Introduction

Imagine how it would feel if every time you put your mind to
something, you got it done. You didnt start and stop. You never
got off track. You just finished what you started no questions
asked. Today, I'll show you how.

Do you ever wonder how the most successful people get so much
done?

When they say, Im going to... lose weight, write a book, quit
smoking, etc., you know theyll actually do it.

But when you set the same goals, youre not so sure. Maybe you
will do it. Maybe not.

Each time you try, it's a yo-yo. You start, hit a roadblock, lose mo-
tivation, then beat yourself up for not finishing. Over and over
and over again.

Its frustrating and discouraging. Worst of all, you're not doing the
things you really want to accomplish.

The truth is, youre more than capable of achieving every goal you
set. But if you really want to accomplish the goals you set, you
need a better strategy for getting things done. A proven system
that helps you stick to and finish everything you start.

Thats exactly what I have for you in this free guide: a proven
system thats helped me write a New York Times bestselling book,
build a multimillion-dollar business, put on 40 pounds of muscle,
and live a Rich Life.
Even more fundamentally, it helped me filter through the millions
of possibilities out there, ignore all the distractions, and get start-
ed on my biggest goals in life.

Are you ready to achieve any goal you have with less effort?

Lets get started.

Why I wrote this guide:

Ten years ago, I was a scrawny 127 lbs college student. I thought
I could never put on muscle because Im just a skinny Indian. I
spent years wishing I could, without doing a thing about it.

You know what changed? I got tired of looking around, watch-

ing other people get fit, and feeling left behind. I finally said
ENOUGH! and did something about it.

I invested in a trainer and made working out a habit. I built a sys-

tem that virtually guaranteed my success.
Since then, Ive put on more than 40 lbs of muscle, which feels
amazing. And its crazy to think about how far Ive come.

Ive used these same habit-building techniques to earn more mon-

ey, grow my business, and live a Rich Life.

I stopped dreaming and started accomplishing.

Now I want you to experience this radical shift in your life no

matter how many times you might have struggled to stick to your
goals in the past.

How many times have you said to yourself:

Im going to start working out 5x a week

Im going to start drinking 8 glasses of water a day
Im going to eat less processed foods
Im going to floss every morning and night

And how many times have you followed through on those goals?

If your answer is not often enough, dont worry. Its not your
fault. And with the systems, frameworks, and strategies laid out in
this free guide, you can easily change that.

You can learn how to make your habits stick for life. Once you
know how to do this, you virtually guarantee success in every-
thing you do from this moment forward.

Who Am I?

About Ramit Sethi

Hi, I'm Ramit Sethi, the New York
Times bestselling author of I Will
Teach You To Be Rich.

I've helped millions of readers build

businesses, land their dream jobs,
become debt free, and master their
inner psychology so they can build a
Rich Life.

In this guide youll learn:

How to Set Better Goals: 3 Steps to Achieving Anything
Most people dont know how to set good goals. They just think of
something they want and then start trying to make it happen.
When they dont, theyre left wondering what went wrong. In Part
1, Ill teach you the best way to set and reach your goals.

Get in the Habit Loop

Have you ever wondered why its so tough to make little changes
in your life? And why some people seem to be able to do it with
ease, while others fail to follow through time after time? In Part 2,
Ill teach you a simple system that makes forming and keeping
new habits effortless.
How to Get Back on Track
Do you ever say to yourself, Why did I lose my motivation? In
Part 3, I teach you why relying on motivation is a losers game
and what to do if you ever get off track.

How to Create Habits that Stick Forever

Once youve successfully started a habit, how do you keep it go-
ing? In Part 4, Ill teach you why sometimes, simple systems break
down and how you can get back on track towards lasting behav-
ioral change.

How to Stay Laser-Focused

Sometimes the hardest part of accomplishing your goals is being
able to see the big picture and having the wherewithal to stay la-
ser-focused until youre done. In Part 5, Ill show you the best tips
for staying locked in on your Big Wins.

Living a Rich Life

At this point, youll have learned from some of the top behavioral
experts on how to succeed faster than you thought possible.
Youll also have learned some of the key strategies you need to
create lasting behavioral change. In Part 6, Ill share even more of
my best material on using behavioral change to live a Rich Life.
 Part 1: How to Set Better Goals
When it comes to goals, a lot of us experience what I call the
Treadmill of Disappointment.

