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The Success Principles: How to Get from Where You Are to Where You Want to Be by Jack Canfield, Janet Switzer, Janet Switzer (With)

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Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Pub. Date: December 2006
ISBN-13: 9780060594893
Sales Rank: 3,804
512pp
Edition Description: Reprint

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Synopsis

Americans are, above all, an aspirational people. To be human is to aspire to success: in life, home, relationships, work, education, creative expression, and indeed in every aspect of daily living. Not since the seminal works of Dale Carnegie and Napoleon Hill has a writer produced a work that can inspire, instruct, and practically nurture the impulse for success in all its manifold expressions. While many authors are serving segments around this need--mentoring, coaching, discipline, habits, relationships--only Jack Canfield is addressing this greater void in the marketplace of ideas.

The Success Principles(tm) is a watershed book for a renewed era of Success-oriented culture, touching on every aspect of our lives. As Napoleon Hill's Think and Grow Rich was a touchstone for readers last century, so this book will become the new selfimprovement standard for our own. From sales and marketing professionals to small business owners, and from teachers to students and parents, Canfield offers 64 practical and inspiring principles to get any aspiring person from where they are to where they want to be:

The Fundamentals of Success
Decide What You Want and attract abundance into your life; Stay Focused on Your Core Genius;
Become an Inverse Paranoid and marvel as rich opportunities appear; Practice the Rule of 5 and
create powerful achievements everyday; Surround Yourself with Successful People; and more.

Transform Yourself for Success
Fuel Your Success with Passion and Enthusiasm for non-stop gains in every area; Have an Attitude
of Gratitude; Transform Your Inner Critic Into Your Inner Coach; Clean Up Your Messes and
Incompletes and create more attention units for success; Face What Isn't Working and get into success habits that deliver; Release the Brakes and Accelerate Yourself out of your comfort zone; and more.

Build Your Success Team
Mastermind Your Way to Success; Build a Powerful Support Team; Say No to the Good So You Can Say Yes to the Great; and more.

Create Successful Relationships
Drop Out of the 'ain't it awful' Club and surround yourself with more positive people; Be Hear Now;
Tell the Truth Faster; Forgive and Move On; Treat Everyone with Respect; Create Win-Win
Solutions; Trust in Trust.

Maximize Your Success with Money
Spread the Wealth Around and be repaid a hundred fold; Pay Yourself First; Fund Your Future;
Master the Spending Game; Give More to Get More; Find a way to Serve.

Success Starts Now
Go For It!; Empower Yourself by Empowering Others.

Publishers Weekly

When it comes to success, Canfield knows of what he speaks: he is co-creator, with Mark Victor Hansen, of the seemingly endless Chicken Soup for the Soul series. He presents 64 success principles that he claims "always work"-and draws on his own experience and that of others to illustrate them. Sixty-four principles may seem like a lot, but each receives a concise, easy-to-digest chapter that challenges readers to risk creating their lives exactly as they want them. Many of the principles are familiar-e.g., "Take 100% Responsibility for Your Life"-but Canfield has a nifty way of summarizing them ("Reject rejection"), and some are inventive: "Become an Inverse Paranoid" means see the world as out to help you instead of out to get you. He also offers specific techniques, such as positive-thinking exercises and visualizations. A section on transformation provides even more on how to overcome self-defeating beliefs, fears and habits. Further sections offer principles on building good teams and better relationships at the office. Canfield acknowledges his predecessors in the success advice field, such as Napoleon Hill, and is also clear that while he gives information, motivation, and inspiration, readers must contribute their own hard work. Canfield's energy and enthusiasm bounce off the page; many will flock to this inspiring (and very rich) teacher. And those starting off in business or in need of a refresher course may consider this title required reading. Agent, Bonnie Solow. (Jan. 1) Forecast: Harper is putting Canfield in a class with Dale Carnegie and Napoleon Hill. A Today show appearance, 11-city tour and 250,000-copy first printing will demonstrate whether they're right. Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

More Reviews and Recommendations

Biography

Motivational speaker Jack Canfield is the co-creator of the Chicken Soup for the Soul series. With over 65 books to his credit, Canfield has taken the inspirational advice he delivered in his speeches and forged one of the most popular book series in print.

More About the Author

Customer Reviews

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The Success Principles
Tabitha Risner, a cat lover., 06/29/2007

This book is the BEST book I have ever read on how to succeed. It has helped me so much. This is the first book I have ever read by Jack Canfield, and it won't be my last. You will have to read and study it more than once, because it has so much info. Jack knows what he is talking about. Truly a FIVE star book.

