The PT Challenge

Once you have defined your ideal future, set and determined your goals and plans, developed a strategy for achieving excellence in your field, and committed yourself to continuous learning, develop the habit of moving quickly and taking the initiative in each area of your life that is important to you. Instead of waiting for things to happen, develop the habit of making things happen. Instead of waiting for things to get better, take the initiative to change or improve whatever situation you find yourself in.

It is not easy to change your entire way of thinking and become an extraordinary person as the result of your own efforts, and your own work on yourself. But it is definitely possible, when you accept complete responsibility and take full control over the evolution and development of your own character and personality.

The most important part of this chapter, and this book, is action. It is not what you read or learn, but the specific actions that you take. Researchers have found that there is a direct relationship between how quickly you take action on a new idea, and how likely it is that you will ever take action on any idea at all. The very act of moving quickly in one area seems to develop the habit of moving quickly in other areas.

If you have learned something that is important to you in this chapter, or if you have an idea about something that you can do immediately that can improve some part of your life, resolve to take action on it immediately. Do it now. Develop a sense of urgency. Hurry. Resolve to become known as the kind of person who moves fast on any new idea or possibility. This can be one of the most important habits you ever develop.

Action Exercises:

1. Select a result, outcome or success you would like to have in your life, and then decide upon the one habit that could help the most to achieve that goal;
2. Develop the habit of future-orientation by thinking and imagining your ideal future in your business or personal life, and working toward it;
3. Develop the habit of goal-orientation by selecting one main goal, making a plan for its accomplishment, and then working on it every day;
4. Develop the habit of excellence-orientation by selecting one key skill that would help you more than any other, and then working on becoming better in that area every day;
5. Develop the habit of continuous learning by reading, listening to audio programs and attending seminars as a normal and natural part of your life;
6. Develop the habit of writing and rewriting your goals in a spiral notebook each morning before you set out;
7. Develop the habit of action-orientation by taking the initiative, by daring to go forward, by moving quickly on opportunities, or to solve problems.

“If you can win complete mastery over self, you will easily master all else. To triumph over self is the perfect victory.” (Thomas A. Kempis)

Taken From : Million dollar habits

The American Management Association reported on a study of managers who had been divided into two groups, those whose careers has flattened out and those whose careers were moving upward and onward at a rapid rate. They interviewed both groups to try to determine the differences that accounted for their relative levels of success and failure.

What they finally concluded was that it was not education, experience, background, networking or intelligence. The critical difference between success and failure was contained in the habit of taking the initiative. Managers and executives who were on the fast track were constantly moving out of their comfort zone and taking the initiative to try new things in new areas.

On the other hand, managers who were being continually passed over for promotion were continually waiting for someone to come along an tell them what to do. Once they had been given clear instructions, they seemed to be quite competent at carrying out their responsibilities. But the idea of initiating in the first place was alien to them.

Taken From : Million dollar habits

Finally, in becoming everything that you are capable of becoming, develop the habit of action orientation. In every study of successful people, in virtually every field, the quality of action orientation emerges as the most outwardly identifiable quality of people who are going somewhere in their lives and careers.

Action orientation means that you develop the habit of moving quickly when you have an idea or opportunity. You think continually in terms of the specific actions that you can take now to move closer to achieving a goal or getting a result that is important to you. Instead of talking endlessly about what you are going to do in the future, you act immediately to do something in the present.

Taken From : Million dollar habits

Make it a habit to only associate with the kind of people that you like admire, respect and want to be like. Do not drink coffee with whoever is sitting there. Do not go out for lunch with whoever is standing at the door. Do not socialize after work with whoever invites you. Be very conscientious and clear about the kind of
people that you are going to allow to influence your thinking and feeling by their conversations and opinions.

Dr. David McClelland found that fully your “reference group” would determine as much as 95% of your success or failure in life. These are the people that you habitually associate with and consider yourself to be one of. These can be members of your family, your coworkers, members of your political party, church or social organizations. The fact is that, “Birds of a feather flock together.” Or as Zig Ziglar says, “You can’t fly with the eagles if you continue to scratch with the turkeys.”

Taken From : Million dollar habits

Develop the habit of feeding your mind with positive mental food, as well. Remember, you are very susceptible to the suggested influences in your environment, whether radio, television, newspapers, magazines, billboards or conversations with other people. Your mind is your most important and precious asset. You must protect it and keep it clean, clear and focused on what you want, rather than allowing it to be polluted by the negative influences around you.

Refuse to watch terror or trash on television. Refuse to read about all the murders, robberies, rapes and tragedies in the newspapers. Refuse to listen to endless hours of mindless radio commentary on all the problems in the modern world. Refuse to engage in endless conversations with people about all the political and social problems in your nation or community. Keep your mind clean, clear, positive and free.

Not only do you become what you think about, but also you become what you feed into your mind on a regular basis. If you want to be positive, optimistic and happy, continually feed your mind with positive books and articles, positive audio learning programs, positive input and information from other experts in your field, and positive conversations with other optimistic goal-oriented people who are
going somewhere with their lives.