Tell me if this sounds familiar

1. We get really motivated to try something new. (TODAYS THE

DAY!)
2. We clean the house, pay our bills on time, or finally make it to
Inbox Zero.
3. The first day or two goes okaybut then we forget to do some-
thing on our lists, get distracted, or simply procrastinate.
4. Guilt creeps in and we avoid working hard (which only leads to
more guilt and procrastination).
5. Until finally, we give up.
6. Then the waiting game begins until motivation strikes again,
starting the whole process over with our newest fascination
and a NEW list of goals.

Not the best way to move the needle on whats most important to
you.

The good news?

You can get off this treadmill.

Let me show you a better way of achieving what you set out to do.
A way that sets you up to win without ever giving up.

3 Easy Steps to Achieve Anything

1. Ride the wave

One of the most important hacks I ever learned for achieving my
goals was to ride the motivational wave.

Motivational waves are those moments where we feel really

inspired to take action on a list of to-dos. Remember the last time
you cleaned your whole house? Thats a motivational wave.
I learned this from one of my mentors, BJ Fogg, who runs Persua-
sive Technology Lab at Stanford.

In this video, Fogg explains how to use these motivational waves

to your advantage...rather than getting really motivated and falling
back into our old ways of doing things a few days later.

Check it out:

Click here to watch the video

What this might look like in your life:

Example 1:
BJ Fogg wanted to drink more tea. So when his motivation was
at its peak, he bought a bunch of tea, an electric kettle to boil wa-
ter, and set everything up in easy-to-reach places on his kitchen
counter. He built a system so that it was a no-brainer to make tea
whenever he was in the kitchen.

Example 2:
A few years ago, I was trying to form a gym habit. The problem I
had was that Id get up in the morning planning to go to the gym,
but after a few minutes of being awake, Id decide not to go. So,
the next time I was feeling really motivated, I built a system. It
looked like this: I put my gym clothes and my shoes next to my
bed so I saw them first thing in the morning. As soon as I got out
of bed, I would get dressed. By the time I finished putting on my
clothes, Id think to myself, Well, might as well go to the gym and
I DID!

These types of systems guarantee success. THATS what you

should use your motivation for to set up fail-proof systems.
That way youll follow through even when youre no longer moti-
vated.

What you can do right now:

The next time youre feeling motivated either right now or
later this week use that to your advantage.

Make a list of everything you need to get in order to accomplish

your goal.

Then, sketch out a rough outline of your fail-proof system thatll

help you follow through (like the examples above).

Well go into much more detail of how to set up these systems lat-
er in the guide, but dont let that motivation go to waste. Capture
your rough ideas whenever your motivation is at a peak.

2. Start small, then go big later on

When youre starting out with any goal like exercising its
better to actually start than to dream about starting forever. With
exercising, that means ACTUALLY walking one mile once per
week is better than PLANNING to run three miles 3x per week...
and never running at all.

Each mile you walk represents a little win for your goal.

And getting a lot of those little wins is what helps you succeed. Be-
cause with each little milestone you achieve, youre actually doing
what you set out to do...not just hoping things work out.

Heres how to use little wins for your goals:

Instead of planning to do 100 pushups per day to get back in

shape, just do two pushups a day to get started.
Instead of thinking you have to floss all your teeth, just focus
on one tooth a day to get things going.
Instead of trying to drink a gallon of water a day instead of
soda, just drink one glass of water before you go to bed.
Instead of starting a million-dollar business from scratch, just
focus on getting your first paying client.

You can ramp up from there. But you dont want to fail from the
start.

What you can do right now:

Think of some of the goals youd like to accomplish (getting fit,
learning a new language, cleaning your house). Then break those
down into the TINIEST steps you can imagine. And I mean SERI-
OUSLY tiny: 2 pushups per day, 1 tooth, 1 glass of waterhowev-
er small you need. Make it something you KNOW you can do.

Draft up a plan for how youll do this for 2 weeks. Once you hit
this target, then you can consider expanding.