Fact File

Name:
Jack Canfield

Current Home:
Santa Barbara, California

Date of Birth:
August 19, 1944

Place of Birth:
Fort Worth, Texas

Education:
B.A. in History, Harvard University, 1966; M.A.T. Program, University of Chicago, 1968; M.Ed., U. of Massachusetts, 1973

* Jack Canfield's official web site

Biography

While Jack Canfield himself may not necessarily be a household name, it's very likely that you have heard of his famed Chicken Soup for the Soul series and nearly as likely that you have at least one of them sitting on your very own bookshelf! Having got his start as an inspirational speaker, Canfield's own story is nothing less than inspirational.

Jack Canfield had been traveling around delivering key note speeches and organizing workshops to help audiences build their self-esteem and maximize their potential when he had an in-flight brainstorm that changed his life. While flying home from a gig, Canfield realized that the very same advice he had been delivering during his in-person addresses could potentially form the basis of a book. Canfield used inspirational stories he'd gleaned over the years as the basis of his speeches, and he thought it would be a terrific idea to gather together 101 inspirational stories and anthologize them in a single volume. Upon returning home, Canfield approached friend and author Mark Victor Hansen about his concept. Hansen agreed it was a great idea, and the two men set about finding a publisher. Believe it or not, the mega-selling series was not an easy sell to publishers. "We were rejected by 123 publishers all told," Canfield told Shareguide.com. "The first time we went to New York, we visited with about a dozen publishers in a two day period with our agent, and nobody wanted it. They all said it was a stupid title, that nobody bought collections of short stories, that there was no edge -- no sex, no violence. Why would anyone read it?"

Canfield wisely practiced what he preached -- and persisted. Ultimately, he and Hansen sold the first Chicken Soup for the Soul book to a small press based in Deerfield Beach, Florida, called Health Communications. The rest, as they say, is history. There are currently 80 million copies of the Chicken Soup books in print, with subjects as varied as Chicken Soup For the Horse Lover's Soul and Chicken Soup For the Prisoner's Soul. Canfield and Hansen ranked as the top-selling authors of 1997 and are multiple New York Times bestsellers. Most important of all, the inspirational stories they have gathered in their many volumes have improved the lives of countless readers.

This year, expect to see Canfield's name gracing the covers of such titles as Chicken Soup For the Scrapbooker's Soul, Chicken Soup For the Mother and Son Soul, and Chicken Soup For the African American Woman's Soul. He and Hansen have also launched the all-new "Healthy Living" series and 8 titles in that series have already been released this year. There is also the fascinating You've GOT to Read This Book!, in which Canfield compiles personal accounts by 55 people each discussing a book that has changed his or her life. The most compelling of these may be the story of young entrepreneur Farrah Gray, who read Deepak Chopra's The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success at the age of 11 and made his first million dollars at the age of 14!

With no sign of slowing down, Canfield continues to be an inspiration to millions, who fortunately refused to give up when it seemed as though he would never even get his first book published. "Mark and I are big believers in perseverance," he said. "If you have a vision and a life purpose, and you believe in it, then you do not let external events tell you what is so. You follow your internal guidance and follow your bliss, as Joseph Campbell used to say."

Good to Know

Canfield is the founder of two California based self-esteem programs, "Self-Esteem Seminars" in Santa Barbara and "The Foundation For Self Esteem" in Culver City.

Writing the first Chicken Soup book was a lot more daunting than Canfield expected. After the first three years of research, he and Mark Victor Hansen had only compiled 68 stories -- 33 tales shy of their goal of 101 stories.

Along with co-writing dozens of full-length books, Canfield also publishes a free biweekly newsletter called Success Strategies.

Some fun and fascinating outtakes from our interview with Canfield:

"My inspiration for writing comes from my passion for teaching others how to live more effective lives. I started out as a history teacher in an all-black inner city high school in Chicago, graduated to a teacher trainer, then psychotherapist, then trainer of therapists, then large group transformational trainer and then a writer and keynote speaker. All along the way, my desire was to make a difference, to help people live more fulfilling lives. That is what I still do today. Most people don't know this but I was not a good writer in college. I got a C in composition. Nobody would have ever believed I would grow up to be a bestselling author."

"I play guitar, and I am learning to play the piano. I love movies and some TV shows. My favorites are Six Feet Under, Grey's Anatomy, House and Lost. I love to play Scrabble, poker and backgammon with my in-laws, nieces and nephews. We really get into it. I love to travel. I have been to 25 countries and try to add two or three new ones every year."

