When I was a rebellious young teen, my father stated emphatically and repeatedly:
'If you want to succeed, you need to set goals."
At the time, I didn't give it much thought or realize how important this statement was to me. I had no idea how much of an impact goal setting could have on my life. In fact, it took me almost a decade to realize that my dad was right. My lightbulb moment came a few years after the dean of my university asked me what I was going to declare as my major. I was not prepared to make this formal and life-orienting decision but, since I had been influenced by my parents and others, I took a leap of faith and spent the next 2 years wandering from class to class on auto-pilot, wasting time and money on courses, books, tutors, and summer session credits. My heart wasn't in it and it felt like I was stumbling along someone else's path.

During my 3rd year I began to see the light and realized that I had never set an educational goal for myself. I did however come to the conclusion that all other things I had achieved up till then, started out as personal quests followed by specific actions that led to the completion of each quest. So, I sat down one rainy weekend and wrote down specific, measurable, and realistic objectives for each of my hobbies and began formulating a plan to achieve those objectives. That plan helped to make me unbeatable in every category I focused my attention on. It was an amazing discovery. And yes, that document evolved into this workbook some twenty years later. What seems so clear to me now is that once you have defined your purpose, so many of your decisions become so much easier.

Originally created as a tool for my own personal use, the workbook gained popularity after I revised it so that my room mates could give it away to three friends each on campus in exchange for honest feedback and suggestions for improvement. After a year or so, it was clear that a specific sequence of actions delivered very predictable results but, for this version, each person needed some coaching to use the tool effectively. My coaching sessions were essentially a bottleneck holding the workbook back from possible viral distribution success.

By the late 1990s with hundreds of suggestions piled up on my desk, I revised the content again. I really wanted to eliminate that bottleneck. Then, right in the middle of the dotcom boom, I added a music track called Sonic Focus to the process and, it looked like my coaching sessions were superfluous. I reviewed feedback from more than 2,000 people this time, updated the product and launched v4 the following year. 

Today, this workbook is a polished product that has helped tens of thousands of people like me complete their personal quests. Congratulations to each of you who picked up this workbook and put the process to work for you. I applaud you for your efforts and look forward to hearing more about your journey. 

When you follow the plan presented in this workbook, the results you achieve may vary but, they can never be guaranteed. Please note that my lawyer requires me to mention the disclaimer link below.

I am so very grateful to each of you for using and sharing this workbook to help make our world a better place while ensuring that the workbook continues to deliver on its promise.

This workbook is not for everyone. If you believe that success is simply a matter of fate and all you need to do is sit around and wait, please don't get it. It's really made for people who enjoy challenging themselves. It's for people who want to achieve something. It's designed for people who want to take charge of their destiny. ​