Goals!

Goals! BOOKS BY BRIAN TRACY Victory! Maximum Achievement Advanced Selling Strategies The 100 Absolutely Unbreakable Laws of Business Success Success is a Journey Create Your Own Future Eat That Frog! Hire and Keep the Best People Get Paid More and Promoted Faster The 21 Success Secrets of Self-Made Millionaires A Treasury of Personal Achievement The Great Big Book of Wisdom Focal Point Universal Laws of Success The Peak Performance Woman COAUTHORED BY BRIAN TRACY Partnering — The New Face of Leadership Speaking Secrets of the Masters Insights into Excellence Traits of Champions GOALS! Q How to Get Everything You Want—Faster Than You Ever Thought Possible Brian Tracy Goals! Copyright © 2003, 2004 by Brian Tracy All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. For permission requests, write to the publisher, addressed “Attention: Permissions Coordinator,” at the address below. Berrett-Koehler Publishers, Inc. 235 Montgomery Street, Suite 650 San Francisco, California 94104-2916 Tel: (415) 288-0260, Fax: (415) 362-2512 www.bkconnection.com Ordering information for print editions Quantity sales. Special discounts are available on quantity purchases by corporations, associations, and others. For details, contact the “Special Sales Department” at the Berrett-Koehler address above. Individual sales. Berrett-Koehler publications are available through most bookstores. They can also be ordered directly from Berrett-Koehler: Tel: (800) 929-2929; Fax: (802) 864-7626; www.bkconnection.com Orders for college textbook/course adoption use. Please contact BerrettKoehler: Tel: (800) 929-2929; Fax: (802) 864-7626. Orders by U.S. trade bookstores and wholesalers. Please contact Ingram Publisher Services, Tel: (800) 509-4887; Fax: (800) 838-1149; E-mail: customer.service@ingrampublisherservices.com; or visit www.ingram publisherservices.com/Ordering for details about electronic ordering. Berrett-Koehler and the BK logo are registered trademarks of Berrett-Koehler Publishers, Inc. Cataloging-in-Publication Data are available from the Library of Congress. First Edition Hardcover print edition ISBN 978-1-57675-235-7 Paperback print edition ISBN 978-1-57675-307-1 PDF e-book ISBN 978-1-57675-508-2 2007-1 Copyediting by PeopleSpeak. Book design and composition by Beverly Butterfield, Girl of the West Productions. Contents Preface Introduction 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 vii 1 7 18 30 40 50 61 70 83 96 107 121 137 149 162 176 189 203 Unlock Your Potential Take Charge of Your Life Create Your Own Future Clarify Your Values Determine Your True Goals Decide upon Your Major Definite Purpose Analyze Your Beliefs Start at the Beginning Measure Your Progress Remove the Roadblocks Become an Expert in Your Field Associate with the Right People Make a Plan of Action Manage Your Time Well Review Your Goals Daily Visualize Your Goals Continually Activate Your Superconscious Mind vi | GOALS! 18 19 20 21 Remain Flexible at All Times Unlock Your Inborn Creativity Do Something Every Day Persist until You Succeed 215 227 244 254 274 279 283 285 289 Conclusion: Take Action Today Recommended Reading Learning Resources of Brian Tracy International Index About the Author To Rick Metcalfe, a good friend, a loving husband and father, a great American, an extraordinary entrepreneur, one of the best salesmen who ever lived, and an inspiration to everyone who knew him. I only wish you could be here to read this book. You left us all too soon. This page intentionally left blank Preface This book is for ambitious people who want to get ahead faster. If this is the way you think and feel, you are the person for whom this book is written. The ideas contained in the pages ahead will save you years of hard work in achieving the goals that are most important to you. I have spoken more than two thousand times before audiences of as many as twenty-three thousand people in twenty-four countries. My seminars and talks have varied in length from five minutes to five days. In every case, I have focused on sharing the best ideas I could find on the particular subject with that audience at that moment. After countless talks on various themes, if I was given only five minutes to speak to you and I could convey only one thought that would help you to be more successful, I would tell you “Write down your goals, make plans to achieve them, and work on your plans every single day.” This advice, if you followed it, would be of more help to you than anything else you could ever learn. Many university graduates have told me that this simple concept has been more valuable to them than four years of study. This idea has changed my life and the lives of millions of other people. It will change yours as well. The Turning Point A group of successful men got together in Chicago some time ago to talk about the experiences of their lives. All of them were millionaires and multimillionaires. Like most successful ix x | GOALS ! people, they were both humble and grateful for what they had achieved and for the blessings that life had bestowed upon them. As they discussed the reasons why they had managed to achieve so much in life, the wisest man among them spoke up and said that, in his estimate, “success is goals, and all else is commentary.” Your time and your life are precious. The biggest waste of time and life is for you to spend years accomplishing something that you could have achieved in only a few months. By following the practical, proven process of