Universal Law of Success

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CONTENTS
Don’t Read This Report…………………………………………………………………. 3
Success Comes to Those

Who Get Up Early by Michael Masterson…………………………………………….. 5
Play to Win by Robert Ringer…………………………………………………………... 8
Finding the “Right” People

Can Speed Up Your Success by Michael Masterson………………………………. 12
See the World Clearly in a Single Glance by Robert L. Cox……………………..14
Pay Yourself First by Michael Masterson…………………………………………….17
You Always Have Choices – Making

the Right One Makes a Big Difference by Michael Masterson…………………..20
Create Time and You’ll Create Money by Robert L. Cox…………………………25
Don’t Wait for Someone Else to Inspire You by Michael Masterson…………..28
Learn to Take Only Smart Risks by Brian Tracy…………………………………..31
Don’t Be Afraid to Fail by Michael Masterson………………………………………34
When Enough Is Enough: Learn to Say No by Monica Day………………………37
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Find a Worthwhile Purpose – and People
Will Follow You Anywhere by Michael Masterson………………………………..40
You Don’t Need the

Mindset of a Champion by Michael Masterson…………………………………….43
Success Comes Faster

As Your Experience Builds by Michael Masterson………………………………..45
The Power of Charisma by Brian Tracy …………………………………………….47
Making the Right Decisions by Michael Masterson………………………………50
Choose Your Friends and

Business Associates Wisely by Michael Masterson………………………………53
Happiness Comes from

Doing What You Love by Michael Masterson……………………………………….55
Discover Your Talents by Brian Tracy……………………………………………….57
Never Stop Learning by Michael Masterson…………………………………………60
Author Biographies……………………………………………………………………….62
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DON’T READ THIS REPORT
That’s right – you read that correctly.
And we’ll say it again:
Don’t read this report.
Unless, that is, you are TRULY ready to transform your life.
This report is full of 20 of the most powerful success secrets ever published. You can’t just skim
through these pages and toss it aside. You can’t read through it once and expect all the expert
advice and life-changing information to stick. And you can’t delude yourself into thinking that
reading is all you have to do.
That’s why you shouldn’t read this unless you’ve really made a commitment to becoming
powerful…successful…and wildly wealthy.
And this isn’t a pledge you should make lightly.
Unless you put your heart and soul into becoming a success…unless you make becoming
wealthy your top priority…unless you vow to yourself that you will do whatever it takes to get
where you want to be…
This report is NOT for you.
If you have determined to keep reading, you have already taken the first step toward making
yourself a better, more successful person.
Maybe you want to add $50,000 to your income this year. Maybe you want to get the job you’ve
always wanted. Maybe you want to go back to school and finally get that college degree. Or start
your own business. Or retire in five short years.
Whatever you are striving to do, this report can help you on your way.
We’ve compiled this report from articles published in Early to Rise, an e-newsletter that goes out
to nearly 200,000 success-oriented individuals every morning. At Early to Rise, we work hard to
fill each issue of the newsletter with useful advice about business-building, investing, leadership,
goal-setting, and even health. We have a dedicated team of experts in all these fields (as well as
marketers, Internet entrepreneurs, motivational speakers) and more who share techniques and
strategies devoted to helping our readers become wealthier, healthier, and wiser.
In this special report, you’ll find 20 “universal laws” of power and success that are well-known
by millionaires everywhere – in fact, you could say they owe their wealth to mastering these
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ideas and techniques. It almost goes without saying that if you want to increase your net worth or
become more successful in your business or personal life, you’ll want to memorize them all.
We are certain that the secrets revealed in the following pages will help you become a more
powerful, more successful, and wealthier person.
You’ve made that commitment to bettering yourself. We’re ready to help you.
What are you waiting for?
4
UNIVERSAL LAW OF POWER AND SUCCESS
Success Comes to Those

Who Get Up Early
by Michael Masterson
Every successful businessman I know (or have read about) gets up and gets to work early. It’s
such a universal trait of accomplished individuals, I’m tempted to say it is a secret for success.
“Early to bed and early to rise,” Ben Franklin said, “makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise.” I
used to think that was propaganda from a Puritan. Now, I think it’s an observation from a very
wise man.
But how does getting up and getting to work early help you achieve your goals?
In my experience, there is no better time to collect your thoughts and plan your day than early in
the morning when the office is quiet. Not only are you undisturbed by phone calls and
interruptions, but ahead of you is the potential of an unopened day. The solitude promotes a kind
of relaxed, contemplative mood. You feel free to think in an expansive way. Later on, when the
place is noisy and the pressure is on, it’s difficult to pay attention to what’s important. You feel
your attention drawn in several directions at once. You feel the pressure of deadlines. And you
may be hit with bad news, which could put you in a bad, unproductive mood.
A Near-Perfect Morning Routine
Over the years, I’ve studied hundreds and experimented with dozens of time-saving techniques
and organizational systems. The simple three-step program that follows is the best of the best.
Step One: Getting Healthy (6:30 to 7:00)
The first thing I do every day is run sprints. After a four- or five-minute warm-up, I run eight 50-
yard dashes, with 30 seconds of rest in between. Then I do a serious 10-minute stretching routine
(yoga moves, mostly). Finally, a cold shower and a fresh set of clothes.
The whole routine takes about 30 minutes, but it will completely renew and invigorate your
health. This workout is a condensed version of everything I’ve learned about health and fitness
for the past 45 years. (I got interested in the subject when I was 10!) And it has dramatically
improved my health. For example, I no longer have the back, shoulder, and neck pain that
troubled me for so many years. I am as strong as I was when I was playing football in college.
And I rarely get sick.
Step Two: Planning Your Day (7:00 to 7:30)
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I didn’t always plan my days. I managed to get rich before I developed this habit. But since I’ve
learned how to plan, my productivity has quadrupled. If you use this system, I’ll bet you see the
same improvement in your own life. I begin each day with a list of “to-dos” that I’ve usually
created the night before. I add to that list by going through my inbox and selecting any items that
are important enough to make it to my daily list. After my list is completed, I highlight all tasks
that help me accomplish one of my major long-term Life Goals.
I used to scan my e-mail for things to do, but found that I couldn’t resist the lure of trying to
“knock off” a bunch of little things that wasted my time and drained my energy. Now, I
scrupulously avoid e-mail in the morning. In fact, I don’t even open it up.
I check phone messages and faxes and add any important items to my daily task list. Again, I
don’t respond to anything at this point. My job is simply to organize it all, to figure out what I
will do today and what I can delegate or do later.
Now, comes the fun part. I get out a clean sheet of paper – or even an index card – and write the
date on top. Referencing all the inputs I have just gathered, I select 15 to 20 that I intend to
accomplish before the end of the day.
Be realistic when you do this. There is no way you can do more than 15 or 20 significant things
in a 10-hour day. And you don’t have to work more than 10 hours a day to accomplish
everything you need.
Your tasks will break down into these categories: (1) “Important and Urgent,” (2) “Important but
Not Urgent,” (3) “Unimportant but Urgent,” and (4) “Unimportant and Not Urgent.” Make sure
your daily task list contains nothing that is “Unimportant and Not Urgent” and a diminishing
number of “Unimportant but Urgent” items (since they indicate that you are not in control of
your schedule).
Of the 15 or 20 items, highlight four or five of them. These should all be “important-but-not-
urgent” tasks. (The urgent tasks you have to do. The important-but-not-urgent tasks are the ones
that will advance your Life Goals. They are critical to your success, but you will almost certainly
fail to do them unless you make them a priority. That’s why you are highlighting them.)
To the right of each item, you might want to indicate how much time you think it will take. (I run
a subtotal of the accumulating times to the right of that so there is some relationship between
what I want to do and how much time I have to do it.)
As a general rule, it’s a good idea to structure all of your tasks so that none lasts more than an
hour. 15-minute and 30-minute tasks are best. If you have something that takes several hours to
do, break it up into pieces and do it over a few days. It will be better for the extra time you give it
... and you won’t get crushed on any one day.
This whole process takes less than 30 minutes, yet it saves me hours of wasted time every day.
More importantly ... it helps me focus on what is truly important to my career. (At the beginning
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of the week, when I’m creating a weekly task list in addition to a daily one, I allocate an extra
half-hour. Once a month, I create a monthly list that takes another additional half-hour.)
If you adopt this simple organizing and planning system every morning, you will see how well it
works. Before your colleagues, competitors, and coworkers are even sipping their first cup of
coffee, you’ll have figured out everything you need to do that day to make you healthier,
wealthier, and wiser. You will know what to do, you will know what your priorities are, and you
will already be thinking about some of them. You will not have to worry about forgetting
something important. And you will have a strong sense of energy and excitement, knowing that
your day is going to be a productive one.
Step Three: Giving Your Day a Boost (7:30 to 8:30)
Here’s the best step. Select the single most important task of the day – the one, highlighted task
that will best help you accomplish your most cherished Life Goal – and get to work on that.
Don’t worry if something else is more pressing. Don’t pay any attention to what everyone else
wants you to do. Heck, it’s not even 9:00 a.m. yet. It’s your time, so spend it on yourself!
If you are having trouble figuring out what your most important task is, ask yourself this
question: “If I knew I was going to die in a week, which task would be most important to me
now?”
Start with that task. Chances are, it will be something that moves you toward a goal that you
have been putting off for many years. There is something in your mind that has so far made it
difficult for you to accomplish it.
Don’t worry about the negatives. As I said, this time is for you.
If you spend the first working hour of every day on something you deeply care about, it will give
you more energy and a better feeling than you can possibly imagine. How do I know this is true?
Because it’s how I feel every time I do it.
This little three-step program is a truly health-giving, wealth-making, life-changing routine. It

