Visualization Technique

Read Brian Tracy’s words of wisdom taken from his blog on May 09, 2008. Get the ins and outs for building both business and personal wealth.

Learn key insight to risk reduction and success and how you can
apply it to any decision you have to make.

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John Paul
Getty became the richest man in the world by practicing a few basic

principles of risk-taking and reward throughout his life. In this
newsletter, you learn a series of ideas that can help you to make
better decisions and reduce the risks associated with success.

The Billionaire’s Strategy for Success

Remember Murphy’s Law: “Whatever can go wrong will go wrong.” There
are several secondary laws to Murphy’s Law, such as “Whatever can go
wrong will go wrong at the worst possible time” and “Of all the
things that can go wrong, the most expensive thing will go wrong at
the worst possible time.”

Another sublaw is “Everything takes longer than your best
calculation.” In advising businesspeople, I suggest that they take
their very best estimate of break-even for any business venture and
then triple it to arrive at a more realistic number. Whenever
businesspeople follow this advice, they are amazed to find that, in
spite of their best initial calculations, it indeed takes about
three times longer than they thought it would to start making money.

Always Add a Fudge Factor

Another sublaw is “Everything costs more than you can possibly
anticipate in advance.” In minimizing risk in any venture, always
add a “fudge factor” to account for the degree of uncertainty.
Whenever I do a business plan, I always add 20 percent to the total
of all costs that I can identify, to come up with the probable cost.
Anything less than this, whether in business or your personal life,
is likely to be an exercise in self-delusion and open you up for
some unhappy surprises.

Once you have identified the worst possible things that could go
wrong, make a list of everything that you could do to offset these
negative factors. Engage in what is called “crisis anticipation.”
Look down the road, into the future, and imagine every possible
crisis that could arise as the result of changing external
circumstances.

Be Intensely Realistic

Men and women who have achieved a high level of success are
intensely realistic. They do not put their trust in luck. They
carefully calculate every possible risk, and then think about what
they would do should it occur. They always have a backup plan in
case things do not go as they wish them to. They have a “Plan B” and
options to that plan that take all kinds of variables into
consideration.

Do the Things You Fear

One of the very best ways to develop your ability to take
intelligent risks is to consciously and deliberately do the things
you fear, one step at a time.

A very good way to overcome the fear of risk taking is to set
clear, written, measurable goals for yourself, and then to review
those goals regularly.

When you have clear goals and plans, and you continually work on
them and evaluate your progress each day, you will see what you’re
doing right and how you could improve your performance. You’ll feel
more competent and capable and better about yourself. You’ll become
more thoughtful and reflective and willing to take on even greater
challenges. You’ll feel like the “master of your fate and the
captain of your soul.” And your likelihood of success will become
greater and greater.

Action Exercises

Here are three steps you can take immediately to put these ideas
into action.

First, take any worry situation in your life today and ask, “What
is the worst possible thing that could happen?” Then go to work to
make sure it doesn’t occur.

Second, look into the future in your life and determine the worst
things that could happen. Engage in “crisis anticipation” regularly
and continually be taking steps to guard against them.

Third, work from clear, written goals and detailed plans. Review
them regularly. Consider alternatives and always look for ways to
increase the likelihood of your success.

21 Great Ways Entrepreneurial/Finance Success Series

Billionaire Bill Bartmann continues to share his two secrets to all success. The second secret after having a high self esteem is the 9 steps to achieving any goals.

You must have both high self esteem and a system to achieving goals in order to be successful. Most people focus on having goals and start planning to achieve them, but without the self esteem, they will not follow their plans. They will have doubts along the way, and the slightest obstacle is enough to stop them. That is why Bill Bartmann said he can’t stress enough the importance of a high self esteem.

Assuming you did the previous exercise and start building your self esteem, the next thing you need is a system to achieve your goals. These are the 9 steps to achieving any goals that you have.

The first step is to make sure that the goals are yours. Too many people spent their life going after goals which are not theirs. For example, they are going after their parents’ goals. Or if they are rebellious, they are going the opposite of what their parents want them to be. Either way, they are not going after what they really wanted for themselves. So whatever goals that you have, make sure your goals are what you really want. Make sure they resonate with your heart. Make sure that when you achieve them, it will strengthen who you are as a person and achieving the goals make you grow.

