Le olaga atoa. Tomai Autu e Ausia Au Sini (Canfield, Hewitt, Hansen)

lē faʻatino

How often, after starting one thing, have you been distracted by something more interesting or simple, and as a result, abandoned it? How many times have you told yourself that you will leave work at 7 sharp to kiss your son or daughter before they go to bed, and then blame yourself for not working out this time too? And how many months did you hold out before you spent all the money set aside for a down payment on an apartment?

Very often the cause of failure is just a lack of concentration, that is, the inability to focus and maintain focus on the goal.

Dozens of papers have been written about the importance of goal setting. The authors of this book go one step further—they can help you make goal achievement… a habit! Then, from a difficult task, “focusing on the goal” will turn into a familiar, quite feasible and regular action, and the result will not be long in coming.

And along the way, you will learn about the power of our habits, understand how to cultivate new good habits and use them to improve not only work, but also personal life.

From the partner of the Russian edition

I love this quote from one successful baseball coach, Yogi Berra: “In theory, there is no difference between theory and practice. But in practice, there is. It is unlikely that while reading this book you will find something that you have never heard or thought about — some top-secret idea about achieving success.

What’s more, in my training on achieving extraordinary results for both companies and individuals over the past six years, I’ve noticed that many of the principles of how to be «healthy, happy, and rich» are well known to people. My partners in the Business Relations company with more than 20 years of coaching experience also confirm this fact.

Why, then, are there so few “healthy, happy and rich” people around? Each of us can ask ourselves the question: “Why is there not in my life what I dream about, what I really want?”. And there can be as many answers to it as you like. Mine is outrageously short: «Because it’s easier!».

Not having clear goals, eating just anything, spending leisure time watching TV, getting annoyed and angry with loved ones is EASIER than going out for a run every morning, every evening reporting to yourself on the stages of a work project and pacifying your rightness in situations of dispute at home.

But if you are not looking for easy ways and are serious about taking your life to a whole new level, this book is for you!

For me, it served as a damn strong impetus from theoretical concepts to action. The important thing that was required for this was honesty. It’s about admitting that I know a lot, but I don’t do much.

Another feature of this book is the feeling that it gives the reader page after page: lightness, inspiration and faith that everything will work out.

And as you start reading, remember: “In theory, there is no difference between theory and practice. But in practice, there is. The authors did not just do the tasks at the end of each chapter.

I wish you breakthrough success!

Maksim Žurilo, coach Business Relations

Jack

To my teachers, who told me almost everything about the power of purpose:

Clement Stone, Billy Sharp, Lacey Hall, Bob Resnick, Martha Crampton, Jack Gibb, Ken Blanchard, Nathaniel Branden, Stuart Emery, Tim Piering, Tracey Goss, Marshall Thurber, Russell Bishop, Bob Proctor, Bernhard Dormann, Mark Victor Hansen, Les Hewitt, Lee Pewlos, Doug Kruschka, Martin Rutta, Michael Gerber, Armand Bitton, Marty Glenn and Ron Scolastico.

togi

Elizabeth and Melanie: the future is in good hands.

vao

Fran, Jennifer and Andrew: you are the purpose of my life.

ulufalega

Why this book is needed

Dear reader (or future reader, if you have not yet decided whether to take on this book)!

Our recent research shows that businessmen today face three main problems: lack of time, money, and the desire for harmony in work and personal (family) relationships.

For many, the modern rhythm of life is too fast. In business, balanced people are becoming more and more in demand, able not to “burn out” and not turn into workaholics who do not have time for family, friends and more elevated areas of life.

Are you familiar with the state of «burned out at work»?

If yes, then this book is designed to help you, whether you are a CEO, Vice President, Manager, Supervisor, Salesperson, Entrepreneur, Consultant, Private Practice or Home Office.

We promise that learning and gradually putting into practice what we talk about in our book will allow you to significantly improve the results of your current work and achieve your goals in business, personal life and finances. We will show you how to focus on your strengths and enjoy a healthier, happier and more harmonious lifestyle.

The ideas in this book have already helped us and thousands of our clients. Our joint business experience, gained at the cost of countless mistakes and striving for excellence, has been going on for 79 years. Without tormenting you with vague theories and reasoning, we will share with you the most important findings and thus help you avoid trouble, stress, save time and effort for great things.

How to get the most out of a book

We have to warn hunters of the fabulous formula “at the behest of the pike, at my will”: it is not in this book. Moreover, all our experience shows that such a formula does not exist in principle. Change for the better requires real effort. That is why over 90% of people who attended short seminars did not feel the changes in their lives. They did not have time to apply what they learned in practice — the records from the seminars remained gathering dust on the shelves …

Our main goal is to inspire you to take immediate action with our book. It will be easy to read.

In each chapter, you will be introduced to many strategies and tricks, «diluted» with funny and instructive stories. The first three chapters lay the foundation for the book. Each subsequent one offers a specific set of techniques for forming a particular habit that will help you focus on a goal, perform more successfully and enjoy a fulfilling life. At the end of each chapter is a practical guide to help you better understand the material. Take it step by step — let this book become a reliable help for you, which you can turn to at any time.

It’s helpful to have a notebook and pen handy so you can immediately jot down the interesting ideas that pop into your head as you read.

Remember: it’s all about the goal. It is because of poor «focus» that most people spend their professional and personal lives in constant struggle. They either put things off until later or allow themselves to be easily distracted. You have a chance not to be. Let’s get started!

PS

If you are a director of a company and you plan to grow your business rapidly in the next few years, buy each of your employees a copy of our book. The energy from the joint effort of applying our methods will allow you to achieve your goal much sooner than you expect.

Strategy #1: Your future depends on your habits

Believe it or not, life is not just a series of random events. It is a matter of choosing specific actions in a given situation. Ultimately, it is your daily choices that determine whether you will live a century in poverty or prosperity, disease or health, unhappiness or happiness. The choice is yours, so choose wisely.

Choice lays the foundation for your habits. And they, in turn, play a very important role in what will happen to you in the future. We are talking about work habits and your personal habits. In the book you will find strategies applicable both at work and at home, equally effective for men and women. Your task is to study them and choose the most suitable ones for yourself.

This chapter covers all the most important things about habits. First, it explains how they work. Then you will learn how to identify a bad habit and change it. And finally, we will offer you the «Successful Habit Formula» — a simple technique with which you can change bad habits into good ones.

Successful People Have Successful Habits

How Habits Work

What is a habit? Simply put, this is an action that you perform so often that you even stop noticing it. In other words, it is a pattern of behavior that you automatically repeat over and over again.

For example, if you are learning to drive a car with a manual transmission, the first few lessons are usually interesting to you. One of your biggest challenges is learning how to synchronize your clutch and gas pedals so that shifting is smooth. If you release the clutch too quickly, the car will stall. If you pass the gas without releasing the clutch, the engine will roar, but you will not budge. Sometimes the car jumps out into the street like a kangaroo and freezes again while the rookie driver struggles with the pedals. However, gradually the gears begin to shift smoothly, and you stop thinking about them.

Les: We are all children of habit. Every day I pass nine traffic lights on my way from the office. Often, when I get home, I don’t remember where the light was, as if I lose consciousness while driving. I can easily forget about my wife asking me to drop by somewhere on the way home, because I have “programmed” myself to drive home the same way every night.

But a person can «reprogram» himself at any time he wants. Let’s say you want to be financially independent. Perhaps you should reconsider your habits in terms of making money? Have you trained yourself to regularly save at least 10% of your income? The key word here is «regularly». In other words, every month. Every month is a good habit. Most people mess around when it comes to saving money. These people are fickle.

Suppose you have embarked on a savings and investment program. For the first six months, as planned, diligently set aside 10% of your earnings. Then something happens. For example, you take this money for a vacation, promising yourself to repay it within the next few months. Of course, nothing comes of these good intentions, and your program of financial independence stalls before it really starts.

