Focal Point: A Proven System to Simplify Your Life, Double Your Productivity, and Achieve All Your Goals [Hardcover]

Brian Tracy (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 26, 2001

Discover the true secrets of high achievers, discover your "focal point". The "focal point" is the one thing you should do at any given moment to get the best possible results in each area of your life. In this guide, author Brian Tracy, brings together ideas on personal management in a simple, easy-to-use plan to help readers analyze their lives in seven key areas and develop a goal and plan in each area. Learn how to gain control of your life, achieve success and be happy and fulfilled.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Focal Point is author and motivational speaker Brian Tracy's latest guide to professional and personal development. Combining the basic principles of career success and life balance he has advocated in the past with anecdotes for inspiration, the book proposes a unified approach to simultaneously achieving improvement at work and at home. The crux is finding the "focal point" in all pertinent areas--business, family, finances, health--and then launching a seven-step "personal strategic plan" that "helps you identify exactly what is most important to you ... identify what you need to do to achieve your most important goals (and) determine the steps you have to take to get from wherever you are to wherever you want to go." Tracy shows quite explicitly how to incorporate the specific phases of the process, including Values, Vision, Goals, Knowledge and Skills, Habits, Daily Activities, and Actions, into a drive for long-term growth and overall advancement. Not all who follow Tracy's program will find their incomes doubled and work hours pared while their personal relationships blossom, of course, but anyone who applies it diligently should see definite improvement. --Howard Rothman

Review

“…his [Tracy’s] book offers relief to frustrated business people with too many professional and personal demands on their time — which is to say, all of us.”

--Time.com

“This is a book that must be reread whenever you think you’ve lost your focus.”

— Jim Pawlak, syndicated columnist

“After reading this book, you can accomplish more in the next couple of years than most people achieve in a lifetime!”

— Today’s Chicago Woman

“If you want to strengthen your life, your effectiveness, and your happiness, you’ll discover a great friend in Focal Point. And you’ll probably recommend it to your friends.”

--The Midwest Book Review

“…author Brian Tracy packs a punch that could assist anyone…in running their work lives and personal lives more efficiently.”

--The Wire

“Tracy provides timeless truths that have been discovered by effective people throughout the ages….Readers who follow these simple steps will accomplish more in the next couple of years than most people achieve in a lifetime!”

--Solutions Update

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 224 pages
• Publisher: AMACOM (October 26, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0814471293
• ISBN-13: 978-0814471296
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.1 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (43 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #349,856 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Brian Tracy is one of America's leading authorities on the development of human potential and personal effectiveness. A dynamic and inspiring speaker, he addresses thousands of people each year on the subjects of personal and professional development, including the executives and staff of such firms as IBM, Arthur Andersen, McDonnell Douglas, and The Million Dollar Round Table. Prior to founding his own firm, Brian Tracy International, he had successful careers in sales and marketing, investments, real estate development, distribution, and management consulting. Tracy is the author of thirteen previous books including the bestselling book Maximum Achievement. He is also the author/narrator of numerous bestselling audiocassette programs, including The Psychology of Achievement and How to Start and Succeed in Your Own Business.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

102 of 104 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars "X" marks the spot; solid concepts yet repetitive., March 8, 2002

By 

R. Shaff "Velocipede" (USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Focal Point: A Proven System to Simplify Your Life, Double Your Productivity, and Achieve All Your Goals (Hardcover)

Brian Tracy is one of the premier motivational/professional development speakers in the U.S. today. He has written several books and given hundreds of seminars (and continues to do so) on the subject(s). FOCAL POINT is his latest offering; a self-proclaimed process previously available only to his private clients who "unhesitatingly" paid thousands of dollars for his private coaching. While I have no doubt about this fact (that clients have paid thousands of dollars), this represents a bit of unnecessary commercial hype. Regardless, Mr. Tracy's reputation and knowledge base command attention.

The Focal Point Process is simplistically defined as self-analysis (introspection) of the actions/areas generating the best results in various aspects of one's life and those actions/areas consuming inordinate amounts of one's time yet generating moderate-to-poor results. After this bit of introspection, Tracy informs the reader to apply "Zero-based Thinking" to each activity: "Knowing what I know now, if I were not doing this now, would I start it up again today?" In other words, even though I perform this task/duty periodically, if I had the choice to start again, would I continue to perform this task/duty? This type of conceptual thinking is truly the poignant theme within the book and, in my opinion, germane and applicable to most.

Tracy leaks in more commercial tripe with the lead-in, "Double your income, double your time off" on page 9. This "claim" is based on the well-publicized yet empirically correct 80/20 rule. The 80/20 rule stipulates that one spends 80% of one's time generating 20% of one's results while 20% of one's time is spent generating 80% of one's results. With a few general exceptions, this rule is accurate, particularly to one's professional life. Tracy then takes this concept a step further and says if one were to 'concentrate' on the 20% activities and eliminate the 80% activities, one will have the capability to "double your income, double your time off." Not an altogether dismissive thought yet, once again, commercial.

