Video Book Summary

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Book Summary Notes 

Focal Point

“You can dramatically improve the overall quality of your life far faster than you might think possible." 

"All you need is the desire to change, the decision to take action, the discipline to practice the new behaviors you have chosen, and the determination to persist until you get the results you want.”

There is no speed limit..

I love this hopeful, practical and uplifting message from Brian Tracy!

There is nothing holding you back right now..  

Nothing keeping you where you are.. 

Nothing stopping you from making massive change in a short period of time!

This is a reminder:

• The potential you hold is unlimited
• That potential is a power you wield
• Everything you want is in your control

But how?  Well that's what the books about!

Having (and knowing) the desire to change..

Having and developing the discipline to change..

The commitment and determination to persist until what you desire is a reality!

Responsible

“Among the most important personal choices you can make is to accept complete responsibility for everything you are and everything you will ever be." 

"This is the great turning point in life. The acceptance of personal responsibility is what separates the superior person from the average person. Personal responsibility is the preeminent trait of leadership and the wellspring of high performance in every person in every situation."

"Accepting complete responsibility for your life means that you refuse to make excuses or blame others for anything in your life that you’re not happy about. You refuse, from this moment forward, to criticize others for any reason. You refuse to complain about your situation or about what has happened in the past. You eliminate all your if-onlys and what-ifs and focus instead on what you really want and where you are going."

"This decision to accept complete responsibility for yourself, your life, and your results, with no excuses, is absolutely essential if you want to double your income and double your time off. From now on, no matter what happens, say to yourself, ‘I am responsible.’”

The most important choice you'll ever make..

Taking responsibility for everything that has, is and will happen to and for you!

This is a hard pill to swallow for some!

From a young age we're told that things in our lives are the fault of others..

• Politicians
• Billionaires
• Teachers
• Bosses

While these people may be actively harming us; how we respond to it is still our responsibility..

Why is responsibility so important?

• Blaming other people is the easy route..  Making other people responsible for our problems!
• But by making them responsible we take away our ability to exact change.. 
• Taking responsibility leaves us with no excuses, no scapegoats and forces us to use other tools taught in this book to make real change!

How can I take responsibility?

• Brian says here to say to yourself 'I am responsible' whenever something happens to you!
• I think this is great.. But also easily overlooked.
• When something bad happens?  Good.  Time to learn and move on. 
• When something good happens?  Good.  This is what I deserve. 

Before

“German philosopher Goethe once wrote, ‘Everything is hard before it is easy.’"  

"You may need to exert tremendous discipline to develop new habits of thought and behavior."

"But once you have them firmly locked in, they enable you to accomplish vastly more, with less.”

Habits shape our lives..

When actively created with outcome in mind Habits are the quickest way to make change!

• They take willpower up front.. This is what stops most people!
• But after that initial period, habit becomes easy and transforms us everyday into who we want to become!
• PS this book is a part of a whole Masterclass I'm doing on Habits!  Check that out below.

What habits do you need to build?

Check in with your future self!  What are you doing by habit that is currently either a struggle or not getting done?

What habits do you need to let go of?

Check in with your future self!  What are you doing right now that your future self wouldn't be proud of?   

Zero

“To simplify your life, zero-based thinking is one of the most powerful strategies you can learn and apply on a regular basis." 

"Here’s how it works. Ask yourself, ‘Is there anything I am doing right now that, knowing what I now know, I wouldn’t get into again if I were starting over today?’”

“If your answer is ‘yes,’ then your next question is, ‘How do I get out of this situation, and how fast?’”

What is more important? Quitting or getting started..

Getting started on something new is of course important!

• One of the characteristics I admire most in people is their ability to make decisions and take action quickly!
• These people are generally the type of people who can get things done..  My people!

Here is where getting started quickly can hurt you though..

• When you're constantly getting started on new projects, goals, habits or relationships they can compile..
• Before you know it you've got 15 projects on the go and none of them is getting your full attention!

