Summary: Maximum Achievement by Brian Tracy

Do you need help to be more ful­filled? Do you yearn to achieve more and unlock your true poten­tial? Bri­an Tra­cy’s “Max­i­mum Achieve­ment: Strate­gies and Skills that Will Unlock Your Hid­den Pow­ers to Suc­ceed” might be the key you’ve been search­ing for.

This pow­er­ful book, packed with prac­ti­cal advice and proven strate­gies, equips you with the tools to trans­form your life. Before div­ing into the com­plete text, see Tra­cy’s wis­dom in the sum­ma­ry below. Take con­trol of your des­tiny and unlock the hid­den pow­ers with­in you — start read­ing now!

Key Points

• Life is chal­leng­ing, but you have the pow­er to con­trol your des­tiny. Accept life’s dif­fi­cul­ties and move for­ward with a pos­i­tive attitude.
• Set clear goals and believe in your abil­i­ty to achieve them. Hav­ing a strong sense of pur­pose and self-belief is cru­cial for success.
• Devel­op a pos­i­tive men­tal atti­tude. Your thoughts and beliefs shape your real­i­ty. Focus on the pos­i­tive and elim­i­nate neg­a­tive thoughts and emotions.
• Take action and be per­sis­tent. Don’t let fear or pro­cras­ti­na­tion hold you back. Cre­ate a plan, take con­sis­tent steps, and nev­er give up.
• Build strong rela­tion­ships. Focus on mak­ing oth­ers feel good about them­selves and treat every­one with respect and love, espe­cial­ly your children.

Summary ‘Maximum Achievement: Strategies and Skills that Will Unlock Your Hidden Powers to Succeed’

Attain­ment of life mas­tery and achieve­ment of your objec­tives hinge on these sev­en elements:

1. “Seren­i­ty” – Inner peace opens doors to lim­it­less possibilities.
2. “Well-being and vital­i­ty” – The afflu­ent pri­or­i­tize health over mate­r­i­al wealth.
3. “Ful­fill­ing rela­tion­ships” – Con­tent indi­vid­u­als fos­ter nur­tur­ing rela­tion­ships with fam­i­ly and friends.
4. “Finan­cial inde­pen­dence” – Aim for finan­cial sta­bil­i­ty to alle­vi­ate concerns.
5. “Mer­i­to­ri­ous pur­suits and aspi­ra­tions” – Give your life direc­tion and purpose.
6. “Self-under­stand­ing and mind­ful­ness” – Who are you? Under­stand and acknowl­edge your essence.
7. “Per­son­al con­tent­ment” – Is your life a man­i­fes­ta­tion of your dreams and poten­tial? Have you actu­al­ized your aspirations?

The Seven Principles of Mental Command

Life pos­es chal­lenges. Accept this real­i­ty and swift­ly tran­scend it. Cease mulling over lim­i­ta­tions. Your dreams are with­in reach. Embrace these sev­en prin­ci­ples to mas­ter your atti­tude and life entirely:

1. “The prin­ci­ple of author­i­ty” – Gov­er­nance of your life leads to pros­per­i­ty; oth­er­wise, stress, ten­sion, and ail­ments ensue.
2. “The prin­ci­ple of causal­i­ty” – Alter your per­spec­tives to trans­form your reality.
3. “The prin­ci­ple of con­vic­tion” – Regard your­self as tri­umphant. Envi­sion defeat, and it shall prevail.
4. “The prin­ci­ple of antic­i­pa­tion” – Life unfolds as fore­seen. Uphold high expec­ta­tions. Are your antic­i­pa­tions opti­mistic or pessimistic?
5. “The prin­ci­ple of allure” – Are you a source of attrac­tion or repul­sion? Joy­ful indi­vid­u­als draw oth­ers near. Cul­ti­vate hap­pi­ness to mag­ne­tize companionship.
6. “The prin­ci­ple of con­cor­dance” – Inner pros­per­i­ty res­onates out­ward­ly. “As with­in, so without.”
7. “The prin­ci­ple of men­tal equiv­a­lence” – Do you per­ceive the world pos­i­tive­ly or neg­a­tive­ly? Your thoughts shape your reality.