has totally transformed my life. I am sure it can do the same for you.
Remember, the entire three steps will take you only two hours. If you start working at 6:30 (and
you should!), you’ll have done more by 8:30 than your friends, colleagues, and competitors do
all day!
Try it tomorrow and tell me if it doesn’t work wonders for you!
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Play to Win
by Robert Ringer
I don’t watch many football games on television anymore, but I did catch the last few minutes of
some of the NFL playoff games.
What struck me most was how some things have managed to remain the same in a sport that has
changed dramatically. One of the most important aspects that hasn’t changed is that character
still decides the outcome of most games.
I have often said that an NFL game is a microcosm of life. There’s an ebb and flow to every
game, with each team experiencing its share of adversity. These adversities include such things
as fumbles, interceptions, bad calls by the officials, injuries, and “shanked” punts.
The teams are so evenly matched that the main determinant in separating the winners from the
losers is how well players and coaches handle adversity. Responding positively to it is a sign of
character, a term talked about incessantly by coaches, players, sportscasters, and fans alike.
The flip side to dealing effectively with adversity is how well players and coaches take
advantage of opportunities. The great teams throughout history – the Packers in the sixties, the
Steelers in the seventies, and the Forty Niners in the eighties – had a knack for converting
opponents’ mistakes into scores, usually touchdowns.
But, most important of all, great teams play to win, while also-rans generally play not to lose.
You can almost feel the fear of a team that doesn’t really believe it can win in the clutch – when
it has the lead and the clock is winding down.
There were a number of cases of the playing-not-to-lose mentality in the recent NFL playoffs.
But the two classics that come to mind are the games the Jets played against the Chargers in
Round 1 and the Steelers in Round 2.
Against the Chargers, San Diego had the game won until it suddenly implemented Marty
Schottenheimer’s play-not-to-lose philosophy. Result: They lost a game they seemed to have
completely under control. It was vintage Schottenheimer.
I’ve watched Marty Schottenheimer coach at Cleveland, Kansas City, Washington, and now San
Diego. He’s an excellent coach who fits into that select group of men who can turn a team
around quickly, but never make it to the Super Bowl.
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Why? Because these coaches play not to lose. Their mindset rubs off on the players, who can
sense their coach’s fear. Such coaches don’t have the gun-slinging mentality of a Bill Walsh or
Dick Vermeil.
So, what did Herman Edwards, coach of the Jets, do the week after he was handed a win by play-
it-close-to-the-vest Marty Schottenheimer? Incredibly, he turned right around against Pittsburgh
and mimicked Schottenheimer’s mistake of a week earlier – only worse.
In the closing minutes of the game, all the Jets needed to do was complete a 10-yard pass and
kick a chip-shot field goal. Instead, they opted for three yards and a cloud of dust, failed to
advance the ball toward the Steelers’ goal line, and ended up kicking a longer-than-necessary
field goal that missed by inches.
Miraculously, they got the ball back again, but still refused to pass. Instead, Coach Edwards
played not to lose by running the ball . . . and running the ball . . . and (yawn) running the ball
again.
This demonstrated an embarrassing lack of confidence on the part of Edwards – especially in his
great young quarterback, Chad Pennington. As a result, place kicker Doug Brien missed badly on
a 43-yard field goal attempt on the last play of the game, and Pittsburgh went on to win in
overtime
Now, let’s take a look at a team that has won three Super Bowls in four years – the New England
Patriots. Their mini-dynasty is not an accident. Coach Bill Belichick is the ultimate riverboat
gambler. In an age of fearful coaches, Belichick plays to win.
In Super Bowl XXXIX, when the Patriots had a first and goal on the Eagles’ three-yard line,
Belichick had Tom Brady (gasp!) pass. Result: Touchdown! It shouldn’t have surprised anyone
who had seen the Patriots play before. They did the exact same thing in Super Bowls XXXVI
and XXXVIII.
In their first Super Bowl win over the Rams, the Patriots got the ball on their own 20-yard line
with less than two minutes to go. The announcer commented that they would undoubtedly run
out the clock and try to win in overtime.
But the announcer didn’t understand Bill Belichick’s approach to life. Belichick plays to win.
Tom Brady quickly passed the Patriots down the field and set up a game-winning field goal by
the robotic Adam Vinatieri.
Joe Montana and John Elway performed this kind of ice-water routine on a regular basis
throughout the eighties and nineties. And today, it’s become Tom Brady’s trademark.
The great coaches and quarterbacks throughout history have defied conventional wisdom, just as
the most successful businesspeople defy conventional wisdom in the business world. Those who
go against the grain of conventional wisdom demonstrate that they are playing to win rather than
not to lose.
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In fact, the legendary Johnny Unitas once said he didn’t believe in the conventional wisdom that
you need to establish the run in order to open up the passing game. He believed you should
establish the passing game first, which, in turn, opens up the running game. This bold, aggressive
approach to the game is enough to cause conservative coaches to develop shingles.
As I said, pro football is a microcosm of life. If you approach the game of business, or the bigger
game of life, with the mindset of just trying not to lose, you probably are going to lose. But if
you play to win, the odds are that you will. Not all the time, of course, but most of the time.
What happens if you take a bold approach to life and end up losing? You get hurt, of course. But,
hey . . . that’s “life.” If there were no risk involved, everyone would be bold. When you think big
and bold, you’re telling the world that you believe in yourself so much that you’re not afraid to
take risks.
Fortunately, when you lose, there’s a marvelous antidote that’s been around for thousands of
years: Simply pick yourself up, brush yourself off, and start over again. It’s true in football; it’s
true in business; and it’s true in everyday life.
Robert Kiyosaki, author of Rich Dad, Poor Dad put it well when he said, “Winners are not afraid
of losing. But losers are. Failure is part of the process of success. People who avoid failure also
avoid success.”
The irony is that the more you play not to lose, the better your chances of losing. That’s because
playing not to lose – timidity – puts you on the defensive. Playing not to lose is not much
different than playing to lose.
I recall seeing film producer David Brown on a talk show years ago, after he had produced some
of Hollywood’s biggest blockbusters with partner Richard Zanuck. These included such films as
“The Sting,” “Jaws,” “Cocoon,” “The Verdict,” “Driving Miss Daisy,” and “The Sugarland
Express.”
But life wasn’t always so good for Brown. He explained to the audience that he had been fired
from his job at one of the studios when he was in his fifties, and he was at the bottom financially.
So what did he do? The day he was fired, he went home and put on his finest suit, neatly placed
an expensive silk handkerchief in his breast pocket, then dined at one of Hollywood’s power
restaurants – with a beautiful woman, of course.
Brown’s point was to emphasize how important it is to be bold and take the offensive when
you’re down. At the time of this television interview, he was 75 years old, and had already begun
three new careers – including producing his first Broadway play.
It’s important to recognize that playing to win does not always make one popular. The two
boldest presidents of the past hundred years were (and are) Franklin D. Roosevelt and George W.
Bush.
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Against great opposition, Roosevelt led the U.S. into World War II and, at the same time, took
big, bold action that led to today’s welfare state. Against great opposition, Bush has taken the
fight to terrorism worldwide and, at the same time, is taking big, bold action to dismantle the
welfare state.
Politics aside, Roosevelt played to win in his time and Bush is playing to win today. But there’s a
price for everything in life. Roughly half of the American populace hated Roosevelt during his
tenure in office and roughly half of the American populace hates George Bush today.
The moral: Taking big, bold action – being proactive and taking risks – is guaranteed to make a
lot of people dislike you. But, as the saying goes, if you want to be loved, get a dog. Being
aggressive and proactive is the path to greatness, not love.
With that in mind, don’t expect to be popular with everyone if you aspire to great success. When
you think big and take bold action, it makes a lot of people nervous. But that’s their problem, not
yours. Your job is to play to win.
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Finding the “Right” People

Can Speed Up Your Success
How do you attract the best possible people to your business? How do you snag that rare person
who can help you grow and improve your company? How do you find someone capable of doing
what you do . . . when you don’t want to do it any more?
Ask successful business owners what accounts for their success and at or near the top of their
lists you will find “the right people.” And with good reason. The difference between an ordinary
employee and a star performer is the difference between smoke signals and e-mail. And finding a
superstar – someone who can eventually take the burden off your shoulders – is like striking
gold.
In my business career I’ve been lucky enough to find a few superstars. And they have made a big
difference. When you get one, everything afterward is easy. He will learn your secrets faster
than you can explain them. He will take on any challenge. He will figure out solutions before he
tells you problems. And most importantly, he will share your enthusiasm (maybe exceed it) and
vision.
Right now I am working with three superstars. Each is single-handedly running a business for
me and my partners. We provide input, but casually and occasionally. These entrepreneurs
produce about $30 million dollars in revenues at 10 percent (plus) nets. That spells happiness.
I am working with about six potential superstars. When (and if) they are fully fledged, I could
(theoretically) kick back and cut coupons.
I was a superstar (for JSN, my greatest mentor). Through his careful tutoring, we were able to
take a start-up marketing business and grow it to $65 million in about seven years. His son
became our superstar and helped us grow larger – doubling in three years.
The Secret of Finding Your Superstar
You can and should find yourself a superstar. You need someone to help you succeed and take
some (or eventually all) of the burden from you.
Getting a superstar is a three-step process. First, you have to find someone as good or better than
you. Second you have to make him a very generous deal. And third, you must teach him
everything you know.
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We’ll talk about partnering and mentoring some other time. Today let’s discuss what you should
be doing right now . . . hunting for your star performer.
There are so many difficulties in finding a superstar. The most obvious is availability. Like good
spouses, superstars are few and far between. Don’t let scarcity tempt you to accept second best.
You cannot make an ordinary person extraordinary. It will eat up all your time and end in failure.
Start your search now. Go to industry meetings. Place ads. Talk to people. Even if you can’t yet
afford another salary, start looking.
When you meet someone who seems great, strike up a friendship. Find out as much as you can
about him. Show interest. Follow his career. Offer to help. When the time is right, drop hints. “If
you ever want to do such and such . . . give me a call.” Say it every time you see him. The
message will get through.
Don’t Expect Every Seed to Sprout
Do this with anyone who seems great. Keep at it. One day an opportunity will present itself and
you will have not just one but several highly qualified candidates. Select and hire the best.
Work with him closely for several months until you’ve seen what he can do. If he has the
potential you’re looking for, it will become apparent. Invite him to share your future.
Some people try to retain superstars as employees. They figure they will pay less, risk less and
get just as much from them by giving them just enough to keep them happy. This is a big
mistake. Superstars are rare birds. If they don’t know their worth when you hire them, they will
soon enough. It’s much smarter (and cheaper in the long run) to treat them like partners-in-
training the moment you recognize their potential.
It doesn’t matter where you are in your business-building process – even if you work freelance or
are only just dreaming about starting your own business – you need to start looking for your
superstar right now.
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See the World Clearly

in a Single Glance
by Robert L. Cox
My experience has given me a VIP seat in the world of the truly wealthy. As a business
consultant for the past 30 years, I have had the great fortune to work with several individuals
who are now billionaires. That’s right ... I said billionaires, not millionaires. (Although I have
worked with them, too.) My client list includes:
• Roy Speer and Lowell W. (Bud) Paxson, co-founders of Home Shopping Channels –
which went on to become the Home Shopping Network. Bud also expanded into PaxNet
TV, his own cable channel. “If a picture is worth 1,000 words,” these gentlemen figured,
“we’ll make money putting items on TV 24 hours a day.”
• Harris Rosen, founder of Rosen Hotels & Resorts, the largest privately owned hotel
chain in the Southeast United States. Harris focused on location, location, location, and
ownership with little or no financing.
• Dennis Fontaine, founder of Discount Auto Parts. Dennis believed customers would
value the convenience of a one-stop store rather than having to go into a dealership to buy
parts and accessories. He was right.
A billion dollars is a great benchmark of success. So why not learn the techniques that have
already proven to be successful? Because if you have not yet gained the wealth you deserve, you
need to start doing things differently.
The first thing you can learn from these billionaires is that money has no master. People are not
born to be rich.
None of us say “money” as our first word. However, we all become aware early on that the more
money a person has, the more options and freedoms he can exercise in his everyday life.
The billionaires I’ve worked with all came from humble beginnings (a factory worker, a grocer,
a clerk, a shop-assistant). And each was self-made in his respective industry. How did these
people succeed where others in the same location ... with the same opportunities ... maybe even
with more investment money ... could not manage the same success?
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Perhaps the most important reason is that they perceive more about their environment than the
average person. They have clarity of vision. They see the hectic pace of business in slow motion.
Slow motion? Yes, indeed. They don’t need instant replay, because they see everything clearly
the first time. They do not perceive the world as what they want it to be but rather as it truly is.
They are not walking around with their heads in the clouds. No sir! They actively listen to,
watch, and participate in what is going on right now.
Some of us have to see, hear, or read a second, third, or fourth time before we “get it.” Not these
gentlemen. They have trained themselves to be aware and open to the reality around them . And
this ability to see things wholly and clearly upon first glance is something the average person
doesn’t possess.
Think about it. When you watch a movie, do you catch everything the first time? Probably not.
Whenever you see a movie more than once, you realize that there were things you missed the
first time around – the foreshadowing, some of the dialogue, or a glimpse of the scenery. And if
it was a good movie, that makes the experience even more pleasing the second time around.
How about going into a room that you have been in many times before? I bet you could go into
any room you’re familiar with and see many items you never noticed before. (Go ahead. Try it!)
How is it possible that billionaires have the best employees, contracts that favor their companies,
and business strategies that bring them tangible financial benefits year after year? The answer is
simple: They see more in people, contracts, and the various business strategies that are offered
them throughout their careers.
Take Roy Speer’s, for example. Bud Paxson had offered the concept of a shop-at-home TV
channel to numerous investors. Where other people couldn’t or wouldn’t, Roy saw the big
picture. He listened, perceived, and acted upon the wavelength of opportunity that Bud presented
to him. The result ... the Home Shopping Network, and wealth for its owners and shareholders.
How do billionaires do this ... over and over again? It’s very easy: They remove all distractions
from their minds and concentrate completely on the immediate situation. They maintain a clear
channel, and are not distracted by anything else.
When a billionaire enters a meeting, it is all about “We are here to make money.” It’s not about
the weather. It’s not about what so-and-so is doing this weekend. It is not about who has the best
record in the NBA and who will win the playoffs. (Unless, of course, that billionaire is Mark
Cuban.) No. The billionaire is ALWAYS READY to make money.
You should be, too.
Whenever you have a business meeting, prepare yourself in manner and dress before entering.
Clear your mind of all thoughts about who is picking up the kids or why a project is stalling. Be
in the moment ... the real moment ... and be open to the unique energies of that place and point in
time. I promise that you will come out of that meeting with more clarity and more purpose.
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Imagine your overall strategy to success in the same way. Intend to consciously see more clearly
... listen more intently ... and continually process your environment for what it is, not what you
hope it to be.
Nothing wrong with hope. God bless us all, as we do need hope in our lives. However, hope is
not a strategy to success.
To have a different result, you must do things differently. And, as I said before, if you have not
yet gained the wealth you deserve – or the health or the options or the freedom – you need to do
things differently ... and soon. A good way to start? Work on developing the billionaire’s ability
to actively listen to, watch, and participate in the immediate situation.
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Pay Yourself First