The meat of FOCAL POINT is then spent on identifying the various Focal Points ("X" marks the spot is his mantra) in the reader's life, illustrating the concept of Zero-based Thinking to each area and finally proposing application of the 80/20 rule to each. While this is repetitive in nature, it is a reasonable roadmap to develop a personal/professional foundation for future achievement. In many ways, Tracy takes our current day modeling guru, Anthony Robbins, to task by implying that success can be achieved through self-analysis and introspection and modeling the 20% tasks (as opposed to Robbins' theory of modeling other successful individuals). This is a solid concept.

On page 199, Tracy reaches the finality of his coaching by providing the reader with his "Seven Lessons for the 21st Century" as follows [paraphrasing]:

1. Life gets better when you get better,
2. Where you've been doesn't matter; only where you're going,
3. One must fail to succeed,
4. Freedom comes through development of options,
5. See the good out of every problem or difficulty (i.e. learn the lesson),
6. You can learn anything you need for success through proper goal-setting, and
7. The only limits to success are within your mind.

These "lessons" do not cover any new ground in personal/professional development theory. However, Tracy does provide the reader with a backdrop for practical application and, ultimately, realization of one's goals. A fitting summarization to the book's message.

For anyone new to personal/professional development theory, this is an outstanding book for gleaning conceptual foundations. My only warning is don't EXPECT the "Double your..." theory to come to fruition without much trial-and-error. For those learned in the theories, it is a reasonable refresher and provides a new spin for condensed introspection.

Worth the read.

64 of 65 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Brian Tracy's best work to date, February 17, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Focal Point: A Proven System to Simplify Your Life, Double Your Productivity, and Achieve All Your Goals (Hardcover)

I have many of Brian Tracy's books and audio programs. And while everything Tracy does is excellent, Focal Point, is in my opinion, his best work. It is Brian Tracy's magnum opus---Focal Point has had the greatest impact in my personal and professional life. I Focal Point, Tracy shows you to identify what your focal point is in each area of your life and then asks you to direct all of your energies with laser like focus. Focus is like a laser beam. Just like a laser beam can cut through steel when properly focused and directed, focus as descibed in Focal Point can help you cut through barriers that have been holding you back to achieving your goals.I have a lot of books that I have read and given away. I keep all of Brian Tracy's book and Focal Point is one that I refer to again and again.Good, no, excellent work Mr. Tracy!

71 of 74 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Plenty of Wisdom---and a System, December 28, 2001

By 

Roger E. Herman (Greensboro, NC USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Focal Point: A Proven System to Simplify Your Life, Double Your Productivity, and Achieve All Your Goals (Hardcover)

Personal development, in years past, has been a primary interest among people of all ages. We don't hear as much about the topic today as we used to. Nevertheless, the need is still present . . . perhaps even more than ever before. With so many people today focused on their computers, some have forgotten about the fine art of balanced personal growth.

Brian Tracy is a master in the field of personal and professional development. His speeches, seminars, and consulting around the globe have contributed to Tracy's reputation. He is highly respected and quite influential, particularly among the thousands who attend his presentations each year. As Tracy lived his life, then taught others his system, his approach was continually refined. In Focal Point, it all comes together for anyone who reads the book.

Focal Point explains how users of this tool (you'll do more than just read the words in this book to get its powerful total value) can unlock their full potential. At the same time, using the system will enable you to double your productivity and simplify your life. Of course, this sounds like the makings of a fine motivational speech; Tracy is a motivator. But, this book invests most of its pages in the how-to.

The chapters are filled with the knowledge of the sages in this field. Many teachings will sound familiar-good! In Focal Point, all that advice is pulled together into one place, one system to learn and apply. A listing of the chapter headings will reveal what you will explore in these pages: Tap Your Most Precious Resource, Practice Personal Strategic Planning, Supercharge Your Business and Career, Improve Your Family and Personal Life, Achieve Financial Independence, Enjoy Superb Health and Fitness, Become Everything You Are Capable of Becoming, Make a Difference in Your Community, and Spiritual Development and Inner Peace. Note that these are how-to chapters, filled with things like "Six Steps to Doubling Your Income and Doubling Your Time Off" and "Seven Keys to Higher Productivity." Each chapter includes challenging questions to help you see where you still have some work to do.

Tracy's Focal Point process consists of seven steps to be applied in each area of concern:
values, vision, goals, knowledge and skills, habits, daily activities, and actions. The whole valuable system is explained so you can use the book as a tool to make a substantial difference in yourself, your success, and your personal satisfaction. The book concludes with a chapter on Seven Lessons for the Twenty-First Century, a List of Values, a Recommended Reading list, and an index.

If you want to strengthen your life, your effectiveness, and your happiness, you'll discover a great friend in Focal Point. And you'll probably recommend it to your friends. It's just that kind of a book: it bothers you, makes you uncomfortable, but shows you how to make the improvements you want to need and desire. Go for it!