By the way, do you know how easy it is to become financially secure? If from the age of 18 you save a hundred dollars every month at 10% per annum, by the age of 65 you will have more than $1! There is hope even if you start at 100, although you will have to save a larger amount.

This process is called a no-exception policy and means that you dedicate every day to creating a bright financial future. This is what distinguishes people who have such a future from those who do not.

Let’s look at another situation. If it is important for you to keep yourself in shape, you should exercise three times a week. The “no exceptions” policy in this case means that you will do it no matter what, because long-term results are valuable to you.

«Hackers» quit after a few weeks or months. Usually they have a thousand explanations for this. If you want to be different from the crowd and live your own life, understand that your habits determine your future.

The road to success is not a pleasant walk. To achieve something, you need to be purposeful, disciplined, energetic every day.

Habits determine the quality of your life

Today, many people are thinking about their lifestyle. You can often hear: «I’m looking for a better life» or «I want to make my life easier.» It seems that material well-being is not enough for happiness. To be truly wealthy is not only to have financial freedom, but to have interesting acquaintances, good health, and a balanced professional and personal life.

Another important thing is the knowledge of one’s own soul. It’s an endless process. The more you know yourself — your way of thinking, the palette of feelings, the secrecy of the true goal — the brighter life becomes.

It is this higher level of understanding that determines the quality of your daily life.

Bad habits affect the future

Please read the next few paragraphs very carefully. If you’re not focused enough, go and wash your face with cold water so you don’t miss the importance of the underlying idea below.

Today, many live for immediate rewards. They buy things that they really cannot afford, and postpone payment for as long as possible. Cars, entertainment, the latest technical «toys» — this is not a complete list of such acquisitions. Those who are used to doing this, as if playing catch-up. To make ends meet, they often have to work longer or look for additional income. Such «processing» leads to stress.

If your expenses consistently exceed your income, the result will be the same: bankruptcy. If a bad habit becomes chronic, sooner or later you will have to deal with its consequences.

A few more examples. If you want to live long, you need to have healthy habits. Proper nutrition, exercise and regular check-ups are very important. What happens in reality? Most people in the West are overweight, exercise little, and eat malnourished. How to explain it? Again, the fact that they live in the moment, without thinking about the consequences. The habit of constantly eating on the run, fast food, a combination of stress and high cholesterol increase the risk of strokes and heart attacks. These consequences can be deadly, but many tend to ignore the obvious and skip through life, not thinking about the fact that perhaps somewhere around the corner a serious crisis lies in wait for them.

Let’s take a personal relationship. The institution of marriage is under threat: almost 50% of families in the United States break up. If you are used to depriving the most important relationships of time, effort and love, how can a favorable result come from?

Remember: there is a price to pay for everything in life. Negative habits have negative consequences. Positive habits bring you rewards.

You can turn negative consequences into rewards.

Start changing your habits now

Building good habits takes time

How long does it take to change your habit? The usual answer to this question is «three to four weeks». Perhaps this is true when it comes to small adjustments in behavior. Here is a personal example.

Les: I remember losing my keys all the time. In the evening I put the car in the garage, went into the house and threw them wherever I had to, and then, when I had to go out on business, I could not find them. Running around the house, I was stressed, and when I found these ill-fated keys, I discovered that I was already a good twenty minutes late for a meeting …

It turned out to be easy to solve this persistent problem. Once I nailed a piece of wood to the wall opposite the garage door, attached two hooks to it and made a big sign «Keys».

The next evening I came home, walked past my new key ‘parking lot’ and tossed them somewhere in the far corner of the room. Why? Because I’m used to it. It took me almost thirty days to force myself to hang them on the wall until my brain told me, “Looks like we’re doing things differently now.” Finally, a new habit has formed completely. I don’t lose my keys anymore, but it was not easy to retrain myself.

Before you start changing your habit, remember how long you’ve had it. If you have been doing something consistently for thirty years, you are unlikely to be able to retrain yourself in a few weeks. It’s like trying to weave a rope from a fiber that has hardened over time: it will give in, but with great difficulty. Long-term smokers know how difficult it is to quit the habit of nicotine. Many continue to be unable to quit smoking, despite growing evidence that smoking shortens life.

In the same way, those whose self-esteem has been low for many years will not be able to turn into self-confident people who are ready to turn the world upside down in twenty-one days. Building a positive frame of reference can take a year, sometimes more than one. But important changes are worth years of work, because they can positively affect both your personal and professional life.

Another point is the danger of slipping back to the old. This can happen when stress increases or a sudden crisis occurs. It may turn out that the new habit is not strong enough to withstand the difficulties, and it will take more time and effort to finally form it than it first seemed. Achieving automatism, the cosmonauts make checklists for themselves for all procedures without exception, in order to be convinced again and again of the correctness of their actions. You can create the same uninterrupted system. This is a matter of practice. And it is worth the effort — you will soon see it.

Imagine that every year you change four habits. In five years, you will have twenty new good habits. Now answer: Will twenty new good habits change the results of your work? Of course, yes. Twenty successful habits can give you the money you want or need to have, great personal relationships, energy and health, and many new opportunities. What if you create more than four habits every year? Just imagine such a tempting picture! ..

Our behavior is built on habits

As already mentioned, many of our daily activities are nothing but the most ordinary routine. From the moment you get up in the morning until you go to bed in the evening, you are doing thousands of routine things — getting dressed, eating breakfast, reading the newspaper, brushing your teeth, driving to the office, greeting people, tidying up your desk, making appointments, working on projects, talking on the phone and etc. Over the years, you develop a set of firmly ingrained habits. The sum of all these habits determines the course of your life.

As children of habit, we are very predictable. In many ways, this is good, because for others we become reliable and consistent. (It’s interesting to note that unpredictable people also have a habit — a habit of inconsistency!)

However, if there is too much routine, life becomes boring. We do less than we can. The actions that make up our daily behavior are performed unconsciously, thoughtlessly.

If life has ceased to suit you, you need to change something.

Quality is not an action, but a habit

The new habit will soon become part of your behavior.

What a news! By convincing yourself that your new behavior is more important than your current one, you can start doing things in a completely new way, that is, replacing your old bad habits with new successful ones.

For example, if you’re often late for meetings, you’re probably under a lot of stress. To fix this, make a firm commitment to yourself over the next four weeks to arrive at any meeting ten minutes before it starts. If you have the willpower to carry this process through, you will notice two things:

1) the first week or two will be difficult. You may even need to give yourself a few reprimands to stay on course;

2) The more often you arrive on time, the easier it will be to do so. One day, punctuality will become a feature of your behavior.

If others can significantly change themselves, why shouldn’t you do the same? Remember: nothing will change until you change. Let change be your catalyst for a better life that will give you freedom and peace of mind.

If you keep doing what you’ve always done, you’ll get what you’ve always got.

How to identify bad habits?

Warning: habits that work against you

Many of our patterns of behavior, features and oddities are invisible. Let’s take a closer look at the habits that are holding you back. You may remember a few of them offhand. Here are the most common:

— inability to call back on time;

— the habit of being late for meetings;

– inability to build relationships with colleagues;

– lack of accuracy in formulating expected results, monthly plans, goals, etc.;

— incorrect calculation of travel time (too little);

– inability to quickly and efficiently work with papers;

— postponing the payment of bills to the last moment and as a result — the accrual of penalties;

— the habit of not listening, but speaking;

— the ability to forget someone’s name a minute after the presentation or earlier;

— the habit of turning off the alarm several times before getting up in the morning;

– working all day without exercise or regular breaks;

– insufficient time spent with children;

— Meals in fast food from Monday to Friday;

— Eating at odd hours during the day;

— the habit of leaving home in the morning without hugging his wife, husband, children;

— the habit of taking work home;

– too long conversations on the phone;

— the habit of booking everything at the last minute (restaurants, trips, theaters, concerts);

— contrary to their own promises and the requests of other people, the inability to bring things to the end;

— Insufficient time for rest and family;

— the habit of keeping the cell phone on all the time;

— the habit of answering phone calls when the family has gathered at the table;

— the habit of controlling any decisions, especially in small things;

— the habit of putting everything off until later — from filling out tax returns to putting things in order in the garage;

Now test yourself — make a list of habits that are bothering you. Take about an hour for this to remember everything well. Make sure that you are not disturbed during this time. This important exercise will give you the foundation to improve your habits. In fact, bad habits — the obstacles that stand in the way of the goal — at the same time serve as a springboard for future success. But until you clearly understand what keeps you in place, it will be difficult for you to develop more productive habits.

