Nathan Martin

I recently finished Brian Tracy’s book, Flight Plan: The Real Secret of Success.  It wasn’t my favorite Tracy book, but I definitely found it useful as it is loaded with some of Brian’s simple truths.  The basic premise is that you can chart a course to a goal then follow the “flight plan” to said goal.  Probably any analogy breaks down if you carry it too far.  The weakness I saw in this book was that keeping the flight plan analogy the whole way through the book felt forced at times.  That said, the content is solid.  And timely since I read it at year end when, like many others, I was taking stock of my own plans and progress.

Here are a handful of Tracyisms from the book:

• “For you to change your outer world, you must change your inner world.”
• “You have more talent than you could use in a hundred lifetimes.”
• “The most valuable asset you have in achieving your goals and reaching your destination in life is your mind.”
• “Fear is , and always has been, the greatest enemy of mankind.”

At the beginning, Tracy guides the reader through choosing a destination and formulating a plan.  Expecting turbulence and making continual course corrections were two parts of the airplane analogy that were especially insightful.

Overall, Flight Plan is well worth the fifteen bucks.  In fact, I believe there is a paperback available now.

Brian Tracy sent the following out as his Quote of the Day email yesterday… “Time flies.  It’s up to you to be the navigator.” –Robert Orben  The email came at a perfect time for me.  This week has been extremely unproductive.  I needed a reminder to step back and assess what I’m doing with my time.  Jumping from one fire to the next doesn’t get me closer to my goals.  Sometimes those fires need to be put out, sometimes not.  The thing to remember is to set aside at least a little time to focus on longer-term goals and keep momentum toward those goals.  Back to the Rule of Five.

Speaking of Brian Tracy…a great time management book is Eat That Frog! Eat That Frog is based the concept of tackling your most dreaded task first thing then the rest of your day is easier.

Time Management advice by Brian Tracy:

• Continually ask yourself:  What is the most valuable use of my time right now?
• Say to yourself and others:  Back to work!  or Well, I’ve got to get back to work.

What methods do you use to remain productive?