My Reading Notes From:
No Excuses
By Brian Tracy
Most people think success comes from good luck or enormous talent, but many successful people achieve their accomplishments in a simpler way: through self-discipline. No Excuses! shows you how you can achieve success in all three major areas of your life, including your personal goals, business and money goals, and overall happiness.
With these guidelines, you can learn how to be more successful in everything you do –instead of wistfully envying others you think are just “luckier” than you. A little self-discipline goes a long way — so stop making excuses and read this book!
Most important success principal: Self-discipline is the ability to do the ability to do what you should do, whether you feel like it or not. Without self-discipline, nothing else will work.
The path of least resistance is the way people cut themselves short. People have little concern for how their long-term behaviors affect things. Requires delayed gratification.
People who can’t manage their own actions, instincts, appetites, and motivations will make themselves weak.
Banfield discovered that successful people are “long term thinkers.” They look at who they want to be in the future, then come back to today and determine what they need to do in order to be that in the future.
Often, by acting in haste and taking the easy route you often end up with a worse scenario than if you did nothing at all.
Herbert Gray studied success for 11 years and found the common denominator was that successful people make the habit of doing the things that unsuccessful people don’t like to do.
Whatever you do repeatedly becomes a habit. And gets stronger and stronger.
You must train and create the discipline of self-discipline. It’s a lifelong task. Napoleon Hill said you must master key to riches.
How do you define success? What would your perfect life look like?
Your goal is to get into the top 20% of whatever you choose to do.
The Iron Law of the Universe: If you want to achieve success in any area, you must determine how success is achieved in that area. Then practice those skills and activities repeatedly until you achieve the same results.
H.L. Hunt (Oil Billionaire) 3 step plan for success:
- Decide exactly what you want
- Determine the price you will have to pay.
- Decide you are willing to pay that price – for as long as it takes. No rationalization and excuses.
The price of Success must always be paid in full, and in advance.
The keep is to keep doing it. Don’t stop once you start getting success.
If your work life and career were ideal, what would they look like? What one discipline can you develop to help you achieve it?
If your family life were ideal, what would it look like? What discipline can you develop to make that happen?
If your health were perfect, what discipline would make that possible?
If your financial situation were ideal, what discipline would help you the most?
Why aren’t you already as successful as you would like to be? What 1 discipline would help you the most?
What one skill could you develop to help you achieve more of your goals?
If you could wave a magic wand and have 1 discipline that would help you be the person you want to be, what discipline would that be?