 When I was around 20 years old, I decided to build a successful company of my own. No, I didn't want to build a billion dollar company. I just wanted a business that gives me more money than I needed or at least enough money to live without worrying about money. This, by far, was the biggest goal I ever set and I achieved that even though I sacrificed several years for it. So now I have no goal and nothing to pursue. Though you probably won't ever get to a point in life where you have nothing but I don't think I have anything in my future that's as scary and difficult as building a company from scratch. For those of you who have big and scary goals, I want to share with you the three simple secrets that can help you to achieve your goals. If you're new here, don't forget to subscribe so you won't miss other exciting videos like this. 1. List why you want your goals In the year 2008 when I started in the business world, one of the simple things I did was to make a list of the reasons why I wanted to be an entrepreneur. It was these reasons that took me through the years of struggles and I'm sure without these wise, I would have given up after three months. Think about this. There are thousands of books about anything you want to achieve. Let's say you want to lose weight. There are probably a million books on how to lose weight. Let's say you want to have a great marriage. A million books have been written about how to do that. Let's say you want to become rich. Well, you can probably find 10 million books about that. So if books teach you how to achieve what you want to achieve, why don't we achieve them? The answer is simple. You don't achieve anything because you know how to achieve it. People who achieve anything in life are those who know why they must achieve it. Do I mean that you don't need to learn how to achieve your goals? No. I mean the how or learn will not do you any good. You must know the reason why you have to achieve your dreams and these reasons must be strong enough that you can't just live without your goal. I know I often sound desperate and yes, I'm desperate. I preach holy desperation because I don't know how else you can achieve great things in life. Poverty for example is a great handicap. 96% of the people who are born into poverty will be poor or poorer than their parents. How else can you beat such odd except you are desperate? When I decided to be financially free, I wanted financial freedom as much as I wanted my life. If I don't have financial freedom, I won't mind not living. People often think that desperation means that you can do any evil to get what you want. That's not correct. Desperation is like a weapon. You can use it for evil or good. Having some strong reasons why you must achieve your goals will make you restless. You will suddenly be willing to make a sacrifice. You will suddenly be willing to work hard and dare tough things. All because you have the reason why you must achieve what you want. 2. Know what life means without your goals I grew up in poverty and sickness. I don't need to read the news to know what poverty looks like. I was born right into it and grew up in it. Now that I wanted to be financially free, I simply allowed the fear of poverty to motivate me. Larry Ellison said, great achievers are driven not so much by the pursuit of success but by the fear of failure. What most people do is to allow the fear of failure to keep them from acting. No. Close your eyes and see the future where your life is empty. Where you are poor and unhappy. Close your eyes and see your future. Where you have some terrible diseases because of your present eating habit. Allow fears of failures to drive you and you will never want to test the failure. When I was struggling in the business world, I always remember what it would mean to be 50 and have no money. I always imagine what it would look like to have children and have no money to take care of them. I always imagine what it would mean if like myself, my children fall sick but I cannot take them to the hospital because I have no money. Just as my father did all my childhood. All these pictures I saw terrified me and when you are terrified, you will run. I'm convinced that the reason why most people are not running hard towards their goals is that they are not terrified by what it means not to achieve it. 3. Daily see the picture of your future So after I had spent the time to imagine what it means not to achieve my goals I then spent some more time to imagine what life would mean if I could achieve that goal. My biggest goal as I told you was financial freedom. I would close my eyes at night and see myself with my family, never arguing about money. I would see myself working hard but on things I am genuinely passionate about. I would see myself travelling around as much as I wanted. I would see freedom. Just as seeing the picture of your future without your goals terrify you frequently playing the video of your life after attaining your goals will motivate you. So why these tricks? Why would you want to make a list of the reasons why you have to achieve your goals? Why would you want to imagine a terrible future without your goals? Why would you want to make an imaginary video what life looks like after achieving your goals? Well, all these are psychological tricks to make you focus on the future and not on what you are going through right now. Here is the thing. The number one reason why most people don't achieve their goals is that they are too focused on what their lives mean now. Take for instance, when I started in the business world I did many silly things which my mates would never think of. I made several sacrifices and gave up most things. It was like I forgot what life should look like in search of what I wanted it to be. Some people keep on enduring the job they hate and they do that for 35 years. Some people procrastinate until they can't do anything about their goals. Some people are afraid of what will happen if they fail. Guess what is responsible for all this? Focus. Wrong focus. When you focus on what is going on in your life currently or what might go wrong now. When you are afraid of what might happen today or what other people might say about you today you won't be able to make the needed sacrifices for tomorrow. The three simple strategies listed in this video is meant to get you to focus on the future so you'll be able to sacrifice your today for that future. We love you.