“Pay yourself first” is a popular catchphrase among financial planners. It’s been in use for many
years, but has been re-popularized recently by David Bach, author of the “Start First, Finish
Rich” series of books.
The idea, in a nutshell, is that you make saving your top priority. Before spending money on
anything else, you take care of yourself by socking away money in a tax-deferred personal
investment account. But what people actually do is very different.
• The serendipitous spenders:
Most people – perhaps 60 percent to 70 percent – never “pay themselves” at all. Stimulated by
Hollywood and assisted by the credit card industry, these future financial losers live their lives
according to the mantra “He who dies with the most toys wins.” They may keep current on their
necessary expenditures – on food, housing, and utilities – but while doing so, they bury
themselves in debt. Although they talk about putting aside money for a rainy day, something else
always unexpectedly comes up that they would rather spend it on.
• The bumbling budgeters:
A sizeable minority of people – 20 percent to 30 percent – “pay themselves last.” These are the
sensible people who create and follow budgets. They add up how much they make, figure out
how much they owe, and calculate their monthly expenditures. By attempting to budget their
anticipated inflows and outflows, they create – at least in theory – a surplus of cash at the end of
each month that can be devoted to savings. What happens, of course, is that no surplus ever
emerges. Problems and opportunities inevitably arise, draining away every cent they intended to
save.
• The true wealth builders:
Only the smallest number of people “pay themselves first.” Using extraordinary self-discipline –
or the help of an automatic withdrawal and deposit program – these wealth builders set aside
money for savings well before they pay any bills. By making personal investing a priority, they
force themselves to conserve where they need to conserve ... in their discretionary spending.
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I spent the first 26 years of my life as a serendipitous spender. Then I got married and moved up
to the bumbling budgeter class. In 1980, K and I had our first child – and it was time, I knew, to
get serious about money. Only then, at age 30, did I become a serious wealth builder.
During the first several years of being serious about money, I discovered several important
lessons that have proven useful ever since:
Lesson 1. Budgets are like diets in three respects.
a. You start them only after things have spiraled out of control.
b. They make you feel very good about yourself for a while.
c. After three or four weeks, you abandon them and go back to what you were doing.
Lesson 2. You can’t save unless you get hold of your spending habit, and you can’t do that
unless you delegate the spending decisions to some sort of automatic system.
Budgets (like diets) usually don’t work because most people don’t have the discipline to adhere
to them. You know very well that you need to stow money in that mutual fund account every
month. But when the time comes and you can use the money to buy a set of golf clubs or a
weekend at the spa ... doing the right thing isn’t easy.
Don’t torture yourself to make the sensible decision. Instead, leave that decision to someone who
won’t be tempted by toys. In my case, that person was initially K. Then, when automatic debits
became available, it was my banker.
I’m a big believer in automatic payment plans, especially for bumbling budgeters and
serendipitous spenders. Today, you can pay for just about everything automatically – from
grocery and gas bills to car loans and mortgages ... and even to past college loans and future
college tuition.
Lesson 3. When it comes to saving, multiple accounts often work better than one.
When K and I started saving, we arbitrarily allocated about 15 percent of my gross salary to an
investment account. A year later, my old junker broke down and we decided to buy a new car.
The question was: Should we finance it or pay for it out of our savings? It would have been
cheaper to buy it outright with cash, but we felt uneasy about depleting our fledgling savings
account.
A common problem among people who are learning to save is determining what comes out of
savings and when. Our solution, after several years of trial and error, was to set up five distinct
accounts.
Account No. 1 – for the tax man
Say what you like about the tax man, he won’t take “no” or “manana” for an answer. Rather than
waste your time and energy trying to figure out how to keep him from getting what he wants,
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you are better off “paying” him first – either with employer-mandated wage deductions or self-
imposed set-asides.
When K and I began saving in a serious way, I was earning both a salary and money on the side
as a freelance writer. The taxes I owed on my salary were withheld – but I knew that if I didn’t
set aside some of my freelance income for Uncle Sam, I’d end up with a big, fat tax bill when
April 15 rolled around. Since we didn’t want to be in a position where we’d have to dip into our
savings to pay the IRS, we opened up a bank account just for the purpose of paying income
taxes. Every time I received a payment for my writing, K would write a check for a percentage of
that (depending on our tax bracket) and immediately deposit it in the account. This is a practice I
have continued to this day, even though I no longer have to worry about ever running short.
Account No. 2 – to pay off debt
Paying off several thousand dollars worth of credit card debt was our next item of importance.
So K and I cut up our cards and set up an account earmarked to systematically pay off our
balances ... every month, like clockwork.
Account No. 3 – for our retirement
Although retirement seemed eons away, K and I recognized that unless we made it a priority to
invest some money in an IRA before anything else, we’d probably never get to it.
Account No. 4 – for our children’s tuition
The next priority was to put away money for our children’s college education. K and I decided
that we’d pay the cost of tuition at a state school and our kids could work to pay for everything
else: room, board, and entertainment.
Account No. 5 – for our dream house
We were renting at the time, but we wanted to own. So we set up yet another bank account to
hold deposits that would one day fund a down payment and closing fees.
It’s interesting to note that we put the account for the thing we were most eager to have – a new
house – at the bottom of our list of priorities. We gave top priority to paying the IRS and the
bankers. Next, we focused on retirement, which seemed very remote. And then on something
that seemed unnecessary at the time: tuition for our kids.
In retrospect, I can see that this is the right way to establish your financial priorities: Give top
priority to saving for those things that would be easiest to avoid, yet cause you the most pain.
Pay the government first, the banks second, and your retirement account third. Only after taking
care of these three financial obligations should you sock away money for your kids’ tuition, your
house, and (last and also least) the fun and games.
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You Always Have Choices –

Making the Right One
Makes a Big Difference
I do my TV watching in hotel rooms. On a typical business trip, I’ll put in two solid hours a night
clicking compulsively, looking for ever-greater doses of stimulation. Most of the time, it’s a big
waste – which reinforces my decision and determination not to let a TV set into my home
Almost always, I wake up the next morning feeling tired and guilty.
But every once in a while, I do come across something good and sustaining. Not long ago, for
example, I flicked onto a Larry King interview with Bette Midler. She was talking about a falling
out she’d had with Barry Manilow. Apparently, Barry had tricked her into singing on a talk show
even though it is “well known” that she doesn’t like surprises. Her reaction to the surprise was so
bitchy that it ruined the bit and Barry stopped talking to her. When she asked him why, he said
something like this: “There are many times in our lives when we have to deal with bad news.
You have a choice when that happens. You can kvetch about it and make yourself and everyone
else miserable. Or you can summon up some courage and smile. You made the wrong choice. I
don’t want to be friends with a person who makes such choices.”
“But he knew you didn’t like surprises,” Larry King said. “Yes,” Bette replied. “Yet he was
right. I could have had a good time with it, but I didn’t. And that cost me a friendship – at least
until I repaired it. Nowadays, when I find myself in a difficult situation, I realize I have a
choice.”
This is such an important lesson. One I relearned this past week. Not, as Bette did, by dealing
with unexpected trouble but by figuring out how to deal with a kind of trouble I know very well:
a visit from my dad.
My dad, who has recently passed away, was a very likeable person. He was charming and
intelligent and good-natured. Just about everyone who knew him liked him. Women were his
special friends. Even at 83 years old, they could not escape his “je ne sais quoi.”
I liked him too. And I love him. But there were things he did that annoy me just a little. The way
he took the high road when expressing his liberal political views. That he forgeot he’d told that
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me that story 18 times before. I was even bothered by the little bits of food that got caught in the
creases of his mouth.
None of these things seemed to bother my brothers and sisters. The problem lay with me. I
developed reactions to my father’s peccadilloes that were exaggerated and uncontrollable.
He’d do something that I found annoying, and then I’d react to it in a way he was sure to notice.
If he commented on my behavior, I’d shoot back. One little comment would lead to another –
and before we knew it, we’d be in an argument or, worse, ensnared in silence.
It was a miserable cycle. One that did neither of us any good. For years, I recognized how
useless and costly this pattern was – yet, I made little progress in breaking it.
But since listening to that five-minute clip between Bette Midler and Larry King – well, I had
some success. It came from accepting the fact that my dad wasn’t going to change his habits.
(And, at his age, who would ask him to?) But I could choose how I reacted to them. Our
relationship could improve without his having to do something. I could make the difference.
Soon after I realized that I could break the negative pattern to our relationship, we took a three-
hour drive together without a single incident. Not a negative comment was made. Not an
eyebrow rose. It took some energy to make it happen, but it was very well spent. In fact, it felt
the way I wanted it to be between us from then on.
Here’s what I did to break the pattern:
• First, I stopped myself each time he “triggered” a reaction. I said to myself, “You have a
choice here. You can do what you always do and respond with a wisecrack or criticism.
Or you can let it pass.”
• Next, I counted to 10. This is a very old trick . . . but it works. In fact, I just read a
newspaper article by an anger-management specialist, a psychologist, who said that
counting to 10 is one of the best techniques he’s ever used with his patients.
• Then, whenever I possibly could, I said something positive. This didn’t happen after
every one of his comments. And it didn’t need to. But when I could say something
lighthearted and upbeat, I did it. And it put us both in a good mood.
A guy named Fred Woodworth once said, “The human tendency prefers familiar horrors to
unknown delights.” That is depressingly true in too many of our most important relationships.
Instead of having the guts to choose some new and better reaction, we take the beaten path and
end up with the tired and beaten relationship played out one more time.
If you wait for tomorrow, as my Chadian friend Peter used to tell me, tomorrow will never come.
If you don’t wait for tomorrow, it will come. So it is with changing the patterns of your life.
In a recent e-mail article titled “Attitude is a very important word,” Earl Nightingale says that “of
all the words in all the languages of the world ... ‘attitude’ is the most important.”
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“More than any other single thing,” he says, “your attitude will determine ... what happens to
you.” In other words, he claims that attitude determines not only happiness but also success.
To illustrate his point, Nightingale recounts a story about two unhappy young women who
worked as customer-service representatives. They didn’t like their co-workers and they liked the
customers even less. It got so bad that they decided to quit.
But the day before they had decided to resign – just for the fun of it – they made a pact to say
and do anything they could to make people happy. And so they did. No matter what kind of rude
or nasty or whiney behavior they encountered, they responded with kindness, courtesy, and
efficiency.
What happened surprised them. Within the course of a single day, all the people they dealt with –
customers and co-workers alike – appeared to have undergone major personality changes. By the
end of their eight-hour shift, both ladies decided that they liked their jobs and would continue.
A 6-STEP PROCESS THAT MAKES ALMOST ANY DECISION SIMPLE
Next time you’re having trouble making a decision, run through this 6-step process:
1. Figure out what you want. What are the benefits that will come to you? Which of those is most
important? Which can you live without?
2. Consider the the expense of indecision. If you can’t make up your mind and do nothing, what will that
cost you?
3. Depending on that expense, either set a deadline for making a decision or just decide not to make one at
all. Communicate any deadline you decide upon to those concerned.
4. Consider the pros and cons, the risks and rewards. Figure out the worst possible outcome of any
contemplated decision. Ask yourself what decision someone you admire would come to.
5. Ask the advice of someone who has had to make similarly tough decisions.
6. Keep to your decision deadline. Once you have decided, stay positive and don’t second-guess yourself.
Nightingale believes that attitude is everything. “If you’ve found people to be reacting
unfavorably to you, or if you’ve gotten the idea the world is picking on you, it might be worth
your time to study the front you’ve been presenting.”
“The way I look at it,” he says, “each of us has a choice, no matter what the circumstances may
be, to either be cheerful or not. There is absolutely nothing to be gained by being grumpy, so
why even consider it? If you develop the right attitude, it’s amazing how quickly the world
changes – how things start to go your way – and how lucky you seem to become. Like the two
girls in the customer-service office, you might make an amazing and interesting discovery.”
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Nightingale is right – but not completely. Attitude is very important. It affects the way you feel.
If you have a bad attitude, you will usually feel bad. If your attitude improves, so will your
mood.
Having a bad attitude can limit your choices. If, for example, you don’t like your partner, you’ll
probably think about breaking up with him. Had you a more benevolent feeling about him, you
might consider other, more creative options.
But attitude is not everything.
If you want to change your fortune in life, you don’t have to change your attitude, you have to
change your behavior. Success – what you accomplish in life – is determined by how you act.
You can have a very lousy attitude and still be eminently successful at your career. (I can give
you plenty of examples.) Contrarily, you can have a terrific attitude about life and be – by
conventional standards – a total failure. (I’ve made this point before – and it’s been contested
before – but I think it bears repeating.)
I believe in having both a good attitude and good behavior. I want a good attitude because it will
make me happy. I want to practice good behavior because it is the only way I will accomplish
my goals.
If I want to become a great novelist – and I admit it, I do – it won’t do me any good to say a
thousand times, “I WILL be a good writer.” What I need to do a thousand times is write. If I
spend a thousand hours writing, I will become a competent writer. If I spend five thousand hours,
I’ll be a damn good one.
I hope you don’t think I’m splitting hairs. This is an important distinction for me, because I’ve
seen too many people spend too much time trying to improve their attitudes yet do nothing
concrete about improving their lives.
In past messages, we have talked a good deal about how to defeat lethargy, overcome depression,
and get more energy and optimism into your life. But we’ve spent even more time discussing
specific techniques for changing your behavior. We do that because we know from experience
that if you want to do more and better than you are doing now, you have to do – and not just
think or feel – differently.
And that’s good. Because sometimes you just don’t have enough energy to change your attitude.
But you can still wake up extra early, chart out a “to-do” list of important tasks that will get you
one step closer to your ultimate goals in life, and actually make some progress.
And the bonus is this: The best way to improve your attitude (much better than affirmations,
contemplation, or meditation, in my book) is to do something productive.
Getting back to the Nightingale story with this perspective in mind, you can see how the story
proves my point. What these two ladies did that made the difference was not a matter of
changing the way they felt about their customers and colleagues. (In fact, they expected those
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people to continue to be miserable.) But what they did change was the way they acted. And when
they changed their behavior, everything else changed too – their customers, their colleagues, and
their own feelings about work.
Just do the right thing. A little bit every day. Before you know it, you’ll have your success.
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Create Time and You’ll Create Money

