Table Of ContentsIntroduction: How Your Attitude about Motivation Shapes Your Experiences

Section One: Starting Off with a Bang

Tip #1: Start today.

Tip #2: Whip yourself up.

Tip #3: Buy a thick notebook and a number two pencil.

Tip #4: Write down your goals.

Tip #5: Give your goals a deadline.

Tip #6: Give your goals a measurement.

Tip #7: Post your goals somewhere you’ll see them.

Tip #8: Make your goals public.

Tip #9: Brave the potential for humiliation.

Tip #10: Put humiliation in its proper perspective.

Tip #11: Make your goals visual.

Tip #12: Make your goals visual, Part II.

Tip #13: Find what makes you cry.

Tip #14: Make your goals emotional.

Tip #15: Give your goals a lofty meaning.

Tip #16: Ask yourself what would happen if you failed.

Tip #17: Turn your goals into an empowering thought.

Tip #18: Affirm your goals on a regular basis.

Tip #19: Form a plan for achieving your goals.

Tip #20: Write your plan down with your goals.

Tip #21: Make your plan a daily routine.

Tip #22: Know the three variables of action - and maximize all three.

Tip #23: Make sure your routine starts early in the day.

Tip #24: Don’t go to bed having not performed your daily routine.

Tip #25: Change your sleep habits if you must.

Tip #26: Change your other habits if you must.

Tip #27: Look at your environment.

Tip #28: Alter your environment.

Tip #29: Look at your friends.

Tip #30: Alter your friends if necessary.

Tip #31: Study your goals.

Tip #32: Study yourself.

Tip #33: Know your “failure” triggers.

Tip #34: Know your “success” triggers.

Tip #35: Be willing to get weird.

Tip #36: Be willing to grow a healthy obsession.

Tip #37: Learn the benefits of prolonged focus.

Tip #38: Watch what prolonged focus does to your attitude.

Tip #39: Don’t be concerned with “life balance” - at least, not yet.

Tip #40: Get ready to fail…

Tip #41: …and learn why failure is healthy.

Tip #42: Watch how powerful your failures make you.

Tip #43: Watch how powerful your humiliations make you.

Tip #44: Accept failure as feedback - and nothing more.

Tip #45: Give failure no meaning. Reserve meaning for success

Tip #46: Give yourself time before you change too much.

Tip #47: Use weekly, not daily, measurements to track your initial progress.

Tip #48: Force others to get with the program.

Tip #49: Inconvenience yourself and others in the pursuit of your goals.

Tip #50: Keep going for three months.

Section Two: Staying on the Right Path

Tip #51: After three months, evaluate your results.

Tip #52: Read the results correctly.

Tip #53: Change your goal if necessary.

Tip #54: Renew your goal, but change the plan if necessary.

Tip #55: Commit to another three months.

Tip #56: Don’t let it get too easy.

Tip #57: Remember the three variables.

Tip #58: Believe in your capacity for more action.

Tip #59: Be sure you have a solid variable to measure.

Tip #60: Monitor your weekly progress somewhere.

Tip #61: Buy a calendar…

Tip #62: …and use the “X” technique.

Tip #63: Start changing your identity.

Tip #64: Go public with your new habits.

Tip #65: Take the leap into new challenges.

Tip #66: Meet new like-minded people.

Tip #67: Learn the difference between simply rest and recreation…and legitimate time wasters.

Tip #68: Cut out the other stuff that wastes time.

Tip #69: Don’t be afraid to reward yourself.

Tip #70: But do make sure your rewards are reasonable.

Tip #71: Plan for rewards far in advance.

Tip #72: Freshen up your inspiration.

Tip #73: Learn about modeling expert behavior.

Tip #74: Identify the experts you want to model.

Tip #75: Learn their ways.

Section Three: Finishing Strong

Tip #76: Don’t give up.

Tip #77: Learn these two temptations to giving up.

Tip #78: Don’t let good progress tempt you away.

Tip #79: Set your “success thermostat” higher.

Tip #80: Don’t let failure tempt you away.

Tip #81: If you haven’t made enough progress, change your process.

Tip #82: Always look for a spark of inspiration.

Tip #83: Don’t give in to ease.

Tip #84: Don’t let fear of finishing win.

Tip #85: Bring your energy up for the “last lap.”

Tip #86: Circle your end-date on your calendar.

Tip #87: Measure your progress as it relates to your end-date.

Tip #88: Update your process as necessary.

Tip #89: Finish all the way through to your goal…

Tip #90: …even if it seems a little easy.

Tip #91: …or even if it seems a little hard.

Tip #92: Remember the “tackling” principle.

Tip #93: As you approach your goal, punch through it.

Tip #94: Remember what this goal meant to you.

Tip #95: Achieve the goal.

Tip #96: If you’re past your deadline, still achieve it.

Tip #97: If you’re ahead of your deadline, set a new goal already.

Tip #98: Reflect on what you’ve achieved.

Tip #99: Raise your standards.

Tip #100: Set the next goal.

Tip #101: Repeat.

Conclusion: Where to Go Now

Introduction: How Your Attitude about Motivation Shapes Your Experiences

What does it mean to be motivated?

Most people just gloss over the term. They believe that motivation is not necessarily something that comes from within. Instead, they figure, it’s that missing element in their lives.

Gosh, they think. If I only had more motivation, I’d achieve everything I want to achieve.

The end-result of taking action toward a specific goal – whatever achievement you may have in mind – is not as dependent on external factors as you might think.

In short, motivationis not something that you can expect to come from the outside. It has to come from you.

Instead, we have to look at the term itself in order to truly understand what it means. Look at the root of the word:

Motive.

It relates to motion.

People who are looking for motivation externally are looking for something to propel them into action. If I just get inspired enough,they think, then I’ll have no problem getting off this couch.

But there’s an unfortunate truth about this whole scenario: while you’re sitting on the couch and waiting for motivation to strike you, you could have found motivation within yourself all along.

After all, you don’t expect to push your car on the way to work, do you? No, a functioning car is self-propelled, its internal-combustion engine doing all of the heavy lifting, pushing the tires forward and eventually spinning them to create momentum.

Human beings are not so different when it comes to taking action. But too few of us realize that all achievement must be similarly self-propelled.

If motivation isn’t coming from you, no one is going to hold your hand.

This had a wide range of implications on your success and lot in life. Namely, understanding where motivation comes from will affect you in three ways:

• Getting started with a new project, endeavor, or goal: Summoning the motivation to begin a new journey is often not the challenge; we’re quite able to stick to those New Year’s Resolutions for three total days, thank you very much. But few people realize that they set themselves up for failure by not getting started on the right foot, by not generating enough “success momentum” to see the entire project through.

• Keeping the path: The concept is simple; the execution is difficult. How do you keep going once you’ve started? How do you avoid losing that spark of motivation, that magical inspiration that lifted you to action in the first place?

• Finishing strong: If there’s one thing we don’t do in America these days, it’s finish. We surf the web and open up countless tabs, and for what? So that we can browse an article we never complete? We live in a now-now-now culture, but it’s finishing strong that differentiates the men and women from the boys and girls.

If you’ve had a problem in any one of these major areas in life – and we don’t care if it relates to your career, your finances, your relationships, your health, your fitness, whatever – then finishingthis eBook is going to be your first step to an entirely new way of looking at things. No more will you be consigned to the couch because no one else is handing you success on a silver platter; from now on, you’re in charge.

That’s why we’re presenting 101 Best Ways to Get Started, Keep Going and Finish Strong!

We know, we know. 101?! If you’re trying to learn how to finish your projects, how can you ever expect to get past, say, number 30?

It’s easy: each lesson will be a simple tip, concept, or strategy that you can implement quickly. And we’ll separate them into the three major categories of starting, continuing, and ultimately finishing and achieving any goal you set for yourself.

