Designing the Best 10 Years of Your Life:
Your Personal Strategic Plan for Achieving Lifelong Goals by Darren Hardy

Starting January, 5th 2010

Before we get started next week, I wanted to share with you a personal message about WHY I am doing this program… And why for FREE (I always like to know someone’s motivation)… And a little bit more about HOW it will work.

Please view my video message below:

Happy new year everyone!

Have fun, be safe and get ready!!

Next week we start the process of Designing the Best 10 Years of Your Life.

This program is jam-packed with information to help you unearth your greatest dreams, desires and inner potential.

You’ll learn how to accelerate your life faster, go farther and live grander than you ever dared imagine.

In fact, we have so much ground to cover I wanted to offer some preliminary insights this week to help you gear up for our adventure.

Read the Introduction to Designing the Best 10 Years of Your Life, if you didn’t get the opportunity last week.

Here’s what I’m going to cover:

WHY goal setting is important—it’s good to know why before we jump into how.
HOW it actually works—it’s not as magical and mystical as you might think.
WHY most people fail at achieving goals—don’t miss this or you might fail as well.
HOW this program is going to work—setting your sights and expectations for the process.
WHY I am doing this (for FREE) —I think it is always important to know one’s motivation behind their actions. I’ll explain mine here.

WHY Goal Setting Is Important

When I attended the funeral of Paul J. Meyer, I was reminded how full, rich and diverse a life he led. He achieved, experienced and contributed more than the lives of the average 20 people combined. Reading his obituary made me reassess the speed, quantity and sheer size of the goals I want to set for myself.

If Paul were here he would tell you, the reason for the quality and quantity of his successes came down to one skill: setting, sticking to and staying committed to BIG goals. In fact he wrote one of the first programs on the topic called “The Dynamics of Personal Goal Setting.” A couple of ideas I’ll share with you come from my studies and practices of this program.

The Two Common Traits of Superachievers

I am often asked what common traits I observe as I interview and get to know many of today’s superachievers. The answer is easy because those common factors are shared by nearly 100 percent of top achievers. They are:

1) A relentless commitment to constant learning and;
2) Clear goals expressed in a beautifully crafted document detailing their plans to achieve them.

Business 101: Goal Setting

You’ve probably read about the Harvard study below, but it’s worth reviewing again as we dedicate some significant time and energy to our decision to get serious about designing the life we want to lead.

Mark McCormick in his book What They Don’t Teach You at Harvard Business School tells of a Harvard study conducted between 1979 and 1989.

In 1979, graduates of the MBA program were asked to set clear written goals for their future and their plans to accomplish them. It turned out only 3 percent of the graduates had written goals, 13 percent had goals but they were not in writing and 84 percent had no specific goals at all–aside from getting out of school and enjoying the summer.

Ten years later, in 1989, the researchers again interviewed the members of that same graduating class. They found that the 13 percent who had goals that were not in writing were earning, on average, twice as much as the 84 percent of students who had no goals at all. Most surprisingly, they found that the 3 percent of graduates who had clear, written goals were earning, on average, 10 times more than 97 percent of their graduating class. The only difference between the groups was the clarity of goals they had set (and spelled out) for themselves when they graduated.

Now if you knew that stretching several hours out over eight weeks to devote to strategic goal-setting could multiply the results in your life by 10—surpassing the accomplishments of your peers, competitors, family members and neighbors—and produce 10 times more than what you are likely to achieve without defining your goals on paper—would you do it? Would it be worth it? Easy answer, but we’ll see. (Make sure you’re still here February 25 for our last installment).

The Killer Advantage
read more »

I hate chitchat. Hate it.

I know I am probably (not probably, definitely am) an overly intense person. I want to be engaged in something that is meaningful and “on purpose” at all times—even when I am “off” and not working. To sit around and shoot-the-(well, you know) and talk about the weather, football scores or the latest celebrity gossip pains me beyond belief. Ask my wife: A conversation goes shallow, and I’ll go in the other room and read a book or find something else “productive” to do.

So when I know I am going into chitchat terrain (like holiday parties and family functions) I gear myself up and review my chitchat strategy.

Here is what I know for sure:

• People like to talk about themselves—a la Winning Friends and Influencing People.