by Robert L. Cox
We all have the same amount of time, don’t we? Sure we do. We all have a measly 24 hours in a
day ... 168 hours in a week ... 8,736 hours in a year. But a billionaire uses those hours much more
efficiently than most people.
Want to know how a billionaire creates time? Let’s look at a standard 40-hour workweek.
Here’s one simple trick most billionaires use: They arrive at work early and leave late. Michael
Masterson has been encouraging you to do the same for years! And that time really adds up.
Just think ... if you worked three more hours a day, five days a week, that’s 780 hours a year.
Which translates into 19.5 workweeks of additional productive time. Simply stated: Come in an
hour early, eat lunch at your desk, and stay an hour later. In less than four years, you will have
worked more than regular nine-to-fivers work in five years.
And if, in addition to arriving early and leaving late, you work eight hours on Saturdays ... add
another 416 hours of productive time (or 10.4 business weeks) to your year.
And in five years, you’ll have created nearly eight years of productive work.
Imagine how much closer you’ll be to your goals if you can manage to squeeze the equivalent of
three additional years into your five-year plan.
Do billionaires do this? I’ve worked with many, so I can emphatically say YES THEY DO. They
also find other creative ways to make time their benefactor.
For example, one billionaire I know (who owns the largest privately held hotel chain in the
Southeast) started by living in one of his first hotels. I’m talking over 20 years ago. His current
unassuming office doubled as his residence until he got married in his late 50s and began having
children. Really. Until that time, he didn’t own a home ... even though he could have purchased
an entire community!
How did living in his office create time? Easy. By combining home and office back in the early
80s, he was ahead of his time (no pun intended). It was clear to him (as it is to the many people
who telecommute or have a home office today) what a time-saver ... not to mention convenience
... this is. All he had to do to begin his workday was wake up and walk over to his desk.
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It takes time (and money) to commute. It takes time to separately manage (pay rent, utilities,
clean, etc.) a home and an office. Why not wrap them together and save that time?
Another way this billionaire created time was to hold all meetings at his office or on the premises
of another one of his hotels. He began doing this early in his career and continues to this day.
Think about it. If your vendors, partners, and associates travel to YOUR office, they are
spending their time, not yours. Meanwhile, you can be completing a transaction or sealing a deal
with a phone call. No traffic worries. No need to go searching for an unfamiliar address.
Billionaires are also great at creating time by making sure they don’t waste a minute. They’re on
time and prepared for meetings – and expect the same of everyone else in attendance. And they
stay on point. No idle chatter or wandering off into directions not pertinent to the subject at hand.
Focus, Focus, Focus
Everything always takes longer than you think it will. (And that’s a waste of time you could be
using to close deals, design products, or make sales.)
Don’t believe me? Try this simple exercise:
First, estimate how long it usually takes for you to do the following every morning:
• brush your teeth
• shave (if applicable)
• shower/bathe
• do your hair
• apply lotion, cologne/perfume, etc.
• get dressed
Now, time yourself as you actually do these things.
But I want you to follow some ground rules: Focus only on what you’re doing, and don’t allow
any interruptions. Don’t take that cellphone call. Turn off the news or sports channel. Ask your
spouse or significant other to not speak to you during this exercise. Don’t sip your juice, drink
your coffee, or grab a piece of toast. You are going to be “in the moment” of getting ready for
work.
Okay. How did you do? (Be honest.) I’m guessing it took less time than it usually does. By
following the ground rules – by focusing only on what you were doing – you created time.
The point of this exercise is to illustrate that we tend to waste more time than we create.
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But maintaining uninterrupted focus (as you just did in the above exercise) enables you to
sharpen your use of time. And the extra 10 or 20 minutes you create can then be used to add a
contact to your personal network ... get started on that piano composition you’ve dreamed of
writing ... or draw up the plan for your next business venture.
Billionaires utilize time brilliantly to advance their projects and goals. To create that billionaire
mindset – and get closer to a billionaire bank account – you need to emulate them. Take control
of your time and you will get where you are going more quickly ... and make more money.
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Don’t Wait
for Someone Else to Inspire You
I met Bella for the first time six years ago, while she was attending her first copywriting
bootcamp (which, like the Early to Rise Wealth-Building Bootcamp, is now hosted every year by
AWAI – American Writers and Artists, Inc.). She was an energetic, recently divorced, ambitious
36-year-old, bubbling with ideas. “This is the best conference I’ve ever been to,” she told me at
the end of the three-day program “I can’t wait to get back home and get to work.”
I was excited for her. If there was ever someone who seemed charged up and ready to go, it was
Bella.
When I saw her at bootcamp the following year, I asked her how her copywriting career had
been progressing. “Well, I got derailed,” she admitted. First, there was her father’s death. That
stopped her in her tracks. Then, she took a new job in another city. By the time she had adjusted
to that, she figured she’d be better off not trying to catch up. “I came to bootcamp this year ready
to start again,” she said proudly. “And I’m sure I’ll succeed.”
If attitude were all we needed to reach our goals, this woman was a future superstar. But attitude
isn’t enough. So I encouraged her to invest in the Early to Rise goal-setting program.
“I can understand how emotionally devastating it must have been to lose your dad,” I said. “And
I know how unsettling a new job and a new location can be. But if you make this goal –
becoming a copywriter – your primary goal right now and follow our goal-setting program,
nothing will distract you. You will be able to deal with any interruptions in your life. (I didn’t
think I had to mention that life is always full of interruptions.) But while doing so, you’ll keep
making progress toward your primary goal.”
She agreed to invest in the goal-setting program and I didn’t see her again for two years. This
time, when I saw her at bootcamp and inquired about her progress, she was defensive. “I don’t
have the luxury of being able to spend six hours a day practicing my copywriting skills,” she told
me. “I’ve got a full-time job, a charity I work for, friends, family . . .”
I didn’t want to remind her that virtually everyone I’ve ever mentored has been in exactly the
same position – or worse. And I didn’t want to tell her that when I was her age I held two full-
time jobs and was married and had social obligations. What was the point in fighting with her
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anyway? She wasn’t going to change. At least I was not going to be able to talk her into doing it.
Somewhere in the back of her mind, she’d decided that what she wanted to do was just what she
was doing:
• Continuing with a life that she herself described as “unfulfilling”

• Iinvesting a week and a couple of thousand dollars every few years to come to a
copywriting bootcamp and make herself feel better about her future
“I just need to get motivated again,” she told me.
“Aha,” I said. “Well, I hope we can do that for you.”
I suppose it’s OK to live your life this way. Who am I to tell this lady how to spend her time?
Still, it makes me uncomfortable to see someone waste the kind of opportunity we are providing.
Every year, because of the instruction and encouragement they receive at the AWAI copywriting
bootcamps, dozens of people make the transition from employees to self-employed freelance
writers. Many of them make the jump successfully after taking our basic copywriting course and
even before finishing our Master’s program. (We prefer to “polish” our students before we
expose them to the professional world.) There is nothing we like better than to receive that
handwritten note or e-mail telling us, “Wow! I just got my first professional job!” or “Guess
what? My latest package became a control! I got paid $5,000 for a job that took me less than a
week to finish!”
What makes the difference between those who succeed and those that don’t?
Here’s what I think: Successful “life changers” don’t wait for everything to be “right.” They
don’t wait for:
• their personal lives to sort themselves out
• or their work to settle down
• or the projects they are working on to be completed
• or the new additions to their houses to be finished
• or the problems with their in-laws to be resolved
Or . . . to be inspired.
Robert Ringer made a point of this in his speech at the end of this year’s overlapping wealth-
building and copywriting bootcamps. He said that he believes most successful people have this
one trait in common:
They don’t wait for motivation. They create motivation through action.
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He gave his own experience as an example. “If I had to wait for motivation to write,” he
explained, “I never could have written all the books I’ve written. (He’s written about a half-
dozen excellent motivational books, including three best sellers.) “Like most writers, I spend
many mornings staring at my typewriter, unmotivated and without any definite idea of what I’m
going to write.”
If he were in the habit of waiting for inspiration, he would spend too much time waiting, he said.
What he does instead is “just start writing.” It doesn’t matter whether his initial writing is any
good. So long as he keeps at it for an hour or two, he knows that something good will come
along. “Motivation follows action,” he said. And he said it again and again in that speech.
And I’ve said it many times too. In fact, it was the primary message of my opening remarks at
this year’s bootcamp. “Unless you have a goal, make it a priority, and find a way to act on it
every day, your chances of succeeding are very slim.”
Another speaker, Frank McKinney, a multimillionaire real estate developer, made the same
point. “You don’t need to wait until you are an expert to start making money in real estate. Get to
know your local area by doing a little bit of work every day. Before you know it, you’ll have a
good idea about what to buy and when to sell, and then you’ll be on your way to wealth and
financial independence. But you have to start right away. Start immediately and then keep going.
Do something every day, even if it’s only something that takes five or 10 minutes.”
My old friend Bella was back this year. She is 41 years old now and looking a little older than
that. After Robert Ringer’s speech, I had a chance to talk to her. “It was great,” she said. “I’m
really stoked.”
“What was it he said that made the biggest impression on you?” I asked.
“He made me feel that one of these days I’m going to get a signal from someone, and then my
life is going to change.”
“And in the meantime?” I asked.
“In the meantime? Oh, I don’t know. But I’m really looking forward to getting that signal!”
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Learn to Take Only Smart Risks

