Jack Canfield

The Success Principles

1-Page Summary

Jack Canfield struck gold as a co-author of the best-selling Chicken

Soup for the Soul book series, but it took him years to achieve success.
In The Success Principles, he details 67 principles to help anyone
achieve their goals and dreams. The basic formula for success is to
identify what you want, know that you deserve to have it, and use the
book’s principles to get you there.

We combined and reorganized the principles by theme for clarity and

coherence. We’ve grouped them into eight parts by theme (two more
than Canfield’s six), combined similar principles, and omitted repetitive
principles (Principle 9: Success Leaves Clues; Principle 22: Practice
Persistence; and Principle 24: Exceed Expectations).

Part 1: Learn the Success Basics | Principles 1-8, 10-

11, 23, 30
Key Takeaways: Believe you can get what you want, work to get it, and
take responsibility for your life.

Top Principle: Principles 1, 30—Take Responsibility for Your Life: Accept

that your life circumstances are within your control, and operate with
this formula: Event + Response = Outcome. An Event is something that
happens in your life; your Response is how you choose to respond to
the event; the Outcome is the result of how you choose to respond. If
you’re frequently dealing with the same event but don’t like the
outcome you’re getting, adjust your response until you get the
outcome you’d like.

For example, if you hate your job, you may blame your boss. But you
accepted that job and chose to stay in it, even if it’s keeping you from
doing work you’re more passionate about. Instead of blaming your
boss, get what you need to make the job worthwhile, or make a
change. For example, ask that you not be expected to work weekends,
or ask for a raise that’s long overdue.

Principles 2-3—Identify Your Life’s Purpose and What You Want: When
you know your life’s purpose, you can tailor your actions to support that
purpose. In contrast, if you don’t feel a sense of purpose, it’s easy to go
aimlessly through life without feeling as though you’re achieving
anything worthwhile or meaningful. Principles 4-6—Believe in Yourself
and Your Dreams: Science has shown that what happens in our lives
tends to follow what we think will happen, or what we’ve been
conditioned to think will happen. So, to achieve what you want in life,
believe it will happen, believe you can do it, and don’t be deterred by
conventional wisdom that says otherwise.

Principles 7, 8, 11, 23—Set Goals: Goal-setting helps you develop new

skills, grow as a person, and do things that scare you but are good for
you. Write goals with plenty of detail, interact with them daily, break
them into steps, and work on those steps every day.

Principle 10—Expand Your Comfort Zone: As we grow up, we often let

limiting thoughts about ourselves and our abilities guide how we live
our lives. Writing affirmations is a great tool to envision your ideal
reality and motivate yourself to leave your comfort zone to achieve it.
Part 2: Act With Intention | Principles 12-16
Key Takeaways: Achieving success requires taking action. Learn to forge
ahead, even in the face of challenges and fear.

Top Principle: Principles 15-16—Face Your Fears, and Do the Work:

Though everyone has fears, successful people learn to feel their fears
and do the work anyway. They also recognize that reaching their goals
isn’t just going to happen—they have to be willing to do what’s
necessary, which often requires sacrifice. Train yourself to set your fear
aside by reframing it, focusing on positive imagery, and focusing on
positive feelings. To do the work, evaluate your plan of action, assess
whether your steps are sufficient, and be willing to practice and fail
until you can do the work well.

Principle 12—Act Like You’ve Made It: Acting as though you’ve already
achieved your dream activates the Law of Attraction: You start
attracting and recognizing the people and opportunities that could
help you reach your goals. To start acting like you’ve made it, think
about how your life would be different, including what you’d feel, think,
talk about, and wear.

Principles 13-14—Push Yourself to Act: Even when you have a plan of

action, you may make excuses that prevent you from following it, such
as waiting for the right time to start. Identify your main excuse for
waiting and address it so you can get to work.

Part 3: Use Feedback to Your Advantage | Principles

17-21
Key Takeaways: To be successful, communicate your needs and wants
to others, and ask others for feedback on your performance to
continuously improve yourself.

Top Principle: Principle 19—Seek Out and Use Feedback: Feedback is a

useful tool to achieve your goals because it can help you tell when
you’re getting off track and need to correct your course. Though you
may be afraid of what you’ll hear, the benefits outweigh the downsides.

People are often afraid to give feedback because they don’t want you
to react in a negative way. To benefit from feedback, learn to ask for it
and accept it graciously. Here are two questions to ask:

In what ways do you see me holding myself back?

On a scale of one to 10, how would you rate (BLANK)? This

question can be used in any number of personal or professional
situations. Often, the person will have specific ideas of things
you can do to improve your relationship. For example, Canfield
asks his wife and coworkers this question weekly, seeking
continuous improvement.

Principles 17-18—Ask for What You Need and Want: Learning how to
ask for what you need and want, even when you’re afraid of the answer,
can help you reach your goals. To ask for what you want, use clear
language, assume what you’re asking for is possible, and if you’re
rejected, try again another time.

Principles 20-21—Always Strive to Improve: Working to improve

yourself and become successful means that you don’t stop once
you’ve achieved one goal—it means you’re constantly working on
improving yourself or your work, and you recognize that even slight
improvements can make a big difference. To keep improving, plan
what you’re going to improve on and develop a scoring system to track
your progress and motivate you to hit your targets.

Part 4: Prime Yourself for Success | Principles 25-29,

31-37
Key Takeaways: To achieve success, find people who can support you
in your endeavors. Also, develop new ways of thinking about yourself
and your efforts.

Top Principle: Principle 26—Appreciate Your Successes: It’s common to

focus more on our failures than our successes. We tend to take even
small successes for granted. But over time, this can diminish your self-
esteem and make you less likely to take risks. For example, maybe you
see a job posting for a customer engagement associate with a local
software company. You’re relatively qualified for the job, but you talk
yourself out of applying because you’ve never held a similar role.
Instead of letting poor self-esteem erode your confidence, actively
work to celebrate your success, and use it as a tool to persevere in
times of doubt or difficulty.

To boost your self-esteem and remind yourself of your successes, do

activities such as writing down 100 times when you were successful, or
surround yourself with symbols of your success, such as diplomas and
certificates.

Principles 25—Surround Yourself With Nurturing, Successful People: If

you spend a lot of time with people who stress you out, aren’t
successful, or aren’t supportive, you’re less likely to succeed. Aim to
spend time with people who uplift you, support and nurture your
dreams, have a positive attitude, and are successful.
Principle 27—Improve Your Bedtime Routine: How you reflect on your
day has a huge impact on what you learn and how you approach the
next day. Use the last 45 minutes of your day to ask yourself how the
day went, and visualize your success the following day.

Principle 28—Finish Your Projects and Declutter Your Life: The more
unfinished tasks and clutter you have on hand, the more time you
spend thinking about them when you could be putting that energy
toward achieving your goals. Make a plan to systematically finish your
unfinished projects and get rid of clutter.

Principle 29—Resolve Past Hurts: When you experience something

painful but don’t process it, it diminishes your ability to take on future
challenges. Learning to forgive can help you overcome your fears
through fully expressing your emotions.

Principle 31—Welcome Change: The world is constantly changing, from

new technologies to the economy. Learn to welcome change by
reflecting on a time change made your life easier and training yourself
to anticipate change with excitement rather than fear.

Principles 32-33—Practice Positive Self-Talk: Negative thoughts about

yourself can make you feel powerless, unmotivated, and weak. Deal
with negative thoughts by resolving to listen only to constructive
feedback, expressing your grievances with yourself in a gentle way, and
asking yourself what to do differently.

Principles 34-35—Master Four Success Habits Per Year: Studies suggest

it takes 13 weeks, or a quarter of a year, to develop a new habit. Identify
which four habits or behaviors would be useful to your personal and
professional success, and work on them, one at a time, over the course
of a year.
Principles 36-37—Learn Throughout Your Life: Learning throughout
your life is key to being successful and adapting to changing times. To
make time to learn, watch less television and read more, listen to
inspirational audio programs, attend success rallies or conferences,
and help your employees develop new skills throughout their careers.

Part 5: Grow Your Professional Skills and Network |

Principles 38-47
Key Takeaways: Being a successful leader means taking steps to
improve your leadership skills, growing your professional network, and
focusing your time on the work you do best.

Top Principle: Principles 38-41—Focus on Your “Core Genius”: Passion

and enthusiasm can drive you to do your best work and achieve
success. Successful people turn their passion and their core genius—
what they do best—into their business.

To align your work with your passion and core genius, first determine
what each of these is. To identify your passion, ask yourself:

Do I love my work? If I don’t love my work, what would I rather be

doing? Would it be lucrative?

Which activities outside of work make me feel the most

connected to other people and myself?

What am I doing and why do I like it? Pinpoint specific qualities

or characteristics that you like about the work you enjoy. For
example, maybe you enjoy coordinating social activities for your
coworkers because you value creating cohesion in a fun
 environment.

To identify and align your work with your core genius, follow these
three steps:

1. List all the business activities that occupy your time. Include small
tasks, like photocopying, up through big tasks, like giving
presentations.

2. From the list, identify several activities that represent your core
genius—those you’re especially good at that use your unique
talents.

3. Identify one to three activities from the list that generate the most
income for your company. Make a plan to focus 80 percent of your
time on the activities that require your unique talents and generate
the most money. Delegate other tasks.

Principle 42—Align Your Time With Your Values: From the workplace to
home, our lives are filled with distractions that prevent us from
spending time on what’s important to us. Learning to say no to
distractions and mediocre business opportunities positions you to
achieve your goals and dreams.

Principle 43—Cultivate Your Leadership Skills: Successful people are

often leaders in their field because achieving their vision or goals
required motivating, recruiting, and leading groups of people to action.
Leaders know how to:

Clearly and compellingly communicate their vision

Learn from listening to their employees

Practice gratitude
 Coach others to be leaders and solve problems

Hold their employees and themselves accountable for their

work

Principles 44-45—Network and Find Mentors and Coaches: To be

successful in your life and career, cultivate a network of people whom
you can call on for advice and do business with. Meet regularly with a
mentor who is successful in your field, and form a professional network
to open doors to new career opportunities such as new clients,
business partners, and jobs.

Principle 46—Convene a Mastermind Group and Choose an

Accountability Partner: Professionals in and outside of your field can
offer insight and encouragement that helps you achieve your personal
and professional goals. Form a mastermind group of five or six people
who convene regularly—weekly to monthly—to confidentially help
each other navigate challenges and reach their professional or personal
goals. You can also pair up with an accountability partner and hold
each other accountable for getting your work done, meeting deadlines,
and reaching goals.

Principle 47—Consult Your Intuition: When confronted with a

challenge, many people know how to seek outside help, but few have
learned how to access their inner wisdom or intuition to overcome a
challenge. Learn to tap into your intuition at will by asking yourself
questions, meditating, and calming your emotions so that you can
focus on solutions.

Part 6: Cultivate Successful Relationships | Principles

48-55
Key Takeaways: Successful relationships require a suite of skills,
including showing appreciation for others, learning to listen and ask
questions in a way that helps people feel heard, and following through
on your commitments.

Top Principle: Principle 53—Show Your Appreciation: In personal and

work relationships, showing your appreciation helps others feel
affirmed and valued. Yet we may hesitate to show appreciation or not
show it in the way the other person prefers. Becoming familiar with the
five “love languages” can help you show appreciation to people in the
way that suits them. This principle can also be used to recognize your
employees. Here’s how it works: People have a preferred “language” or
way of receiving appreciation, as well as a secondary way. If you show
your appreciation with a love language that doesn’t register with
someone, it won’t have the same impact as their preferred language.

The five love languages are receiving gifts, benefiting from a service,
touch, kind and encouraging words, and quality time. You can discern
someone’s love language by listening to what they ask of you, watching
how they behave with others, and noting their complaints, all of which
can reveal how they would like to be appreciated.

Principle 48—Hone Your Listening Skills: Active listening is an

important skill to facilitate communication and ingratiate yourself with
others. Active listening includes observing body language, showing
your attention with your own body language, considering the message
underlying what the person is saying, and asking clarifying questions.

Principle 49—Host “Heart Talks”: Most of our institutions are structured

around telling people what to do rather than listening to what they
have to say. To remedy this, create space for discussions, or “Heart
Talks,” where people can share their concerns, wishes, and dreams so
they feel heard and can put forth their best effort.

Principles 50-51—Speak as if Words Have Power, and Tell the Truth:

Your words—spoken and unspoken—have a powerful effect on you and
those around you, yet we don’t often think about this power. To
become successful, be conscientious in how you use words, and strive
to tell the truth.

Principle 52—Ask Questions to Learn the Truth: It’s common to make

up negative “stories” to interpret a situation rather than asking
questions to learn the truth. Instead, ask questions to find out what’s
going on instead of letting negative interpretations affect your
emotions and guide your actions.

Principle 54—Rethink Your Agreements: Making agreements and

delivering on them is an important skill, yet we sometimes hit
roadblocks and fail to deliver. Commit to only what you can deliver on,
and record your commitments so you don’t forget them.

Principle 55—Act With Class: Acting with class can help you distinguish
yourself from others. This includes accepting responsibility for your
actions and results, enriching yourself and those around you, and
maintaining grace, even under difficult circumstances.

Part 7: Cultivate Your Financial Success | Principles

56-62
Key Takeaways: Financial success involves growing your wealth and
giving back to the people, charities, and institutions you care about.

Top Principle: Principle 57—Choose to Be Wealthy: To become wealthy,

choose to become wealthy. First, understand your finances by reading
to develop financial literacy, calculating your net worth and how much
money you need for retirement, and tracking your spending. Then,
decide what being wealthy means to you and create goals to reach it.
For instance, make a table of everything you’ll spend money on when
you’re wealthy and calculate how much you’d need to earn per year to
support that spending.

Principle 56—Develop Positive Thinking Habits About Money: Making

enough money to enjoy the lifestyle you want can help you feel
successful, but it’s easy to let limiting beliefs about money get in the
way. For instance, if your parents told you growing up that rich people
are evil, you might hold back from taking steps to reach your preferred
level of wealth. Address limiting beliefs about money, and use
techniques like visualization and writing affirmations to cultivate
positive thinking around money and how you’ll use it.

Principle 58—Save and Invest Your Money: Saving for retirement helps
you reach financial independence—not having to work for money—but
many people don’t know how to effectively save. Plan to save at least
10 percent of your income and start investing early so that compound
interest can grow your wealth over time.

Principle 59—Spend Consciously: Conscious spending means two

things: You spend only the money you have, and do what you want
while spending little. To spend consciously, work to pay off your debts,
pay in cash instead of relying on credit, avoid paying full price, and
consider options apart from loans to fund education.

Principle 60—Increase Your Income: Increasing your income allows

you to save enough money for retirement while buying what you’d like
in the present. Strategies to earn more money include helping your
company earn more money and receiving a cut, and participating in a
network marketing business.

Principle 61—Donate Your Money and Time: Though growing your

wealth is a worthy goal, so is sharing it to make the world a better place.
Share your wealth through tithing—giving money or volunteering your
time—to spiritual institutions or philanthropic organizations you care
about.

Principle 62—Serve Others: Serving others enriches your life while

making the world a better place. Serve others by volunteering or
focusing your company’s products or services on helping others.

Part 8: Make the Most of Technology | Principles 63-

67
Key Takeaways: There are many technologies available today that you
can use to advance your career and achieve your goals.

Top Principle: Principles 64-65—Develop Your Online Brand:

Successful people understand how their online presence, or brand,
affects their entrepreneurial or philanthropic endeavors. They actively
cultivate a brand that frames them as an authority worth listening to.
Cultivate your brand with the following four steps:

1. Develop your online footprint. Know what you want to do and use
technology to help you achieve it. This includes creating a website
and a blog, identifying your audience, and using social media to
share information with followers.

2. Create content and behave in a way that aligns with your brand.
 This includes participating in online spaces, sharing your passion,
and helping others learn.

3. Use social media effectively. Use LinkedIn to network virtually with

other professionals and Facebook to connect with customers and
followers.

4. Clean up your online persona. Sometimes negative information

about you can surface online, from unprofessional photos to stories
about a falling-out with a business partner. Manage your online
reputation, or get professional help doing so.

Principle 63—Learn What Technology You Need, and Use It:

Technology can make your life easier, but adopt only the technology
that helps you succeed. Learn how to use technology wisely and limit
consuming information that doesn’t help you achieve your goals.

Principle 66-67—Crowdfund and Crowdsource Your Endeavors:

Crowdfunding and crowdsourcing can help you fund and support your
endeavors when traditional financing isn’t an option. To effectively
crowdfund, use video to tell your story, encourage donations, reward
donors, and reassure people you can finish the job.

Part 1: Learn the Success Basics | Introduction

Jack Canfield made it big as a co-author of the best-selling Chicken

Soup for the Soul book series, but it took years for him to achieve
success. In The Success Principles, Canfield details 67 principles to help
anyone achieve their goals and dreams. To develop the principles,
Canfield interviewed successful people, from athletes to authors. He
applied the principles to his own life, and he teaches them to people
all over the world through seminars. His students have accomplished
feats such as becoming millionaires, receiving a Teacher of the Year
award in their school district, and sustaining fulfilling relationships.

The basic formula for success is to identify what you want, know that
you deserve to have it, and use the book’s principles to get you there.
Think of the book as a road map: It can show you where to go, but you
have to drive the route. In other words, achieving your goals requires
you to make the time and effort to do the work.

Shortform Introduction
We reorganized Canfield’s principles for clarity and coherence: We’ve
grouped them into eight parts by theme (two more than Canfield’s six),
combined similar principles, and omitted repetitive principles
(Principle 9: Success Leaves Clues; Principle 22: Practice Persistence;
and Principle 24: Exceed Expectations). The eight parts are:

Part 1: Learn the Success Basics

Part 2: Act With Intention

Part 3: Use Feedback to Your Advantage

Part 4: Prime Yourself for Success

Part 5: Grow Your Professional Skills and Network

Part 6: Cultivate Successful Relationships

Part 7: Cultivate Your Financial Success

Part 8: Make the Most of Technology

How to Use This Book
Canfield offers the following tips for applying the principles in this
book:

1. Read the book twice. The first time, read it to gain the big picture of
what you’ll work to achieve. The second time, spend the time you
need to apply each step successively.

2. Mark it up. Highlight material that is interesting to you and write

notes in the margins. Interacting with the text will help you
remember it and solidify principles.

3. Don’t dismiss principles you don’t like. If you’re resistant to a certain

principle, it might be a sign that you could benefit from applying it
to your life.

While reading, try to:

1. Be mindful of your emotions. You may react positively to the book’s

advice, or you may bristle at certain concepts. You might feel
resentful or sad that you didn’t learn the information sooner.
Whatever your emotions, focus on feeling satisfied that it’s the right
time for you to be learning the concepts.

2. Give yourself time to apply the principles. Learning the principles

doesn’t mean you can achieve your goals overnight. For example,
you couldn’t learn to speak French fluently with just a few months of
practice at home. Applying the principles will take time. Even if you
hit a wall and don’t feel like you’re making progress, don’t give up—
give yourself more time than you think you need, and apply the
principles diligently to achieve success.
Principles 1, 30: Take Responsibility for Your Life
While it’s easy to blame your quality of life on things you can’t control,
this isn’t an effective way to improve your life. To achieve success, it’s
better to believe that you’re completely responsible for your quality of
life and have the power to improve it. In this section, you’ll learn why
it’s easy to not take responsibility for your life and how to change your
behavior.

Event + Response = Outcome

If you accept that your life circumstances are in your control, then you
operate with this formula:

Event + Response = Outcome

Event: Something that happens in your life

Response: How you choose to respond to the event

Outcome: The result of how you choose to respond to the event

Your Response to an Event affects the Outcome of that situation. If

you’re frequently dealing with the same event but don’t like the
outcome you’re getting, you have two possible responses:

1. Blame the event for your outcome. You can blame any number of
things for your troubles, from the economy to racism to gender bias.
For example, maybe you’re constantly late for work and blame
traffic. Though challenges exist, they aren’t the only reason you’re
 getting a bad outcome. For every person who hasn’t succeeded
under a given set of circumstances, someone else has. So, external
circumstances can’t be the only thing limiting your life.

2. Adjust your response until you get the outcome you’d like. This is
the best course of action. External factors may be out of your
control, but you can change how you respond to them in order to
get the outcome you need. We often have a set of responses that
we draw on in different situations, but these don’t always align with
our purpose, values, or dreams. For example, if you hate your job,
you may blame your boss. But you accepted that job and chose to
stay in it, even if it’s keeping you from doing work you’re more
passionate about. Instead of blaming your boss, get what you need
to make the job worthwhile, or make a change. For example, ask to
not be expected to work weekends, or ask for a raise that’s long
overdue.

