A book on No Excuses! by Aqeel Pasha

NO EXCUSES! The Power of Self-Discipline BRIAN TRACY

BRIAN TRACY is chairman and CEO of his own training and development organization, Brian Tracy International. He is a prolific author having written more than 45 business books including the best sellers Million Dollar Habits, Goals, Eat That Frog! and How the Best Leaders Lead. Brian Tracy has consulted with more than 1,000 different companies and each year addresses more than 250,000 people in seminars throughout the U.S., Canada and 40 other countries. Prior to establishing his own company, Brian Tracy gained experience as Chief Operating Officer of a $265 million development company and in various other sales and marketing positions. He has turned his hand to investments, real estate development, syndication, importation, distribution and management consulting. Brian Tracy is a graduate of the University of Alberta.

ISBN 9871-77544-652-1

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No Excuses! - Page 1

MAIN IDEA “Self-discipline is the ability to do what you should do, when you should do it, whether you feel like it or not.” – Elbert Hubbard, one of the most prolific writers in American history Sooner or later, almost everyone comes to the realization life is not a dress rehearsal for something better. To be successful and above average, you have to seize the initiative and make good things happen in your life and career, and that will only be possible if you have self-discipline. In a very practical way, self-discipline is the key which unlocks every other door of success. You have to stop making excuses and develop self-discipline to move ahead in life and ultimately to excel. To realize your full potential and achieve everything you can and should achieve, work to develop self-discipline in three key spheres:

Selfdiscipline

Personal success

Use self-discipline to become an excellent person

Professional career

Harness self-discipline to become a leader in your field

Quality of life

Apply self-discipline to enhance the quality of your life

“When you master the power of self-discipline, you will become unstoppable, like a force of nature. You will never make excuses for not making progress. You will accomplish more in the next few months and years than most people accomplish in a lifetime.” – Brian Tracy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Your success in life depends far more on the kind of person you are in the process of becoming than it ever does on the things you do or the assets you acquire. Learn how to apply self-discipline to become an excellent person first and foremost. Embed the self-discipline required for personal greatness into your character and personality.

1 Personal Success Selfdiscipline

Pages 2-4

Be prepared to work hard and long

Become a person of character and integrity

Accept responsibility for your own life

Set goals and work towards them every day

Keep steadily building your earning ability

Overcome your fears and doubts

Be persistent – this is self-discipline in action

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . To join the top 10 percent in your field, work at becoming progressively better all the time. When you apply self-discipline in your field, you will learn how to become a leader, to produce more and to manage your time for maximum results. Become skilled in those areas and your business or professional career will flourish.

2 Professional Career Selfdiscipline

Pages 4-6

Always work on the highest-value tasks

Become a leader and rise to the top

Provide your customers with great solutions

Never forget sales is the lifeblood of business

Obsess over saving money, not spending it

Manage your time to manage your life

Become very good at solving problems

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Self-discipline can also produce miracles in your personal life. When you have self-discipline in place, you'll be happier, healthier, enjoy better relationships and have true peace o f m ind. It's well worth learning how to incorporate more self-discipline and self-mastery into anything and everything you do. The results will speak for themselves.

3 Quality of Life Selfdiscipline

Pages 7-8

Do something you enjoy to be happy

Protect and fortify your personal health

Build exercise and training into your life

Have a strong and rock solid marriage

Raise great kids

Build deep friendships and relationships

Generate true peace of mind for yourself

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Selfdiscipline

1 Personal Success Principles 1 - 7

Your success in life depends far more on the kind of person you are in the process of becoming than it ever does on the things you do or the assets you acquire. Learn how to apply self-discipline to become an excellent person first and foremost. Embed the self-discipline required for personal greatness into your character and personality.

