. But the only way we can actually discover what’s going to work, what’s not got to work, what’s going to be perhaps a waste of our time, or I should say a better use of our time is if we just start doing stuff. And I think that it’s so important that action does cure fear. And I like to say that a person can be a finisher in life by focusing on the work that God has called them to do. If God has called you to do something, and you want to do something, whether it’s investing, whether it’s a business endeavor, and you feel that, you know, “Something in me says this is something what I’m meant to do at this time in my life.” Then I say this, Jason, give it 100% of your efforts. Mark Twain said, “Make it a point to do something everyday that you don’t want to do.” This is the golden rule for acquiring the habit of doing your duty without pain. And Proverbs 12 and verse 24 says, “Work hard and become a leader; be lazy and become a slave.” One thing that tells me to other procrastination habits was reading that Proverb over and over. “Work hard, and become a leader; be lazy and become a slave.” I’m like, “I don’t want to be a slave, so I’m not got to be lazy. I’m got to do what I know I should do when I should do it, whether I like it or not, whether I feel like it or not.”

Jason Hartman: Proverbs has some great advice there. And to go back to the way Jim Rohn would almost put that, I almost think he was inspired by Proverbs 12:24 on that because he says, “If you don’t have a plan, you’ll be part of someone else’s plan.” And that’s really what leadership is about. It’s having your own vision, your own plan, and knowing what you want to create in your life, and going out and doing it with discipline, and then you will never have to fit into someone else’s plan, right?

Jim Collins: I agree. And you know, when you talk about these first 5 principles for success only the stuff we talked about so far, they all tie in together because if I’m just going to do what someone else has done, or I’m just got to do what somebody else tells me to do, then I’m not got to have a whole lot of adversity. I’m not got to have a whole lot of obstacles to overcome. I’m not got to have to proactively prepare to do something. I’m not got to have to exercise discipline. Why? Because it’s not my plan. It’s not my idea. But if we really want to be leaders, and be in the forefront of life, and we want to develop things, we want to invest things, we want to be creative, then you know what? Adversity is just part of the game. Being prepared and taken the discipline, time to read and study and research and pursue the knowledge, that’s just what it’s got to take. If I’m got to do something that has never been done, well, obviously I’m got to have some failures. Obviously I’m got to have to be proactive in learning from those failures. Why? It’s never been done before. And one thing that keeps us going is our thoughts, our words, and our actions. And we have to just stay focused on what God has called us to do. And I think this is so important– really focus on becoming excellent at what God has called us to do.

Jason Hartman: Virtually. I don’t want to say “every” because I’m not sure, but I think every book on faith and every book on success probably that has ever been written talks about the power of our thoughts and how we really become what we think about from the Bible to James Allen to Earl Nightingale to all of the rest. It’s so important to understand that we are creating our world through our thoughts. What do you have to say about that? I mean I know you’ve got a great quote from Norman Vincent Peale, and I was a big fan of his work as well. Thoughts make all the difference. They really lead to reality, don’t they?

Jim Collins: They sure do. And Norman Vincent Peale, the author of The Power of Positive Thinking said, “Change your thoughts, and you change your world.” King Solomon, the richest man who ever lived said in Proverbs 23:7, “For as he thinks in his heart, so is he.” So why do we become what we think about? As James Allen said in As a Man Thinketh and of course Earl Nightingale who you alluded to earlier. He said the same thing. “We become what we think about.” Well, why is that? Here’s the answer. Our thoughts produce words. And our thoughts and words produce actions. And our thoughts, words, and actions determine the way our lives turn out. And that’s so important because number one, it’s common sense. It’s common sense. My thoughts, words, and actions determine the way my life turns out. Oh, well Jim, can you tell me something a little bit more profound? No, that’s about as profound as it gets. Your thoughts, your words, they dictate what you’re going to do. And what you do, the way you act, determines, you know, what’s got to happen in3 your life. That’s what produces results in your life is what you do. The way you act.

Jason Hartman: No question about it. That is so, so important. And Proverbs 23:7, do you want to read that? It’s so true, and it’s so great. “For as he thinks in his heart, so is he.” Just brilliant. Absolutely. We’ll be back in just a minute.

Female: Have you listened to the Creating Wealth series? I mean from the beginning. If not, you can go ahead and get book 1 that shows 1 through 20 in digital download. These are advance strategies for wealth creation. For more information, go to jasonhartman.com.

Jason Hartman: How can we do a better job of appreciating people and letting people know that we care, so that we’re coming from the right, from the right angle , from the right position, from the right– just from the right focus, when we’re dealing with people in leadership roles?