Choosing to adjust your response means that you refuse to complain

about your circumstances. Generally, complaining is a sign that you
have realized you want a different outcome, but you aren’t motivated
to make the changes in yourself or your life to achieve it. We often
complain to people who have no control over the situation. For
example, maybe you’re unhappy with your partner, but instead of
having a conversation with them about what you need from them, you
complain to a coworker and don’t do anything differently.

If you need help to stop complaining, create a complaining/blaming

jar. Every time you complain or blame someone for your
circumstances, put $2 into the jar.
Ways to Change Your Behavior
There are three ways to change your behavior:

1. Look for signs that your behavior isn’t going to yield the outcome
you want. These warning signs might include:

Intuition and instinct

Personal observations

Observations from those around you

But it’s easy to let these warning signs go unheeded because doing so
would make you feel uncomfortable or you don’t want to change.
Change is often scary because it involves risks, such as:

Judgment or disapproval from family and friends for your

choices.

Spending time, effort, and money on something, only to have it

not work out or fail.

Face your fears about change and choose behaviors that’ll yield your
desired outcome. You don’t always have to pick the most extreme
solution. For example, if you’re unhappy with your job, you don’t have
to quit—you might be able to have a conversation with your boss about
what isn’t going well and discuss what needs to change for you to feel
fulfilled going forward.

2. Proactively seek feedback. Seeking feedback from those around you

might allow you to understand how your behavior is unhelpful and
what you might do differently. Though taking criticism is difficult, it’s
important to work through your fears and make a change.

3. Ask yourself questions to guide your changes:

What am I doing that is allowing this outcome to happen?

What should I do more of?

What should I do less of?

For example, if you’re trying to lose weight, maybe eating excessive

sugar is sabotaging your efforts. Consider cutting back on it and
increasing your exercise to achieve your goal.

Going for the Glory: Raj Bhavsar’s Story

Raj Bhavsar knew he wanted to compete as a gymnast in the

Olympics. Through high school and college, he racked up
wins in tournaments. But when it came time to try out for
the Olympics, he placed only as an alternate—he’d join Team
USA at the 2004 Athens games, but he’d only compete if one
of his teammates dropped out.

Bhavsar decided he still wanted a shot at the Olympics as a

competing athlete, not just an alternate. He loved the sport
enough to keep practicing, but his performance suffered
because he was less focused on winning. After a poor
performance at nationals, he read The Success Principles,
which taught him to take responsibility for his life rather than
feeling at the whim of the world. He learned that it’s normal
for successful people to experience negative feelings and
fear, but they work through them to achieve their goals. He
 needed to change his attitude to improve his performance
and make the team. He qualified as an alternate for the 2008
games, and after gymnast Paul Hamm dropped out, Bhavsar
competed and helped lead his team to a bronze medal.

Exercise: Take Responsibility

Practice taking responsibility for your actions.

Describe a situation in your life (event, response, and outcome) where

you blame the event for the outcome.

Describe your preferred outcome.

Now, considering that same situation, identify one or two ways that
your action (or inaction) enables the undesirable outcome.
Now that you recognize how you contribute to the undesirable
outcome, describe one or two things you could do differently to create
the outcome you want.

Principles 2-3: Identify Your Life’s Purpose and

What You Want

If you don’t feel a sense of purpose, it’s easy to go aimlessly through life
without feeling as though you’re achieving anything worthwhile or
meaningful. But when you know your life’s purpose and direction, you
can tailor your actions to support that purpose. When your actions
align with your purpose, you feel satisfied.

This section explains how to identify your purpose and take your first
steps to achieve it.
Find Your Purpose
Canfield suggests several strategies:

1. List the times you have felt most happy. Evaluate whether they share
any similar characteristics, and brainstorm ways you could earn your
living from them.

2. Meditate. Quiet your mind and ask yourself what your purpose or
role in the world is. (How to meditate is discussed further in Principle
47.)

3. Make a Life Purpose Statement. Here are the steps:

Write two characteristics you like about yourself, such as

“creative” or “deep-thinker.”

Write two verbs that capture how you enjoy expressing those
qualities, such as “facilitate” and “collaborate.”

In the present tense, describe your ideal world and what

everyone would be doing. For example, “Everyone is being kind
to their neighbor.”

Use your answers to the above questions to write a short

statement describing your life’s purpose. For example: “My
purpose is to use my creativity and planning skills to facilitate
the development of equitably designed neighborhoods.” Once
you’ve made your statement, read it every day, or write it down
and place it where you’ll see it. You can also create art that
represents your goal and put it where you’ll see it every day. This
will remind you to align your actions with that statement in order
to achieve your goals.
4. Complete a “Passion Test,” a 10-question exercise described in the
book The Passion Test by Chris and Janet Attwood.

5. Complete Canfield’s “Life Purpose Guided Visualization” from his

Awakening Power meditation series.

Explore What You Want

When we were babies, we knew what we wanted and acted swiftly,
without shame, to get it. For example, if you were hungry, you would
cry and be fed. But as you got older, your wants became more
complex, and you likely got more negative responses, such as:

Things cost money.

Just because you want something doesn’t mean you can have it.

I need you to do (BLANK) instead of what you want to do.

Stop being selfish.

Over time, giving up on what you want can lead you to consistently put
the needs of others above your own rather than identifying and
working toward what you want and need. For example, you might want
to be a teacher, but you become a lawyer because it’s what your
parents want.

Exercises to Identify What You Want

Try the following exercises to rediscover your wants:

1. Be mindful of your preferences in every situation. When someone

asks you what you’d prefer, you might choose to avoid confrontation by
saying that you don’t know or don’t have a preference when you
actually do have a preference. For example, maybe you’d prefer to eat
out at a different restaurant than your friends prefer, but you don’t want
to upset them by speaking out. To build mindfulness of your
preferences, learn to recognize when you have wants and needs, even
if the situation feels inconsequential. Learning to stand up for what you
want on the little things will build your confidence to work toward
bigger achievements.

2. Write 30 things that you want to be, 30 things you want to have, and
30 things you want to do before you die. For example, maybe you want
to become an admired chef or win a Scrabble tournament. In later
chapters, you’ll learn how to get there.

3. Have a friend ask you “What do you want?” repeatedly for 10

minutes and write down your answers. Some of your first answers may
be basic things, like a trip to San Diego. As you go on, your answers may
become more complex, like, “I want to improve my relationship with
my sister.”

4. Write 20 things you love to do. People often think they can’t do what
they love to earn a living. But with some creativity, there are ways to
align your passions with your work. List your passions and consider
ways to earn money from them. For example, if you love sports and
want to make your living from it, there are many careers where you can
do so, from playing a sport to journalism.

5. Create a vision for your ideal life, focusing on seven key areas:

Relationships. Think about your relationships with your family

and friends and what they would ideally look like. For example,
think about what characteristics you want in a romantic partner,
who you want your friends to be, and what the defining qualities
of those relationships will be.

Leisure. Think about how you’d spend your free time. For
example, ask yourself where you’d vacation, and what you’d do in
your spare time.

Health. Decide what it means to be healthy. For this category,

think about what you’d eat, what exercise you’d do, and how long
you’d live.

Finances. Think about what financial health means to you.

Consider things like what kinds of investments you’d have, what
kinds of possessions you’d own, and what these possessions
would look like. For example, think about the house you’d like to
own and visualize each detail in each room.

Community. Think about where you’d live and how you and
others would participate in the community, whether through
philanthropic work or supporting one another.

Career. Consider what you’d do for work, what your coworkers

would be like, and if you’d own your business.

Personal growth. Envision a plan to grow throughout your life.

Consider activities like continuing your education, taking on new
hobbies, or developing your spirituality. Review your vision
everyday and share it with others to keep it fresh in your mind
and inspire you to work toward it. Other benefits of sharing your
vision include:

Receiving resources or contacts to help achieve it. The people

you share your vision with may have advice or be able to direct
you to someone who can help you.
 An increasingly sharper vision. As you share your vision with
people you may refine it to reflect exactly what you want.

Feeling like it’s achievable. Sharing with more people will help
you feel more comfortable with the vision, which in turn will
make you feel capable of achieving it.

Teaching Others Martial Arts: Logan Doughty’s Story

Logan Doughty needed help recovering from drug and

alcohol addiction. He checked into a program that helped
him gradually reclaim his life. While he was in the program,
his sister gave him The Success Principles. When Doughty
read the section on identifying what he wanted to do, he
realized he’d always thought about earning a living from a
money standpoint, rather than making a living from activities
he enjoyed.

When he wrote down 20 things he loved, he realized that

the answer to aligning his passion with earning a living was in
front of him all along: Teaching martial arts. He’d started
developing a program to teach women self-defense, but his
alcohol and drug addiction had slowly eclipsed his life, and
he lost the self-respect and discipline needed to practice
martial arts. When he left the rehab program, he started
earning money through a yard work business while also
becoming the martial arts instructor at the program.
Exercise: Reflect on Behavior and Preferences
Evaluate how your wants in inconsequential situations affect your
behavior.

Do you have a go-to response when you have a different preference

than others around you? What is it?

Why do you think you developed this behavior?

Does this behavior help you be true to yourself and your wants? Why or
why not?

Do you act this way in situations with bigger consequences? If so, is

there any way you’d like to adjust your behavior to be more true to
yourself and your wants?
Principles 4-6: Believe in Yourself and Your
Dreams
The human brain is a powerful tool, when used correctly. Science has
shown that what happens in our lives tends to follow what we think will
happen, or what we’ve been conditioned to think will happen. So, to
achieve what you want in life, believe it will happen, believe you can
do it, and don’t be deterred by conventional wisdom that says
otherwise. In this section, you’ll learn techniques to change your
thinking and achieve success.

Five Tips to Believe in Yourself

Sometimes we don’t think we’re capable of achieving our dreams
because we don’t have the right characteristics for success. Canfield
offers the following tips:

1. Cultivate good self-esteem. Your self-esteem, or how you see

yourself, ties into how readily you achieve your dreams. You likely
developed your sense of self from your parents, and they may have
passed along to you negative attitudes about themselves and what
they’re capable of. Instead of seeing yourself as capable of taking on
challenges, you may hold yourself back.

Instead, strive to see yourself in a positive light and believe you’re

capable of what you set your mind to. When you believe in yourself,
your brain is more likely to take steps to make the dream a reality. Also,
research shows that most people are capable of most things if they
take time to learn, train, and practice. Of the successful people
Canfield interviewed for this book, most reported that they weren’t
naturally talented at what they’re good at—they just put in the time to
practice and get better.

2. Stop saying “I can’t.” Words can have a powerful effect on your self-
image and ability to achieve your goals. If you use phrases like, “I can’t,”
or even, “I wish I were able to,” you might convince yourself that you’re
incapable of doing something.

In his seminars, Canfield does an exercise to demonstrate that your

thoughts can affect your physical strength. He asks a volunteer to hold
out their arm and say different phrases. Canfield pushes down on their
arm as they speak. When people say, “I can play the guitar,” their arm
strength holds steady or is stronger as Canfield pushes. In contrast, if
they say, “I can’t play the guitar,” their arm weakens and is easier to push
down. If you remove phrases like “I can’t” from your vocabulary and
amend negative beliefs about your abilities, you may achieve
impressive things.

Example 1: Canfield attended a workshop to learn to walk on hot coals.

At the beginning of the workshop, participants wrote out all of the
things they didn’t believe they could do on paper, such as, “I can’t be a
millionaire,” and “I’ll never meet my soulmate.” They then burned them
in a fire as a symbol of letting go of limiting beliefs. Later that day, all the
participants walked across burning coals without anyone getting
burned.

Example 2: In another instance, a mathematics graduate student at UC

Berkeley came late to class and saw two problems on the board that
he assumed were the homework assignment for the class. He didn’t
know the problems had never been solved in mathematics before. He
worked on them over a few days and came up with solutions,
surprising his professor. Had he known the problems had never been
solved, he wouldn’t have attempted to solve them.

3. Ignore people’s judgments and ideas about how to live your life. It’s
easy to let what others think of you—perceived or suspected—shape
how you see your capabilities. It’s also easy to let the opinions of
people we care about, like our partners and parents, factor heavily into
which dreams we pursue. Instead, ignore the people who question
your abilities, and work to achieve your dreams rather than the dreams
others have for you.

Example: Catherine Lanigan was told by a professor in her freshman

year of college that she was a terrible fiction writer and had no promise
of succeeding in that field. The professor told Catherine he’d give her a
B in the class if she promised to change majors at the end of the
semester. She didn’t write for the next 14 years, until an acquaintance
encouraged her to try again. She wrote a book that was picked up by a
publishing company and went on to publish 33 best-selling books,
some of which were made into movies. If she hadn’t listened to the
naysaying professor, she could have pursued her writing and reached
her dreams much earlier.

4. Know that any time is the right time to pursue your dreams. You may
tell yourself you’re not the right age to pursue your dreams. You may
think you’re too old—if you wanted to become an actor, you should
have started years ago. Or, young people may think they lack the
expertise or experience needed to pursue their dreams. Such beliefs
are often untrue and prevent you from doing things that would make
you feel fulfilled as a person.

Here are some examples of people who succeeded at various ages:

Julia Child learned how to cook when she was 40, and it took
her another 11 years to start the cooking show that she became
famous for, The French Chef.

Ray Kroc was a 52-year-old milkshake cart owner when he

approached the McDonalds brothers about helping expand their
restaurant chain outside of California. Eventually, he convinced
them to relinquish their stake in the company to him, and he
became a billionaire.

When he was six years old, Ryan Hreljac decided to raise money
to build wells and latrines for people in developing countries.
He gave presentations to potential donors, raised enough to
build his first well when he was 8 years old, and founded an
organization to fund additional projects, ultimately serving
823,000 people before he even reached college.

5. Don’t think you have to go to college. Many people think that

completing a college degree is required for success, but this isn’t
always the case—one in four millionaires in the U.S. didn’t go to college,
and founders of many successful tech companies didn’t complete a
college degree. For example, Bill Gates dropped out of Harvard,
founded Microsoft, and is now one of the richest people in the world.
The Law of Attraction Can Help You Get What You
Want
The Law of Attraction, which states that your thoughts can attract what
you want, is another important tool that can help you achieve success.
The law comes from the field of quantum mechanics, which says that
two different particles can exhibit linked properties even if they’re on
opposite sides of the universe. Here’s how it works: Almost everything
is made up of energy-containing atoms that interact with one another
to form materials and objects. Our thoughts register as brain waves on
medical scanning equipment, which suggests that they’re also a form
of energy and can interact with the universe around us. For example, if
you think about needing to talk to your friend, only to get a call from
them shortly thereafter, this is an example of your thoughts interacting
with the universe and attracting what you want.

With this knowledge, we can train ourselves to think positively so that

we channel energy to achieve what we want: If everything in the
universe has a specific vibration, you can adjust your thoughts to
match the frequency of the things you want and attract them into your
life, similar to the way you’d tune a radio to the frequency of your
favorite station.

One famous example of thought transmission was tested on the 1971

Apollo 14 mission. Edgar Mitchell sent a thought message to four
people on earth, and three received the correct message—how to
place a series of cards in the correct order.

How to Use the Law of Attraction

Canfield participated in the documentary called The Secret (also a

book) in which he shared his insight about how to use the Law of
Attraction to get what you want. The two basic steps are: Believe you
can get what you want, and take action to achieve it.

(Shortform note: Read our summary of The Secret to learn more about
the Law of Attraction.)

Think Positively

To achieve your dreams, think positively about what you want rather
than focusing on what you lack or what isn’t going well. Each time you
have a thought, you’re making a request to the universe about
something you want. If you go through life thinking negatively, you’re
placing negative requests with the universe and negative results will
enter your life. Worrying is equivalent to negative goal-setting—by
putting that negative energy into the universe, you’re willing your
worry to happen. For example, if you’re constantly thinking about
struggling to pay your mortgage, you may continue struggling to pay it.

Here are two techniques to hone a positive mindset:

1. Write affirmations. Affirmations are positive, present tense

statements about something in your life or something you want. For
example, say something like, “I am so happy to live in this beautiful
house across the street from Dolores Park,” instead of, “I hope to
someday live in a house across from Dolores Park.” By writing
statements in the present tense and imagining how it’ll feel when
you’ve achieved your desire, you’re placing yourself in the happy
emotional state, or right vibration, necessary to achieve it. You’re also
creating a mental gap between what you experience now and what
you’d like to experience, which encourages you to take steps to close
the gap. Principle 10: Expand Your Comfort Zone explores affirmations
further.
2. Practice gratitude and appreciation. Practicing gratitude and
appreciation will open you to making your dreams a reality. This is
because if you had what you wanted, you’d—hopefully—feel gratitude
and appreciation for having it. So, proactively cultivating these feelings
will put you on the path toward getting what you want by attracting it
into your life.

One way to practice this is taking five to 10 minutes each day to make a
list of things you’re grateful for. Or look around and note things you
appreciate. In his workshops, Canfield asks participants to take a walk
around the meeting space and note the things they appreciate. Even
something like the carpet can be appreciated for improving a room’s
acoustics, and in addition to appreciating the carpet itself, you can
appreciate things like the people who made it and the building
designer who selected it for that space. This technique also works for
people in your life: Focusing on why you appreciate someone can
improve your relationship by giving weight to the qualities you like
about them rather than what you dislike. You may find that the things
you like outweigh the things you dislike, making your dislikes feel less
relevant.

(Principles 32-33: Practice Positive Self-Talk discusses how to address

negative beliefs.)

Take Action

Once you’ve developed a strong belief that you’ll get what you need,
there are two types of action you can take to make it happen:

1. Obvious. An obvious action is any step you must take to achieve your
goal. For example, if you want to become a nurse, you might select a
school to do your studies and enroll in classes.
2. Instinctive. Listen to what your instincts tell you to do and take
action. For example, you might have a gut feeling that you should
attend a certain conference. Acting on your instincts and attending the
conference could put you on the path to getting what you need and
may present additional opportunities to do so. You also might get ideas
for what to do through meditation or other activities; keep a pen and
paper with you to jot them down so you can decide whether to act on
them.

Example: Jeanette Maw worked for a bank that sold 401(k) plans to
businesses. One day, the bank announced that they weren’t hitting
their sales goals, despite each employee following a standard protocol
for making sales. They were told they’d be let go if they didn’t increase
their sales.

Jeanette had heard about a writing exercise where you write a page a
day about something you want and by the time you get to the end of
your notebook, you have it. She found a small notebook and wrote a
page about having a friendly relationship with clients and people being
excited about her service. Next, she decided to go out to lunch instead
of just getting a snack from the vending machine between sales calls.
On her way back, she met a man in the elevator who was trying to
decide which 401(k) plan to buy for his company and wanted her
bank’s services. By doing what felt right rather than following a rigid
protocol, Jeannette began to quickly increase her sales.

Somatic decision-making can help you determine which ideas are

worth acting on. Here are the steps:

1. Stand with your eyes closed and your arms at your sides.

2. Ask your body what right, or correct, looks like, and note the
response. It’ll be your body leaning backward or forward.
3. Ask your body what wrong, or incorrect, looks like, and note the
response. If you naturally move in the opposite direction than you
did for a good idea, then you know the two possible ways your body
will respond to a question.

4. Ask yourself basic questions you know the answers to, and note
your body’s response. Questions might include, “Do I live in New
York?,” or “Is my name Suzie?” This will help you determine whether
your body’s responses are accurate.

5. Test the ideas you’ve had, and note your response. Once you’re
confident you’re receiving the correct signals, test out your own
ideas with yes or no questions, such as, “Should I apply for that
internship at the local university?” and “Should I go on a second
date with Jeff?”

Note: If an idea comes up for you repeatedly, or you find yourself

thinking about it frequently, that could be a sign you should act on it.
For example, Canfield thought about starting an organization called the
Transformational Leadership Council, but he didn’t take any action at
first to make it a reality. When the idea continued to surface at
seemingly random times, with even more specific details, like who he’d
invite to join, he decided it was something he should pursue.

Exercise: Believe in Yourself

Assess which of the five “believing in yourself” tips you do well, and
which you’d like to improve on: cultivate good self-esteem, stop saying,
“I can’t,” ignore people’s judgments and ideas about how to live your
life, know that any time is the right time to pursue your dreams, don’t
think you have to go to college.
Out of the five tips to believe in yourself, which ones are you already
good at? How so?

