3016: Living Without Limits by Brian Tracy on Dreaming Big

[00:00:00] This is Optimal Living Daily Episode 3016, Living Without Limits by Brian Tracy of BrianTracy.com And I'm your narrator Justin Malik, the guy that reads blogs or articles to you every single day of the year including weekends and holidays. I will be here for Christmas and New Years.

[00:00:18] And I appreciate you listening every single day. Really means a lot. We're going to get right to our next post as we optimize your life. Living Without Limits by BrianTracy of BrianTracy.com The starting point of great success and achievement has always been the same.

[00:00:39] It is for you to dream big dreams. There's nothing more important and nothing that works faster for you to cast off your own limitations than for you to begin dreaming and fantasizing about the wonderful things that you can become, have, and do.

[00:00:54] As a wise man once said, you must dream big dreams for only big dreams have the power to move the minds of men. When you begin to dream big dreams your levels of self-esteem and self-confidence will go up immediately.

[00:01:07] You'll feel more powerful about yourself and your ability to deal with what happens to you. The reason so many people accomplish so little is because they never allow themselves to lean back and imagine the kind of life that is possible for them. Theory of Constraints

[00:01:21] A powerful principle that you can use to dream big dreams and live without limits is containing what Elio Goldrat calls the theory of constraints. This is one of the greatest breakthroughs in modern thinking. What Goldrat has found is that in every process in accomplishing any goal

[00:01:36] there's a bottleneck or choke cord that serves as a constraint on the process. This constraint then sets the speed at which you achieve any particular goal. What Goldrat found is that if you concentrate all of your creative energies and attention

[00:01:48] on alleviating the constraint you can speed up the process faster than by doing any other single thing. Let me give you an example. Let us say that you want to double your income. What is the critical constraint or the limiting factor that holds you back?

[00:02:02] Well, you know that your income is a direct reward for the quality and quantity of the services you render to your world. Whatever field you are in if you want to double your income

[00:02:11] you simply have to double the quality and quantity of what you do for that income or if to change activities and occupations so that what you are doing is worth twice as much but you must always ask yourself what is the critical constraint that holds me back

[00:02:24] or sets the speed on how fast I double my income? The 80-20 rule in action. A friend of mine is one of the highest paid commission professionals in the United States. One of his goals was to double his income over the next three to five years.

[00:02:39] He applied the 80-20 rule to his client base. He found that 20% of his clients contributed 80% of his profits and that the amount of time spent on a high profit client was pretty much the same amount of time spent on a low profit client.

[00:02:53] In other words, he was dividing his time equally over the number of tasks that he does while only 20% of those items contributed 80% of his results. So he drew a line on his list of clients under those who represented the top 20%

[00:03:07] and then called in other professionals in his industry and very carefully, politely and strategically handed off the 80% of his clients that only represented 20% of his business. He then put together a profile of his top clients

[00:03:20] and began looking in the marketplace exclusively for the type of client who fit the profile. In other words, one who could become a major profit contributor to his organization and whom he in turn could serve with a level of excellence that his clients were accustomed to.

[00:03:34] And instead of doubling his income in three to five years, he doubled it in the first year. What are your constraints? So what is holding you back? Is it your level of education or skill? Is it your current occupation or job?

[00:03:49] Is it your current environment or level of health? Is it the situations that you're in today? What is setting the speed for you achieving your goal? Remember, whatever you have learned, you can unlearn. Whatever situation you've gotten yourself into, you can probably get yourself out of.

[00:04:05] If your real goal is to dream big dreams and to live without limits, you can set this as your standard and compare everything that you do against it. Three keys. The three keys to living without limits have always been the same. They are clarity, competence and concentration.

[00:04:23] Number one, clarity. Clarity means that you're absolutely clear about who you are, what you want, and where you're going. You write down your goals and you make plans to accomplish them. You set very careful priorities and you do something every day to move you toward your goals.

[00:04:39] And the more progress you make toward accomplishing things that aren't born to you, the greater self-confidence and self-belief you have and the more convinced you become that there are no limits on what you can achieve. Number two, competence.

[00:04:51] Competence means that you begin to become very, very good in the key result areas of your chosen field. You apply the 80-20 rule to everything you do and you focus on becoming outstanding in the 20% of tasks that contribute to 80% of your results. You dedicate yourself to continuous learning.

[00:05:08] You never stop growing. You realize that excellence is a moving target and you commit yourself to doing something every day that enables you to become better and better at doing the most important things in your field. Number three, concentration.

[00:05:23] Concentration is having the self-discipline to force yourself to concentrate single-mindedly on one thing, the most important thing and stay with it until it's complete. The two key words for success have always been focus and concentration. Focus is knowing exactly what you want to be, have and do.

[00:05:42] Concentration is persevering without diversion or distraction in a straight line toward accomplishing the things that can make a real difference in your life. When you allow yourself to begin to dream big dreams, creatively abandon the activities that are taking up too much of your time

[00:05:55] and focus your inward energies on alleviating your main constraints, you start to feel an incredible sense of power and confidence. As you focus on doing what you love to do and becoming excellent in those few areas that can make a real difference in your life,

[00:06:08] you begin to think in terms of possibilities rather than impossibilities and you move ever closer toward the realization of your full potential. You just listened to the post titled Living Without Limits by Brian Tracy of bryantracy.com Thank you to Brian.

[00:06:30] The 80-20 rule or Pareto principle as it's known is a really interesting one, something that I don't think we've talked about in a while, as opposed to apply to many, many different things in life. And I found that to be the case for me.

[00:06:45] Basically, what it's saying is that 80% of some consequences, good or bad, really only come from 20% of causes. So basically inputs and outputs. In the example he gave us a good one, he mentioned a friend who realized that 20% of his clients provided him 80% of his profits.

[00:07:08] I really think this exercise is worth doing in different areas of your life, not just sales or money. So as another example, think about your clothes. Chances are 20% of those clothes are actually worn 80% of the time. This is a perfect way to think about decluttering your wardrobe.

[00:07:28] Another example could be it's likely that 20% of your utensils and appliances in the kitchen account for 80% of your cooking. This also works where 20% of that 20% applies to 80% of that 80%. I think I said that right, maybe not, but you get the point.

[00:07:48] I think it's really helpful to think about as you go about your day and see what you come up with. And with that have a great rest of your day. Thank you for being here. I'll see you tomorrow on Christmas Eve where your optimal life awaits.