by Brian Tracy
All of life is a risk of some kind. Whenever you engage in any action where the outcome is
uncertain, for any reason, you are taking a risk. You take a small risk when you drive to work or
walk across the street. You take a larger risk when you start a business or invest a sum of money.
You take a risk whenever you venture into the unknown, where your possibilities and
probabilities cannot be determined to an exact degree. From the time you get up in the morning
until you go to bed at night, and even when you are sleeping, you are facing risk to some degree.
The issue, then, is not whether or not you take risks. The issue is how skillful you are at taking
the right risks for the right reasons in pursuit of the right goals or objectives.
Every great leap forward begins with a giant step of faith into the unknown. People who
accomplish wonderful things are invariably men and women of great faith and confidence in
themselves and their abilities. The better you become at analyzing and assessing the risks you’re
faced with – and then avoiding as many of them as possible – the more competent and capable
you will become, and the more successful you will be.
There are basically five types of risk:
1. The risk that is not yours to take. This is the decision you do not have to make or the
gamble you do not have to take.
2. The unnecessary risk. You engage in an unnecessary risk when you act without sufficient
information or without taking time to think it through carefully in advance.
3. The risk you can afford to take. Calling on a new prospect, following up on a lead, and
exploring a new opportunity are all risks you can afford to take. In these cases, the cost of failure
is very low, while the rewards of success can be very great.
4. The risk you cannot afford to take. The consequences of making a mistake would be too
enormous. You cannot afford to bet your whole company or your entire bankroll on a single
speculation.
5. The risk you can’t afford not to take. The downside may be costly, but the upside is so
exciting that it is very much worth taking a chance to go after it.
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Men and women who have achieved a high level of success are realistic. They do not put their
trust in luck. They carefully calculate every possible risk, and then think about what they would
do should it occur. They always have a backup plan in case things do not go as they wish them
to. They have a “Plan B” and options to that plan that take all kinds of variables into
consideration.
Successful individuals engage in strategic thinking. They minimize risk by continually

questioning their assumptions and asking themselves what they would do in the case of
unanticipated delays, cost overruns, or unexpected actions taken by their competitors. They are
seldom caught unprepared, because they have thought through the kind of uncertainties that
create unacceptable risks – risks they cannot afford to take.
One of the best of all exercises, in every situation involving uncertainty, is to assess and evaluate
the worst possible outcome. Ask yourself, “What’s the worst thing that could possibly go wrong
in this situation?”
Remember Murphy’s Law: “Whatever can go wrong will go wrong.” There are several sub-laws
to Murphy’s Law, such as “Whatever can go wrong will go wrong at the worst possible time”
and “Of all the things that can go wrong, the most expensive one will go wrong at the worst
possible time.”
Another sub-law: “Everything takes longer than your best calculation.” In advising
entrepreneurs, I suggest that they take their very best estimate of breakeven for any new business
venture, and then triple it to arrive at a realistic number. When they follow this advice, they are
amazed to find that, in spite of their best initial calculations, it indeed takes about three times
longer than they thought it would to start making money.
Once you have identified the worst possible things that could go wrong, make a list of everything
you could do to offset those negative factors. Engage in what is called “crisis anticipation.” Look
down the road, into the future, and imagine every crisis that could arise as the result of a change
in external circumstances.
One of the best ways to develop your ability to take intelligent risks is to consciously and
deliberately do the things you fear, one step at a time. In dealing with risk, a mild degree of fear
or anticipation is often helpful, because it keeps you alert and aware of what might go wrong.
The problem with fear is that most people have it to an excess and are, therefore, paralyzed by
their fears rather than motivated by their opportunities.
You don’t have to leap out of an airplane without a parachute. That is not risk-taking. That is
simply being foolish. What you do have to do is resist your natural tendency to slip into a
comfort zone of complacency and low performance.
Take any fear that you may be experiencing and treat it as a challenge and an opportunity to
grow and become a better person. Face the fear, control the fear, master the fear, and continue to
move forward regardless of the fear. That is the mark of the superior person.
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Many of our fears of taking risks turn out to be unfounded. They have no basis in reality. When
you test them, you find that they don’t even exist. A very good way to overcome the fear of risk-
taking is to set clear, written, measurable goals for yourself, and then to review those goals
regularly.
When you have clear goals and plans, and you continually work on them and evaluate your
progress each day, you will see what you’re doing right and how you could improve your
performance. You’ll feel more competent and capable and better about yourself. You’ll become
more thoughtful and reflective and willing to take on even greater challenges. You’ll feel like the
“master of your fate and the captain of your soul.” And your fear of taking risks will become
smaller and smaller.
You learn how to take intelligent risks without fear by taking intelligent risks and then by
analyzing what happened. When you have clearly identified the risk involved, you can plan and
prepare to maximize your opportunities while minimizing those risks. The more positive you feel
about yourself, the more effective you will be in everything you undertake. Your ability to
confidently take calculated risks in the direction of your goals will ultimately lead you toward
success.
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Don’t Be Afraid to Fail

In his book Failing Forward, John C. Maxwell tells the story of Samuel Langley, the man who
was supposed to invent the airplane.
Before the Wright brothers successfully flew their plane on Dec. 17, 1903, the U.S. government
had given a $50,000 check to Dr. Langley, a respected former professor of mathematics and
astronomy and director of the Smithsonian Institution. The purpose? To convert the knowledge
he had gained doing experiments with large unmanned plane models into the first manned
airplane flight.
On Oct. 8, 1903, Langley expected his years of work to come to fruition. “As journalists and
curious onlookers watched, Charles Manley (Langley’s engineer), wearing a cork-lined jacket,
strode across the deck of a modified houseboat and climbed into the pilot’s seat of a craft called
the Great Aerodrome. The full-sized, motorized device was perched atop a specially built
catapult designed to initiate its flight into the air. But when the launch was attempted, part of the
Aerodrome got caught and the biplane was flung into 16 feet of water a mere 50 yards from the
boat.
Criticism of Langley was brutal. But, at least at first, he was undaunted. He tried a second flight
eight weeks later. This time, the pilot was almost killed. Again, criticism was fired at “Langley’s
Folly.”
This second failure was too much for the respected scientist. Defeated and demoralized, he
abandoned his decades-long pursuit of flight. Orville and Wilber Wright, uneducated, unknown,
and unfunded, flew their plane over the sand dunes of Kitty Hawk just a few months later.
The theologian J.I. Packer once observed that “a moment of realized disaster makes one feel that
this is the end of everything.” And that’s how Langley must have felt. He let his two failures stop
him.
And that brings me to the main point that John Maxwell makes in his book: If you want to
accomplish great things in your life, you have to be willing to fail. Over and over again. Why?
Because you can’t succeed unless you try. And when you try, you ARE going to fail some of the
time.
Here is Maxwell’s formula for “making friends with failure”:
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1. Recognize that a willingness to fail is the chief difference between successful people and
average people.
In Maxwell’s opinion, success has little to do with wealth, family, background, morals, or
opportunity. “When it comes right down to it,” he says, “I know of only one factor that separates
those who consistently shine from those who don’t: their perception of and response to failure.”
2. Redefine failure.
Maxwell says that people are too quick to judge isolated situations in their lives and label them
as failures. A successful person sees a setback as temporary and beneficial – something to learn
from, starting immediately. As basketball coach Rick Pitino once said, “Failure is good. It’s
fertilizer. Everything I’ve learned about coaching I’ve learned from making mistakes.”
3. Disconnect yourself from your mistakes.
The trick to overcoming the fear of failure is to disassociate yourself from it – to understand, as
Maxwell says, “that your failure does not make you a failure.” Instead of beating yourself up
every time you make a mistake, tell yourself, “I am not a failure. I failed at doing this.”
Keep in mind that every successful person is someone who failed, yet never regarded himself as
a failure. Mozart, one of the greatest musical geniuses who ever lived, was told by Emperor
Ferdinand that his opera The Marriage of Figaro was “far too noisy” and contained “far too many
notes.” Thomas Edison, the most prolific inventor in history, was considered unteachable as a
youngster. And Albert Einstein, the greatest thinker of modern times, was told by a Munich
schoolmaster that he would never amount to much.
4. Take action to remove fear.
Recognize that your fear of failure is based not on logic but on experience. To get rid of that
paralyzing fear, you must take action. “If you can take action and keep making mistakes, you
gain experience,” Maxwell says. “That experience eventually brings competence, and you make
fewer mistakes. As a result of making fewer mistakes, your fear becomes less paralyzing. But the
whole cycle-breaking process starts with action. You must act your way into feeling, not wait for
positive emotions to carry you forward.”
5. Change the way you respond to failure.
Some people get angry when they fail. Others, unwilling to accept responsibility, look for
scapegoats. Some people, stubborn people, ignore the negative results they experience and
continue the unsuccessful behavior repeatedly. Still others simply give up. “There’s really only
one solution to the gridlock on the failure freeway,” Maxwell says, “and that’s to wake up and
find the exit.” To Maxwell, “waking up” means accepting responsibility for your actions that
contributed to the failure. “Finding the exit” means changing your behavior accordingly.
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The title that Maxwell chose for his book – “Failing Forward” – sums up his philosophy nicely:
If you march long enough, you will definitely stumble. Whether you stumble forward or stumble
backward or stop marching completely is entirely up to you.
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When Enough Is Enough:

Learn to Say No
by Monica Day
I’ve never met a challenge I wasn’t tempted to tackle. I seem to have this perpetual need to prove
myself that, frankly, sometimes borders on dysfunctional.
In my effort to get ahead, to grow my business, to resolve issues in my personal life – whatever it
is that drives me at the moment – I take on too much. Which is a recipe for failure every single
time.
Now, I’m all about failure as a means to learn valuable lessons and as the occasional (and
natural) outcome of taking healthy risks. But making the same mistake over and over leads to the
worst kind of failures – those that have nothing to impart but remorse.
In an effort to wrestle back control of my schedule and my priorities, I made a few significant
decisions ... and I’m feeling pretty good about them right now. I canceled two trips – one last
weekend to a wedding in California and one next week to a conference in Washington, D.C.
With the time I’ve cleared, I’m catching up on overdue projects, getting a handle on my spiraling
personal life, and getting my feet back on the ground.
I’m finally learning that – sometimes – you have to say “Enough is enough.”
When you become overloaded – whether it’s with work or emotional demands or time
commitments – you have to force yourself to take a step back and re-evaluate. Does it make
sense to split yourself up in so many directions? When you water down your focus by taking on
too many things at one time, you risk making the #1 mistake that can undermine your success:
You try to do so many things, you don’t end up doing any of them as well as you could.
Here’s another tricky thing that I hate to admit – but try it on for size and see what you think ...
Doing too much also provides a ready excuse for why you didn’t do your best on something. So
if you fail at attaining a particular goal, you can say, “Well, there was so much going on ... I just
couldn’t do it.” But as my daughter’s music teacher always tells her, “Don’t give me excuses,
give me results.”
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He’s absolutely right. And if I want my eight-year-old to learn that lesson, I’d better start
modeling it myself. So here are my strategies for plugging up my overflowing dam of personal
and professional commitments – and regaining some perspective on my goals. If you’re prone to
taking on more than you can reasonably handle, I hope you’ll join me.
Strategy #1: Balance Optimism With Reality
A good friend once remarked that if a glass had even a drop of water left in it, I would claim it
was half-full – and it’s pretty much true. I confess to being the ultimate optimist.
But if you can’t temper optimism with reality, your odds of achieving those big goals decrease
substantially. These days, I’m forcing myself to slow down my enthusiastic responses by first
taking an extra look at my calendar, running a spreadsheet on my cash flow, talking over my
decisions with trusted advisers – and then deciding if my optimism is warranted by the facts.
Strategy #2: Do What You Say You’re Going to Do
This is a biggie – and it lies at the core of a character trait that I value highly: personal integrity.
Every time you say you’re going to do something and you don’t follow through, you lose a little
integrity. It’s an awful feeling ... for all parties involved.
It’s time to draw a line in the sand and start fresh. Right now. First, clean up all the dangling
promises you have not yet fulfilled. If you can’t get them done quickly, at least communicate a
new deadline or commitment that you can meet. Communication is an important placeholder to
maintain your integrity with a friend or colleague until you can produce the desired results.
This includes promises you’ve made to yourself, too, by the way. Were you going to order a
copy of Michael Masterson’s book Automatic Wealth for Grads...and Anyone Else Just Starting
Out as a gift for your favorite niece or nephew ... but just haven’t gotten around to it? Did you
mean to start brainstorming some new marketing ideas for your company ... last month? Has the
home-study program to learn Spanish that you started in January fallen by the wayside?
Resolve to always do what you say you’ll do ... and don’t make promises you can’t keep. Which
brings me to my final – and for some of us the most challenging – strategy ...
Strategy #3: Say “No” When You Must
Ah ... saying “no” can be the hardest thing to do if you’re someone who enjoys pleasing other
people. But the effects of saying “yes” when we should be saying “no” can be disastrous. (Trust
me, I have a brief, failed marriage in my past to back up this assertion.)
We get a lot of positive attention when we say we’ll do something – which makes it easier to say
“yes” than to say “no.” But the result of not following through on your “yes” means that,
ultimately, you’ll be asked less and less ... and thought of less and less favorably by others. Not a
good recipe for building the kind of professional reputation that leads to a six-figure career.
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And on a personal level, of course, the consequences can be even worse. Leaving disappointed
friends and family members in our wake is tough – especially when we can avoid doing it simply
by keeping our word.
You’ll be surprised to discover that an honest “no” is much better than a dishonest “yes.” You’ll
garner well-deserved respect rather than lose business, fall out of favor with your colleagues,
and, worst of all, create a rift between yourself and the people you love.
I’m posting these three strategies right next to my computer, where I can see them every day.
And if I do nothing else this month, I intend to hold fast to them.
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Find a Worthwhile Purpose –