Jim Collins: Well, leadership success principle number seven: People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care. That’s so true, innit? It doesn’t just apply to our business lives, but applies to our personal lives as well. And leaders do appreciate people. And there’s been many studies done. A recent management study reveals that 46% of employees leaving their companies do so because they feel unappreciated. 61% said that their bosses don’t place much importance on them as people. And 88% said that they don’t receive acknowledgment for the work they do. And that’s so important because it’s got to take associating with people to do what we want to do. And I want to say it in a little bit different way. And the way I want to say it is this: I believe God brings people into our lives for two reasons. Number one, so we can be a blessing to them. And number two, so they can be a blessing to us. When we apply that over to our businesses to our ministries, to our finances, this type of thing, and again, it’s very, very obvious. We’re probably not got to be successful alone. We need people to come alongside of us to help us certainly for our business. If our business is buying and selling, someone’s got to sell something, and somebody’s got to buy something. Again, people are involved. And I think a great attitude to adopt when it comes to really appreciating people and caring about people is to be thankful for them. One of the biggest challenges in our businesses, in our personal lives, in our families is we tend to take the people closest to us for granted. And that’s so important. And one of the reasons we can guard against that is by being thankful for the people that God has brought into our lives. And the more we’re thankful for the people in our lives, the more reasons we have to be thankful for them.

So, I think, Jason when we talk about leaders appreciating people, leaders caring about people, I think we’re talking about first, we’re talking about thanksgiving. Being thankful. Second, we’re talking about not taking people for granted. We don’t take our employees for granted, but we see them everyday, and the tendency is that, “Oh they’re just got to be here. They’re here everyday. I see them everyday. Hey, do this, do this, do this!” But when do we take the time to say, “You know I really appreciate what you’ve done here in this company to really help with the success of this company. And we want you to know that we really do appreciate you.” So I think just being mindful and being aware to communicate to those people on a regular basis who are close to us, “Hey, I care about you. I appreciate you.” I think it’s as simple as that, Jason.

Jason Hartman: And I think that can go miles and really make more of a difference than possibly almost anything else we do. It is so important. You’re absolutely right. There’s been a big movement over the last 10, 15 years, for people to use their name and personally brand themselves. And the reason I kinda mentioned that personal branding thing is because I actually published a book on that subject about 10 years ago. And it’s so important that our name carry a good reputation. What do you have to say about helping to assure that we have a good name, if you will?

Jim Collins: Well, leadership success principle number 8 comes in the form of a question: What reputation does your name carry? What do people think of when they hear the mention of your name? Every person’s name that we hear, we immediately have a thought that we associate with that person’s name. So I like to ask, I like to challenge people with questions such as these: Are you a person of integrity? Can you be trusted? Are you punctual? Are you a person of your word? And leaders keep their word. And that’s so important. Leaders keep their word. And they not only keep their word. They’re mindful to conduct themselves with integrity. They’re mindful to conduct themselves ethically. They know that they can be trusted. You know, I like this phrase, Jason. You’ve probably heard it. “If you’ve got something that really needs to be done, give it to a busy person.” And you know at first, when we first hear that we say, “Well, why would I give something that needs to be done to a busy person? They’re probably not got to do it.” No. They probably are got to do it. And why? It’s not because they’re so busy that they’re got to get it done. It’s because they are person of their word. They’re somebody you ask them to do something, they’re got to say yes. And when they say yes, their yes is yes. Their no is no. I think a great success principle is if you can’t do something for someone, very politely just say no. I can’t do it. You know I was guilty of that for a long time. You know, as a pastor, you know, people would call, and I thought that I just had to take every single call, I had to pray with every single person that called me, and I had to do every single, I had to fulfill every single request that people asked me. Well, my hair got gray, gray, gray when I was living that way. And I learned the hard way that it’s okay to say no. It’s okay no. And do what you say you’re got to do, and that’s got to go a long way. And I like to say this too, Jason, about when we talk about what reputation does your name carry, each year, each, really, each day, each week, each month, each year because the years, you know the years come from an addition of days, weeks, and months. But each year, we build a reputation. And as we’re building this good reputation, it takes years to build a good reputation, but it only takes only one untruthful word or deed to destroy it. And if we apply it over to our businesses and our investings, what about in your business, what about in your work, about your new job? Each job is like a signature, and a person’s name is only as good as the quality of work they do. So not only we’re talking about let your “yes” be “yes”, and your “no”, “no”. But it’s been said that a person’s character is the real foundation of all worthwhile success. And Solomon put it so beautifully in Proverbs 22:1 when he said, “A good name is more desirable than great riches. To be esteemed is better than silver or gold.” And if someone wants to use their name, has a brand, and they want to develop their name into a brand, then nothing is more important than being mindful to develop and keep a good reputation.

Jason Hartman: You could not be more right. That is the most important principle. And just a thought on the saying “no”. Denis Waitley taught me that, well, many years ago. He said, “Say ‘no’ as if it means ‘Yes, you’re already committed to something else.'” Because we can’t do everything. None of us can do that. And we’ve got to set boundaries, and saying no allows us to deliver on our other promises many times. So it is very important to pick and choose, and instead of just saying “yes” or not really committing, leaving the other person thinking we’re going to be able to deliver on something. And then we disappoint them later. It’s better to say “no”. It’s as if it means “Yes, we’re already committed.” And on the side of what you say of people who keep their word, this is one of the big things I see in the investment side of the business. Investors who deliver, investors who close deals, those are the people that get the best deals because the network in the industry calls them because they know that they can deliver. And they know that they can fulfill the promise when they say, “I’m going to purchase this property.” They will make sure that happens. And they will keep their word. And people know they can depend on them. So that is the source they go to for the best deals because they know they can do it.