• I really don’t like talking about myself or what’s going on in my life—I already know all that, and it bores me to hear myself talk about it. (And I know most people don’t really care; they are just waiting for their turn to talk about themselves. Seriously, no joke, see above point)

• I love to learn and am in constant pursuit of life’s distinctions. If I am going to engage in chitchat (heaven help me), I want to learn something. I want to walk away with a new idea, tip or distinction I didn’t have before the conversation. And I believe I can learn something from anyone.

• It’s up to me to make the conversation interesting. Considering the above (people really only want to talk about themselves, and I don’t, but I want to learn something), the key is to be ready with interesting and inquisitive questions. Anyone who knows me knows I am always asking questions (and it isn’t about Britney Spears or Snoop Dog news). The key is to have a series of great and insightful questions ready.

Want some help with creating great questions that get people talking about their greatest passions, hopes, dreams, ambitions and ideas?

If so, I will now give you my “on purpose” chitchat formula…
read more »

We are entering a brand new decade.

Think about where you were 10 years ago, when we began a new millennium, the year 2000. Seems like only yesterday, right?

Are you where you’d thought you’d be 10 years later, when you looked forward back then?

Are you leading the life you envisioned?

Do you have the income, lifestyle, freedom, health, relationships, poise and skills you thought you would have by now?

Well, now you get another chance to look forward to the next 10 years. This time, what are you going to do different so the next 10 years aren’t just more of the same?

Creating a Strategic Plan of Action for Your Life

Whether you know it or not, you are a multimillion-dollar enterprise. That is how much you will actually earn over a lifetime. Any multimillion-dollar business needs a comprehensive business plan and a well-designed strategic plan of action. To do business without one means nearly certain disaster. The same holds true for your life.

Over a period of eight weeks, starting January 5, I will take you through the entire process of designing a life plan that will set you apart from anyone else you know. Over the next 10 years you can accomplish what people spend a lifetime trying to do. I’ll give you the formula for accomplishing the big goals in life you might have thought were impossible for you. It’s a lot simpler than you think, but you need the formula, process and plan of action to get there. I’ll take you step by step through that designing process.

People have paid upwards of $1,500 to attend workshops of mine on this process. I am going to take you through the complete system and give you all the proprietary worksheets and supporting documents, audio and video resource tools completely FREE!

Simply register with your e-mail address in the upper right corner of this page (http://DarrenHardy.SUCCESS.com) and the 16 installments and all the supporting resources will be sent to you over the eight-week series.

In the meantime, refresh, rejuvenate and rejoice this holiday season. Get yourself set and ready to experience the Best 10 Years of Your Life!

Jim Rohn - picture I took at a private lunch I had with him.

Today is a very sad day.

No amount of positive thinking will change this.

The most influential man in my life, second only to my biological father, died today.

This morning at 2:30AM Pacific time my mentor, my philosophical father, Mr. Jim Rohn passed away.

I owe much of my personality, grit and determination to my dad. But when my own parents hardly recognize me it is because Jim took over and carried me beyond where my parents could.

Jim cemented my philosophical foundation and nourished my mind with ideas and ambitions never before imagined. Jim chiseled my character seminar by seminar, tape by tape, book by book, then CD by CD, hour by hour.

Jim emboldened my belief, in me and in my most daring dreams. When I fell and was bloodied, Jim was there with encouraging words to help me get back up. When I didn’t think I could go on, Jim convinced me I was stronger than I imagined. When I wanted a short cut, Jim reminded me aren’t any. Even when I got too caught up in trying to achieve and succeed, Jim compelled me to leave room to live, to laugh and to love.

All that I am and all that I have become is due in large part to one man, the man I lost today. I have never lost anyone who has meant more to me than Jim Rohn has meant to my life. This is a new experience for me.

I know I am not the only one who lost a friend, teacher or mentor today. Jim Rohn positively influenced the lives of millions of people all over the world.

Many people try and take this occasion to celebrate the deceased life. That is fine and I will, maybe tomorrow, but today my heart hurts.

I am trying to make my life count and when I am gone I want to be missed. Jim Rohn’s life counted, immensely. Now that he is no longer walking amongst us, he is missed, deeply… very deeply.

There is some good news to this, for you. read more »