Day 18 of 50 ideas in 50 days is The Success Principles by Jack Canfield. Jack is co-creator of the ‘Chicken Soup for the Soul’ series with Mark Victor Hansen, whose original Chicken Soup title I read 15 years ago. I loved the idea and the heart warming stories inside. Jack Canfield is a powerhouse of amazing ideas and a brilliant businessman. He brings many great ideas to the table in this recent book of his.
Principle 1 – take 100% responsibility. “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.” Yes, accept complete responsibility for your life and be the creator of it, get out of victim mode and look for the answers within. It’s your life, don’t allow others to shape it for you. Jack gives a formula to help us with the idea and it is as follows;
Event + Response = Outcome
What actually happens, ie the event, is neutral. It is our response that makes it into something it is not and we always have a choice how to respond. It is our reponse that gives the outcome, depending on whether we are in reactive or proactive, victim or creator mode. The realisation of this is tremendously empowering.
Principle 2 – be clear why you are here. This is all about your purpose and Jack talks about how good you feel when you are clear of this. We know we are on purpose by the measure of how good we feel when doing it.
Jack Canfield echoes Dale Carnegie from How to Stop Worrying and Start Living when he quotes from Daniel Amen’s 18/40/60 rule. He says, “I like Dr Daniel Amen’s 18/40/60 rule: when you are 18, you worry about what everybody is thinking of you; when you are 40, you don’t give a damn what anybody thinks of you; when you are 60, you realise that nobody is thinking about you at all.” It’s probably true that people are more worried about what you think of them. I suspect there have been many wasted hours in all our lives worrying about this, it is so unnecessary. We can utilise our energy in much more productive ways.
Talking of more productive ways, I’d like to finish with a great principle in honouring what is really important in your life. Jack says, “Successful people adhere to the no exceptions rule when it comes to their daily disciplines. Once you make a 100% commitment to something, there are no exceptions.” So when you find something that really works, really makes a difference – honour it 100%. Healthy eating, yoga, meditation, reading, integrate them wholly into your daily life, no excuses. Then you will be living the life you truly want and embracing it 100%.