Getting started quickly is a great trait!  But we also need to be masters of letting go..

• Great question: is there anything I am doing right now that knowing what I know I wouldn't commit or get into again?
• Then if the answer is yes: look into how you can let that project, goal, habit or person go as quickly as possible. 
• This stops the accumulation effect and allows you to make real progress towards your desires!

Clarity

“In this respect, clarity is terribly important. Successful people have tremendous clarity about who they are, what they want, and how they are going to get it." 

"Unsuccessful people usually are unsure and confused about who they are, what they want, and where they are going."

"One powerful exercise you can practice to supercharge your thinking and accelerate your results is called idealization. In idealization you continually imagine the perfect outcome or solution for any situation in your life."

"You project forward three to five years, or even further, and then create a mental picture of the kind of life and career that would be ideal for you in every respect.”

How clear are you about who you are, what you want and how you're going to get that?

This is the one thing that differentiates successful people from unsuccessful..

• A clear ideal of their future selves, work and accomplishments..
• Having clarity around each of these areas will lead you to make the right choices!
• Being foggy about any of these can leave you going in circles for years, decades or a lifetime..

So how do we get clarity?

Visualization Idealization!

Visualize: 3-5 years from now everything in your life has worked out perfectly!

Each area of your life:

• Relationships
• Health
• Wealth
• Mental
• Career/Business

What does that ideal future look like for you?

How about you?  Write it down.

After doing that visualization exercise..  Write down what you saw!  

Mine:

I have a continually deepening loving relationships with my girlfriend.

I am in the best shape of my life without struggling with food and exercise.

I have enough savings in the bank to last me years given my lifestyle.

I have a clear mind and control over my emotions.

This YouTube channel and coaching business is my full time endeavor helping people better themselves.

Management

“Time management is really life management, personal management, management of yourself."  

"People who value themselves highly allocate their time carefully. They give their time usage a lot of thought."

"When you love your life, you love every minute of it. You are very careful about misusing or wasting any of the precious minutes and hours of each day.”

Now that we've got an ideal future planned..

Why wait?  That future is created in the moment!

• Sure there are a lot of things that will need to get done in order for that future to become a reality..
• But what can we control?  Our next actions!

For me this was the biggest mindset shift..

• Previously when I thought of an ideal future all it did was make me anxious!
• I thought goals were bad because setting them made me less likely to achieve them.. 
• This idea of just living up to my goals moment to moment to moment changed my life!

Here is what I do now:

• Set those big goals!  Visualized my ideal.
• Look at what habits, daily actions or behaviors (mental and physical) I would need to make that a reality..
• Focus on those big rocks!  Don't pay so much attention to how far away my ideal is in the future..
• Certainly I take time to measure my progress!  But progress almost isn't even the goal.. Living up to my ideal moment to moment is!

Questions

“Here are several additional questions that you should ask and answer regularly as part of your personal strategic planning:"

• If you could wave a magic wand and have whatever you wished for in any part of your life, what would it be?
• If you could design your perfect lifestyle... what would it look like?
• How would you change your life if you received $1 million cash, tax free, today? What is the first thing you would do?
• What parts of your work do you enjoy the most and do the best? Where do you excel? What sorts of activities make you the happiest?
• What would you do, how would you spend your time, if you learned today that you had only six months left to live?

What one great thing would you dare to dream if you knew you could not fail? If you were absolutely guaranteed success in any one goal, small or large, short term or long term, what would it be?”

What questions are you asking yourself?

These questions I think are some of the best out there!

• But we could easily miss this opportunity just to examine the questions we're asking ourselves everyday..
• The questions you wouldn't dare speak out loud!

Questions like:

• Why do I always fail?
• Why does that person have more than me?
• How could I possibly think I could do that?

I believe our lives are run by the questions we ask!

• Therefore: I think it's important we examine the questions we ask.. 
• Are we asking constant negatively focused questions?  Let's replace those!