I’ve found that many (most) self-help books are a flash in the pan. They might sound great at the onset, but once you dig into them, you realize fairly quickly that there is no content there at all. Thankfully, this was not one of those books.

First, I wish more non-fiction books were organized like this. The author didn’t spend a lot of time blending the information into tightly packed paragraphs, interspersed with mundane and meaningless stories. This was simply a list of 100 approaches for someone to increase their motivation level. This is the camp I fell in, having an airtight list of short, mid, and long-range goals, but so often finding myself simply unmotivated to take action on them. Thankfully, I took away a long list of usefully and, hopefully, effective notes.

I compiled my notes into three main categories: Visualization, Planning, and Actions (translated: everything else). Let me hit some of the takeaways:

• Imagine what/who you want to be and then “live-into” that image as if it were already true.
• Think up stories/scenarios of what/who you want to be and live out those fantasies in your mind. Draw them.
• Do not visualize the results of failure, but the rewards of success. Advertise your goals to yourself and make a marketing case for how you can achieve them.
• Take your visualization of who/what you want to be and then plan backwards, determining with measurable steps to where you are now, what you have to do to accomplish your goal.
• If you’re goals are not exciting your imagination, if they are not inspiring and breathtaking, they are too small, too vague and will not create the reality you want.
• Define your masterpiece today? what do you want it to look like? who is the artist? You? or Blind circumstance? How do you want to paint your day? approach each day this way. the key is not your large goals, but the small tasks that are required to achieve them. small wins make bigger wins easier.
• Each day:  draw 4 squares on a paper labeled: day, month, year, life write down in each what you want  this will re-orient your mind each day toward your goals.
• Accept the existence of your will power will power is a muscle that must be exercised. Design an exercise routine for developing your will power

This is just a partial list. I’m really drawn lately to the Psycho-Cybernetic concept of visualization and this book spends a lot of time discussing the concepts of it quite well. My last attempt at such a visualizing program was supposed to last at least 21 days, but I think I gave up at day 7. Time to try it out again.