Be prepared to work hard and long

You won't develop self-discipline at all unless you're prepared to put in the kind of effort most people refuse to put in. The natural tendency of average achievers is to do the least amount required and to look for shortcuts. You will only be a lasting success if you discipline yourself to pay the price required in hard work practiced consistently over an extended period of time. The iron law of the universe is the Law of Cause and Effect: "For every effect, there is a specific cause or series of causes." To dictate how much success you want to achieve in your field, figure out how much effort you must put in and get to work paying the price. Success is always the result of what you deliberately, consciously and continuously do day after day. Make a commitment to work harder than ever before and you'll be heading down the right path. You can also enhance the quality and impact of your efforts if you resolve to learn from the experts rather than making every mistake yourself. Seek out ideas and advice from people who are already highly successful in your field. This can save you years of hard work if you're smart and astute. Make a definitive commitment to become a lifelong student of your craft and then keep applying what you learn. Never stop learning more and doing more all the time. “There are only three requirements for success. First, decide exactly what it is you want in life. Second, determine the price that you are going to have to pay to get the things you want. And third, and this is most important, resolve to pay that price.” – H.L. Hunt, legendary oilman and self-made billionaire 2

Become a person of character and integrity

Your character is nothing more or less than the sum total of all the choices and decisions you've ever made in life. As you make good decisions and live consistent with what you believe, your character will deepen and strengthen over time. Live consistent with your values and you'll have integrity and peace of mind. To achieve more in life, become a person of honor and character – someone who can be trusted to do the right thing at all times and in all places. You can achieve this by: Teaching others – especially your own children – the importance and wisdom of your values. Studying the values you admire in action in the lives of other people – particularly role models who have achieved what you respect and would like to emulate. Getting into action trying to emulate your personal collection of heroes and hall-of-famers. Practice the values you respect and you'll always have integrity and a strong personality.

Your personality is the composite of three elements: Your self-ideal Your self-image

Your personality

Your self-esteem Your self ideal is composed of the personal values, goals and aspirations you hold yourself plus the values, goals and ideals of the people you admire the most. Superior performers are crystal clear about who they are and what they stand for. Your self-image is the way you think about yourself. Most people behave on the outside based on what they see themselves being like on the inside. You should be working to consistently improve your inner picture of yourself. Your self-esteem is nothing more than a measure of how much you like yourself. If you act with character and in a manner consistent with your values and those of your role models, you'll feel good about what you're doing. Work hard to develop a strong and vibrant personality by focusing on each of these three elements. As you exercise the self-discipline required to build a solid and strong character, you'll feel great. You'll feel good about the progress you're making towards becoming an excellent person. “Hold yourself responsible for a higher standard than anyone expects of you. Never excuse yourself. Never pity yourself. Be a hard master to yourself and be lenient to everyone else.” – Henry Ward Beecher, nineteenth-century clergyman “What you do speaks so loudly than I cannot hear a word you're saying.” 3

Accept responsibility for your own life

Nobody is going to force you to be a success against your will. To change your external circumstances, you have to get into action making good things happen. You are solely responsible for the state of your finances, your health and everything else you achieve in the future so get busy. In particular, dispel any notion that you are somehow "worth more" than you're currently being paid. That's a complete waste of time to think about. You're paid according to the amount of value you provide to your employer or to the people you do business with. If you want to be paid more, accept responsibility for finding a better way to deliver more value and get into action making it happen. Find practical, workable ways to consistently pack in more value and secure a part of that increase for yourself. Keep in mind it's not just your income you're responsible for. You also have to assume full responsibility for: • Your investments. • The payment of bills on time. • How you'll fare financially in retirement. The only real antidote to concerns in any of these areas is for you to get into action. Make good things happen. In every situation that arises, remind yourself: "I'm responsible. What am I going to do to move forward with this?" Use that sense of responsibility to

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4 Set goals and work towards them every day Setting goals and then consistently working towards making those goals become a reality is a very important discipline. This simple dynamic will make more great things happen than anything else you ever try. Taking the time to decide what exactly you really want in life can change your life forever. Various studies have shown: Only 3 percent of adults have written goals – but that 3 percent earn more than the other 97 percent put together. Committing your goals to paper increases your probability of success ten times – 1,000 percent. The very act of writing your goals down forces you to think and concentrate more clearly, and it embeds your goal into your subconscious mind. If you write your goals down, you're more likely to work towards their achievement each day. With these facts in mind, a seven-step method for accomplishing ten times more than you've ever achieved before is:

