Title:
Jack Canfield’s Success Principles
Word Count:
1635
Summary:
I’ve learned about the success principles from Jack Canfield. In his book
“The Success Principles”, Jack Canfield presents the sixty-four
principles which, if learned and practiced, can help everyone to realize
their goals.
Keywords:
manifestation, attraction, wealth, happiness, success, self help, self
improvement
Article Body:
I’ve learned about the success principles from Jack Canfield. In his book
“The Success Principles”, Jack Canfield presents the sixty-four
principles which, if learned and practiced, can help everyone to realize
their goals. The principles that he teaches are timeless. He did not
invent them, but collected them from many successful people. He has
learned and practiced them himself, and has presented them in his
excellent book. He was able to present the great knowledge in a clear and
easy to understand way.
I’ve chosen and briefly described the ten principles from Canfield’s book
which I think are most important.
1) Take100% Responsibility for Your Life
The first principle states that there is only one person who is 100%
responsible for my life-it is me.
This is the first principle of success. If we want to be successful in
life, we first have to take total responsibility for our lives. We’re
responsible for all our successes and failures, health, relationships,
financial situation, our feelings and everything else.
It is me who has created the life I am living now so I must take full
responsibility for it. If I don’t take full responsibility, I can’t
achieve things which are important to me and I can’t re-make my life.
To really take 100% responsibility for our lives, we must stop blaming
others for our problems and failures. We have created our current
situations by our thoughts and activities so there is no reason to blame
anybody. We can blame only ourselves, but that is also useless because
the past is the past; we can’t change it. But now we can create our
future. We have always had the power to do it, but for different reasons
we haven’t. Now we can do things differently and get the results we want.
This is because of the rule: E+R=0(Event +Response=Outcome). The rule
says that every outcome we experience in life (good or bad) is the result
of how we responded to the previous events in our lives.
We can see that in the same situations people react differently. Some are
successful, some are not. We can see that, by responding in a different
way, we can get different results. That is why blaming events for our
failures are pointless. We must change our responses to the events and
then we can get the results we want. We don’t have control over a lot of
the events in our lives, but we have control over our responses. We can
change our thinking, our behavior, and our communication. We can also
change our old habits into the new, better ones.
Jack Canfield states that “Everything you experience in life – both
internally and externally – is the result of how you have responded to a
previous event”. Everything I experience today is the result of the
choices I have made in the past. I have control over three things in my
life: my thoughts, my visualizations and my actions. So to change my life
I need to change my thoughts, my visualizations and my actions to
positive ones. If I keep my negative responses from the past I will keep
getting the same negative results, so now is the time to stop complaining
and blaming others for my bad results and take full responsibility for my
life.
This principle is the prerequisite to a successful life. It is the basic
principle. I personally started with this principle because without this
principle I wouldn’t be able to implement the other principles.
2) Principle Believe it’s Possible
According to this principle, we are able to achieve whatever our minds
can conceive and believe. Jack Canfield explains why our brains work this
way and gives some examples but the important conclusion for us is that
we must replace all our negative expectations with positive ones, and
then our minds will start working to accomplish the outcome we want.
People often do not reach their goals, not because they lack required
skills, but because they don’t believe they can reach them.
3) Believe In Yourself
This principle is connected with the previous one. I am able to achieve
whatever my mind can conceive and believe, so I must believe in myself.
If I want to create the great and successful life I desire, I must
believe that I can make it happen. I have to believe that I have all the
abilities, skills and inner resources to do it.
I need to choose to believe that I can achieve whatever I set my mind on.
If I think that something is impossible to achieve, I will not do
everything necessary to achieve it. If I believe that it is possible for
me to achieve something, I will do everything necessary to achieve it.
To be successful I need to give up “I can’t”. My brain is able to solve
any problems I give it and reach any goals I have, but my negative words
and thoughts have a negative and limiting influence on my mind, so I give
up all my negative thoughts and words.
Jack Canfield gives some examples which prove that belief in you is more
important than knowledge, training or schooling. Quite a few very
successful people dropped out of college.
4) Release the Brakes
According to this principle, most people drive through life with their
psychological brakes on. The brakes are negative images about themselves,
inaccurate beliefs about reality, guilt and self-doubt.
These brakes cancel out people’s good intentions, no matter how hard they
try.
Successful people release the brakes
All our unfounded beliefs are like prison. They don’t allow us to go out
and reach our goals, so first we must get out of our self-imposed
prisons. The author presents three methods for doing it. They are: a)
affirmations and positive self-talk b) creating powerful and compelling
new internal images of having, doing and creating what we want c)
changing our behavior.
5) See What You Want, Get What You See
This principle is about visualization. Visualization is the act of
creating compelling and vivid pictures in your mind.
Jack Canfield gives a scientific explanation for why visualization works.
What is important for me: “Visualization simply makes the brain achieve
more”. When I visualize my goals in my mind as already achieved, my
subconscious mind will work to turn my visualizations into reality.
The author explains the process of visualization and gives a few examples
to prove that visualization works. The process is quite simple. I need to
close my eyes and see my goals as already achieved. To make the process
more powerful I should add sounds, feelings and emotions to my pictures.
The emotions are the most important ingredient of visualization. We must
enjoy the visualization. It can’t be a chore. Doing visualizations
properly we feel happy doing it, and we are creating happy future.
6) Take Action
Many people spend time analyzing, planning and organizing but they fail
to take action. Successful people also do these things, but they always
take action. They are very eager to take action.
When I take action things start happen. I have observed that I learn much
more quickly while I am in action. Things become clear. The next steps
become obvious.
The point is: “To be successful, you have to do what successful people
do, and successful people are highly action-oriented”.
There is no point in being too cautious, because even if I make some
mistakes I can learn from them, and can still achieve my goals. If I do
not take action because I am too careful or afraid, I will not reach my
goals anyway. Taking action brings satisfaction, too.
7) Commit to Constant and Never-Ending Improvement
This principle says that if I want to be successful, I must always try to
do things better. I must always try to improve, so I need to look at my
goals, and I need to find out what I need to improve to achieve them
better and faster.
Canfield advises making small, achievable steps which we can easily
improve. In this way we will not become overwhelmed and discouraged
because something seems too difficult to achieve or do.
To improve takes time. It does not happen overnight, but if I improve and
learn a little bit every day, one day my skills and knowledge will be
very useful in my life.
8) Practice Persistence
Persistence is one of the most important qualities of successful people.
There are always a lot of obstacles in life, so without persistence it is
impossible to achieve much.
People often quit just before reaching their goals, because they lack
persistence. But “If you hang in there long enough, you will eventually
reach your goal.”
9) Learn More to Earn More
This principle is about learning. The more I learn and the more knowledge
I acquire, the more successful I can be.
Canfield recommends reducing the time I spend on watching television and
using this time for reading. He suggests reading inspirational books,
books on psychology, finance, sales, health etc. He also recommends
reading biographies of great people.
Another way to learn is to attend success rallies, conferences and
retreats. To learn from other people I must be teachable. That means that
when I have the opportunity to listen or learn something from people who
know more than I do, I should listen and try to learn from them and not
try to impress them. Some humility is required.
10) Start Now! ... Just Do It!
According to this principle, “There is no perfect time to start” so let
me start now. As Canfield says, “Once you start moving and producing
results, all manner of things begin to happen that will take you further
and faster than you ever imagined”.