Last week, I unexpectedly woke up way too early, so I chose to utilize the quietness of dawn to reflect on my life. Fulfilling a promise from a recent post, I decided to use that opportunity to revisit Brian Tracy’s “Goals!” – a self-help book I’ve long regarded as an amazing resource for readjusting one’s life direction. It was not my first encounter, yet this time with a broader perspective, I felt like I had it all wrong.
Surprisingly, the early hour seemed to amplify the impact of the book’s wisdom, and I experienced a small but profound aha-moment that I’m eager to share with you. Even though I’ve known this book for years and have often returned to it, this time, the insights I drew felt particularly influential.
Do you also believe that goal-setting is one of the most crucial skills we can develop and cultivate in life? Yet, the vastness of Tracy’s comprehensive guide requires dedicated time and effort to fully absorb. Hence in this post, I’d like to share my unique perspective and the valuable insights I’ve gained from this masterpiece, which can help you digest it more effectively. As these insights have also the potential to reshape your journey to freedom I cannot wait to share them!
A Fundamental Mindset Shift: Mindset Before Tools and Tricks
One of the biggest “aha!” moments was realizing my core flaw – being too focused on superficial “tools and tricks” for improving productivity, rather than establishing the right underlying mindset first.
I’ve been a sucker for those catchy headlines promising “the one habit” or “productivity hack” for achieving all my dreams. Don’t get me wrong, they can be useful. However, if you pay attention to Tracy’s insights, that tactics and apps are useless unless you first understand yourself and purposefully frame the proper goal-oriented psychology.
A significant portion of the book, a full 8 out of 21 chapters, is dedicated to systematically cultivating the right mindset before delving into planning or execution strategies. This emphasis underscores the importance of putting first things first. In contrast, Brian Tracy devotes only one chapter, “Manage Your Time Well,” to productivity, and it appears near the end of the book. The final four chapters reinforce the idea that nurturing a strong psychological framework and persistently acting on goals is crucial for achieving and sustaining lasting progress.
This resonates with me, as I’ve often found myself getting sidetracked by shortcuts and neglecting the essential mental preparation required for sustained success.
Mastering Self Before Others: Money Before Family
One particularly contrarian idea that has stuck with me is to put yourself first before family or others when it comes to goals. Once I pondered more, it became obvious that you must take care of yourself first before you can take care of others. This self-first approach is similar to the safety instructions on an airplane: secure your oxygen mask first before assisting others. The same applies to solidifying your finances and achieving meaningful career milestones as a foundation before prioritizing family goals or obligations. Mind that it is said that financial issues are one of the major reasons for divorce.
This rubbed against my conventional mindset of putting family first, always. But I’ve come to appreciate the logic – how can I truly support my loved ones if my own house isn’t in order? Getting my financial future on solid footing and knocking out personal benchmarks doesn’t make me selfish. In fact, it sets my family up for far greater success and freedom down the road when I’m in a position of stability and strength.
Now I am in a different financial position than I was 10 years ago, but hopefully, this nugget of information will be of value to some of you.
Claiming Ownership of Your Life’s Direction: CEO Set Goals
While I’ve paid lip service to the power of goal-setting for years, once again “Goals!” showed me I’ve been falling short of truly owning and intentionally directing my life’s path. Too often, I’ve fallen into “set and forget” patterns – jotting down goals in a way that still worked for me but required way more effort and time. Instead of letting my goals drift and become disconnected, I realized I needed to treat them as an ongoing obsession to be nurtured daily.
As the book states, “see yourself as the President of your own personal services corporation.” So to be free, you need to take responsibility and own your life. Although I’ve managed to achieve some meaningful accomplishments, such as earning a PhD and embarking on an epic motorbike Europe tour, I now realize how much more could be possible with an immersive, involved commitment to consciously designing every aspect of the life I desire.
Now after a couple of years, the analogy of being the managing director of the enterprise called ‘I’ really resonated with me. Just as a CEO charts the direction of their company through goal-setting and strategic planning, we need to see ourselves as the leader who gets to author and authorize our own ideal life’s script through that same discipline. This shift has been energizing – seeing myself as the one with full agency to shape my circumstances rather than feeling at their mercy.
The message is clear: “As the president of your own career and your own life, as the architect of your own destiny, you are free to make your own decisions. You are the boss. You are in charge.”
The Power of a Well-Thought-Out Plan
In Brian’s words, “An ordinary person with a well-thought-out plan will run circles around a genius without one” struck a chord of resonance with me. It exposed my limiting self-belief. I realized that my aversion to planning had held me back for years. I used to think that planning was restrictive, that it stifled creativity and spontaneity. Over the years, I had developed some routines with checklists, essentially disguised plans, such as preparing a suitcase for travel. Now I know that a well-thought-out plan is essential to achieving my goals.
I’ve come to understand that any goals require a clear plan. Breaking down your major goals into smaller actionable steps, assigning deadlines, and dedicating time in your calendar are simple steps of planning that will set you up for success. Ironically, I had subconsciously neglected this crucial aspect of goal-achievement due to my faulty core beliefs, ultimately prolonging my journey towards my dreams.
An Empowering Perspective Shift
In many ways, the core principles of “Goals!” seem simple and intuitive in retrospect. But even after many years, it is still a perspective-shifting guide that I needed. Its empowering insights have given me once again an entirely new lens for approaching goals.
- Establishing the right goal-oriented mindset first before tactics or tools
- Seeing myself as the CEO consciously crafting my ideal life
- Solidifying my personal “baseline” to then better support the family
- Embracing thoughtful planning as a liberating pathway, not a restriction
While I can’t claim to have it all figured out yet, this mental reframing already feels deeply impactful for my goal-setting journey ahead. Brian Tracy has a remarkable ability to articulate these mindset pivots in a profound and straightforward way. I can’t recommend his book “Goals!” enough for anyone feeling stuck, overwhelmed, or like their dreams are slipping away despite sincere intentions.
If the path to freedom and self-actualization is what you’re after, then mastering the psychology and process of thoughtful goal-setting may be one of the most important disciplines to embrace. I encourage you to explore this book and consider how its insights could empower your own journey toward the life you envision.
Have you ever experienced a breakthrough moment when planning turned a dream into a reality? Share your story in the comments below.