One thing I did in my late 20’s that was life-changing for me was to attend a 2-day course on Effective Negotiating. This course taught me how people on the other side of the negotiation think and I have used this knowledge in my day-to-day personal and work life dealings every day since. At that seminar I was offered a chance to buy some self-enrichment courses, on tape (back in the day). One that I bought and continue to listen to more than 20 years later has been The Psychology of Achievement by Brian Tracy.

The Psychology of Achievement has taught me to look at life differently and find ways to achieve my goals. It taught me that no matter what life throws at you as long as you write down your goal, make it attainable but definitely a stretch, a deadline for achieving your goal and maintain your focus, you can achieve anything.

One of the most important take-aways from the course for me was: If you can think of a realistic goal and write it down, it is attainable. What determines if you can be successful in reaching your goal is your work ethic. Your mind will not let in thoughts that are not able to be realized so if you have the desire and belief that you can attain a goal, you can achieve it.

Another part of the course discusses our thoughts. “You become what you think about, everyday.” If you want to be happy in life you can’t be negative, you have to be optimistic. On the flip-side, if you think of yourself as sick or tired everyday how do you think you are going to feel? Probably sick and tired. We need to think about positive affirmations every day during our busy days to keep us on track. It’s ok to verbalize them too so when you are in front of a mirror every morning (after brushing your teeth) repeat your positive affirmation 5 times. This will help bring the affirmation to the real world and it will be present in your mind even when you are not specifically thinking about your positive affirmation.

Let us know in the comments if you like this post so far. We will have more to come on this topic so check back soon!