Why are some people more successful than others? Why do some people make more money, have more friends, enjoy better health, and derive greater satisfaction from life than others do? Brain Tracy’s ‘The Psychology of Success’ is designed to help us to unlock our personal potential to achieve anything we really want in life.
Tracy in defining what he means by success indicates that there are basically six requirements for success.
The first requirement is peace of mind – freedom from fear, freedom from anger, and freedom from guilt. The second requirement for success is good health and a high level of energy – if we do not have health or energy, we do not get very much satisfaction from life. The third requirement for success is loving relationships – long-term, intimate, mature relationships with other people. The fourth requirement is financial freedom –we cannot enjoy life is we are worried over not having enough money. The fifth ingredient is commitment to worthy goals and ideals – man’s need for meaning and purpose is the greatest single drive in human nature. The sixth requisite for success is a feeling of a personal fulfillment or self-actualization – a feeling that we are becoming everything we are capable of becoming.
Tracy treatises that to get maximum performance from ourselves, we have to understand the basic underlying principles, or laws, of our being. Once we understand how we work, we have to make an effort to apply what we have learned to achieve higher levels of accomplishment in our day-to-day lives.
Tracy begins the discourse by identifying the basic rules, or laws, for operating what he calls “the human machine.”
The LAW OF CONTROL simply says that we feel good about ourselves to the degree to which we feel we are in control, and that we feel out of harmony with ourselves to the degree to which we feel we are controlled by circumstances or by other people. “All control begins with taking control of the thoughts we hold in our conscious minds.”
The second is the LAW OF ACCIDENT, which says there is no way that we can control what happens to us that everything just happens by accident. Unfortunately, whether or not they realize it, the vast majority of men and women live their lives by the law of accident. They have no goals beyond the short term, they make no plans. In fact, they do not really feel they are in control of their own destinies and they just hope that this will still work out.
Opposed to the law of accident is the LAW OF CAUSE AND EFFECT, which says that for every effect in our lives, there is a specific cause. We have the ability to control the causes and change the effects of anything we want. “Our thoughts are the primary causes of the conditions or effects in our lives, and if we have to change our thinking in the present.”
The LAW OF BELIEF says that whatever we believe with feeling becomes our reality. Our beliefs form a screen through which we see the entire world and we never allow any information that is inconsistent with our beliefs to pass through the screen. Even if we have beliefs that are totally inconsistent with reality, because we believe them to be true, they become true for us.
The LAW OF EXPECTATION is a powerful concept that says that whatever we expect with confidence becomes our own self-fulfilling prophecy. People who enjoy high levels of accomplishments are continually talking to and about themselves as though they expect things to work out well. Expectations have a powerful impact on our relationships with others, and they have a powerful impact on what we become.
Tracy believes that there are three key types of expectations that affect our lives: first, the expectations our parents had of us – these expectations have a dramatic impact on how we perform today; second, the expectations we have of our children, our spouses, our subordinates and the people who look up to us – people who look up to us always try to fulfill our expectations of them, whether they are positive or negative; third, and perhaps most important of all, the expectations we have of ourselves – which may be high or low, positive or negative.
The LAW OF ATTRACTION says that each human being is a living magnet, that we radiate thought energy and that we invariably attract into our lives the people and circumstances that harmonize with our dominant thoughts. If we wish to attract different people, different circumstance, and different events, we have to change the content of our conscious minds. We can dramatically improve the quality of our lives by taking control of our minds and manufacturing beliefs and expectations consistent with what we want to happen in the future. Remember, “what we think, you are.”
A positive mental attitude is an absolute indispensable prerequisite for success. The only factors that determine how well a person does or how far he goes are attitudinal. Attitudes come from our expectations about outcome. If we expect things to turn out our poorly, we have negative attitudes. Winners make a habit of manufacturing their own positive expectations well in advance of the event. If we make a habit of always expecting the best out of everything we do, we have one of the keys to a successful life.
