Brian Tracy, the Canadian self-help author discusses how most people give in to the two worst enemies of success: they take the path of least resistance (in other words, they’re lazy) and/or they want immediate gratification: and don’t consider the long-term consequences of the actions they take today.
Memorable quotes
The most important success principle of all was stated by Elbert Hubbard, one of the most prolific writers in American history, at the beginning of the twentieth century. He said, Self-discipline is the ability to do what you should do, when you should do it, whether you feel like it or not.
Sociologist Dr. Edward Banfield of Harvard University conducted a fifty-year study into the reasons for upward socioeconomic mobility in America. He concluded that the most important single attribute of people who achieved great success in life was long time perspective. Banfield defined time perspective as the amount of time an individual takes into consideration when determining his present actions.
The law of sowing and reaping, from the Old Testament, is a variation of The Law of Cause and Effect. It says that whatsoever a man soweth, that also shall he reap. This law says that whatever you put in, you get out. It also says that whatever you are reaping today is a result of what you have sown in the past. So if you are not happy with your current crop, it is up to you, starting today, to plant a new crop, to begin doing more of those things that lead to success and to stop engaging in those activities that lead nowhere.
Your role models have a tremendous impact on shaping your character. The more you admire a person and his or her qualities, the more you strive both consciously and unconsciously to become like that person. This is why clarity is so important.
Read sixty minutes in your field each day. Turn off the television and the radio, put aside the newspaper, and read material about your field for one hour each day before you start working.
The power of compound learning, like compound interest, is quite amazing. The more you learn, the more you can learn. The more you learn, the better your brain functions, and the smarter you get. Your memory and retention rate improve. The more you learn, the more relationships you find between something you learned at one time and something you learn at another time.
How long does it take to achieve mastery in your field? According to the experts, the acquisition of mastery requires about seven years, or 10,000 hours of hard work.
As Eleanor Roosevelt said, No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.
First, you need the courage to launch, to take action, to take a leap of faith.
The second type of courage that you need is called courageous patience. This is the ability to hang in there and continue working and fighting after you have gone all in and before you have yet seen any results or rewards.
Each act of self-discipline strengthens every other act of self-discipline. Every act of persistence strengthens every other act of persistence. When you discipline yourself to persist, over and over, you like and respect yourself more and more. You become stronger and more confident.
As Napoleon Hill wrote, Within every problem or obstacle lays the seed of an equal or greater opportunity or benefit. Your job is to find it.
A business leader has a vision of success for the business based on excellent performance, to which he or she is completely committed.
What is the purpose of a business? The purpose of a business is to create and keep a customer in a cost-effective manner. Profits are not the purpose of a business. Profits are the result of creating and keeping a sufficient number of customers who yield a sufficient number of profits after all costs.
The rule for sales success can be contained in six words: Spend more time with better prospects. There is no other way to generate a high, consistent, and predictable level of sales results.
The key to sales success is to eliminate the fear of rejection, to become so confident and optimistic that you can call continually all day long and still remain positive and cheerful. As Winston Churchill said, Success is the ability to go from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm.
To achieve high levels of sales success, you must discipline yourself to plan your days and weeks in advance. You must discipline yourself to plan your sales activities especially your prospecting activities every single day, and then you have to discipline yourself to follow through on your plans and resolutions.
As your income increases in the months and years ahead, drive a wedge between your increasing income and your increasing expenses. Instead of spending it all, resolve that you will save 50 percent of your increase.
Before you begin each day, start by making a list of everything you have to do that day. The best time to make this list is the evening before, at the end of the workday, so that your subconscious mind can work on your list of activities while you sleep. You will often wake up with ideas and insights for how to more effectively complete the tasks of the day.
ìLife is a continuous succession of problems, like waves from the ocean. They never stop. This means that your ability to practice self-discipline, self-mastery, and self-control when faced with the never-ending flow of problems, difficulties, setbacks, and temporary failures you will experience is essential to your success in business and in life.
He wrote that in every organisation, people continue to be promoted until they reach a level where they are no longer competent to solve the problems at that level. This is where they stop and stay for the rest of their careers. Furthermore, he pointed out that for this reason, every organisation is eventually staffed by people who have reached their level of incompetence. This is especially true in government, and it is the primary reason why government is so time- and cost-inefficient, making it difficult to get anything done at all. This is usually true in any large bureaucracy.
There is a rule that says that every large problem was once a small problem that could have been solved easily and inexpensively at that time. Sometimes, the best strategy is to nip it in the bud. When it is clear that there is a problem and a solution, do what has to be done and do it quickly.
You feel happy to the degree to which you feel you are in control of your own life. You feel unhappy to the degree to which you feel you are not in control, or controlled by other factors or people.
Your ability to enter into and maintain high-quality relationships with your spouse, children, friends, colleagues, and others is the true measure of the quality of your personality and your level of mental health. People with high levels of self-esteem and self-respect get along better with others and have much happier lives.
When you are liked and accepted by others, living consistently with your highest values, doing a good job and being recognized for it, and moving progressively toward the achievement of your goals and ideals, then you naturally feel happy and satisfied. You feel valuable and very much in control.
The happiest of all people are those who feel that they are doing something worthwhile and important with their lives. They feel they are stretching and moving beyond anything they’ve ever done before. People devoted to self-actualization may be writing books or creating works of art. They may be climbing mountains or competing in sports. They may be building businesses or scaling the heights of their professions.
The wonderful thing about self-actualization needs is that they can never be completely satisfied. As you continually strive throughout your life to be and have and do more than ever before, you experience a steady flow of happiness and contentment. You feel that you are becoming more and more of what you were truly meant to become.
When you exert your self-discipline and willpower to achieve a high level of physical fitness and then maintain it year after year, you will feel terrific about yourself.
It is better to control yourself than to win a thousand battles. Then the victory is yours. It cannot be taken from you, not by angels or demons, heaven or hell. – BUDDHA
It is only when you are totally committed to a relationship with a single person that you are completely free to turn your attention toward fulfilling your potential in the other aspects of your life.
There are only four ways that you can change your life. First, you can do more of some things. Second, you can do less of other things. Third, you can start something that you have never done before. And fourth, you can stop
Therefore, if you want to have a friend, you must first be a friend. If you want people to like you, you should first like them. If you want people to respect you, you should first respect them. If you want to impress others, you should first be impressed by them. In this way, by approaching people indirectly, you appeal to their deepest subconscious needs.
You can never do or say anything to make another person feel better about himself without simultaneously feeling better about yourself. It takes tremendous self-discipline and self-control for you to rise above yourself. Instead of trying to get other people to like you and be impressed by you, focus first on liking them and being impressed by them.
Never Criticize, Condemn, or Complain about anything, whether it be directly or indirectly. Never do or say anything that lowers a person’s self-esteem or makes him feel less important or valuable. Refuse to gossip or discuss other people in a negative way. Never say anything about a person that you would not say to his face.
The rule for building lifelong friendships and wonderful relationships is simple. Resolve that from now on, when people leave your presence, they will feel much better than they did when they entered your presence.