Self-Help/$24.95 . . . D E S I G N You CAN Design It! Y O U R B E S T Y E A R E » BOOST your income » IMPROVE your looks, confidence, and energy V E R From the publisher of SUCCESS magazine comes the proven » CREATE more passionate and loving relationships » EXPAND your business formula for making this your BEST YEAR EVER! » BECOME debt-free » FOSTER happier, more self-confident children A Design Your Best Year Ever is SUCCESS publisher Darren Hardy’s simple and Pr o v easy-to-execute formula for achieving your big goals. Insights that will alter the e » PURCHASE your dream house » ACHIEVE a richer, more fulfilled, purpose-driven life n potential of your future forever include: F o r m u (cid:116)(cid:1) Avoid the fatal mistake most make in setting goals. You might be setting la f o yourself up to fail, even before you get started. r Design Your Best Year Ever is Darren Hardy’s simple and easy- (cid:116)(cid:1) Learn why 95% of people give up on their New Year’s A c to-execute formula for achieving your big goals. Insights that resolutions within 2–3 weeks and how to ensure you h ie will alter the potentia(cid:116)l(cid:1) of Gyoou rf rfoumtu rgeo faorl esveetrt iinncgl utode g: oal achieving. Didsocno’tv seurf ftehre t h“em saagmice ffaatcet.or” that v in makes the big difference in obtaining your goals. g B (cid:116)(cid:1) Avoid the fatal mistake most make in setting goals. (cid:116)(cid:1) Invoke your creative power to attract the people, IG You might be setting yourself up to fail, even before circumstances, resources, and guidance you need to G (cid:116)(cid:1) Learn why 95% of people give up on their New Year’s resolutions within O A you get started. achieve your wildly ambitious goals. L 2–3 weeks and how to ensure you don’t suffer the same fate. S (cid:116)(cid:1) Go from goal setting to goal achieving. Discover the “magic Design Your Best Year Ever will will help you create the life you factor” that make(cid:116)s(cid:1) theI nbvigo dkieff eyroeuncr ec irne oabttiavieni npgo ywouerr g tooa last.tracwt etrhee m peeaonpt tloe ,l icveir—cusmo ssttaarnt cyoeusr, best year EVER today! resources, and guidance you need to achieve your wildly ambitious goals. Design Your Best Year Ever will help you create the life you were meant to live— so start your best year EVER today! D A R R E N H A Darren Hardy has been engaging and inspiring R D audiences with his messages of personal Y achievement for more than 15 years. A product of the success principles he teaches, Darren became a businessman at age 18, and by age 27 was a self- made millionaire. He is now the publisher and by editorial director of SUCCESS magazine as well as a private-equity investor and board member www.SUCCESS.com to several multimedia companies. www.SUCCESS.com No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the publisher. For more information, contact SUCCESS Books. © 2008 SUCCESS Media. All rights reserved. Published by SUCCESS Books, an imprint of SUCCESS Media. 200 Swisher Road Lake Dallas, Texas 75065 U.S.A. Toll-free: 866-SUCCESS (782-2377) www.SUCCESS.com SUCCESS is a registered trademark and SUCCESS Books is a trademark of R&L Publishing, Ltd. Printed in the United States of America Cover design by Floro Torres Layout by Greg Luther Edited by J.M. Emmert ISBN-13: 978-0-9819512-0-1 by “Dream no small dreams for they have no power to move the hearts of men.” ~ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Contents Preface ........................................................................................................................vii Acknowledgments .......................................................................................................xi Introduction ................................................................................................................xiii Step 1. Why Set Goals? .................................................................................................1 Step 2. Year in Review ..................................................................................................5 Step 3. Start in Gratitude ..............................................................................................9 Step 4. Guidelines .......................................................................................................13 Step 5. The Design ......................................................................................................17 Step 6. The Magic Factor ............................................................................................27 Step 7. Execution & Sustainability ..............................................................................35 Step 7.5 The Shortcut .................................................................................................49 Your Best Year Ever .....................................................................................................53 ACHIEVEMENT PLANNER Achievement Tracking System ...................................................................................57 Support Resources ...................................................................................................135 “Thought is the blossom; language the bud; action the fruit behind it.” ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson Preface N o matter how last year was for you… this year can be even better. If it was great, you can parlay that success to make next year truly extraordinary. If it was less than great, this is your chance to punch the reset button and start fresh. When the page flips on the calendar and you wake up on January 1… THAT could be the day… the first day of your BEST YEAR EVER. A new year gives you that chance… the promise that no matter what’s happened in the past or where you are today, you can recreate yourself. You can decide that THIS IS IT… THIS is the year you set out to accomplish your dreams. THIS is the year you live the life you were meant to live. You can design this year to be your best year yet. How? There is a formula. We all have the ability to achieve the seemingly impossible. The key is properly inciting your creative power, revving up your inner drive, and channeling your focus over a sustained period. It’s all about setting goals. vii I have had 20 years of refined study in the practice and execution of goal-setting. I know a lot has been written and taught on the subject, but the process isn’t as complex, all-consuming, or mysterious as you think. The one discipline most responsible for the abundance in my life is my learning how to set, stick to, and achieve well-designed goals. Something almost magical happens when you organize and focus your creative power on a well-defined target. I know it works. And that’s why I have written Design Your Best Year Ever. It’s my 7.5-point plan for achieving your wildest ambitions in the year ahead. The formula I have developed synthesizes hundreds of books, seminars, trials, errors, and victories I have proven to work into a plan for how to design, execute, and achieve big goals. Here’s what we’ll cover: In Step 1: I’ll review why goals must be set—you had better know WHY you are setting your goals before you get lost in the HOW of achieving them. In Step 2: I’ll spend some time on an important process I call “Plan, Do, Review.” We’ll take a look at last year to see what worked for you and determine what needs to be changed for the upcoming year. In Steps 3 and 4: I’ll discuss how to arouse and guide your subconscious and creative power to draw to you what you wish, not push it away. In Step 5: I’ll help you design the person you have always wanted to be. We’ll set balanced goals for every area of your life—professional, financial, physical, mental, family, spiritual, and lifestyle. viii ix In Step 6: I’ll reveal the “magic factor” I discovered in turning goal-setting into goal-achieving. In Step 7: I’ll give you my learned strategies for ensuring you will gain momentum in your goal-achievement rather than suffering the same fate as 95 percent of the people who set goals or make New Year’s resolutions. And the .5 of the 7.5 plan? It’s the shortcut—the simplified version to goal-achievement. Don’t let another year go by without living the life you were meant to live. Make this year the year you see your dreams come true. Let Design Your Best Year Ever help you achieve your big goals in life. So go ahead. Start making this your BEST YEAR EVER! viii ix “Feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not giving it.” ~ William Arthur Ward