How to Win at the Game of Life

"The best way for you to get what you want," said Jim Rohn, the success guru "is to help other people get what they want."

If you can fully grasp this concept, then implement it, you will never lack for material abundance.

Do you need a striking example?

How about the richest man in the world, Bill Gates? Chances are good that you are using some Microsoft products right now. Why? It is because you need them. In fact, so many people needed what he provided that he became the richest man in the world. True, there are other products out there that could do the same or even better, and you may regard Bill Gates more as a ruthless capitalist than a humanitarian, but the point remains—he provided the software industry what it needed in its fledgling days and he never let up on the momentum.

Similarly, Henry Ford, Thomas Edison, and John Rockefeller became extremely rich because of the same principle. Again, it doesn't really matter whether you like these people or not...that is not the point. The point is that they provided an essential service when people needed that service.

They helped people get what they wanted and prospered enormously.

You can do the same.

In any company, in any entrepreneurial venture, it is the service provider who takes home the money. The slackers, the cynics, and the rebels watch the prizes fly past their noses.

Although this principle is clear, few people do it. They are too preoccupied with slandering those who implement it and too bitter and angry about their own struggles to credit the principle. Sometimes, in fact, they are so jaded that they don't even see the principle in action.

When you can provide more quality of service, more quantity of service, and more eagerness to provide the service, the world will beat a path to your door. And, of course, you can choose what service you provide. It has to be something that you love to do. The words "over-deliver" and "extra-mile" are used to describe this principle. You can start right where you stand and apply the habit of going the extra mile by rendering more service and better service than you are now being paid for.

Sometimes people are reluctant to give others what they want because they feel that they will have less for themselves. Sometimes they simply believe that they are compromising themselves when they do this and becoming either sycophants or ruthless. These attitudes are both completely wrong. When you do what you love, you express your own nobility by giving more of what you love to others. There is no question about diminishing yourself in any way. In fact, it is just the opposite...you expand yourself! And instead of being a taker, you become a giver...thus, your virtue, too, is improved.

Please note that it is not important whether or not you are the best. This comes through experience.

A major block has to do with believing that you are not able to do this simple thing. Why? It is because you lack confidence in yourself. This is a major stumbling block—not only in making more money, but in living a fulfilling life. If you lack confidence, it is because you have had painful experiences in the past that have created a distorted sense of self-worth.

The wrap up. If you want more money, you have to provide more people what they want. If you provide service in something you love, you expand your power to give, and rather than diminishing your value, it expands it. Finally, you must have total self-confidence to implement this strategy—because it takes a sense of unswerving self-worth to stay the course.

In the game of life, it is the team players who make winning possible.