I was having trouble reading this one as something kept popping into my mind that's really bothering me, just wouldn't let me read, and then I read this: "What’s the #1 thing that’s stressing you out right now?
If it’s *really* bothering you, we can rest assured that you’re in fault finding mode. The best way to get your optimism (and therefore “Optimalist”) on? Get into a BENEFIT FINDING mode." Talk about timely! I felt relief just in the words.

From there this quickly became one of those PN’s with which I find myself just pulling quotes right and left. The whole thing is inspiring, and I’ve moved it to my Favorites folder. Some things that stood out for me:
Great for me, and perhaps a perspective on our failed economy in that Michael Jordan quote: “I’ve missed more than nine thousand shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. 26 times I’ve been trusted to take the winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.”

Also, another one that can defuse a tense situation given how my mind works: “It is about recognizing that at every moment in our life we have a choice—to be afraid and yet to act courageously, to feel jealous and yet to act benevolently, to accept being human and act with humanity.” And, a beautifully succinct thought command that might just be my mantra for the day: “Now what needs to be done?” Reminds me a quote from Unleash the Warrior Within: “"See the target, hit the target, move on to the next target." In other words, see/recognize it, deal with it, move on to the next thing.

I realize I’m just dropping in favorite quotes from this one as I go, but hey, it’s working for me at least (!), and here’s another passage that I’ve set aside for daily reference: “The word appreciate has two meanings. The first meaning is ‘to be thankful,’ the opposite of taking something for granted. The second meaning is ‘to increase in value’. Combined, these two meanings point to a truth that has been proved repeatedly in research on gratitude: when we appreciate the good in our lives, the good grows and we have more of it. The opposite, sadly, is also true: when we fail to appreciate the good—when we take the good in our lives for granted—the good depreciates.”

If we don’t appreciate something, someone, it tends to depreciate in value. Powerful stuff!

Here’s yet another: “The first step was to accept the reality that I could not have it all. While it seems obvious that you cannot work fourteen hours a day and remain fit and healthy and be a devoted father and husband, in my perfectionist fantasy world, nothing was impossible.” This is me for sure. I spread myself too thin trying to be too many things to too many people and sometimes, more frequently than is acceptable, I fail one or all of them in trying to succeed with all of them.

So if that seeking of perfection results in a failure then my takeaway must be that I must learn from this failure, indeed embrace the power of “no” that several of the PN’s have referenced, focus on the 20% of those things that yield 80% of the results, and commit to doing good with good through good. Mainly, “‘Do not do unto yourself what you would not do unto others’” in reverse tells me to also heed my own advice. And there’s cognitive therapy for me just in writing the above.

On with the day! My best to all of you … I APPRECIATE that we’re all able to share in this 50-day experience and good luck with Day 15 whoever and wherever you are….

That's so fantastic about burning the boats! As a result of the holiday and rethinking New Year's "declarations" (not "affirmations"!), one thing I decided to do was clear as much (or all) of the clutter around me and in drawers, and all the habits that create that physical and, more importantly, mental clutter that gets in the way of success. I decided on a zero tolerance approach to go 100% paperless (if possible). And one thing that I decided to do, even before having read this book, is to get rid of even the file cabinets themselves so that there would be no way for me to accumulate paper files, it would force efficiency ... I burned those boats! And now that I see / hear it in the greater context of Getting Rich, I'm going to apply it wherever I can in my professional life. No exit door, no turning back, only the path to success, and has we learned (again) earlier the only way out is THROUGH. Onward...

I’ve read this note previously, and now I’m actually clearer on it having watched Brian’s video. I know it’s meant to be a simple principle, and I probably tried over-thinking it, but at first I thought, OK, if 20% of my efforts deliver 80% of the results, that’s great but not enough … I need 100% results. Again, I was complicating it, mainly if I look at it in the context of, say, a business project. That’s beautiful that 20% of my focused energy will get 80% of the project done, but I still need to deliver 100% of the project … what now?