Where do our expectations come from? They come from our fundamental beliefs about ourselves and the world around us. Our beliefs are based on our self-concept. Every one of us has a self-concept, which is the controlling factor in our performance. Our self-concept is a combination of all the ideas, thoughts, and experiences that have happened to us over the course of our lives that come together to form a composite image of the person we believe ourselves to be. We always perform in a manner consistent with our self-concept.
Tracy is of the opinion that the self-concept is made up of three fundamental ingredients. “Understanding of the self-concept,” he expatiates,” is a key to understanding and unlocking human performance.” The first element of the self-concept what he calls SELF-IDEAL or the ideal self. Every one of us has numerous pictures, feelings, and thoughts of the ideal person we would most like to be. It is usually a composite of all the people we have admired. We are continually adjusting our behavior, action, and words to try to be more like the ideal person.
The second part of the self-concept is the SELF-IMAGE. It is the way we see and think about ourselves, it is our “inner mirror.” We tend to walk, talk, sit, act, think, and relate to other people in a manner consistent with this self-image or inner mirror. If we wish to change our external performance, we have to change this inner picture.
The third element of the self-concept is SELF-ESTEEM. It is the root of self-concept and the core of human personality. Self-esteem is the most important element in human performance. The person with healthy self-esteem likes himself. People who genuinely like and accept themselves as valuable human beings perform at higher levels of effectiveness. Say, “I like myself, I like myself,” over and over, until it is driven deeply into your subconscious.
People who genuinely like themselves and accept themselves as valuable persons like and accept other people to the same degree. It is impossible to like or love anybody else, more than we like or love ourselves. At the same time it is impossible to expect anyone else to like and respect us more than we like and respect ourselves. Saying “I like myself” is a positive affirmation that causes us to perform in a more effective manner. “The root of all personality problems, all behavioral problems and all difficulties in interactions with other people is low self-esteeem.”
BUILDING A POSITIVE SELF-CONCEPT
Why are some people more successful than others? Why do some people make more money, have more friends, enjoy better health, and derive greater satisfaction from life than others do? Brain Tracy’s ‘The Psychology of Success’ is designed to help us to unlock our personal potential to achieve anything we really want in life.
Tracy in defining what he means by success indicates that there are basically six requirements for success.
The first requirement is peace of mind – freedom from fear, freedom from anger, and freedom from guilt. The second requirement for success is good health and a high level of energy – if we do not have health or energy, we do not get very much satisfaction from life. The third requirement for success is loving relationships – long-term, intimate, mature relationships with other people. The fourth requirement is financial freedom –we cannot enjoy life is we are worried over not having enough money. The fifth ingredient is commitment to worthy goals and ideals – man’s need for meaning and purpose is the greatest single drive in human nature. The sixth requisite for success is a feeling of a personal fulfillment or self-actualization – a feeling that we are becoming everything we are capable of becoming.
Tracy treatises that to get maximum performance from ourselves, we have to understand the basic underlying principles, or laws, of our being. Once we understand how we work, we have to make an effort to apply what we have learned to achieve higher levels of accomplishment in our day-to-day lives.
Tracy begins the discourse by identifying the basic rules, or laws, for operating what he calls “the human machine.”
The LAW OF CONTROL simply says that we feel good about ourselves to the degree to which we feel we are in control, and that we feel out of harmony with ourselves to the degree to which we feel we are controlled by circumstances or by other people. “All control begins with taking control of the thoughts we hold in our conscious minds.”
The second is the LAW OF ACCIDENT, which says there is no way that we can control what happens to us that everything just happens by accident. Unfortunately, whether or not they realize it, the vast majority of men and women live their lives by the law of accident. They have no goals beyond the short term, they make no plans. In fact, they do not really feel they are in control of their own destinies and they just hope that this will still work out.