In addition, you can identify the shortcomings of your behavior by interviewing others. Ask them what they think about your bad habits. Be consistent. If you talk to ten people and eight of them say that you never call back on time, pay attention to it. Remember: your behavior, as it is seen from the outside, is the truth, and your own vision of your behavior is often an illusion. But by setting yourself up for sincere communication, you can quickly make adjustments to your behavior and get rid of bad habits forever.

Your habits are the result of your environment

This is a very important thesis. The people with whom you communicate, the environment around you significantly affect your life. Anyone who grew up in an unfavorable environment, was constantly subjected to physical or moral violence, sees the world differently than a child who was brought up in an atmosphere of warmth, love and support. They have different attitudes towards life and different self-esteem. An aggressive environment often brings up a sense of worthlessness, a lack of self-confidence, not to mention fear. This negative belief system, carried into adulthood, can contribute to the development of many bad habits, up to addiction to drugs or criminal tendencies.

The influence of acquaintances can also play a positive or negative role. Being surrounded by people who constantly complain about how bad things are, you can start to believe them. If you surround yourself with strong and optimistic people, the world for you will be full of adventure and new opportunities.

Harry Alder, in his book NLP: The Art of Getting What You Want, explains: “Even small changes in core beliefs can produce amazing changes in behavior and lifestyle. This is more clearly seen in children than in adults, since children are more sensitive to suggestion and change of belief. For example, if a child believes that he is a good athlete or does well in any school subject, he will actually start to work better. Success will help him believe in himself, and he will continue to move forward and improve.”

Sometimes a person with low self-esteem says, «I can’t be successful at anything.» Such a belief is very bad for everything that he does, if he decides to start doing something at all. This is, of course, an extreme case. For most, self-esteem is at a certain average level, sometimes being positive and inspiring, and sometimes negative or detracting. For example, a person may rate himself very low in career terms and feel “on horseback” in sports, socializing, or some form of leisure. Or vice versa. We all have a set of opinions concerning many areas of our work, social, and personal lives. When identifying the habits that interfere with you, you need to be very precise. Those of them that take away strength must be replaced by others that will give them.

Even if you were unfortunate enough to grow up in an unfavorable environment, you can still change. Perhaps only one person can help you with this. A great coach, teacher, therapist, mentor, or someone you can think of as a model of successful behavior can make a big difference in your future. The only requirement is that you yourself must be ready for change. When that happens, the right people will start showing up and helping you. Our experience is that the proverb “When the student is ready, the teacher appears” is absolutely true.

How to beat bad habits?

Learn the Habits of Successful People

As already mentioned, successful habits lead to success. Learn to notice them. Watch successful people. What if you had to interview one successful person per month? Invite such a person to breakfast or lunch and ask questions about his habits. What is he reading? What clubs and associations does he belong to? How do you plan your time? By showing yourself to be a good, sincerely interested listener, you will hear a lot of interesting ideas.

Jack and Mark: After finishing the first Chicken Soup for the Soul book, we asked every best-selling author we know of—Barbara de Angelis, John Grey, Ken Blanchard, Harvey McKay, Harold Bloomfield, Wayne Dyer, and Scott Peck—what special techniques allow the book to become a bestseller. All these people generously shared their ideas and findings with us. We did everything we were told: we made it a rule to give at least one interview a day for two years; hired their own advertising agent; sent out five books a day to reviewers and various authorities. We gave newspapers and magazines the right to reprint our stories free of charge, and offered motivational workshops to anyone who sold our books. In general, we learned what habits we need to create a bestseller, and put them into action. As a result, we have sold fifty million books worldwide to date.

The problem is that many will not ask about anything. And find yourself a hundred excuses. They are too busy or assume that successful people don’t have time for them. And how do you even get to them? Successful people don’t stand guard at crossroads waiting for someone to interview them. All right. But remember, this is about research. So, be creative, find out where these successful people work, live, eat and hang out. (In Chapter 5, on the habit of creating great relationships, you’ll learn how to find and attract successful mentors.)

You can also learn from successful people by reading their biographies and autobiographies, watching documentaries — there are hundreds of them. These are wonderful life stories. Read one a month, and in a year you’ll have more ideas than many university courses can offer.

In addition, the three of us trained ourselves to listen to inspiring and educational audio while driving, walking, or playing sports. If you listen to audio courses for half an hour a day, five days a week, in ten years you will absorb more than 30 hours of new useful information. Almost every successful person we know has developed this habit.

Our friend Jim Rohn says, “If you read one book in your field a month, you will read 120 books in ten years and become the best of the best in your field.” Conversely, as Jim wisely points out, «All the books you don’t read won’t help you!» Browse specialty stores selling video and audio content compiled by top personal growth coaches and business leaders.

Suia au masaniga

People who are rich in every sense of the word understand that life is a constant learning. There is always something to strive for — no matter what level you have already achieved. Character is forged in the constant pursuit of perfection. As you develop as a person, you have more to offer to the world. This fascinating path leads to success and prosperity. But, unfortunately, sometimes it is not easy for us.

Les: Have you ever had kidney stones? Very uncomfortable and a great example of how bad habits can ruin your life.

At the consultation with the doctor, it became clear that the source of my suffering was bad gastronomic habits. Because of them, I got several large stones. We decided that the best way to get rid of them was lithotripsy. This is a laser procedure that lasts about an hour, after which the patient usually recovers in a few days.

Shortly before this, I booked a weekend trip to Toronto for my son and I. The son — he had just turned nine years old — had never been there before. The team that we all support, and my son’s favorite hockey team, the Los Angeles Kings, was also supposed to play in the final of the national football championship, was also in Toronto at that time. We planned to fly out on Saturday morning. The lithotripsy was scheduled for Tuesday of the same week — I seemed to have plenty of time left to recover before the flight.

However, on Friday afternoon, after a severe bout of renal colic and three days of excruciating pain, which was relieved only by regular injections of morphine, it became clear that plans for an exciting trip with his son were evaporated before our eyes. Here is another consequence of bad habits! Fortunately, at the last moment the doctor decided that I was ready to travel and discharged me.

The weekend is gone. The football team won, we watched a great hockey match, and the memories of this trip will forever remain in our memory with my son. But because of bad habits, I almost lost this great opportunity.

I am now determined to avoid kidney stone problems in the future. Every day I drink ten glasses of water and try not to eat food that promotes the formation of stones. Small, in general, the price. And for now, my new habits are successfully keeping me out of trouble.

This story illustrates how life responds to your actions. So before you take a new course, look ahead. Will it lead to negative consequences or promise a reward in the future? Think clearly. Get inquiries. Before developing new habits, ask questions. This will ensure that you have more fun in life in the future, and you will not have to ask for a morphine shot to relieve pain!

Now that you understand how your habits actually work and how to identify them, let’s get down to the most important part — how to change them permanently.

New Habits: The Formula for Success

Here is a step-by-step method that will help you develop better habits. This method is effective because it is simple. It can be applied in any area of ​​life — at work or in personal relationships. With constant use, it will help you achieve everything you need. Here are its three components.