Jim Collins: Absolutely. If someone just, and what you’re talking about right now, you know, if say, somebody does come to me and they say, “Jim, I’ve got this money to invest, and I want to put it in one of your investments.” I say put it in investment, and let’s say that doesn’t work out. You know what of the most important things, Jason, I think, is to be real with people. And one of the ways that we can do that is we can simply say, “I’m sorry. I made a mistake.” I think people, I think the human link in business, it’s been washed in part. Not totally, but in parts. People want to know that they’re dealing with somebody who’s real. Who’s just a human being like they are. And you know that person makes that investment and maybe it doesn’t work out. They’d want to come back to that person if they know that that person is sincere and genuine.

Jason Hartman: I couldn’t agree with you more. You know there’s an old funny saying, Jim, and it’s sort of a glib, but it says, “Success comes in cans; failure comes in can’ts.” And that really ties in with your principle number nine.

Jim Collins: It sure does. I like what Henry Ford said. “If you think you can, you can. And if you think you can’t, you’re right. Whether you think you can or can’t, you’re right.” I like this little story. As children we’re told that there’s some four-letter word that we just shouldn’t say, and I want to encourage adults to treat the word “can’t” as one of those four-letter words. Not only adults but children as well.

Jason Hartman: Great advice. I love that.

Jim Collins: Yeah. Leaders maintain a positive attitude. That’s what we’re really talking about here. Leaders maintain a positive attitude. You know there’s so many different situations that occurred over the last hundred years, you know. I think it was, I forget what company it was, but it was one of the big computer manufacturing, I think, maybe 40 or 50 years ago. And they said, “There will never be a need for a computer in somebody’s home.” Well, you know, everybody has a personal computer today. And there’s things that are happening in our lives today so quickly that “cant” really shouldn’t be treated as a four-letter word because possibilities are endless, with technology, the way it is, and things happening at the rate that’s happening– Who would’ve thought, you know, hundreds years ago that we’d be doing some of the things that we’re doing today. Nobody. So leaders maintain a positive attitude.

Jason Hartman: When you wrap all of this up, Jim, it’s really all about the journey, isn’t it? More than the destination. Success is sort of that daily, progression of keeping your word, maintaining a positive attitude, all the things we’ve discussed. How would you wrap this whole thing up in principle number ten?

Jim Collins: Well, I agree, Jason. Success is at the end of the journey, but the journey itself, and I like to say that people, especially you know, successful people that are driven people like yourself, like myself, sometimes we just have to slow down a little. I find myself– you know I really enjoy the journey a little bit more at times. Life is too short not to take time to stop and stop and smell the roses, so to speak. I just want to reiterate something I said earlier. God is always doing something in your life that you cannot see. God is always doing something in my life that I cannot see. And that is all the reason more to enjoy the journey, to take in every moment.
And it is leadership success principle number ten. Success is at the end of the journey, but the journey itself. It is kind of a beautiful summation of the other nine success principles. Solomon said this in Ecclesiastes 3:12, “I know the best thing we can do is to always enjoy life.” And leaders, enjoy life. When I speak to students, I always tell them, “You’ll only be in the grade you’re in right now once, therefore, enjoy every minute of it.” And I say to you, people listening, “You’ll only be where you are right now in life once; enjoy every minute of it.” And know this, Jesus said in John 10:10 that he came to be here so that we could have and enjoy life and have it in abundance to the full ’til it overflows. While we make a decision to enjoy our lives, to enjoy the journey, we’re agreeing with God’s will for our lives.

Jason Hartman: Well that is a fantastic insight. No question about it. Hey, where can people find and get the book?

Jim Collins: They can go to beyondpositivethinking.org. www.beyondpositivethinking.org.

Jason Hartman: Excellent. Well, Jim Collins, thank you so much for joining us today and sharing these ten principles for success and leadership. They’re very applicable to every area of life. And we just appreciate having you on The Solomon Success Show. Thank you.

Jim Collins: Well, thank you, Jason, and you’re welcome. And I look forward to talking with you again soon.

Female: Jason provides an extremely unique service, deal evaluator. Are you interested in a property outside of our network? Need a second opinion? No problem. Let our experts evaluate the deal. Find out more about it at jasonhartman.com.

This show is produced by The Hartman Media Company. All rights reserved. For distribution or publication rights and media interviews, please visit www.hartmanmedia.com or email [email protected]. Nothing on this show should be considered specific, personal, or professional advice. Please consult an appropriate tax, legal, real estate, or business professional for individualized advice. Opinions of guests are their own, and the host is acting on behalf of Empowered Investor Network, Inc. exclusively. (Top image: Flickr | USAG-Humphries)

The Solomon Success Team

Transcribed by: Renee