Success is Rented and the Rent is Due Every Day with Rory Vaden

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Today we are joined by New York Times Best-Selling Author and Co-Founder of Southwestern Consulting, Rory Vaden. Rory is all things awesome and I’ve really been learning a lot from him lately. Rory has a great blog, nationally syndicated radio show, and is a world-class speaker.

In short, Rory helps people do the things they know they should be doing, even when they don’t want to do them.

Rory, what is your response when you hear the word, rich?

“I heard Alan Weiss say, ‘Wealth is discretionary time.’ I think that’s a cool concept, but I don’t think that’s the ultimate goal. To me, being rich is having confidence that you have served those around you. I have yet to find a feeling more abundant than the feeling of helping someone else achieve their best.”

How has a broken moment shaped your life?

“In college, I worked with Southwestern Advantage as a door-to-door salesman. I did that for five summers and knocked on more than 20,000 doors. On my nineteenth birthday, I knocked on a door and I was made fun of, then, at the next door, I was yelled at by another man.

I sat on the curb, completely defeated. It was at that moment when I felt like a failure.

In that moment, I said, ‘God, I quit. If you want me to finish this, you’re going to have to give me the strength.’ That was when I died and I invited God to take over.

Shortly after, I joined Toastmasters and competed in the World Championships of Public Speaking. For two years, I spoke 304 times, studied countless video, and truly learned the craft. In consecutive years, I made the top ten in the world, but was defeated both years. I was devastated.

I learned that, often, God leads us down a path to prepare us for who He would have us become.

Faith is choosing to trust that what is happening to us now is preparing us for a greater moment later on. There is a plan. You do the best you can and let Him do the rest.”

Rory, expand on this concept of investing in others.

“There’s not much to it. Someday, we will all disappear. The idea of living a significant life is living in a way that we’re impacting the future. Zig Ziglar found me after the World Championship and he mentored me. The feeling of being poured into and pouring into others is unparalleled.”

What would you say to someone who doubts that they can invest in others.

“A book is not what causes you to help people. A book is what you’ve learned from helping people and it helps you multiply your influence.”

Tell us about gratitude.

“You are consciously choosing to be grateful for what you do have or you’re unconsciously stressing and worrying about the things you don’t have. It’s really dangerous to let these thoughts creep in because you start comparing yourself to other people. Comparison is not only the thief of joy, it is the creator of mediocrity. When you compare, you stop looking at your potential and focus on someone else’s metric.

When I roll into heaven, I want to know I left it all out there. I certainly want to say that I was thankful for all of my gifts.

The real litmus test for gratitude is living life to the fullest. I start every day with the choice to say, ‘Thank you.'”

How do confidence and humility walk a line in your life?

“I’ve never been asked that question. To me, confidence is knowing that you’ve been given greatness. Literally, if you believe in Jesus, the Spirit lives in you. Even in a professional sense, you have greatness inside of you. Humility is understanding that it can all be taken away. Everyday, I pray that I would be a conduit for His purposes.

Confidence without humility is arrogance, right? Humility without confidence is being a victim.

I think that it takes major confidence to be humble.”

In wrapping up, Rory, tell us where folks can connect with you.

“We have pre-launched Procrastinate on Purpose with a free webinar.

The book is meant to redefine the way you think about time. A core part of this book is about saying no to the things that don’t matter so you can say yes to the things that do. We need to stop living urgent and begin living significant.

It’s about using your life in a way to serve others.”

Quote of the Day:

“Success is never owned, it’s rented and the rent is due every day.”

Check out Rory’s new book

MH

Thank you for stopping my MattHam.com and this edition of my podcast, Redefine Rich. For those of you that are new to the site, you can check out my About page to learn more. Additionally, the Kindle version of my first book, Redefine Rich, is now available on Amazon. Thanks for stopping by and looking around, I hope you are enriched!

Amazon bestseller Redefine Rich

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2 Responses to Success is Rented and the Rent is Due Every Day with Rory Vaden

  1. Tom Morris December 17, 2014 at 3:52 pm #

    Great conversation!

  2. Jon Stolpe December 21, 2014 at 10:48 am #

    I really enjoyed this interview.