How to Immerse Yourself in the 168 Game Through Resources.

Resources are the key to success. That may sound obvious, but it’s worth noting because people take resources for granted. Most people think that the resource that gives an unfair advantage is money. Sure, money can give an unfair advantage, but there are so many other resources necessary to reach success: faith, inspiration, knowledge, motivation, people, and so on!

I didn’t start out with money—at least not a lot of it—but throughout my journey, I’ve always looked for resources. These are what catapulted my success. To play the 168 Game well, you, too, need resources. Which ones you need in particular, depends on several factors, but resources are critical to staying on the right track. You could go ahead and find them on your own, but since you’re only getting started, I want to give you a list of vetted resources to start with.

My goal with this list is twofold. First, I want to share with you valuable tools and knowledge beyond my own content. Second, I want to make sure you know what to look for when searching for resources. The philosophy of time ownership has far-reaching implications for our personal development.

Because of that, there are a lot of different resources you can leverage to be successful with it. Where do you even start, though? What resources will make the 168 Game easier and the philosophy of time ownership something you live in harmony with? Consider the following resources as suggestions and their categories as inspiration. After going through the resources in this chapter, you’ll know how to go about your 168 Game journey and feel inspired to find more useful resources.

As I’ve mentioned earlier in this book, one of the decisions that changed my life the most dramatically was starting to read seriously. My Amway mentor told me (very bluntly), “You won’t amount to anything if you don’t read books.” “Leaders are readers and readers are leaders”. He was right. Since then, I’ve been reading voraciously. When it comes to reading, though, I love to not only read books, but also to study authors. Studying an author means reading many of the author’s books and getting immersed in the author’s work. It means absorbing the author’s message and embodying it in our lives. Many authors have changed my life not just with one book, but with their life’s work.

Books are one of the most powerful objects in the world. They typically cost between $10 to $40, but they can dramatically change our lives—emotionally, intellectually, even financially. Success comes from applying the right information at the right time, and books are one of the best sources. I can directly trace my success to many books I’ve read over the past thirty years. Though I love studying authors and their full body of work, many books are worth mentioning individually.

One of the core ideas underpinning the 168 Game is that you should use whatever time you have as best as possible—even if you live a busy life. One of the best ways to maximize your time is to turn your car, your bus ride, or your cleaning time into a university. Podcasts allow you to do that. Back when I first became a student of the philosophy of time ownership, I was working almost all day every day. I had very little time. However, I turned my car into a university by listening to cassette tapes and CDs—wow, that seems like so long ago— and now audiobooks and podcasts. You can do the same, too.

As you go from knowledge to application, it’s important to have the right tools to support you. While you can use a notebook or a physical planner, I recommend software solutions as they integrate with other tools you use daily, such as your email inbox. I have personally been experimenting with different software solutions, all of which help me own my time and be more efficient in my daily life.

Praying and meditating have almost always been a part of my life. I am a strong believer in the power of calm, silence, and reflection as a tool for success. I pray and meditate every day, and each time I do it differently. Because I am a Christian, much of my prayers and meditations are rooted in the Gospel. However, I also pray and meditate as a way to keep building upon my dream life and play the 168 Game. Time is a powerful force, one you can meditate on.

As such, I have written this short meditation, which I use to remind myself of the importance of the philosophy of time ownership and the 168 Game.

While books provide substantial knowledge, they can be long and arduous to read. When I’m not reading books, I like to read short quotes that inspire and motivate me to become a better TOM and grow as an individual. The beauty of quotes is that, because they don’t contain as much context, they’re open to interpretation. By being open to interpretation, they give us more to think about and prompt us to reflect upon how to apply them to our lives.

“The key is in not spending time, but in investing it.” — Stephen R. Covey

“Let our advance worrying become advance thinking and planning.” — Winston Churchill

“Time is more valuable than money. You can get more money, but you cannot get more time.” — Jim Rohn

“The shorter way to do many things is to only do one thing at a time.” — Mozart

“Better to be three hours too soon, than a minute too late.” — William Shakespeare

“Yesterday is gone. Tomorrow has not yet come. We have only today. Let us begin.” — Mother Teresa

“Don’t be fooled by the calendar. There are only as many days in the year as you make use of. One man gets only a week’s value out of a year while another man gets a full year’s value out of a week.” — Charles Richards

“Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe.” — Abraham Lincoln

“One reason so few of us achieve what we truly want is that we never direct our focus; we never concentrate our power. Most people dabble their way through life, never deciding to master anything in particular.” — Tony Robbins

“The common man is not concerned about the passage of time, the man of talent is driven by it.” — Arthur Schopenhauer

“Take care of the minutes and the hours will take care of themselves.” — Lord Chesterfield

“Determine never to be idle. No person will have occasion to complain of the want of time who never loses any. It is wonderful how much can be done if we are always doing.” — Thomas Jefferson

“Once you have mastered time, you will understand how true it is that most people overestimate what they can accomplish in a year — and underestimate what they can achieve in a decade!” — Tony Robbins

“To do two things at once is to do neither.” — Publius Syrus

“He who knows most grieves most for wasted time.” — Dante

“Time is really the only capital that any human being has, and the only thing he can’t afford to lose.” — Thomas Edison

“Most of us spend too much time on what is urgent, and not enough time on what is important.” — Steven Covey

“Your future is created by what you do today, not tomorrow. — Anonymous

“The bad news is time flies. The good news is you’re the pilot.” — Michael Altshuler

“The best thing about the future is that it comes one day at a time.” — Abraham Lincoln

“I must govern the clock, not be governed by it.” — Golda Meir

“Your greatest asset is your earning ability. Your greatest resource is your time.” — Brian Tracy

“Lack of direction, not lack of time, is the problem. We all have twenty-four-hour days.” — Zig Ziglar

“Success is the exponential effect of little things done consistently over time.” — Orrin Woodward

“Lost time is never found again.” — Benjamin Franklin

“It’s not that we have little time, but more that we waste a good deal of it.” — Seneca

“Most of us spend too much time on what is urgent, and not enough time on what is important.” — Stephen Covey

“My favorite things in life don’t cost any money. It’s really clear that the most precious resource we all have is time.” — Steve Jobs

“Time is really the only capital that any human being has, and the only thing he can’t afford to lose.” — Thomas Edison

“The difference between successful people and really successful people is that really successful people say no to almost everything.” — Warren Buffett

“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then is not an act, but a habit.” — Aristotle

“The secret of your future is hidden in your daily routine.” — Mike Murdock

“A genius is simply one who has taken full possession of his own mind and directed it toward objectives of his own choosing, without permitting outside influences to discourage or mislead him.” — Napoleon Hill

“Time is the one thing that can never be retrieved. One may lose and regain a friend; one may lose and regain money; opportunity once spurned may come again; but the hours that are lost in idleness can never be brought back to be used in gainful pursuits. Most careers are made or marred in the hours after supper.” — C.R. Lawton

“Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil.” — Ephesians 5:15-16