The second step is NOT to call it a ‘Goal’. Call it a ‘Promise’. Words carry with them meanings and associations. Different choice of words produces different emotions and different understanding. People usually miss their ‘goals’ but they don’t break a promise. So instead of calling them goals, treat them as promises to yourself. The promises you give to yourself will give you more motivation you need to achieve them.

Step three is to clearly identify your promise. Your goals have to be precise and clear. If you want more money, specify how much money you want and by when. If you want to be healthier, specify your ideal weight, how many times you want to exercise, how far can you run, or how heavy you can lift. If your want to be more successful, specify what success mean. It is far easier to hit a target if you know precisely where they are.

The first secret to success is to raise your self esteem. What if you think that you are capable of doing anything? What if you have a state of mind that you believe that you can do anything if you put your mind to? What will you do? What will your try? Who will you connect to? What opportunities will you take?

The way to build your self esteem is to put successful events in the front of your mind.

If I ask you this question: what is the most significant event you had in your childhood? In a split second, you will think of something. Whether it is a happy memory or not, the first thing that comes to your mind is what is in front of your mind.

There are so many events that happened in your childhood, but there are only a handful of events that comes first when you think about it. The human brain can only focus on a few things at the same time.

Is it possible that you had so many successes in your life, but you keep on recalling the few failures that you had? Is it possible that your confidence level and your self esteem got lower because these few failures kept on playing in your mind like a broken record?

We are going to change that!

You are going to replace what is consistently in front of your mind with successes instead if failures. You can only build on successes, you can’t build on failures. By consistently reminding yourselves of our past successes, you will value yourselves more. You will feel that you deserve the successes. You will feel that you deserve to have a better life and begin expecting it. You will feel better, more confident and believe that you can accomplish anything that you want to.

The easiest way to do that is to write down all your notable accomplishments in a sheet of paper. This doesn’t have to be big accomplishment. You don’t have to be a Nobel Prize winner or find cures for cancer. It can be when you made someone’s life better. It can be that you helped your friends or family when they are in need. It can be giving to charities or religious organizations. It can be making someone smiles. All this are your accomplishments.

Your first task is to write at least 5 notable accomplishments that you had in your life so far. Then add more when you remember them. Your second task is to carry this sheet of paper everywhere you go. Then review this sheet of notable accomplishments at least twice a day. Review once when you wake up and once before you sleep. This is guaranteed to boost your self esteem!

If you have a bad day, which all of us have, just review your list of notable accomplishment. Doing this alone will turns our day around.

This simple exercise is not to be taken lightly. It is done by billionaire Bill Bartmann. And he still does it till today.

The 2 secrets to all successes are shared by Bill Bartmann. He is one of the richest Americans and he built his wealth from scratch. He was only a high school drop but he created novel financial instruments that are still being used on Wall Street. Harvard Business School uses him as a case study. He has been included in the Forbes Magazine list of the 400 wealthiest Americans, named as “One of the Top 100 Entrepreneurs of the Last 100 Years” by the Kauffman Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership, Allbusiness.com and Apple Computer. Bill has transformed his life from a failure to a success story, and has done so for countless other people. Now he spends a lot of his time traveling and speaking to share what he learnt about life and success.

He talked about the secret to success. Like most secrets in life, there is no secret or the secret is so simple and obvious that many chose not to believe them. To be successful, you need to take risks. There is no success that doesn’t require taking risk. You need to take risks in business, investment, or even in relationship. Most people are afraid to take risk because they are afraid of failure. They are afraid to fail because they are afraid of what others will think of them. They are afraid of what others will think of them because they have low self esteem.

So the first secret to success is to raise your self esteem. Think about it. If you have a high self esteem, you are not afraid of what others think of you, failure doesn’t bother you, you take more calculated risks and eventually you will be successful.

Can you think of any successful people who don’t have a high self esteem? Most people think that they will have high self esteem when they are successful. The truth is exactly the opposite. You will be successful if you have a high self esteem.

Your brain has survival instincts. It is there to protect you. Naturally, you won’t do anything that will hurt yourself. Your brain simply won’t let you do that. It is not going to do anything that is harmful to you. What if your brain tells you that failure is harmful? You will not take the risk or finish the tasks or project you started. Your brain tells you that if you don’t take risk or doesn’t finish a task or project, you are not failing. Not doing or not finishing is different from failing.

To counter that you need to build your self esteem. High self esteem is when you think you are capable of doing anything. I repeat - high self esteem is when you think you are capable of doing anything. It is a state of mind that you believe that you can do anything if you put your mind to.

Tomorrow we will talk about how to raise your self esteem.