The Success Principles - Jack Canfield

Jack Canfield, a renowned author and motivational speaker, has written several books on success, personal development, and achieving goals. One of his most famous books is "The Success Principles: How to Get from Where You Are to Where You Want to Be." 

“You Can’t Hire Someone Else to Do Your Push-ups for You”

As motivational philosopher Jim Rohn has so aptly put it, “You can’t hire someone else to do your push-ups for you.” You must do them yourself if you are to get any value out of them. Whether it is exercising, stretching, meditating, reading, studying, learning a new language, creating a mastermind group, setting measurable goals, visualizing success, repeating affirmations, or practicing a new skill, you are going to have to do it. No one else can do these things for you. We can have the road map, but we will have to drive the car. We can learn the principles, but will have to apply them. If we choose to put in the effort,  rewards will be well worth it.

How This Book is Structured

This book is organised into six sections.

Section I, “The Fundamentals of Success,” 

It contains 25 chapters that are the absolute basics you must do to get from where you are to where you want to be. You’ll start by exploring the absolute necessity of taking 100% responsibility for your life and your results. From there, you’ll learn how to clarify your life purpose, your vision, and what you truly want. Next we’ll look at how to create an unshakable belief in yourself and your dreams. 

Then it is turning vision into a set of concrete goals and an action plan for achieving them. How to harness the incredible power of affirmations and visualization—one of the success secrets of all Olympic athletes, top entrepreneurs, world leaders, and others.

The next few chapters have to do with taking those necessary but sometimes scary action steps that are required to make your dreams come true. You’ll learn to ask for what you want, reject rejection, solicit and respond to feedback, and persevere in the face of what can sometimes seem like insurmountable obstacles.

Section II, “Transform Yourself for Success,” 

This addresses the important inner work you’ll need to do —work that will help you remove any mental and emotional blocks you may have to success. It’s not enough to know what to do. There are many books that will tell you that. You also need to understand the importance of and the methodology for removing self-defeating beliefs, fears, and habits that are holding you back. Like driving your car with the emergency brake on, these blocks can significantly slow your progress. You must learn how to release the brakes, or you will always experience life as a struggle and fall short of your intended goals.

What will you learn in Section II? You’ll learn how to surround yourself with successful people and how to acknowledge the positive past and release the negative past, face what isn’t working in your life, embrace change, and make a commitment to lifelong learning. We’ll look at how to clean up any physical and emotional messes you have created and complete all the “incompletes” in your life robbing you of valuable energy that could be better  used in the achievement of your goals. How to transform your inner critic into an inner coach and develop valuable success habits that will change your life forever.

Section III, “Build Your Success Team,” 

reveals how and why to build different kinds of support teams so you can spend your time focusing exclusively on your core genius. We’ll learn how to redefine time, find a personal coach, and access your own inner wisdom—an untapped but ultrarich resource for most people.

Section IV, “Create Successful Relationships,” 

Number of principles, as well as some very practical techniques, for building and maintaining successful relationships. In this day ofstrategic alliances and power networks, it’s literally impossible to build large-scale, long-lasting success without world-class relationship skills.

Section V is entitled “Success and Money.”

Finally, because so many people equate success with money, and because money is vital to our survival and the quality of our life,  this will help develop a more positive money consciousness, how to ensure that you have plenty of money to live the lifestyle you want, both now and after you retire, and the importance of tithing and service in guaranteeing your financial success.

Section VI, “Success Starts Now,” 

consists of two short chapters on :

• the importance of getting started now and 
• empowering others in the process. 

Reading these chapters will jump-start you in creating the life you’ve always dreamed of but up until now may not have fully known how to create.

How to Read This Book

"Believe nothing. No matter where you read it, or who said it, even if I have said it, unless it agrees with your own reason and your own common sense." - BUDDHA

Everyone learns differently, and you probably know how you learn best. And though there are many ways that you can read this book, I’d like to make a few suggestions that may be helpful. You may want to read this book through once just to get a feel for the total process before you start the work of creating the life you truly want, The principles are presented in an order that builds one upon the other. They are like the numbers in a combination lock—you need all the numbers, and you need them in the right order. It doesn’t matter what color, race, gender, or age you are. If you know the combination, the lock has to open for you. ask yourself, Am I currently practicing them? If not, make a commitment to put them into action—now!

Remember, the principles only work if you work the principles. The second time you read through this book, you’ll want to read one chapter at a time, then take whatever time necessary to put it into practice. If you’re already doing some of these things, keep doing them. If not, start now.

Good to do it together with others, it will help to have an accountability partner.  Success takes time, effort, perseverance, and patience. If you apply all of the principles and techniques covered in this book you will achieve your goals. You will realize your dreams. But it won’t happen overnight.

Here are some key principles that Jack Canfield suggests:

1. 100% Responsibility: https://arunoday.blogspot.com/2023/06/100-responsibility-for-your-life-courage.html  Take 100% responsibility: Acknowledge that you have the power to create your own success. Take responsibility for your actions, decisions, and outcomes in life.
2. Clarity : https://arunoday.blogspot.com/2023/06/clarity.html Clarify your vision: Define your goals and create a clear vision of what you want to achieve. Set specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART) goals.
3. Believe in yourself: Cultivate a strong belief in your abilities and have confidence in your potential for success. Develop a positive mindset and overcome self-limiting beliefs. https://arunoday.blogspot.com/2023/07/believe-principle-4-5-success.html
4. Take action: Success requires consistent action. Take proactive steps towards your goals, even if they are small. Break down your goals into manageable tasks and take action every day.
5. Develop persistence and resilience: Be prepared to face setbacks and obstacles. Develop the resilience to keep going despite challenges. Learn from failures and use them as stepping stones to success.
6. Seek continuous learning: Commit to lifelong learning and personal growth. Read books, attend seminars, acquire new skills, and seek knowledge from mentors and experts in your field.
7. Surround yourself with positive influences: Surround yourself with supportive and like-minded individuals who inspire and uplift you. Build a network of mentors, coaches, and friends who can help you on your journey.
8. Practice gratitude and visualization: Cultivate an attitude of gratitude and focus on what you have rather than what you lack. Use visualization techniques to imagine your success and reinforce positive beliefs.
9. Practice time management and prioritize: Learn effective time management skills and prioritize your tasks based on their importance and impact. Avoid procrastination and focus on high-value activities.
10. Maintain a healthy work-life balance: Success is not just about professional achievements; it's also about overall well-being. Take care of your physical, mental, and emotional health. Maintain a balance between work, relationships, and self-care.

These are just a few of the success principles advocated by Jack Canfield. His book, "The Success Principles," delves deeper into each principle and provides practical strategies and insights to help individuals achieve their goals and create a successful life.