1. Identify your bad habits

It is important to seriously think about the consequences of your bad habits. They may not appear tomorrow, or next week, or next month. Their true effect may appear many years later. If you look at your unproductive behavior once a day, it might not look so bad. The smoker may say: “Just think, a few cigarettes a day! I’m so relaxed. I don’t have shortness of breath or cough.» However, day after day passes, and twenty years later, he looks at a disappointing x-ray in the doctor’s office. Just think: if you smoke ten cigarettes a day for twenty years, you get 73 cigarettes. Do you think 000 cigarettes can damage your lungs? Still would! The consequences can be deadly. Therefore, when studying your own habits, keep in mind their delayed consequences. Be completely honest with yourself – perhaps life is at stake.

2. Define your new successful habit

This is usually the simple opposite of a bad habit. In the smoker example, this is smoking cessation. To motivate yourself, imagine all the benefits that a new habit can bring to you. The more vividly you present them, the more actively you will begin to act.

3. Make a three-point action plan

This is where it all starts! The smoker in our example has several options. You can read books on how to quit smoking. You can do hypnotherapy. You can replace the cigarette with something else. Bet with a friend that you can handle your habit — this will increase your responsibility. Go in for outdoor sports. Use a nicotine patch. Do not associate with other smokers. The main thing is to decide what specific actions you will take.

We need to act! Start with one habit you really want to change. Focus on the three steps immediately ahead and complete them. Right now. Remember: until you start, nothing will change.

iʻuga

So, now you know how habits work and how to identify bad ones among them. Plus, you now have a proven formula that can be fertile ground for new successful habits in both business and personal life. We strongly advise you to carefully go through the components of this formula, described at the end of this chapter. Do this with a pen and a sheet of paper in your hands: it is unreliable to keep information in your head all the time. The main thing is to focus on your efforts.

Guide to Action

A. Successful people I want to talk to

Make a list of people you respect who are already successful. Set a goal to invite each of them to breakfast or lunch, or set up a meeting at their office. Don’t forget a notebook to write down your best ideas.

C. The Formula for Successful Habits

Take a look at the following examples. You have three sections: A, B, and C. In section A, identify as accurately as possible the habit that is holding you back. Then consider its consequences, for everything you do has consequences. Bad habits (negative behavior) have negative consequences. Successful habits (positive behavior) will give you an edge.

In section B, name your new successful habit—usually just the opposite of the one listed in section A. If your bad habit is not saving for the future, the new one can be formulated as: “Save 10% of all income.”

In Section C, list the three steps you will take to implement the new habit. Be specific. Choose a start date and go!

A. Habit holding me back

C. New Successful Habit

C. Three-Step Action Plan for Creating a New Habit

1. Find a financial advisor to help you create a long-term savings and investment plan.

2. Set up monthly automatic debiting of the amount from the account.

3. Make a list of expenses and cancel unnecessary ones.

Start date: Monday, March 5, 2010.

A. Habit holding me back

C. New Successful Habit

C. Three-Step Action Plan for Creating a New Habit

1. Write a job ad for an assistant.

2. Find candidates, meet with them and choose the best one.

3. Train your assistant well.

Start date: Tuesday, June 6, 2010.

On a separate sheet in the same format, describe your own habits and make a plan of action. Right now!

Strategy № 2. Focus-pokus!

Entrepreneur’s Dilemma

If you have your own business or are about to start one, be aware of the entrepreneur’s dilemma. Its essence is this. Let’s say you have an idea for a new product or service. You know better than anyone what they will look like, and, of course, you are going to make a lot of money from them.

Initially, the main goal of a business is to find new customers and retain existing ones. The next one is to make a profit. At the beginning of their activities, many small businesses have insufficient capital. Therefore, the entrepreneur has to perform several functions at once, working day and night, without holidays and weekends. However, this period is the most interesting time of establishing contacts, meeting with potential customers and improving goods or services.

When the foundation is laid, it is necessary to put competent people in their places, build systems of interaction, and create stable working conditions. Gradually, the entrepreneur devotes himself more and more to day-to-day administrative tasks. «Paperwork» turns into a routine what was once an exciting undertaking. Most of the time is devoted to solving problems, clarifying relations with subordinates and solving financial issues.

Familiar? You are not alone in this. The dilemma is that many entrepreneurs (and executives) like to be in control. It is difficult for you to “let go” of the situation, to let others do their own thing, to delegate authority. In the end, who else but you, the founder of the company, understand all the subtleties of your business! It seems to you that no one can cope with everyday tasks better than you.

Therein lies the paradox. Lots of opportunities looming on the horizon, bigger deals, but you can’t reach them because you’re stuck in your daily routine. This is depressing. You think: maybe if I work harder, learn management techniques, then I can handle everything. No, it won’t help. By working harder and harder, you won’t solve this dilemma.

What to do? The recipe is simple. Spend most of your time doing what you do best and let others do what they do best.

Focus on what you excel at. Otherwise, you are likely to experience inevitable stress and eventually burn out at work. A sad picture … But how to step over yourself?

Focus on your talents

To make this easier, let’s take a look at the world of rock and roll.

The Rolling Stones are one of the most prolific and enduring rock bands in history. They have been playing for almost forty years. Mick Jagger and three of his friends are well into their sixties and still fill stadiums all over the world. You may not like their music, but the fact that they are successful is an indisputable fact.

Let’s take a look behind the scenes before the concert starts. The scene is already set. The construction of this monumental structure, several stories high and half the length of a football field, took the labor of two hundred people. More than twenty trailers had to be hired to transport her from the place of the previous concert. The main participants, including musicians, will be transferred from city to city by two private planes. All this is a lot of work. In 1994, the band’s world tour brought in more than $80 million in revenue — so it’s definitely worth the effort!

A limousine pulls up to the stage entrance. Four musicians come out of it. They are a little excited when the name of their group is announced and seventy thousand people enter in a deafening roar. The Rolling Stones take the stage and take the instruments. For the next two hours, they play superbly, leaving the crowds of their fans happy and satisfied. After the encore, they say goodbye, get into the limousine waiting for them, and leave the stadium.

They perfectly instilled in themselves the habit of focusing on the main thing. This means that they do only what they can do great — record music and perform on stage. And point. After everything is agreed at the very beginning, they do not deal with equipment, complex route planning, stage organization, or hundreds of other tasks that, in order for the tour to run smoothly and make a profit, must be performed flawlessly. This is done by other experienced people. This is a very important moment for you, dear reader! Only by focusing most of your time and energy on what you are truly brilliant at will you achieve significant success.

Long live practice!

Let’s see some more examples. Any champion athlete is constantly honing his skills to a higher and higher level. Whatever sport we take, all champions have one thing in common: most of the time they work on their strengths, which nature has endowed them with. Very little time is spent on unproductive activities. They train and train and train, often for many hours a day.

Basketball superstar Michael Jordan took hundreds of jump shots every day, no matter what. George Best, one of the best football players of the XNUMXs, often continued to train after the others had finished. George knew his strongest point was his legs. He put the balls at different distances from the goal and practiced his shot over and over again — as a result, for six seasons in a row he remained Manchester United’s top scorer.

Note that the best of the best spend very little time on things they are not good at. The school system could learn a lot from them. Children are often told to do things that they do poorly, and there is no time left for those things that do well. It is assumed that in this way it is possible to teach schoolchildren to understand many things. It is not right! As business coach Dan Sullivan said, if you work too hard on your weak points, you will end up with many strong weak points. Such work will not give you advantages.

It is important to clearly understand what you are best at. In some things you understand perfectly well, but there are also those — and you should honestly admit this to yourself — in which you are a complete zero. List your talents on a scale of XNUMX to XNUMX, with XNUMX being your weakest point and XNUMX being where you have no equal. The greatest rewards in life will come from spending most of your time on the XNUMX on your personal talent scale.

To clearly identify your strengths, ask yourself a few questions. What can you do without any effort and preliminary preparation? What are the opportunities for using your talents in today’s market? What could you create with them?

Unleash your skill

God has given us all some talent or another. And a significant part of our life is devoted to understanding what they are, and then making the best use of them. For many, the process of learning their talents stretches for years, and some leave this world without ever knowing what their gift is. The life of such people is not rich in meaning. They wear themselves out fighting because they spend most of their time in a job or business that does not match their strengths.