and People Will Follow You Anywhere
If you can learn to lead, you can conquer the world. You can accumulate wealth, amass power,
and accomplish your most important goals. Today’s resolution is about becoming an effective
leader – but not in the conventional sense (i.e. developing business management skills). I’d like
to talk to you about developing personal power.
Think about the most successful people you know. Some of them may have achieved their status
in life by the use of certain natural gifts. A singer, poet, or athlete might come to mind. But most
successful people get to where they are by practicing a few very mundane skills – skills that
anyone can learn and master, given a reasonable amount of time.
Picture this: You invite your boss to lunch, talk to him for 60 minutes about the weather, and
then he interrupts the conversation to say, “I really think you deserve a raise. How much do you
think I should give you?”
Imagine if you had the ability to subconsciously command anybody to do whatever you wanted.
What if you could – without argument, aggression, or hard work – persuade your employees to
work harder, your vendors to give you better prices, your customers to pay you more money, and
your spouse and children to appreciate what you do for them?
Let’s talk about acquiring that sort of power.
You don’t want to get people to do what you want by bullying them. An effective leader is not
someone who haggles and cajoles ... or begs and pleads ... or uses any sort of force. After all, it’s
no great talent to push people into doing something. The only thing that takes is an advantage. A
bigger body. A quicker mind. A position of authority. The great thing about great leaders is that
they know how to get people they CAN’T bully to follow their lead.
Napoleon, for example, was a powerful leader who was able to run military campaigns that many
of his contemporaries thought impossible. Part of his power came from his iron will. But there
was no way he could have achieved all he did – getting so many thousands of men to sacrifice so
much for him – had he relied strictly on brute force. The Duke of Wellington, who knew
Napoleon as well as anyone, said that his strength came from his personality. The mere presence
of Napoleon on the battlefield, Wellington said, made his soldiers braver and stronger.
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But leadership isn’t about acquiring the military status of Napoleon. It’s about developing certain
subtle but powerful personal skills that will give you the ability to accomplish what you want in
life ... be it something as simple as retiring rich or as ambitious as building an empire.
BB, a friend and business partner who has applied the art of leadership to develop a very
profitable international publishing company, built a large and successful business largely by
getting very smart and talented people to work very hard for him. He isn’t, by conventional
standards, an inspiring guy. He doesn’t make heart-stirring speeches or send out motivational
memos. In fact, he hardly raises his voice. But what he does do is talk a lot about the quality of
good ideas – and he allows his best people plenty of freedom to develop them.
If you work in an environment where good thinking is valued and the freedom to develop ideas
is fostered, you are very likely to feel good about what you do. And if you feel good about what
you do, you will work hard and smart.
Here’s another example ... 6 CHARACTERISTICS OF TOP LEADERS
• Great leaders discover how to make the work

ME, an important direct-mail publisher, worthwhile and then distill it down to a phrase or
is much more hands-on and dogmatic philosophy that can easily be communicated to their
than BB. Yet he gives his people the employees.
same thing: the feeling that what they • Good leaders recognize the importance of practicing
are doing is good and worthwhile. In all the skills essential to leadership – one of the most
his case, it is less about creativity and important being persuasion.
more about quality. ME’s employees • Great leaders are perceived as powerful
feel ... and with some justification ... communicators because they listen more than they
that the products they produce are speak. When they do speak, they focus on the
interests and concerns of the other person. They’re
better than most of those they compete also able to summarize and clearly present their case.
against. This kind of feeling can fuel a
• Strong leaders know how to create strong
long and productive career. relationships. They remain personable, friendly, and
genuinely interested in other people, regardless of the
BB and ME are two very different person’s social or professional position.
people who conduct their day-to-day • Successful leaders present the facts passionately and
business activities very differently. stress one unifying idea
Yet they have both achieved success • Successful leaders develop the skills to persuade
by using the same secret. They both others in one–on–one situations, in small groups, and
understand the power of purpose. in front of larger groups.
What is the power of purpose?
People work for money. And people work for praise. And people work for comfort and
consideration. But if you want people to work harder than they have ever worked, to think harder
than they have ever thought, to care more than they ever have, you can’t ask them to do it for any
of those reasons. There is only one motivation that will drive men to perform on a superhuman
level ... and that is the desire to accomplish a worthwhile purpose.
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The power of purpose is, in my experience, the single most important leadership skill there is. If
you can give someone the idea that his life will have more meaning if he follows your ideas, you
then have all the power you will ever need over him.
People who have great personal leadership skills never have to browbeat, badger, or bully their
way through life. Nor do they have to beg, borrow, or steal. If you can learn how to make other
people believe that your ideas have value, everything you want to accomplish will be available to
you.
We all want the material comforts of life. But what we want more – and more deeply – is to feel
like the life we are leading has some meaning. How did the great leaders of the modern era –
Churchill, Roosevelt, Gandhi, and Martin Luther King – get so many people, rich and poor, to
devote their time (and in some cases sacrifice their lives) for their causes? It wasn’t their good
looks or their elocution on the stage. It was because they knew how to persuade other people to
see their ideas as valuable and to believe that if they pursued those ideas their lives would have
more meaning.
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You Don’t Need

the Mindset of a Champion
I believe you can have a mind full of doubts and worries and still succeed. I believe it’s possible
to achieve amazing things in life with a frightened heart and a terrified mind.
It’s more than a belief, actually. It’s certain knowledge.
I know because I have always been full of doubts and fears. I was doubtful when I enrolled in the
Dale Carnegie self-help course that changed my life. I was afraid of failing when I wrote my first
promotion, which resulted in tens of millions of dollars in sales. I am still full of doubts and fears
now … whenever I launch a new product or create a new advertising campaign or buy a new
investment property.
I have managed to be very successful in life without ever developing “the mindset of a
champion.” I have built large, profitable businesses. I have written books. I have produced films.
And I have made millions. I have done all of those things and more without any of the positive
mentality and courage that so many self-help gurus say is necessary.
I’m telling you this in case you are also someone who is full of doubt and fear. I want you to
know that you don’t necessarily have to change your “attitude” or embolden your heart to
succeed.
I tried to change my psyche. I read the books and studied the tapes. I shouted mantras while
driving and yelled at myself in the mirror. I did it all but without changing how I felt. If I had had
to wait till my attitude changed, I’d be waiting still.
Instead, I decided to ignore my doubts and fears. I made myself a promise that I wouldn’t try to
“be” like the Tony Robbinses in the world (much as I would have liked to acquire their
confidence) but would focus instead on what they did.
I reasoned that if I could muster up just a little bit of courage – just enough to take one small step
(the same step successful people took at the same point in their careers), I’d get the same result
they did. If I wanted to write a book, for example, I didn’t wait until I had the mental conviction
needed to write the book; I simply pushed myself to write a single page. The next day, I screwed
up enough guts to write another page. And so on.
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I took that approach with everything I did, and what I discovered encouraged me. It didn’t seem
to matter whether I believed in myself at all – what mattered was what I was actually doing.
I am not the only wimp who has succeeded. Among the successful men and women I know there
are more doubters and cowards than champions. Many of the finest and most successful writers
are afraid to voice their thoughts in public and, in private conversations, admit to all kinds of
doubts. When it comes time to write, these people have learned to press on with their writing
despite their fears – and everything seems to come out wonderfully.
I am not attacking Tony Robbins. And I am not saying that having the mindset of a champion
isn’t a good thing. It is. What I’m saying is that in my experience you don’t need that sort of
mentality to succeed. You need only to do certain specific things – take actions that successful
men took before you – and success will come to you. (That’s why the purpose of Early to Rise –
as well as all the self-help products we produce – is to give you specific actions to take that will
make you successful.)
My confidence is certainly greater now than it ever was before, but it never got better by my
trying to make it better. It improved because of my successes. If you do something long enough
and the outcome is good, your mind and heart begin to grow bolder.
And that’s why when people meet me today they are surprised when I tell them that at heart I’m
a frightened, worried, lazy, and fundamentally insecure coward. That’s the core. But I also have
my memory. And my memory tells me that if I do certain things I’ll succeed.
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Success Comes Faster

As Your Experience Builds
I have a little gift for you. A simple idea that can make a big difference in your life. It can mean
the difference between struggling through an ordinary life or being immensely successful. It is a
very small thought that is worth a very great deal to you if (a) you really understand it and (b)
you make it a part of your life.
The idea in a nutshell: Knowledge is a form of wealth. Like wealth, it provides dividends if it is
invested. Over a long period of time, those dividends compound. Eventually, they become
gargantuan.
If you take an idea and plant it – not just in your mind but also in the operations of your business
– it will start to grow. What seems like an insignificant seed today will look like a healthy tree in
a few years time – and a huge, towering oak in 10 or 20 years.
When someone gives you a valuable idea, do something with it immediately. If you are
inexperienced, don’t expect it to change your world – but put it to work anyway, because it will
become more valuable over time.
Value good advice. Put it to work Cultivate it over time. As the months and years pass,
crossbreed it with other new ideas. As time goes on, your capacity to use new ideas will grow
enormously.
One day in the future, what seems hard today will seem easy. An idea that makes you $500 today
will make you $50,000 or $5 million. It will be the same idea, but it will be much, much more
powerful – because you will be more powerful. You and your business will have grown like an
oak tree.
How do you continue to generate fresh, useful ideas that will help your business grow? Ask your
workers.
Rather than solicit ideas remotely and abstractly, ask each member of your working team these
two questions: “What are you doing that’s smart for our business?” and “What are you doing
that’s good for our customers?”
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You won’t always get great answers. In fact, most of them will be mediocre. But if you get 10
ideas from 10 workers, at least one of them will be good. And that can make a big difference.
Ask the questions in person, by phone, or by e-mail – but make each query personal and expect a
thoughtful reply.
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The Power of Charisma

