Today is January 2 and the Navigate the Chaos question is How often are you working on yourself?
People who navigate the chaos like best-selling author Jim Rohn and retired professional football player Emmit Smith understand the value of working on themselves.
Specifically, working on yourself means learning new ideas, developing a skill you seldom or rarely use, or practicing for an upcoming performance.
Rohn’s mentor Earl Shoaff, once said to him, “If you want to be wealthy and happy, learn to work harder on yourself than you do on your job.”
Shoaff’s statement woke Rohn up and he continuously worked hard at his personal growth describing it as “the most challenging assignment of all that lasted a lifetime.”
In a famous television commercial, Smith is filmed doing various exercises. His voiceover says “2 MVPS, 2 rings, I’ve been working hard. Maybe this year I’ll take a little time off.” The voiceover stops and there is quiet as he pauses for two seconds on an incline sit-up bench.
He continues his workout and the voiceover continues. “There that was refreshing. All men are created equal, some just work harder in the preseason.”
Rohn and Smith dedicated substantial time and effort to develop into the person they wanted to be. They understood what author e.e. cummings said when he wrote "it takes courage to grow up and turn out to be who you really are."
Even after winning championships Smith continued to push himself to work harder. Like Rohn, he dedicated himself to personal growth.
In order to achieve high levels of professional success, both men had to demonstrate courage to continually work on developing themselves.
As you go about your day consider asking yourself "How often are you working on yourself?"