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Success mentality · YouTube

How to Trick Your Mind to Achieve Everything You Want

A 2-minute Brian Tracy clip on why handwriting a goal, in present tense, with a number and a due date, is claimed to reprogram the subconscious mind.

Posted
2 weeks ago
Duration
Format
Talking Head
educational
Views
565.8K
14.3K likes
Big Idea

The argument in one line.

Writing a goal down in the present tense, with a number and a due date, engages sight, speech, and touch at once, embedding it in the subconscious mind more deeply than simply thinking it.

Who This Is For

Read if. Skip if.

READ IF YOU ARE…
  • Someone who keeps a goals list that never moves and wants a concrete reason to change how they write it.
  • A coach or self-help reader curious about the mechanics behind classic goal-setting exercises like Brian Tracy's.
  • Anyone about to sit down and write next year's goals and wants the exact wording formula: present tense, number, due date.
SKIP IF…
  • You're looking for a new or contrarian goal-setting framework. This is the classic present-tense-plus-deadline method, not a new system.
  • You want research citations behind 'psychoneuromotor activity.' The video states it as a claim, not a cited study.
TL;DR

The full version, fast.

Brian Tracy argues that physically handwriting a goal, in present tense, with a specific number and a due date, works better than just thinking about it because writing engages sight, sub-vocal speech, and touch at once, what he calls a psychoneuromotor activity. He presents that triple engagement as the reason handwritten goals imprint on the subconscious mind, backing it with two anecdotes: a group where eight of ten written goals were achieved within a year, and one man who says he hit all 101 goals he wrote down over 12 years. The actionable instruction: write ten goals now in present tense ('I earn,' not 'I will earn'), each with a number and a deadline, then speak it and repeat it.

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Chapters

Where the time goes.

00:0000:26

01 · The instruction: write 10 goals now

Tracy states the real reason writing a goal works has nothing to do with motivation, then instructs the viewer to write down 10 goals for the next 12 months in present tense, as if already true.

00:2600:56

02 · Add a number and a due date, then the mechanism

Each goal needs a specific amount and a deadline. Tracy names the mechanism: psychoneuromotor activity, where seeing, sub-vocalizing, and physically writing the goal happen together.

00:5601:24

03 · From abstract thought to something with form

Writing converts the goal from an abstract thought into a physical thing. A group who did the exercise once found, a year later, eight of ten goals had been achieved.

01:2402:05

04 · The 101-goal story and the closing instruction

A man tells Tracy he achieved all 101 goals he wrote down over 12 years. Tracy closes with the rule: the subconscious mind doesn't judge whether a goal is realistic, it acts on whatever it's fed, so write it, speak it, and repeat it.

Atomic Insights

Lines worth screenshotting.

  • Handwriting a goal engages sight, sub-vocal speech, and touch at once, what the video calls a psychoneuromotor activity.
  • Goals should be written in present tense, 'I earn' not 'I will earn,' as though already true.
  • Every goal should carry a specific number and a due date, not just a vague direction.
  • One anecdote claims eight of ten handwritten goals were achieved within a year of writing them down.
  • A second anecdote claims a man achieved all 101 goals he wrote down over a 12-year span.
  • The video frames writing as converting a goal from 'an abstract thought' into 'something with form.'
  • The subconscious mind is described as working on a written goal 24 hours a day, including while doing unrelated things.
  • The claimed formula has three parts, present tense, a number, and a deadline, and motivation is explicitly ruled out as the mechanism.
Takeaway

Write it like it's already true, with a number and a date.

WHAT TO LEARN

A goal written in present tense, with a specific amount and a deadline, is claimed to reach the subconscious mind in a way a vague hope or a typed note doesn't.