Which of the five tips do you feel most inspired to improve on? Why?

Choose one tip to implement in your life. Describe one or two things
you can do each day to start working on it.

Principles 7, 8, 11, 23: Set Goals

Setting goals is a powerful way to evaluate your dreams and make a

plan to achieve them. This section outlines how to write goals and how
to increase the likelihood you’ll achieve them.
The Benefits of Goal-Setting
Goal setting has three main benefits:

1. You develop new skills. To reach your goal, you’ll likely have to
develop new habits and skills you can continue to use. For example,
if your goal is to become a better ukulele player, cultivate the
discipline to practice regularly. Even once you’re an accomplished
player, you’ll still be able to use that discipline elsewhere.

2. You do things that scare you but are good for you. Goal-setting
helps you work through your worries to try new things that improve
your life.

3. You develop as a person. Ultimately, it’s our goal as humans to live

well, and goal-setting helps—in addition to developing new skills, it
opens your mind to what is possible, allowing you to be a well-
rounded, resilient, capable person.

Write Your Goals

When writing goals, incorporate these characteristics:

1. Quantity and timing. Setting a measurable goal helps you

determine whether you’ve achieved it. To be measurable, a goal
needs to include a quantity, such as money or pounds, and a
deadline. Example: I will weigh 130 pounds on my wedding day,
June 4, 2022, and fit comfortably in my dress.

2. Detail. Detail provides a concrete picture of what you want and

 stimulates your imagination. For example, if you have ideas about
the dream town you’d like to settle in, write them down so your
mind can ruminate on them. When you’ve detailed what you’re
looking for, you’re more likely to recognize opportunities to help you
reach your goals.

Turn Good Ideas Into Goals

Sometimes, a goal might start as just an idea: something you want, or a

wish. It may be a good idea, but if it’s too vague or you can’t measure
when you’ll achieve it, workshop it into a goal. Here are some
examples:

Idea Goal

I want to own a I will own a house in the beach town of

house in Costa Sámara, Costa Rica by 5 p.m. on September
Rica. 23, 2023.

I will have transitioned to eating only vegan

I should eat
meals and snacks by 8 p.m. on February 9,
better.
2021.

I should talk to my I will have talked to my grandmother four

grandmother times (two times per month) by January 31,
more. 2021.

In the previous table, the goals include more detail than the ideas,
which gives the brain a more specific outcome to work toward.

Interact With Your Goals

Studies indicate that increasing your interaction with your goal makes
you more likely to achieve it.

Researchers recruited participants from North America, Europe, Asia,

and Australia to study the effects of different goal-setting habits. They
divided the participants into five groups, asked each participant to set a
goal—something they wanted to accomplish in the next four weeks—
and gave them one or more techniques to follow while working toward
their goal. The table below summarizes which techniques each group
of goal setters used and how they fared:

Group Group Group Group Group

1 2 3 4 5

Think about goals x x x x x

Write goals x x x x

Write steps to
x x x
achieve goals

Send list of steps to

x x
a friend or mentor

Provide weekly
updates on your
x
goals to your friend
or mentor

% Participants who
43 56 56 64 76
achieved their goals

The study showed that the more ways participants engaged with their
goal, the more likely they were to achieve it.

In another study, people who wrote down their goals and reviewed
them regularly earned nine times more over the course of their lives
than people who didn’t set goals.
In addition to the techniques in the above study, here are five ways to
engage with your goals:

1. Read and visualize your goals two or three times per day. As you read
a goal, visualize how it will feel to have achieved it. Visualization is a
powerful tool to help you realize your goals. Studies have shown that
the brain activity for doing an activity and visualizing the activity are the
same. The system in your brain that does this is called the reticular
activating system (RAS). Regular visualization activates your RAS, makes
your goals feel achievable, and motivates you to take steps to get there:
It creates a disconnect between your lived reality and what life will be
like once you’ve achieved your goal. This disconnect is called
“structural tension” and it motivates you to make your reality match
your visualizations. For example, use it to speak up more in class, take
on more ambitious projects, or other activities that will help you
achieve your goal.

An important note on visualization: Some people see bright, colorful,

three-dimensional pictures of their visions, while others just think
about how things will be. Both work equally well for activating your RAS
and working toward your goals. Principle 10: Expand Your Comfort
Zone further discusses using visualization with your affirmations.

2. Write down your most important goal and keep it in your wallet.
Every time you open your wallet, you’ll remind yourself of what you’re
working toward.

3. Create a goal book or vision board. Use a journal, notebook, binder,

or display board to record your goals. Write each goal at the top of a
separate page and write about it in detail below. If you’re artistic,
consider making art that represents what achieving your goal will look
like. Or, place pictures of things you hope to achieve in the book or on
the board. This could include places you want to travel and things
you’ll own. Read your goals at least once a day to motivate you to act.

4. Write yourself a check. This strategy could work well if one of your
goals is to increase your earnings over time. Make the check out to
yourself for the amount of money you’re hoping to get, write what it’s
for in the memo line, and mark a future date that you’ll have achieved
it.

Example: Actor Jim Carrey wrote himself a check for $10 million dated
five years in the future, motivating himself to expand his acting career.
Within five years, he had exceeded his goal, making about $20 million
per movie.

Break Your Goals Into Steps

Besides writing down your goal and interacting with it, break it into
smaller steps you’ll take to reach it.

To identify the steps necessary for achieving your goal, ask yourself:

What are some things I need to do?

Which skills do I need to develop?

How much money do I need? How will I save it or raise it?

What resources do I need?

Whose support or assistance do I need?

There are six main ways to answer these questions:

1. Talk to others. Ask people what steps they took to get where they are
now. For example, if you want to become a freelance writer, make
appointments with freelance writers you admire and ask them what
steps they took to succeed. They can also clue you in on pitfalls to
avoid.

2. Talk to a coach, mentor, or teacher. These people can advise you on

how to approach your goal, even if they don’t have specialized
experience in the area you’re considering.

3. Volunteer or do an internship. These experiences can help you learn

the skills it takes to operate a business or thrive in a chosen career.
From there, apply what you learn to achieve your goals.

4. Consult books, manuals, or online courses. Chances are you’re not

the first person pursuing this particular goal. Exploring written
materials or courses can provide you with a specific sequence of steps
to follow. For example, maybe you want to become a graphic designer.
Reading a variety of materials on the subject can help you learn the
steps.

5. Imagine that you’ve already achieved your goal and imagine the
steps in reverse. For example, if your goal was to become a marriage
and family therapist, and you’d already achieved it, the steps you’d have
taken would include leasing office space, logging hundreds of hours
observing therapy sessions to get your counseling license, and earning
a degree in psychology or a similar field.

6. Create a mind map. In this instance, mind mapping consists of

thinking of every task you’d need to do to achieve your goal, sorting
them into categories, and deciding what order you’ll do them in. Here’s
how to make one:
 Write your goal in the middle of a large circle. For example, let’s
say you want to earn some money selling gourmet caramel corn
during the holidays.

Write smaller categories of tasks in circles around the main

circle. Connect each one to the main circle with a line. In the
caramel corn example, your subcategories of tasks might
include Cooking and Marketing.

Draw lines or spokes from the category circles and write specific
subtasks on each. For example, on spokes extending from the
Marketing circle, you might write, “Consult friends and family
about business name,” and “Hire Amy Smith to design my
business logo.”

Work on Your Steps Every Day

Now that you have a plan to achieve your goal, work on it every day.
This allows you to keep up your momentum and achieve your goal
faster. Here are some tips:

Make a to-do list each day that pulls from steps you outlined in
your mind map or other written plan.

Consider making your to-do list the night before. This helps you
hit the ground running in the morning rather than spending
most of the morning planning your day. This method also
positions your subconscious to think of the task all night and
help attract the people and things you need to succeed the next
day.

Do your hardest task of the day first. People tend to

 procrastinate on tasks that feel intimidating. But if you wait to do
them until later in the day, you may struggle because you’re not
as fresh or you haven’t left enough time. Instead, knock out the
hardest task first.

Use the rule of five. Do five tangible things to help you reach
your goal every day. When Canfield and his co-author on the first
Chicken Soup for the Soul book were working to get it on the
New York Times bestsellers list, they decided to do five things
each day to support that goal—for example, mailing the book to
five editors who might review it, or doing five radio interviews to
promote it. The more they promoted the book, the more people
would hear about it and buy it. It took over a year, but eventually,
the book made it to the top of the list.

Optional: Achievers Focusing System

Use the Achievers Focusing System worksheet to outline the steps to

achieving your goal over 13 weeks.

Challenges: Reasons, Worries, and Life Obstacles

Once you’ve settled on your goals and your plan to achieve them, it’s
common to encounter challenges that impede or discourage you from
working on them. Embracing these challenges as a normal part of life
allows you to work through them. They are:

Reasons. Once you write a goal, you may find yourself thinking of
reasons to not pursue it. For example, if you’re trying to increase
your monthly sales, you may think it’s impossible because you’ve
maxed out your current sales territory.
 Worries. Worries are any negative emotions that surface for you
when thinking about a goal. For example, you might worry that
you’ll fail, or that launching a business will consume your savings.

Life obstacles. Life obstacles are things that happen to you once
you start pursuing a goal that make it hard to pursue. For
example, you may discover that your government doesn’t allow
you to run your business as you planned.

Example: Stu Lichtman wanted to salvage a shoe company in Maine

that owed $2 million to creditors. To help the business recoup some
money, Lichtman arranged for the sale of one of the company’s unused
factories. However, the state had a lien on the factory, so the sale
wouldn’t result in any proceeds for the company. Lichtman asked the
governor if they’d be willing to remove the lien, arguing it would help
prepare the company for takeover by another business, saving 1,000
jobs. The governor agreed.

Activity: Write 101 Goals

In the book, The Magic of Thinking Big, author David Schwartz suggests
readers write down all the goals they hope to achieve in their lives.
Making goals you’ll achieve throughout your life rather than just within
a short span of time can motivate you to work toward them over the
long term. Here’s how to do the activity:

1. Decide where to write your goals. Options include three-by-five

notecards, a single sheet of paper, or a goal book.

2. Write them in detail. Include when, where, why, how much, and so
on.
3. When you reach your goal, check it off and write “victory.”

Example: Before Lou Holtz became a famous basketball coach at the

University of Notre Dame, he read Schwartz’s book and wrote down all
of his goals. He came up with 107 goals, which included things like
eating dinner at the White House, shooting a hole in one golf game,
and of course, coaching at Notre Dame. He has now achieved 102 of his
goals twice!

(Shortform note: For more on achieving goals, read our summary of

The Magic of Thinking Big.)

Principle 10: Expand Your Comfort Zone

We often let limiting thoughts about ourselves and our abilities guide
how we live our lives. In this section, you’ll learn about your comfort
zone and how to use affirmations to expand it and achieve your goals.

The Problem With the Comfort Zone

Most people develop ways of thinking about how they should act and
what they can achieve. The things they feel comfortable doing form
their comfort zone. If they get close to the limits of their comfort zone,
they’ll opt to stay inside it, which restricts what they can achieve.

For example, Canfield limited himself to buying shirts for $35 or less.
Then, one of his bosses took him shopping at an Italian clothier in Los
Angeles. The minimum price for a shirt was $95. Canfield started
sweating, telling himself he couldn’t afford the clothing in the store
and wouldn’t enjoy owning such expensive things. He bought one shirt
while his boss bought a number of new items.

When Canfield wore the shirt later, he liked how comfortable it felt. He
realized that his stories about who he was and what he should wear
had limited his comfort. He now often custom-orders $300 shirts to
get exactly what he wants. In this spirit, learn to recognize when you
get nervous about leaving your comfort zone and try to work through
it.

As Canfield’s story illustrates, limiting thoughts and beliefs can keep

you in your comfort zone, preventing your progress toward your goals
and self-realization. These could include shame, thinking you’re
inferior, or thinking there’s nothing you can do to change your
circumstances and achieve your goals. You may have developed these
beliefs in childhood and have never processed them or worked
through them.

Successful people recognize that you can’t ignore limiting beliefs and
behaviors; you must acknowledge them and process them in order to
make progress toward your goals. It’s like driving a car—if you
discovered the emergency brake was on, you wouldn’t press harder on
the gas, you’d release the brake. Similarly, identifying how you’re
limiting yourself will help you stop doing it. For example, instead of
telling yourself and others that you’re terrible at public speaking (a
limiting belief), be positive about yourself and your abilities: Think, talk,
and write about the reality you plan to create.

Take Action: Write Affirmations

Writing affirmations is a great tool to envision your ideal reality and
motivate you to leave your comfort zone to achieve it. Here are seven
steps to write helpful affirmations:

1. Begin with the phrase, “I am…”. As simple as it seems, the phrase “I

am…” acts like a command in your brain, telling your brain to feel this
as reality or take the steps to make it so.

2. Write in present tense. By writing in present tense, you describe

what you want as if you already have it. For example, if you’re single,
instead of saying, “I will enjoy talking to my future partner about our
plans to have a family,” say, “I am enjoying talking with my partner
about plans to have a family.”

3. Include a verb ending in -ing. Using verbs ending in -ing gives action
to the phrase. If you use present-tense verbs that don’t end in -ing,
you’re describing something you do, but it’s unclear how often or
consistently you do it. For example, saying “I feel confident and
comfortable expressing myself in meetings,” is less active than
saying, “I am expressing myself confidently and comfortably in
meetings.” (If you use the phrase “I am,” you’ll naturally add a verb
ending in -ing.)

4. Use positive, rather than negative phrasing. What we say and think
often forms images in our mind, so it’s important to use positive
phrasing to create positive images. For example, you might say, “ I
am loving eating salads with lots of vegetables every day for lunch,”
rather than, “I am no longer dreading eating salads for lunch.”

5. Write short affirmations. If your affirmations are too long, you risk
not remembering them easily. To encourage yourself to write less,
pretend you’re writing a jingle for an ad in which each word costs
$1,000.

6. Write affirmations for yourself. Make your affirmations reflect your

 actions rather than those of others. For example, saying “I am
watching my husband do the dishes,” isn’t as effective as, “I am
communicating my needs to my husband.”

7. Use the phrase, “or something/someone/somewhere better.” Even

though you have a concrete idea of what you want or need, using
the phrase “or something/someone/somewhere better” keeps the
affirmation open to even better possibilities than you can imagine
right now. For example, saying “I am walking each morning along
Waikiki Beach or somewhere better,” leaves you open to
opportunities that involve walking each morning, but perhaps
somewhere even better than Waikiki Beach.

How to Use Your Affirmations

Engaging with your affirmations regularly, like your goals, helps you
draw the most benefits. Here are four steps to use your affirmations
each day:

1. Read them two or three times per day. Read them aloud if it makes
sense to do so. Read them when you wake up, in the middle of the
day, and before you go to bed.

2. Visualize doing what the affirmation says. Rather than thinking

about how you’d look from someone else’s perspective, picture how
it will feel from your perspective. How will it look? How will you feel?
What will you hear? For example, if your affirmation is feeling great
from hiking, imagine hearing the wind in the trees, smelling the
fresh air, and feeling accomplished that you went the distance.

3. Say the affirmation a second time.

4. Repeat these steps with each of your affirmations.

Here are some other ways to regularly use your affirmations:

Say your affirmations in first person (“I am…”), second person

(“You are…”), and third person (“[Pronoun] is…” or “[Your Name]
is…”).

Record yourself saying your affirmations and listen to them on

your commute, at work, or as you fall asleep.

Say your affirmations when doing tedious things like standing in

line or exercising. You can say them out loud or in your head.

Write your affirmations on three-by-five cards and place them

around your home. Or incorporate them into the screensaver on
your computer or phone.

Have your parents make a recording encouraging you. This

could be words that you wished they had said when you were
younger, or what you need to hear now.

Affirmation in Action: Canfield and the $100,000 Bill

Canfield decided he wanted to increase his earnings from $25,000 to
$100,000. He wrote an affirmation that captured his intent and made a
drawing of a $100,000 bill that he put on the ceiling above his bed so
he’d see it when he woke up or went to sleep. Each time he saw it, he’d
close his eyes, say his affirmation, and think about what it would look
and feel like to have achieved it. He thought about where he would live
and how his lifestyle would change. He started getting ideas for
increasing his income. One idea was to sell more copies of one of his
books. First, he realized he could make $100,000 by selling 400,000
copies of his book (he made 25 cents per book). Then he realized he
could make $3 per copy if he published his books on his own, so he
started doing that. He also started earning more money for his
speaking engagements. Within one year, he had increased his income
to $92,000. Now, he consistently earns over $1 million per year.

Exercise: Write an Affirmation

Craft an affirmation using Canfield’s tips.

What is a long-term goal you’d like to achieve?

How will it feel to achieve that goal? What will your life look like? What
will your senses perceive—sights, sounds, smells?

Write the affirmation using the techniques Canfield outlines, such as

positive phrasing and using verbs with “ing” at the end.
Part 2: Act With Intention | Principle 12: Act Like
You’ve Made It

Achieving success requires taking action. In Part 2, you’ll learn to forge

ahead, even in the face of challenges and fear.

How Would You Act if You’d Already Made It?

One powerful technique to achieving your goals is to act as though you
already have. In the same way that visualization stimulates your
reticular activating system (RAS), acting as though you’ve already
achieved your dream activates the Law of Attraction: You start
recognizing the people and opportunities that might help you reach
your goals.

To start acting as though you’ve achieved your goals, think about how
your life would be different. Consider:

How you’d feel

How you’d think

How you’d talk

 What you’d wear

You can also try to model the behaviors of successful people.

Successful people tend to:

Be self-confident

Celebrate their accomplishments

Feel comfortable taking risks

Say what they want and don’t want

Think they can achieve anything

Throw a “Come as You’ll Be” Party

To practice acting as though you’ve achieved your goals, plan or attend
a “Come as You’ll Be” party: a party set five years in the future where
you act as if you’ve achieved your goals. Canfield first attended one in
1986. Participants had to act in character for the entire four-hour party.
They brought props, like “books” they had written and photos of
themselves achieving their goals.

One participant, Susan Jeffers, brought three books she had written,
though she had yet to publish even one. When Jeffers shared that she
had published these books, attendees responded that they’d seen her
interviews on popular talk shows. Another attendee who was an
aspiring stock trader had someone call him every 15 minutes. He’d talk
animatedly and then give commands about whether to buy or sell
shares. Canfield carried copies of his yet-to-be-written New York
Times bestseller.
Most of the party’s attendees went on to achieve their dreams,
including Canfield. He attributes their success to marinating their
brains in the imagery of achievement for four hours, which in turn
activated their RAS and motivated them to achieve the goal. The
attendees had to put in concerted effort going forward to reach those
goals, but the party provided an important starting point.

Throw a Come as You’ll Be Party for your close friends, or consider

making it part of your company’s training program. You’ll create a
supportive jumping-off point for the people around you who are
looking to propel themselves toward their goals.

Acting the Part: From Bank Teller to Branch Manager

When Canfield visited his local bank, he usually saw one

teller who was more dressed up than the others. Instead of
wearing just a shirt and tie, he wore a suit like the managers.
Over the course of a few years, this employee went from
teller, to loan salesman with his own desk, to loan officer, to
branch manager. When Canfield asked him about it, he said
he’d planned to become the branch manager. In preparation
for the role, he’d studied how the managers dressed and
how they treated employees and customers. He studied and
acted the part long before reaching his goal.

Success in the PGA: Jim Nantz and Fred Couples’s Story

 In college, Fred Couples and Jim Nantz discovered that they
both wanted to make it big in the golf world. Couples
wanted to become a pro-golfer and win the Masters
Tournament while Nantz wanted to become a sports
announcer for CBS. They role-played Couples winning the
tournament and Nantz interviewing him countless times.
Over a decade later, Couples succeeded in winning the
tournament and Nantz was his interviewer, just like they’d
practiced. Acting as though they’d already succeeded put
both men on the path to making it come true.

Principles 13-14: Push Yourself to Act

Once you’ve developed your goal and have a plan to reach it, it’s time
to follow it. But even with a plan, you might delay acting for a variety of
reasons:

You keep refining your plan instead of starting to do the steps.

Planning is important, but at a certain point, it’s
counterproductive—the plan is good enough; just begin.

You’re waiting for the right time to start. In reality, there’s rarely a
right time to start.

You’re afraid to fail. The idea of your plan not working out can
paralyze you into not taking action. But you won’t know if you
don’t try.