Maybe the path won’t always be easy. But no one who plays life in “easy mode” ever did something great. It’s time to take your life up a notch and change.

Ready?Back to top

Section One: Starting Off with a BangA lot of people think they’re good at starting their journeys toward great goals. “Big deal,” they say. “I’ve started 100 diets before. I know all about the journey.”

Pish-posh.

If you knew how to start your journey properly, the rest of your success would feel like a cakewalk. Here’s how to start off with a bang – and how to shift your momentum from “couch-dwelling potato-like substance” to “downhill-heading locomotive of success.”

Tip #1: Start today.

Of all of the tips we’re going to offer you, we can promise that this is the scariest. It’s the one that will probably throw you off of your routine the most. And it’s the one that will immediately illicit the most rationalizations and excuses you have to offer.

“But wait,” your brain says. “What about next Monday? What about next month? Won’t I be more motivated if I wait until New Year’s?”

The answer, of course, is no. If you’re reading this eBook, it means you have goals you want achieved. There’s absolutely no time to lose. Take action according to our advice right away.Back to top

Tip #2: Whip yourself up.

Still feel like those excuses are giving you too much to handle? It’s time to learn how to hack your own mind and, essentially, whip yourself into a frenzy of emotion and motivation.

Stand up.

Yes, right now! Stand up.

Tell yourself you’re going to take action today.

Say it with meaning.

“I’m going to take action today.”

You’re going to set your goals today. Say it loudly!

Keep going. Jump, dance, sing – do whatever gets you emotional enough to overcome your initial excuses and become open to the possibility of taking our next steps seriously.

Before you were reading this eBook – heck, even while you read the introduction – your momentum was at zero. Any old excuse can knock you down when you’re not even moving.

But now your momentum should be flying. Yes, it’s weird. Yes, it’ll feel awkward at first.

Yes, it works. Back to top

Tip #3: Buy a thick notebook and a number two pencil.

If you already have them handy, good! You’re a well-equipped individual. If you don’t, it’s time to head to the store and buy some. Usually they come in packets, and since you’re going to be doing a lot of writing down to track your goals in the future, you might as well buy these packs.

Go ahead, we’ll wait.

Seriously, go buy a thick notebook and a number two pencil. Don’t skip to Tip 4!

If you’re skipping to Tip 4, you didn’t read Tip 2 properly.

Don’t worry; we have time.

Got your equipment? Good! You’re going to be turning this notebook and that pencil into goal-achieving hammers of war.Back to top

Tip #4: Write down your goals.

The act of writing down your goals may seem simple, but its effects are profound. You’re putting your thought into characters, suddenly carving your own dreams out of the environment around you. Sure, it’s just a sentence now, but when you realize how many people skip out on this most important of steps, you realize just how powerful you’re becoming even now.

Success authority Napoleon Hill – a man who spent time with some of the wealthiest and most influential individuals of his generation – suggested writing down your goals on a 3 x 5 card and carrying them with you at all times.

You can use your notebook, and we’ll get to the whole “carrying your goals around” idea. But for now, just start at the top of page one.Back to top

Tip #5: Give your goals a deadline.

Giving yourself a deadline for your goals is not a small issue; if you don’t know whenyou’ve achieved your goals, how will you ever know they were achieved in the first place? If you’re going to be proactive about your goals, it helps to have a day on your calendar circled.

It’s important that you’re both realistic and bold with your deadlines. Don’t say you plan on losing 50 pounds in 5 weeks; that would be unhealthy. But do press the issue a little bit. Ask yourself how much time you think you could use to achieve your goal if you were working hard. Then, push that up a few weeks. It helps to be ambitious but not so ambitious that you fizzle out before you even begin. (Note: we recommend an initial commitment of three months at first.)Back to top

Tip #6: Give your goals a measurement.

Want to lose weight? How much weight? Want to make more money? How muchmoney? Improve your relationship with your mother? How oftenwill you visit?

Making your goals measurable – again, making them ambitious without stretching the boundaries of space-time – will give you a definitive marker that you can use not only to measure your progress, but inspire you along the way. It’s easier to visualize having more money if you can visualize the specific amount; anything else than specificity is unacceptable.

Remember: you’re carving your goals out of the reality with which you’re presented. If you’re going to do that, you need to know what you’re going to be carving.Back to top

Tip #7: Post your goals somewhere you’ll see them.

Once you’ve written your goal statement down, post it somewhere you’ll see it every day. Places like the bathroom mirror. Above your computer. At your office. All of those locations. (Just keep writing out your goal statement if you need to make copies. Sure, you could scan and copy it, but where’s the momentum-generating power in that?)

Reminding yourself of your goals on a frequent basis is key, because you’ll often be tempted to stray from your self-discipline. The more you remind yourself or your goals, however, and what all your work is for, the stronger your attitude will be.Back to top

Tip #8: Make your goals public.

Ah, yes: peer pressure.

We know it’s a dangerous thing. Drug Abuse Resistance Education tells us that peer pressure is one of the most common ways that people begin taking drugs. Even when we know something is wrong, we often do it anyway because of peer pressure.

But peer pressure is a tool you can use – and use to your own advantage.

For example, some cigarette smokers will write a letter asking gas stations not to sell them any cigarettes. Not only does this prevent the smoker from buying cigarettes – because the gas stations are cooperating – but it also makes the cigarette smoker want to avoid the possibility of even being perceived as going back on their promise.

We humans have a strong instinct towards being perceived as consistent. Use that to your advantage and let other people what you’ll be doing.

Yes, you’re betting on yourself. But that will help create momentum.Back to top

Tip #9: Brave the potential for humiliation.

If you’re making your goals public, you risk being humiliated when you don’t follow through on them.

Likewise, when you go to the gym and feel fat and out of shape compared to everyone there, you brave humiliation.

Some people want to get thin, but they’re so embarrassed about the way they look that they don’t even let themselves get started.

You, however, are different. You’re going to risk humiliation. You’re going to sweat and huff and puff at that gym, almost daring people to make fun of how hard you’re working. Why?

Because you know there’s real power in facing your fears directly.Back to top

Tip #10: Put humiliation in its proper perspective.

Humiliation is painful, but it can be a powerful boost to your self-confidence.

That seems backwards. Shouldn’t humiliation make you feel bad about yourself?

Well, yes, in the short-term, that’s quite a possibility. But in the long-term, your ability to risk and endure public humiliation and embarrassment (whether you’re the poor man asking for a job or an overweight exerciser at the gym) will show you two things:

1.Your worst fears really aren’t so bad to encounter, once encountered.

2.You can face your worst fears and survive – and even thrive.

When you realize that your fears only stop you if you let them, you gain a new sense of power and entitlement that can’t be earned by skirting the issue of potential embarrassment. Face your fears and acquire power.Back to top

Tip #11: Make your goals visual.

Part of making your goals public might mean making them easy to see. So make your goals visual.

Do you want to save enough money to buy the car of your heart’s desire? Put a picture of that car on your computer’s wallpaper. Print out a picture and put it in your office, above your bed, above your desk, above your bathroom mirror, on your refrigerator door.

The more you can visualize your goals, the more internal momentum and enthusiasm you’ll build toward making them a reality. Not only that, but the goals will start to become a part of your everyday experience; you’ll start feelingthinner and richer.Back to top

Tip #12: Make your goals visual, Part II.

Once you start to feelthinner and richer, you’ll start to see the benefits of visualization: it literally changes the way you see the world. It’s one thing to remind yourself about your goals, but actually lookingat these goals on a regular basis can be motivation enough to skip that cheeseburger or to apply for that job you think is out of your league.

When people think of Nike, they think of the famous “swoosh.” Visuals are an important part of our life. If you surround yourself with the visuals of what you want to achieve, eventually you’ll associate your everyday experiences with your goals. The goals will become more real, more vivid, and, slowly, you’ll start seeing them achieved for real.Back to top

Tip #13: Find what makes you cry.

