In Conversation: 5 Takeaways From Brian Tracy's Talk With Denis Waitley

BY LA TRIBUNE EDITORIAL TEAM

International Best-Selling Author and Motivational Speaker Brian Tracy and Self-Development Living Legend Denis Waitley got up close and personal during The New Psychology of Winning Tour. In this historical live-streamed event hosted by The Los Angeles Tribune, these two powerhouse speakers discussed the power and possibility of change. From this, we captured five key takeaways to win in life and business.

First, growth and advancement are based on one’s response-ability, that is, one’s ability to respond well in the face of adversity.

Brian Tracy expounded on this by citing how every civilization started as a small tribe of people who were invariably attacked by another tribe. When they were attacked, they had to reorganize, respond and fight back.

Tracy further explains how the tribe that wins will grow and repeatedly gets into conflict with another tribe. They would once again reorganize, respond and fight back. And when they win against the new tribe, they grow, reorganize, and eventually fight another tribe.

He shared his favorite example of this evolution in the person of Genghis Khan, someone Tracy himself had studied for hundreds of hours.He narrates that Khan’s tribe was wiped out with just him, his mother, and his brother escaping, later finding protection from an uncle. Genghis Khan then went ahead and built the greatest empire in the history of the world, starting with that small tribe of three.

Tracy says that it is the same with all the other empires he studied and that they all underwent the same evolution. “Every society continued to grow as long as it continued to accept responsibility and fight back. But whenever it reaches a point when they start to make excuses, blame other people and sell out to the enemy, then the society collapses.”

He then addressed viewers who were engaging with him as appreciative messages flashed on the screen during this live streaming. Comparing this evolution of early civilizations with business, he shared in a heartfelt tone that “in life whenever you start off, you’re gonna have to attack, and counter attack and learn; and take in new lessons and try new things, and fail and fall down and get back again. And if you do it right, and you keep doing it, then you will survive, and you will grow, and you’ll become a big success. So, therefore, you gotta tell people, you’re gonna have big challenges in life.”

Responding well in challenging times will help you devise the best plans to navigate those tough periods and set you up on an even greater path. As Confucius once said, “Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.”

Second, be empowered, not entitled. In response to Brian Tracy, Denis Waitley talked about the value of meritocracy, which he defined as “being a person of merit, meaning using whatever you have inside of you to make the best you possibly can achieve by merit, rather than just by need.” He further explained, “if you expect to be entitled, it is very difficult to be empowered. It’s very difficult to use empowerment if you feel entitlement.”

By taking charge of your situations and doing everything you can to solve issues, you empower yourself, increasing your chances of success. After all, you are only empowered by what you believe you can do.

Third, make money by creating value. As Brian Tracy talked about the book he’s currently writing, book #92, entitled Make More Money, he cites that “millionaires are always looking for ways to create value and to add value to other people - always looking at the world as what can I do to bring value, to improve people’s lives. And when they see an idea, then they throw their whole hearts into it because they know that’s how you make money”.

Millionaires are only rich because they add value to drive positive outcomes in many facets of their lives. Furthermore, it is imperative to acquaint yourself with how rich people think. What they do before they sleep and after waking up, and how they spend their weekends. Look at their mindsets, habits, and self-discipline, which brings us to our 4th point.

Fourth, self-discipline is an important recipe for success. According to Tracy, “Albert Hubbard, a great writer and thinker, said the key to success is selfdiscipline, and self-discipline is defined as doing what you should do when you should do it, whether you feel like it or not.”

Stressing that fact, he reiterated that anyone could do what they need to do when they feel like it, but it doesn’t earn anyone credit. It’s when you don’t feel like doing it, but you still have to that selfdiscipline matters.

Tracy simplifies it by encouraging the viewers and listeners that “Anything you do repeatedly becomes a new habit. And everything is hard before it gets easy.” He emphasized how he loves that last part.

“Once you develop the habit by repeatedly practicing it, it becomes easier and easier, and then it becomes automatic,” he continued. He then sums it up, saying, “discipline yourself to start and complete your most important task.”

And for the fifth and last one, Tracy drops the bomb with his best advice on time management which he claims has made many millionaires: “decide the most important thing you can possibly do right now, start doing it, and stay with it until it’s done. That’s it. Go home. Be rich.”