by Brian Tracy
Charisma is a special quality that, to some degree, every person has. You have charisma to the
people who look up to you, who respect and admire you – the members of your family and your
friends and coworkers. Whenever and wherever one person feels a positive emotion toward
another, he imbues that person with the power of charisma.
If you’re in sales, charisma can have a major impact on the way your prospects and customers
deal with you.
If you’re in business, charisma can help you tremendously in working with your staff, your
suppliers, your bankers, your customers, and everyone else upon whom you depend.
In your personal relationships, the quality of charisma can make your life more joyous. People
will naturally want to be around you because you make them happy. Your influence on them
makes them feel better about themselves and want to do better at the important things in their
lives.
There is a close association between personal charisma and success in life. The more positively
others respond to you, the easier it will be for you to get the things you want.
You were born with certain qualities that make you naturally more or less charismatic.
Nevertheless, you can enhance those qualities by developing the 10 great powers of personality
that seem to have a major impact on the way people think and feel about you.
1. The power of purpose.
People with charisma and personal magnetism almost invariably have a clear vision of who they
are, of where they’re going, and of what they’re trying to achieve. They’re focused on
accomplishing some great purpose. They’re decisive about every aspect of their lives. They
know exactly what they want and what they have to do to get it. They plan their work and work
their plan.
2. The power of self-confidence.
People with charisma have an intense belief in themselves and in what they are doing. They are
usually calm, cool, and composed about themselves and their work. Your level of self-
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confidence is often demonstrated in your courage, your willingness to do whatever is necessary
to achieve a purpose that you believe in.
3. The power of enthusiasm.
The more excited you are about accomplishing something that is important to you, the more
excited others will be about helping you do it. The fact is that emotions are contagious. The more
passion you have for your life and your activities, the more charisma you will possess and the
more cooperation you will gain from others. Every great man or woman has been totally
committed to a noble cause and, as a result, has attracted the support and encouragement of
others – in many cases, thousands or millions of others.
4. The power of expertise.
The more knowledgeable you are perceived to be in your field, the more charisma you will have
among those who respect and admire that knowledge. This is also the power of excellence, of
being recognized by others as an outstanding performer. People who do their jobs extremely well
and who are recognized for the quality of their work are those who naturally attract the help and
support of others.
5. The power of thorough preparation.
Whether you are calling on a prospect, meeting with your boss, giving a public talk, or making
any other kind of presentation, when you are well-prepared, it becomes clear to everyone. The
careers of many young people are put onto the fast track as a result of their coming to an
important meeting after having done all their homework.
6. The power of self-reliance.
The most successful people are intensely self-reliant. They look to themselves for the answers to
their questions and problems. They never complain, and they never explain. They take complete
ownership of projects. They volunteer for duties and step forward to accept accountability when
things go wrong.
7. The power of image.
There is both interpersonal image and intrapersonal image. Intrapersonal image, or self-image, is
the way you see yourself and think about yourself in any situation. This has an impact on the
way you perform and on the way others see you and think about you. Interpersonal image is the
appearance that you convey. Successful people are very aware of how they are coming across to
others. They take a good deal of time to think through every aspect of their external appearance
to assure that it is helping them rather than hurting them.
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8. The power of character.
People who possess the kind of charisma that arouses the enthusiastic support of others are
invariably those with integrity. They are extremely realistic and honest with themselves and
others. They have very clear ideals, and they continually aspire to live up to the highest that is in
them. They speak well of people, knowing that everything they say is being remembered and
recorded. They are aware that everything they do adds to or detracts from the way they are
perceived.
9. The power of self-discipline. Charismatic people are highly controlled. They have a
tremendous sense of inner calm and outer resolve. They are well-organized, and they always
demonstrate willpower and determination.
10. The power of result-orientation – which underlies all of the other personality powers.
In the final analysis, people ascribe charisma to those men and women that they can count on to
help them achieve important goals or objectives. Great salespeople, for example, are spoken
about in the most positive way by their coworkers and superiors. So are people who are
responsible for companies or departments that achieve high levels of profitability. They are
perceived by others to be extraordinary men and women who are capable of great things. Their
shortcomings are often overlooked, while their strong points are overemphasized. In other words,
they become charismatic.
Charisma comes from working on yourself. It comes from liking and accepting yourself
unconditionally as you do and say the specific things that develop within you a powerful,
attractive personality.
You can develop the kind of charisma that opens doors for you by going to work on yourself,
consistently and persistently, and becoming the kind of person everyone can admire and look up
to. That’s what charisma is all about.
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Making the Right Decisions

Some of the decisions you face are major. (“Should I quit this job and go into business for
myself?”) But most of them are minor. (Should I put Sally on commission? Should I wear that tie
to meet my banker? Should I launch this new product with promotion A or B?)
Small Decisions. Big Results.
I was reminded of this by two recent experiences. A nutritional-supplement business I consult

with was foundering (if not floundering) because of mediocre marketing and a large overhead. It
had gotten so bad that, in desperation, we considered selling the business to a competitor. This
led, indirectly, to two decisions – neither of which seemed monumental at the time. One was to
trim the staff to its bare bones. The other was to try a marketing piece we had on the back burner.
The result? Before we could finish our negotiations, the business had turned around completely.
Three months later, it paid off all its debt and was taking in a very healthy monthly profit.
Another company I am close to was chugging along nicely but had no apparent prospects of
breaking into a higher level of profitability. Against my better judgment, they tested a continuity
offer. (Until then, the business was strictly cash-with-order.) The result? The business doubled in
less than a year.
Small decisions.
Grolier Encyclopedia was about to go out of business when its competitor, Time-Life, shared
information about its secret marketing weapon: a call center that was upgrading a high
percentage of orders. Grolier’s publishers made the decision to move into telemarketing
immediately – and today the company enjoys revenues of more than $300 million, 25 percent of
which is generated from telemarketing.
Small decisions. They add up to success or failure.
How Do You Make The Right Decisions?
In the midst of the flurry that is normal business, how do you make sure that most of your
decisions are moving you closer to – rather than farther away from – your objectives?
50
It ain’t easy. The pressure is on. You have no time to waste. Everybody is shouting. What do you
choose? Door No. 1 or door No. 2? Decide quickly! But decide right! Your future is at stake!
You are a child frantically searching for Easter eggs. Dozens of other kids are competing with
you. Which way do you go? Turn right or left? Look under the bushes or behind the tree? You
want to hear a familiar voice, Mom’s or Dad’s, shouting, “Warmer . . . warmer . . . no, colder . . .
colder still . . . yes, warmer, warmer . . . .”
If Only.
JSN, mentor major and former partner, had an uncanny instinct for making the right decisions. I
always marveled at it. Two equally impressive job candidates? He could spot the fraud. Price the
magazine at $25 or $50? His guess was almost always right. Headlines? Fahgeddabowdit! He
was the master at choosing the right rhetorical hook.
How did he do it? That’s what I wanted to know. For years.
Finally, though, I think I’ve figured it out. As smart a guy as JSN was, his mind was relatively
simple when it came to business decisions. For him, business was about profit. And profit was
good.
For me the purpose of business was a more complicated thing. Profit was, undeniably, one goal,
but there were many others. Any decision I faced had to be studied through a prism of
considerations – how would this affect product quality? What would customers say? What would
my competitors think?
For JSN any particular decision was a choice between one clear thing and another. For me it was
a road that split into a dozen directions, one toward danger, another toward greed, still another
toward conflict and another toward the very fires of hell.
JSN was very good at making money. He still is.
I have benefited from observing him. Nowadays, when I am asked to choose, I always ask
myself, “Which choice will make the most money?”
Such an easy question. So seldom asked simply.
Easily Understood, Seldom Practiced
I am involved in many businesses. I have many partners. Some of them are very smart. Some of
them are talented. But those who are best at business tend to be able to think simply when it
comes to key decisions.
Those who get slowed down by “what ifs” and “if onlys” tend to see their businesses stall. If
they can’t come to a decision, how can they expect their subordinates to?
51
Having what is conventionally thought of as a complex mind is not an advantage in business. In
fact, I wonder if it is an advantage at all. Someone once told me that people who think a lot are
unhappy people. I read somewhere else that psychological studies say the happiest people are
those who have the least subtle minds. If those observations are true, we might want to add this
one: Businesspeople who think less make more.
If you suffer from a complex mind, don’t despair. You probably can’t simplify your thinking
entirely (except by doing something that is likely to hurt a lot), but you can make your business
decisions simpler.
Here’s what I do: First I remember that my business has only two goals – to provide good advice
and to profit from it. All other considerations – and there are many of them – are secondary.
When I’m bogged down, I search them out in my thinking. Search and destroy.
If you allow yourself only two criteria for figuring out what to do in any given case, the
decisions will come much easier. Forget about every other consideration. Will it help your
customer? Will it improve the bottom line?
Yes or No? Answer it!
That’s how I do it. Hope it works for you.
52
Choose Your Friends

and Business Associates Wisely
In an article I wrote for Early to Rise, I said this about the importance of the way you spend your
time: “Remember, what you do most of in life is what you become – whether you like it or not.”
And when PS read that, it reminded him of the summer he spent as a kid slaving away for Hiram
at minimum wage.
He told me the story over beer and steaks at the Owl Bar in Baltimore . . .
Roughhousing with friends, PS had broken a neighbor’s sliding-glass door. To pay for the repair,
he worked for three months at Hiram’s warehouse.
On the last day, through the window of his massive Lincoln Continental, Hiram handed him the
final $80 he needed to square the debt. “You’re not the kinda kid who gets into that kind of
trouble,” the old man said. “Be smart when you pick your friends, because you will become
them.”
Hiram drove away – but his words left a big impression.
There is a great deal of truth to what old Hiram said. The people with whom we surround
ourselves have a great deal to do with what we become. This is an especially important
consideration in business, where we come into contact with all sorts of characters – brilliant and
motivated, brilliant but lazy, dull but dedicated, dull and lazy.
In thinking back on my professional life, I can see relationships that – however beneficial they
may have seemed at the outset – eventually turned into sticky, swampy problems. Had I asked
myself before getting involved with any of these people “Is this someone who sees the world of
business the way I do?” I might have avoided a good deal of stress and, in some cases, saved a
bundle of money.
The point PS made is a good one: As a general principle (though not a hard-and-fast rule), over
time, you end up being more like the people you associate with. And so, it’s smart to choose very
carefully the people you spend a lot of time with.
53
The lesson works with friendships too, but the criteria are somewhat different. In business, it
makes sense to search out people who have strengths that complement your own. You want to
develop relationships with the smart, the hardworking, and the well-connected. In friendship, a
person’s attributes can’t be measured in terms of how he might affect your professional growth
and prosperity. What matters in friendship is more malleable and subtle.
In all cases, you want, I’d think, to associate yourself with people who are relatively trustworthy
and honest. (I say “relatively” because I believe only the phoniest and scariest of people pretend
to be 100 percent pure in these virtues.) And for friendship especially, it seems to me that you
should want to associate with people who have the same basic idea that you have about what is
good and true in life.
In a note to me following our evening together at the Owl Bar, PS wrote, “I’ve picked my friends
by finding people I wanted to be more like. People that had qualities and virtues I admired. It
worked. Whenever I’ve succeeded in life, it has been because of my friends. My friends have
taught me business skills, life skills, and, time after time, have put me in a position to succeed.”
Does that mean you should never spend time with “friends in low places”? Of course not. And I
know that PS would agree with me.
Two short blocks from my office, just across the railroad tracks, sits O’Connor’s Pub. The boys
from Jiu Jitsu and some members of the Early to Rise team are there on Fridays for pizza and
beer. It’s an unassuming place, a neighborhood hangout with an above-average percentage of
blue-collar bullshit artists, drifters, and lovable losers.
I certainly don’t want to become a character like T-Bone, the ex-con car mechanic, or Crazy
Dave – but, frankly, I enjoy their company. And sometimes, when I’m at a swanky affair,
surrounded by wealthy and powerful people, I find myself wondering what the boys at
O’Connor’s are up to.
I have a wide array of friendships – and I’m not going to give any of them up. I don’t suggest
you give yours up either. At this point in my life, I am what I am – and the people I associate
with aren’t going to change me.
But when you’re young and/or you’re just starting out in business, it is a good idea to take some
extra time in thinking about the other guy’s character when you form a new relationship.
54
Happiness Comes
from Doing What You Love
To understand what I’m about to say, you have to understand this: Happiness in life comes not
from idleness but from working. Not working at a job you hate, but working at a task you love.
Happiness comes when you are busy doing something you care about . . . such as teaching,
taking care of your children, painting, fixing a faulty switch, or writing a helpful memo. When
you are doing something you care about, and paying attention to IT (not YOU), happiness
surprises you.
The secret to a great retirement is to figure out how to get paid for doing work you would gladly
do for free – and to be able to do that work when and where you want to.
Name your dream . . . pick your price.
Maybe you want to be a writer. Maybe your secret passion is food. Maybe you’ve always wanted
to get back into astronomy or archeology or gardening.
Somewhere in your past is a buried profession – something you’ve long ago given up on. What if
you could reprise that dream?
I know a man whose dream was to be a professional pilot. After working 30 years in a wallpaper
business, he took my advice and got himself a job flying part-time for a small airline. A few
years later, he became a part owner. He’s making more money now doing what he loves than he
ever made selling wallpaper. And he only “works” 20 hours a week.
My dad gave up a promising career in show business to become a teacher. Fifty years later, he
went back into the acting business and became a professional actor. He acted in all kinds of
commercials and soap operas, had small talking spots in some big movies, and did some big
spots in some off-Broadway plays. He did it for 10 years, made some money, and had a great
time.
The Internet has opened up a world of possibilities for “retirees.” I met a guy who trades
cigarette lighters online. This happens to be something he always wanted to do and planned to do
once he stopped working. But by taking advantage of eBay and all the other Internet auction
sites, he is already making more than $30,000 a year doing it just on weekends. Trading cigarette
55
lighters!
There are plenty of other examples. You can become an Internet copywriter, an Internet editor,
an Internet travel agent, or an Internet teacher, for example. You can make money giving
marriage or dating advice on the Internet, or even selling rubber underwear. You can use the
Internet to make a living from your interest in wild roses, say, or your up-until-now useless
knowledge of 19th-century swords.
Start your retirement planning right now. Ask yourself the three Big Questions:
1. “What work would I really enjoy doing?”
2. “Who would be the best person to do it with?”
3. “Where would I most want to do it?”
You may not be able to find a partner or relocate right away, but you can definitely start working
on mastering the skills you’re going to need for your new line of work.
56
Discover Your Talents