Comedy star Jim Carrey earns $20 million per film. His special talent is the ability to build the most incredible grimaces and take fantastic poses. Sometimes it seems that it is made of rubber. As a teenager, he practiced in front of a mirror for many hours a day. In addition, he realized that he was brilliant at parodies, and it was with them that his acting career began.

Kerry’s road to fame has had a lot of hardships. At some point, he stopped playing for two years, struggling with self-doubt. But he did not give up, and as a result, he was finally offered the main role in the film «Ace Ventura: Pet Detective.» He played brilliantly. The film was a resounding success and became for Carrey the first step on the way to the stars. The combination of strong belief in my abilities and many hours of daily work eventually paid off.

Kerry improved through visualization. He wrote himself a check for $20 million, signed it for services rendered, dated it, and put it in his pocket. During difficult times, he sat on a hill, looking at Los Angeles and imagining himself as a screen star. Then he reread his check as a reminder of future wealth. Interestingly, a few years later, he signed a $20 million contract for his role in The Mask. The date almost matched the check he had kept in his pocket for so long.

Focus on priorities — works. Make it your habit and you will be successful. We have created a practical methodology that makes it easy to learn and discover your special talents.

The first step is to make a list of all the things you do at work during a typical week. Most people type in a list of ten to twenty items. One of our clients had as many as forty. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that it’s impossible to do forty things every week, focusing on each one of them. Even twenty things will be too much — trying to do them, you become distracted and easily distracted.

Many are surprised at how often it feels like they are being torn apart. “Swamped with work!”, “Everything is out of control!”, “Such stress,” we hear these phrases all the time. A prioritization scheme will help you deal with this feeling—at least you will begin to understand where your time is going. If you find it difficult to remember everything you do (which also indicates that there is too much to do), you can record your activities in real time with a 15-minute interval. Do this for four to five days.

Once the priority focus chart is complete, list three things you think you’re good at. It’s about the things that come easy to you, that inspire you and bring outstanding results. By the way, if you are not directly involved in generating income for the company, who is involved? Do they do it brilliantly? If not, you may have some big decisions to make in the near future.

Now the next important question. What percentage of your time during a typical week do you spend doing what you do brilliantly? Usually they call the figure 15-25%. Even if 60-70% of your time is spent usefully, there is still a lot of room for improvement. What if we increase the rate to 80-90%?

The level of your skill determines your opportunities in life

Take a look at your original weekly to-do list and pick three things you don’t like to do or just aren’t good at. There is no shame in admitting some weaknesses in yourself. Usually, people note paperwork, keeping accounts, making appointments, or keeping track of cases over the phone. As a rule, this list includes all the small things that accompany the implementation of the project. Of course, you need to do them, but not necessarily on your own.

Have you noticed that these things do not give you strength, but suck it out of you? If so, it’s time to act! The next time you do a job you hate, remind yourself that it’s all for nothing, in the words of the famous speaker Rosita Perez: «If the horse is dead, get off it.» Stop torturing yourself! There are other options.

Are you a starter or finisher?

Is this a good time to think about why some things you like to do and some you don’t? Ask yourself: are you a starter or a finisher? Perhaps to some extent you are both, but which do you feel like more often? If you are a starter, you enjoy creating new projects, products and ideas. However, the problem with starters is the inability to finish things. They get bored. Most entrepreneurs are great starters. But once the process is started, they often drop everything in search of something new, leaving behind a mess. Cleaning up rubble is the calling of other people who are called finishers. They love to get things done. Often they do a poor job at the initial stage of the project, but then ensure its successful implementation.

So decide: who are you? If a starter, forget about the guilt of never finishing what you started. You just need to find a great finisher to take care of the details and together you complete many projects.

Consider an example. The book you are holding in your hands started with an idea. The actual writing of the book — the chaptering, the writing of the text — is essentially the work of the starter. Each of the three co-authors played an important role here. However, to create a finished product, it took the work of many other people, excellent finishers — editors, proofreaders, typesetters, etc. Without them, the manuscript would have been gathering dust for many years on the shelf … So here’s the next important question for you: who could do the things that You dont love?

For example, if you don’t like keeping records, find a specialist in this case. If you don’t like making appointments, let the secretary or telemarketing service do it for you. Don’t like sales, «motivation» of people? Maybe you need a good sales manager who can recruit a team, train them and monitor the results of work every week? If you hate dealing with taxes, use the services of an appropriate specialist.

Wait to think, «I can’t afford to hire all these people, it’s too expensive.» Calculate How long time you have freed up if you effectively distribute «unloved» tasks among other people. In the end, you can plan to gradually bring these assistants into the business or resort to the help of freelance services.

If you’re drowning, call for help!

Learn to let go of the little things

If your business is growing and your position in the company requires you to focus on a specific activity, hire a personal assistant. By finding the right person, you will surely see how your life will change dramatically for the better. Firstly, a personal assistant is not a secretary, not someone who shares his duties with two or three other people. A real personal assistant works completely for you. The main task of such a person is to free you from routine and fuss, to give you the opportunity to focus on the strongest aspects of your activity.

But how do you choose the right person? Here are some tips. First, make a list of all the tasks for which you will give the assistant full responsibility. Basically, it will be work that you want to cross off your own weekly to-do list. When interviewing assistant candidates, ask the top three to go through a follow-up interview to better assess their potential professional and personal qualities.

You can create a profile of the ideal candidate in advance, before you start the selection. Compare the profiles of the top three candidates with your «ideal» candidate. Usually the one whose profile is closest to the ideal will perform the best. Of course, in the final selection, other factors should be taken into account, such as, for example, attitude, honesty, integrity, previous work experience, etc.

Be careful: do not stop your choice on a person who is like two drops of water similar to you! Remember: an assistant should complement your skills. A person with the same preferences as you is likely to create even more confusion.

A few more important points. Even being by nature prone to increased control, not being able to easily “let go” of things to the side, you must overpower yourself and “surrender to the mercy” of your personal assistant. And do not panic at the word «surrender», delve deeper into its meaning. Usually lovers of control are sure that no one can do this or that thing better than themselves. Perhaps this is so. But what if a well-chosen personal assistant can initially do it only a quarter worse than you? Train him and eventually he will surpass you. Give up total control, trust someone who knows how to organize everything and take care of the details better than you.

Just in case — if you still think you can handle everything at once — ask yourself: «How long is an hour of my work?». If you have never kept such calculations, do them now. The table below will help you.

How long are you really worth?

Based on 250 working days per year and an 8-hour working day.

I hope your scores are high. Then why are you doing low-profit business? Drop them!

Another point regarding personal assistants: it is necessary to draw up a work plan for each day or at least for a week and discuss it with an assistant. Communicate, communicate, communicate! The main reason potentially fruitful relationships wither is lack of communication. Make sure your assistant knows what you intend to spend your time on.

Also, give your new partner time to get used to your system of work. Point out to him the main people you want to focus on communicating with. Together with him, think about ways to control that will allow you not to be distracted and mobilize efforts on what you do best. Be open to communication!

Now let’s see how you can apply the habit of focusing on your personal priorities so that you have more time to spend with family and friends, hobbies or sports.

Wherever you live, you need to make an effort to keep your home in perfect condition. In the presence of children, this problem is complicated by a factor of three to four, depending on their age and ability to destroy. Think about How long time during a typical week is spent on cleaning, cooking, washing dishes, minor repairs, car maintenance, etc. Have you noticed that there is no end in sight to these problems? This is the routine of life! Depending on the character, you can love her, put up with her or hate her.

How would you feel if you could find a way to minimize these hassles, or even better, get rid of them? Free, more relaxed, able to enjoy what you like to do? Still would!

You may need to change your mindset to read and accept what is written below. A kind of leap into the unknown awaits you. However, the benefits will certainly outweigh your investment. In short: if you want to free up your time, ask for help. For example, hire someone to clean your house once or twice a week.

