The Success Principles by Jack Canfield: notes

The Success Principles condenses 64 lessons Jack Canfield learned on his journey to becoming a successful entrepreneur, author, coach and speaker into 6 sections, which will help you transform your mindset and take responsibility and control of your own life, so you can get from where you are to where you want to be.

Jack Canfield is mostly known for co-authoring dozens of books throughout the 90’s for a series called “Chicken Soup for the Soul”. The books are a compilation of personal, inspirational stories from the authors’ clients, friends and customers, which are meant to show that no matter who you are, you can make big things happen.

The Success Principles is the result of Jack looking back on 40 years of motivating people, drawing lessons from his own life, and thus creating a legacy that people will be able to learn from long after he’s gone.

These are the 3 things that struck me the most:

Stop complaining.
Have a completion weekend to clear your slate of allunfinished business.
You can die from negative thoughts, so think positively.

Ready to take the first step towards claiming the life that you deserve? Let’s do it!

Lesson 1: Stop complaining.

Remember yesterday’s example with your dollars being passengers on a bus? This lesson is exactly what that’s about. You are the director of your own life.

There’s no way of denying that. But that’s exactly what complaints are. Every time you blame the government, your boss, or the economy, because you’re not where you want to be, there’s really only one person at fault.

For example, if you think you’re not being paid enough, because you can never save enough money to go on vacation, ask yourself how you spent the last $500 you got as a gift, raise, or end of year bonus. Did you get a new TV? What if you had instead invested it into an index fund – it just might’ve been the investment you needed to make to pay for that cruise 3 years later.

What are you doing, or NOT doing, to end up in the situations you’re in?

Every time you want to complain, ask yourself this question instead, and you’ll slowly start to take control and responsibility for your own choices.

Lesson 2: Make decisions about all unfinished projects in one weekend.

I’m so guilty of this. How many unfinished projects do you have? Think about work, your hobbies and side projects, and friends you’ve been meaning to catch up with for ages. Since Christmas I have a reminder in my phone to call an old friend. 4 months!

There’s an entire Trello board of potential would-be projects that I haven’t gotten around to. I bet you’re life’s not different.

Jack has a brilliant suggestion to solve this problem. He calls it a completion weekend.

Go through all of your lists, ideas, projects, relationships and to-dos and take one of the following 4 actions for each one of them:

Do it.
Delegate it.
Delay it.
Dump it.

Just making a decision for every single thing you’ve got on your list will massively lighten the mental load on your brain and free plenty of precious thinking space. Whether you decide to delay it until June, hand it off to someone else, or scrap the project altogether, as long as you’re consciously choosing, you’ll feel a lot better.

2 finished projects are better than 15 ones where you’ve done half and then stopped, so get on this and enjoy the relief that comes with it, which’ll allow you to focus on what really matters.

Lesson 3: Think positively, because your thoughts can mean life or death.

Here’s how much what you think of yourself actually matters:

Nick Sitzman was a railroad construction worker. One day all of his colleagues left work early, but Nick was accidentally locked inside a refrigerated freight wagon. Of course all screaming and making noises was useless, no one could hear him.

The thought that he might freeze to death would not leave his mind. Hopeless and scared, he started edging his last words into the wagon floor with a knife, leaving a parting message for the world. Sure enough, when his co-workers came back the next day and opened the wagon, they found Nick dead. The autopsy showed that he had indeed died from hypothermia.

But the wagon wasn’t even cooling. The cooling system wasn’t turned on. Temperature inside the wagon never dropped below 50˚F (or 13˚C).

Just by freaking out and thinking he was certainly going to die, he did.

As scary as this story may sound, there’s an upside to it: The same holds true in the opposite direction. If you unconditionally love yourself, see your misconceived notions about yourself (like thinking you’re fat or lazy) for what they really are – fears – you can then move past them and let positive thinking propel you towards your dreams.

So beware your thoughts – they matter more than you might think.

My personal take-aways

A very philosophical book, with a similar message to books from other authors of Jack’s generation. Some of the techniques reminded me of The Miracle Morning, Jack talks a lot about visualization and affirmations.

The Success Principles by Jack Canfield

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The Success Principles Summary

The Book in Three Sentences

“If you want to be successful, you have to take 100% responsibility for everything that you experience in your life.”

“Everything you think, say, and do needs to become intentional and aligned with your highest purpose, your values, and your goals.”

“To achieve desired outcomes, one must replace complaining with making requests and taking action.”

The Five Big Ideas

“You have control over only three things in your life—the thoughts you think, the images you visualize, and the actions you take (your behavior).”

“Stated in its most basic form, the Law of Attraction says, what you think about, talk about, believe strongly about, and feel intensely about, you will bring about.”

“You can lose the material things, but you can never lose your mastery—what you learn and who you become in the process of achieving your goals.”

“One of the great strategies for success is to act as if you already are where you want to be.”

“The world doesn’t pay you for what you know; it pays you for what you do.”

