Brian Tracy presents a short framework that groups nearly all life goals into four categories: happy relationships, interesting and challenging work, financial independence, and good health. He emphasizes that peace of mind and focused attention amplify success across these areas: what you dwell on grows.
Over the course of your lifetime, you may have had a thousand different goals. Think about it. How many goals have you made for yourself in the past year? Well, all of these goals will fall into one of four basic categories. Everything you do is an attempt to enhance the quality of your life in one or more of these four areas. The first category is your desire for happy relationships. You want to love and be loved by others. You want to have a happy, harmonious home life. You want to get along well with the people around you. And you want to earn the respect of the people you respect. Your involvement in social and community affairs results from your desire to have happy interactions with others and to make a contribution to the society you live in. This is really normal and healthy. The second category of goals is your desire for interesting and challenging work. You want to make a good living, of course, but more than that, you want to really enjoy your occupation or profession. The very best times of your life is when you are completely absorbed in your work. The third category of goals is your desire for financial independence. You want to be free from worries about money. You want to have enough money in the bank so that you can make decisions without counting your pennies. You want to achieve a certain financial status so that you can retire in comfort and never have to be concerned about whether or not you have enough money to support your lifestyle. Financial independence frees you from poverty and a need to depend upon others for your livelihood. If you save and invest regularly throughout your working life, you will eventually reach the point where you'll never have to work again. The fourth and final category of goals is your desire for good health, to be free of pain and illness and to have a continuous flow of energy and feelings of well being. In fact, your health is so central to your life that you you take it for granted until something happens to disrupt it. Now, peace of mind is essential for every one of these. The greater your peace of mind, the more relaxed and positive you are, the less stress you suffer and the better is your overall health. The more peace of mind you have, the better are your relationships. The more optimistic and friendly and confident you are with everyone in your life. When you feel good about yourself on the inside, you do your work better and take more pride in it. You're a better boss and co worker and the greater your overall peace of mind, the more likely you are to earn a good living, save regularly for the future, and ultimately achieve financial independence. Life is very much a study of attention. Whatever you dwell upon and think about grows and expands in your life. The more you pay attention to your relationships, the quality and quantity of your work, your finances and your health, the better they will become and the happier you will be.
