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NOVEMBER2009The Seasons of Lifeby Jim RohnLiving in a Season of HopePREPARE FOR THE FUTURE BY LIVING FULLY IN THEPRESENT AND LEARNING FROM THE PASTQUICK OVERVIEWThe life of a farmer cycles through the year, based on the seasons that dictate whenhe plants his crops, tends them and harvests them. In The Seasons of Life, motivationalspeaker and author Jim Rohn uses examples from the farmer’s life to explain that weare in control of the direction our lives take. Spring is the time to enter the “fertilefields of life” with determination, knowledge and commitment, the time to plant orcreate things of value. During the summer, we need to protect growing things. Fallis a time to rejoice in what has grown during summer or to regret that which shouldhave been accomplished. And winter is the time for gratitude and rest, as well asregrouping for the future. Throughout the seasons, Rohn stresses that we reap whatwe sow, for better or for worse, and that adversity makes us stronger.Written by Jim RohnJim Rohn International 1981, 2002, Jim RohnISBN: 9780939490004125 pagesSUCCESS PointsAPPLY AND ACHIEVEThe path to success is an individual journey, and what will lead to one man’ssuccess can doom another to failure. Certain basic truths are integral to any pathone chooses. For example, we are all the sum total of the events, people, thoughts,disappointments, doubts and dreams that we have accumulated in our life. But of thegreatest importance isn’t what happened yesterday; it is what we do with each day.Rohn recommends making the past a servant for the future and allowing it to teachus how to make better decisions. To that end, he urges readers to cast aside sourcesof negativity, including friends, family members and business associates who help tokill hope, ambition and enthusiasm through their negative attitudes. Will that be easy?Of course not, Rohn writes. But it is absolutely necessary to “weed out” the gardenof our lives. Tell the whole painful truth, not a half truth. Eat alone rather than eatwith someone whose conversation is negative. Change the conversation if it degradessomeone. And say no rather than yes to something you don’t want to do. Commityour life to changing things for the better.Page1SUCCESS.comFrom this book youwill learn: The importance of takingresponsibility for yourown success, rather thanblaming circumstances foryour failures Why it’s important todecide if the peoplearound you are the oneswho should stay by yourside as you try to changeyour life That it’s what you do todaythat creates tomorrow How to develop the skill ofdealing with negativitySUCCESS BOOK SUMMARIES

The Seasons of LifeTHE CYCLES AND SEASONSOF LIFEAll of us, whether rich or poor, young or old, educated or notso educated, are the sum total of all of those people and eventsthat have touched us since first entering this world. What weare and what we have, we have slowly brought upon ourselves.Those people and events which have left their mark—whetherfavorable or unfavorable—are now behind us. What happenedeven as recently as yesterday is no longer of any consequence,unless we choose to allow it to be. What is of great importanceis who and what it is that leaves its mark today, and eachday thereafter. What we have been is an established andunchangeable fact. What we can yet become is an unlimited,boundless opportunity. Therefore, do not allow your awarenessof past difficulty or failures to adversely affect your current andfuture possibilities. The greatest value of the past is how wiselywe invest it in the future. Let the past be a servant for makingthe future both more enjoyable and profitable.THE EFFECT OF ENVIRONMENT ONCIRCUMSTANCEWe sometimes can accumulate a mixture of the people andenvironments of life, which, if not altered in some way, willassure that our future will be just about like our past. Each ofus is affected in a negative way by something each day. One of thegreat challenges of life is to have both the wisdom to recognizethose sources of negativity and the courage to cast them aside, ifnecessary. None of us would voluntarily drink a glass of deadlypoison if we knew what it was, and yet each of us has friends,or relatives, or business associates whose effect on us is just asdeadly as the glass of poison. The difference is that one formof poison kills instantly—once consumed, the body recoils,weakens and then all bodily functions cease. Other “poisons” killhopes, ambitions, enthusiasm and the thirst for achievement.There are those who will discourage those in search of abetter occupation, and yet it is essential that each of us findwhat we were “meant to do” if true happiness is to be found.In countless ways, we wander through life allowing people andtheir attitudes and ideas to mold our character—people whoseattitudes and ideas have brought themselves little in the way ofprogress, productivity or happiness.Page2Unpopular as it may seem, each of us accumulates people,customs, attitudes, habits, opinions and philosophies which wevery simply cannot afford to keep—if we seek honestly afteran improved life. If our attitudes, results or happiness is to everimprove, we must exercise the painful discipline required for“weeding out” the garden of our life.Better than many of the wrong friends are a few of the rightfriends. Better than a few of the wrong friends are no friends atall! Life is a delicate maneuver of selection, rejection, reviewand change. Each person entering our world brings either acontribution or destruction. Trying to be “always nice” is toinvite certain disaster. A major challenge in life is for eachperson to learn the art of standing guard at the doorway oftheir mind. The words, opinions and comments of others areconstantly