Generating momentum off the bat is not as simple as just writing down a goal. A goal has to have emotion behind it – note the root word, again, of “motive.”

What makes you cry? What inspires you to transcend your normal routine and work harder to achieve your dreams?

Maybe it’s a piece of music. Maybe it’s a movie clip you can dig up on YouTube. Whatever makes you cry and feel better about life, start bookmarking it, saving it, putting it on your iPod, printing it out – whatever it takes. Your journey toward your goals should also be a journey inward.Back to top

Tip #14: Make your goals emotional.

Goals without emotions attached to them are dead. Without any emotional meaning, your goals won’t motivate you. You won’t feel inspired to get up and run in the morning if the thought of being thin inspires no passion within you.

After all, the whole goal of starting off on the right foot is generating enough momentum to overcome obstacles. Are you more likely to overcome obstacles when you’re inspired by emotion, or when you’re dully repeating a routine?

Embrace your emotions. Associate anger and frustration with not having achieved your goals; visualize yourself achieving your goals and feeling fulfilled, satisfied – even crying tears of joy. Feel good about living with passion just in this one moment, today.Back to top

Tip #15: Give your goals a lofty meaning.

In order to fulfill the high demands of the previous tip, you’re going to have to give your goals a lofty meaning.

“Losing ten pounds” is all well and good, but will the thought of being in slightlybetter shape really inspire you to finish your goal? You might lose seven pounds and not continue on to the end.

Rather than risking this half-hearted approach, you should give your goals a lofty meaning. If you’re trying to lose weight, then who are you losing weight for? Is it to make sure you’re healthy enough to see your kids grow up? What are the bigideas that inspire you? What gives emotional meaning to those early-morning runs?Back to top

Tip #16: Ask yourself what would happen if you failed.

It’s not only the emotions of joy that motivate us, but negative emotions as well. There is sometimes a role for these emotions in our lives, so long as we express them in a healthy way. For example, if you feel angry about a particular situation, it’s far better to use that anger to fuel a workout or a kickboxing session than actually use it in your relationships.

The emotion of fear is also powerful, and if you realize what will happen if you don’t work towards your new goals, there’s a good chance you’ll feel more motivated to do that.

Supermodel Marisa Miller has said that the key to her svelte physique was to eat naked. While that might sound a little odd, the idea makes sense: eating naked forces you to deal with the reality of what you’re doing to your body, for good or ill.

For many people, it’s just as motivating to post a picture of where they don’twant to be on their bathroom mirror as a picture of where they dowant to be.Back to top

Tip #17: Turn your goals into an empowering thought.

Our attitude is made up of the thoughts we think on a regular basis. That’s why it’s so important that you are able to turn your goals into a simple statement that you can repeat to yourself throughout the day, if at any point you’re feeling particularly disempowered.

But don’t say, “I will never be fat.” The thought has to be positive, or it won’t be empowering. Don’t focus on what you want to avoid, but rather where you want to go – this will cultivate a much healthier attitude.

Tell yourself you want to be healthy, wealthy, and rich in friends. Whatever your goals, make it into a statement you’ll tell yourself so much that your goal’s achievement will seem like an inevitability rather than something you’re still wondering about.Back to top

Tip #18: Affirm your goals on a regular basis.

We touched on this in the previous section, but we still have to address the true power of affirmations.

Affirmations are a strange thing. Many people swear by them; other people think they’re delusional. But we suggest you give a good affirmation (which you generated in Tip #17, right?) a try, even if just for a few days. We venture to guess that you’ll like the effects so much that you won’t want to quit.

The key to a good affirmation is in your attitude. It’s one thing to recite a statement; it’s another to feelthat statement in your mind and body. “I’m healthy and fit” is a great affirmation, but if you feellike a fat schlub, the affirmation won’t really affect any change. Try to experience positive emotions while you say your affirmation.Back to top

Tip #19: Form a plan for achieving your goals.

Now that you’re very clear about what you want to happen – heck, you even repeat your goals to yourself throughout the day – you’re now ready to get a little more practical.

It’s a great thing to have goals, but you have to be able to back these goals with solid planning.

Your plan doesn’t have to be overly elaborate. Starting out with a simple plan to work out 45 minutes a day for five days a week is a good plan for getting yourself into exercising again. The point is to give yourself something to doevery day so that you’re achieving your goals, even if you’re not doing it all in one day. If Rome wasn’t built in a day, don’t expect your goals to be achieved that fast either.

Don’t worry if your plans don’t always go off without a hitch. You can adapt as you go, so long as you’re still taking consistent action toward your goal.

As former general and President Dwight D. Eisenhower said, “plans are worthless, but planning is essential.”Back to top

Tip #20: Write your plan down with your goals.

You know that piece of paper we had you write your goals on? Good, get it out, because you’re going to write your plan for achieving your goals right under them.

Napoleon Hill, author of the landmark self-help book Think and Grow Rich, wrote that it’s important not only to set a goal, but also to state what you’ll doin order to achieve that goal. After all, there’s no such thing as something for nothing. So with the plans you’ve formulated already, remember that committing them to writing is another way to make them even more ironclad. This

is a promise to yourself; you should take it very seriously, because without the self-discipline to see your plan through, you won’t be able to break through the obstacles you want to break through.Back to top

Tip #21: Make your plan a daily routine.

The best way we know for generating a plan for taking action toward your goal is to give yourself something to do every day. Spend 45 minutes at the gym, for example, or write 1,000 words a day. Practice that piano an hour a day.

Yes, it’s important to know the ins and outs of your field as you go along. It’s important to know whatto practice on the piano, or what kind of exercises you should be doing at the gym. But we’ll cover these more subtle aspects of your plan a little later.

For now, focus on a minimum amount of effort that you can put in daily that will still help you reach your goals over the coming months and years. If you at least put in this minimum amount of time and work into your efforts, you should still feel like you’ve accomplished something.

Don’t give yourself so much work that you’ll burn out quickly, but don’t go too easy on yourself, either. You’d be surprised at what you’re capable of.Back to top

Tip #22: Know the three variables of action - and maximize all three.

Now that you know you’re going to do something daily, it’s important to know how you can maximize the time you put in and increase your results on a daily basis.

There are essentially three ways to make your work more worthwhile:

1.Work longer each session (practicing an hour a day rather than a half-hour, for example)

2.Work harder each session (be ambitious in your effort; run fast and jump high)

3.Work frequently; schedule more sessions!

We recommended a great way to maximize number 3 by saying you should have a daily routine (or at least 6 days a week, to give yourself a little time off and a much-deserved reward).

How you maximize the other two will be up to you. But be sure to include it in your plans.Back to top

Tip #23: Make sure your routine starts early in the day.

Momentum is a powerful concept.

Most people don’t recognize just how their own brain’s momentum can affect them on a day-to-day basis. You might not think that skipping a jog before work is doing a lot to hurt you, but it is.

That’s why we recommend getting started early. Can you fulfill your daily obligation of action – according to your plans – before you go to school? Before you go to work? If not, can you do it as soon as those other obligations are out of the way?

Getting things done quickly will not only help you build momentum to greater things throughout the day, but it will be a guarantee that you can slack off as much as you want the rest of the day – and the day will still not be a failure.

Sure, it can be hard to get yourself to jog in the morning. But the rewards are well worth it.Back to top

Tip #24: Don’t go to bed having not performed your daily routine.

Look, we know that everyone’s human. You’re not a robot who will suddenly read Tip #23 and flip a switch and be gung-ho about your goals.

Even so, you should at least promise yourself that you never skip your daily routine as described in your plans. Not once.

Not ever.