In general, it’s best to act on your plan as soon as possible. Examples

include enrolling in online courses, networking with people in your
field, or saving for the downpayment on a house. Here are some of the
effects of taking action:

You show others you’re serious about your plan.

Others notice your efforts and may feel inspired to support you.

You learn how to do things that were only possible to learn by

doing them.

You get feedback or advice on how to adjust.

Feedback from personal observations and from others can help you
determine if you need to make adjustments. Though unpleasant, look
at failure as a sign to adjust rather than quit. Look at both as
opportunities to learn something new, and make your plan stronger
going forward.

Consider the start-up world: Most start-up businesses will fail.

However, businesses started by leaders 55 years and older were 73
percent more likely to succeed. This is likely because older leaders
have more professional experience, and they have learned from their
past failures. In other words, learning from failure can help you achieve
your goals.

Important Note: Sometimes, you have an idea of what you’d like to

achieve, but your path to getting there isn’t clear. Maybe no one has
done what you’re trying to do, or there are multiple ways to reach your
goal. Even if you can’t tell which path to take, act anyway. If you
encounter obstacles, adjust and keep going. You may discover a path
toward a different outcome that suits your interests that you didn’t
know existed.
Finding Your Main Excuse: Canfield’s $100 Bill
Exercise
At Canfield’s seminars, he does an exercise where he holds up a $100
bill and asks the audience who wants it. Nearly everyone raises their
hand. Canfield continues to hold it as people shout that he should pick
them. Eventually, someone jumps from her seat and retrieves the bill.

When Canfield asks the other participants why they didn’t come get
the bill, he gets the following reasons:

They were sitting too far away.

They figured others needed it more than they did.

They wanted more instructions.

They didn’t want to do something wrong in front of the group.

They didn’t want to seem greedy.

They didn’t believe Canfield would actually give them the bill.

Canfield then points out that whatever excuse stopped them from
taking the bill could be the same one that stops them from pursuing
their goals. For example, if they’re worried about doing something
wrong in front of the group, they may be worried about making
mistakes and don’t take action on their goals as a result. By recognizing
these tendencies in yourself, you can interrupt them and take action.

Writing Rocky: Sylvester Stallone’s Story

Sylvester Stallone was an actor who wanted to write a
screenplay about an underdog boxer who stages an upset
against a known boxing champion. But he stopped short of
writing it because he thought it was too unrealistic. Then, in
1975, he watched the match between reigning world
heavyweight champion Muhammad Ali and Chuck Wepner
—a lesser known boxer with 30-to-1 odds of losing to Ali.
Wepner stunned the world by lasting 15 rounds with Ali,
though Ali did recover and take the title. As a result, Stallone
felt ready to write. Over the next three days, he wrote his
screenplay for Rocky, which later won three Oscars.

Acting When the Path Isn’t Clear: Jana Stanfield’s Story

Jana Stanfield wanted to become a singer and songwriter,

but she wasn’t sure exactly how she’d get there. Her first step
was to take singing lessons, which led to singing on
weekends at a country club. At age 26, she moved to
Nashville in hopes of landing a recording contract. But she
soon realized there were more interested singers than there
were labels looking to sign them. At first, it had seemed like
the only way to fulfill her dreams was to become a singer.
But when she reflected further, she realized that her
underlying motivation was to use music to touch people.
She shifted from looking for a recording contract to playing
wherever she could and taking odd jobs to support her
music. She played at different churches during services, and
soon, people were asking her to sell her songs.
 At first, she sold cassettes that she made, but with the
encouragement of friends, decided to pay an engineer to
record a 10-song album. One day, after a concert, Stanfield
realized she’d made $300 selling tapes, which was more
than she made from her freelance job per week—making a
living doing work she loved was finally within her reach. She
decided to start her own recording label to produce more of
her albums. Her songs have since been performed by artists
like Reba McIntyre and Andy Williams.

Olympic Luge in Four Years: Ruben Gonzalez’s Story

Though Ruben Gonzalez had always wanted to become an

Olympic athlete, he never committed to actually doing it
until he was 21 years old. He decided to pick a sport that
played to his toughness and unwillingness to quit. He chose
luge, reasoning that a sport that often gave athletes broken
bones would cull would-be competitors, leaving him to
succeed.

He wrote to Sports Illustrated to learn where to practice luge. They

wrote back telling him to train at Lake Placid in New York. Gonzalez
called the training facility there and asked if they’d help him become
an Olympian in four years. The speaker was skeptical of Gonzalez—luge
athletes typically started training 10 years earlier. But when Gonzalez
shared that he was from Argentina, the person got excited. At the time,
there were so few countries competing in luge that the Olympic
committee was threatening to cut it from the games. If Gonzalez
trained, qualified in four years, and competed for Argentina instead of
the U.S., there would be more countries competing in the sport, and it
might not be cut.

Gonzalez flew out to Lake Placid to start training within a few

days of the phone conversation. Training was grueling, but he
was able to qualify for the Olympics in four years, and he
went on to compete in three different Olympics.

Principles 15-16: Face Your Fears, and Do the Work

Fear can prevent you from achieving your goals. Everyone has fears, but
successful people feel afraid and take action anyway. They also
recognize that reaching their goals isn’t just going to happen—they
have to be willing to do the necessary work, which often requires
sacrifice. This section offers tips to move past fear and encourage
yourself to do the work.

Overcome Fear
As humans, we’ve evolved to be fearful in order to survive. Fear helped
us realize when we faced danger and released the energy to help us
escape. Most situations we face today aren’t a matter of life and death,
but we may still feel as though they are.
Often, we’re fearful not because we face immediate danger but
because we imagine a negative outcome. To counter this, think of fear
as an acronym meaning:

Fantasized

Experiences

Appearing

Real

Instead of imagining the worst outcomes, train yourself to set your fear
aside by reframing it, and focusing on positive imagery and feelings.

Technique #1: Reframe Your Fear

Follow these steps to reframe your fears:

1. Write out your fears. Focus on things that you’re afraid of doing
rather than things you’re afraid of. For example, you might write “I’m
afraid of speaking up during work meetings,” rather than “I’m afraid
of work meetings.”

2. Reframe your fears by completing the following sentence: “I want

to (BLANK), but I scare myself by imagining (BLANK).” This sentence
emphasizes how you let fear stop you rather than the fear itself
stopping you. Using the previous example, you might say, “I want to
speak up during work meetings, but I scare myself by imagining that
people will dislike my ideas.”

Technique #2: Replace Negative Imagery With Positive Imagery

Just as visualizations can help you achieve your goals, visualizing

positive imagery can calm your fears. If you worry about bad things
happening, practice substituting positive imagery for negative imagery.
Replacing negative imagery with positive imagery can help calm you
down and work through what scares you.

Example: On a plane about to depart for Orlando, Florida, Canfield

noticed that the woman next to him was gripping her armrests tightly.
He introduced himself, explained he was a coach, and asked if she was
feeling afraid. When she said yes, he invited her to try an exercise with
him. He asked her to close her eyes and tell him what imagery she was
seeing that made her afraid. She said she kept picturing the plane
crashing. Canfield asked her why she was traveling to Orlando, and she
replied that she planned to take her grandchildren to Disney World.
Canfield asked what her grandchildren’s favorite ride was. It’s a Small
World, she replied. He asked her to visualize enjoying the ride with her
grandchildren. Then, Canfield began singing the ride’s signature song,
“It’s a Small World.” The woman began smiling and relaxed her grip.

Technique #3: Focus on Positive Feelings

Sometimes, fear is a physical feeling. Follow these steps to lessen it:

1. Identify how fear feels in your body. Common manifestations of

fear include shortness of breath, sweating, or tenseness in the pit of
your stomach.

2. Decide what you’d like to be feeling instead. Alternatives include

bravery, calm, happiness, and self-confidence.

3. Shift between both emotional states. For 15 seconds, feel your fear.
Then, focus on feeling a positive emotion you’d prefer to feel for 15
seconds. After about two minutes of going back and forth, you’ll
likely end up feeling more positive, or at least more neutral and
grounded than you did before.
Additional Techniques for Managing Fear

Try these additional techniques to manage fear:

Think of a time you faced a fear and triumphed. Storing up a

mental resume of the times you’ve overcome your fears
reminds you that you’re capable of doing so again. For example,
if you’re learning to ski and you feel afraid you’re going to fall,
think about a time you overcame your fear of another physical
feat, like learning how to ride a bike.

Gradually scale up. Taking on a big challenge can feel

overwhelming and risky. Try something less risky first, then build
up to the scariest challenge. For example, if you’re a salesperson,
it might be intimidating to make your pitch to notoriously tough
clients. Instead, try selling first to clients who are more likely to
buy, then approach the tougher ones.

Cultivate an attitude of “high intention, low attachment.” Fear

can be consuming because we think that nothing except the
outcome we’ve envisioned will bring us happiness. But it’s
possible that different outcomes will bring us even more
happiness and success than our initial vision. Instead of fearing
not getting the outcome you want, make a plan to pursue the
effort diligently without being attached to the outcome. That
way, if things turn out differently or you fail, you’ll adapt and
move on.

If you have a phobia, use the “Five-Minute Phobia Cure.”

Developed by a doctor, the cure, also called “Tapping Therapy,”
involves imagining your phobia as you tap different parts of your
body in a specific sequence. (For a description of the process,
read Principle 29: Resolve Past Hurts.) Canfield used the
 technique on a seminar participant who was afraid of walking up
stairs. She was a real estate agent, but had never gone upstairs in
any of the homes she sold—she pretended she’d been upstairs,
describing details from the listing, then let the clients explore on
their own. After receiving the five-minute phobia cure, Canfield
took all of the participants to a stairwell, and the woman was
able to walk up the stairs without fear, just like the other
participants.

Two Tips for Doing the Work

Once you’ve addressed your fears, use these tips to do the work and
achieve your goal:

1. Evaluate your plan. As discussed in Principle 8: Break Your Goals Into

Steps, making a plan for how you’ll achieve your goal is critical to
succeeding. It’s also a chance to assess whether you’re willing to put in
the work and make the sacrifices necessary to achieve it, like less
quality time with family or less life balance. For example, if starting
your own restaurant means working 60 hours a week for at least the
next 10 years and you have small children, you may not be willing to
sacrifice that time. First, identify what it will take to succeed and
decide if it’s worth it to you.

2. Embrace practice. Children usually don’t expect to succeed the first

time they try something. But as adults, we often expect to be good at
what we do immediately. Though many people have skills and talents,
the most successful are the ones who practice regularly to hone their
skills over time, working on specific mini goals.

Remind yourself to be patient with your performance in the beginning.

You often have to stumble and make mistakes before gaining
proficiency. This is called “deliberate practice.” For example, a clarinetist
might practice a tough bar of music until it feels second-nature to play.

Being Willing to Feel the Fear: Peter Douglas’s Story

Peter Douglas ran a successful ranching business until an

uncomplicated shoulder surgery changed his career
prospects: The anesthesiologist made a mistake, nearly
paralyzing his arms and hands. Even with therapy, he can still
barely move them.

At first, he felt afraid to go anywhere without his wife in case

he needed help. Eventually decided he needed to face his
fears and travel on his own. Douglas learned he had to ask
for help many steps of the way. For example, he was worried
he wouldn’t be able to swipe his credit card when checking
in for his flight at a kiosk, but he asked an attendant to help
him. He also worried about being able to dress himself. He
had his wife pre-button most of his shirts so he could just
pull them over his head, but some shirts still had two
buttons that needed buttoning. He learned to ask for help
from the hotel staff—at first, they’d be surprised, but if he
stayed at the same hotel for a few days, they’d learn to spot
him and assist him without him having to ask. On the whole,
Douglas learned there were kind people willing to help him
everywhere, creating solutions to his problems.
 Taking Gradual Steps: Wyland’s Story

Despite discouragement from his mother, Wyland was

determined to become a painter. He spent time painting in
his basement studio, and he created enough art for a
portfolio, which landed him a full-ride scholarship to a
Detroit art school. Eventually, he realized he wanted to move
to a community known for its art: Laguna Beach, California.
He continued to paint and participated in art festivals. Some
art dealers from Hawaii asked to sell his work, but then they
refused to pay him for it, citing high overhead costs. At this
point, Wyland realized he needed to cut out the middle
man—he’d open his own galleries where he could control all
aspects of selling his art. He now makes up to 1,000
paintings a year, some of which sell for $200,000, and he has
collaborated with Disney.

Exercise: Face Your Fears

Reframe your fear.

Describe a personal goal.

Describe one or two fears that surface when you think about pursuing
this goal. Focus on things you’re afraid of doing rather than things you’re
afraid of.

Rewrite your fear using Canfield’s template: “I want to (BLANK) but I

scare myself by imagining (BLANK).

Instead of the negative imagery you imagine, describe two or three

types of positive imagery you can imagine when thinking of yourself
pursuing this goal.

Part 3: Use Feedback to Your Advantage |

Principles 17-18: Ask for What You Need and Want
In Part 3, you’ll learn how to communicate your needs and wants to
others, and ask for feedback on your performance to continuously
improve yourself.

Learn How to Ask

Sometimes, all it takes to get what you want is asking for it. But it’s easy
to hold yourself back—maybe you’re afraid of rejection, so you decide
it’s better not to ask than to face a “no.” Learning how to ask for what
you need and want, even when you’re afraid of the answer, can help
you reach your goals.

Follow these steps to ask for what you want:

1. Use clear, precise language. If you ask for something vague, you may
get a vague answer or something that isn’t what you want. Learn how to
phrase three common requests for change:

Behavior. If you need someone to do something, tell them

specifically what it is. For example, saying, “Would you do the
dishes more often?” is less specific than, “I want you to wash the
dishes each time I cook a meal, and I’ll wash them when you
cook a meal.”

Time. If you need to have something done at a certain time, but

you don’t say so directly, it probably won’t be done at that time.
Instead, include a specific time frame in your request, which
allows the person you’re asking to make a concrete
commitment. For example, let’s say you want to have a phone
call with your son. Sending a text that says, “I’d love to talk to you
soon,” is not as specific as, “I’d like to talk with you this weekend.
 Would you be available at 3:30 pm on Saturday?”

Money. If you’re asking for money, name the amount that you
want. For example, saying, “I want a raise” is not as specific as
saying, “I’d like a 5 percent raise every six months.”

2. Assume it’s possible. When you make your request, ask with
confidence, imagining that they’ll say yes rather than assuming they’ll
say no, whether it’s getting a refund when you don’t have a receipt or
upgrading to a suite.

3. Ask for the right person. Make sure that the person you’re asking is
the person equipped to handle your request. If not, say something like,
“I’d like to speak with the person who directs…?” If you’re not sure who
the right person to talk to is, ask, “Who is the person who’s involved
with…?”

4. Don’t accept rejection. People may not answer yes for a variety of
reasons, but if you ask them again another time, they might say yes
because:

You’ve had time to prove your dedication to them or the work.

They’re in a better mood.

The economy improved.

You offer more convincing data or evidence.

One study found that 60 percent of sales are made after the fourth call,
but that 94 percent of salespeople give up after the third call. So
continue to ask, even if it means asking more times than you’re
comfortable with.
Activity: List Your Asks
To encourage yourself to ask for what you need, work through the
different areas of your life. Here are the steps:

1. Make a list of things you need to ask for at home, work, and school.
Write down how you would benefit from getting each thing you want
to ask for. Then, rephrase each item to say, “I want (BLANK) but I don’t
ask because I’m afraid of (BLANK).”

2. Write your asks for each of the seven categories from Principle 3:
Identify What You Want: relationships, leisure, health, finances,
community, career, and personal growth. Examples might include
hugs, a higher hourly rate, or an endorsement of your work.

A Rejection That Turned Into “Yes”: Susan Mabet’s Story

Susan Mabet grew up in a poor Maasai village in Kenya. She

hoped to attend a girl’s boarding school so that she could
pursue an education and career beyond being a homemaker
like other girls in her village. Where she lived, girls were
married young, became pregnant, and often didn’t survive
childbirth. In primary school, Mabet studied hard and earned
top grades ahead of applying to the only prestigious
boarding school in the region, but she didn’t get in—the
school accepted 40 girls that year, and she wasn’t one of
them. She decided to go talk to the school to make sure
there hadn’t been a mistake.

Mabet arrived on the first day of classes and asked the

principal about the decision as other girls arriving for class
 looked on. The principal explained that the school only had
funding to accept 40 girls and Mabet was 41st on the list.
Mabet started to cry and the other girls came to her aid,
saying they would share desks and do what it took to allow
Mabet to study there. The school agreed and a generous
donor later agreed to cover her tuition.

Cleaning Up the Mississippi River: Chad Pregracke’s Story

Chad Pregracke wanted to help clean up the polluted

Mississippi River. But because there was more trash than his
20-foot boat could handle, Pregracke decided to ask for
money to buy equipment like barges and trucks. He went
through the phonebook, asking big companies if they’d
donate money. His strong desire to make a difference and
his willingness to ask resulted in a variety of companies
giving him thousands of dollars to buy the equipment and
allowed him to lead tens of thousands of volunteers in
cleaning up the Mississippi River and 22 other rivers.

Principle 19: Seek Out and Use Feedback

Feedback is a useful tool to achieve your goals because it can tell you
when you’re getting off track and need to correct your course. In this
section, you’ll learn about different types of feedback, why we aren’t
always great at responding to it, how to respond better, and how to use
it to achieve your goals.

Feedback: Positive and Negative

There are two main types of feedback:

1. Positive. Positive feedback is the kind we like and prefer—it shows

us we’re on the right track. Examples include praise from a boss or
feelings of happiness and satisfaction when we do something we
like.

2. Negative. Most people don’t like negative feedback because it

means we have to change or do something differently. Some
examples of negative feedback include not getting a promotion and
feelings of despair or loneliness.

Reactions to Negative Feedback

Though negative feedback can be upsetting, reacting to it in a positive

way can help you grow and achieve your goals. Instead of feeling
criticized, think of feedback as an opportunity to learn and adjust
accordingly.

Here are three unhelpful responses to negative feedback:

1. Getting upset at the source. When you receive feedback you dislike,
your tendency may be to attack the person who gave it to you. For
example, if your coworker reminds you to be on time for the next team
meeting, you may respond by angrily telling them it’s not a big deal. As
a result, they’ll be less likely to give you feedback that could be helpful
in the future.
2. Ignoring it. When people give you negative feedback, you may
choose to ignore it, even if it means that you risk failing. For some
people, it may be because they value their own opinion over everyone
else’s, or they’re convinced they’re doing the right thing. However,
listening to what others say instead of ignoring it could improve their
life.

3. Giving up. When some people receive feedback, they give up on

what they’re doing, rather than adjusting and doing something
differently.

Ask for Feedback

People are often reluctant to give feedback because they don’t want
you to react in one of the negative ways listed previously. To benefit
from feedback, learn to ask for it and accept it graciously. Though you
may be afraid of what you’ll hear, the benefits outweigh the downsides.

Ask these two questions:

In what ways do you see me holding myself back? When you ask
this question of people who know you well, it can illuminate
specific habits or behaviors that when corrected will help you
achieve more.

On a scale of one to 10, how would you rate (BLANK)? This

question can be used in any number of personal or professional
situations. For example, you might ask your partner, “On a scale
of one to 10, how would you rate our relationship in the past
week?” If the person replies with an answer of less than 10, ask,
“What would make it a 10?” Often, the person can suggest
 specific things you can do to improve. Canfield asks this
question weekly of his wife and coworkers.

When you get feedback, look for patterns. If you’re hearing the same
thing from multiple people, chances are it’s true. Work to respond to
the feedback constructively rather than choosing one of the three
negative responses.

What to Do When You Fail

If all of the feedback points to the fact that you’ve failed in some way,
follow these steps to grow from it:

1. Thank the feedback givers. Be kind to those who give you feedback.
It helps put the feedback giver at ease and helps them feel safe in
giving you feedback in the future. If someone gives you angry
feedback, consider the most useful parts and don’t take their anger
personally.

2. Resolve lingering issues. Apologize and send any other

communications necessary to resolve upsets. Acknowledge the
failure rather than trying to hide it.

3. Recognize that you did the best you could with the resources
available to you—information, skills, and awareness.

4. Recognize that you survived the experience and will survive its
consequences, too.

5. Document what you learned from the feedback. Consider how you
could approach things differently next time. Read it often. This will
help you get more comfortable with the feedback and remind you
to avoid similar pitfalls.
6. Review your successes. Despite this failure, remember that you’ve
had more successes in your life than failures. That helps put this
instance in perspective so you can learn from it and move forward.