Les: We found a lovely married couple who have been cleaning our house for twelve years now. They love their job. The house now just sparkles. It costs us sixty dollars a visit. And what do we have in return? A few free hours and more energy to enjoy life.

Maybe among your neighbors there is a pensioner who likes to make things? Many older people have excellent skills and are looking for something to do. This kind of work makes them feel wanted.

Make a list of everything in your home that needs repair, maintenance, or upgrades—little things that never get done. Get rid of stress by delegating them to others.

Estimate How long free time you will have as a result. You could use these precious hours for a good rest with your family or friends. Maybe this newfound freedom from the weekly «little things» will allow you to take up the hobby you’ve always dreamed of. After all, you deserve it, right?

Remember: the amount of free time per week you have is limited. Life becomes more enjoyable when you live on a high-impact, low-cost schedule.

Formula 4D

It is important to really separate the so-called urgent matters from the most important priorities. Putting out fires in an office all day long, in the words of management expert Harold Taylor, means «surrendering to the tyranny of urgency.»

Focus on priorities. Whenever the choice is to do or not to do something, prioritize using the 4D formula by choosing one of the four options below.

1. Down!

Learn to say, «No, I won’t do that.» And be firm in your decision.

2. Avea ma sui

These things need to be done, but not by your forces. Feel free to pass them on to someone else.

3. Until better times

This includes cases that need to be worked on, but not right now. They can be postponed. Schedule a time for you to do this work.

4. Come on!

Right now. Important projects that require your immediate involvement. Move forward! Reward yourself for doing them. Don’t look for answers. Remember: in case of inaction, unpleasant consequences can await you.

security border

The point of focusing on priorities is to set new boundaries that you won’t cross. First, they need to be very clearly defined — both in the office and at home. Discuss them with the most important people in your life. They need to explain why you decided to make these changes, and they will support you.

To understand more clearly how to set boundaries, imagine a small child on a sandy beach by the ocean. There is a safe zone, fenced off with several plastic buoys tied with a thick rope. A heavy net tied to a rope prevents the child from going outside the fenced area. The depth inside the barrier is only about half a meter. It is calm there, and the child can play without worrying about anything.

There is a strong current on the other side of the rope, and a steep underwater slope instantly increases the depth to several meters. Motor boats and jet skis rush around. Everywhere warning signs «Danger! Swimming is prohibited.» As long as the child is in the enclosed space, all is well. Outside it is dangerous. The essence of the example: playing where your focus is disturbed, you go beyond safe boundaries to where you are in danger of mental and financial dangers. Within the same area that you know best, you can safely splash around all day.

The power of the word «no»

Staying within these boundaries requires a new level of self-discipline. In other words, you should be more aware and clearer about what you are spending your time on. To stay on course, regularly ask yourself: Is what I am doing now helping me achieve my goals? This is useful. In addition, you will have to learn to say “no” much more often. There are also three areas for you to explore.

1. Himself

The main battle every day takes place in your head. We constantly lose these or other situations. Stop doing it. When your little inner wickedness begins to emerge from the depths of consciousness, trying to break through to the fore, pause. Give yourself a short mental note. Focus on the benefits and rewards of focusing on priorities and remind yourself of the negative consequences of other behaviors.

2. Isi

Perhaps other people will try to break your concentration. Sometimes someone comes to your office to chat, because you adhere to the principle of open doors. How to deal with it? Change the principle. For at least part of the day when you need to be alone and focus on a new big project, keep the door closed. If that doesn’t work, you can draw a «Do Not Disturb» sign. Whoever comes in, I’ll fire him!»

Danny Cox, California’s leading business consultant and best-selling author, uses a powerful analogy when it comes to focusing on priorities. He says, “If you have to swallow a frog, don’t look at it for too long. If you need to swallow several of them, start with the largest one. In other words, do the most important things right away.

Don’t be like most people who have six items on their daily to-do list and start with the easiest and least priority task. At the end of the day, the biggest frog — the most important thing — sits untouched.

Get a big plastic frog to put on your desk when you’re working on an important project. Tell employees that a green frog means you are not to be disturbed at this time. Who knows — maybe this habit will be passed on to your other colleagues. Then the work in the office will become more productive.

3. Telefoni

Perhaps the most annoying hindrance of all is the telephone. It’s amazing How long people let this little device control their entire day! If you need two hours without distractions, turn off your phone. Turn off any other device that can distract you. Email, voice mail, answering machines will help you solve the problem of intrusive calls. Use them wisely — sometimes, of course, you have to be available. Schedule your appointments in advance, like a doctor with patients: for example, from 14.00 to 17.00 on Mondays, from 9.00 to 12.00 on Tuesdays. Then choose the best time for phone calls: for example, from 8.00 to 10.00. If you want tangible results, you need to disconnect from the outside world from time to time. Give up the habit of immediately reaching for that e.e. when the phone rings. Say no! This will also come in handy at home.

Our time management specialist Harold Taylor recalls the days when he literally got hooked on the phone. One day, when he got home, he heard a phone call. Hurrying to answer, he broke the glass door and injured his leg, demolished several pieces of furniture. On the penultimate bell, he grabbed the toe and, breathing heavily, shouted: “Hello?”. «Would you like to subscribe to the Globe and Mail?» asked his impassive voice.

Another suggestion: so that you are not annoyed by advertising calls, turn off your home phone during meals. After all, it is at this time that they call most often. The family will be grateful to you for the opportunity to communicate normally. Consciously stop yourself when you start doing something that is not in your interests. From now on, such actions are out of bounds. Don’t go there anymore!

Life in a new way

This section is about how to live within the new boundaries. To do this, you need to change your way of thinking, and most importantly, learn to act. Here is a good example to help you. Doctors are especially active in defining boundaries. Since there are many patients, doctors have to constantly adapt their skills to reality. Dr. Kent Remington is one of the top focus specialists and is a respected dermatologist who specializes in laser therapy. Over the years, his practice has grown steadily. Accordingly, the role of effective time management also increased — the ability to focus on priorities.

Dr. Remington sees his first patient at half past seven in the morning (successful people usually start work early). Upon arrival at the clinic, the patient is registered, then sent to one of the reception rooms. The nurse checks his card, asks him about his well-being. Remington himself appears a few minutes later, having previously read the card that the nurse had already placed on the table in his office.

This approach allows Dr. Remington to focus solely on treating the patient. All preliminary work happens in advance. After the appointment, further recommendations are given by the experienced staff of the clinic. Thus, the doctor manages to see many more patients, and they have to wait less. Each employee is focused on a few things they do especially well, and as a result, the whole system works smoothly. Does it look like your office work? I think you know the answer.

What else can you do to jump to a new level of efficiency and more successful concentration? Here’s an important tip:

Old habits distract from the goal

For example, the habit of watching too much TV. If you are used to lying on the couch for three hours every night, and the only physical activity is pressing the buttons on the remote control, you should rethink this habit. Some parents understand the consequences of this behavior and limit their children’s TV viewing time to a few hours on weekends. Why not do the same for yourself? Here is your goal. Forbid yourself to watch TV for a week and see how many things you redo.

A study by Nielsen found that on average people watch 6,5 hours of TV a day! The key word here is «average». In other words, some watch it even more. This means that an ordinary person spends about 11 years of his life watching TV! If you stop watching at least advertising, you will save about three years.

We understand that it is difficult to get rid of old habits, but we have only one life. If you want to live it not in vain, start getting rid of old habits. Create yourself a fresh set of techniques that will help you live a life that is complete in every way.

Jack: When I started working for Clement Stone in 1969, he invited me for an hour-long interview. The first question was: «Do you watch TV?» Then he asked: “How many hours a day do you think you watch it?” After a little calculation, I answered: “About three hours a day.