Feature Interview

In the fall of 2006, Jack Canfield took some time out to talk with us about some of his favorite books, authors, and interests:

What was the book that most influenced your life or your career as a writer?
Life After Life by Dr. Raymond Moody. I have a whole chapter on how this book changed my life in my book You've Got to Read This Book! that I co-authored with Gay Hendricks. The book changed my life by introducing me to the phenomenon of clinical near death experiences, in which people have been clinically dead for several minutes but have recall of their experiences while dead. The most impactful part was that almost all people reporting these experiences were asked two questions by the spiritual being they met (Jesus, Buddha, etc.). These two questions were "How have you expanded your capacity to love?" and "What wisdom have you gained from your experience?" When I first read this book while in graduate school back in 1971, I decided to devote my life to studying these two areas and teaching others what I learned in regard to how to be more loving and how to gain wisdom from our lives and the lives of others. This is what has led to the Chicken Soup for the Soul books and my books on how to live more successful lives.

What are your all-time favorite books?
I have read over 3000 books in the last 46 years. There are so many that I love. Here are a few of my favorites:

The Power of Now by Ekert Tolle

What You Think of Me Is None of My Business by Terry Cole-Whittaker

The Sedona Method by Hale Dwoskin

Life After Life by Dr. Raymond Moody

Autobiography of a Yogi by Paramahansa Yogananda

Ask and It Is Given by Jerry and Esther Hicks

Gestalt Therapy Verbatim by Fritz Perls

The Field by Lynn Taggert

Freakonomics by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner

The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz

What are some of your favorite films, and what makes them unforgettable to you?

One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovitch is a little known film that shows one day in the life of a prisoner in a Siberian prison camp. It makes you realize and appreciate how wonderful it is to be free, something we all take too much for granted.

Shakespeare in Love is a brilliant film in the way it weaves back and forth between the play and the writer. As a writer I loved it.

The first Rocky movie for its sheer inspiration that anything is possible.

Castaway, because it shows how strong and resilient people can be.

Norma Rae for its tale of how one woman can make such a huge difference. I was fortunate enough to meet the real Norma Rae in a Chicago radio station green room when I was promoting the second Chicken Soup for the Soul book.

Moulin Rouge because it is such a wonderfully out of the box musical and such a powerful love story, and because I think Nicole Kidman is such a great actress. The chemistry between Nicole Kidman and Ewan McGregor is so powerful and moving.

Million Dollar Baby because of the moving story of someone going for it against all odds when she is obsessed with a dream. Would that we were all so committed to our dreams. I guess that's why I like Chicken Soup for the Soul stories so much.

The Secret which is about the power of the Law of Attraction. It is only available on DVD right now at www.whatisthesecret.tv. I highly recommend it. It is destined to be an underground mega-hit.

What types of music do you like? Is there any particular kind you like to listen to when you're writing?
I love all kinds of music. I grew up in West Virginia listening to country music and I have over 1000 country CDs. I also have an extensive collection of jazz, rock, folk, international, classical and what might be called new age music. I listen to instrumental music when I write -- music from Daniel Kobialka, John Tesch, Peter Kater, Hilary Stagg, Jim Brickman, Kenny G, Michael Jones, and the like.

If you had a book club, what would it be reading?
Right now I'd have them reading You've Got to Read This Book!: 55 People Tell the Story of the Book that Changed Their Life. The reason is that it is a fascinating book and it opens so many doors to other great books to read. It gives people insight into so many people that they know and the books that shaped their lives.

What are your favorite kinds of books to give -- and get -- as gifts?
I love to give books that are inspirational in nature. I have given multiple copies of The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz, The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success by Deepak Chopra, Loving What Is by Byron Katie and The Hidden Messages in Water by Masaru Emoto. And of course, I have given away thousands of copies of Chicken Soup for the Soul books as gifts.

Do you have any special writing rituals? For example, what do you have on your desk when you're writing?
I don't have any writing rituals. I just sit down and write -- often for as many as 16 hours in a row. I turn the phone off and have a do not disturb sign on the door. I do my best writing at night. I have seen the sun come up way too many mornings after an all night writing session!

What are you working on now?
I am working on several Chicken Soup for the Soul books (always). Currently -- Chicken Soup for the Twenty-Something Soul, Chicken Soup for the Extraordinary Teen Soul, and Chicken Soup for the Laughing Soul, which will contain all funny stories. I am also writing a sequel to The Success Principles entitled Effortless Success. It will focus on how to apply the Law of Attraction to your life, so that success can be achieved much more easily.