7. Surround yourself with supportive people. These could be

colleagues, friends, or family who can remind you of your worth and
dignity.

8. Adjust your plans, as needed. Use the feedback to plan how you’ll
adjust your goals or practices. Then, do it.

Exercise: Evaluate Your Reaction to Feedback

Assess whether you react well to feedback.

Think of a time that you reacted negatively to feedback. Describe the

situation and how you reacted.

Consider the three negative ways to respond to feedback. Based on

how you reacted, what could you have done instead?
Think of other times you’ve reacted negatively to feedback. Was your
reaction in this particular situation an isolated event, or can you see a
pattern? If so, describe one or two things you might do to train yourself
to react differently in the future.

Principles 20-21: Always Strive to Improve

Working to improve yourself and become successful means that you

don’t stop once you’ve achieved one goal—you’re constantly improving
yourself or your work.

The world is changing rapidly. Working to improve and grow is a

necessity for successful people. But if you let the fast pace of the world
dictate the pace at which you improve yourself, you may feel like
you’re barely keeping up; creating changes in yourself takes time.
Working systematically on small changes can help improve yourself
and your work.

Even Slight Improvements Make a Difference

In The Slight Edge, author Jeff Olson discusses the outsized impact
that making small changes can have on your life. For example, doing
slightly more of something, like substituting a glass of water for your
daily soda, can save you hundreds of dollars a year and spare you
thousands of calories. Similarly, watching one hour less of TV each day
adds up to 365 hours that you could use another way, like improving
your cross-stitch skills.

Decide How You’ll Improve and Track Your Progress

Try the following steps to implement improvements in your life:

1. Consult the list of categories from “Principle 3: Decide What You

Want” and pick one to work on. For example, you may want to improve
your strength and flexibility and commit to practicing yoga twice per
week. Whatever your interest, decide what you want, and make a plan
to reach it.

2. Use a scoring system to track your progress. Scoring yourself allows

you to evaluate whether you’re improving or have succeeded. For
example, to deal with his hectic schedule, Vinod Khosla, the founder of
Sun Microsystems, made a goal of getting home to eat dinner with his
children at least 25 nights per month.

Keeping score can work for your company, too. Some companies use
scoring metrics called “critical drivers”—specific, positive outcomes—to
work toward important benchmarks and improvements. If a critical
driver reaches or exceeds a certain threshold, it results in increased
revenue and profits for the company. For example, a critical driver for
an insurance company might be the number of customers who are
insured with more than one type of insurance. Learning to identify
these drivers and develop a plan to improve them increases your
company’s success.
Part 4: Prime Yourself for Success | Principle 25:
Surround Yourself With Nurturing, Successful
People

In Part 4, you’ll learn to prime yourself for success by finding people

who can support your endeavors and developing new ways of thinking
about yourself and your efforts.

Who You Spend Time With Matters

If you spend a lot of time with people who stress you out, aren’t
successful, or aren’t supportive, you’re less likely to achieve success.
Aim to spend time with people who uplift you, support and nurture
your dreams, have a positive attitude, and are successful.

Identify the Negative People in Your Life

To start surrounding yourself with supportive people, identify those
who are negative and holding you back. Here’s how:

1. Write down all of the people you spend time with regularly.
Consider family, friends, coworkers, neighbors, people in your
church, and so on.

2. Write a (+) next to people if they’re positive and support you or a (-)
if they’re negative and don’t support you. Besides not being
supportive, negative people like to complain, and they see
 themselves as perpetual victims. You might notice that most of the
negative people belong to one group. For example, maybe your
coworkers have toxic attitudes.

3. Spend less time with the negative people. Instead, surround

yourself with positive people.

Find Successful People

You can find supportive, successful people in many places. Try the
following:

Volunteer for leadership roles in an organization you care about.

Join civic groups like Rotary International.

Join a country club.

Attend conferences in your field.

Join professional clubs or societies in your field.

Learning at the Sauna: John Assaraf’s Story

John Assaraf is an entrepreneur of many trades, from real estate to

virtual tour software. But before he became successful, he learned a lot
from spending time in the men’s sauna at the local health club where
he worked. There, successful men talked about successes and failures
with their companies, as well as with their families and health. Assaraf
learned that obstacles are part of life and running a business, but with
perseverance, it’s possible to find solutions. He also learned that it was
possible to build a successful life whatever your race, ethnicity, or
educational history.
Principle 26: Appreciate Your Successes

It’s common to focus more on our failures than our successes. We tend
to take even small successes for granted. But over time, this can
diminish your self-esteem and work against your continued
achievement. In this section, you’ll learn why celebrating your success
is important, as well as several techniques for how to do so.

Why Do We Focus on Failure?

There are three main reasons we tend to focus on failure rather than
success:

1. As we grew up, our family and teachers emphasized our failures. For
example, your parents may have reacted to a good grade by saying,
“Nice work,” but to a C or less by giving you a lecture. Or maybe your
teachers marked wrong answers with a red pen rather than marking
correct answers with a check mark. As adults, we may continue to
emphasize our failures rather than our successes.

2. We remember events associated with negative emotions better

than those associated with positive ones. Failure produces strong
negative emotions. As a result, many people think they have many
fewer successes than they actually do because their memory
emphasizes failures.

3. We define success in a specific way. People tend to define success

as an important life event, like graduating from college. But this
definition undermines everyday successes like skipping dessert,
 doing laundry, or making an important phone call at work.

In some of Canfield’s seminars, he asks participants to share successes

they had in the past week. Many people struggle. One participant didn’t
think he’d had any success in his life. In 1979, after the Iranian shah was
deposed, he moved his family from Iran to Germany, where he
became a car mechanic and learned the local language. Then, he
moved to the U.S., started learning English, and was working to become
a welder. To him, success was living in a rich part of Los Angeles and
owning a fancy car. He didn’t recognize all of the success he’d already
achieved.

The Connection Between Self-Esteem and Success

Having good self-esteem is a key ingredient for success. Research
shows that the more self-esteem you have, the more likely you are to
take risks that can lead to success. But if you focus on your failures, you
erode your self-esteem and are less likely to take risks. For example,
you might see a job posting for a customer engagement associate with
a local software company. You’re relatively qualified for the job, but
you talk yourself out of applying because you’ve never held a similar
role, and you convince yourself you wouldn’t be selected. Instead of
letting self-esteem erode your confidence, actively work to celebrate
your success, and use it as a tool to persevere in times of doubt or
difficulty.

Activity: Celebrate Your Successes

Try these activities to celebrate your successes:
1. Identify nine major successes you’ve had. Divide your life into three
equally sized chunks. For example, if you’re 30 years old, your
chunks would be from 0 to 10, 11 to 20, and 21 to 30. Then, write
three successes for each stage. For example, a success in the 0 to 10
group might be that you participated in your first piano recital.

2. Write 100 ways you’ve succeeded. People usually find it easy to

come up with about 30, but identifying more can be difficult. To get
to 100, include small successes. Examples include saving $50 to buy
your first video game, learning to ride a bike, and starting a family.

3. Surround yourself with symbols of your success. Create a victory

wall where you display symbols of your accomplishments. These
might include trophies, diplomas, or thank-you cards you’ve
received. You can also create a written record of your successes.
Every time you succeed, log it in a notebook or on your computer. If
you’re preparing for something important and feel anxious, read
your log.

4. Recount your successes in front of the mirror every day. At the end
of each day, stand in front of your mirror, look yourself in the eye,
and recount your successes aloud. Work through your whole day,
citing successes large and small. Finally, tell yourself, “I love you.” At
first, you may experience adverse reactions such as anxiety, wanting
to cry, or crying. These are normal reactions when you’re not used to
acknowledging yourself. They’ll diminish after a few days. Commit
to doing the exercise for three months; many people do it longer.

5. Treat your inner child. We all have three egos—an adult ego, a parent
ego, and an inner child ego. Your adult ego makes rational decisions,
like going to the dentist and grocery shopping. Your parent ego tells
you to do things like eating our vegetables. It can come across as
 critical or nurturing. Your inner child ego likes to do fun, exciting
things and throws fits when its needs aren’t met. For example, if
you’re complaining about having to sit at your desk and do work,
that’s your inner child talking. Treat it like you would a real child—
explain that you have to do the work, and thank it for its patience by
rewarding it later. The reward could be dancing, buying something
for yourself, or listening to music. When you reward your inner child
for letting you do your work, you increase your willingness and
ability to work harder.

Exercise: Recognize Your Successes

Identify nine major successes.

Divide your life into three equal time periods. Write three successes for
each chunk of life.

Which accomplishment was easiest to identify? Why?

Which accomplishment was hardest to identify? Why?

How did this exercise make you feel about your accomplishments?

Principle 27: Improve Your Bedtime Routine

How you reflect on your day has an impact on what you learn and how
you approach the next day. This section discusses two activities to
restructure your bedtime routine for success.

Why Bedtime?
The last 45 minutes before you go to sleep is an important time to
reflect and plan for the next day. This is because your brain processes
what you think about during this time up to six times more than
everything else you did during the day. It’s also why studying before
you go to sleep can be an effective test-taking strategy and why you
might not sleep as well or might have nightmares if you watch scary
television just before bed.
Put the 45 minutes before you go to bed to good use with these two
activities:

1. Reflect on your day. Use this activity to quickly develop a new helpful
behavior. Each night, close your eyes and ask yourself one of the
following questions:

How could I have been a better (insert your profession here)

today?

How could I have shown more appreciation and love today?

How could I have been more (this characteristic) today?

Listen to your answers. Avoid criticizing or judging yourself. Visualize

the events in your day happening again and acting the way you would
have preferred. You’ll be more likely to act this way the next time.

2. Visualize tomorrow. Take a mental walk through your schedule for

the next day. Visualize yourself doing your best in every situation, from
enjoying your breakfast to leading a team check-in with your
coworkers. This activity encourages your brain to devise ways to make
it happen. Also, under the Law of Attraction, by broadcasting your
positive intentions to the universe, you’re more likely to act positively,
elicit positive behavior from others, and attract supportive people into
your life.

Principle 28: Finish Your Projects and Declutter

Your Life

Finishing projects and decluttering your life can give you a sense of
accomplishment and the confidence to move forward with your goals.
This section explores the importance of these tasks and how to tackle
them.

Finish What You Started

Seeing something through to completion involves the following steps
(steps 5 and 6 look the same, but they’re different):

1. Choose to do something.

2. Plan how you’ll do it.

3. Begin.

4. Keep going.

5. Finish.

6. Complete.

We often go through all the steps except the last one—we finish, but
we don’t do the last thing that would make the task complete. For
example, you choose to start a new filing system for your home office.
You buy a filing cabinet and some file folders and file most of your
paperwork, but you neglect to file your invoices. If you’d just finish filing
the invoices, the task would be complete, but instead, it sits unfinished
for weeks.

Why does it matter? Because the more unfinished tasks you have, the
more time you spend thinking about them being unfinished when you
could put that energy toward other things.
We leave things unfinished for several reasons:

Our work habits are subpar.

We take on tasks we don’t want to do but don’t know how to say

no to, then neglect them.

We don’t know how to complete the task due to a lack of

knowledge or the right means to complete it.

To avoid letting unfinished tasks pile up, use the following system:

1. Don’t do it at all. If you can’t do the task, don’t take it on.

2. Get it done. Do the task as soon as you receive it.

3. Give it to someone else. If you’re not equipped to deal with the task,
give it to someone who is.

4. Do it later. Make a folder of tasks that you plan to visit later.

5. Continuously ask, “What must I do to finish this task?” Asking this

question will help you take the last step to complete it.

Clear the Clutter

Many people have things they don’t need. For example, you might have
clothes you don’t wear. Just like unfinished business, this clutter can
distract you, stealing energy you’d use to get important things done.
Clearing clutter helps you feel more at ease in your space. It can also
help you make room for new things in your life, both mentally and
physically. Some people find that the act of cleaning their living space
helps them welcome new business and other opportunities for growth.
Activity: Identify Clutter and Incomplete Tasks
To start ridding yourself of incomplete tasks and clutter, try these
activities:

1. Consider the following list to get some ideas about what you haven’t
finished or given enough attention to:

Disorganized filing system

Undone activities from former employment

Projects that aren’t finished

Commitments that you haven’t followed through on or modified

Insufficient time for people you care about

Make your own list of things you have yet to complete. Commit to
addressing at least one a month. Or, commit to completing several in
just a weekend.

2. Inventory your home. Walk from room to room and note things that
bother you. Then, make a plan to deal with them, one at a time. For
example, maybe your garage has a pile of broken items. Make a plan to
either repair or discard them.

3. Hire a professional organizer. They can help you get organized, get rid
of clutter, and suggest tips and tricks to make your life more efficient.
The National Association of Professional Organizers is one resource.
You don’t have to work with them long term—just one session can
provide useful pointers toward better habits.
Exercise: Eliminate Clutter

Make a plan to eliminate clutter in your life.

Walk through your home, and make a note of all of your clutter.
Examples include piles of paper, broken tools, or t-shirts you never
wear.

Make a plan to work through this list. For example, you might dedicate
the next two Sundays to completing six decluttering tasks.

Principle 29: Resolve Past Hurts

When you experience something painful, but don’t process it, it

diminishes your ability to take on similar or new challenges. In this
section, you’ll learn how to recognize when you’re holding yourself
back and learn two techniques to overcome hurt or discomfort.
Negative Emotions Are Poisonous
Negative emotions like anger or resentment rob you of energy that you
could use toward more positive outcomes like achieving your goals.
For example, if you’re trying to work on a project but can’t stop thinking
about that mean comment your friend made about you, you won’t
move as quickly or accomplish as much. From a Law of Attraction
perspective, whatever emotion you’re releasing into the universe is
what you attract—if you harbor anger and resentment, you’ll attract
more of it into your life.

Forgiveness is the key to breaking this cycle. It helps you express your
emotions and move on. For example, forgiving a business partner who
stole money from you allows you to acknowledge your resentment
and put the past behind you so you can focus on the present. This
doesn’t mean what the person did is acceptable or that you should
trust them, just that you acknowledge what they did so you can move
forward.

Recovering from Physical and Mental Trauma: Phan Thi Kim

Phuc’s Story

In the midst of the Vietnam War, a photographer snapped a photo of a

screaming young Vietnamese girl, Phan Thi Kim Phuc, running naked
down the road. She was in excruciating pain because her village was
bombed with napalm, a chemical agent, which had given her third-
degree burns on over half of her body. After treatment and surgeries,
she survived, became a Canadian citizen, underwent a forgiveness
process, and founded an organization to help victims of war. People
remark that she is amazingly calm and forgiving given her experiences.
Technique #1: The “Total Truth” Process
When someone upsets you, you may experience anger at that person,
but you may not fully express to them how you feel. When you don’t
express how you feel, it can fester inside you as resentment, making it
difficult to have a productive relationship with that person. Plus,
hanging on to negative emotions hampers you from feeling happy,
which is where joy, creativity, and inspiration come from. To restore
your relationship, express your emotions fully: The Total Truth Process
is one way to do this.

The Total Truth Process means expressing your emotions equally in six
different stages, beginning with the negative and transitioning into
expressing gratitude and love. This sequence helps you address your
emotional distress and truly forgive someone who has wronged you.
However, it doesn’t mean you’re trying to change the person. You can
do this verbally, or in writing.

First, make a list of every person who has wronged you and how. Use
this template:

(PERSON’S NAME) hurt me by (BLANK). Then, go through the total truth

process with each person using either of the following options.

Option #1: Verbal

1. Identify the person you need to talk to. Ask their permission to tell
them what’s on your mind.

2. When you meet with the person, discuss each category of emotions,
giving equal time to each. Here are the categories, along with prompts
to get your ideas flowing:
 Anger and resentment. “I’m angry that…” “I hate it when…” “I
resent that…”

Hurt. “It hurt me when…” “I felt sad when…” “I feel disappointed

about…”

Fear. “I’m afraid of you when…” “I’m afraid that I…” “I was afraid
when…”

Regret, Remorse, and Accountability. “I’m sorry that…” “I didn’t

mean to…” “I’m sorry for…”

Wants. “I want(ed)...” “I deserve…” “I want you to…”

Compassion, Appreciation, Forgiveness, Love. “I understand

that…” “I appreciate…” “I forgive you for...“ “Thank you for…” In this
section, you’re recognizing that the person did the best that they
could with the resources and knowledge they had at the time,
and you’re forgiving them so you can move forward.

Option #2: Written

This option works well in the following situations:

You want to write your thoughts down first.

You don’t feel comfortable talking to the person face-to-face.

The other person won’t or can’t participate in a conversation.

Here are the steps:

1. Write a letter that dedicates equal parts to each of the emotional

categories from Option 1.

2. If the person is willing to participate, have them write you a letter,

 too. Arrange a time to meet and swap your letters. Read them
together, then discuss the experience. As you discuss it, try not to
defend what you’ve said. Instead, focus on what the other person
has to say.

3. If the person isn’t willing or can’t participate, write your letter, then
toss it. The main point is for you to express your emotions, so just
getting them on paper can be useful.

Technique #2: Tapping Therapy

Tapping therapy is another way to address past wrongs, as well as fears
and phobias. For centuries, healing in Eastern cultures has addressed
energy flow through different parts of the body, or meridians.
Sometimes, chronic pain is thought to be a result of previous
emotional distress that is held in certain parts of the body. Based on
these ideas, clinical psychologist Roger Callahan developed tapping
therapy to release pain from different areas of the body and to get over
fears and other negative emotions that hold you back.

Here are the steps:

1. Close your eyes and think of a fear or emotion you’d like to rid
yourself of. Assess how strong it is on a scale of one to 10, with 10 being
the strongest.

2. Think of the feeling as you tap the heel of your hand (the area near
your wrist) 10 times. Tap firmly enough to feel it without hurting your
hand. Phrase your thoughts in a way that connects them with the
emotion they bring out. For example: “Even though I’m scared to lead
the meeting at work tomorrow, I deeply and completely love and
accept myself.”

3. Tap these other points on your body while thinking of the emotion:

Top of the head

Eyebrow

To the right or left of your eye

Underneath the eye

Underneath the nose

Chin

Collarbone on each side

Underneath one arm

Tap each point firmly five to seven times while thinking variations of
the first phrase you used. For example, while tapping the top of the
head, you might say, “I’m afraid people will be bored during the
meeting.” As you move to the eyebrow, you might say, “I’m afraid no
one will want to do the ice breaker.” The exact words don’t matter as
long as you’re focused on your emotions every step of the way.

4. Repeat the sequence from the top of the head down, saying the
phrase in your head until the intensity of the feeling dissipates or to a
level one or disappears.

Tapping Therapy Works: Kelly Ripa’s Story

After witnessing the 9/11 terrorist attacks, actress and television host
Kelly Ripa was afraid to fly. When she got a call asking her to record an
episode of her television show at Disneyland requiring her to fly, she
called Roger Callahan for help. Callahan led Ripa through tapping
therapy over the phone and she was able to take her five-hour flight
without trouble. She invited Callahan to join her at Disneyland and give
tapping therapy to people who were afraid to ride rollercoasters.
Seventeen participants underwent tapping therapy and were able to
ride a rollercoaster, with most saying they’d like to go again.

Principle 31: Welcome Change

Learning to embrace change is an important part of readying yourself

for success. In this section, you’ll learn why it’s important and some
techniques to help you do it.

Change Is Inevitable
It’s common to become accustomed to the way things are and not
want them to change. But the world is constantly changing, from new
technologies to the economy. Learning to welcome change makes it
easier to adjust to it and benefit from it.

There are two types of change:

1. Cyclical. Cyclical changes, like economic or seasonal changes, are

temporary and last a short time.

2. Structural. Structural changes are fundamental changes to society,

such as the invention of the Internet. Because of these changes, we
don’t do business or communicate the way we used to, and we
won’t ever go back; we’ll just move on to something else.
Structural changes are the most significant. If you refuse to get on
board with these changes, it makes the rest of your life harder because
you spend time resisting them when you could embrace them and the
benefits they afford.

Example: Canfield was once hired to give a seminar for the Naval Sea
Systems Command. The government had decided to relocate its entire
headquarters to San Diego, which affected many jobs. Though the
government had offered to pay to relocate everyone, transferring their
jobs either to San Diego or helping them find new jobs in Washington,
D.C., many people felt inconvenienced and angry. Canfield spoke to
those who didn’t want to go to California. Using the formula Event +
Response = Outcome, he helped them look at the situation as an
opportunity. They could get new, possibly better-paying jobs in D.C., or
they could consider embracing the opportunities California had to
offer—nice weather and a new community. Framing the situation in this
way helped people move from a mindset of fear to one of possibility.