That’s why it’s important that you make this routine realistic so as to avoid burnout. But you do need to push yourself if you’re going to get anywhere, and that’s why it’s so important that you practice consistency. Don’t go to bed knowing you’ve failed – and remember that the only true failure is when yousurrender. You’ll never forgive yourself in the morning.Back to top

Tip #25: Change your sleep habits if you must.

Going to bed late because you’re working on a goal can mess with your daily routine. We know this. Sometimes, success is messy.

But it’s not your goals that have to get out of the way in order to fit your life. It’s your life that will have to move around in order to fit your goals. This is the kind of attitude you want, and your sleep habits should be a part of this.

Go to bed earlier so you can wake up and do your daily practice before work or school. Stay up late to avoid missing a practice session (whether it be working out, writing your novel, etc.) and set a loud alarm for the next morning.

Remember: obstacles should get out of your way. You shouldn’t bend your will to meet the will of your obstacles.Back to top

Tip #26: Change your other habits if you must.

Are you sick of running in the mornings on an empty stomach? Are your roommates or family too loud to let you get any work done at home?

These are obstacles, mere obstacles! If you really want to achieve your goal, you need to change the habits around your chief plan if you’re going to be consistent in carrying out that plan.

If you need time to study or write quietly, get a library card. If you need to eat in the mornings, eat energy bars or prepare light meals for yourself the night before. Shift some things around in your life to make room for your new goals and you’ll see just how much power there is in bending things to your will.Back to top

Tip #27: Look at your environment.

Okay, looking at the clouds isn’t exactly going to achieve your goals any faster. But we don’t mean that – we mean look at the environment you live in. What is it conducive to?

Do it right now. In the room you live, is it dirty? Are there clothes all over the floor? Let’s say you were a world-champion athlete. Would their environment look like your environment does?

The world you surround yourself on a daily basis will have a tremendous impact on your psyche and therefore a tremendous impact on whether or not you achieve your goal. You’ll never feel rich or fit if you live poorly and lazily.Back to top

Tip #28: Alter your environment.

What’s more powerful: you or your environment? You, of course, but only once you recognize that you have the power to alter your environment and then take action to change it.

We’ve already advocated some changes: placing a picture of a fit person for you to aspire to on your bathroom mirror is a great way to alter your environment. But what else can you change?

Do you have posters on your wall that don’t reflect the kind of person you want to be?

What kind of person doyou want to be? And where would that person live?

Think about the smallest details, and then ask yourself if you could somehow change those to be more empowering. Put your Xbox on a smaller TV so you won’t be so encouraged to play it often. Put the junk food in the garbage.Back to top

Tip #29: Look at your friends.

A college senior might find it harder to achieve their goal of writing a book of poetry if they’re constantly pestered to go out and party. Similarly, a 75-year-old woman in a nursing home might feel out of place by starting a new fitness regime.

Social factors and peer pressure are some of the most powerful potential obstacles between you and your dreams, no matter what your dreams are.

Let’s say you’re trying to improve your social skills and start approaching strangers for random conversations. If you’re out with your friends, do they support you – or do they jeer you? What they do says a lot about themselves and how well they’ll be able to handle their own perceptions as you change in front of their very eyes.Back to top

Tip #30: Alter your friends if necessary.

Sometimes, when you look at the friends you have, you start to realize that they’re not helping you a lot in your life. In fact, they may be holding you back because of their own bad behavior and bad attitude.

We’re not asking you to pass judgment on your friends willy-nilly. But it is important that you ditch the bad apples so that you have more time to concentrate on cultivating a strong attitude.

There’s an old axiom that says you are the average of your five best friends. If that’s the case, where do you stack up?

Ditching friends can be scary, but if you’re serious about your goals, you’ll find yourself in a flurry of new activities that will automatically introduce you to people who are also focused on the same goals. Eventually, you’ll be better off without the bad friends.

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Tip #31: Study your goals.

You’re not going to draft very good plans for yourself if you don’t know a lot about the field in which your goals lie. That’s why you need to study your goals continuously over the coming weeks and learn all you can about your field of endeavor. Remember when we had you buy a notebook? Now is a perfect opportunity to use it.

If your goal is to put on ten pounds of muscle, you’ll not only have to know how to weigh yourself and measure your muscle, but you’ll have to know the best ways to do that – diet, nutrition, and exercise.

If you’re going to write a hit movie screenplay, you’d better know how to properly format and structure your script.

The list goes on and on. No matter your goal, there is something you can study about it that will improve your daily practice. So study! Even if sometimes you don’t feel like it.Back to top

Tip #32: Study yourself.

In your striving to achieve goals, there’s another factor present besides the goals: you. You have to know how to suit your own talents, habits, and behaviors in order to best keep yourself moving toward your goal every single day.

For example, let’s say that you’re on a diet and fast food restaurants have been your Achilles heel – perhaps one in particular. You’re going to need to plan around this, as we’ll explain in the coming tips, and overcome the obstacle.

One of the oldest axioms in all of western philosophy is “know thyself.” So try monitoring your behavior for a few days and see what really helps you stay “on the wagon.” Be open-minded to your flaws, because you’ll soon be able to replace them with strengths.Back to top

Tip #33: Know your “failure” triggers.

You’re driving home from work on Day One of your new endeavors. No fast food for you – you’ve been eating well all day and even got a good workout in this morning, just like you read in this eBook. So far, so good.

But what you didn’t consider was that you’re driving your usual route, and on that usual route is a KFC that you always visit. It’s so close to the road that with your window open, you can sometimes smell the fried chicken goodness floating through the air.

This is a failure trigger. It is to be avoided at all costs.

The truth is, many of us have formed unhealthy addictions, and these addictions make it physiologically difficult to overcome temptation.

The key is never to get started in the first place. Find a new route home from work and let the failure trigger be a thing of the past.Back to top

Tip #34: Know your “success” triggers.

Of course, if you’re leaving your failure triggers, you need somewhere new to go. So why not find your success triggers?

Are there specific types of music that get you going? Make a playlist on your iPod and listen to them in the morning when you’re starting your new routine.

Does something as subtle as pulling in your chair tightly to the desk to get ready for work automatically put you in “work” mode? Start doing that every day!

The point is that you take a very active role in shaping your new behaviors – and you need to use all the help you can get. Your own success triggers are help you can use today.Back to top

Tip #35: Be willing to get weird.

In his book Ultramarathon Man, Dean Karnazes detailed his story in becoming obsessed with running long distances far longer than traditional marathons. In his pursuit of excellence, he would order pizzas while still running deep into the night for fuel – or he would hop out of work during his lunch break and sneak in a quick, um, ten miles.

The point is Karnazes was willing to be a little bit weird if it meant he was going for his goals. Are your goals inspiring enough to you that you can get a little weird with them, too?

Good. Because working long and hard for your goals will seem weird to a lot of people, many of who are leading passive and ultimately meaningless lives. It sounds harsh, but it’s the truth.

It’s not the normal people who are remembered – it’s the weird. Just don’t get tooweird.

Tip #36: Be willing to grow a healthy obsession.

Obsessions can get so bad that they become a legitimate disorder. But not all obsessions are bad.

Look at many of the most successful people in your field and you’ll find that many of them have – or have had – a borderline obsession with that field.

If you’re writing a novel, you’ll hear about writers who write thousands of words a day. If you’re an actor, you’ll hear about method actors who stay in character for months at a time.

You don’t have to be insane to achieve greatness, but a little bit of obsession can go a long way. As you follow all of these tips, you’ll even find that all of the excess momentum will carry over into your free time – you’ll stillbe thinking about your goals when you could be slacking off.

That’s a good thing. If you enjoy hard work so much that it becomes a form of recreation, you’re on the right path.Back to top

Tip #37: Learn the benefits of prolonged focus.

Obsession can be healthy because it means that your focus in in alignment with what you enjoy. But choosing what you’re obsessed with and making it something constructive will do amazing things for you, rather than simply becoming obsessed with the latest video game that came your way.