Decide exactly what you want to achieve – in as much vivid detail as you possibly can

Keep steadily building your earning ability

Your earning capacity is the most valuable asset you will ever own throughout your entire lifetime so it's critical than you invest time and effort in enhancing your earning capacity on a consistent basis. Success in the twenty-first century is going to be built on the foundation of lifetime learning and personal growth. To consistently and steadily increase your earning ability: Identify some good role models for what you want to achieve and learn how they got there. Look for the tactics they used which may help you move forward faster. Dress the same way they do, read what they read and try to use the same planning and productivity systems they use. Follow the same path these top performers took. Set a goal to move into the top 20 percent of earners in your field and figure out what you need to do to get there. Then keep working towards that goal one step at a time. Invest 3 percent of your income back into your own learning and education every year. Use that money to learn how to become progressively better and better. In short, you should never stop learning and growing and working towards achieving mastery in your field. Devote two hours each day to this effort and you will inevitably move from average to superior performance levels. To translate this into every day actions, the formula for increasing your income by 1,000 percent over the next ten years is:

Write everything down – commit goals to paper so they can be modified as and when required

Set a deadline for each goal – a reasonable time line for achievement you can work towards

Make a comprehensive list of everything you can do to work towards your goals.

Invest one hour per day when you arise motivating and educating yourself about your specialist field.

Organize your activities list – by priority and sequence. Come up with an action plan.

Get into the habit of rewriting your personal goals each morning before you start work.

Start working on your action plan immediately – don't put things off until you get around to them.

Plan every day in advance taking into account all your priorities and preferences.

Do something every day which moves you in the direction of your major goal – build momentum.

Concentrate on whatever you need to work on and stay with it until it is 100 percent complete.

Use your commuting time to listen to educational materials which will increase your knowledge.

After every business call, ask yourself: "What did I do right?" and "What can I do better in the future?"

Treat every person you meet like they were your best million-dollar customer.

“ T h e individual who wants to reach the top in business must appreciate the might and force of habit. He must be quick to break those habits that can break him – and hasten to adopt those practices that will become the habits that help him achieve the success he desires.” – J. Paul Getty “Discipline is the bridge between goals and accomplishment.” – Jim Rohn “You miss every shot you don't take.” – Wayne Gretsky, hockey hall-of-famer

“We are what we repeatedly do; excellence then is not an act but a habit.” – Aristotle

“Whatever you can think about on a continuing basis you can have.” – John Boyle, teacher

“The fact that some have become wealthy is proof that others may do it as well.” – Abraham Lincoln

things that

“The power of compound learning, like compound interest, is quite amazing. The more you learn, the more you can earn. The more you learn, the better your brain functions, and the smarter you get.” – Brian Tracy

“Successful people make a habit of doing the unsuccessful people don't like to do.” – Herbert Grey, businessman

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Overcome your fears and doubts

Deep down, everyone is afraid of something. If you let your fears take center stage, you'll never be able to move forward with confidence. Therefore, to achieve more, get into the habit of confronting and addressing the fears which may presently be paralyzing you. How do you do that? 1. When you're worried about something, pause and clarify what exactly worries you here. Get those fuzzy feelings out of the shadows and into the limelight.

