https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w2uHEngDgtk

Dan Sullivan shares a profound perspective on goal-setting, exponential vision, and staying energized to continue progressing, in his article Staying Positive by Looking Backward.We’re sharing this article, along with our experience of using these concepts, to help fortify your abundance mindset.  We know that developing a healthy, positive perspective is the secret weapon of the entrepreneur.  It energizes and encourages you, helping you build the life and business you love.

Table of contentsWhere Entrepreneurship Fits into the Cash Flow SystemIntroduction to Dan Sullivan and Strategic CoachThe 10 Times MultiplierWhy Looking Backward Helps You Stay Positive25-Year Vision, 90-Day Goals80% PerfectGoal-SettingA Continually-Growing VisionAction-Oriented Goals, Not Results-Oriented GoalsWhy Numerical Goals Are LimitingThe Four Benefits of Looking Backward Instead of Forward1) You Have a Sense of Accomplishment2) You Have A New Way of Viewing Your Past3) You Increase Your Confidence4) You Have a Strategy for Setting GoalsFlip the Switch to Stay PositiveA Financial Axle to Support Your 10 Times Life Vision

Where Entrepreneurship Fits into the Cash Flow System

We love Entrepreneurship.  Business owners emphasize and focus on cash flow over accumulation.

In the Cash Flow System, you first increase cash flow by keeping more of the money you make.  Then you protect your money.  Finally, you increase and make more.

Entrepreneurship is part of Investing in stage 3.  Building a cash-flowing asset portfolio of real estate and business accelerates time and money freedom.

Introduction to Dan Sullivan and Strategic Coach

[2:14 – Bruce] Dan Sullivan has been coaching entrepreneurs since 1979. He says that you need to work on your business, not just in your business.

Dan is a master thinker in thinking about your thinking.

Looking backward is a way to not only think about your life and what you want to achieve but why you think about things in a certain way and how you want to achieve them.

The 10 Times Multiplier

[3:15 – Bruce] Dan is a big believer in what he calls the 10 times multiplier. He says that you grow exponentially when you look backward. Looking backward allows you to see how you were at one point, brings you clarity, and helps you move forward.

You might be thinking that there's no way you can 10 times your income.  Maybe you’re already making, let's just say $200,000, and you don’t see the way to get to the $2 million mark. He says to think back to when you were only making $20,000. You increased your income 10 times, from $20K to $200K.  You can use that same growth pattern to 10 times your income from $200K to $2M.

Why Looking Backward Helps You Stay Positive

[4:25 – Rachel] When you set goals, instead of measuring the distance you have left to go before you arrive, look back at how far you've come.

Looking forward to how far you still have yet to go, can be really discouraging. But when we look backward, we realize that we've done a lot already.

That same person that we were that created that progress and advancement in the past is the same person that we are now who will carry that advancement and progress forward.

25-Year Vision, 90-Day Goals

[5:12 - Bruce] Dan always says, have a 25-year vision, which some people would call a goal, but then look at it in 90-day increments.

You're constantly looking at what you have achieved in the past 90 days, and that helps you stay motivated. If you look forward, think about how much further you have until the goal, that demotivates and discourages you, and you get down on yourself. But if you look at just 90 days, you’ll see what you accomplished in 90 days.

80% Perfect

[5:50 – Bruce] Dan also has an 80% rule, where he says to get something 80% done, and then pass it on to somebody else. And then when they do it 80% of the way, all of a sudden,