taking their toll on each of us.If humans are ever going to change their personal andfi nancial circumstances from one level up to another, we mustaccept the fact that such progress must consist of “doing” as wellas “un-doing.” Many of the events and people who currentlyinfluence us must be sacrificed. Those sources of doubt, worry,negativity, greed and selfishness must be cut free, for as long asthat influence remains, change will not likely occur. “Undoing”the past is difficult enough by itself even without those who, bytheir conversation, remarks or attitudes keep pulling us backtoward that which we’re trying to leave behind.The value of surrounding yourself with the right friends isimmeasurably awesome. The danger of surrounding yourselfwith the wrong friends can be devastating. Perhaps a goodtheme might be, “Friendship in proportion to the right personalgrowth from that friendship.” And fi nally, be aware that the“right” friends should not be equated to those with the “most”money. It is the attitudes, awareness and other positive humanvirtues of the friends we select that are of importance.THE CONSTANT PATTERNOF CHANGEThe only limitation placed on our abilities is our inabilityto easily recognize our unlimited nature. It is ironic that oneof the few things in this life over which we have total controlis our own attitudes, and yet most of us live our entire lifebehaving as though we had no control whatsoever. Attitudedetermines choice, and choice determines results. All that weSUCCESS.comSUCCESS BOOK SUMMARIES

The Seasons of Lifeare, and all that we can become, has indeed been left unto us.For all of us, the only constant factor in life is our feelingsand attitudes toward life. A major challenge faced by us allis that we learn to experience the changing of life’s cycleswithout being changed by them. To make a constant andconscious effort to improve ourselves in the face of changingcircumstance is to assure a tolerance for the winters of life’sevents and to permit ourselves the full enjoyment of theblessings of life’s harvest come the autumn.The SpringFollowing the turbulence of winter comes the season ofactivity and opportunity called springtime. It is the seasonfor entering the fertile fields of life with seed, knowledge,commitment and a determined effort. It is not a time to linger,nor to ponder the possibility of failure. Foolish is the onewho would allow springtime to pass while dwelling upon thememory of the successful crop of last fall, or the failure toreap last fall in spite of the massive efforts of last spring. Thespringtime of life manifests itself infrequently.With the intelligence, wisdom and freedom of choice givento us as humans, exercise the discipline to plant in spite of therocks, weeds or other obstacles before us. The rocks, weedsand thorns of the world cannot destroy all your seeds if youplant massively enough and intelligently enough.The warmth, the sun and the fertile fields of the springare but part of the formula for achievement; the catalyst thatproduces the final result is intense, honest and consistenthuman effort, and therein lies the problem. As humans, weare given free agency—the right to choose; the right to usediscipline, or not use it; the choice to act with courage, orhuddle in fear; the choice to think, or respond out of habit.Above all, the gift of human intelligence, and the freedom ofchoice that accompanies it, is not a blessing, but a curse, forit allows us to even fool and lie to ourselves, which is the heightof ignorance.It is the promise of spring that as we sow, so shall wealso reap. Sow lies, reap lies; sow greed, reap poverty; sowinactivity, reap an empty storehouse; choose to procrastinate,and surely an infant giant will grow to become a monsterrendering your future action ineffective.Each day is given to us as a new season of spring. Thethoughts, deeds, dreams and efforts of today will providePage3Tips on Changing Your Life Do not spend time regretting the past, but investthat time wisely by preparing a better future. Develop an understanding and awareness of thefact that all good will be attacked. Do not doubt yourself, for where doubt resides,confidence cannot. Smile at adversity, and act quickly to eliminate it. Do not imagine yourself to be less than youare, nor more than you are, but seek always tobecome all of which you are capable. Invest your time in worthy projects, invest yourthoughts toward a worthy occupation, invest youraffection toward a worthy recipient and, finally,invest your greatest respect for yourself. Choose the good in life in all things, and choosethe opportunity as well as the chance to workwhen springtime smiles on your life. Do not allow yourself to become arrogantor discourteous, for both are characteristicsadopted by those who seek to covertheir weaknesses.tomorrow’s harvest. To neglect the opportunity given to usthis day is to delay our better future. Do not use today tomentally relive yesterday or to await the arrival of tomorrow,for tomorrow—when it arrives—will be called today. Therewill be no better day, no better opportunity, no betterspringtime, no better time to begin than the current moment.Seize the moments as you fi nd them and mold them into yourown better future. Today’s procrastination will surely betomorrow’s regret.Life is truly a constant beginning, a constant opportunityand a constant springtime. We need only to learn to lookonce again at life as we did as children, letting fascination andcuriosity give us welcome cause for taking a second look, ratherthan taking for granted. Fortune, happiness and peace of mindawait those who learn to look for the miraculous hidden amongthe common. The unique blending of sun, soil and seed at theSUCCESS.comSUCCESS BOOK SUMMARIES