Selfdiscipline

To join the top 10 percent in field, work at becoming progressively your better all the time. When you

apply self-discipline in your field, you will learn how to become a leader, to produce more and to manage your time for maximum results. Become skilled in those areas and your business or professional career will

Professional Career Principles 8 - 14

2. Identify what the worst possible outcome would be if all your fears came to full fruition. 3. Resolve that you would accept that worst possible outcome if it were to come about and find a way to deal with it. 4. Begin immediately to work hard so the worst possible outcome won't happen. When you confront your fears in a direct manner like this, you remove their ability to cause you pain. You can put your worries aside and focus on productive activities instead. The best way to generate courage is to get so busy taking purposeful action in the direction of your goal that you cannot recall what you were worrying about in the first place anyway. “Courage is not the absence of fear; it is control of fear, mastery of fear.” – Mark Twain “Courage is rightly considered the foremost of virtues, for upon it, all others depend.” – Winston Churchill 7

Be persistent – this is self-discipline in action

When you persist at doing the right things, you automatically become better equipped to do even more in the future. As you persist, even in the face of temporary setbacks, your self-esteem will grow and your confidence will blossom. Simply put, you'll feel better about yourself and become more optimistic whenever you refuse to give up – which is why persistence is so worthwhile. If you're habitually persistent, you'll be proactive. You'll be looking for the good which can come out of every problem or difficulty. You'll be resolving, in advance, to get back up each time you temporarily get knocked to the ground. Every time you exert the self-discipline to hang in there, you'll feel stronger and more unstoppable. That renewed momentum can then carry you onwards and upwards to new heights and new levels of achievement in the future. “When God wants to send you a gift, he wraps it up in a problem. The bigger the gift God wants to send you, the bigger the problem he wraps it up in.” – Norman Vincent Peale “Persistence is to the character of man as carbon is to steel.” – Napoleon Hill “Before you can achieve anything worthwhile in life, you have to pass ‘the persistence test.’ This is usually a ‘snap quiz’ sprung on you unexpectedly w ith n o w arning. This is w hen you demonstrate what you are really made of. This is when you show yourself and others the strength of your character and your true determination to succeed.” – Brian Tracy

Always work on the highest-value tasks

It's easy to get distracted at work by busy tasks which aren't that productive. Top performers are good at prioritizing what comes along. If it's a high-value task which heads in the direction of their goals, they get to work and make good things happen quickly and well. If not, they ignore it and stay focused. To move ahead, you need to develop the self-discipline required to consistently do focused, disciplined work. A good tool to use here is called the "Law of Three": 1. Identify the three primary things you do which ultimately contribute 80 to 90 percent of the overall value you provide your company or organization. 2. Discipline yourself to focus on those tasks all day every day. 3. Either delegate everything else to those who work for you at a lower hourly rate or ignore completely. To further increase the boost in productivity and therefore value this tool will give in your workday, concentrate on genuinely working while you are at work. Don't waste time drinking coffee, hanging out with your coworkers or surfing the Internet for stuff you don't need to know. Have your head down working on the very specific tasks your boss considers to be most important all day long. Do this consistently and you'll be paid more and promoted faster than al l your peers. You'll become indispensable. “Here is a simple three-part formula for success at work: Come in a little bit earlier, work a little harder, and stay a little later. This will move you so far ahead of your competitors that they will never catch up.” – Brian Tracy If you're always at work when your boss arrives and still at it when he or she leaves at night, you'll get noticed for all the right reasons. If you then go to your boss and say, "I'm all caught up on what I've been assigned to do. What else do you want me to work on?" you will start to tag yourself as the firm's "goto guy." Whenever an urgent task comes along which needs to be done quickly and correctly, yours will be the first name your boss thinks about. Those added responsibilities can then become an impressive track record of success when it comes to deciding who has earned a bonus and who should be promoted. All of these benefits will flow when you have the self-discipline to organize yourself to be more productive and to work harder on high-value tasks all the time. “Leaders aren't born; they are made. And they are made just like anything else, through hard work. And that's the price we'll have to pay to achieve that goal, or any other goal.” – Vince Lombardi

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Become a leader and rise to the top

In your career, you'll usually pass through four levels of activity: • You start out as an employee. • You become a supervisor with responsibility for results. • You become a manager who assigns work to other people. • You become a leader who determines what should be done. Since leaders set the standards for their organization, to become one you have to have vision for yourself and for where your company needs to head in the future. Leaders are standard bearers who must walk the talk if they are to have enough credibility to make good things happen. Leaders set values for their organizations and ultimately make the right things happen. You cannot become a leader and rise to the top of your organization unless and until you have personal self-discipline. 1. Clarity – the ability to be clear about what you stand for and where your organization needs to be heading. 2. Competence – you'll need to lead from the front because you know what you're doing. 3. Commitment – an absolute belief in what you're trying to achieve as a team. 4. Constraints – knowledge of what limits your organization's performance and what to do to remove those obstacles. 5. Creativity – you must have fresh ideas about finding better, faster and cheaper ways to do business.

