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Introduction “Accept that all of us can be hurt; that all of us can and surely will at times fail. I think we should follow a simple rule: If we can take the worst, take the risk.” (Dr. Joyce Brothers)

The great “Secret of Success” is that there are no secrets of success. There are simply timeless principles that have been discovered and rediscovered throughout all of

human history, in every field, by every successful person.

Some of the most powerful principles are also the easiest to learn and the easiest to apply. Your successes and failures in life, your happiness or unhappiness, can usually be traced to one or two things that are either going right or going wrong. In working with thousands of successful men and women, we have found that they focus on a core of powerful ideas and convictions that enable them to maintain a sense of control in their lives and to be more effective in everything they do. In this lesson you will learn:

■ A simple formula for success

■ The three major challenges of modern life

■ The importance of clarity as a tool of effectiveness

■ The keys to goal setting

■ Seven kinds of courage and how to develop them

■ The three Cs of success

■ The key to success in every field

The Three Cs of Success

PersonalGrowth Strategies

2© Brian Tracy. All rights reserved. The contents, or parts thereof, may not be reproduced in any form for any purpose without the written permission of Brian Tracy.

What Do You Already Know?

Test your knowledge by attempting to answer the questions below.

1. What is your personal success formula? And how well does it work for you?

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2. How does change disrupt our lives and cause anxiety and stress?

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3. What is the key to achieving mental and emotional stability and equilibrium?

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4. What are the key determinants or motivators of your behavior?

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5. How do you develop values in yourself if you haven’t learned them as you grew up?

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6. What kinds of goals do you need for an effective life?

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7. What must you absolutely, positively be excellent at doing to be successful in your field?

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The Three Cs of Success

1. The Three Cs of Success is a simple formula to apply in every part of your life.

a) These three simple ideas are based on more than 25 years of research

and are practiced by all successful people;

b) No success is possible in your home or business life without them;

c) These three ideas require a lifelong commitment if they are to work for you in the very best way.

21There are three major problems or challenges facing us today. Your ability to deal with these challenges effectively determines the quality of your life.

a) Unpredictable, continuous and unavoidable change throws us out of our comfort zone even before we have an opportunity to settle in;

b) Rapid change causes us to feel that we are losing the sense of control we need for mental equilibrium;

c) Stress, anxiety and frustration, expressed in drug addiction, alcoholism, overeating and unhappiness are at epidemic proportions today.

3. In order to achieve mental and emotional equilibrium we need to establish absolute Clarity, the first “C” and the key to regaining control.

a) What are your values? This is the most important statement about you

as a person;

1) What do you stand for? Believe in?

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2) Values are the core of your personality; the axle around which your life turns;

3) Your values are the key motivators or determinants of your behavior;

4) Organize your values by priority. What is more important and what is less important?

5) What should your values be? What could they be? If you were a “perfect person” in every respect?

6) The Law of Reversibility says that you can develop values in yourself by acting as if you already had them;

b) What is your ideal future vision for yourself?

1) Imagine falling asleep for five years and waking up to find that everything is perfect. What do you see?

2) Imagine absolutely no limits on what you could be, have or do;

3) Imagine having all the time and money in the world;

c) Your mission statement: How do you want to be thought of, described by others in your world?

1) Your mission for yourself is based on your values;

2) Your mission is a crystallization of your vision of your ideal future;

3) Describe it in ideal, present-tense words, as if it were already true; use words like “I am,” “I do,” “I have.”

4) Your mission statement allows you to design your future;

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d) What are your goals? These are the tangible expressions of your values, vision and mission;

1) Your personal and family goals?

2) Your career and professional goals?

3) Your financial and material goals?

4) Your health and wellness goals?

5) Your community and service goals?

6. Your inner and outer development goals?

e) Your goals are the blueprint for your life. They are the preview of your life’s coming attractions;

1) They must be clear, specific and written in detail;

2) Your goals must be measurable and objective, believable and achievable;

3) They must be time-bound, with deadlines and sub-deadlines.

4. The second “C” is Competence, the key to success in every field.

a) What must you absolutely, positively be excellent at doing to be successful in your field?

b) What are the key result areas of your work?

c) What is your weakest current skill? How could you improve in that area?

d) What standards of performance would put you in the excellent category?

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e) What one skill, if you did it in an excellent fashion, would have the greatest positive impact on your career?

f) What key skills will you need in the future to stay at the top of your field?

g) Make a plan to be the best in your field and set it as a “do-it-to-yourself” project.

5. Courage, the third “C,” is vital to personal power and resilience in a time of great change.

a) You need the courage to launch with faith and without any guarantees of success;

b) You need the courage to deal with uncertainty every day;

c) You need the courage to risk failure over and over on the road to success;

d) You need the courage to try new ideas, new methods and new directions;

e) You need the courage to stay the course, to practice patience;

f) You need the courage that is developed by practicing being courageous;

g) “Act as if it were impossible to fail, and it shall be;”

h) “Act boldly and unseen forces will come to your aid;”

i) “CARpe DIem”– seize the day!

j) Persistence is the flip side of courage;

1) You need the persistence to endure in the face of adversity;

2) You need the persistence to keep going when you seem to be making little progress;

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3) You need the persistence to try once more after you have failed;

4) You need the persistence to never, never give up, no matter how hard it gets.

6. The Three Cs of Success have been the same throughout all the ages of man.

a) Clarity is knowing exactly who you are and what you want, and then

dedicating yourself to achieving it;

b) Competence – resolve to be very, very good at whatever you decide to do;

c) Courage – launch toward your goals, with faith, and persist in the face of all difficulties and adversity.

7. Your success rate, if you persist, will be as high as 95 percent.

There is virtually nothing you cannot accomplish if you want it long enough and hard enough and are willing to pay the price.

Most unhappiness in life is caused by people not being clear about who they are, what they stand for, where they are going or what they want.

Most of the frustration in the world of work comes from people who are not particularly good at what they do because no one has ever told them how important it is to develop competence. And most of our fears come from lacking the courage to move boldly in the direction of our dreams.

When you develop higher levels of Clarity, Competence and Courage, you will experience a kind of success and happiness that is unknown to most people.

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Action exercises

1. What are the three major areas of stress that change is causing in your life and work today?

1. ________________________________________________________________

2. ________________________________________________________________ 3. ________________________________________________________________

2. In what three areas do you need to become more clear and focused in order to be more effective?

1. ________________________________________________________________

2. ________________________________________________________________ 3. ________________________________________________________________

3. What are your most important values as they affect your life and work?

1. ________________________________________________________________ 2. ________________________________________________________________

3. ________________________________________________________________

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4. What actions could you take to develop your desired values if you don’t already possess them?

1. ________________________________________________________________

2. ________________________________________________________________

3. ________________________________________________________________

5. What are your three major goals in your work and career?

1. ________________________________________________________________ 2. ________________________________________________________________ 3. ________________________________________________________________

6. What are the three most important skills that you will need to achieve your most important goals?

1. ________________________________________________________________

2. ________________________________________________________________ 3. ________________________________________________________________

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7. In what three areas of your life do you need to develop higher levels of courage and persistence if you want to realize your full potential?

1. ________________________________________________________________ 2. ________________________________________________________________

3. ________________________________________________________________

What one action are you going to take immediately as the result of what you have learned in this lesson?

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