Activity: Ready Yourself for Change

Here are two activities to help you embrace change:

1. Think of a time you were resistant to change. What was the change
you resisted? Why? What happened when you finally embraced it?
Was it as bad as you feared? Probably not. Remembering times when
change benefited you will help you embrace future changes.

2. Identify potential changes in your life. Ask yourself:

What change am I resisting? Why?

What am I afraid of about this change? Why?

 What’s the benefit of keeping things the way they are? What’s the
cost?

What does cooperating with this change look like? What are the
first steps?

When will I start cooperating and do these steps?

Asking yourself these questions helps you address your fears around
the change and learn to anticipate it with excitement instead.

Exercise: Reflect on a Previous Change

Evaluate how adapting to a past change impacted your life.

Think of a time that you resisted a change that you eventually

embraced. Describe what the change was and why you resisted it.

What factors made you decide to embrace the change?

What effect did embracing the change have on your life?

Knowing what you know now, what steps could you have taken to help
yourself embrace the change sooner?

Principles 32-33: Practice Positive Self-Talk

Research has shown that when we talk to ourselves, it’s mostly about
ourselves, and it’s mostly negative. Negative self-talk colors our view of
what’s possible and makes us unmotivated to act. Plus, our body reacts
physically to the negative things we say about ourselves. Learning to
speak positively to yourself can help you in many facets of your life.

In this section, you’ll learn to recognize negative self-talk and limiting

beliefs and how to counter them.

Your Thoughts Physically Affect You

Lie detector tests are a good illustration of how your thoughts affect
you. If you were hooked up to a lie detecting machine, and someone
asked you whether you stole money, physical changes might start to
happen in your body, regardless of whether you lied or not. For
example, your heart rate might increase, and you might start sweating.

Negative and positive thoughts do different things to the body.

Negative thoughts can make you feel powerless, unmotivated, and
weak. Positive thoughts can make you feel more in balance and
relaxed. They can also release endorphins in the brain, which are
associated with pleasure. Learning to retrain yourself to think positive
thoughts helps you achieve your goals and much more.

Learn to Identify Negative Thoughts

Dealing with negative thoughts requires understanding that not all of
your thoughts are true. When you recognize a negative thought, you
can challenge it and change it to one that helps you achieve your goal.

Here are the main types of negative thoughts and how to reframe
them:

You think someone thinks something negative about you. For

example, you may think someone is mad at you, but you can’t
know for sure what someone else is thinking. Instead, ask them
how they’re feeling.

You think of the worst-case scenario. If you think of something

bad happening and convince yourself that it will happen, you
may feel doomed or talk yourself out of trying something. For
example, you may be convinced someone will turn you down
when you ask them to go on a date. But instead of not asking
 them out, tell yourself you can’t know for sure whether they will
accept until you ask.

You give yourself a negative label. For example, you might say
that you’re too stupid to learn calculus. Instead, say, “Even
though I struggle with math, I’m a smart person, and I know I’ll
get through this.”

You make the situation about yourself. For example, if you text
your friend and don’t hear back for several days, you might think
your friend didn’t like what you said or doesn’t care about you
when they’re really just busy. Instead, remind yourself that you
can’t know why people do certain things, and suggest other
explanations for what happened.

You think in extremes. Thinking in extremes means using words

like always, never, everyone, no one, or every time. For example,
you might say, “My supervisor never listens to me.” But it’s
unlikely this is always true—your supervisor must listen to you
sometimes. To counteract these statements, say what’s actually
true: “I get upset when my supervisor doesn’t listen to me, but
she has listened to me in the past, and she will in the future.”

You make yourself feel guilty. If you think about things you need
to do with phrases like have to, should, or ought to, you reinforce
your reluctance to do them. For example, instead of saying, “I
should eat more vegetables,” say, “It would support my goals to
eat more vegetables” or “It’s in my best interest to…”

Activity: Deal With Negative Thoughts

Sometimes, we start second-guessing our behavior or harshly judge
ourselves. For example, maybe you gave a presentation that you feel
didn’t go well, and you start telling yourself that you messed up. To
change the experience from a negative one to a positive one, have a
conversation with yourself about how to do better. Here’s the basic
formula for addressing your negative thoughts:

1. List the things you say when you judge yourself. Examples might
include thinking you don’t exercise enough or that you eat too many
cookies.

2. Tell yourself that you’re not going to listen to harsh judgments, only
feedback. This will help turn criticism of yourself into suggestions
for improvement.

3. Use the following categories to express yourself and what you’d like
to do differently:

Anger. Express why something makes you angry. For example,

maybe watching so much TV makes you feel like you don’t have
time for other activities you care about.

Fear. Describe why your current behavior makes you feel afraid.
Maybe you’re afraid you’re losing an important connection with a
family member or loved one.

Improvements. Ask yourself what you could’ve done better.

Listen to your answers. Research has shown that good ideas
don’t often last longer than 40 seconds. Make a habit of writing
them down as you think of them. Keep asking yourself “What
else?” you could’ve done better until you’re out of ideas.

Requests. Describe what you’d like to do differently. Be specific.

 In the TV example, maybe you’d limit yourself to one hour of TV
per day.

Love. Express your love for yourself and why you feel it’s
important to do the requests. For example, tell yourself that
watching less television will make you happier, and you love
yourself and deserve happiness.

Principles 34-35: Master Four Success Habits Per

Year

Successful people make a continuous effort to become successful.

This requires letting go of destructive behaviors and developing new
success habits. This section will discuss how to develop new habits and
how to stick with them.

The Upside and Downside of Habits

Habits automate some of your life. Over time, you’ve learned to live
your life a specific way, from safe driving to how you eat breakfast. But
habits can also be undesirable behaviors, like drinking too much soda
or being late. Eventually, you may suffer the consequences of your bad
habit. For example, the consequence of drinking too much soda might
be developing diabetes. The solution? Rid yourself of bad habits by
replacing them with good ones.

Activity: Develop Productive Habits

Studies suggest it takes about 13 weeks, or a quarter of a year, to
cement a new habit. Aim to learn one new habit every quarter. Here’s
how:

1. List your bad habits. Identify which four you’d like to work on in the
next year. Describe why each habit is a potentially harmful behavior.
For example, forgetting someone’s name shortly after you meet
them means you might not be able to get their attention later or
greet them at a future event. Consider asking the people around
you for an objective assessment of your bad habits.

2. Identify a different behavior you could use instead. For example,

you might research techniques to remember people’s names.

3. Make a plan to implement your new habit. Determine what steps

you need to take to make your habit a reality. For example, you
might plan to try a new name-remembering technique several
times per week.

Tips for Sticking With Your Habits

Forming a habit takes time, and barriers may arise that prevent you
from succeeding. Try the following three techniques to increase the
likelihood a new habit will stick:

1. Write your desired habit on slips of paper and post them around
your home. Visually reminding yourself about your habit makes you
more likely to remember and cement it in the long term.

2. Work with a partner. Recruit someone who is also working on a new

habit so that you encourage each other to continue. Share your
progress at least once each week.
3. Commit to 100 percent follow-through. Choose to follow through
on your habit completely rather than leaving any wiggle room for
other options. Full commitment means you stick to your plan at all
times, including when you’re tempted to cheat. For example, if the
habit you’re working on is to adopt a vegetarian diet, commit to
doing it 100 percent of the time rather than allowing yourself to
cheat occasionally.

Exercise: Implement New Habits

Identify your bad habits and make a plan to work on the worst four.

List your bad habits.

Select four from the list that you’d like to work on in the next year.
Describe why each habit is a potentially harmful behavior.

For each bad habit, list one to two suggestions for behaviors you could
do instead.
Choose the habit you’d like to work on first. List the steps you’d take to
make it a reality.

Principles 36-37: Learn Throughout Your Life

Just like developing new habits, learning throughout your life is key to
being successful and adapting to changing times. Canfield offers four
strategies to learn more:

1. Watch less TV; read more. The average person in the U.S. watches six
hours of TV a day. Eliminating one hour of TV a week would help you
make time for other pursuits, such as learning a language, spending
more time with family, or reading. Reading is one of the most beneficial
activities because it allows you to learn from people who have already
achieved great things.

If you’re hoping to become an expert in your field, reading for an hour

each day on related topics can greatly accelerate the pace of your
learning. If you read a book a week, you’ll have read over 1,000 books in
20 years, putting you in the top 1 percent of people in your field.

2. Listen to inspirational audio programs. Listening to inspirational

audio programs allows you to learn from experts. People spend an
average of 30 minutes commuting each way, which adds up to 1,250
hours in five years. Filling that time listening to the wisdom of experts
allows you to learn and adjust accordingly. Visit JackCanfield.com to
access Canfield’s audio programs on a variety of topics.

3. Attend success rallies and conferences. Success rallies and

conferences are events with speakers, coaches, and other professionals
who can provide guidance and inspiration that’ll help you become
successful. Similarly, you can find telesummits—recordings of
conferences—online that feature between eight and 24 speakers. Type
“telesummit” into your web browser to access them.

4. Train your team. To ensure that you’re constantly moving forward as

a company, everyone needs to be learning how to advance themselves
and their work. Here are two ways to train your team:

Let employees attend training or hire trainers to lead private

sessions for your company. Do a mix of professional
development and personal development training.

Create a library of resources employees can use, like books,

DVDs or CDs.

5. Visit this book’s resources page for additional information, including:

Suggested courses to learn to read faster

Canfield’s curated list of books that discuss keys to success.

Topics include nutrition, quantum physics, and psychology.
 Recommended training and organizations that provide training
for companies and individuals

Part 5: Grow Your Professional Skills and Network |

Principles 38-41: Focus on Your “Core Genius”

In Part 5, you’ll learn how to improve your leadership skills, grow your
professional network, and focus on the work you do best.

Passion and enthusiasm can drive you to do your best work and
achieve success. These qualities come from within when you do
activities you feel passionate about. You also probably have skills and
abilities that are so effortless for you that you do them willingly,
possibly without charging people. But successful people turn their
passion and their “core genius”—what they do best—into their business.
In this section, you’ll learn how to identify both, build your time around
them, and create a support team to help you along the way.

Identify Your Passion

Ask yourself these questions to see if you’re following your passion:

Do I love my work? If I don’t love my work, what would I rather

be doing? Would it be lucrative? Successful people find a way to
make it work, which means living with less money or turning
their passion into a lucrative business.

What would I do for work if I had all the money I’d ever need
from winning the lottery?
 Which activities outside of work make me feel the most
connected to other people and myself? Since passion comes
from doing activities you enjoy, the best way to connect with
your passion is to make these activities your life’s work.

What am I doing and why do I like it? Try to pinpoint specific

qualities or characteristics that you like about the work you
enjoy. For example, maybe you enjoy coordinating social
activities for your coworkers because you value creating
cohesion in a fun environment.

The Passionate Teacher: Rafe Esquith’s Story

Rafe Esquith has taught at the third-largest elementary school in the

U.S, Hobart Elementary School, located in East Los Angeles, for over 30
years. Esquith has actively worked to keep his passion for teaching
alive, refusing to lose it despite working 12-hour days, six days a week.
His fifth-grade students average 50 points higher on math and reading
tests than other students at the school. Esquith has taught many
children to aim high by having them perform Shakespearean plays.
Over the years, his classes have performed in a variety of venues, from
local stages to the White House, and graduates have gone on to attend
prestigious colleges.

Identify Your Core Genius

Like your passion, focusing on your core genius requires figuring out
what your genius activities are and devoting time to them. Follow these
steps to identify what to spend more time on in your current job and
what to delegate to others:
1. List all the business activities that occupy your time. Include small
tasks, like photocopying, up through big tasks, like giving
presentations.

2. From the list, identify up to three activities that represent your core
genius—activities you’re especially good at that use your unique
talents.

3. Identify up to three activities from the list that generate the most
income for your company. Plan to focus on the activities that
require your unique talents and generate the most money.

Focus on Your Core Genius

Canfield offers two main strategies to focus on your core genius:
Delegation and the “Entrepreneurial Time System.”

Delegate

Delegate activities that don’t use your core genius to other people.
Though delegation may require training people, it ultimately saves you
time by allowing you to pass tasks on to people who like doing them or
are more efficient at doing them. Canfield recommends complete
delegation of tasks: Assign a repeated task to someone as a part of their
role rather than deciding who will do it each time it needs to be done.
That way, it’s taken care of automatically, and you’ll be less tempted to
do it yourself.

For example, imagine you’re a real estate agent who excels at selling.
You currently close one sale a week. You could be focusing your time
on closing, but instead, you insist on performing other duties that
could be easily delegated, such as writing descriptions of homes or
taking photographs for the multiple listing service. If you hired
someone for these duties, you could show more homes and close
three sales a week.

Here are some tips for delegating:

1. Match the tasks you’ve decided to delegate to capable staff

members.

2. If you’re starting a new business or are the only employee at your

company, hire someone to do these tasks. For example, hire
someone to manage projects, sales, or social media. It’s easy to find
freelancers through sites such as Elance.com.

Use the “Entrepreneurial Time System”

The “Entrepreneurial Time System” helps professionals use their time

more effectively by organizing work into three types of workdays:

1. Genius days. On genius days, aim to spend 80 percent of your time

working on core genius activities. For example, Canfield’s core genius
activities include giving seminars, writing books, speaking, and
coaching. Since this work is the easiest and most effortless for you,
increase the number of genius days over time.

2. Preparation days. Preparation days are days you spend preparing for
genius day work. For Canfield, preparation days might include
practicing a speech or presentation he’ll give on a genius day.
Scheduling activities like these on preparation days ensures they don’t
cut into genius day work.

3. Leisure days. Leisure days are days with no work activities or contact
with coworkers. Though you may feel inclined to work long hours
without days off, taking time away helps you recharge and return to
work able to focus and work efficiently. These days might involve
spending time with family or doing a hobby. The only work activity on
these days should be dealing with true emergencies like natural
disasters.

Leisure should include some time away from your children or spouse.
Use babysitters or swap babysitting responsibilities with friends—one
day a month, you watch their children and another day a month, they
watch yours.

Aim for 130-150 leisure days per year. If you take every weekend off,
you’ll already have 104 leisure days, and adding a few long weekends,
holidays, and other time off will get you in that range, although it may
take time to work up to that number. If you have paid vacation, use it.
People can be reluctant to use vacation time—in one study, a quarter of
people in the U.S. didn’t use their vacation time, and in another, 57
percent had unused vacation time.

Activity: Implement the Entrepreneurial Time System

To schedule your time around the Entrepreneurial Time System, follow

these steps:

1. Describe the three best genius days you’ve ever had. Note the
common elements, and brainstorm how you can create more time
for these kinds of days in your schedule. Repeat for leisure days.

2. Talk to your staff, coworkers, and boss about how to make time for
more genius days.

3. Talk to your family about how to create more leisure days.

4. Schedule four or more vacations for the next year. It’s easy to put off
 taking vacations, so get them on your calendar right away. Leisure
days could range from long weekends to weeks.

Exercise: Explore Your “Core Genius”

Examine the intersection between your core genius (what you do best)
and your daily work.

List three to five of your main talents.

Do you use any of these talents in your job? If so, how?

At your current job, are you able to spend most of your time doing
work that suits your talents or core genius? Describe why this is or isn’t
the case.
Based on the previous question, what steps could you take to focus
more on your core genius activities? Examples include adjusting how
you spend your days in your current job or finding a new job.

Principle 42: Align Your Time With Your Values

From the workplace to home, our lives are filled with distractions that
prevent us from spending time on what’s important to us. In this
section, you’ll learn how to say no to distractions and pursue the
activities that matter to you.

Learn to Say No
As a child, you learned that saying no to something your parents
wanted you to do wasn’t an acceptable answer. Later, as an adult, you
may have avoided saying no because you didn’t want to upset
someone. But successful people learn how to say no to benefit their
career and personal lives. For example, if your boss gives you an
impossible deadline, it’s reasonable to refuse to do the work or
negotiate a different deadline.

Here are two strategies to make saying no easier:

1. Make a list of things to stop doing. These could be activities that
direct precious energy away from what you’d like to focus on. Write
them down and follow them like a policy. When you share this
policy with others, it helps them respect your boundaries. For
example, one item on Canfield’s stop list is to accept no more than
five speaking events per month.

2. Use the “I support you, but I’m doing this” technique. For example, if
the PTA president asks you to help with organizing their spring
fundraiser, but you’re afraid it’ll take too much time away from your
family, tell the president that you support what they’re doing, but
you’re not going to participate because you’re prioritizing spending
time with your family.

Seek Great Opportunities

Some opportunities yield great benefits, like increased pay or
networking potential, while others deliver far less for the time they
demand. If you focus too much on good or mediocre opportunities,
they may consume so much of your time and energy that you can’t
seize better opportunities when they come along.

For most people, about 20 percent of their activities contribute to 80

percent of their success. Successful people learn to identify and pursue
great opportunities over good ones, which helps them achieve their
goals with less effort.

Here are three steps to assess potential opportunities:

1. Make a list with two columns, one labeled “Good” and one labeled
“Great.” Write down your opportunities in the column you think fits
 best. When considering where to place them, ask how they fit with
your goals and identify what additional information you’d need to
pursue each of them.

2. Discuss your opportunities with one of your advisors. Your advisors

—people you turn to for support, expertise, and advice—can suggest
which opportunities best suit you based on your interests and goals.

3. Do a test run. Before committing completely to a new opportunity,

try a small test run to determine whether you want to pursue it. For
example, if you’re interested in changing careers, try doing an
internship in the new field to assess whether you’d like doing it long
term.

Seeking Greatness as Rocky: Sylvester Stallone’s Story

When Sylvester Stallone wrote Rocky, many producers were eager to

make the film and pick its lead actors. But Stallone wanted to play the
role of Rocky and produce the film himself on a small budget. He
found a studio that would let him star in it and produce it for under $1
million. The movie earned more than $225 million and Stallone
achieved stardom, all because he said no to good—but not great—
prospects offered by other filmmakers.

Principle 43: Cultivate Your Leadership Skills

Successful people are often leaders in their field because achieving

their vision or goals required motivating, recruiting, and leading groups
of people to action. Though not everyone will have a large impact like
Nelson Mandela or Steve Jobs, you can still make a big difference in
your place of work or community. However, leadership skills aren't
innate—it takes practice to develop them. This section discusses five
leadership skills to hone.

Skill #1: Communicate a Compelling Vision

To recruit others to work toward your vision and do their best work,
present a clear, compelling vision of what you want to achieve and why
it’s important. Use your own natural enthusiasm for the goal to
convince people to follow your lead. In addition, tell people how your
vision will make those working on it better. For example, if you’re
starting an urban garden, inspire volunteers with your vision of how
they and the community will benefit from it. Appealing to people’s
emotions creates a sense of connection and motivates them to act.
You can do this by telling stories about yourself, volunteers, partners
you work with, and so on.

Skill #2: Learn From Listening

In addition to being able to communicate a vision, leaders must be
willing to listen to the concerns and opinions of their employees.
People feel valued when leaders listen. In contrast, if employees feel
they aren’t being heard or their concerns are being ignored, it builds
resentment that doesn’t support a healthy work environment.

Leaders also need to be open to learning. Feedback from employees is

an opportunity to learn and create new practices together that will
benefit the company as a whole. For example, if an employee
expresses interest in a matching 401(k) contribution from the
company, explore why the employee is interested in it. Then, if you
determine it makes sense, create a plan to see it through. If you don’t
think it makes sense, explain your reasoning in a way that
acknowledges the employee’s perspective.

Skill #3: Practice Gratitude

Expressing gratitude is another way to make employees feel
appreciated and foster commitment. In one survey, only 17 percent of
U.S. workers said they felt sufficiently appreciated by their boss. Yet 80
percent of employees said appreciation motivated them to work
harder, and 50 percent said they’d stay at a company longer if they felt
sufficiently appreciated by their boss. In addition to motivating
employees, practicing gratitude directly benefits you—choosing a
positive attitude can lower your stress and boost your mood.
(Additional tips on appreciating the people in your life are discussed in
Principle 53: Show Your Appreciation.)

Skill #4: Coach Others to Be Leaders and Solve

Problems
Being a leader doesn’t mean solving every problem yourself. Coaching
employees through challenges empowers them to lead and gives
them the tools to solve problems. Ask the following questions:

1. What is the problem? Helping someone define the problem helps

them take ownership of it and makes them more likely to resolve it
efficiently. Example: One of your team leaders is frustrated that
people aren’t showing up on time for their weekly meeting.
2. In what way is the complainer enabling the situation? This question
asks the employee to take further ownership of the situation by
identifying how they contribute to the troublesome behavior.
Example: The team leader hasn’t made it clear to the team that they
expect members to be on time for meetings.

