WEEKEND WISDOM

4 TIPS FROM BRIAN TRACY    on  

LIVING  A  SUCCESSFUL  LIFE

1. Focus on what is useful.

"Whatever you dwell on in the conscious grows in your experience."

"The key to success is to focus our conscious mind on things we desire not
things we fear."

This is very important and something I think some people don't grasp the full
extent of. I certainly didn't before. When your focus is split, when you fill
your mind with just the "normal amount" of negativity or dwell on for
example mistakes you are using up valuable time, energy and available focus
to pull yourself backwards and to make mountains out of molehills.

Problems seem to become bigger in your mind than they actually are when
you dwell on them. But so does, for example, opportunities and gratitude.

Your surrounding reality is huge. And the room for interpretations of that
reality is wide. What you focus is what you will see in your reality
(opportunities vs. more reasons why things suck). What you dwell on
becomes bigger and bigger in your mind. And what you think about is what
you will act upon.

That's basically why it's absolutely crucial to keep your focus and your thoughts in right place and on the positive and useful things in your life as consistently as you can. If you focus on the negative and irrelevant stuff it is quite likely that you never get all those most important things done.

2. Ask yourself helpful questions.

"After every difficulty, ask yourself two questions: "What did I do right?" and
"What would I do differently?"

The questions you ask yourself in life determine much of your outlook and
success. If you ask disempowering questions like "what sucks about this?" in any situation then you are creating a lot of unhappiness and victim thinking. 

If you on the other hand keep it on a useful and empowering level with questions like the ones from Tracy then your chances of succeeding goes up.

3. Focus on the activities that brings you results.

"Most people engage in activities that are tension-relieving rather than
goal-achieving."

This is very true. Many love to just take it easy or relieve tension - and create
more of it - by procrastinating and complaining instead of doing. It seems easier on the surface but in the long haul it tends to cause you more pain.

Of course, you must take time to relax too. But find a good and helpful balance for the two aspects of life and the best ways and most positive ways to relieve tension.

Three suggestions could be regular exercise, meditation in some form or just
watching a good movie.

4. Make a decision. Any decision. Just do something.

"Decisiveness is a characteristic of high-performing men and women. Almost
any decision is better than no decision at all."

I write about this quite a lot in the Positivity Newsletter. That's because it's one of the most fundamental things that hold people back. Sitting on your hands and hoping that someone else will do something for you usually results in a lot of waiting.

Just make a decision. Do something. Take a first step. The sky will most likely not fall if you fail. You will just feel bad for a short while and learn a few things by asking the questions in the previous tip. 

Then you make a new decision based on what you learned and take action again.