For anyone who wants to become the greatest version of themselves. A classic. So many worthwhile examples. You’ll probably end up inspired after reading this book.
- If you don’t set a baseline standard for what you’ll accept in life, you’ll find it easy to slip into behaviors and attitudes/quality of life that’s below what you deserve
- It is a choice to choose to be more joyful or more fun or more confident or have more peace of mind.
- Ultimate Success Formula: (1) Decide what you want, (2) Take action, (3) Notice what’s working or not and (4) Change your approach until you achieve what you want.
- The Niagara Syndrome: When you jump on the river without ever deciding where you want to end up. If you’re directed by your environment instead of your values… this describes you
- Success is the result of good judgment. Good judgment is often the result of experience. Experience is often the result of bad judgment.
- When people succeed, they tend to party; when they fail, they tend to ponder… which leads them to make new insights that will help them succeed
- Remember that a truly committed decision is the force that changes your life. It’s a power available to any moment if you just decide to use it.
- What you link pain and pleasure to will shape your destiny.
- If you don’t have a plan for your life, someone else does. Everyone is trying to control your time and attention.
- Anything that you want that’s valuable requires you to break through some short term pain to get long term pleasure
- Kaizen – never-ending improvement
- Beliefs to have to change quickly:
- I can change now.
- I’m responsible for my own change, not anyone else.
- He who has a strong enough why can bear almost any how (Nieztsche)
- One of the best ways to interrupt someone’s pattern is to do something they don’t expect (snaps us out of the automatic programming)
- Your brain can’t tell the difference between something you vividly imagine and reality.
- We can condition any behavior within ourselves if we do it with enough repetition and emotional intensity
- Focus on where you want to go, not what you fear
- If there are things you need to accomplish but you can’t get yourself to do it, it just means you need to change your state.
- Many of our beliefs are due to the words we have chosen… meaning our words hold incredible power (choose wisely!)
- Use words like “passionate,” “outrageous”, “spectacular”
- “I have to do this” can become “I get to do this”
- You’re never “stuck,” you may be a little frustrated but you’re never stuck.
- The metaphors we use shape how we feel.
- For example: “Mother Earth” makes it seem like the Earth is someone we should protect
- Associate common occurrences with positivity. Use linking.
- You don’t need a special reason to feel good. You can simply decide to feel good right now.
- Our imagination can make things ten times more intense than it actually is in real life
- All communication is either a loving response or a cry for help.
- The secret to living is giving
- Your current conditions do not reflect your ultimate potential but rather the size and quality of goals in which you are currently focusing
- It’s not just setting a goal that matters, but the quality of life you experience along the way.
- People who succeed on a massive level have one thing in common: persistence
- You need to experience the feeling of achieving your top one year goals in each of the four categories at least once a day (personal development, career/business/economic, toys/adventure, contribution)
- Actionable advice from Tony: First, get your list of your top four one year goals. Second, get clear on your why. Third, develop a ritual of reviewing your goals and rehearsing the joy of their achievement daily for ten days. Fourth surround yourself with role models and those who can help you develop a plan that will guide you making it real.
- “Habit is either the best of servants or the worst of masters” –Nathaniel Emmons
- The leader’s path is one of balance (dichotomy of leadership, Jocko Willink)
- “Miss a meal, but don’t miss your reading” –Jim Rohn
- If someone is doing better than us, it’s simply because they have a better way of evaluation
- “Nothing splendid has ever been achieved except by those who dared believe that something inside of them was superior to circumstance” –Bruce Barton
- The only way for us to have long-term happiness is to live by our highest ideals, to consistently act in accordance with what we believe our life is truly about.
- Nothing has to happen for you to feel good. You can choose to feel good right now for absolutely no reason whatsoever.
- Most of us have created numerous ways to feel bad, and only a few ways to truly feel good. It should be the opposite.
- Learned helplessness – when you feel like life is unfair so you just give up your power of creating a compelling future
- Tony’s rule for confidence: “If I decide to be confident, then I’ll feel that way toward anything and my confidence will help me succeed.”
- Tony’s rule for friendship: “If you’re a friend, then you absolutely love a person unconditionally, and you’ll do anything you can to support them.”
- “Man’s mind stretched to a new idea never goes back to its original dimensions.” –Oliver Wiendall Holmes
- Reading expands your references for what is possible
- Stand guard at the doors of your mind to make sure what you’re allowing to enter it will enrich your life
- Tony visited many different churches to get an idea and appreciate all people’s spiritual beliefs
- Any limits you have in your life are the result of your limited references.
- “The best effect of fine persons is felt after we have left their presence.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
- “When written in Chinese, the word ‘crisis’ is composed of two characters – one represents danger, and the other represents opportunity.” – John F. Kennedy
- We are not our bodies.
- Uses the example of visiting a morgue. Looking at people who have recently died.
- “We are not human beings having a spiritual experience. We are spiritual beings having a human experience.” –Wayne Dyer
- Optimists Club Creed
- To be so strong that nothing can disturb your peace of mind.
- To talk health, happiness and prosperity to every person you meet.
- To make all your friends feel that there is something in them.
- To look at the sunny side of everything and make your optimism come true.
- To think only of the best, to work only for the best, and to expect only the best.
- To be just as enthusiastic about the success of others as you are about your own.
- To forget the mistakes of the past and press on to the greater achievements of the future.
- To wear a cheerful countenance at all times and give every living creature you meet a smile.
- To give so much time to the improvement of yourself that you have no time to criticize others.
- To be too large for worry, too noble for anger, too strong for fear, and too happy to permit the presence of trouble.
- John Wooden’s Seven Point Creed
- 1. Be true to yourself.
- 2. Make each day your masterpiece.
- 3. Help others.
- 4. Drink deeply from good books.
- 5. Make friendship a fine art.
- 6. Build shelter against a rainy day.
- 7. Pray for guidance and give thanks for your blessings every day.
- Who is a hero? A hero is a person who courageously contributes under even the most trying circumstances; a hero is an individual who acts unselfishly and who demands more from himself or herself than others would expect; a hero is a man or woman who defies adversity by doing what he or she believes is right in spite of fear.
- Become a people builder – build up everyone you meet. Acknowledge strangers with a smile. Give sincere compliments to others.
- Strive for balance over perfection (similar to consistency over perfection)
- Live a life of positive expectancy, knowing that everything that happens in your life benefits you in some way. Know that you are guided along a path of never-ending growth and learning, and with it, the path of everlasting love.