This is because prolonged focus on your goals will have a profound effect on the way you see the world. If you think about a goal for an hour, how easy will it be to then take action toward that

goal? You’d have built up so much mental momentum that it would seem weird notto take action at that point.

Prolonged focus has that kind of effect on people. So don’t be afraid if you get a little preoccupied with your goals. It means you’re practicing mind control – on yourself.Back to top

Tip #38: Watch what prolonged focus does to your attitude.

If someone tells you that they’re feeling unmotivated and pessimistic, you can pretty much know with certainty that they have not been focusing on their goals. Maybe they think about goals but in the negative way – they think about their absence.

This can lead to frustration. But if you’re exercising prolonged focus – say, a one-hour practice session here, a half an hour of research there – on something constructive and positive, you won’t feel drained. You’ll feel empowered!

So don’t be afraid to lose yourself every once in a while as you research your goals, as you think about what it would be like to earn that money, or you think about how much more attention you’ll get from the opposite sex once your goals are achieved. They’re daydreams, sure, but if you want a healthy attitude, those are the daydreams to have.Back to top

Tip #39: Don’t be concerned with “life balance” - at least, not yet.

Having a healthy balance in life is important – when you’re old. But for your purposes here, how important is life balance really?

You’ll hear the phrase tossed about on daytime shows: achieving more balance, feeling more centered. But when you’re lacking motivation, what you need is a healthy dose of obsession with something proactive and constructive. The only “balance” you need concern yourself with is staying on your feet as you try to make your dreams come true.

Life balance is important, ultimately. Health, wealth, and good relationships will all contribute to your happiness. But you’re not going to achieve anything if you don’t get a little unbalanced for a while and make some improvements.Back to top

Tip #40: Get ready to fail…

Now here is the bad news.

You’re going to fail.

If you’re learning to play guitar, attempting to play a famous guitar solo is going to feel like doing calculus upside down.

If you’re trying to get a date, you’re going to get shot down sometimes.

If you’re trying to get in shape, you’re going to huff and puff a lot and feel very outof shape.

But here’s the thing: if you’re not failing a lot, there’s a good chance that you’re not taking enough action. Failure is inevitable, especially in the early stages of your new endeavors. The key is to read the next tip and use this fact to your advantage.

Tip #41: …and learn why failure is healthy.

In a famous commercial for Nike, Michael Jordan recounts his many failures – all the missed shots, all the late game failures, etc. The most successful basketball player of all time admitted that he failed more than he succeeded.

Is this a coincidence? No.

As Wayne Gretzky said, you miss 100% of the shots you don’t take. That’s why people who want a lot of success are also going to have to tolerate a lot of failure.

But failure is healthy. It’s feedback. It tells you what you’re doing wrong, and it even creates resistance around which you can form new muscle, new mental hardwiring.

It’s your failure to lift that eleventh repetition at the gym that will cause your body to build more muscle in your arms.

Failure is a tool, and it is usually more valuable than even success. So grow a high tolerance for failure and you’ll start to see: failing is often good for you.Back to top

Tip #42: Watch how powerful your failures make you.

As you start off on this new endeavor, you’ll encounter a steep learning curve that comes with a lot of initial resistance. You won’t achieve success right away.

And yet there are plenty of intrinsic rewards that will aid you along in your journey –one of which is learning just how powerful failure makes you.

You see there’s a great thing that happens when you witness yourself, say, approach a member of the opposite sex and ask them out for a date, even if you get rejected. Even if it hurts a little, a part of you also learns, from having seen yourself in this most feared of situations, that you’re capable of handling it.

“Ah,” your subconscious mind thinks. “I must be more confident than I thought I was.” The appropriate changes are made.

This is not only how failure gives you more confidence; it’s also how failure sometimes works to improve your skills. For example, you might consider yourself a great chess player but never someone who would play in front of other people, say at a competition.

But if you play at a few competitions, even if you fail, you start to thinkof yourself as someone who plays at competitions. The idea isn’t so intimidating because you’ve done it. And thus you grow a little bit each time.Back to top

Tip #43: Watch how powerful your humiliations make you.

If failure is powerful, then failing really must be really powerful. Of course, no one wants to fail really bad, but try to keep in mind that even public humiliations can be character-building.

Let’s say you’re overweight and you’re afraid to go to the gym because you’ll be self-conscious about using up the machines in front of people who clearly use them more than you do. Or even say that you go to the gym and someone pokes fun of you behind your back.

Humiliating? Yes. Devastating? If you let it be. Or you could take the high road and realize that if what you worse feared has already happened to you and you survived, then there’s nothing more to fear. (Of course, any potential problems you have with other members beyond this should be taken up with the appropriate managers.)

There’s a freedom in knowing that humiliation is not the end of your life. Be willing to risk it.Back to top

Tip #44: Accept failure as feedback - and nothing more.

With all this talk about how healthy and positive an experience failure can be, it’s easy to forget the emotions that come with failure. It hurts! No one likes to fail. It can be discouraging to fail a lot.

But when you realize that failure is simply feedback you’re getting from life, then you start to see why failure doesn’t always have to be an emotional experience. It can be a learning experience.

In fact, the emotional element to failing often means that your harshest lessons are also the ones you’ll remember the best. And if you do keep these lessons in mind and use your failures as feedback that you can use to change your plans and adapt yourself for future success, well, you’ve already gotten this whole “success” thing figured out.Back to top

Tip #45: Give failure no meaning. Reserve meaning for success

Your emotions will work automatically – there’s no need for you to worry about them. Instead, try to give failure as little meaning as possible. Consciously force yourself to move on mentally if you notice yourself focusing on a bad experience.

Your emotions should be tied up not only in your success, but also in your ability to achieve your daily routine every day. Emotions are meant to inspire you to action, after all. It can be useful to be motivated from negative places, as we’ve mentioned, but the better you become capable of moving on from failures, the more of a wrecking ball you’ll be to your obstacles.Back to top

Tip #46: Give yourself time before you change too much.

It’s tempting to use all of this failure feedback after a week and say, “Wow, I really need to change my approach drastically!”

But give yourself a little time to adapt before you come to that conclusion. For example, if you’ve been working out on a specific program for two weeks and notice few changes, it’s not time to change. Two weeks isn’t enough.

But if you’ve been on that program for three months and notice nothing, well, something’s got to change.Back to top

Tip #47: Use weekly, not daily, measurements to track your initial progress.

Along the same vein as Tip #45, try to keep your measurements of success to weekly increments if possible. If your goal is to improve your financial situation, then construct a budget and review it weekly – always on the same day, for consistency’s sake.

It’s important to remember that as you strive to your goals, you’re looking to change yourself both in space and in time. Be patient with yourself and don’t worry if nothing is happening right away. Keeping tabs on yourself on a weekly basis is a great way to remember that you’re in this for the long haul.Back to top

Tip #48: Force others to get with the program.

As we’ve mentioned, social pressure can be a very powerful force in your life. Maybe your family doesn’t see you as a great musician or whatever you’re striving to be. Maybe you’re working on your sense of fashion and they tease you about dressing “fancy.”

But remember: you’re the leader in your own life, and you’re too powerful to get derailed by something as small as a few comments that probably don’t even have the intention to sting. Force others to get with the program by continuing on your path anyway. Eventually, they’ll come around to view you in a different light.Back to top

Tip #49: Inconvenience yourself and others in the pursuit of your goals.

Remember: achievement is not done idly. If you’re going to carve something into existence, it means you’re going to have to use the world as the slab of marble. Sometimes this will inconvenience yourself and others.

These inconveniences might range from the petty – someone else waiting for you to finish a machine at the gym – to the profound. Generally you’ll want to keep any inconveniences to a minimum, and even then you’ll want to keep those inconveniences minor. But don’t be afraid if you get a few people angry on your road to success. As long as you’re being moral and law-abiding, you can tell yourself “they’ll get over it.”Back to top

Tip #50: Keep going for three months.