Mr. Stone looked into my eyes and said, “I want you to reduce this time by an hour a day. So you can save 365 hours per year. If you divide this figure by a forty-hour work week, nine and a half new weeks of useful activity will appear in your life. It’s like adding two more months to every year!

I agreed that this was a great idea and asked Mr. Stone what he thought I could do with that extra hour a day. He suggested that I read books on my specialty, psychology, education, learning, and self-esteem. In addition, he suggested listening to educational and motivational audio materials and learning a foreign language.

I followed his advice and my life changed dramatically.

There are no magic formulas

We hope you understand: you can achieve what you want without the help of magic spells or secret potions. You just need to focus on what brings results. However, many do something completely different.

Many people get stuck in jobs they don’t love because they haven’t developed their areas of excellence. The same lack of knowledge is observed in matters of health. The American Medical Association recently announced that 63% of American men and 55% of women (over 25) are overweight. Obviously, we eat a lot and move little!

This is the point. Take a close look at what works and what doesn’t work in your life. What brings significant wins? What gives poor results?

In the next chapter, we’ll show you step by step how to create what we call «amazing clarity.» You will also learn how to set “big goals”. Then we will introduce you to a special focusing system so that you can achieve these goals. These strategies have worked very well for us. You will succeed too!

Success is not magic. It’s all about concentration!

iʻuga

We’ve talked about a lot in this chapter. Re-read it several times to fully understand what has been said. Apply these ideas to your own situation and take action. Once again, we emphasize the importance of following a guide to action, following which you can truly turn the focus on priorities into a habit. In a few weeks you will see the difference. Work productivity will increase, personal relationships will be enriched. You will feel better physically, start helping others. You will have more fun to live, and it will be possible to achieve those personal goals for which there was not enough time before.

Guide to Action

Scheme of Focusing on Priorities

A six-step guide to action — more time, more productivity.

A. List all the activities at work that you spend time on.

For example, phone calls, meetings, paperwork, projects, sales, job control. Break large categories like phone calls and appointments into subsections. Be specific and brief. Create as many items as you need.

1. ________________________________________________________________

2. ________________________________________________________________

3. ________________________________________________________________

4. ________________________________________________________________

5. ________________________________________________________________

6. ________________________________________________________________

7 ________________________________________________________________

8. ________________________________________________________________

9. ________________________________________________________________

10. _______________________________________________________________

B. Describe three things you do brilliantly.

1. ________________________________________________________________

2. ________________________________________________________________

3. ________________________________________________________________

C. What are the top three things that make money for your business?

1. ________________________________________________________________

2. ________________________________________________________________

3. ________________________________________________________________

D. Name the top three things you don’t like to do or don’t do well.

1. ________________________________________________________________

2. ________________________________________________________________

3. ________________________________________________________________

E. Who could do this for you?

1. ________________________________________________________________

2. ________________________________________________________________

3. ________________________________________________________________

F. What is one time-consuming activity that you could leave or pass on to another?

What immediate benefit would this solution bring to you?

Strategy #3: Do you see the big picture?

Most people do not have a clear idea of ​​what they want to achieve in the future. At best, this is a blurry image. And how are things going with you?

Do you regularly take time to think about a better future? You will say: “I can’t set aside one day every week for reflection: I would be able to cope with current affairs!”

Well, so what: start with five minutes a day, gradually bring this time up to an hour. Isn’t it wonderful to spend sixty minutes a week creating an idyllic picture of your future? Many spend more on planning a two-week vacation.

We promise you that if you take the trouble to develop the habit of seeing your perspective clearly, you will be rewarded a hundredfold. Do you want to get rid of debt, become financially independent, get more free time for leisure, build great personal relationships? You can achieve all of this and much more if you have a clear picture of what you want to achieve.

Next, you will find a universal strategy for creating a «large-scale canvas» for the coming years. In the following chapters, we will show you how to support and strengthen this vision through weekly work plans, advisory groups, and mentor support. Thanks to all this, you will create a strong fortress around you, impregnable for negativity and doubt. Let’s start!

Why set goals?

Do you consciously set goals for yourself? If yes, great. However, please read the information we have prepared for you. There is a chance that you will benefit from strengthening and expanding your goal-setting skill, and as a result, new ideas will come to you.

If you are not deliberately setting goals, that is, not planning on paper for weeks, months or years ahead, pay special attention to this information. It might change your life dramatically.

First: what is a goal? (If this is not very clear to you, then you can get off course before you start moving towards achieving it.) Over the years, we have heard many answers to this question. Here is one of the best:

The goal is the constant pursuit of a worthy object until it is achieved.

Let’s look at the meaning of the individual words that make up this phrase. «Permanent» means that it is a process that takes time. The word «pursuit» contains an element of hunting — perhaps, on the way to the goal, you will have to overcome obstacles and barriers. “Worthy” shows that “pursuit” will sooner or later justify itself, because ahead of you is a reward that is sufficient to survive hard times for it. The phrase «until you achieve» suggests that you will do everything possible to achieve what you want. It’s not always easy, but absolutely necessary if you want to fill your life with meaning.

The ability to set goals and achieve them is the best way to understand what you have achieved in life, to ensure clarity of vision for yourself. Note that there is an alternative — just aimlessly go with the flow, hoping that one day luck will fall on you. Wake up! Rather, you will find a grain of gold on a sandy beach.

Help — checklist

TV talk show host David Letterman makes stupid «top XNUMX» lists that people pay money for. Our list is much more valuable — it is a checklist by which you can check whether you are setting the right goals for yourself. This is something like a buffet: choose what suits you best and use it.

1. Your most important goals should be yours.

Sounds undeniable. However, thousands of people make the same mistake: their main goals are formulated by someone else — the company they work for, the boss, the bank or credit company, friends or neighbors.

In our trainings, we teach people to ask themselves the question: what do I really want? At the end of one of the classes, a man came up to us and said: “I am a dentist, I chose this profession only because my mother wanted it that way. I hated my job. I drilled a patient’s cheek once and I had to pay him $475.»

Here’s the thing: By allowing other people or society to determine the essence of your success, you jeopardize your future. Stop it!

Our decision-making is heavily influenced by the media. Living in a more or less large city, you hear and see about 27 advertisements every day that put constant pressure on our thinking. In terms of advertising, success is the clothes we wear, our cars, our homes, and the way we relax. Depending on how you are doing with all this, you are written either as successful people or as losers.

Want more confirmation? What do we see on the cover of most popular magazines? A girl with a chic figure and hairdo, without a single wrinkle on her face, or a handsome macho man who owes his muscular torso clearly not to five-minute daily exercises on a household simulator. You are told that if you don’t look the same, you are a failure. No wonder so many teenagers in today’s world are struggling with eating disorders like bulimia and anorexia, because social pressure does not spare those who have an imperfect figure or average appearance. Funny!

Decide what your definition of success will be and stop worrying about what others think. For years, Sam Walton, founder of Wal-Mart, the largest and most successful retail chain of all time, enjoyed driving an old pickup truck despite being one of the richest men in the country. When asked why he would not choose a car more suitable for his status, he replied: “But I like my old van!” So forget about the image and set goals that are right for you.

By the way, if you really want to drive a luxury car, live in a luxury home, or create an exciting life for yourself, go ahead! Just make sure it’s what you want.

2. Goals must be meaningful

Acclaimed public speaker Charlie Jones (Brilliant) describes the beginning of his career this way: “I remember fighting to get my business off the ground. Night after night in my office, I took off my jacket, folded it up like a pillow, and snatched a couple of hours of sleep on my desk.” Charlie’s goals were so meaningful that he was willing to do anything to grow his business. Total dedication is the most important moment if you want to achieve your goal. In his early thirties, Charlie acquired the profession of an insurance broker, which began to bring him more than $ 100 million a year. And all this in the early sixties, when money was worth more than it is now!

As you prepare to write down your goals, ask yourself, “What is really important to me? What is the purpose of this or that action? What am I willing to give up for this? Such thoughts will add clarity to your thinking. The reasons why you will take on a new business will fill you with strength and energy.

