Have you ever come across a book that made you question your life? For me, that book was The Success Principles by Jack Canfield.
In December 2014, our accountant offered us a book. He thought we were doing really well with our start-up company and said that the book would inspire us. Little did he know that his gift would have triggered the beginning of the end of our company! The book was The Success Principles, by Jack Canfield.
7 Ways The Success Principles by Jack Canfield changed my life
- Made me ask myself if where I was in life was where I wanted to be.
- Taught me to take 100% responsibility for my life.
- Helped me discovered my Life Purpose.
- Rekindled dormant passions.
- Helped me clearly define what I want in all essential areas of my life.
- Helped me transform dreams into an actionable plan.
- Made me understand that dreams do come true… with ACTION!
THE BOOK The Success Principles by Jack Canfield
“How to get from where you are to where you want to be”
At the time I received The Success Principles, an almost five hundred page book would have immediately put me off. I had no time and was always overwhelmed with work.
But this book was different. From the moment I started reading it I did not want to put it down. I made time. I woke up earlier, read it while pedalling on my stationary bike, and sometimes queezed a few more pages before going to sleep.
Since then, The Success Principles by Jack Canfield has become one of my reference books. You know, one of those books you always go back to for guidance? To this date, I have read it five times!
The author
“One of the most Influential Leaders in Personal Growth and Achievement” – SUCCESS magazine
First things first, Jack Canfield is one of America’s top transformation and self-development coaches. He is an acclaimed speaker, has written more than 150 books, amongst them the Chicken Soup for the Soul series. To this day, 66 of his books have been bestsellers. Jack Canfield has also been featured in the movie The Secret, talking about “The Law of Attraction”.
That being said, let’s see how this book helped me redesign my life.
How The Success Principles by Jack Canfield changed my life
1. Made me ask myself if where I was in life was where I wanted to be.
For me, the most important consequence of reading The Success Principles was awareness.
As I read through the first part of the book, entitled “The Fundamentals of Success”, I put my life into perspective. I realised I was feeling trapped, overworked, unhappy, unhealthy, and not doing fulfilling and meaningful work.
It became clear to me that I was craving for a free, creative, meaningful and thriving lifestyle, around like-minded people.
Being probably halfway into my life, I decided I needed and wanted more out of the remaining half.
2. Taught me to take 100% Responsibility for my life
“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 create the quality of life you lead and the results you produce.” – Jack Canfield, The Success Principles, Page 4
One of the most powerful concepts of The Success Principles by Jack Canfield is “Take 100% responsibility for your life”. This idea is explained in the first chapter of the book.
It states that everything that happens to us is either a result of our actions or our inactions.
It goes on saying that we must acknowledge the fact that our successes and failures are entirely a result of our actions, attitudes, and thoughts. Only by acknowledging this will we be prepared to take control and create a life of success.
I realised I had been blaming others for circumstances in my life, instead of taking action to change them. I was complaining about things but doing nothing to change circumstances or to change myself.
3. Helped me discover my Life Purpose
“When you are on purpose, the people, resources, and opportunities you need naturally gravitate toward you.” – Jack Canfield, The Success Principles, Page 19
Assuming we all have a purpose in life, a higher reason for being, unveiling our purpose is fundamental. If we want to live a fulfilling life of joy and enthusiasm we must figure out our purpose.
There are various exercises throughout the book, but one of my favourites is the Life Purpose Exercise*.
The key question was “If I could do anything I wanted to do, assumed that all my living expenses and material needs and desires would somehow be fulfilled, would I be working at this job?”.
There were two possible answers. I ticked the box “No, I’d leave tomorrow”.
This was my own company!
I led myself to believe that I was doing something meaningful, but in reality, I wasn’t.
At first, it was hard to face the truth behind that answer, but it was harder to face the possibility of continuing doing the same thing for years to come.
