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The late Jim Rohn emphasized the importance of taking responsibility for self-improvement, inspiring people to reach for bigger, better lives. In his classic book, 7 Strategies for Wealth and Happiness, he wrote an essay entitled “The Miracle of Personal Development” in which he explains why working on yourself is a never-ending pursuit:

One day, my mentor Mr. Shoaff said, “Jim if you want to be wealthy and happy, learn this lesson well: Learn to work harder on yourself than you do on your job.”

Since that time, I’ve been working on my own personal development. And I must admit that this has been the most challenging assignment of all. This business of personal development lasts a lifetime.

You see, what you become is far more important than what you get. The important question to ask on the job is not, What am I getting? Instead, you should ask, What am I becoming? Getting and becoming are so closely intertwined: What you become directly influences what you get. Think of it this way: Most of what you have today you have attracted by becoming the person you are today.

Income rarely exceeds personal development. Sometimes income takes a lucky jump, but unless you learn to handle the responsibilities that come with it, it will usually shrink back to the amount you can handle. If someone hands you a million dollars, you’d better hurry up and become a millionaire. A very rich man once said, “If you took all the money in the world and divided it equally among everybody, it would soon be back in the same pockets it was before.” It’s hard to keep that which has not been obtained through personal development.

So here’s the great axiom of life: To have more than you’ve got, become more than you are. This is where you should focus most of your attention. Otherwise, you just might have to contend with the axiom of not changing, which is: Unless you change how you are, you’ll always have what you’ve got.