But remember, big goals are accomplished with tiny steps. How
can you start taking some of those tiny steps today?

3. Put it on your calendar

Imagine youre playing in a basketball game against LeBron James.
You have the best shoes, the most expensive pair of athletic shorts,
a fancy headband, and the greatest jersey in the world. And he has
no shoes, ripped shorts, and a dress shirt.

Who would win?

LeBron, duh.

It sounds ridiculous, right? But we play this same game against

motivation every day.

The tools dont matter as much as we think.

Novices LOVE to focus on productivity hacks, apps, and tools. Its

easy and frankly, more fun to play with new shiny tools than
to simply do what works.

But usually, the fundamentals things like a simple calendar, pen,

and paper work just as well if not better than some app.

Take a look at my calendar system.

See how its not a super advanced set of apps? I purposely make it
easy on myself so I can follow through and easily update it.

EXECUTION is more important than the tactic itself.

What you can do right now:

Decide ahead of time and map out your schedule for the week
either on paper or in a simple calendar system.
Put your baby steps goals into your calendar system.
Then, set an alert in your calendar or on your phone to review
this every week.

If you keep thinking ahead, youll never be caught off-guard or

pressed for time. Those tiny improvements every week will add
up. And it wont be long before youre crushing every goal you
set.

Learning how to set goals like this increases your chances of

making your habits stick.
 Part 2: Get in the Habit Loop
Wouldnt it be great if you never had to worry about hitting your
goals? You could just do what you were supposed to do without
even thinking about it.

Sounds like a pipedream, right?

But its possible, IF you know how habits work.

When you do, you can take full advantage of them and put your
success on autopilot.

How To Use Habits To Your Advantage

According to Charles Duhigg, author of The Power of Habit, every

habit has three components:
 A cue, which is a trigger for a behavior to start (like your alarm
clock going off)
A routine, which is the behavior itself (like getting out of bed)
A reward, which is the benefit of taking that course of action
(like a nice, warm cup of coffee waiting for you when you get
out of bed)

The reward is how your brain actually learns to want a particular

behavior in the future.

You put 2-and-2 together and equate the pleasure of drinking a

cup of coffee with getting out of bed.

This is how people pick up bad habits, like smoking, but its also
how people stick to good habits like exercising. They link a cue
and routine to a reward.

For decades, people focused exclusively on changing the behavior:

the routine itself.

But now, we know that cues and rewards are actually the most
important parts of making a habit stick. If you get the cues and
rewards right, the routine forms by default.

So choosing your reward not the routine is actually the most

important step.

Reward yourself MORE to create lasting change

Eating chocolate can help you exercise more. Yes, you read that
right: Research has shown that eating more chocolate can help you
stick to an exercise regimen.

Heres why: Eating chocolate at the end of a workout is a simple

way to ignite the reward centers in your brain. It cements the
good feelings that make a habit take root.

It sounds contradictory (that eating chocolate and exercising go

together), but its true. Why do you think a lot of really fit people
drink smoothies or protein shakes when they finish working out?

Its the same principle at work. The sweet drink acts as a reward
for the behavior. Plus, its a little better for you than the chocolate.

I recently sat down with Duhigg to talk about how to create new
habits.

And in this part of our chat, he explains how important rewards

are. The best part is you can choose your own rewards and easily
make new habits stick.

Click here to watch the video

The key takeaway? Always reward yourself. You dont want to end
your workout, leave in a rush and not be able to reward yourself
with a smoothie or a relaxing shower. Make sure you can give
yourself a reward to make sure the behavior sticks.

Here are some sample rewards you might use:

Give yourself 5-minute breaks for every 20 minutes of deep
work you do
Allow yourself to buy a nice pair of shoes after you hit your
savings goal for a month
Watch a TV show (guilt-free) after cooking a healthy meal

The reward can be anything you choose, as long as youre giving

yourself something you genuinely enjoy.
Choosing your new routine (why quitting doesnt work)

Its very hard to simply stop a bad habit. Thats because youre
always getting whatever cue was telling you to do the bad habit in
the first place.

So what can you do about it?

Youre much more likely to be successful if you change a bad habit

into a better behavior.