by Brian Tracy
When we do strategic planning for corporations, we begin with the premise that the purpose of
the exercise is to reorganize people and resources to increase the company’s rate of return on the
equity it has invested in the business. This is done by allocating more resources to areas with
higher potential returns, and taking resources away from those with lower potential returns. By
developing or promoting newer and better products and services, and discontinuing those that are
less profitable, the company can channel its efforts in a way that maximizes its returns.
In doing personal strategic planning, the first thing you want to think about is increasing your
personal “rate of return.” You need to realize that the most valuable thing you bring to your life
and to your work is your ability to think, to act, and to get results. Your earning ability – which is
a function of your education, knowledge, experience, and talents – is your equity. And the way
you “invest” it will largely determine the quality and quantity of your material and psychological
rewards.
A young man in one of my seminars came up to me and said that he was working as a plumber
for a large plumbing-contracting firm. He made good wages, but he was envious of the
salespeople in his company who made more money, drove nicer cars, wore nicer clothes, and had
much better lifestyles. He had completed his training, had his journeyman’s certificate, and he
was at the top of his wage scale. The only way he could earn more money was by working longer
hours. Instead, he wanted to get into sales, where his income could be higher and would not be
fixed on an hourly basis.
I told him that if he wanted to get into sales, it was up to him to learn how to sell – and then to do
everything possible to get his boss to give him the chance to sell their plumbing services. His
future was up to him ... but he first had to learn how to do the new and higher-paying job.
A little more than a year later, he attended another one of my seminars ... and brought me up to
date on his situation. He had told his boss that he wanted to get into sales. The boss discouraged
him, telling him that plumbers have very little aptitude for the skills involved in selling a
complex service. He then asked his boss what he would have to do to prove to him that he could
do it. To make a long story short, his boss helped him learn how to sell the company’s services
by recommending that he study manuals and take extra courses on his own time.
And that’s what he did. He bought books and listened to tapes and spent time talking to the
salespeople in the organization. As a result, he became a full-fledged salesman.
57
WHAT YOU DON’T NEED After five months in his new job, he was already earning
TO SUCCEED more than twice as much as he had ever earned as a
• You don’t have to be smart.
plumber. But most of all, he was happier. He was more
• You don’t have to be good- excited and more enthusiastic about himself and his work
looking. than he had ever been. He loved the field of selling, and he
• You don’t have to be thin. considered his career change to be one of the best decisions
• You don’t have to be nice.
he had ever made.
• You don’t have to be right –
all the time.
• You don’t have to be even- This story is typical of countless stories that have been
tempered. related to me over the years. In every case, the individual
• You don’t have to be a good had discovered and developed his or her strengths – and,
listener.
subsequently, improved the quality of his or her life.
You can do the same thing.
Thinking of yourself passively as being employed and, therefore, subject to the dictates of
someone else, can be fatal to your long-term success. In reality, you’re the president of your own
personal-services corporation. You’re completely in charge of production, quality control,
training and development, marketing, finance, and promotion.
Seeing yourself as self-employed forces you to recognize that you also are self-responsible and
self-determining. That everything that happens to you happens because of your conduct and your
behavior. You’re in the driver’s seat. You’re behind the steering wheel of your life. It’s up to you
to decide how to utilize your talents and abilities in such a way as to bring you the very highest
return on the investment of your time and energy.
No one else is going to do it for you. You’re the boss. Others can help you, guide you, direct
you, channel you, point you in the right direction, and even give you opportunities. But in the
final analysis, no one else can make the critical decisions that will determine your future and
your fortune.
To that end, here are four questions that you need to ask yourself on a regular basis:
1. “What do I most enjoy doing?”
2. “How would I describe my ideal job?”
3. “If I could have any job at all, anywhere, what would it be?”
4. “If I won a million dollars in the lottery and I had to pick something to work at indefinitely,
what would I choose to do with my time?”
To uncover your strengths and determine your unique talents and abilities, ask yourself:
• “What have I been good at in the past?”

• “What things do I do easily that seem to be difficult for other people?”
58
• “In what areas of work do I seem to get the best results ... and derive the most pleasure?
The answers to all of those questions will give you a good idea as to how you might increase
your return on the energy you invest.
As a result of your genetic structure, your education, your experiences, your background, your
interests and proclivities, you’re a unique and rare combination of talents and abilities. You can
be extremely good at something. And it’s your responsibility to find out what that something is
and then throw your whole heart into it, without reservation.
Look at your current job, and ask yourself:
• “Where do I want to be in three to five years?”

• “What kind of work do I want to be doing?”
• “What kind of people do I want to be working with?”
• “What level of responsibility do I desire?”
• “What kind of money do I want to be earning?”
• “What part of the country do I want to be living in?”
Look at your work and at your life in general, and ask yourself:
• “What kind of people do I admire and most want to be like?”

• “Who do I know, or know about, who is doing the kind of work that I want to do and is
living the kind of life that I want to live?”
• “What changes would I have to make in my life to be like that person?”
Remember: Whatever anyone has done, someone else can do as well. You’ll never be exactly the
same as another person, but you don’t need to be. You can use the successes and achievements
of other people as examples and guidelines to help you decide where you want to arrive at the
end of your particular journey. But you can be unique and different and successful in your own
way.
You were put on this earth with a special combination of talents and abilities that make you
different from anyone who has ever lived. Whatever you’re doing today, it’s nowhere near what
you’re really capable of doing. The key to a happy and prosperous life is for you to regularly
evaluate your strengths and weaknesses, to become very good in the areas you most enjoy, and
then to throw your whole heart into what you’re doing.
59
Never Stop Learning

The most successful businesspeople I know never tire of learning new things. Even in the sunsets
of their careers, they are trying to “figure things out” and rejoicing in new insights and
suggestions given them by people who often know less than they do.
Here are four ways to become a better learner.
1. Be humble. Recognize that what you know is a small fraction of what there is to know – even
in the area of your expertise.
2. Stay hungry. Be eager to learn more so you can do more.
3. Recognize your prejudices, because they blind you to opportunities and hamper your progress.
See them. Name them. Warn others about them.
4. Give preference to firsthand data. In a world that is deluged with filtered, processed, and pre-
packaged information, value the knowledge you get from personal experience – yours and that of
others. Speak to your customers. Get down to the shop floor. Find out what’s really going on.
5. Read voraciously. Spend at least a half-hour a day reading to improve your business skills and
an equal or greater time reading to broaden your mind. Read fiction and non-fiction, tough texts
and easy guides, books, newspapers, and magazines.
6. Read effectively. Know your reading objective before you read. Use scanning techniques to
conserve time. Take notes. Review them.
7. Keep a journal. This is something I’ve been doing on a daily basis for several years and so I
can tell you – from firsthand experience – that it helps. In addition to jotting down notes about
what I’ve done or plan to do, I keep a daily record of things I’ve learned.
Every day – in the afternoon and again in the evening – I take a five-minute break to ask myself,
“What have I learned today?” Since I try to learn a new word every day, that’s usually part of the
list. I also try to recall new Jiu Jitsu moves, new facts and figures from my reading, anything I’ve
learned about wine or art, and – last but not least – any important thoughts I’ve had or
philosophical conclusions I have come to.
60
All these little nuggets are noted with an asterisk so that, at the end of the week, I can quickly
look back over what I’ve learned and refresh my memory.
What are you doing to increase your knowledge? Do you know more today than you did
yesterday? Have you more useful, factual knowledge? Are you wiser than you were before?
61
AUTHOR BIOGRAPHIES
Robert L. Cox is co-founder of the first TV shopping network and the author of The
Billionaire Way: Your 30 Day Mentor to Automatic Success, an insider’s guide to the minds of
the filthy rich.
Monica Day is a freelance copywriter and co-editor of the free online newsletter The Copy
Protégé.
Michael Masterson, founder of Early to Rise, is the author of the Wall Street Journal
bestsellers Seven Years to Seven Figures: The Fast Track Plan to Becoming a Millionaire;
Automatic Wealth: The Six Steps to Financial Independence; Automatic Wealth for Grads… and
Anyone Else Just Starting Out; Power and Persuasion: How to Command Success in Business
and Your Personal Life (all published by John Wiley & Sons); and Confessions of a Self-Made
Millionaire.
Robert Ringer is a dynamic public speaker and the author of eight books, including three #1
bestsellers – Restoring the American Dream, Looking Out for #1, and To Be or Not to Be
Intimidated? (the updated and totally rewritten version of Winning through Intimidation).
Brian Tracy is the most listened to audio author on personal and business success in the world
today. He is the author of 16 books, including Maximum Achievement, Advanced Selling
Strategies, The 100 Absolutely Unbreakable Laws of Business Success, and The 21 Success
Secrets of Self-Made Millionaires.
62
Thank you for reading our Special Report. Now we'd love to hear from you, explaining what you
thought about it.
What did you like best? Did you find any errors? Was there any advice you hoped that we'd
include… but didn't see?
We want to hear exactly what you think – no holds barred, the good comments and the bad.
Let us know your thoughts by emailing us at Reports@ETRFeedback.Com.
We can't wait to hear what you have to say…
Early To Rise
245 NE 4th Ave., Suite 201, Delray Beach, FL 33483
© Copyright ETR, LLC, 2007
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Don’t Read This Report…………………………………………………………………. 3

Success Comes to Those

Play to Win by Robert Ringer…………………………………………………………... 8

Finding the “Right” People

See the World Clearly in a Single Glance by Robert L. Cox……………………..14

Pay Yourself First by Michael Masterson…………………………………………….17

You Always Have Choices – Making

Create Time and You’ll Create Money by Robert L. Cox…………………………25

Don’t Wait for Someone Else to Inspire You by Michael Masterson…………..28

Learn to Take Only Smart Risks by Brian Tracy…………………………………..31

Don’t Be Afraid to Fail by Michael Masterson………………………………………34

When Enough Is Enough: Learn to Say No by Monica Day………………………37

You Don’t Need the

Success Comes Faster

The Power of Charisma by Brian Tracy …………………………………………….47

Making the Right Decisions by Michael Masterson………………………………50

Choose Your Friends and

Happiness Comes from

Discover Your Talents by Brian Tracy……………………………………………….57

Never Stop Learning by Michael Masterson…………………………………………60

And we’ll say it again:

Don’t read this report.

And this isn’t a pledge you should make lightly.

This report is NOT for you.

What are you waiting for?

Success Comes to Those

A Near-Perfect Morning Routine

Step One: Getting Healthy (6:30 to 7:00)

Step Two: Planning Your Day (7:00 to 7:30)

Step Three: Giving Your Day a Boost (7:30 to 8:30)

This little three-step program is a truly health-giving, wealth-making, life-changing routine. It

Try it tomorrow and tell me if it doesn’t work wonders for you!

Finding the “Right” People

The Secret of Finding Your Superstar

Don’t Expect Every Seed to Sprout

See the World Clearly

You should be, too.

Pay Yourself First

• The serendipitous spenders:

• The bumbling budgeters:

• The true wealth builders:

Lesson 1. Budgets are like diets in three respects.

Account No. 1 – for the tax man

Account No. 2 – to pay off debt

Account No. 3 – for our retirement

Account No. 4 – for our children’s tuition

Account No. 5 – for our dream house

You Always Have Choices –

Here’s what I did to break the pattern:

A 6-STEP PROCESS THAT MAKES ALMOST ANY DECISION SIMPLE

But attitude is not everything.

Create Time and You’ll Create Money

Focus, Focus, Focus

Don’t believe me? Try this simple exercise:

• brush your teeth

• shave (if applicable)

• apply lotion, cologne/perfume, etc.

Now, time yourself as you actually do these things.

• Continuing with a life that she herself described as “unfulfilling”

“I just need to get motivated again,” she told me.

“Aha,” I said. “Well, I hope we can do that for you.”