Pay It Forward

This past week, my wife Kimberly and I drove around Salt Lake City to maybe see some houses or office buildings that we had not seen before. As you probably know, the mind craves novelty even when it’s as simple as driving through a new or rarely seen neighborhood.

Kimberly chose to drive down a street where we used to live. We decided we’d like to meet the people living at our old house. When we knocked, a young, good-looking guy came to the door. We told him we used to live there, and we’d like to take a little look around. Before we went into the house, however, Kimberly said, “Hey, Mark, why don’t you go to the car and give him one of your books?” 

I did, and when I gave it to the young man, he looked surprised and said, “I know your name.” He quickly retreated into the house and brought out a book called Pay It Forward, co-authored by Brian Tracy and several other experts, including himself.

What a coincidence! I have known Brian Tracy for years. He was a top-notch motivational speaker at some of my seminars. Not only was he super successful and a superb writer and speaker, but he was also a super nice guy.

The young co-author we meet was Daryl L. Kemsley. His section in the book was “Driven By a New Purpose”. In it he writes about taking “Three Steps Forward” which I thought could be very helpful for a lot of people. I’d suggest that you get the book and read about his three steps:

Step 1. Sacrifice helps you embrace what you deserve in life and business. 

Step 2. The principles of building a business are consistent.

Step 3. When you listen for it, you will find the people that need you the most.

Pay It Forward is an excellent little book and Brain presents a lot of great subjects in his chapter, “Create Your Own Future” including:

• Think About the Future
• Become a Millionaire
• Create a Five-Year Fantasy
• Imagine No Limitations
• Practice Blue Sky Thinking
• Refuse to Compromise Your Dreams

That is to name just a few of what he writes about that can be so helpful to a person’s life. I sure remember when he spoke at our seminars and how the audience loved what he had to share. You could tell they knew it would be very, very helpful to in their lives. Go out and find the book and buy it. You won’t be sorry. 

Big Buried Secrets

Ok … so do you want some sure-fire ways to help you set big goals (and/or small goals) and be able to stick with them until you succeed? Well, they are out there just waiting for you. I’m going call these methods ‘secrets’ although as you read some of these you may say ‘Hey, I already know that one!’ so for you it’s really not a secret.  Right?  Well, you may be right and it may not be something new to you but if you are not doing it, then maybe it really should be labelled a ‘secret’. A secret you are keeping from yourself.

For example, you probably have heard the first two secrets I have for you. But do you do them?

No. 1: You must write your goal down! There is a kind of magic that happens in our brains when we make a printed record of specifically what we want to accomplish. It makes it more real to us and we feel obliged to follow through. Just because they’re written down.

No. 2: Be sure to put a deadline or time limit on your goal and write that down too.  Without a deadline, you can put off forever the tasks that will move you forward and then you’ll never get close to that goal. Knowing you have a deadline gives you a kind of mini-goal and something to aim for.

Does that sound familiar? Sound like great advice? Yes? Well … do you always employ them?

How about ‘secrets’ that some people might be aware of but don’t spend enough time doing?

No. 3: Take time to carefully visualize your goal with as much detail as you can imagine.  That visualization should also include an image in your mind of actually accomplishing your goal. Think about how you are going to feel when you arrive at your journey’s end. Run it though your brain numerous times until it feels real.

No. 4: Tell other people about what you have set out to do.  Ideally tell people who care about you and understand and appreciate what you’re aiming for. Ask these people to remind you, encourage you and cheer you on as you make progress towards your goals.

This fourth step can be a huge help.  Even if they don’t ask how you are doing or give words of encouragement every time they see you, your seeing them will often remind you that they know what you are shooting for and you certainly don’t want to disappoint them, not to mention failing yourself, of course.

So I am guessing that, for a lot of you, these tips aren’t new ideas but if you aren’t doing them, they might as well be deeply buried secrets. They are all simple to do, take very little effort, and can increase your ability to persevere and reach those goals, both big and small! So dig these back up and use them! It’s your own little gold mine you can use to pave your way to all kinds of success.

There is even more good news … those are not the only ‘secrets’ out there. Next week, I will talk about more tried and true secrets to making your goals a reality. Get yourself a head start by writing down, setting a deadline for, visualizing and telling others about your goal. Because the biggest secret is that you can’t get what you want without going for it!