Many writers are hardly "overnight success" stories. How long did it take for you to get where you are today? Any rejection-slip horror stories or inspirational anecdotes?
Most people don't know this, but Chicken Soup for the Soul was rejected by more than 140 publishers. It was so bad that our agent gave us the manuscript back and told us that the book was never going to be published. Mark and I took the book to the American Book Sellers Association convention where there were 4000 publishers with booths, and we walked from booth to booth for three days attempting to find a publisher. Finally on the third day, Health Communications Inc., a small publisher from Florida, agreed to take a look at it. When they agreed to publish it, we did not receive an advance. Nor did we get a lot of marketing support in the beginning. We did not hit a best seller list until 14 months after the book was published. Then it stayed on the New York Times bestseller list for almost 3 years. We later went on to win a Guinness Book of Records for having 7 books on the New York Times bestseller list on May 24th, 1998!

If you could choose one new writer to be "discovered," who would it be?
My son Oran Canfield is writing a book entitled Can I Have Some Bread with my Chicken Soup? It is about his years growing up as my son. His mother and I were divorced when he was only two years old and he then had a very bizarre but interesting life growing up on the west coast. He is an amazing writer -- very funny. Kind of in the Running with Scissors by Augusten Burroughs style. When his book is finished I am convinced it will be a bestseller.

What tips or advice do you have for writers still looking to be discovered?
Practice your craft of writing and get as much feedback from as many people as you can and keep honing your writing and finding your voice. Write what you know. Write from your heart. Don't chase the money. Chase the desire to be the best writer you can be. If you have the passion for writing, never give up!

From Barnes & Noble

Jack Canfield's success credentials are incontestable: The co-creator of the Chicken Soup for the Soul franchise has sold more than 80 million books. (In fact, he once had seven books on New York Times bestseller lists simultaneously.) His Success Principles set out 64 keystones ("Become an inverse paranoid," "Reject rejection") for achieving the kind of life that you've always wanted. Canfield bolsters these precepts with uplifting quotations from famous role models. A manual for the upward bound.

From the Publisher

The author of the phenomenal bestselling Chicken Soup series--with over 80 million books sold and 11 #1 Bestsellers--turns to the secrets of success as the cornerstone of his next franchise.

Publishers Weekly

Library Journal

A prescription for achieving life goals and aspirations, this book by the coauthor of the "Chicken Soup for the Soul" series is destined for best-sellers lists all over the country. Canfield guarantees results if readers decide what they want, believe they deserve it, and practice his 64 principles, laid out here with evangelical zeal. Based on sound psychological, spiritual, and economic truths gathered from interviews, research, and personal experience, these principles include urging readers to take 100 percent responsibility for their own lives, continually ask for feedback, tell the truth faster, and master the spending game. Canfield has an easy style and talks directly to readers, responding to potential "what ifs" and "buts" with encouragement and sound advice. The book's layout is superb-small paragraphs are punctuated by italicized quotes, questions for self-study, and several appropriate cartoons. One could easily pick and choose principles of interest, although a thorough reading is recommended. Lest this all sound too good to be true, Canfield stresses that "Success takes times, effort, perseverance and patience." Essential for all libraries.-Deborah Bigelow, Leonia P.L., NJ Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

Soundview Executive Book Summaries

Success expert Jack Canfield, the co-creator of the bestselling Chicken Soup for the Soul series, has collected 64 essential lessons for attaining goals in The Success Principles. These principles include the personal basics, such as "Be clear why you're here," and "Believe in yourself," as well as those aimed at creating better relationships, such as "Speak with impeccability," and "Say no to the good so that you can say yes to the great." He also presents the essential ideas that can create success with money, teams, and starting the journey. Copyright © 2006 Soundview Executive Book Summaries

Read a Sample Chapter

Read a Sample Chapter

The Success Principles

How to Get from Where You Are to Where You Want to Be

By Canfield, Jack

HarperResource

ISBN: 0060594888

Principle One

Take 100% Responsibility For Your Life

You must take personal responsibility. You cannot
change the circumstances, the seasons, or the wind,
but you can change yourself.

Jim Rohn
America's foremost business philosopher

One of the most pervasive myths in the American culture today is that we are entitled to a great life -- that somehow, somewhere, someone (certainly not us) is responsible for filling our lives with continual happiness, exciting career options, nurturing family time, and blissful personal relationships simply because we exist.