“The Mastery Program”

A pos­i­tive out­look yields remark­able trans­for­ma­tions. Atti­tude delin­eates per­cep­tion. Your self-image shapes beliefs, which in turn mold expec­ta­tions. This self-image serves as the linch­pin of your life course. Does your self-image for­ti­fy or impede your progress? To enhance it, envi­sion your future self aspired, not mere­ly your present state. Adopt a con­struc­tive self-con­cep­tion. Who do you desire to become?

Ensure that your self-per­cep­tion and self-regard exude pos­i­tiv­i­ty. To sur­mount a neg­a­tive self-image, inun­date your mind with affir­ma­tive thoughts. To trans­form and reform your thoughts. Under­take a “Pos­i­tive Men­tal Atti­tude” reg­i­men for 21 days. Pon­der only encour­ag­ing notions about your­self. Envi­sion your­self as a vic­tor, not a van­quished. Actu­ate this per­spec­tive. Engag­ing in change is facile with a deter­mined mindset.

“The Mental Mastery”

Your mind’s prowess can access any oppor­tu­ni­ty. To unleash this power:

1. Focus on your objectives.
2. Con­cen­trate your thoughts on your ambitions.
3. Ded­i­cate a full day, 24 hours, to rumi­nat­ing sole­ly on your goals.
4. Exclude all neg­a­tive thoughts.

A sage once remarked that with lucid objec­tives, the means mate­ri­al­ize. Pre­cise­ly define your goals. Your mind can har­bor only one thought at a time. If neg­a­tiv­i­ty creeps in regard­ing an issue, strive to arrest it. Sub­sti­tute with a con­struc­tive notion for address­ing the prob­lem. Fix­ate on your poten­tial, not lim­i­ta­tions. Does this appear whim­si­cal? Do not scoff – opti­mism begets results.

If neces­si­ty is the moth­er of inven­tion, then pain seems to be the father of learning.

In 1895, Dr. Emile Coué of Gene­va dis­cov­ered that their patients recu­per­at­ed faster than those of com­pa­ra­ble clin­ics. Was this due to a mirac­u­lous drug? No, the pro­lif­ic recov­ery stemmed from pos­i­tive rumi­na­tions. Coué advo­cat­ed dai­ly recita­tion of a mantra: “Every day, in every way, I’m feel­ing bet­ter and bet­ter.” Med­ical prac­ti­tion­ers would rein­force this mantra with their patients, assert­ing, “Every day, in every way, you are look­ing bet­ter and bet­ter.” Despite its seem­ing­ly trite tone, it ren­ders won­ders. A sprin­kle of opti­mism works marvels.

“The Mastery Skill”

Tycoon H.L. Hunt rebound­ed from insol­ven­cy and des­ti­tu­tion to amass bil­lions. Hunt adhered to a straight­for­ward suc­cess for­mu­la. “First,” he impart­ed, “deter­mine your pre­cise desires. Many indi­vid­u­als fal­ter in this task. Sec­ond, ascer­tain the price you need to pay and com­mit to it.” Do your objec­tives hold sub­stance? Or are you drift­ing aim­less­ly through each day devoid of a blue­print? Upon set­ting goals, fix­ate on them. Firm­ly believe in their attain­ment. Pur­sue this 12-step regime to con­quer any aim:

1. “Kin­dle desire” – Pur­sue some­thing gen­uine­ly coveted.
2. “Nur­ture belief” – Fos­ter faith in your capabilities.
3. “Doc­u­ment the vision” – Elu­ci­date in detail your pursuits.
4. “Detail the advan­tages” – Goals fuel suc­cess. Illu­mi­nate the ben­e­fits accrued upon goal realization.
5. “Ana­lyze your…starting point” – This foun­da­tion allows you to gauge progress.
6. “Set a dead­line” – An objec­tive that you accom­plish in some uncer­tain future holds no val­ue as a goal.
7. “Make a list of all…obstacles.” – Arrange the most chal­leng­ing hur­dles at the top of your list. Being aware in advance is being prepared.
8. “Iden­ti­fy need­ed infor­ma­tion” – You can­not trav­el from Flori­da to Mex­i­co with­out a map. Iden­ti­fy the infor­ma­tion, abil­i­ties, and tal­ents you need to devel­op to achieve your goals.
9. “List the peo­ple whose help you will need.” – Rank this list in order of impor­tance. Deter­mine how you can com­pen­sate indi­vid­u­als for assist­ing you. Peo­ple do not work with­out incentives.
10. “Make a plan” – Just as you require blue­prints to con­struct a house, you need a detailed strat­e­gy out­lin­ing all the tasks you must accom­plish. Arrange each step based on pri­or­i­ty and time. Com­mence work once your plan is prepared.
11. “Employ visu­al­iza­tion” – Visu­al­ize your goal as already accom­plished in your mind’s eye. Embed this pos­i­tive image deeply into your con­scious­ness (and con­se­quent­ly your subconscious).
12. “Nev­er give up” – Per­sist in your efforts. Be pre­pared for and embrace all chal­lenges. Noth­ing of val­ue comes with­out struggle.

Additional Mental Mastery

Har­ness the incred­i­ble poten­tial of your “super­con­scious mind” (as termed by Carl Jung), and you can attain any­thing. Remark­able, suc­cess­ful indi­vid­u­als like Mozart and Edi­son uti­lized this straight­for­ward method to reach their objec­tives. To access your super­con­scious mind, use clear and pos­i­tive com­mands, known as affir­ma­tions. Be res­olute. Affirm: “I will shed 25 pounds this year.” By repet­i­tive­ly rein­forc­ing such a thought, you acti­vate the “men­tal switch” of your super­con­scious mind. I firm­ly believe in this strength. Do not waver.

“Thoughts ini­ti­ate actions, and cir­cum­stances yield outcomes.”

Exper­i­ment with this idea:

1. Shut your eyes.
2. Block out all thoughts.
3. Try not to think about a white rabbit.

Undoubt­ed­ly, you find this impos­si­ble. While attempt­ing to avoid thoughts of the white rab­bit, you inevitably think of it. Indi­vid­u­als har­bor numer­ous white rab­bits hop­ping around in their minds. These are excus­es for not attain­ing their goals. For instance: “My finances are insuf­fi­cient,” or “I lack edu­ca­tion,” or “I am deeply in debt,” or “I am not yet equipped to make a move.” Such neg­a­tive thoughts sti­fle your super-con­scious mind. You can only unleash its incred­i­ble pow­er if you ini­tial­ly acknowl­edge your accountability.

Evade the detri­men­tal emo­tions – rage, frus­tra­tion, dis­con­tent, fear, guilt, and resent­ment. Day by day, they rob you of your life. They lead to men­tal and phys­i­cal ail­ments. Could you not invest in them? Employ the “law of sub­sti­tu­tion” when­ev­er these emo­tions sur­face. Coun­ter­act neg­a­tive thoughts with this pos­i­tive affir­ma­tion: “I am account­able for my cir­cum­stances.” Cease allow­ing neg­a­tive emo­tions to hin­der your progress.

The irre­spon­si­ble per­son is the per­son who is still wait­ing for real life to begin.

Through courage and sin­cer­i­ty, you can be your men­tal heal­er and ther­a­pist. Inter­ro­gate your­self to dis­cern the under­ly­ing caus­es of any neg­a­tive emo­tions you endure. Take respon­si­bil­i­ty for your reac­tions to past and present cir­cum­stances. Acknowl­edge that these reac­tions are your own. You have author­i­ty over them. Per­haps you had a dif­fi­cult upbring­ing. Your par­ents did not show­er you with love. This real­i­ty sad­dens you. Are you will­ing to dwell per­pet­u­al­ly in the past? Would this resolve any­thing? No. Replace the neg­a­tive thought, “My par­ents nev­er loved me,” with the pos­i­tive thought, “I love myself.” Fail­ure to sub­sti­tute this thought and dili­gent­ly work at it will keep you sad. Acknowl­edge your account­abil­i­ty for your life. (After all, it belongs to you.) Uti­lize the pow­er of your super-con­scious mind to man­age your emo­tions and respons­es to situations.