Finally, we don’t want you to feel the weight of the world when you start your new goal. Just make a three-month commitment. Three months might not be enough to change the world, but it’s certainly enough to start noticing some changes within you. As you see the results that come with taking consistent action for three months straight, you’ll become addicted to the process. You’ll have built up enough momentum that you won’t need to worry about quitting anymore.

The hardest part of the journey is in the first three months. Make it that far, and you’ll have begun the journey proper.

Now it’s time to see some really amazing things happen.Back to top

Section Two: Staying on the Right PathAs so many people who have made New Year’s resolutions know, starting a new habit is not the hard part – it’s maintaining it. But you’ve given yourself such a great three-month start with the tips you’ve learned thus far you should have plenty of forward momentum by now.

But the question remains: do you want to coast by on this momentum, or do you want to accelerate your results and achieve even more success – all without losing stride?

If you’ve read this far, then you already know the answer. Let’s find a way to stay on the right path as you climb higher and higher toward your goals.

Tip #51: After three months, evaluate your results.

Finishing the previous section, you’ve now arrived at the point in which you’ve affected change in yourself. Now it’s time to tally up the whole thing so that you can do a thorough self-examination, a sort of “report card” on what you’ve done so far.

Ideally, you’ll want to do this on the weekend to avoid any intrusion to your usual habits as much as possible. You’ve established a groove already; we don’t want to mess with that. Now let’s get to evaluating.Back to top

Tip #52: Read the results correctly.

In writing down your goal, we told you to make it measurable. By doing this, you gave yourself the ability to read your current results.

The variables of those results depend on your choice of endeavor. Maybe it’s your chess ranking after three months. Whatever it is, you need some way to measure your results.

You also need to read them correctly; know not only how much money you took in, but how much you’ve spent as well. Or if your goal was to make a new friend, ask yourself your definition of friendship.Back to top

Tip #53: Change your goal if necessary.

We’re very hesitant about changing goals; you don’t want to keep changing a number week after week because you won’t give yourself any real solid footing to stand on.

But if you’ve gone three months and have lost eighteen pounds out of a goal of 25, you may realize that you want to be even morefit and muscular. So it’s okay to change your overall goal if you’ve discovered something along the way. And don’t think you need to change your goal at this point, either. Three months is a long time, but it isn’t that long.Back to top

Tip #54: Renew your goal, but change the plan if necessary.

If you’re simply renewing your goal – heck, even if you’re changing it – there’s still a strong likelihood you may need to change your plan. If you’ve been exercising, for example, but all you’ve been doing is running, you may have lost a lot of weight. But you may need some muscle! Add resistance training to your workouts and you’ll improve a lot more than you might have imagined.

Whatever you need to do to get the results you want, make sure that this is where you do it. You’re making another strong commitment here, so make sure you know what you’re doing and that you can stand by this plan.Back to top

Tip #55: Commit to another three months.

Once you have all of the above wrapped up, it’s time for a similar commitment. It’s not any longer or shorter than the last commitment.

If necessary, write your new goals and plans on a fresh piece of paper. If you posted your previous goals somewhere, post these new goals in their place. Make any of these physical changes you may need to in order to reflect the new commitment.Back to top

Tip #56: Don’t let it get too easy.

This might sound funny, but at this point one of the major worries you might have to deal with is a daily plan that becomes too easy. If you wanted to write 500 words a day and you did that, you might now find that it’s no challenge to keep doing it.

You need to up the ante and challenge yourself to greater heights. Do 750 words, and make them great words. If you let it get too easy, the resistance and failure that caused your rapid improvement will cease along with the rapid improvement.Back to top

Tip #57: Remember the three variables.

Stuck on how to change your plans in order to see greater results? Remember the three variables from the previous section: how long you work, how hard, and how often. Try ramping up one, two, or all three for an overall greater intensity.Back to top

Tip #58: Believe in your capacity for more action.

As you follow tip #56, you might find yourself a little uneasy again, the same way you might have had self-doubts going into tip #1. Run four miles? But you’ve been doing two this whole time!

While you don’t want to push yourself to exhaustion, you never want to short-change yourself, either. You have a limited amount of time on this earth and the only way to discover how much capacity you have for more action is to put yourself to the test. Set challenging standards and meet them; that’s where the growth comes from.Back to top

Tip #59: Be sure you have a solid variable to measure.

We hope you haven’t waited 3 months to read this section, because this is still a tip that applies for all times during your journey to success: measure your results! Simply opening up an Excel document on your computer and filling in rudimentary information every week is enough to give you a big-picture look at what you’ve done in the past three months.

The variable should be measurable and something that accurately reflects your progress.

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Tip #60: Monitor your weekly progress somewhere.

Measuring your results may seem silly at first, but after some 12 weeks on your new program, you’ll be glad you had the nerve and audacity to start it. And the information you get from monitoring your process will be useful too – especially as you continue to compile more and more data into it.

Again, don’t be afraid to experiment with the monitoring of this progress – and even have fun with it. Make an Excel graph out of your chess scoring, or a pie chart revealing how many days you’ve been practicing your piano skills.Back to top

Tip #61: Buy a calendar…

Here’s another tip that you can start from the beginning, but will really pay dividends as you reach the “middle” part of your journey: buy a calendar.

Yes, we know this is the age of computer clocks and Google Calendars. So what? The only point of this calendar is to fulfill a very specific purpose, which you’ll read about in the next tip. Again, you’ll see the value of having something non-electronic that you have to write in in order to make your mark. There is most certainly a great effect this can have on your attitude.Back to top

Tip #62: …and use the “X” technique.

Comedian and TV star Jerry Seinfeld has said he uses this self-discipline technique to keep himself disciplined even when he’s been performing a habit for some time.

Use the calendar you purchase in the previous tip and make an X on every single day where you were able to fulfill your daily routine. Your only goal is not to break the chain. Even if you have a planned rest on Tuesday, for example, write down the X anyway – technically you still did what you said you would do.

Just remember: don’t break the chain!Back to top

Tip #63: Start changing your identity.

This one sounds like it’s coming out of left field, so bear with us.

You don’t have to change who you are as a person in order to achieve success. We’re not suggesting that you become someone else.

But you can start to tweak and change your identity in the ways that matter to your success. For example, ask yourself the “Facebook” test: what are your hobbies? Most people don’t know what to answer.

But you do. Achieving your next goal should be the one that comes to mind. If you’re a writer, say you love writing. If you want to be a great surfer, put “surfing.”

Your identity should start to align with your actions. Don’t be afraid to embrace that part of yourself.Back to top

Tip #64: Go public with your new habits.

We know that we just mentioned Facebook in the previous tip – but if you want to really “go public” with your new habits and meet a lot of like-minded people, you’re going to have to – gasp! – Actually meet people in real life. If your goal is to achieve more fitness, perhaps it’s time to sign up for a 5k or a 10k. If you’re learning chess, it’s time to enter a real competition. Anything you can do to get out of the house and “go public” with your new habits.

This will further help you feel more in tune with a new “identity” and will help you stick to your new habits. After all, when your goals are associated with something as deep as your identity, your entire subconscious mind is now working in your favor.Back to top

Tip #65: Take the leap into new challenges.

We mentioned signing up a 5k or a 10k. But what’s really important about what you sign up for is that you not only get out in public, but that you actually challenge yourself with these new events and activities. The thought of failing in public will help motivate you to train, even though you’ve already been serious about your training, right?Back to top

Tip #66: Meet new like-minded people.

Even in this age of social media and constant interaction, there’s no good way to meet like-minded people than actually getting out there and finding people so passionate about a subject that they’re willing to make it a social event. That’s how you meet other like-minded people in whatever world you’re endeavoring.