But the real truth -- and the one lesson this whole book is based on -- is that there is only one person responsible for the quality of the life you live.

That person is you.

If you want to be successful, you have to take 100% responsibility for everything that you experience in your life. This includes the level of your achievements, the results you produce, the quality of your relationships, the state of your health and physical fitness, your income, your debts, your feelings -- everything!

This is not easy.

In fact, most of us have been conditioned to blame something outside of ourselves for the parts of our life we don't like. We blame our parents,our bosses, our friends, the media, our coworkers, our clients, our spouse, the weather, the economy, our astrological chart, our lack of money -- anyone or anything we can pin the blame on. We never want to look at where the real problem is -- ourselves.

There is a wonderful story told about a man who is out walking one night and comes upon another man down on his knees looking for something under a streetlamp. The passerby inquires as to what the other man is looking for. He answers that he is looking for his lost key. The passerby offers to help and gets down on his knees and helps him search for the key. After an hour of fruitless searching, he says, "We've looked everywhere for it and we haven't found it. Are you sure that you lost it here?"

The other man replies, "No, I lost it in my house, but there is more light out here under the streetlamp."

It is time to stop looking outside yourself for the answers to why you haven't created the life and results you want, for it is you who creates the quality of the life you lead and the results you produce.

You -- no one else!

To achieve major success in life -- to achieve those things that are most important to you -- you must assume 100% responsibility for your life. Nothing less will do.

One Hundred Percent Responsibility For Everything

As I mentioned in the introduction, back in 1969 -- only 1 year out of graduate school -- I had the good fortune to work for W. Clement Stone. He was a self-made multimillionaire worth $600 million at the time -- and that was long before all the dot-com millionaires came along in the '90s. Stone was also America's premier success guru. He was the publisher of Success Magazine, author of The Success System That Never Fails, and coauthor with Napoleon Hill of Success Through a Positive Mental Attitude.

When I was completing my first week's orientation, Mr. Stone asked me if I took 100% responsibility for my life.

"I think so," I responded.

"This is a yes or no question, young man. You either do or you don't."

"Well, I guess I'm not sure."

"Have you ever blamed anyone for any circumstance in your life? Have you ever complained about anything?"

"Uh ... yeah ... I guess I have."

"Don't guess. Think."

"Yes, I have."

"Okay, then. That means you don't take one hundred percent responsibility for your life. Taking one hundred percent responsibility means you acknowledge that you create everything that happens to you. It means you understand that you are the cause of all of your experience. If you want to be really successful, and I know you do, then you will have to give up blaming and complaining and take total responsibility for your life -- that means all your results, both your successes and your failures. That is the prerequisite for creating a life of success. It is only by acknowledging that you have created everything up until now that you can take charge of creating the future you want.

"You see, Jack, if you realize that you have created your current conditions, then you can uncreate them and re-create them at will. Do you understand that?"

"Yes, sir, I do."

"Are you willing to take one hundred percent responsibility for your life?"

"Yes, sir, I am!"

And I did.

You Have to Give Up All Your Excuses

Ninety-nine percent of all failures come from
people who have a habit of making excuses.

George Washington Carver
Chemist who discovered over 325 uses for the peanut

If you want to create the life of your dreams, then you are going to have to take 100% responsibility for your life as well. That means giving up all your excuses, all your victim stories, all the reasons why you can't and why you haven't up until now, and all your blaming of outside circumstances. You have to give them all up forever.

You have to take the position that you have always had the power to make it different, to get it right, to produce the desired result. For whatever reason -- ignorance, lack of awareness, fear, needing to be right, the need to feel safe -- you chose not to exercise that power. Who knows why? It doesn't matter. The past is the past. All that matters now is that from this point forward you choose -- that's right, it's a choice -- you choose to act as if (that's all that's required -- to act as if ) you are 100% responsible for everything that does or doesn't happen to you ... Continues...

Excerpted from The Success Principles by Canfield, Jack Excerpted by permission.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

The Success Principles: How to Get from Where You Are to Where You Want to Be by Jack Canfield, Janet Switzer, Janet Switzer (With)

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Synopsis

Publishers Weekly

Biography

Customer Reviews

Fact File

Biography

Good to Know

Feature Interview

From Barnes & Noble

From the Publisher

Publishers Weekly

Library Journal

Soundview Executive Book Summaries

Customer Reviews

Product Details

Read a Sample Chapter

The Success Principles

HarperResource

Principle One

Take 100% Responsibility For Your Life

You Have to Give Up All Your Excuses

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