Stress

Stress is a sig­nif­i­cant chal­lenge root­ed in sev­en pri­ma­ry sources:

1. Wor­ry – This trou­bling feel­ing aris­es from uncer­tain­ty, impact­ing your men­tal and phys­i­cal well-being. Treat each day as if it is your final day to alle­vi­ate wor­ry. Employ this four-step tech­nique to com­bat wor­ry: 1) Record pre­cise­ly what is caus­ing your wor­ry; 2) Envi­sion the worst pos­si­ble out­come; 3) Embrace that out­come if it mate­ri­al­izes; and 4) Adopt the “min­i­max” strat­e­gy – strive to min­i­mize the adverse effects of the worst-case scenario.
2. Mean­ing – Cul­ti­vat­ing a gen­uine pur­pose is an effec­tive way to dimin­ish stress. Pur­sue it diligently.
3. “Incom­plete action” – Clo­sure is essen­tial in life, but clo­sure can­not be reached if you con­stant­ly leave things unfin­ished. Pro­cras­ti­na­tion – delay­ing action – gen­er­ates immense stress, lead­ing to sleep­less­ness, irri­tabil­i­ty, and neg­a­tiv­i­ty. Refrain from pro­cras­ti­na­tion. Com­plete what you commence.
4. “Fear of fail­ure” – Fear of fail­ure is a learned response from child­hood, man­i­fest­ing as anx­i­ety and inde­ci­sion. Counter this neg­a­tive emo­tion through three steps: Employ affir­ma­tions, adopt the “Yes, I can” men­tal­i­ty, and con­front fear directly.
5. Rejec­tion – Do you believe that the approval of oth­ers is imper­a­tive for your progress? Your boss, spouse, and col­leagues are not your sub­sti­tute par­ents. Strive to dis­cov­er inner peace. Make a gen­uine effort to alter your mind­set. Learn to unwind. (This may neces­si­tate effort.)
6. Denial – Embrace uncom­fort­able truths.
7. Anger – Among neg­a­tive emo­tions, anger is the most dam­ag­ing. When angry, you enter a “fight or flight” mode. Man­age anger by com­mit­ting to nev­er suc­cumb to it. Make a con­scious choice. Envis­age pos­i­tive thoughts when anger sur­faces. Pri­or­i­tize attain­ing peace of mind.

Interpersonal Relationships

Do you pos­sess “social acu­men” – the abil­i­ty to inter­act effec­tive­ly with oth­ers? The opti­mal approach to mas­ter­ing human inter­ac­tions is to uplift oth­ers’ spir­its. Pay heed to oth­ers. Offer com­pli­ments. I agree with them. Refrain from argu­ments. Smile. Express grat­i­tude. Cul­ti­vate atten­tive listening—pledge to be a depend­able friend to others.

Your out­er world is an expres­sion of your inner world, and can­not be otherwise.

Above all, express love toward those around you. This is espe­cial­ly crit­i­cal con­cern­ing chil­dren. Indeed, how you treat your chil­dren shall shape their emo­tion­al well-being and, hence, their future. Numer­ous adults attribute their life chal­lenges to their upbring­ing. Ensure that your lega­cy for your chil­dren is positive.

About the Author

Bri­an Tra­cy authors pop­u­lar self-help pub­li­ca­tions address­ing lead­er­ship, sales, man­age­r­i­al pro­fi­cien­cy, and busi­ness tac­tics. Tra­cy also con­ducts sem­i­nars on these sub­jects. He serves as the ini­tia­tor and chair­man of a human resources firm.