Heres a common example: A lot of us crave something sweet to

eat right after lunch. We hit the vending machine for chocolates,
cookies, or some other sweet to get our fix.

Because yes, sweets and desserts taste good, but a habit is much
more complicated than that.

Maybe getting that sweet gives you a burst of energy from the
sugar so you can push through the rest of the day.
Or maybe youre not ready to go back to work so getting up for
a snack gives you a chance to walk around the office and chat.

Its not just the sweet thats creating your behavior. Theres a
whole series of reasons that surround it.

Instead of just giving up the sweets, maybe you could try getting
up from your desk and eating an apple instead. Or maybe, if its
the energy from the sugar that youre craving, a cup of coffee will
do the trick.

The important thing to note is that youre not stopping cold tur-
key. Instead, youre replacing a bad habit with a new, better one.

Over time, this will become your new routine. And doing it will
kick in automatically after the cue.

Here are some ideas for simple replacements you can try:

If youre drinking too much coffee, drink decaffeinated tea

instead.
If you overeat when youre feeling stressed, chew gum after
youve eaten your regular portion of food.
If you always hit the snooze button on your alarm clock in the
morning, move your alarm to the other side of the room so you
have to get out of bed to hit snooze.

Replacing bad habits can dramatically change your life. Not only
do you stop doing the bad thing, but you pick up a better habit in
its place.

If you only do this, youll be 100x ahead of other people who cant
figure out why they never finish things.

But theres another way to exponentially improve your life: do the

most important habits first.

The Most Powerful Habits

Some habits are much more powerful than others.

Take exercise. For a lot of people, once exercise becomes a habit,

they tend to start eating better and making sure they get enough
sleep.

That makes sense, right? You dont want to come in from your
morning run and grab a bagel and cream cheese. Youre exercising
to feel better, so its only natural that youll want the food you put
in your body to help you feel better, too.
I also learned a very interesting fact: Once you start exercising
habitually, you also start using your credit card less, doing your
dishes earlier in the day, and procrastinating less at work.

Its not like youre making a conscious decision about this. Instead,
for a lot of people, exercise is a keystone habit.

When they do it regularly, it starts to change their self-image. And

when that changes, they start thinking of themselves as the type of
person who wakes up and exercises every morning. And the type
of person who doesnt pull out their credit card, gets chores done,
and doesnt procrastinate at work.

Think about it. How many CrossFitters in your office do you

know who regularly goof off or procrastinate at work?

Nailing down that first habit might feel nearly impossible if youve
failed to make it happen in the past. But if you use the strategies
Ive shared so far, not only will you be able to create lasting be-
havioral change, but youre also likely to build a lot of other habits
automatically.
 Part 3: How to Get Back on Track
Even the best-laid plans sometimes fail. Thats life, and you have
to be prepared for it.

But these setbacks dont have to knock you off-course permanent-

ly. Often, you can get back on track with some very simple fixes.

Heres how to KEEP a habit going once youve created it (in less
than 3 minutes).

Click here to watch the video

Setting up safeguards like this helps you get things done even
when you dont feel like it. But lets be honest, failing sucks. Even
if we plan for it, its tough to deal with the feelings and emotions
when we actually experience it.

There is a way to overcome those feelings and use failure to get

ahead.

How to use failure and setbacks to your advantage

When I was applying to colleges, I noticed something interesting.

A lot of the people I knew were applying to top schools, and if
they were rejected theyd say, Whatever, I didnt want to go there
anyway.

What!?

I remember thinking, If you didnt want to go, whyd you apply?

And if you DID want to go, why give up so easily?

I fully expected to get rejected from my dream school (Stanford).

Thats why I outlined a plan of specific actions Id take to get in
even after they rejected me. I was going to send them updates on
my coursework, my copywriting business, and press clippings of
articles I wrote.

Getting a no was only the first step of the process.

Thats how it is in other areas of life as well. From selling to dating

to business to just about anything. We need to expect failure
and plan what well do when rejection comes.

Every top performer does this.

James Altucher, author of Choose Yourself, talked about this pro-

cess when we discussed how to deal with failure.

Click here to watch the video

We all worry about failing on some level. But its how you manage
the fear of failure that determines your success.