There are a lot of benefits to meeting these people. They can help you, give you advice, and even become your friends. Give them a chance!Back to top

Tip #67: Learn the difference between simply rest and recreation…and legitimate time wasters.

As more of your life aligns in the direction toward your goal, you may notice that there are still some legitimate time wasters in your life. How do you tell the difference between the two? Let’s take a quick look.

• Simple rest and recreation: Activities that you enjoy when you rest, but don’t use as an excuse to put off taking your daily action

• Legitimate time wasters: Anything that drains you or gets in the way of you living a healthy life because of your efforts.Back to top

Tip #68: Cut out the other stuff that wastes time.

It’s one thing to play checkers with your kids after a good day’s work; it’s another to play checkers online when you’re at work! Cut out your time wasters and you’ll have a lot more time for a full life that includes the seeking of goals.Back to top

Tip #69: Don’t be afraid to reward yourself.

We recommend having one day a week of rest and reward. If you’re on a diet, use that day to have a “cheat” day. If you’re cycling every day, take one day off per week and let yourself turn into a vegetable on the couch. Your life shouldn’t seem like a constant chore, so don’t let it feel like one. Reward yourself – but not to the point where you don’t feel like working again come Monday.Back to top

Tip #70: But do make sure your rewards are reasonable.

Eating too much on your cheat days will make you feel like you’ve undone a lot of your progress, so make sure your rewards are reasonable. Perhaps bring it down to a single cheat meal, or be sure to eat fruit and vegetables still with all your meals.

Whatever you can do to taper your rewards and make them reasonable – so that they don’t stop all of your forward momentum – do it.Back to top

Tip #71: Plan for rewards far in advance.

The risk involved in using rewards is that you’ll lose momentum and simply feel like living with the rewards you give yourself again. Don’t let your self-discipline fail. Even your rest and reward days should be part of your program, an “X” to mark off on the calendar. This simple mechanism of planning your rest and rewards will help you feel in control of the situation. And you will be – if you plan for rewards far in advance.

If holidays are coming up, move rest and reward days around so that you can rest on those days instead of your usual rest day. Keep it to one day per week.Back to top

Tip #72: Freshen up your inspiration.

In the first section, we had you find some inspiring pictures, music, videos – whatever you have – and make them a more prominent part of your life. Now it’s time to update this inspiration – but only of the inspiration is feeling stale. Refresh the inspiration by placing a new picture on that mirror, or by adding a few new songs to that iPod for your morning runs.Back to top

Tip #73: Learn about modeling expert behavior.

As you go on, you’ll start to learn just how much distance really separated the experts in your field from the beginners. But that’s a good realization, because it means you’re making progress. It also means you’ll be able to pick up on the behaviors of the experts that makes them top men and women in their field.

It’s time to model this behavior. Ask yourself how you can use what they use – without stealing from them – to accelerate your own success. What has been missing from your recipe that they include in theirs?Back to top

Tip #74: Identify the experts you want to model.

One of the best ways to make fast progress is to have a few specific experts that you want to model your own styles after. Let’s say that you’re writing a book – it will help if you have a few authors in mind that really resonate with you. Of course, you have to find your own voice if you’re going to have success, but that doesn’t mean you can’t use models for inspiration.Back to top

Tip #75: Learn their ways.

What do these experts do that no one else does? What subtleties have you started to notice? What are their practice habits like, and is there a way you could emulate this practice habits in order to make your own routine that much more efficient and life-changing?Back to top

Section Three: Finishing StrongHaving gotten this far, you’re about to do what the majority of people who take on ambitious goals don’t do: achieve the goal. But you’d be amazed at how many people get close to their dreams…and then quit right before the thing is actually achieved.

That’s not going to be you – instead, you’re going to finish strong. That is, if you keep following these tips.

Tip #76: Don’t give up.

Of all the tips, this one is the most important. And it’s not really a tip: it’s basic life advice. If you don’t give up, you’re eventually going to finish. It’s as simple as that. You might not like when or how you finish, but that’s what the rest of the tips are for. But just remember this one tip if you’re struggling to remember why you’re working so hard for something that hasn’t been achieved yet. Eventually you’ll thank yourself.Back to top

Tip #77: Learn these two temptations to giving up.

Of course, it will be tempting to give up, for one of two reasons:

1.You’re doing so well that you rationalize you can “slow down” or that you’ve “done enough.”

2.You’re doing so poorly that you rationalize ways to avoid the hard work. After all, it’s “not working.”

Both of these temptations are simply rationalizations that allow you to seek comfort instead of seeking your goal. But as the ultra marathon runner Dean Karnazes (whom we’ve addressed before) said, too many of us confuse comfort with happiness. Keep strong.Back to top

Tip #78: Don’t let good progress tempt you away.

You’d be surprised at what a little amount of success can do to derail your entire journey. Let’s say that you’ve been losing weight – your goal is 50 pounds. At the 30-pound mark, however, you feel great, as you should. You’ve been doing well, and people are starting to notice the weight loss.

“You look great!” they say.

Don’t listen to them.

After all, your goals are more ambitious than other peoples’ expectations of you. If your goal was to get someone to say, “You look great!” then you’ve achieved it. But that wasn’t your goal, was it? So keep going. Don’t let anything go to your head. If you ever put on the weight again after losing only 30 pounds, you’ll always regret it.Back to top

Tip #79: Set your “success thermostat” higher.

Too many of us suffer from a “cold thermostat” when it comes to success. When we achieve a little bit of success, the thermostat kicks in and says that we’re at a comfortable level. But we should be comfortable with a lot of success, not just a little bit of it. We need to be a little more competitive, a little more driven. We shouldn’t feel like we’re at the right temperature when we

get our first taste of success. For our goals to have true meaning, they should be big. Stick to them.Back to top

Tip #80: Don’t let failure tempt you away.

Of course, if you’ve been slugging away at your goals for a while now, it will be tempting to say that nothing works and that you’re doomed to failure. So why even try? You might as well be comfortable if you’re not going to achieve your goals anyway.

Hogwash. The only failure is you giving up – everything else is just short-term feedback. Still failing? Keep plugging away. After all, if you’re strong enough to handle one month of failure feedback, you’re strong enough to handle two. And three. And four. And so on.Back to top

Tip #81: If you haven’t made enough progress, change your process.

Worried about your lack of progress? Perhaps you’re just not genetically suited to your goals! Better give up so you can watch TV and throw your life away.

Okay, so that was sarcastic. The truth is you really only need to change your process if you’re not seeing enough progress, and we’ve addressed this issue before. Don’t be afraid to tinker until you find what works for you.Back to top

Tip #82: Always look for a spark of inspiration.

At this point in your journey, you may find that it’s easy to settle into your regular routine without the emotion and the passion you initially brought to it. That’s normal. After all, you’ve been at it for quite a while now.

But don’t get so lethargic that you forget all about how inspiring you can be. Put emotions back in your routine. Don’t let getting close to your goal derail you; let it inspire you to greater action.Back to top

Tip #83: Don’t give in to ease.

If you’ve been running a 5k every day, then that is fantastic, but it reaches a point of diminishing returns if that’s all you do. Your routine should never be easy; it should be a difficult challenge that may even sometimes leave you feeling a bit messy. That’s good. Strength comes from challenge and resistance.

So don’t give in to ease. Keep things difficult. At this point, don’t rationalize that “Well, I’ve done my routine for the day, so I’m still doing good.” Right now is the time to step up!Back to top

Tip #84: Don’t let fear of finishing win.

Fear is a crazy thing, which is why it makes us do crazy things. Maybe on some level you’re actually afraid of finishing that goal, which is why you give in to temptation most easily when you’ve come this far.

Don’t let that happen. Embrace your fears and tell yourself you’re going to finish anyway.

This might seem like a non-issue as you start; you love your goals, after all. You’re not afraid of them! But beware of the tricks your own mind plays on you, as you get closer to achievement.Back to top

Tip #85: Bring your energy up for the “last lap.”

