Focal Point

 Focal Point, Brian Tracy, American Management Association, 2002, ISBN 0814471293

This book presents a method to achieve all of your personal and professional goals.

In business, it has been said that 80 percent of your revenue comes from 20 percent of your customers (or daily work tasks). Find your 20 percent and concentrate on them. Delegate to others, outsource or eliminate everything else. Everyone has work tasks that are urgent and important. Others are not urgent and not important. There are a lot of tasks that are somewhere in the middle. Concentrate on the urgent and important tasks. Eliminate the not urgent and not important tasks. Delegate or outsource all those tasks that are in the middle.

Imagine your perfect life, whether it involves your career, family, health or financial situation. How do you get from here to there? You are the only one who can change your life. You need to take a deep breath, focus on "it," whatever it is, and resolve to do at least one thing to get you closer to it, every day.

Even if you don't reach the level of "perfect," even if your situation improves by only a few percent, this book will have done its job. It is very easy to understand, and is highly recommended for people from all walks of life. 

Get Smart!

Get Smart!, Brian Tracy, Jeremy P Tarcher/Penguin, 2016

Everyone wants to act and think like Bill Gates or Warren Buffett. This book shows how anyone can move in that direction.

What do you really, really want to accomplish, either personally or professionally? Writing that Ultimate Goal on paper, and posting it somewhere prominent, is more meaningful than simply keeping it in the back of your mind. Be sure to break that Ultimate Goal into smaller, more manageable pieces. Resolve to do at least one goal-oriented thing every day.

Corporate thinkers are concerned with pleasing their bosses, following the rules and doing the absolute minimum necessary to keep from getting laid off. Customers are nothing but whiny irritants. Entrepreneurial thinkers obsess about customers all the time, they continually upgrade their skills and look for ways to become more valuable to their company. Which one are you?

Is it worth it to be in motion all day, looking like a video tape stuck on fast forward, and ultimately not getting much done? On the other hand, maybe you should prioritize your tasks, doing the important ones first, and resolve to actually work while you are at work. Leave the socializing for lunch time. Also, you should resolve to check your email only at specific times during the day. Stay away from it for the rest of the day.

Every policy and procedure in your company should be periodically re-evaluated, for possible changing or removing.The reason that most people stay poor is because of ingrained bad habits, like procrastination, fear of failure and lack of persistence. This book tells how to change those habits.

Start with "excellent" and go from there; that is how good this book is. It is highly recommended for people from any walk of life, young or old, blue- or white-collar.