3. How will you benefit from things staying the same? Example: The
team leader gets to avoid confronting the offending teammates.

4. What would you like to experience instead? Example: starting the

meeting on time with everyone present and enthusiastic.

5. How will you achieve your goal? Example: 1) sending a memo that
the meeting will begin on time from now on, and 2) offering two
incentives to employees—playing a funny video at the beginning of
the meeting and offering a drawing for a $50 bill.

Skill #5: Hold Yourself Accountable

Being accountable means delivering on your promises. When you
consistently follow through with your commitments, you build the
trust of your employees in your leadership and encourage others to do
the same. For example, if you tell employees that you plan to give a
holiday bonus and follow through, employees learn that they can trust
you to be true to your word. That said, there will be times when you will
fall short of your commitments. When that happens, it’s important to
take ownership of the outcomes that you were responsible for rather
than placing blame on others. Then, reflect on the situation and adjust
your approach so that you get a different outcome going forward.
Principles 44-45: Network, and Find Mentors and
Coaches

To be successful in your life and career, cultivate a network of people

you can call on for advice and do business with. This section covers
how to find mentors and coaches, and how to network.

Find a Mentor
Sometimes, we seek career advice from friends and family who aren’t
well-equipped to provide it. They may not have pursued a similar
career or have experience with the challenges you face. Cultivating a
group of mentors in your field whom you can call on regularly for
advice helps you advance your career and achieve your goals.

Though you may have a sense of what you’d like to do in your career,
you may still be shortsighted or need help overcoming challenges. A
mentor who has been in the field longer than you have has experience
and advice they can share to help you.

Here are the steps to finding and securing a mentor:

1. Research potential mentors. Look for people who have the skills,
expertise, or experience you need to achieve your goals. Search
online, read trade publications, and ask others in your field who they
think would be a good mentor for you. If multiple people
recommend the same person, it’s a sign that person would be a
good mentor.

2. Arrange a conversation, either in person or virtually.

3. Make a list of things you’ll cover in your first conversation. Most
importantly, ask if they’d be willing to be your mentor, and explain
that this entails speaking with you for a few minutes per month.

4. Work your way through your list of potential mentors, asking

around until you get a yes. Not everyone will agree to be your
mentor, but someone eventually will.

5. Give back to your mentor. Think of ways to make mentorship worth

your mentor’s time. For example, when you meet monthly, you
could connect them to others in your network.

Changing Course: Jason Dorsey’s Story

Jason Dorsey was an undergraduate student at the University of Texas

when a local entrepreneur spoke to his business class. Inspired by the
speaker’s career, Dorsey asked him to be his mentor. During their first
meeting, the mentor asked Dorsey about his career plans. Dorsey
wanted to graduate from college and pursue a career on Wall Street
before earning an MBA, starting his own business, and retiring early. He
also dreamed of inspiring youth to secure their dream jobs. Dorsey’s
mentor suggested a modification to his plan: Instead of waiting to
work with youth, Dorsey should work with them sooner while he was
young and could relate to them better. Dorsey decided to write a book
to share his ideas with youth, speak at schools across the country, and
offer training to teachers and counselors. His nickname became Gen Y
Guy. He now trains companies on how to retain young employees.

Find a Coach
A coach is a professional whom you pay for advice that can help you
advance your career farther, faster by:

Weighing different opportunities.

Identifying your values, purpose, and goals.

Making a plan to reach your goals.

Balancing your career and your personal life.

There are different types of coaches for different needs. For example,
Canfield offers coaching for professionals as well as coaching for
people who want to publish a book.

Build Your Professional Network

Just as a mentor can provide guidance on your career and personal
life, forming a professional network can open doors to new career
opportunities such as new clients, business partners, and jobs. Seek
out networking events to build these connections.

Further, you’ll have people you can count on when you need help. For
example, when Canfield and his business partner need help, they ask
themselves, “Who in our network can help us with this?”

Build your network in three stages:

1. Share your work. Tell people what kind of work you do and what
your skills are. This helps them determine where your professional
worlds intersect. For example, if you’re a home inspector, perhaps
you’d reach out to real estate agents to make them aware of your
work. When people know who you are, and what you do, they’ll seek
out your services or refer your services to others.
2. Cultivate credibility. Once people know your work, build trust with
them so that they feel comfortable working with you or referring
your services to others. Some easy ways to build credibility are
showing up for meetings and providing the service you say you will.

3. Provide mutual benefits. In this stage, continue building trust with

your connections until you both regularly benefit or profit from the
exchange. You both benefit by doing business together and from
each others’ connections to people in your industry or outside of it.

Sometimes, people unthinkingly undermine their networked

relationships. For example, if you’ve made a connection with a vendor
you like, but whose prices you don’t, you may continue shopping
around for a vendor with better prices. However, you’d be better off
negotiating a deal with the vendor you already have a connection with,
thereby nurturing a long-term relationship.

Networking to Achieve a Goal: Miriam Laundry’s Story

After her niece committed suicide, Miriam Laundry made a goal to

help 100,000 children around the world believe in themselves. She
wrote a children’s book on the subject and sought to break the
Guinness World Record for the largest online discussion in a 24-hour
period. As Laundry started sharing her goal, the people she told used
their networks to share her book with more children and encourage
them to participate in the discussion. In one instance, after Laundry
won an award for her endeavor, the award-giver connected her with a
company that wanted to help her finance the cost of making the
discussion an international event and bringing a Guinness World
Record judge to her city. On the day of the event, over 103,813 people
from 29 countries participated. Laundry credited her networking
connections for her success.
Principle 46: Convene a Mastermind Group and
Choose an Accountability Partner

Professionals in and outside of your field can offer insight and

encouragement that helps you achieve your personal and professional
goals. This section covers how to form a mastermind group, how to
work with an accountability partner, and how to form a support team.

Form a Mastermind Group

Many successful people use mastermind groups—five or six people
who convene regularly to confidentially help each other navigate
challenges and reach their professional or personal goals. The concept
originated in a 1937 book Think and Grow Rich, by Napoleon Hill.

Joining or forming a mastermind group gives you:

Access to resources such as knowledge, and fresh perspectives

Access to the networks of the people in your group

The ability to go faster and farther with your goals

Members of a mastermind group draw on each other’s support, as well

as energy from a higher power—God, or however you refer to a greater
power. When people gather for a shared purpose, they’re able to
channel energy they get from this power toward their endeavors and
goals.

Here are two questions to keep in mind when forming a mastermind

group:

1. Should the focus be professional or personal? Both kinds of groups

are useful.

2. Should the group include people from the same profession or a

variety of professions? Sometimes people in the same industry can
get locked into the same ways of thinking about their field. Including
people from different fields with different areas of expertise can
create more varied approaches and solutions to problems. On the
other hand, people within an industry tend to know it best and may
have dealt with similar problems. Either way, choose people who
are ahead of or above you professionally—interacting with people
who are where you want to be will motivate you to get there.

Conduct a Meeting

For the first few meetings of your mastermind group, ensure that
everyone has a chance to get to know everyone else by focusing on
one group member at each meeting. This allows each member to
showcase their goals and challenges and allows the rest of the group to
think through ways to support them. Visit The Success Principles
website for a guide on conducting mastermind meetings.

(Shortform note: Read our summary of Think and Grow Rich to learn
more.)

Choose an Accountability Partner

An accountability partner is someone you work with one on one to
share and work toward your goals. You meet regularly and hold each
other accountable for getting your work done, meeting deadlines, and
reaching goals. Your partner may also be able to provide you with
contacts or other resources. Plus, they may offer enthusiasm that
motivates you to follow through. Ideally, you’re each committed to the
other’s success.

Form a Support Team

Professionals of all kinds benefit from having a support team that can
advise and help them live their best lives. Who is on your support team
depends on your stage of life and your goals. For example, athletes may
consult doctors, chiropractors, and nutritionists, while a teen’s support
team might include their parents. Forming this group early can help
you continue to develop your core genius work and skills.

Consult with members of your support team regularly. Unlike a

mastermind group, you meet with these advisors one on one, and
they’re all dedicated to helping you. Schedule meetings or
appointments with each member at intervals that work for you.

Principle 47: Consult Your Intuition

When confronted with a challenge, many people know how to seek

outside help, but few know how to access their inner wisdom or
intuition. In this section, you’ll learn how intuition works and how to use
it.
Tapping Into Your Intuition
You’ve likely had an experience where your intuition told you
something. For example, you might have felt a prickle on the back of
your neck and realized someone was looking at you. Everyone has
intuition, but successful people learn how to access it at will so they
can use it to their advantage. Consulting your intuition can help you
solve problems, make decisions, earn money, access your creativity,
and more.

There are three main ways your intuition speaks to you:

Emotions. You may feel certain emotions that reveal the true
nature of a situation. For example, negative emotions about
something suggest wariness or uncertainty while positive
emotions suggest contentment and excitement.

Thoughts, hunches, and/or voices. Your intuition may take the

form of certain thoughts, a mental image, or an inner voice
speaking to you. It may use phrases or complete sentences, and
you may be able to converse with it to get additional insight or
clarification. You may also feel a sense of being right about
something.

A feeling in your body. Both pleasant and unpleasant physical

sensations can provide insight into a situation. For example,
negative physical feelings include tightness in your gut or chest,
or feeling the creeps or chills. Positive physical feelings include
warmth, goosebumps or relaxation.

There are three techniques to access these intuitive experiences and

learn from them: meditation, asking questions, and the “quick
coherence” technique.

Meditate

Meditation is a time-tested technique in which people quiet their

minds and access their own wisdom and insight. It can help you feel
more grounded with a sense of purpose and can help you hear your
own voice or the voice of God to guide you.

Meditation can be formal or informal. In formal meditation, you take a

few minutes to quiet your mind and look within yourself for clarity. In
contrast, informal meditation can take place throughout the day
whenever you have time to think—for instance, during a run or while
taking a shower, standing in line, driving, or praying.

When Canfield was 35, he attended a week-long meditation workshop

in which participants meditated nearly constantly from 6 a.m. to 10
p.m. At first, his thoughts ranged out of control, but by the fourth day,
his mind calmed down. He still had thoughts, but they came and went
more slowly and were more profound. He found a sense of inner peace
as he understood that he could access ideas from within to solve any
of his problems and reach his goals.

Ask Questions

Asking yourself questions and listening for answers is another way to

access your intuition. For example, you might ask yourself whether you
should take a job, how to increase your sales, or how to become
healthier.

In addition to simply listening for the answers, employ the sway test
discussed in Chapter 6: Let the Universe Help You Get What You Want.

Use the “Quick Coherence” Technique

Coherence is a state in which four of your body’s systems are balanced:
hormones, cardiovascular system, nervous system and immune
system. When these systems are in balance, you’re able to consult
your intuition, but when you’re irritated or upset, your heart rhythm is
erratic, and these systems aren’t coherent. Emotional issues and stress
block your ability to access your intuition. The “Quick Coherence”
technique helps you relax your heart and access your intuition.

Here are the steps:

1. Focus your energy on the center of your chest (near your heart). If it
helps you focus there, place a hand on this area.

2. Breathe deeply, imagining your breath flowing through this area.

Find a rhythm that feels natural to you.

3. Think of a time when you felt good, and imagine that you’re
experiencing that again. It could be a specific experience or a
positive feeling you have toward loved ones or pets.

Once you’ve mastered the process, do it several times a day or any

time you need to recenter yourself. For example, if you find yourself
getting frustrated with waiting in line, follow the steps to calm yourself
down.

Three Tips to Make the Most of Your Intuition

To get the most out of your intuitive experiences, consider the
following tips:

Trust your intuition and yourself. Research shows that the

people who derive the most benefit from their intuition are
 those who learn to trust it and themselves by extension. The
more you trust yourself, the more successful you’ll be.

Record your insights and ideas. Insights gleaned from intuitive

experiences can be fleeting, so it’s a good idea to write them
down, create a voice memo, or record them by some other
means.

Act on your ideas as soon as possible. Assume that you’re

receiving ideas at the right time and act accordingly. Acting
immediately often leads to more intuitive impulses, which can
lead you toward success more quickly than if you work slowly on
them over time.

Following Her Intuition and Starting a Business: Madeline

Balletta’s Story

Madeline Balletta dedicated part of her time each day to prayer and
seeking God’s voice. When she experienced fatigue, she asked God
how to make herself feel better. The phrase that came to mind was
“fresh royal jelly.” Balletta hadn’t heard this phrase before. Upon further
research, she discovered it’s a substance worker bees feed the queen,
and she started taking it as a health supplement. Her fatigue dissipated,
and she began asking what she could do to share the goodness of the
product with others. Her answer that time was, “Start a business.”
Today, her business, Bee-Alive, is thriving.

Exercise: Make an Intuition Consultation Plan

Decide how to approach consulting with your intuition.

On a scale of one to 10, with one being “completely disconnected” and

10 being “completely connected,” how would you rate your connection
with your intuition? Why?

Of the three techniques Canfield presents for consulting your intuition

—meditation, asking questions, and quick coherence—which one most
appeals to you to try? Why?

Write a few sentences about what steps you’ll take to try this
technique. Include details such as whether you plan to do any
additional research before beginning, how often you’ll practice, and
where you’ll practice.

Part 6: Cultivate Successful Relationships |

Principle 48: Hone Your Listening Skills

In Part 6, you’ll explore the suite of skills required for successful

relationships:

Listening and asking questions to help people feel heard

Resolving conflicts through discussions

Asking questions to learn the truth

Following through on commitments

Acting with class

The Basics of Active Listening

Active listening is an important skill to facilitate effective
communication and ingratiate yourself with others. This section covers
the basics of active listening and how to do it.

Active listening requires more than merely listening to someone. It

includes:

Observing body language

Showing your attention with your own body language, such as

making eye contact, nodding, or facing the person

Considering the underlying message of what’s being said

Asking clarifying questions

The main way people fall short of these techniques is focusing on

speaking rather than listening. If you’re focused on talking in order to
show your intelligence or knowledge, you may fail to listen to what
people around you are saying. For example, this could happen if you’re
thinking about something that you’d like to say instead of listening, or if
you’re mentally arguing with what the person is saying instead of
thinking about why they’re saying it.

To develop your active listening skills, be curious and show your

interest in others by asking questions. The benefits of active listening
include:

Understanding people on a deeper level. Asking questions helps

you learn about people’s dreams and fears.

Building trust. Showing an interest in people’s lives and providing

the space to share it creates trust.

Gaining popularity. People tend to like those who take an

interest in them. Doing so will increase your popularity.

Reducing your stress. When you focus more on others’ interests,

you think about your own troubles less, which can reduce stress.

Improving Listening Skills: A Photographer’s Story

Canfield once met a photographer from New York City who did photo
shoots for a variety of clients. Frequently, clients were unhappy with the
results, and they would ask the photographer to redo the photoshoot.
The photographer’s impulse was usually to argue with the client about
why they didn’t like the photos. After losing several clients, he started
taking an active listening approach instead: When a client told him he
needed to do it over, he’d agree, and ask clarifying questions such as,
“I’m hearing you say that...Is that correct?” By considering clients’
feedback, he eventually produced work they liked.
Take Action: Ask Four Questions to Build Rapport
To start a relationship or strengthen an existing one, ask these four
questions:

1. In three years, what will you need to have done to feel happy?

2. What risks or dangers will you face in the process of achieving that?

3. What are the most promising opportunities at your disposal to

achieve it?

4. To seize those opportunities, what existing skills and strengths can

you use? What skills will you have to develop?

Try writing the questions down and carrying them with you so you can
use them. Consider using them with the following people:

Family or friends. This set of questions will help you learn about
the person and feel closer to them.

Potential business partners or contacts. If they’re not willing to

answer the questions, then they may not make great contacts—
they either don’t trust you enough to answer the questions, or
they may not excel at planning their future.

Yourself. Write your own answers to the questions, and talk

them over with someone. You might gain a clearer picture of
your priorities and goals.

Exercise: Focus On Your Priorities

Ask Canfield’s four questions to identify your priorities.

In three years, what will you need to have done to feel happy?

What risks or dangers will you face in the process of achieving that?

What are the most promising opportunities at your disposal to achieve

it?

To seize those opportunities, what one or two existing skills and

strengths can you draw on? What skills will you need to develop?
Principle 49: Host “Heart Talks”

We’re often better at telling people what to do than listening to what

they have to say. And many of our institutions, like businesses and
schools, are structured around talking with little listening. Yet people
need the ability to discuss and express themselves. Without this
opportunity, people may hold their discontent or issues inside,
fostering resentment or distrust. To remedy this, create space for
discussions, or “Heart Talks,” where people can share their concerns,
wishes, and dreams so they feel heard and can put forth their best
effort. In this section, you’ll learn how.

Heart Talks 101

Heart talks can be used with most kinds of groups, such as work teams,
sports teams, or civic groups, and in a variety of situations, including:

When there are conflicts between different groups or team

members

After a merger or other event

As part of a meeting, or before it

In response to an emotional event, like the death of an

employee

Heart Talks can be done regularly or as needed. For example, your team
might choose to do a talk at the beginning of every team meeting,
while others might do them only if there’s an emotionally challenging
situation at hand, like a conflict between two employees.

Follow these steps to host a heart talk:

1. If your group is larger than 10, break it into smaller groups. Having
groups smaller than 10 people lets everyone participate more often,
and you might finish the activity faster.

2. Have participants sit in a circle, and introduce the six guidelines for
the talk:

1. Speak using “I” statements. This focuses your comments on your

thoughts and opinions instead of attempting to speak for the group.

2. Agree to keep what you hear confidential.

3. Only the person holding the “heart” or other object of choice is

allowed to speak. The heart object can be anything other
participants can see, such as a stuffed animal or paperweight.

4. Refrain from judgment and criticism of what others say.

5. When you’re done speaking, pass the object to the left. Or, if you
don’t have anything to say, say “pass,” and pass it left.

6. Stay in the circle until everyone has said what they need to say, and
the leader says it’s complete.

3. Pass the heart object around the circle at least once so everyone has
a turn to speak. Go around as many times as necessary for everyone to
say what they need to say. End the conversation when the heart object
goes around twice with everyone saying “pass.” Though this is ideal, it
takes a lot of time. If you’re on a more limited schedule, you have two
options:

Agree on a set number of rounds.

Choose a time limit for the discussion. For example, set a time
limit of 30 minutes, and ensure the heart object makes it around
the circle at least once in that time.

Heart Talk Benefits

The benefits of hosting a heart talk include:

Creating better communication

Developing trust and cohesion

Improving listening skills

Resolving conflicts in a constructive way

Facilitating understanding and respect

Saving the Family Business: James’s Story

James ran a business with his wife. Later, the couple’s two
sons joined the business, and James hoped it would bring
his sons and their growing families prosperity once James
was gone. He hosted his sons and their families for dinner
once a week to build cohesion, but it wasn’t enough. The
sons were competitive, which resulted in withheld
resentment, snide comments, anger, and in one instance, a
physical fight.
 After the fight, James decided to host a heart talk. At their
usual family meal, he had everyone sit in a circle and
introduced the rules for the discussion. Then, they started
passing the heart object around the circle. At first, no one
wanted to participate, but family members soon got the
courage to speak and get to the heart of their misgivings.
When one of the wives shared that tension in the family had
left her at a breaking point, everyone in the family had tears
in their eyes. The conversation helped everyone feel heard
and their frustration dissipated. James credited the
conversation with salvaging the business, as well as his
family relationships.

Principles 50-51: Speak as if Words Have Power,

and Tell the Truth

Your words—spoken and unspoken—have a powerful effect on you and

those around you, yet we don’t often think about this power. To
become successful, be conscientious about how you use words.

Being honest and telling the truth can be difficult—you might worry
about being judged, feeling uncomfortable, or facing someone’s anger.
But telling the truth is an important part of being an authentic person.
Lying requires energy, and when you don’t do it, you can put that
energy toward becoming your best self instead. In this section, you’ll
learn about the power of words, the benefits of telling the truth, and a
process for telling the truth faster.
The Power of Words
The Law of Attraction holds that If we focus on negative ideas, we’re
directing energy into making those things happen. To make positive
change in the world instead, it’s important to speak positively to
ourselves and others. Use language that shows:

Love

Appreciation

Support

Possibilities for the future

Acceptance

Ideally, your words should align with your purpose and values. For
example, if you hope to inspire self-confidence in those around you,
speaking about yourself in a critical or negative way isn’t in line with
your values. If people see you treating yourself harshly, they may do the
same to themselves. Instead, adjust your language to align with your
values.