You know that last lap at the gym where you give everything your all because you want to challenge yourself and you know that you’re about to rest anyway? It’s time to bring that same energy into the “last lap” of your goal’s achievement. Dig deep down and find more energy – it’s definitely there, especially because you attached so much emotional meaning to achieving your goals early on during this process.Back to top

Tip #86: Circle your end-date on your calendar.

This tip goes back to the beginning, when you first set a deadline for yourself. Yes, we told you to make a three-month commitment to a goal. But if you use a long-term goal concurrently, that won’t hurt, either. Circle that goal’s achievement date on your calendar so that your train of “X’s” slowly approaches it. Seeing this all played out visually will help keep you motivated to the very end.Back to top

Tip #87: Measure your progress as it relates to your end-date.

Throughout this eBook, we’ve had you measure your progress. But knowing your true progress is a matter of perspective: you need the larger backdrop of your ultimate goal in order to measure how well you’re doing. Maybe this won’t always be easy; the goal of getting a 10% raise at work can’t be measured in increments. But if that’s the case, invent your own increments, the actions you’ve taken.Back to top

Tip #88: Update your process as necessary.

If you need to change your process between the regular three-month check-up we’ve recommended, then you should do it. But beware of tinkering too much; generally you just want to change your process in favor of challenging yourself even more. As usual, don’t challenge yourself so much that you never feel like you achieve anything, either.Back to top

Tip #89: Finish all the way through to your goal…

Now it’s time to really hunker down. You’re a week or two from your goal and you can almost taste it. You’ve been visualizing it so much that it’s become a reality for you – you know you’re achieving it soon.

But still concentrate on today. Keep that train of “X’s” on your calendar alive by focusing on what to do today. Finishing all the way through to your goal means making it happen despite whatever forces you feel are in your way. Even if those forces are your own inner temptations to deviate.Back to top

Tip #90: …even if it seems a little easy.

Maybe you’ve gotten so far that you realized your goal is a little easy at this point. If your goal was achieved after just a few weeks, it was so easy that you had to set a new one right away. But if you’re just a few weeks away from the initial deadline and you know you’re going to power through it, then power through it!Back to top

Tip #91: …or even if it seems a little hard.

If you have to push yourself these last few weeks to achieve your goal, then that’s what you have to do. So do it. You’d be amazed at what kind of energy you can summon when you know you’re working on a deadline. Don’t postpone the deadline; the deadline’s fine. In fact, the deadline is challenging you to be a better person. That’s the whole point of work so don’t be afraid to embrace a hard deadline.Back to top

Tip #92: Remember the “tackling” principle.

Former NFL safety John Lynch always said that he didn’t try to tackle people; he imagined four of those people and tried to tackle through the person to reach the fourth imaginary figure. This principle of tackling through someone made him a devastating hitter.

It can work this way in other areas of our lives, as well. Sometimes we need to remind ourselves to summon extra energy to make something happen.

Tip #93: As you approach your goal, punch through it.

If you’re going to be a devastating achiever, you’re going to punch through your own goal. Don’t just achieve the goal; see if you can top it on the day it arrives. This will help you set a pace that ensures you achieve the goal.

After all, you don’t want to come all this way to barely finish. You want to power through!Back to top

Tip #94: Remember what this goal meant to you.

At this point, you’ve come a long way. It can be easy to forget how far-off and ambitious the goal seemed to you just six months ago, or whenever you first stat down to write your goals. But you can find extra energy and inspiration if you remember what the goal initially meant to you. It should mean enough to you that you cry when you achieve it – man or woman. That’s how much you should have wanted the goal all along.Back to top

Tip #95: Achieve the goal.

This one really goes without saying, but we’ll say it anyway. When it comes time to achieve the goal, make it happen. Run that half-marathon even if you’re not feeling particularly spry that morning. Finish through to the end. Do enough so that you can mark an “X” on the day you’ve had circled for so long.Back to top

Tip #96: If you’re past your deadline, still achieve it.

Of course, not every goal achievement will come perfectly. Life is messy; achieving goals can sometimes be messy too. Missing your deadline is not a valid excuse for not achieving your goal. Giving up would be a violation of Tip #76. Don’t do that even if you’ve gone on longer than you initially thought you would.Back to top

Tip #97: If you’re ahead of your deadline, set a new goal already.

Sometimes you’ll do so well that you achieve your goal ahead of the deadline. That’s great! But it’s not an excuse to give in to idleness after you’ve achieved the goal, so in this case it’s time for you to set a new goal right away. Reward yourself with an extra day off, or by buying yourself something nice. But keep the habits alive; you’re a different person now, after all.Back to top

Tip #98: Reflect on what you’ve achieved.

This tip isn’t necessary, but it’s a great way for you to take a second and enjoy what you’ve done. You can take a look at those first goals you set and the “X” on your goal-day and just ponder what kind of an achiever you’ve become. It’s a great feeling. You’ll start to wonder what else you’re capable of, and how far you can push yourself. That’s the right instinct to have.Back to top

Tip #99: Raise your standards.

Now that you’ve achieved one goal, you might notice there’s plenty of distance to go to become truly great at your field of endeavor. Maybe you’ve made a few new friends and now you want to expand your efforts to creating a regular social circle. Maybe you’ve finished that novel and now you want to get it published. Raise your standards, because the next steps are going to be even more exciting than your initial goal. It’s a great time to be you!Back to top

Tip #100: Set the next goal.

With your knowledge of your capabilities firmly in place, you’re now free to set the next goal. What can you achieve in the next three months? The next six months? What do you want to be different in your life then from now? What can you add on to your previous goal to really make some major gains in your life?

It’s time to start an entirely new chain of X’s on your calendar.Back to top

Tip #101: Repeat.

This is where it gets tough again. You’re going to use the same process you did to achieve your previous goal and apply the same principles to the next one.

Yes, achieving goals is hard. You’re going to be entering another daily routine wherein most of your goals are not yet achieved.

We encourage you to remember the story of Sisyphus, the man in Greek mythology who was sentenced to carry a rock up a hill only to watch it fall back down again – and again, and again, and again, on and on for eternity.

Sound daunting? Let’s leave you with one last note.Back to top

Conclusion: Where to Go NowStarting the previous 101 tips, we asked you to buy a pencil and notebook to start your journey.

It’s this one act that will tell you how ready you are for success.

Why? No, it’s not about the power of a pencil and paper – though they can help you a lot along the way – but rather about the power of taking immediate action.

There will always be an excuse to procrastinate. And sometimes these excuses are legitimate – you canstart your journey tomorrow. Why not?

But if you keep procrastinating, you find out that ultimately the idea of “tomorrow” is really just a lie.

You only have todayto take action. Tomorrow won’t feel like the future; it will just be another version of “today.”

This is daunting. Taking a step toward change means you’ll have to confront some uncomfortable things, even if it’s as simple as sending your novel out to publishers or sending your resume to potential employers.

At times, it will feel hopeless. It will feel, as we mentioned in the last tip, Sisyphean.

But there is hope. The philosopher and author Albert Camus said, “you have to imagine Sisyphus happy.” If you can be happy carrying that rock up that hill every day, then you can be happy – period.

And if you’re going to carry that rock up the hill every day, then it’s not everyday unless you start with today.

The difference is, eventually your rock stays at the top of the hill.

But it won’t get there if you don’t move it. Now is the time to take action.

And if you’re still stuck, remember that the time will pass anyway – whether you’re working hard or not. The next five years will be five years no matter what you do.

Where would you like to be in those five years?

If you don’t take action now, you run the risk of living in the lie of, as Shakespeare said, “tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow.” Five years will pass and you’ll wonder where they went. Don’t leave yourself wondering. Take action today, tomorrow, every day.Back to top

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