I've been studying success and the psychology of success for more than 25 years. I've spoken about this subject to many thousands of successful men and women. Ultimately, everyone comes to the same conclusion. "Success cannot be achieved without goals."

The ability to set goals and make plans for their accomplishment is, in reality, the "master skill" of success. It is the single most important skill that you can ever learn and perfect. Goal-setting will do more to help you achieve the things you want in life than anything else you've been exposed to.

Throughout the developed world, we have moved from an era of manpower to an era of mind power. We have moved from the use of physical muscles to the use of mental muscles. Today the chief sources of value in our society are knowledge and the ability to apply that knowledge in a timely fashion. In the information age, knowledge is king, and those people who develop the ability to continuously acquire new and better forms of knowledge that they can apply to their work and to their lives will be the movers and shakers in our society for the indefinite future.

When you learn and practice the techniques for rapid learning, when you join the learning revolution, you will learn how to unlock the incredible powers of your mind. You will learn how to become smarterfaster than ever before. You will learn how to become a master of your fate rather than a victim of circumstances. You will learn how to take complete control of your present and future destiny so that you can accomplish and achieve anything you want in life.

Some of the most important questions that you ever ask yourself on your journey through life are questions such as, "Why am I here?" "What do I really, really want in life?" "Where am I going?" "If I achieve all my goals, what would it look like?"

The most successful people are invariably those people who spend the most time thinking about who they are and where they are going, and then constantly evaluating and re-evaluating their progress in light of who they are and what they really want.

The starting point of great success is for you to realize that you are truly extraordinary! There has never been anyone in the entire universe just like you. You have remarkable abilities, skills, aptitudes, insights and ideas that make you different, and in some way, superior to all other people who have ever lived. You have the capacity within you, right now, to accomplish more than you have ever dreamed of in the past. You are engineered and designed as "success organism," endlessly attracted to doing more and more of the things that will bring you more and more of the success and happiness that you desire.