But the math isn’t meant to work that way. I see that now. It’s saying that I should spend concentrated effort in certain areas, and keep applying, and applying, and applying the principle within those areas. As Brian suggests, if 20% of my clients provide 80% of my revenues, then I should endeavor to transition out of those other 80%, and instead try to replicate the 20% that are truly delivering the results. I suppose if I duplicated them, I’d be spending 40% of my time and generating 160% of the previous results?!

Anyway, maybe I’m still trying to look at this too formulaically. The main thing is that cut the clutter, not burn time on things that don’t matter, focus with high levels of concentration on those things and people and live fully in those moments. The rest will work itself out…. ☺

Now to figure out which five people I spend the most time with and how healthy my average is….

Just a quick note as I'm a couple days behind on entries, though I did read this one the night of. Overall, this one felt less action-ready and concise on what to do, but the overarching philosophies are of course timeless. I do like the If you're going to fall, climb idea. Great stuff! And though this is not a peaceable analogy, I do remember my boxing coach back in high school (early '80's) training us to punch "through", where as most people just punch "at". The latter, well, packs a significantly less powerful punch. So, to punch through (and remembering the adage the only way out -- of whatever it is that pains us -- is through) I should indeed think I'm half-way there when I'm 90% there ... otherwise, yep, I will often let up, not Finish Strong (Geaux Saints!).

I'm a day behind it seems, as the holiday yesterday involved more than expected (good stuff, with FAMILY), and wasn't on the computer that much. But thinking (positively) that maybe it was better that I didn't read this one till this morning, as in my business dealings on deck today the PTFAR is intensely relevant I will apply it posthaste! I also find here again a similar thought on my "alligator only grows as big as the fish tank it lives in" story / myth / truth (or whatever it is) ... Its simple arithmetic: Your income can grow only to the extent you do. And again, I'd used the baby alligator analogy to describe others, never myself, up until this past week with PN. Now I realize I'm the alligator! Especially after today's Note. I hereby "declare" I build a bigger tank....

I've had this book about a year and read only the first 1/3 of it. Not because it wasn't interesting necessarily, but because, well, I've got what I call BADD ... that's right, I'm BADD (insert Michael Jackson woo-hoo!). Book Attention Deficit Disorder. I can't remember the last time I read a book cover to cover. And, well, I guess that's why I'm drawn to PN! ;-)

Anyway, I like a lot of this book. Really great stuff. Sure, a little out there on the other being channeling, but that topic's been played out in this forum. What just jumped out at me is the "jerk" factor. Not that I'm a jerk at all. But that summed up the Laws quite nicely. Be a jerk and pretty much every time people will be jerks back to you. Now that's not to say that being a Nice Guy or an unconditionally loving peaceable being will attract the same unequivocally ... because, face it, there are an awful lot of jerks out there. But if I'm in tune with the good people and opportunities and full-blown successes I do attract enough to recognize and embrace them, I don't need a lot of those to have a proverbial wonderful life, yes?

Integrating a bit with the PN's, helps to have the power to say "No", to not "sin" against my true self by allowing jerks the time and headspace that could better be spent with the good stuff I attract. Thinking ... positive ... thoughts. Envisioning that I am not who I was but I am about to become. Good stuff....

I, too, tend to cool the thermometer, to "conveniently" get distracted at points of inflection that could rocket me into the next zone. And I don't actually hear it in my head ... there's not a "what if it doesn't workout?" question repeating in my head that I chase like a tiger's tail ... instead, that hangs out subconscious or at least a thin layer deeper than my waking thoughts and manifests in hanging out on Facebook, channel-surfing on the couch, hours passing without my not knowing where they went or how they were spent, and mainly in my biggest Achilles heel which is lack of follow-through, particularly not returning phone calls as I should. Opportunities dissipate like that. The thermometer cools. I'm back to a comfortable place … but it’s that uncomfortable place, that new zone, I need to be in.