Opposed to the law of accident is the LAW OF CAUSE AND EFFECT, which says that for every effect in our lives, there is a specific cause. We have the ability to control the causes and change the effects of anything we want. “Our thoughts are the primary causes of the conditions or effects in our lives, and if we have to change our thinking in the present.”
The LAW OF BELIEF says that whatever we believe with feeling becomes our reality. Our beliefs form a screen through which we see the entire world and we never allow any information that is inconsistent with our beliefs to pass through the screen. Even if we have beliefs that are totally inconsistent with reality, because we believe them to be true, they become true for us.
The LAW OF EXPECTATION is a powerful concept that says that whatever we expect with confidence becomes our own self-fulfilling prophecy. People who enjoy high levels of accomplishments are continually talking to and about themselves as though they expect things to work out well. Expectations have a powerful impact on our relationships with others, and they have a powerful impact on what we become.
Tracy believes that there are three key types of expectations that affect our lives: first, the expectations our parents had of us – these expectations have a dramatic impact on how we perform today; second, the expectations we have of our children, our spouses, our subordinates and the people who look up to us – people who look up to us always try to fulfill our expectations of them, whether they are positive or negative; third, and perhaps most important of all, the expectations we have of ourselves – which may be high or low, positive or negative.
The LAW OF ATTRACTION says that each human being is a living magnet, that we radiate thought energy and that we invariably attract into our lives the people and circumstances that harmonize with our dominant thoughts. If we wish to attract different people, different circumstance, and different events, we have to change the content of our conscious minds. We can dramatically improve the quality of our lives by taking control of our minds and manufacturing beliefs and expectations consistent with what we want to happen in the future. Remember, “what we think, you are.”
A positive mental attitude is an absolute indispensable prerequisite for success. The only factors that determine how well a person does or how far he goes are attitudinal. Attitudes come from our expectations about outcome. If we expect things to turn out our poorly, we have negative attitudes. Winners make a habit of manufacturing their own positive expectations well in advance of the event. If we make a habit of always expecting the best out of everything we do, we have one of the keys to a successful life.
Where do our expectations come from? They come from our fundamental beliefs about ourselves and the world around us. Our beliefs are based on our self-concept. Every one of us has a self-concept, which is the controlling factor in our performance. Our self-concept is a combination of all the ideas, thoughts, and experiences that have happened to us over the course of our lives that come together to form a composite image of the person we believe ourselves to be. We always perform in a manner consistent with our self-concept.
Tracy is of the opinion that the self-concept is made up of three fundamental ingredients. “Understanding of the self-concept,” he expatiates,” is a key to understanding and unlocking human performance.” The first element of the self-concept what he calls SELF-IDEAL or the ideal self. Every one of us has numerous pictures, feelings, and thoughts of the ideal person we would most like to be. It is usually a composite of all the people we have admired. We are continually adjusting our behavior, action, and words to try to be more like the ideal person.
The second part of the self-concept is the SELF-IMAGE. It is the way we see and think about ourselves, it is our “inner mirror.” We tend to walk, talk, sit, act, think, and relate to other people in a manner consistent with this self-image or inner mirror. If we wish to change our external performance, we have to change this inner picture.
The third element of the self-concept is SELF-ESTEEM. It is the root of self-concept and the core of human personality. Self-esteem is the most important element in human performance. The person with healthy self-esteem likes himself. People who genuinely like and accept themselves as valuable human beings perform at higher levels of effectiveness. Say, “I like myself, I like myself,” over and over, until it is driven deeply into your subconscious.
People who genuinely like themselves and accept themselves as valuable persons like and accept other people to the same degree. It is impossible to like or love anybody else, more than we like or love ourselves. At the same time it is impossible to expect anyone else to like and respect us more than we like and respect ourselves. Saying “I like myself” is a positive affirmation that causes us to perform in a more effective manner. “The root of all personality problems, all behavioral problems and all difficulties in interactions with other people is low self-esteeem.”