According to Jack Canfield, we can identify whether we are on purpose by simply measuring our level of joy. When we are happy we are on purpose. Otherwise…
I realised I was clearly not on purpose, but got incredible insight as to where I should be heading next.
* When I first read the book, there was a longer version of this exercise for subscribers to Jack Canfield’s site. Though they are no longer available, there are newly redesigned exercises in the “The Success Principles 10-day Transformation”. This is a free course that lasts 10 days. Each day you receive an email with videos and worksheets. I highly recommend subscribing and taking the time to go through them.
If you prefer a thorough and powerful course to help you put together a step-by-step goal achievement plan into action, I suggest the course below.
4. Rekindled dormant passions
While the Life Purpose exercise was an awakening, the exercises on Chapter 3, “Decide What You Want”, were revealing.
I started by making lists of what I want to do, have and be before I die.
The “aha moment” came with the answer to: “Make a list of 20 things that you love to do, and then think of ways you can make a living doing what you love”.
I had been living in the rat-race for so many years, that I left behind the things that really made my heart glow.
Luckily, this exercise rekindled old passions. Or should I say, rekindled dormant passions.
5. Helped me clearly define what I want in all essential areas of my life
The Vision Exercise was a crucial tool to start preparing for the next chapter of my life. Its purpose is to “clarify your vision” by helping you clearly define what you want in the seven fundamental areas of your life. Those include financial, ideal job or career, recreation time, body and physical health, relationships with family and friends, personal life, and community.
After going through all seven categories, I had a clear map of where I wanted to go.
6. Helped me transform dreams into an actionable plan
“Once you know your life purpose, determined your vision, and clarify what your true needs and desires are, you have to convert them into specific measurable goals and objectives and then act on them with the certainty that you will achieve them.” – Jack Canfield, The Success Principles, Page 51
Being an efficient, methodical project manager, I was shocked to realise how I had neglected to project manage my own life!
The good news was that with the results of The Vision Exercise on my hands, setting goals was a breeze. I easily quantified my goals, described them in detail, and set deadlines.
The challenge was to set the breakthrough goal! This is that one goal that, if you were to achieve it, it would blow your mind. As Jack puts it, a breakthrough goal is one that would “represent a quantum leap for you and your career”.
All I can say at this point is that my breakthrough goal has gone from paper to work-in-progress.
Having so many plans and ideas can be quite overwhelming, but in chapter 8, “Chunk it down”, I learned to deal with that. Breaking down each goal into small tasks and committing to achieving a few of them every day, makes it easier.
7. Dreams only become reality when we take action.
In order to get from paper to reality, goals need action!
It is great to define what you want, make a detailed plan and break it down, but without action, nothing happens.
Committed, fearless, confident action is what will take you from where you are to where you want to be.
However, actions may be inhibited by blockages. Dealing with them is another challenge in itself.
But even blockages can be overcome, and you guessed it, the book also teaches you how to do that!
Conclusion
The content of The Success Principles, including all the exercises has triggered an on-going change in the way I look at my past. Most importantly, it continues to help me shape my future.
Fundamentally, this book showed me that I am a lot more responsible for what happens, or not, in my life than I wanted to admit.
Knowing that, the only possible way forward for me was to stop complaining and start making radical changes in my life. Those changes required difficult decisions, like closing my company, after working so hard to make it successful. But it was not aligned with my purpose, so I had to let it go in order to find my bliss.
Since 2014, I created a ritual of reading The Success Principles, every year, within the first quarter of the year. It acts as a motivational tool to set the pace for the New Year.
On the same occasion, I also read through the answers to all the exercises I have done in the past to make any necessary adjustments based on any shifts in my goals.
I will be eternally grateful to Nuno Borges, my accountant at the time, for offering me The Success Principles and to Jack Canfield for sharing so much priceless tranformational information.
If you are at a point in your life when you feel you need direction, this is a valuable book to read.
May The Bliss be with you!
Luciana
