Get Smart! summary

Most people, when they think about retirement – if they think about it at all – imagine some vague future where they're not working anymore. Maybe they picture themselves on a beach somewhere, or playing with grandkids. But they haven't done the math. They haven't calculated what that future actually costs.

And because they haven't done the math, they don't save for it. In the United States, 70 percent of people live paycheck to paycheck. They're not reckless or irresponsible – they just haven't taken the time to really think about what's coming. So when retirement age arrives, they're hit with a shock they could have avoided decades earlier.

I want to tell you about a moment that changed Brian Tracy's life.

He was 24, broke, and sleeping on a friend's floor because he couldn't afford his own place. He was working as a door-to-door salesman, but he wasn't making many sales, which meant he wasn't making much money.

You may know Daniel Kahneman. He’s a psychologist who won a Nobel Prize for his work on how people think. He identified two types of thinking: fast thinking and slow thinking.

Fast thinking is immediate, instinctive, unconsidered. When you're driving, you probably don't ponder your every move. You just drive. Left turn, right turn, gas, brake. It's effortless, requiring no deliberate thought. That's fast thinking in action.

We're halfway through these blinks – and I haven't even told you about what is arguably the most important idea of all: the Law of Correspondence. We'll come back to it later on, but it's so important that it deserves to be discussed twice. The Law of Correspondence states, in short, "As within, so without." Whatever you spend most of your time thinking about is what you will become.

If you're an optimist, you will see a world full of potential and good. If you're a pessimist, you will only see problems and negativity. By seeing the world in an optimistic, positive light, you will attract positive things to yourself. The same goes for pessimism. Your negative views and beliefs will attract negative things.

Our world and society is constantly evolving. In fact, we're living in one of the most tumultuous times in human history. To be successful, you need to be aware of technological advancements. Do you remember Borders, the massive book retailer? It went out of business after devices like the Kindle and the iPad revolutionized the print industry.

Borders was oblivious to these technological changes, and it went bankrupt as a result. If you want to avoid a similar fate, you'll have to use flexible thinking. Flexible thinking can best be described as the ability to quickly react and adapt in the face of dramatic change. Unlike the executives at Borders, flexible thinkers will grasp the importance of change and innovation and adapt accordingly.

We're here: the final blink. Which means it's time to talk, yet again, about the Law of Correspondence, which states – remember – "As within, so without." What you think about is, almost always,  what you'll become.

So, you can probably already guess the answer, but here's a question: Why are some people rich? Why do they have such vast wealth? What's their secret?

Alright, let's wrap up by looking at everything we've been talking about.

Getting smart isn't about IQ or degrees – it's about acting intelligently, which means taking actions that move you toward your goals. Start with long-term thinking to identify what you actually want, then use slow thinking to make better decisions along the way. Apply the Law of Three to focus on what generates real results, not just activity. Practice zero-based thinking to stay flexible and cut what's no longer serving you.