To succeed, either with your own business or working for someone else, you've got to settle in for the long-term. You've got to do things today that will keep your customers coming back for more in the future. There are no shortcuts you can take – you've got to work your way to success. “The achievement of business success demands high levels of discipline from you in every area of business activity, both large and small. Without self-discipline and self-control in business, no success is possible.” 11

Never forget sales is the lifeblood of business

“Nothing happens until a sale takes place.” – Red Motley To excel in business, you've got to be generating sales every hour of every business day. This is as true for employees as it is for every business owner. If you have the self-discipline to focus on becoming good at sales, you can and will achieve more. The one question you should be asking repeatedly throughout every working day is this: "Is what I am doing right now leading to a sale?" If not, redirect your attention to this paramount issue. You can do your paperwork and other stuff after hours if necessary but make certain you're spending the majority of your working day focusing on generating sales. So what does it takes to excel at sales? The keys are:

6. Continuous learning – ongoing exposure to fresh knowledge which will sharpen your skills and competencies.

1. Learn not to take rejection personally – but view this as corrective feedback to get better in the future.

7. Consistency – the self-discipline to be reliable and predictable in all situations.

2. Make more calls – cut down on your wasted office time and get in front of more people who can buy more often. It stands to reason if you double the amount of time you spend talking with customers you stand a good chance of doubling the number of sales you end up making.

Provide your customers with great solutions

Self-discipline is essential if you aspire to be a success in Be proactive

Focus on solutions

Use time productively

Long-term view

Self-discipline

To work in a business or start your own, you have to be proactive in figuring out what people need and will pay for. You also have to figure out what you can do better than everyone else – your competitive advantage and unique selling proposition. You must understand and develop a complete business model from beginning to end. The whole purpose of a business is to create and keep a customer in a cost-effective manner. The key to creating a satisfied customer is to provide a solution to a problem they have at a price they can afford to pay. Focus on providing customers with viable solutions. To survive and move forwards, you're also going to need to know how to use your time to maximum effect. You've got to avoid all the distractions and work hard at being productive with all your resources, especially your time. To stay in the

3. Build a solid sales funnel – and keep it full. Increase the number of prospects yo u c ontact, the number of presentations you make and your closing ratios. Always have prospects you can call or go and see. 4. Get better at every stage of the sales process – read books, attend sales training seminars and work with the best in your field. Put in the time and effort required to upgrade your skills. Learn how the sales superstars prospect, present and close sales. Salesmanship is a learnable skill so discipline yourself to become better. 5. Start early and finish late every day – get out into the field where you can find customers rather than hiding in your office. Be organized with as many calls as possible in the same geographic area at the same time. Act on the basis the only sales time that really counts is when you're face-to-face with someone who can buy. “The purpose of a business is to create and keep a customer.” – Peter Drucker “When you discipline yourself to become one of the top salespeople in your field, you will find that you will have turned an important corner in your career. Most salespeople do only what they have to do to keep their jobs. But those people who resolve to become the best in their fields accomplish far more than anyone else. Your job is to be one of them.” – Brian Tracy

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Obsess over saving money, not spending it

