Do ye value life? Then waste not time, for that is the stuff out of which life is made."- Benjamin Franklin
I really enjoy Brian Tracy's books,-I haven't read a bad one yet-but one of the biggest issues I have with them is that he recycles a lot. He puts all the same methods in every book. If you've read one or two, then you've read them all. Ex: Abcde method, 80/20, 20 idea method, and more appear in multiple books. None of it bad material, but if you've read over any of his other books, it's redundant and makes you want to skim, which should not be the case in any book, in my opinion.
Most of the things he's said in this book I've heard him spin in some way before. He is able to write so many books because they're all saying the same thing.
Notes:
If you don't control your time properly, it is difficult for you to control anything else (4). The differences between successful people and unsuccessful people is that successful people often accomplish vastly more than others because they us their time in a better and more effective way (5). The key to taking full control over your time and your life is for you to stop and think before you react and respond (6).
Strategic Planning and Goal Setting Time
The biggest single waste of time is setting off without clear, specific goals (11). People with written goals and plans earn and accumulate, on average 10xs as much as other people with the same levels of intelligence and education (13). For you to maximize your time you need to take time regularly to think about your goals, especially when you're experiencing turbulence and rapid change.
***"There are more than 10 million millionaires in the United State, and more than 80% of them are self-made. In the world, there are almost 2,000 billionaires, about 66% og whom are self-made as well. These are all individuals who started with nothing and achieved their financial success in one working lifetime, if not sooner."(18). 10% of millionaires are professionals, such as doctors, lawyers, architects, accountants, and engineers. (19)
"No matter how long you have gone down the wrong road, turn back."- Turkish Proverb (21)
Your goals should be so clear that you could explain them to a 6 year old child, and that child could turn around and explain them to another child (24).
There are no unreasonable goals; only unreasonable deadlines (27).
Begin each goal with the word 'I'. Make your positive. Instead of saying "I don't smoke anymore," you say, "I am a nonsmoker." (30) or "I earn this specific amount of money by this specific date."
It is estimated the average employee does not really start work until 11am, and then begins winding down about 3:30 in the afternoon (43). "Spending too much time on email can sabotage your career and make it almost impossible for you to perform at high levels in your job." (45)
Don't check your email in the morning. Check it only twice a day. In between, turn off all the sounds that remind you there are incoming messages. Remember, every time you hear one of these sounds, you get a dopamine jolt, distracting you from your work and decreasing your productivity. (47). You require about 17 minutes to refocus on an important task after being distracted for any reason (48).
Successful, highly productive people, spend most of their time working on activities that have big potential consequences. Unsuccessful people often work harder and longer hours, but they spend too much of their time working on activities that have few or no consequences at all. It doesn't really matter if they complete them or not (53).
Every minute that you spend planning your work will save at least 10 minutes in getting your work done (56). You will get back 2 hours of productive time, 120 minutes, just by planning your work before you begin.
Law of Three-no matter how many tasks you have to complete in your work, only three of those tasks will account for 90% of the value of your contribution to yourself (57). The key to increasing your productivity is for you to identify your three most important tasks and then work on them exclusively, while ignoring all the rest (58).
High performers in every field spend much more time practicing and upgrading their skills than low performers (68). According to the Ericsson study, these top people invested two hours per day, five days per week, to learn skills. (70). "Many people are only one skill away from doubling their income." (71)
Ask yourself: *What one skill, if I was really good at it, would help me to make a more valuable at my job?" (69)
In the top companies, people would use the words 'we', 'us', and 'our.' (71).
"Be willing to pay the price of success, in advance, over and over, for years if necessary, to get to the top of your field." (79). Set aside a minimum of ten hours per week during which you learn, stud, and develop your most important skill (80).
*There are 168 hours in a week. The average person works 8 hours per day (40 hours a week); sleeps 8 hours per day (56 hours a week); and dresses, eats, and travels to work 4 hours per day (28 hours a week). These tasks use up 124 hours, leaving 44 hours a week as spare time (83)
-What you do with your spare time can make all the difference between success and failure in life. You can spend it on pleasurable activities or you can invest it in your future. By using this spare time intelligently, rather than wasting it, or discarding it, you can become more valuable, be paid more money, and even become one of the top people in your field (85).
"The problem in society today is not an income gap. Instead, it is a skills gap. The highest paid people have skills that are in demand. The lowest paid workers do not." (89)
Set aside periods of the day when you allow no interruptions (98). When you make a call or send an email message, set clear callback or response times. Tell others the time that you will be available to respond to the message or phone call. Make all of your telephone calls or email responses at once. Don't spread them throughout the day (99).
There are three enemies of creative thought: The comfort zone, learned helplessness, and fear of failure or rejection (122).
You should be doing more of what give you the very best results today and less of what doesn't (131).
The ideal group size for a brainstorming session is 4-6 people; 15-45 minutes long (139). The key is no criticism, ridicule, or judgement at all of any of the ideas. The leader of the session remains totally positive, complimenting every idea and praising people for their contributions (140). Focus on quantity of ideas rather than quality.
A goal unachieved is merely a problem unsolved (147).
Yo become what you think about most of the time (148). Top people think of their goals most of the time. The most successful people think and talk about solutions to the inevitable and unavoidable problems that they face every single day.
Ask yourself: What are the three biggest problems in my life?
These are the problems that you think about most of the time. They are the major barriers to your success and happiness (149).
The most likely solution to any problem is the simplest of all solutions available (Occam's razor) (150). Then ask yourself: Why aren't I already at my goal?
Whenever you hide behind an excuse, trotting it out and giving it to yourself and others, you shut down your problem-solving capabilities. You engage in "learned helplessness" (152). Begin by assuming that for any problem or difficulty there is an answer or a solution just waiting to be found (153). The biggest obstacle to solving problems is lack of clarity about exactly what the problem is in the first place (154).
More people are let go for personality problems than for lack of technical competence in every business and in every type of economy (165). The only way to increase the value of a relationship is to invest more time into that relationship. There is a direct relationship between quantity of time that you invest and quality of the relationship that you will have with that other person. Nothing can replace time, and usually face-to-face time (166). Work requires quality time. Family time requires quantity time. "Recent research says that the average father spends an average of eight minutes per day with each child" (168).
Listening builds trust (168). Listen Attentively; Face the person directly. Focus your eyes on her lips with occasional flicks to her eyes. Lean forward. Above all, don't interrupt.
"Success means no more difficult people in your life." (183)
"The most valuable asset you bring to your business and your career is rested thinking time." (192) 80% of your energy is burned up by mental activity rather than physical activity (193). To perform at your best, rest is essential (195). "Sometimes, the very best use of your time is to come home and go to bed early, at 8 or 9pm, and just sleep for 9-10 hours, completely recharging your mental and physical batteries.
Either meditation or contemplation will work for you in bringing you the peace you seek or the solutions you are looking for (224).
"All the problems of the human race stem from man's inability to sit quietly by himself in a room" - Pascal (225)