Ask yourself: «What will I gain?» Think about the shiny new life you will get if you take immediate action.

If our method doesn’t make your heart beat faster, imagine an alternative. Let’s say you just keep doing what you always do. What will your life be like in five, ten, twenty years? What words can describe your financial future if you don’t change anything? What about health, relationships and free time? Will you become freer or will you still overwork every week?

Avoid the «if it weren’t for…» syndrome

Philosopher Jim Rohn subtly pointed out that there are two of the most powerful pains in life: the pain of discipline and the pain of regret. Discipline weighs pounds, but regret weighs tons if you let yourself go with the flow. You don’t want to look back years later and say, “Oh, if only I hadn’t missed that business opportunity! If only I regularly saved and saved! If only I could spend more time with my family! If only he took care of his health!” Remember: the choice is yours. Ultimately, you are the one in charge, so choose wisely. Engage in setting goals that will serve your freedom and success in the future.

3. Goals should be measurable and specific

This is one of the main reasons why most people do not achieve what they are capable of. They don’t define exactly what they want. Vague generalizations and vague statements are not enough. For example, a person says: “My goal is financial independence.” But what does this really mean? For some, financial independence is $50 million in a stash. For someone — earnings in 100 thousand dollars a year. For others, there is no debt. What is your amount? If this goal is important to you, give yourself time to figure it out.

Approach the definition of happiness with exactly the same scrupulousness. Just “More time for family” isn’t everything. What time is it? When? How often? What will you do and with whom? Here are two words that will help you a lot: «Be precise.»

Les: One of our clients said that his goal is to start exercising to improve his health. He felt overwhelmed and wanted to gain energy. However, “starting to play sports” is not an important definition for such a goal. It’s too general. There is no way to measure it. So we said: be more precise. He added, “I want to practice for half an hour a day four times a week.”

Guess what we said next? Of course, «be more precise.» After several repetitions of the question, his goal was formulated as follows: «Do sports for half an hour a day, four times a week, on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays, from seven to half past seven in the morning.» His daily workouts include ten minutes of warm-ups and twenty minutes of cycling. Quite another matter! You can easily track your progress. If we arrive at the specified time, he will either do what he was going to do, or he will take off. Now only he is responsible for the result.

Here’s the point: once you decide to set a goal, constantly remind yourself, «Be precise!» Repeat these words like a spell until your goal is crystal clear and specific. Thus, you will significantly increase your chances of achieving the desired result.

Remember: a goal without numbers is just a slogan!

It is important to have a system for measuring your own achievements. The Achievement Focus System is a special plan that will make the whole process easier for you. It is described in detail in the instruction manual for this chapter.

4. Goals should be flexible

Why is flexibility so important? There are a couple of reasons for this. First, there is no point in creating a rigid system that will choke you. For example, if you are planning workouts to improve your health, you can change their times and types of exercises throughout the week so that you do not get bored. An experienced fitness trainer will help you create an interesting, varied program that is guaranteed to bring the desired result.

And here’s the second reason: a flexible plan gives you the freedom to choose the direction of movement towards your goal if a new idea arises in the process of executing your plan. But be careful. Entrepreneurs are known to be often distracted and lose focus. Remember, don’t dive into every new idea — focus on the one or two that can make you happy and rich.

5. Goals should be interesting and promising

A few years after starting a new business, many entrepreneurs lose their initial enthusiasm and turn into performers and managers. Most of the work becomes boring for them.

By setting interesting and promising goals, you can get rid of boredom. To do this, force yourself to leave your comfort zone. It will probably be scary: after all, you never know if you will be able to “get out of the water dry” in the future. Meanwhile, when you are uncomfortable, you learn more about life and your own ability to succeed. Often the biggest breakthroughs happen when we are afraid.

John Goddard, the famous explorer and traveller, whom Reader’s Digest called «the real Indiana Jones,» is a perfect example of this tactic. At the age of fifteen, he sat down and made a list of the 127 most interesting life goals that he would like to achieve. Here are some of them: explore the eight largest rivers in the world, including the Nile, the Amazon and the Congo; climb the 16 highest peaks, including Everest, Mount Kenya and Mount Matterhorn in the Alps; learn to fly an airplane; to circumnavigate the world (in the end he did it four times), to visit the North and South Poles; read the Bible from cover to cover; learn to play the flute and violin; study the primitive culture of 12 countries, including Borneo, Sudan and Brazil. By the age of fifty, he had successfully achieved more than 100 goals from his list.

When asked what prompted him to compile such an impressive list in the first place, he replied: “Two reasons. First, I was raised by adults who kept telling me what I should and shouldn’t do in life. Secondly, I didn’t want to realize at the age of fifty that I had actually achieved nothing.”

You may not set yourself the same goals as John Goddard, but do not limit yourself to mediocre deeds. Think big! Set goals that capture you so much that it will be difficult to fall asleep at night.

6. Your goals must match your values.

Synergy and flow: these are two words that describe a process that moves effortlessly towards completion. If the set goals correspond to your core values, the mechanism of such harmony is launched. What are your core values? This is what is closest to you and resonates in the innermost depths of your soul. These are fundamental beliefs that have shaped your character over the years. For example, honesty and integrity. When you do something contrary to these values, your intuition or «sixth sense» reminds you that something is wrong!

Suppose you have borrowed a large amount of money, and you are required to pay it back. This situation is almost unbearable. One day your friend says, “I figured out how we can make some easy money. Let’s rob the bank! I have a great plan — we can do it in twenty minutes. Now you have a dilemma. On the one hand, the desire to improve the financial situation is very strong and the temptation of «easy» earnings is great. However, if your value called «honesty» is stronger than your desire to get money in this way, you will not rob a bank because you know it is not good.

And even if your friend is excellent at suggestion skills and convinces you to go on a robbery, after the “case” you will seem to be on fire from the inside. This is how your honesty will react. Guilt will haunt you forever.

Making your core values ​​positive, interesting, and meaningful makes decisions easy. There will be no internal conflict pulling you back, there will be an incentive that will push you to greater success.

7. Goals must be balanced

If you had to live your life over again, what would you do differently? When people over eighty are asked this question, they never say, «I would spend more time in the office, or I would attend committee meetings more often.»

No: instead, they now and then admit that they would rather travel more, spend time with family, have fun. Therefore, when setting goals for yourself, make sure that they include things that allow you to enjoy life. Working to exhaustion is a sure way to lose health. Life is too short to miss out on the good.

8. O sini e tatau ona moni

At first glance, this seems to contradict the previous advice to think big. But correlation with reality will achieve better results. Most people set unrealistic goals for themselves in terms of the amount of time it takes to achieve them. Remember the following:

There are no unrealistic goals, there are unrealistic deadlines!

If you’re making $30 a year and your goal is to be a millionaire in three months, that’s obviously not realistic. A good rule of thumb when planning business ventures is to allow twice as much time for the initial development phase of a project as you think. It will be needed to solve legal issues, bureaucratic difficulties, financial problems, and many other factors.

Sometimes people set goals that are downright fantastic. If you’re six feet tall, you’re unlikely to ever become a professional basketball player. Therefore, be as pragmatic as possible and create a clear picture of your future. Make sure your plan is realistic and you have given enough time to complete it.

9. Goals take effort

A well-known biblical saying says: “Whatever a man sows, that he will also reap” (Gal. 6:7). This is a fundamental truth. It seems that if you sow only good things and do it constantly, you will be guaranteed a reward. Not a bad option, is it?

Unfortunately, many of those who strive for success — usually understood as money and material possessions — miss the mark. There just isn’t enough time or space in their lives to give back to people. In other words, they only take and give nothing in return. If you always only take, in the end you will lose.

There are many ways to be generous. You can share time, experience and, of course, money. Therefore, include such an item in your goal program. Do it disinterestedly. Don’t expect immediate rewards. Everything will happen in due time and, most likely, in the most unexpected way.