Taken From : Million dollar habits

If you are in trouble which is related to the absence of the money, all that you need to do is only to log yourself into the ulservicesonline.com website. Why this website then? Well, this website is a specialist that will do a lot of favor to diminish your problem, in fact.

This website will deal with your problem by providing you the unsecured personal loans which means that you would not be required to have some specific collateral before your application is granted. This is surely a perfect chance for you to take as it will not cause you some more problems ahead.

People can also try to get the application for the personal loans Virginia Florida. And in addition, this website will also serve the [Illinois]: Chicago, Rockford, Aurora, Naperville, Peoria parts. Therefore, if you stay at one of those cities, you can rely on this website for some meaningful assistance in solving your financial problems.

The most powerful affirmation or message that you can send from your conscious mind to your subconscious mind is a visualization or mental image. Develop the habit of creating clear, positive, exciting pictures of yourself performing at your best, and of your goals as if they were already achieved.

Each time you create a mental image in your conscious mind, you send a message that activates your subconscious mind, triggers the Law of Attraction, stimulates your creativity, and moves you toward the realization of that mental picture in your external world.

Positive, successful people make a habit of continually visualizing the outcomes that they desire, thereby programming their subconscious minds and shaping their self-image and their external performance.

But best of all is when you combine positive self-talk with positive mental imaging. You talk about the things you want and you create exciting mental pictures of your goals and desires as if they already existed in your reality. Positive thoughts and words make you more optimistic, give you more energy, enable you to bounce back faster from disappointment and keep you moving forward throughout the day.

Taken From : Million dollar habits

Each person is essentially self-made. The person you are may have been determined by your childhood experiences. But the person that you become, the person that you may be, is completely under your own control. The great principle, that “You become what you think about most of the time” refers to what you are thinking today, at this very moment. It is not your thinking of the past, or your thinking in the future, that determines the course of your destiny. Everything you are, and everything you will be, is determined by the thoughts that you think at each moment. And you can take complete control of those thoughts at any time you decide to.

You become an optimist by taking control of your inner dialogue, your self-talk. Resolve today to develop the habit of talking to yourself in a positive way. Say things to yourself like, “I like myself!” Say, “I can do it!” over and over again. If someone asks you how you are feeling today, always reply by saying “I feel terrific!” When you think about your job, repeat to yourself, “I love my work! I love my work!”

Fully 95% of your emotions are determined by the things you think and the words you say to yourself as you go throughout your day. Use your self-discipline and self-control to think and talk about the things you want, rather than allowing your mind to become preoccupied with the things that you don’t want, or with your
doubts and fears.

Taken From : Million dollar habits

There is a race on today, and you are in it, whether you know it or not. If you have not yet developed the habit of reading each day, attending seminars and courses regularly and listening to audio programs in your car as you move around, somewhere, someone else is doing this. Inevitably, that person will win the race, and you will lose.

The good news is that an average person, who develops the habit of lifelong learning, will eventually run circles around a genius who goes home and watches television each night. There is perhaps no habit that will more guarantee your success in life than the habit of continuous personal and professional improvement.

The pay-off in improved results in your field will be tremendous. But the best payoff of all is that you will become more positive and ptimistic. You will have more energy, be more creative and be a happier person as you continue to grow and grow toward the realization of your full potential.

The habit of continuous learning enables average people to become top performers in their fields. It enables people to go from rags to riches. It enables people to rise from poverty and frustration to affluence and success. Continuous learning opens every door for you. It increases your intelligence and creativity and puts you on to
the fast track in your career. Continuous learning, like nature, is neutral. Anyone can use it to accomplish extraordinary things in life. It is one of the best habits you can ever develop, and the pay-off from continuous learning will last you all the days of your life.

Taken From : Million dollar habits

The third habit you need for growth orientation is the habit of listening to audio programs in your car as you drive around, and as you walk or exercise. Audio learning is considered by many to be the greatest breakthrough in education since the invention of the printing press. And I agree.

I discovered audio learning at the age of 23. I was frustrated, working long hours and broke. When I began to listen to audio programs on a portable cassette player that I carried around with me, like a purse, my life transformed in a way that I never thought possible. By learning the critical skills of selling fro m experienced professionals who had been selling my product for many years, I was able to go from the bottom of my sales force to the top in less than six months.

Eventually, I became a sales manager and trained dozens of people in the same techniques. Over the years I have trained hundreds of thousands of sales professionals in the very best skills and methodologies ever discovered in professional selling. Many of them have gone onto become sales leaders and even millionaires as a result. My own audio program, “The Psychology of Selling” has become the top-selling program of its kind in the world, in sixteen languages.

The average person spends 500 to 1000 hours each year in his or her car. This is the equivalent of three to six months of 40-hour weeks, or the equivalent of one or two university semesters.

In fact, the University of Southern California recently concluded that a person could get the equivalent of almost full time university attendance simply by listening to educational audio programs rather than music as she drove from place to place during the course of the week.

Reid Buckley, the professional speaker, once said, “If you are not continually learning and upgrading your skills, somewhere, someone else is. And when you meet that person, you will lose.”

Taken From : Million dollar habits