My personal development hero was the late Jim Rohn. I remember telling a friend, “I'm going to become a personal development author/speaker after my insurance career.”

“Why?” my friend asked. “Jim has already said it all.” Touché my good man; touché.

I own Jim's entire collection and recommend him to everyone I meet. In fact, I consider it my obligation as a parent to instill in my boys a love for three things: faith, the Great American Songbook and the teaching of Jim Rohn.

One of Jim's great quotes is, “Success is something you attract by the person you become.” He further pointed out that you can't pursue success; saying that whatever you pursue eludes you, like trying to catch butterflies.

As we start 2016 and everyone is talking about resolutions and losing that 10 pounds and smoking that last cigarette, I'll join the fray by asking, “What are you becoming?”

Maybe my radar is sensitive because I have a son in college and there's been much written the last few months about how college campuses seem to be teaching ideas that I simply can't get my head around, but this is a question that all of us would do well to answer clearly for ourselves.

I believe we attract whatever we become—success and failure, good and bad.

Once we unmistakably know who we're becoming, we can stop blaming the economy, the Republicans and Democrats, the commission structure and all the other crap we find to blame. We can simply say, “I attracted that because I became something that attracts that.” In short, you own it. Personal responsibility—ah, that's refreshing!

There's a freedom in it, isn't there? You aren't a victim of the system anymore. The deck isn't stacked against you, not matter what the idiots on television tell you. You simply attract the things that find you attractive.

For example, most of my married male friends say they “married up.” They can tell you all about how they had to take more showers and even use mouthwash that one time because they wanted to be the kind of guy a certain young woman found attractive. Some of them read books and watched movies they wouldn't have on their own because they knew she would find it attractive. They gave up habits. They acquired new ones. In short, they became attractive to the person they wanted to attract.

My hope for you is that 2016 becomes the most successful year you've had because you become the kind of person that attracts that kind of success. While you ponder all that, I'm off to listen to Frank fly me to the moon…

Instant Insights /

The question we should all be asking ourselves

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