The Success Principles Book Summary

Part One: The Fundamentals of Success

Take 100% Responsibility of Your Life

Be Clear Why You’re Here

Decide What You Want

Believe It’s Possible

Believe in Yourself

Use The Law of Attraction

Unleash The Power of Goal-Setting

Chunk It Down

Success Leaves Cues

Release The Breaks

See What You Want, Get What You See

Act As If

Take Action

Just Lean Into It

Experience Your Fear And Take Action Anyway

Be Willing to Pay the Price

Ask! Ask! Ask

Reject Rejection

Use Feedback to Your Advantage

Commit to Constant and Never-Ending Improvement

Keep Score for Success

Practice Persistence

Practice The Rule of 5

Exceed Expectations

Part Two: Transform Yourself for Success

Drop Out of The “Ain’t’ It Awful” Club . . . And Surround Yourself with Successful People

Acknowledge Your Positive Past

Keep Your Eye on The Prize

Clean Up Your Messes and Your Incompleteness

Complete the Past to Embrace the Future

Face What Isn’t Working

Embrace Change

Transform Your Inner Critic into an Inner Coach

Transcend Your Limiting Beliefs

Develop Four New Success Habits a Year

99% Is a Bitch; 100% Is a Breeze

Learn More to Earn More

Stay Motivated with The Masters

Fuel Your Success with Passion and Enthusiasm

Part Three: Build Your Success Team

Stay Focused on Your Core Genius

Redefine Time

Build a Powerful Support Team and Delegate to Them

Just Say No!

Become a Leader Worth Following

Create a Network of Mentors and Others Who Will Up-Level You

Hire a Personal Coach

Mastermind Your Way to Success

Inquire Within

Part Four: Create Successful Relationships

Be Here Now

Have a Heart Talk

Tell the Truth Faster

Speak with Impeccability

When in Doubt, Check It Out

Practice Uncommon Appreciation

Keep Your Agreements

Be a Class Act

Part Five: Success and Money

Develop a Positive Money Consciousness

You Get What You Focus On

Pay Yourself First

Master The Spending Game

To Spend More, First Make More

Give More to Get More

Find a Way to Serve

Part Six: Success in The Digital Age

Master the Technology You Need

Brand Yourself with an Online Persona

Use Social Media in a Way That Enhances Your Reputation

Use the Exponential Power of Crowdfunding

Connect with People Who Can Expand Your Vision

The Success Principles Summary

“If you want to be successful, you have to take 100% responsibility for everything that you experience in your life.”

“Everything you think, say, and do needs to become intentional and aligned with your purpose, your values, and your goals.”

“Everything you experience today is the result of choices you have made in the past.”

“You have control over only three things in your life—the thoughts you think, the images you visualize, and the actions you take (your behavior).”

“The day you change your responses is the day your life will begin to get better!”

“Complaining is an ineffective response to an event that does not produce a better outcome.”

“Learn to replace complaining with making requests and taking action that will achieve your desired outcomes.”

“If you find yourself in a situation you don’t like, either work to make it better or leave.”

“The only thing that will change your results is to change your behavior.”

“One of the easiest ways to begin clarifying what you truly want is to make a list of 30 things you want to do, 30 things you want to have, and 30 things you want to be before you die. This is a great way to get the ball rolling.”

“The create a balanced and successful life, your vision needs to include the following seven areas: work and career, finances, recreation and free time, health and fitness, relationships, personal goals, and contribution to the larger community.”

“If you limit your choices only to what seems possible or reasonable, you disconnect yourself from what you truly want, and all that is left is a compromise.”

“Stated in its most basic form, the Law of Attraction says, what you think about, talk about, believe strongly about, and feel intensely about, you will bring about.”

“You can lose material things, but you can never lose your mastery—what you learn and who you become in the process of achieving your goals.”

“One of the great things about living in today’s world of abundance and opportunity is that almost everything you want to do has already been done by someone else.”

“One of the great strategies for success is to act as if you already are where you want to be.”

“The world doesn’t pay you for what you know; it pays you for what you do.”

“Many people fail to take action because they’re afraid to fail. Successful people, on the other hand, realize that failure is an important part of the learning process.”

“If you want to remain calm and peaceful as you go through life, you have to have high intention and low attachment.”

“If you want to be more successful, you have to start hanging out with more successful people.”

“An important part of any focusing regimen is to set aside time at the end of the day—just before going to sleep—to acknowledge your successes, review your goals, focus on your successful future, and make specific plans for what you want to accomplish the next day.”

“If you are going to become more successful, you have to get out of denial and face what isn’t working in your life.”

“Successful people adhere to the ‘no exceptions rule’ when it comes to their daily disciplines.”

“To learn and grow in life, you need to be teachable, too.”

“Of course motivation is not permanent. But then neither is bathing, but it is something you should do on a regular basis.” – Jim Rohn

“When you do something you love with passion and perseverance, you are already a success.”

“The most successful people I’ve met love what they do so much, they would actually do it for free.”

“Ask yourself, ‘what is the why underneath what I am doing?’ If you can get in touch with that, it is a lot easier to get enthusiastic about whatever it is that you have to do.”

“Successful people speak words of inclusion rather than words of separation, words of acceptance rather than words of rejection, and words of tolerance rather than words of prejudice.”

“Always ask yourself, ‘Is what I am about to say going to advance the cause of my vision, mission, and goals? Will it uplift the hearer? Will it inspire, motivate, and create forward momentum? Will it dissolve fear and create safety and trust? Will it build self-esteem, self-confidence, and a willingness to risk and take action?’ If not, find words that will, or keep silent.”

“Often, we use words in a damaging way not because we are bad people but simply because we are not paying attention.”

“If you choose to live by a higher set of standards, you get to watch people respond enthusiastically toward you.”

“When you establish a higher level of personal standards, not only do you get better treatment from those around you, but suddenly you also begin attracting others with the same elevated standards.”

“To become wealthy, you’ll need to surface, identify, root out, and replace any negative or limiting beliefs you may have about money.” (Note: for more on overcoming limiting beliefs about money, read T. Harv Eker’s Secrets of The Millionaire Mind.)

“The life you are currently living is the result of the thoughts you have thought, the choices you have made, and the actions you have taken in the past.”

“Ask yourself if what you’re buying is a need or a want. There is a big difference.”