9 Brian Tracy Quotes from No Excuses! and How To Lead A More Self-Disciplined Life

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Excerpt: Living a self-disciplined life doesn’t have to be as hard as you think. Read these quotes from No Excuses! and learn how to make it easier…

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Introduction: The “No Excuses” Lifestyle Doesn’t Have To Be As Hard As You Think

When boiled down, living a life of “No Excuses” is living a life of self-discipline. And living a life of self-discipline doesn’t have to be as hard as you might think—or what you’ve consumed has led you to believe.

Right off the top of my head, when I think about living a life with No Excuses!

I hear Jocko Willink yelling in his Navy SEAL voice something along the lines of, “Pain is weakness leaving the body! Stop being weak, get up, and get after it!”

Or Eric Thomas screaming in a motivational YouTube video, “Sleep? I don’t sleep – you thought that was it? It goes deeper than going without sleep because you might miss the opportunity to succeed. No, no, no – It’s about no days off. No weekends. No holidays. No birthdays. Listen to me: No Days Off! No half days, no holidays, no snow days.”

Or maybe more simply, Shia LaBeouf looking deep into my soul and shouting, “JUST DO ITTTTTTT.“

But these messages, while certainly can offer a motivational hit, usually don’t last very long after that hit. Otherwise, everybody who has ever seen the videos or heard the Navy SEAL speeches would be unstoppable. But, they are stoppable.

Most have stopped what they initially set out to do outright. Why? Not because what was being said wasn’t motivational enough. But, because the reality is—we’re all stoppable because we’re all human.

And how we feel now isn’t going to last—no matter HOW motivational—because emotions ebb and flow and boil up and get watered down and so is life… which is essential to remember for both when we’re feeling ultra motivated and when we’re feeling ultra not motivated.

See when we talk about discipline, what we need to be talking about are systems that we can put into place, that meet us where we are, that help us move slightly forward from where we were, and can be done repeatedly day-in and day-out regardless of mood or emotions.

In other words, when we talk about “no excuses,” what I want you to hear isn’t the voices I mentioned above… what I want you to hear is a call to do more by doing less.

And what I mean is simple: focus on doing less today but in way more days from here forward.

The reason most people have a hard time with discipline is because they choose not to take small, easy, confidence-building steps.

• They choose to sprint.
• They choose to rush the process.
• They choose to jump the high hurdles because they want results NOW.

THIS is what makes discipline hard.

• You choosing a 60-minute body-destroyer workout vs. a 20-minute moderately intense one.
• You choosing an insanely strict zero-sugar diet vs. choosing to adopt one new, healthy habit.
• You choosing to hustle deep into the night at the expense of sleep vs. choosing to build in small, intentional steps each day.

If you want to make discipline easy—you have to make the daily steps easy.

Otherwise, doing the tasks that require discipline will always look gigantic, daunting, and intimidating. And this isn’t the path to a disciplined life.

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The List: 9 Brian Tracy Quotes from No Excuses!

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Included below are nine of our favorite Brian Tracy quotes from No Excuses! In it you’ll get some timely reminders of the difference between goals and wishes, the importance of identifying problems at the outset, being proactive with solutions, the key to managing your time with new life initiatives, and of course, the power of leading a self-disciplined life.

Notice, too, the use of questions. I found myself quite captivated by some of the questions Tracy shares. Spend some time with the ones that captivate you and you just might take a forward step or two by the end of this article. Enjoy and good luck :)

“The tragedy is that most people think that they already have goals. But what they really have are hopes and wishes. However, hope is not a strategy for success, and a wish has been defined as a ‘goal with no energy behind it.’ Goals that are not written down and developed into plans are like bullets without powder in the cartridge. People with unwritten goals go through life shooting blanks. Because they think they already have goals, they never engage in the hard, disciplined effort of goal-setting—and this is the master skill of success.”

Brian Tracy, via No Excuses! (Page 65)

“In medicine, they say that ‘accurate diagnosis is half the cure.’ Therefore, you need to ask, ‘What exactly is the problem?’ It is absolutely amazing how several people can become upset about a problem in an organization, but every one of them has a different idea or definition of the exact nature of the problem they’re facing. Your job is to achieve clarity and to get everyone to agree on the definition of the problem before you move on to the business of solving it.”

Brian Tracy, via No Excuses! (Page 204)

“There is a rule that says that every large problem was once a small problem that could have been solved easily and inexpensively at that time. Sometimes, the best strategy is to ‘nip it in the bud.’ When it is clear that there is a problem and a solution, do what has to be done—and do it quickly.”

Brian Tracy, via No Excuses! (Page 207)

“To achieve something you have never achieved before, you must learn and practice qualities and skills that you have never had before.”

Brian Tracy, via No Excuses! (Page 33)

“To succeed in the ‘outer world,’ you must discipline yourself to focus and concentrate, work hard at your job, take continuous action toward your goals, and become better and more capable as you move onward and upward in life. To succeed in the ‘inner world,’ however, requires almost the opposite abilities. To achieve inner peace, you must discipline yourself to let go of everything that can disrupt your sense of inner peace and contentment.”

Brian Tracy, No Excuses! (Page 286)

“Self-discipline is the key to personal greatness. It is the magic quality that opens all doors for you and makes everything else possible. With self-discipline, the average person can rise as far and as fast as his talents and intelligence can take him. But without self-discipline, a person with every blessing of background, education, and opportunity will seldom rise above mediocrity.”

Brian Tracy, via No Excuses! (Page 7)

“Losers make excuses; winners make progress. Now, how can you tell if your favorite excuse is valid or not? It’s simple. Look around and ask, ‘Is there anyone else who has my same excuse who is successful anyway?’ When you ask this question, if you are honest, you will have to admit that there are thousands and even millions of people who have had it far worse than you have who have gone on to do wonderful things with their lives. And what thousands and millions of others have done, you can do as well—if you try.”

Brian Tracy, via No Excuses! (Page 3)

“Setting priorities requires setting posteriorities as well. A priority is something that you do more of and sooner, whereas a posteriority is something you do less of or later. You are probably already overwhelmed with too much to do and too little time. Because of this, for you to embark on a new task, you must discontinue an old task. Getting into something new requires getting out of another activity. Before you commit to a new undertaking, ask yourself, ‘What am I going to stop doing so that I have enough time to work on this new task?’”

Brian Tracy, via No Excuses! (Page 193)

“See yourself as the president of your own ‘Personal Services Corporation.’ Imagine that you were going to take your company public on the stock market. Would you recommend your company as a growth stock, continually increasing its value and earning ability each year? Or would you describe your company as one that has leveled off in the market place, that is not really going anywhere in terms of increased value and income? Would you recommend stock in ‘You, Inc.” as an excellent investment? Why or why not?”

Brian Tracy, via No Excuses! (Page 81)

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