Brian Johnson (Heroic +1 #1,448) presents Brian Tracy’s central claim that the most successful people are long-term thinkers: they envision desired futures, then choose present behaviors to realize them. Johnson highlights two supporting ideas: (1) the ability to delay gratification (Marshmallow Test; Daniel Goleman) as a key predictor of later success, and (2) vertical coherence among short-, mid-, and long-term goals (research by Ken Sheldon and Tim Kasser, noted by Jonathan Haidt). He emphasizes self-discipline, notes his personal practice of tracking 101 daily targets in the Heroic app, and points listeners to related resources (other Brian Tracy books and linked videos).
Chapters
Hi, this is Brian. Welcome back to another heroic plos one. In our last plus one we talked about some Aristotelian wisdom delivered via Brian Tracy and confirmed by Tom Morris and Sony Lyubomirsky on the fact that we are teleological beings. Telos equals targets. And to recap ancient wisdom and modern science agree eudaimonically flourishing human beings have clear targets. Do you know this? ALL CAPS. This is why I hit 101 targets in the heroic app every single day. Insert Target emoji times 101. Today we're going to continue our exploration of wisdom from Brian Tracy's great book no Excuses Note. If you want some more old school self development wisdom from Mr. Tracy. Highly recommended. Check out our notes on maximum achievement. Eat that frog. Focal Point and Goals. Truly life changing books. Tons of ideas in there I think you'll enjoy. Now Brian Tracy tells us, and I quote, in other words, the most successful people are long term thinkers. They look into the future as far as they can to determine the kind of people they want to become and the goals they want to achieve. They then come back to the present and determine the things that they will have to do or not do to achieve their desired futures. Long term thinking not only is it a key to success, it's also a key to happiness and flourishing. Two things I want to highlight here. Number one, the ability to delay gratification and number two, the importance of coherence among our goals. Short term, midterm, long term. First, delaying gratification. We talk about this in the Note on Emotional Intelligence by Daniel Goleman and the Marshmallow Test. The Notes on the Marshmallow Test by Walter Mischel and a bunch of other places. Here's the quick recap. Kids were tested in a lab and offered a choice. Tiny little kids, two marshmallows. If they could wait until the experimenter ran an errand while they waited in the lab. Just a little room staring at a marshmallow or one if they wanted to eat that marshmallow immediately. Whether they were able to delay gratification, wait for the experimenter to come back and get two marshmallows as a four year old was a greater predictor of their SAT scores at whatever that is, 16, 17 than their IQ. That's crazy. Their ability to delay gratification was an incredible predictor. Goleman says, and I quote, there is perhaps no psychological skill more fundamental than resisting impulse. Then there's the importance of coherence among our goals. We know that having long term and short term goals that line up and are coherent is super important for our overall happiness. As Jonathan Haidt tells us in the Happiness Hypothesis, the psychologists Ken Sheldon and Tim Kasser have found that people who are mentally healthy and happy have a higher degree of vertical coherence among their goals. That is, Higher level long term goals and lower level immediate goals all fit together well so that pursuing one's short term goals advances the pursuit of long term goals. It's obvious, but powerful to think about. And back to Brian Tracy who tells us, I quote him, successful people make sure that everything they do in the short term is consistent with where they want to end up in the long term. They practice. He says self discipline at all times, and he means that literally. Of course none of us are perfect, but that's today's plus one. Here's to the self mastery that gives us the power to delay gratification while pursuing coherent goals. Know this. Done right. Somewhat paradoxically, nothing is more instantly enjoyable than that. Day 1 All in. Let's go Hero Psych For a practical demonstration of how I personally set goals for 2023, 2025, 2030 and 2051, you may enjoy a video we link to in the plus one and notes pps. We have a longer chat on the subject of how to enjoy the whole process of actualizing now in a plus one called Flow Junkies how to attain super you Mastery Sans Misery inspired by Steven Kotler's the Rise of Superman. Check that out. It's linked as well.
