No Excuses!

We had dinner last night and the topic came to new year resolution and about living healthier lives. S is on a diet plan called TRA and has lost some 11kg in the last 4 months.  Rest of us are struggling with weight - hey, we just had Christmas, new year celebrations and Chinese new year binging looms.

Philip sent us his transcribed notes from a book he read and liked very much, called,  No Excuses – The Power of Self-Discipline by Brian Tracy.  He shared his notes with us this morning to encourage us.  So I, in turn, will share it here cos I really like this!

• Plato – The first and best victory is to conquer self.
• Losers make excuses; winners make progress.
• Self discipline is the ability to do what you should do, whether you feel like or not. There are many success principles but without self-discipline, none will work!
• Two biggest enemies of success, happiness and personal fulfillment are the Path of Least Resistance & The Expediency Factor.  There is no easy way/short-cut to most situations, and the hard path will provide valuable lessons towards success. Seeking fastest and easiest ways to get to the things they want with little or no concern for the long-term consequences of their behaviors.
• Bad habits are easy to form but hard to live with; good habits are hard to form but easy to live with. Everything (good) is hard before it is easy!
• Hard work is key to success and the indispensable requirement for hard work is self-discipline.
• Everyone wants to be successful but most people are not willing to pay the whole price; they always hold back and have excuses.
• The greatest reward of success is not the money you make but the excellent people you become in the quest/process of striving towards success!
• The fastest and most dependable way to eliminate negative emotions is “I am Responsible!” With this acceptance, your anger, blame, non-calm and other negative emotions will quickly neutralize. You will see yourself as being in charge, and no longer a victim.  The more you accept responsibility, the greater sense of control you experience.
• Only 35 of adults have written goals; and everyone else works for these people.  Writing out your goals increases the probability of success (hitting these goals) by 10 times!
• 7 steps to achieving your goal (page 70 – 73). Most important write out your SMART goal. Next most important 
• Make a list of drivers/inhibitors (internal and external), knowledge / skill / tools and people (who cooperation and support) you will require to achieve the goal.  Organize this list by both sequence an priority.  Take action on your plan immediately.  Do something every day that moves you in the direction of your goal.  Remember – everything is hard before it is easy!
• Use 3% rule to invest in your Learning and Development – never stop learning and growing.
• Courage
• Normal and natural that everyone is afraid. Difference is that the brave disciplines himself to confront, deal with and act in spite of the fear. In contrast, the coward allows himself to be dominated and controlled by the fear.  
• Deal with fear directly and address it head-on. Like twin sisters, fear and worry go around together. But many a times, they are unfounded!  “I have worried about a lot of things in life and most of them never happened” by Mark Twain.
• Persistence is self-discipline in action. Primary reason for success is persistence; and primary reason for failure is lack of persistence – quitting too soon.  Winners never quit, and quitters never win!
• 5 ingredients of Happiness: 1) Health 2) Happy Relationship 3) Meaningful work 4) Financial Independence 5) Self Actualization.
• 5 P’s of Excellent Health : 1) Propr weight 2) Proper diet 3) Proper exercise 4) Proper rest 5) Proper attitude