Chapter 2: Learn & Listen
The first inner secret is captured by L: LEARN & LISTEN. Always remember that the more you learn, the more you earn. The real foundational issue is learning not earning. Over the years, I’ve learned that when people focus on getting the money, they are always broke!
The Bible says that When you set your eyes on [money], it is gone. For wealth certainly makes itself wings like an eagle…” Proverbs 23:5. People who set their eyes on money are usually driven, exhausted, stressed out, and going nowhere. You see and hear them screaming into cell phones, pounding tables, driving like maniacs, and making life miserable for their family and friends and coworkers. It is far better to focus on making a difference in the lives of others. It is changing the lives of others that enables you to earn income.
Leaders are perpetual students. We are always in the classroom of life. A major part of that means the lost art of LISTENING. Leaders know that listening is far more important than speaking. Isn’t it amazing how often our culture seeks out failures and asks them to tell their story? Our news media, universities, movies and novels so often find those who failed and prod them for answers to things like “Tell us what went wrong? How did others fail and disappoint you? How is the system rigged against you? Shouldn’t our government have done more for you?”
Wouldn’t it be better to listen to Champions who have made the journey to their destination of dreams? People who have traversed the oceans, who have encountered the hurricanes, and have made it successfully to the destination and achieved their dreams just might have something of value to say! LISTEN to them.
That’s why I sow at least one hour each day into my personal development. I must LEARN & LISTEN to my teachers and mentors in order to be the right kind of leader. I must diligently listen to them in order to steer the ship through the seas to its destination.