It’s funny but you know how sometimes you hear yourself give someone else advice that sounds brilliant, yet you can’t give yourself the same, let alone actually follow it? For years now I’ve tried to help a friend and business colleague of mine enhance his success by reminding him to “get a bigger tank.” The story behind this is that I’ve often heard in Louisiana, where I was born, that if you put a baby alligator in a fish tank the alligator won’t outgrow the tank, it simply stays small. Now, that might be urban legend, though I could almost swear I’ve actually seen it! (I just submitted it to Snopes.com to see if someone has the answer, fact or fiction.) Regardless, it’s a good analogy I think for how I’ve compromised my ability to take the Big Leap.

For example, I think that if I moved my current small office into a big wide open space, 10,000 sq. ft. or so, I’d more likely find a way to fill it with good people that in my current four walls. My internal barometer and/or thermometer (as it was referenced in another post) however would suggest that 10,000 (or 5,000 or 50,000) sq. ft. would be the death of my business as it would create overhead I couldn’t cover in the near-term while building the team to fill the space and both service and generate the necessary revenues. And you know, to a certain degree it would be absolutely RIGHT. But that doesn’t mean I should kick the idea out completely and spin in status quo.

Therein lies the need to make Ruiz’s baby steps (not hops though) toward Hendricks’s big leap, like a pole vaulter gaining speed before planting the pole in the ground and leaping upward. I think that feels good to me. Now, that analogy also suggest coming back down (ah, gravity!), but decidedly on the other side, in another place, and with (in my head at least) the exhilaration of the accomplishment and, hey, a little applause from the crowd is nice now and then, too. ;-)

Waving at my gremlins now … they’re out on the wing of the plane ripping up wires like in Twilight Zone (the movie). But I’m going to fly higher. Onward and upward.

I can SO relate to that thermometer explosion cooling things off! Great visual!

Loved this one. Mainly the Carnegie no b.s. style of advice. ;-) I particularly liked the idea of assessing how tired I am at the end of the day as a function of how much physical activity I conducted ... most days it's all in my head, and most days I'm sitting in a chair not stretching or relaxing nearly enough. I'm going to pay more attention to this. (Promise.)

There's good medicine in writing down what I'm worrying about as well. I think the sheer acknowledgment and the tactility and visual of writing it on a piece of paper alone will do wonders exorcising it from my head. Maybe I'll then "banish" it by wadding the paper up in a ball and shooting a basket into the trash! Two points!

Compartmentalizing the day, and indeed seizing the day by worrying less about tomorrow are much needed ... one of the things I scored low on with my initial questionnaire was that I don't always wake up ready to seize the day. Sometimes it's tough to get started and really energized and running right out of the gates, and I think it's got to be because there's some sense of dread / worry that something's going to go wrong, often as a result of something having gone wrong the day before. Must ... shut the iron doors ... move along. And, as Aurelius says, bear any misfortune worthily as good fortune ... perhaps that's another way to say "what doesn't kill us makes us stronger." Onward!

I've been familiar with Covey's second quadrant for a while now but the distillation in this Note format is very helpful. All too often I'm in Q1 fighting fires, or procrastinating in areas that are not time-sensitive and not important. Partly I think that's because there because there seems to be too few frequent rewards in Q2 to help pull me along. But I think that partly it's back to Ruiz's baby steps ... incremental gains, checking off the list, will help get to the important goals that are bigger picture and further out. I also like the Habit #2, beginning with the end in mind, especially in my business of marketing, branding and entrepreneurial business development, all of which require some vision of what "can and/or should be" in advance of embarking on the mission to create it. I wrote a quote on my wall a couple of months ago that reversed "Finish what you start" into "Start what you finish" -- meaning, finish the picture in your mind, finish the blueprint, the plan, get it right, then commence implementation. That works for me!

Also, I know we are only on Day 2, but already I see some "synergy" between Notes 1 and 2 ... here I like that Covey, similar to Ruiz, emphasizes the need to say NO to those activities that do not serve your higher self and purpose ... Ruiz referred to it as sinning against your true self. And as someone who often finds it difficult to say NO, this is great compounding. Onward!