  • Word the goal as already true: 'I earn' or 'I weigh,' never 'I will,' so it reads as a present fact instead of a future wish.
  • Attach a specific number and a due date to every goal instead of leaving it open-ended.
  • Handwriting engages sight, sub-vocal speech, and touch at the same time, three channels a typed note or a mental note skips.
  • Read the written goal back and repeat it, since the claim is that the subconscious keeps acting on whatever it's fed, not on whether the goal feels realistic.
  • Don't wait for motivation before writing a goal down. The video's whole opening point is that the effect has nothing to do with motivation.
Glossary

Terms worth knowing.

Psychoneuromotor activity
The term used in the video for handwriting a goal while simultaneously seeing it, silently sounding it out, and physically forming the letters, engaging multiple senses in the same act.
Quotables

Lines you could clip.

00:00
There's a reason writing your goal on paper works better than just thinking about it. And it has nothing to do with motivation.
cold-open hook that reframes the whole topic in one lineTikTok hook↗ Tweet quote
00:22
Not I will earn, but I earn.
tight, quotable rule with no setup neededIG reel cold open↗ Tweet quote
01:28
I had achieved all 101 goals in 12 years.
the emotional payoff line of the whole videonewsletter pull-quote↗ Tweet quote
01:53
Your subconscious mind doesn't care if your goal feels realistic today. It only cares about what you keep feeding it.
closing thesis, works as a standalone captionIG reel cold open↗ Tweet quote
The Script

Word for word.

Read-along

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metaphoranalogystory
There's a reason writing your goal on paper works better than just thinking about it. And it has nothing to do with motivation. It's about what happens in your subconscious mind the moment you put pen to paper.
Pay attention. What I'm going to ask you to do is I'm going to ask you to write down 10 goals that you'd like to accomplish in the next 12 months. Write them in the present tense as though they are already a reality.
Not I will earn, but I earn. And then at the end of it, write by. and have a due date.
I earn this amount by this date. I weigh this number of kilos or pounds by this date. I achieve this goal by this date.
Now when you write it down, you engage in what is called a psychoneuromotor activity, which is a 50 cent word as we say. It's a big word. But what it means is that you see it when you're writing it, you sub -vocalize when you are right speaking, you kinesthetically write it, and by doing the handwriting, you actually program it into the heart drive of your subconscious mind.
He's talking about vibration, the idea that everything, including your thoughts, operates at a frequency. When you write a goal down, you're transferring it from an abstract thought into something with form. And I've had people do this exercise once, and a year later, they found that list of goals, and they were astonished to find that eight of the ten goals had been achieved.
I spoke to a gentleman recently, remarkable story, and he started to cry. He started to shake. He said, Brian, I had achieved all 101 goals in 12 years.
He said it was overwhelming to him. He could not believe it because I had told him, if you write them down, it's like programming them into your subconscious mind where they then begin to work 24 hours a day while you're doing other things. So here's the truth.
Your subconscious mind doesn't care if your goal feels realistic today. It only cares about what you keep feeding it. Write it down, speak it in the present tense, and repeat it until your actions start lining up with that picture on their own.
That's just how the mind works when you give it clear instructions.
The Hook

The bait, then the rug-pull.

Brian Tracy opens by ruling out the obvious explanation. It isn't motivation that makes a written goal stick. It's what handwriting does to the subconscious mind the moment pen touches paper.

Frameworks

Named ideas worth stealing.

00:13list

The Present-Tense Goal Formula

  1. State it as already true ("I earn," not "I will earn")
  2. Attach a specific number
  3. Attach a due date

Tracy's three-part rule for how a written goal should be worded so it reads as a current fact rather than a future hope.

Steal forany goal-setting worksheet, coaching intake form, or New Year planning exercise
00:38concept

Psychoneuromotor Activity

The claim that the physical act of handwriting triggers visual, verbal, and kinesthetic channels at the same time, which imprints the goal into the subconscious mind more effectively than typing or simply thinking it.

Steal forexplaining why a paper goals list outperforms a notes app for retention
Storyboard

Visual structure at a glance.

open
hookopen00:00
formula
promiseformula00:30
mechanism
valuemechanism01:01
close
ctaclose01:55
Frame Gallery

Visual moments.

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