What do you put in your brain right when you wake up – and right when you go to sleep?

I was listening to an audio tape from Zig Ziglar’s “Automobile University” the other day, and one of the points that he makes – and that Mr. Hardy makes in this segment – is that the way that we start our day will really often “set” how that day goes for us.

Mr. Ziglar’s example was that if you get into the car and find yourself in traffic, that can often “ruin” your whole day. That’s “reacting” to the situation. However, if instead you were to calculate how much longer you are going to be in the car, and were therefore able to listen to personal development audio for that time, you would better yourself by that amount of time. In an extra 30 minutes, for example, you could learn 10 new vocabulary words – or 3 new sales presentations/closes. You’re going to be in the traffic anyway!! This is a way to have a healthy “response” to the situation of being stuck in traffic.

Say you go to a doctor, and she gives you a medicine for what ails you. When you check back, she says that you are “reacting” to the medicine – so she has to change it. However, if she says that you are “responding” to the medicine, you are doing better. Interesting, huh? In your life, are you mainly “reacting” or are you “responding”?

Any time that your hands are busy but your mind is free, you can learn something. Mr. Ziglar – and Mr. Hardy in this segment – state that if you live in a city, you generally average about 12,000 miles a year – which is about 300 hours that can be spent productively, or the equivalent of 2 years earning an advanced degree in school! (If you live in a rural area, you’re likely in the car even more!) You can also do what I do – load them up on your MP3 player, and when you are making dinner, dusting, doing the dishes, or the like, have personal development going.

The one thing that we can’t get back in our life is Time.

Mr. Hardy is the head of SUCCESS Magazine – and every single SUCCESS magazine comes with a CD. This is great – this gives you the ability to hear inspirational and instructional content that you might not otherwise be exposed to.

Remember – your brain is a “Yes man.” (Or, Yes Ma’am if you prefer!) Whatever you put into it, it believes is Real. In this audio, you will hear a lot more about this and how we Get what we Create, and we Create what we Expect to Happen…and we Expect what we Think About! What you think about, comes about!

Near the end, Mr. Hardy gives a formula by Brian Tracy in his book “Focal Point” with respect to how to increase your income by 1,000% – take a listen! It’s super interesting!

Could you increase your output by 1/10th of 1% every day? Sure! Anyone could do that! If you do it each day of the week, that means 1/2% each week improvement. By year 10, you will be performing and earning 1,000% what you are right now! Just 1/10th of 1% of improvement every day – not a massive effort all at once, but just a bit every day. Like the old question: How do you eat an elephant? Answer: One bite at a time.

Darren Hardy Day Fourteen