Regardless of how much money you make, if you don't have the self-discipline to save, you'll never be financially independent. You basically have to rewire your responses about money to get ahead. Instead of saying "I'm happy when I spend money" you need to be thinking: "I'm happiest when I save money." More than likely you'll need to ease into this. Start out by saving 1 percent of your income every week and living on the remaining 99 percent. Then progressively bump up your saving rate month by month until you're regularly saving 15 to 20 percent of your income. Keep doing that until you've paid off your debts and then you can start putting money aside for your retirement years. Unless and until you have the self-discipline to save money, you'll never move ahead financially. Be prepared to delay your gratification – to not buy things until you pay for them in cash. Put the money you save into your designated "Financial Freedom" account and then analyze how to make your investments grow. It all hinges on your ability to save rather than spend. “In reading the lives of great men, I found that the first victory they won was over themselves; self discipline with all of them came first.” – Harry S. Truman 13

Manage your time to manage your life

Managing your time astutely is an integral flow-on benefit of good self-discipline. Time can't be saved, replaced or retrieved. It's indispensable because all success requires time. If you don't make time available to become a success, you won't move forward.

The undeniable fact is unless you become proactive in managing your time, it can be frittered away on activities which add no value. To succeed at anything, you will need to have a way to set priorities for the use of your time and then actually stick to those priorities. This will require a constant and ongoing application of willpower. The payoff is the more disciplined you become, the more you will achieve and the better you will feel personally. “You cannot manage time; you can only manage yourself.” – Peter Drucker 14

Become very good at solving problems

As soon as you start to reach for more in your life and career, problems will arise. That's unavoidable. To move forward, you've got to become highly proficient at solving those problems before they derail your growth plans. A good way to do this is to use this formula to deal with those problems:

Start by defining the problem clearly – clarify precisely what the problem is before you act

Do a reality check – ask: "Is this really a problem or is it more of an opportunity in disguise?"

Probe deeper – ask: "What else is the problem?" and see if that leads to a different, better solution

Get to the root cause – ask: "How did this problem arise? Do we need to change our systems?"

List all possible solutions – include those which seem reasonable and those which are a stretch

Figure out which is your best solution at this time – and start executing that rather than doing nothing

Make a decision – to move forward and act now rather than wait and hope for something better

Assign responsibility – specify who exactly will implement and drive the agreed solution

Set metrics for measuring progress – and a time when you can meet to evaluate progress made

The most enduring principles of time management are: 1. The Pareto Principle – also known as the 80/20 Rule. This states just 20 percent of your activities will generate 80 percent of the value you derive. Do all you can to figure out what that 20 percent is and do that. 2. Set priorities for your time – and then stick to them like a dog sticks to a bone. A commonly used system is to prioritize all of your To-Do items with a grading and then discipline yourself to work on the most important tasks first. A typical task grading system used for this kind of time management is: A – Must do items, serious consequences for noncompletion B – Should do, mild consequences C – Nice to do, neutral or no consequences if not done D – Delegate to others to free up your time 3. E – Eliminate or discontinue this task.

Carve out dedicated blocks of time – where you will do nothing but focus on moving the most important project you're working on forward. Let nothing come along 4. that will interrupt that time commitment. Keep focusing on the most important things over and over – by repeatedly asking yourself questions which will pull you back into the productive zone: • Why exactly am I on the payroll? • What results are expected of me? • What are my unique expectations? • What are my highest value activities? • What can I alone do to add value for my organization? • What is the most valuable use of my time right now?

Keep in mind the reward for solving problems is usually that you get to work on even bigger and more important problems in the future. You will never reach a stage where everything is plain sailing and can function on autopilot. If you're working for someone, your pay and the speed with which you get promoted will be dictated by your ability to solve problems. The more high value solutions you can conceive and more importantly execute, the more valuable your contribution to your organization will be. The better you become at solving problems, the more you will feel good about yourself and the more confident you will become about taking on even bigger challenges in the future. “Experience is not what happens to a man; it is what a man does with what happens to him.” – Aldous Huxley

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Selfdiscipline

3 Quality of Life Principles 15 - 21

Self-discipline can also produce miracles in your personal life. When you have self-discipline in place, you'll be happier, healthier, enjoy better relationships and have true peace o f m ind. It's well worth learning how to incorporate more self-discipline and self-mastery into anything and everything you do. The results will speak for themselves.