Success, though, is a tricky subject.

Sometimes when we push through our fears and overcome chal-

lenges, we easily get what we want. Other times, it seems like
things will never pan out. How do you know the difference? And
how do you know when you should push through obstacles and
when you should give yourself a break?

Should you stick to it or change course?

Maybe the habit youre working on is running every day. You

want to get ready for a marathon at the end of the year. You arent
running 100 miles a week yet, but youve been consistently run-
ning a mile a day for the past month.

Then one day you wake up, and youre not feeling it. You put your
clothes on, but youre not in the mood. You grab your headphones,
open the front door, even take your first step, and you still dont
want to do it.

How do you decide whether to push through or go back to bed?

Whether it has to do with building a running habit or any other
goal that youve already deemed worthy of your pursuit?

Asking the following questions might help you out.

When to Push

Is this goal aligned with what I really want?

Will not doing this activity today jeopardize my chances of
reaching my goal in the time specified?
If I dont do this activity right now/today, will I regret it?
Will not doing this activity today impact someone I care about
in a negative way?

If you answered yes to any of these questions, you might want to

push ahead.
When to Rest

Am I feeling drained, depleted and depressed?

Has my rigidity or commitment to doing this activity every day
gotten in the way of my primary relationships?
Can I take one day off without affecting my ability to accom-
plish my goal in the time specified?
Is participating in this activity allowing me to ignore other dif-
ficult or challenging issues in my life that need my attention?

If you answered yes to any of these questions, you might want to

back off and give yourself a day to regroup.
Part 4: How To Make Any Behavior Stick
Forever
Have you ever said you were going on a diet?

Maybe you stuck to it for a few days. Then, one day, you find a
whole chocolate cake in your fridge. You say, Ill just have one
piece. And then, 3 days later, all thats left is an empty plate, a few
crumbs, and a lot of guilt.

Why does this happen? Why does it seem so hard to make good
habits stick even when youre really committed?

Jerry Seinfeld knew why, and he also knew the secret of lasting
change: building momentum. Check out this story that explains
how Jerry is able to stay so productive and prolific throughout his
career. This is how he stays on track to meet all of his goals even
when he faces tough challenges:

He told me to get a big wall calendar that has a whole year on one
page and hang it on a prominent wall. The next step was to get a big
red magic marker.
 He said for each day that I do my task of writing, I get to put a big
red X over that day. After a few days youll have a chain. Just keep
at it and the chain will grow longer every day.

Youll like seeing that chain, especially when you get a few weeks
under your belt. Your only job next is to not break the chain.

Dont break the chain, he said again for emphasis.

I love Jerrys Dont Break the Chain calendar. Its not just about
doing something each and every day.

Its about the cumulative effects of all of your habits.

For example, maybe you had an extra busy week at work, and you
didnt get to the gym for 5 days in a row.

Youll look at that week on your calendar and see that you have no
red Xs on it. However, when you expand your view, your calendar
looks like a blood bath.

Thats what really counts.

You just have to make sure that when you do get back to your reg-
ular routine, that 5 days off doesnt turn into 5 months.

How do you do that?

You go back to your plan.

It might be that your cue is no longer working or that your reward

is no longer doing its job.

This can happen if your life follows a different pattern for a few
days, like it might when youre out of town for a conference.

The way to get back on track with your habit is to revisit your
habit loop, make sure your triggers are in place, that youre still
committed to the routine, and that your rewards are clear and
pleasurable for you.

Setting up systems is the best way to keep yourself going. And to

get the most from our efforts, we have to find the best system for
us and then adjust if its not working.
 Part 5: How to Stay Laser-Focused
A couple of years ago, one of my friends asked me, Whats your
number one goal?

That question made me nervous. I didnt want to answer. I was

afraid that if I said my single most important goal, Id be closing
doors to all of my other goals. Of which there were many.

I said this: I want to be a bestselling author, but I also want to

generate revenue, and I want to do this and publicity and blah,
blah, blah. He cut me off and said, Cut the BS. Whats your num-
ber one goal?

Again, I hedged. But he pushed me and forced me to get crisp. He

said, The number one goal.

I said, I want this book to be a New York Times bestseller.

