“It’s Not What Happens, But What You Do.”

One of the most influential voices in the history of personal development, Jim Rohn, has a quote that goes “It’s not what happens, but what you do with what happens.”

Situations and events in life have no meaning until we give them meaning. They’re just isolated incidents with zero implications. It’s only when our mind interprets these events and assigns them a meaning that we form our own perception of it. 

Rohn makes this distinction clear in one of his classic examples: 

Say there’s a blustery storm outside. Salesperson #1 reasons “I’m not going to go door to door today, the conditions are miserable, sounds like an awful day to be on the road” and he chooses to stay home. Salesperson #2 reasons “What a great day for me! The conditions are miserable, probably means a lot of people will be home!” Two people, same circumstances, different perceptions.

This thought closely aligns with a more recognizable philosophy popularized by Jack Canfield: E + R = O. Event + Response = Outcome. The outcome of any event is not determined until there’s a response to it. And there are two factors that go into our response: There’s a conscious response and an unconscious response.

The conscious response is us telling ourselves how we want to think, react to, or receive and event. It’s within our power to shape and control our perception. We can coach ourselves into seeing the good in the bad, the opportunity in the bleak, the good intentions in the mistake, and the effort in the action. This works very effectively but it requires that we are aware of what’s happening and can dedicate our attention to create the story.

What’s working in the background 100% of the time is the unconscious response. Our mind is always listening and interpreting events in our lives in ways that we don’t even realize. The unconscious response pulls from our belief system, short-term needs, emotional state, and other factors to give an event meaning. And its influence happens without us even realizing it, causing us to navigate the outcomes that come as a byproduct of our unconscious processing.

Back to the quote: “It’s not what happens, but what you do with what happens.” What happens is neutral and meaningless. The way you receive what happens, and how that impacts the way you feel, think, and take action is what has consequence.

So my encouragement to you is to start questioning the way you’re interpreting things in your life, and if you don’t like how things are, then change the meaning. It’ll feel unnatural and fake at first, but once you build up the skillset, you can truly shape your reality.