Do something you enjoy to be happy

When you get right down to brass tacks, there are five ingredients you need to have in place to be happy: 1. Good health for yourself and your family and the personal energy to do the things you enjoy. 2. Happy relationships with the people you care about most in the world – your spouse, your family and your friends. 3. Work that you find meaningful and engaging so you can derive a sense of fulfillment. 4. T h e f reedom wh ich c omes from being financially independent. 5. You need to feel like you are fulfilling your personal potential and becoming the kind of person you should be. Sel-discipline is the foundation on which all five of these ingredients can be built. In each of these areas, you won't get what you want unless and until you have self-discipline. You have to exert that self-discipline and willpower to overcome any natural tendency to take the easy way out before you can feel genuinely happy about your life and your career. Discipline yourself to keep moving forward in each of these areas, even in the face of temporary setbacks. “No horse gets anywhere until he is harnessed. No steam or gas drives anything until it is confined. No Niagra is ever turned into light and power until it is tunneled. No life ever grows great until it is focused, dedicated, disciplined.” – Harry Emerson Fosdick 16

Protect and fortify your personal health

Self-discipline always underpins your personal efforts to be and stay healthy. Excellent health revolves around the five P's: P1 Proper weight – maintaining a weight where you look and feel good. This generates positive feelings and an overall sense of control of your life. P2 Proper diet – drinking enough water, eating lots of fruits and vegetables and less meat . P3 Proper exercise – vigorous aerobic-style exercise on a regular basis which elevates your heart rate and gets you moving. P4 Proper rest –so you don't have that mental fog in the background which leads to poor performance. Rest also includes breaks to recharge your mental batteries. P5 Proper attitude – you need to be positive, upbeat and optimistic about the future to feel genuinely healthy.

“For most people, the key to perfect health can really be summed up in five words: "Eat less and exercise more." Your goal in life should be to enjoy the highest levels of health and energy possible. This requires that you eat the right foods and fewer of them. It requires that you get regular exercise and move every joint of your body every single day. To enjoy superb physical health, you must get lots of rest and recreation. Above all, you must maintain a positive mental attitude in which you look for the good in every situation and remain determined to be a completely positive person. In each of these areas, the exertion of self-discipline and willpower will give you payoffs that are far beyond the effort that you put in. By practicing self-discipline in your health habits, you can live longer and better than you ever imagined possible.” – Brian Tracy 17

Build exercise and physical training into your life

As a general rule-of-thumb, humans need 200 - 300 minutes of vigorous exercise each week to operate at maximum levels of proficiency. If you have the self-discipline to exercise five times a week for around sixty minutes at a time, you will be in the top two percent of physically fit people in the world today. So what's the smart way to actually do this? Make the decision to go for it, starting today. Get a medical examination to check if there are any conditions which will limit your ability to exercise. Set aside time to exercise first thing in the morning. Put your exercise clothes right next to your bed so when you get up, you just automatically start putting them on. Keep reminding yourself studies have shown people who exercise first thing in the morning are brighter, more creative and more intelligent throughout the rest of the day. Exercising early also boosts your metabolism. That means you'll burn more fat. Buddy up. If someone is expecting you to be at the gym at the appointed time, you'll be more likely to make it. Join an organized sport and compete regularly. It doesn't matter what sport you choose – baseball, tennis, football, soccer, racquetball or any other sport is fine. Start small and build up gradually in whatever exercise program you choose. Make regular exercise the habit of a lifetime rather than the work of a few random moments. Be patient and persistent and you will get results. “Mental toughness is many things and rather difficult to explain. Its qualities are sacrifice and self denial. Also, and more importantly, it is combined with a perfectly disciplined will that refuses to give in. It is a state of mind that you could call character in action.” – Vince Lombardi “There are a thousand excuses for failure but never a good reason.” – Mark Twain “Those heights by great men, won and kept, Were not achieved by sudden flight. But they, while their companions slept, Were toling upward in the night.” – Longfellow