We hate giving ourselves constraints because it feels limiting. It

seems like were giving something up, and thats exactly what it
felt like in that moment.

However, its also freeing at the same time.

Once I decided (declared out loud) that I wanted to become a
New York Times bestselling author, I eliminated about 70% of my
marketing plan and it became crystal clear what I needed to do in
order to achieve my goal. I focused all of my attention on those
things.

Once my book became a bestseller, then I could do a lot of the

other things that I wanted to do.

This was a classic case of moving up gradually, but of course, like

we talked about in Part 2, our natural inclinations are to go big.

What we need to do is to get crisp. Crisp about what exactly it is

we want.

The dating world is another example.

Lets say youre single and youve had a few boyfriends or girl-
friends. You meet someone and they ask you, Hey, what kind of
people are you into? I know a lot of people, maybe I can set you
up. What kind of person are you looking for?

Most people would be super generic about that answer. Oh, well,
I like girls who are smart and nice. A girl might say, Oh, I like
guys who are nice, maybe a little taller than me, and older.

Thats super generic and a super generic answer will get you a
super generic date.

In reality, you know exactly what kind of person you want. If you
were being honest youd say, I am looking for an Asian girl whos
55, between 25-33 years old, has a beyond entry-level job at a big
tech company, has lived in other countries, and is into endurance
sports.

But nobody wants to say that because theyre afraid to limit them-
selves. We worry about closing the doors on other opportunities,
but its like were worried about not getting 100%, when if we
dont choose, we wont even get 1%.

If you want something big, its critical to make that initial choice
to commit to a tangible and specific outcome.

The good news is that once you do that, you apply that winning
principle to the next item.

Heres an excerpt from an interview I did with my longtime friend

Noah Kagan. Hes the one who called me to the mat.

Noah is a master at helping people (and himself) get laser-focused

on their goals. Pay special attention at 3:53 where he talks about
the strategy that has made him the most successful, financially and
otherwise.

Click here to watch the video.

How to achieve your biggest goal in under 1 year

Now, I want to challenge you to do what Noah said.

Pick the biggest goal that you want to accomplish in one year.
Maybe its to get 10,000 people on your list, run a marathon, finish
your first Ironman, do 5 dead hang pull-ups, or lose 20 pounds.
Whatever it is for you, declare it. And then mark your calendar for
one year from today.

Next, break it down on a monthly and daily basis. By doing this,

your big, hairy, audacious goals become manageable and by hav-
ing daily accountability built in, you can use it as a filter for all of
your decisions.

I work with a lot of people who want to start an online business.

Its a very exciting time for them but its also challenging to
know what to focus on, who to listen to, and what bright and
shiny objects are worth their time.

So I ask them, Whats your number one goal? If they say, I want
to get 5,000 people on my list in one year, then we have some-
thing very concrete to work with.

When they come to the group and say, I was doing such and such
on Twitter the other day, the group will immediately call them
out and say, Is Twitter going to help you get to 5,000 people on
your email list?

In 95% of the cases, the answer is no. It might be more fun than
doing what it takes to get to 5,000, but its not going to get them
there.

Having that kind of focus is what has enabled me to grow my

business from nothing 11 years ago to now being a multimil-
lion-dollar business with 30,000 students all over the world.

Limiting your options may seem scary, but if you do it, your
chances of accomplishing your goal increase exponentially.

So, get laser focused on what you want and then be willing to let
everything else take a back seat. If you get it right, you can bring
them back to the front when the time is right.
 Part 6: Living a Rich Life
At this point, youve learned some of the key systems and strate-
gies you need to create lasting change in your life.

Youve also heard from some of the top behavioral change experts
out there.

Now, I want you to use your new goal setting skills to live an even
Richer Life.

Where will your new habits help you next?

Become a Finisher
I'm ready to follow through on every goal I set.

Show me how I can!

Meet Top Performers

I'm ready for more! I want a network of top performers to hold
me accountable and expert guidance on how to hit my biggest
goals.

Tell Me More
Start a Business
I want to use my new skills for developing habits to start my own
business.

Tell Me More
All rights reserved, I Will Teach You To Be Rich, Inc.