No Excuses! - Page 8

Have a solid marriage

“Your ability to enter into a long-term, loving relationship is an important measure of your character and personality. A happy marriage requires tremendous self-discipline and self-control. Love requires self-denial and sacrifice. When you are truly in love with another person, that person's happiness and well-being become more important than your own. You are willing to pay whatever price and make whatever sacrifice in order to ensure the well-being of the person you love.” – Brian Tracy Building a long-term loving relationship with your spouse certainly takes self-discipline and commitment but the payoff can be impressive. To really make your marriage work:

Build deep friendships and relationships

To develop excellent friendships with the people around you, there are seven practices you should follow: 1. Always accept people the way they are – rather than judging, criticizing or evaluating them. 2. Be open about showing appreciation – for what others do for you. Say "thank you" all the time. It makes the other person feel good. 3. Be agreeable – even when the other person expresses a strong opinion. Let them get what they feel off their chest without disagreement or ill will being expressed.

Learn how to be a better listener.

4. Show your admiration – for what other people do well. Look for reasons to compliment the people you spend time with. They will like that.

Stay 100 percent loyal to your spouse – avoid any situation or circumstance which may cause you to be unfaithful.

5. Pay attention to your friends – listen when they speak and watch out for items which you know will interest them.

Be willing to change over time – to drop your bad habits and replace them with new and improved habits which are more aligned with your shared values.

6. Be positive and upbeat – don't criticize, condemn, complain or air dirty laundry. Refuse to gossip.

Make your spouse your best friend. Put in regular and ongoing effort to build your relationship. Have tolerance and empathy for your spouses's point of view. “It is better to control yourself than to win a thousand battles. Then the victory is yours. It cannot be taken from you, not by angels or demons, heaven or hell.” – Buddha 19

Raise great kids

Nothing forces you to start thinking long-term and to change your priorities like having children. All of a sudden, you become concerned about what kind of role model you are. You also start thinking about how to build good character and a strong values in your children. All of that is essential, but if you really want to help your children, apply loads of self-discipline in the way you raise them. Specifically: Set a good example –remind yourself children are taking everything in all the time, especially the way you act when stressed. When they see you exercise self-discipline and self-control, they will understand that's the way they need to act when they become adults. Help them become self-confident – by always looking them in the eye and telling them the truth. As you do that yourself, they will feel inclined to do so as well. Be forgiving – and tolerant of mistakes made while learning new skills. Again, if your children see you let things go, they will grow up with the ability to do so as well. Never deliver destructive criticism to a child even when they deserve it. Give them your time – because that's how children figure out you love them. Make your children an integral part of everything you do. “You must teach men at the school of example, for they will learn at no other.” – Albert Schweitzer

7. Be sociable – be courteous, concerned and considerate of everyone you meet and interact with throughout the day. Building and maintaining solid friendships isn't rocket science. All you have to do is make sure people feel better after they've spent some time with you than they did before that. Make people feel important and they will like being your friend. 21

Generate true peace of mind for yourself

To feel at peace with the world and excited about the things you're in the process of achieving, your self-discipline must come to the fore. You have to discipline yourself to let go of all the things which can disrupt your inner peace: Let go of the need to always be right in every situation – and accept this is counterproductive. Let others have their say. Refuse to blame other people for your circumstances – but get to work making good things happen as the direct result of your attention and energy. Stop rehashing the disappointments of the past – and calmly accept the fact "things happen". Move on. Deliberately forgive and forget – nobody will care about it anyway. If you spend more time mulling over past injustices, all you do is amplify their effect. Accept responsibility and get moving again. “The payoff for using your self-discipline to practice forgiveness on an ongoing basis is extraordinary. When you use your incredible abilities of self-control, self-mastery and detachment to separate yourself emotionally from situations that would otherwise make you unhappy, the entire quality of your life improves in a wonderful way.” – Brian Tracy “Self-discipline is the key to personal greatness. With self-discipline, the average person can rise as far and as fast as his talents and intelligence can take him. But without self-discipline, a person with every blessing of education and background and opportunity will seldom rise above mediocrity.” – Brian Tracy