Similarly, how you talk about people can alter others’ perceptions of
you. For example, if you criticize one coworker in talking to another,
the coworker you’re talking to may wonder if you also criticize them
behind their back. If they can’t trust you to speak kindly of them, they
may not feel comfortable speaking freely or sharing themselves. Aim to
use positive language about people—even if they’re not present—to
nurture relationships.

Just as speaking in a negative way shapes your life, lying affects your
ability to be successful, too. Low self-esteem is at the root of lying:
People who lie aren’t confident of getting what they want based on
their own merits or they don’t feel people can handle knowing the
truth about them. In both cases, lying requires energy to keep track of
what you’ve said that you could be putting it toward more positive
pursuits.

You can tell that you’re using the right language when you feel
physically comfortable and happy. If you feel uneasy, examine whether
you need to change how you speak.

The Benefits of Telling the Truth

There are two main benefits to truth-telling:

You free yourself from harmful feelings. You may avoid telling
the truth because you think you’re sparing the feelings of those
around you. However, holding your feelings inside can end up
hurting you instead. For example, Canfield does a secrets-telling
activity in his advanced seminar, where people are invited to
share things about themselves that they think would make
others like them less. Not only do people feel relieved to have
shared their secrets, they feel increased respect and connection
with those around them because they realize others harbor this
same fear of having damaging secrets. They even experience
physical benefits, like the end of migraines and digestive issues,
which they attribute to speaking out.

You stop worrying about the judgments of others. You might

worry that sharing your feelings with others will make them
judge you—they might think something is wrong with you, or
 that your opinions are strange. Sharing your thoughts and
opinions rather than holding them inside allows you to get
affirmation or acknowledgment from your peers, interrupting
your worries about what they might think of you. More often,
people will respect you for your opinions, but you can’t know
that until you’ve shared.

The Truth-Telling Process

To tell the truth, follow these steps:

1. Learn to recognize when you have something to say. Some common

indicators are:

You feel resentful toward someone. Resentment often means

that you need something you’re not getting. When you find
yourself resenting someone, ask yourself what you need from
them. Then, talk to them as soon as you can.

You think you’re protecting their feelings by not telling them the
truth. Though this could be true, it’s also likely that you’re doing
this to protect yourself by avoiding upsetting the person. More
often, this hurts you as you hold it in and backfires later if you do
tell the person. For example, you may not have made enough
money to finance the family vacation this year, but you don’t
want to tell your spouse for fear of upsetting them. If you wait
until the planning stage to tell your spouse, they’ll likely feel
upset that you didn’t tell them the truth sooner.

You’re waiting for the best time to tell the truth. There isn’t a
perfect time to tell someone the truth. Instead of worrying about
 when to tell someone something, make a plan to talk with them
as soon as possible so you can move on.

2. Decide the purpose of your expression. Generally, there are two

purposes to truth-telling: Expressing yourself and/or solving a
problem.

3. Arrange enough time to have a conversation. For example, if you

need to talk to your boss about something that’s bothering you, don’t
try to catch them for five minutes at the end of a meeting if you need
30 minutes—schedule as much time as you need.

4. Prepare for the conversation. You may feel nervous during your
meeting, so plan your main points to ensure you say what you need to
say.

5. Ask the other person how they see the situation. You may worry that
the other person will feel a certain way upon hearing the facts, but you
can’t know for sure without asking them. This allows them to share
their point of view rather than leaving it to your imagination.

6. If you’re looking for a solution, ask what they’d like you to do to

resolve the situation. Write down what you’ll do to resolve it and what
they plan to do. For example, you might talk to your book club about
not getting enough time to discuss the book due to spending time
catching up about your lives. One solution might be to agree to limit
personal catch-up time to 10 minutes at the beginning of the hour
rather than letting it go unchecked.

Improving the Direction of Nike: Marilyn Tam’s Story

Marilyn Tam heard that Nike was dissatisfied with how their
 shoes and clothing were being displayed in sporting goods
stores. Nike planned to hire someone to help with the roll-
out of stores dedicated exclusively to its own products.
Before the interview, Tam visited a local sporting goods store
to look at how Nike’s products were being displayed. She
thought the footwear was top quality and priced well, but
noticed that the quality of the apparel was inconsistent:
Product sizes and quality varied widely and different pieces
weren’t color coordinated. At the time, Nike was going
through some growing pains: It had begun as a shoe
company and added clothing because of popular demand.
However, the company purchased the clothing from a
variety of retailers and put their logo on it rather than making
it themselves.

Two hours into her interview, Tam decided to tell the CEO,
Phil Knight, what she thought he needed to do to fix the
clothing problem despite the risk that it could upset him.
Her comments essentially ended the interview, but two
weeks later, Knight contacted Tam to tell her she was hired.
He had listened to her advice and wanted her to lead the
company in rolling out a new line of Nike-made apparel that
was consistent with the quality people associated with the
company.

Principle 52: Ask Questions to Learn the Truth

It’s common to make up “stories” about a situation or experience to

help us interpret it rather than asking questions to learn the truth.
Often, our stories are negative, and they affect how we choose to act. In
this section, you’ll learn to ask questions to determine what’s going on
rather than letting your negative stories affect your emotions and guide
your actions.

Avoid Assuming
When you spend too much time thinking about what others think
about you, it’s common to assume the worst. If you don’t check into it,
you can’t know how others feel, and you run the risk that you’ll start
acting based on how you think they feel rather than how they actually
feel. However, you may feel hesitant to check in with someone
because talking about feelings can be intimidating. Instead, push
through your insecurity, and check in with the person you’re
wondering about so you can learn the facts and act accordingly. You
may find out their behavior has nothing to do with you.

For example, during one of Canfield’s seminars, he could see a

participant whose body language indicated he wasn’t enjoying himself:
The participant had his arms crossed and a displeased expression.
Canfield approached him during the first break to check in. He
explained what he saw and asked if there was anything he could do to
improve the presentation. The participant replied that he was greatly
enjoying the presentation but was feeling under the weather, and it
was taking all of his energy to concentrate. Canfield felt proud of
himself for checking in with the man and not letting himself be
consumed for the whole presentation with whether the participant
was enjoying himself.

Checking in can also help set clear expectations for the future. For
example, instead of assuming your coworker knows when you expect
them to turn in their report, ask them directly for verbal confirmation
that they’re okay with the specific deadline you have in mind.

Ask Questions to Help You Succeed and Achieve

Your Goals
In addition to the benefits of avoiding assumptions, asking questions
can help you succeed in your career and achieve your goals in two
ways:

1. You learn what you need to know and establish guidelines in the
beginning. Companies that discuss expectations and how
challenges will be dealt with in the beginning of a project or
partnership will be more capable of tackling challenges that arise.
For example, if you start doing business with a new company,
creating guidelines on how you’ll resolve conflicts at the outset will
help you handle the conflict rather than facing the stress of both the
conflict and not having a procedure to resolve it.

2. You learn the rules and how to use them to your advantage. In
certain situations, you might think you should avoid asking
questions so you appear competent. But it’s better to ask them and
work confidently with the answers rather than operating without
clarity. For example, Tim Ferriss had experience in wrestling when
he decided to attempt to win the national kickboxing championship
with just six weeks to train. He investigated the rules to determine
how he might play to his strengths. He learned that in addition to
winning a round if you knock your opponent out, you can also win
by throwing them out of the ring twice in a round. He asked his
 coach to focus his training on learning to throw opponents out of
the ring, using his existing athletic strengths. By not assuming he had
to knock people out to win, Ferriss found a way to win a game he
had little experience with.

Take Action: Tips for Asking Good Questions

Here are a few ways to begin your questions:

“Do you mean…?”

“Are you feeling…?”

“Do you think…?”

“I’m wondering if…?”

Even with these kinds of questions, you may get “no” responses that
don’t inform you about what the person actually thinks of the situation.
Men may be vague about why they feel or think a certain way while
women may explain in greater detail. If you encounter a vague “no,”
keep asking different questions to get to the heart of the matter.

The “Do you mean…?” question can be especially useful in these

situations. For example, you ask your spouse if they’ll help you clean
the garage on Friday night, and they reply, “no.” At that point, you can
ask, “Do you mean that you never want to help me clean the garage or
you just don’t want to help me on Friday night, or something else?”
Phrasing questions in this way encourages people to clarify their
thoughts and feelings.

Principle 53: Show Your Appreciation

From personal relationships to the workplace, showing your
appreciation helps others feel affirmed and valued. Yet we may
hesitate to show appreciation or not show it in the way that the person
prefers to receive it. In this section, you’ll learn about five “love
languages” through which people like being appreciated, how to
discover someone’s love language, and how to apply this knowledge in
a professional and personal setting.

Employers Tend to Overlook Appreciation

Studies indicate that employees and employers value appreciation
differently. For example:

When asked to rank 10 factors that would motivate employees

to do their best work, employers ranked appreciation eighth. But
employees usually rank appreciation as their number one
motivator.

88 percent of people said their employers don’t acknowledge

their work, and 46 percent said they left a company because
their employers didn’t appreciate them enough.

The data suggest that employers need to appreciate employees more.

Learn the love languages to appreciate people in both your workplace
and personal life.

The Five “Love Languages”

People have a preferred “language” or way of receiving appreciation, as
well as a secondary way. If you show your appreciation using a love
language that doesn’t register with someone, it won’t have the same
impact as their preferred language.

Here are the five love languages:

1. Receiving gifts. If this is your love language, you feel appreciated

when given material things. For example, Canfield gave one of his
employees with this love language a bottle of melatonin when he
heard she was having trouble sleeping.

2. Benefiting from a service. People with this love language enjoy

having things done for them. Examples include offering to help
someone with a project or doing the dishes for your partner.

3. Touch. Receiving touch is how people with this love language feel
appreciated. At work, a handshake or hug could do the trick, while with
a romantic partner, it may be sexual intimacy or cuddling. Canfield has
given employees with this love language a gift card for a foot massage
to show his appreciation.

4. Kind and encouraging words. People who prefer this love language
need to hear kind words to feel appreciated and loved. It shows them
you believe in their work and abilities.

5. Quality time. People who prefer quality time need to feel as though
they’re spending uninterrupted time with someone to feel
appreciated. For example, Canfield’s wife prefers Canfield give her his
undivided attention when they spend time together rather than
looking at his phone or the television.

Tips for Discovering Someone’s Love Language

Here are three tips to discover someone’s love language:

1. Listen to what they ask of you. What people ask for can reveal the
ways in which they prefer to be loved or appreciated. For example, if
someone asks you for a hug, that might be an indication that their
love language is physical touch.

2. Watch how they behave with other people. People tend to speak in
their own love language, so observing how they treat others could
reveal how they want to be treated. For example, if someone is
quick to offer kind words or compliments to others, that could be a
sign it’s their preferred love language.

3. Note their complaints. What people complain about can reveal how
they feel underappreciated and how they’d prefer to be appreciated
instead. For example, if someone shares that they felt disappointed
when their spouse didn’t bring them a gift from a work trip, it may
indicate their love language is receiving gifts.

You can tell you’ve identified someone’s love language when they
respond favorably to what you did. But figuring it out can take time. For
example, someone’s love language might be receiving gifts but it might
be a very specific kind of gift, like a romantic card. Be persistent in
asking questions, and keep trying until you get it right.

(Shortform note: For more on identifying and learning to speak the love
languages of others, read our summary of The 5 Love Languages.)

Activity: Track Your Appreciation

Given the benefits of making others feel appreciated, Canfield suggests

tracking your acts of appreciation each day. Here are the steps:

1. Set a goal for how many people you’d like to appreciate each day.
Canfield once set a goal of 10.
2. Carry an index card with you. On the card, tally when you
appreciate someone.

3. At the end of the day, if you didn’t reach your goal, take some time
to appreciate a few more people. When Canfield worked on his
goal, he’d write emails to coworkers, share gratitude in-person with
family members, or write letters to his parents.

4. Do it long enough for it to become a habit. Ideally, you’ll reach a

point where you regularly express appreciation without needing any
reminders.

Exercise: Identify Your Love Language

Reflect on what makes you feel appreciated at work.

Do you feel appreciated at work? Why or why not? In your answer,

include an example of what people at your company are or aren’t doing
to appreciate you.

Based on your answer to the previous question, what do you think your
primary love language is? For example, if you felt appreciated, whatever
they did might be an example of your love language. If you don’t feel
appreciated, what you wish people were doing might indicate your
love language.
If you don’t feel appreciated at work, do you think it’s worth sharing that
with your employer? Why or why not?

Principle 54: Rethink Your Agreements

Making agreements and delivering on them is an important skill for

successful people. This section will discuss why following through with
your agreements is important and how to ensure you deliver.

Delivering on Agreements Is About Integrity

When you deliver on an agreement, you demonstrate that you have
the integrity to see commitments through to completion. Yet we
sometimes hit roadblocks and fail to deliver. There are three common
reasons for failure:

You’re pressed for time. You may agree to do something and not
 be able to deliver because you’re too busy or lose track of what
you agreed to do amid your other commitments or
responsibilities.

You don’t want to draw attention to yourself. Though you

could’ve negotiated an agreement that fit better with what
you’re capable of delivering, it’s easier to agree to the original
terms than to draw attention to yourself through adjustments.

You don’t like confrontation. It’s easier to agree to do something

than say you can’t do it and upset someone.

When you fail to follow through, you risk losing the trust and respect of
those around you. Subconsciously or consciously, you may start to
doubt your capabilities, which can erode your self-worth.

How to Follow Through on Your Commitments

Here are two tips to follow through on your commitments:

1. Only commit to things you can deliver on. By being selective about
your commitments, you ensure you don’t take on too many things
or things outside of your capabilities. To do this, give yourself time to
decide whether you’re going to do something, and be honest with
yourself about whether you can deliver in the time frame specified.
Canfield suggests writing “no” on each page of his calendar to
remind himself that it’s acceptable to say no if taking on something
new might deprive him of things he already enjoys.

2. Record your commitments. Use paper or digital calendars,

reminders, or other tools to keep track of your timeline so that you
don’t forget.
If you discover you’re not going to be able to keep your agreement, let
the other person know as soon as possible so you can negotiate a new
one. For example, if your car won’t start, immediately make
arrangements to reschedule the meeting.

Motivate Yourself to Fulfill Your Commitments: Martin Rutte’s

Story

Sometimes it’s helpful to create a significant consequence for not

meeting a commitment to motivate you to fulfill it. For example, Martin
Rutte wanted to learn to do a high dive, but he’d been reluctant to
practice because he was afraid. To move past his fear and achieve his
goal, he created a big incentive: If he didn’t learn how to do a high dive
by a certain date and time, he’d donate $1,000 to the Ku Klux Klan.
Because Rutte was Jewish, the incentive to avoid making the donation
motivated him to reach his goal.

Principle 55: Act With Class

Acting with class can help you distinguish yourself from others and
achieve success. In this section, you’ll learn what it means to be a class
act, tips for acting with class, and how doing so can help you succeed.

How to Act With Class

Acting with class means striving to improve in many areas of your life
for yourself and those around you. Improving yourself attracts people
into your life who can help you further. For example, acting with class
can help you attract business partners who hold themselves to high
standards like you do. Your chances of success are greater when your
values align.

Here are seven guidelines for acting with class:

1. Accept responsibility for your actions and results. As discussed in

Chapter 1, taking responsibility for your actions and their results means
taking ownership of your role and recognizing that you have the power
to act differently to elicit different results if you don’t like the ones
you’re getting.

2. Develop personal standards and follow them. People who act with
class establish standards for how they want to live, apart from the
standards society prescribes. For example, if it’s common in your
industry to take 72 hours to respond to an email, make it your standard
to respond in 48 hours.

3. Achieve your goals, and help others achieve theirs. Create goals, and
push yourself to achieve them. To achieve your goals, select
opportunities and structures that help you grow and gain confidence in
your abilities. In forging this path for yourself, you pave the way for
others to do the same. Once you’ve achieved your goals, create new
ones, and work to support others in achieving their goals.

4. Find meaning in everyday experiences. Develop the ability to enrich

yourself and those around you by seeking greater meaning in ordinary
experiences. For example, getting the groceries isn’t just something to
check off your to-do list for the day—after doing it, take a moment to
appreciate your accomplishment in taking care of yourself.

5. Maintain grace, even under difficult circumstances. There are two

main ways to do this:
 Stay calm. In the face of difficult circumstances, your calmness is
a comforting anchor for others.

Act with confidence. Showing confidence in your plan of action

helps you and those around you stay the course. For example, by
staying calm and expressing a confident vision, Winston
Churchill successfully helped the Allies defeat Nazi Germany in
World War II.

6. Express appreciation, and act with courtesy and generosity. You

might fall into the habit of being bothered by small matters or taking
out frustrations on others. Focusing on appreciating and treating others
well trains your brain to be more compassionate and to see the world
in a more positive light, making small difficulties feel easier to
overcome.

7. Treat everyone as a unique individual. Though humans share many

commonalities, each of us is a product of different genetics, life
experiences, and circumstances. Treating everyone as unique broadens
the definition of what it means to be human while supporting people
on their particular life journey.

Part 7: Cultivate Your Financial Success | Principle

56: Develop Positive Thinking Habits About Money

In Part 7, you’ll learn how to grow your wealth and give back to the
people, charities, and institutions you care about.

Let Go of Limiting Money Beliefs

Making enough money to enjoy the lifestyle you want can help you feel
successful. But it’s easy to let limiting beliefs about money and
unhelpful behavior get in the way. In this section, you’ll learn how to
change your thinking to better position yourself for financial success.

You likely developed your ideas about money during childhood.

Phrases you heard and experiences you had can color how you think
about money as an adult, causing you to hold back from taking steps
to attain your preferred level of wealth. Some common phrases you
may have heard include:

Nothing is free.

Money doesn’t grow on trees.

Money doesn’t buy happiness.

More money, more problems.

Rich people are evil, greedy, unethical, and so on.

When Canfield was a child, his father employed many of these phrases,
and told him that rich people were rich because they exploited poor
people. Canfield also watched his dad work hard for a month selling
Christmas trees only to break even. He concluded that you can work
hard and still not get ahead.

Take Action: Counteract Limiting Money Beliefs

Try the following activity to address your limiting beliefs about money:

1. Write down the belief.

2. Question the belief. One way to do this is writing an alternative list
of beliefs that make fun of the limiting belief or offer a new one. For
example, if your belief is that money is the root of all evil, your
alternative list might be, “money is the root of delicious brunches.” If
you feel inspired, write some of your alternative beliefs down on
index cards and read them along with your affirmations each day.

3. Rewrite the statement so that it’s the opposite of the original belief.
In the example about money being the root of evil, you might write,
“Money I receive is a product of my passion and efforts to help
others.”

Once you’ve started reforming your ideas about money, continue to

cultivate positive thinking about it with the following three techniques:

1. Use affirmations. Affirmations bombard your mind with positive

feelings about what you hope to achieve. (For a refresher on
affirmations, read Principles 4-6: Believe in Yourself and Your
Dreams.)

2. Visualize. Visualize yourself getting the money you want, and all of
the things you’ll do with it, like enjoying a fancy vacation. (For a
refresher on visualization, see Principles 7, 8, 11, 23: Set Goals).

3. Create an “Is” box. Similar to visualization, you can use an Is Box to

store your visions for the future. Create a label that says “What’s in
this box...IS!” or something to that effect. Clip images or make art of
what you’d like to achieve with the money you’ll earn. Regularly visit
the images in the box and imagine what it’ll be like to have what you
want and enjoy it. This will encourage you to make these things a
reality.

As you attempt to change your money mindset, you may find yourself
thinking contrary thoughts. When this happens, write down the
thought and the negative emotions it brings up for you. Then, work to
release the thought using tapping therapy (see Principle 29: Resolve
Past Hurts) or using Sedona Therapy.

Principle 57: Choose to Be Wealthy

In life, you get what you focus on, and the same is true for wealth. To
become wealthy, choose to become wealthy. This section offers tips on
how to begin that process and how to gain knowledge about wealth.

Who Is Wealthy?
We tend to think that rich people are famous, but this isn’t necessarily
the case. In 2014, the U.S. had about 9.6 million millionaires, the
majority of whom were ordinary people who used smart saving
strategies to grow their wealth. They make saving and investing money
a priority: They direct money toward their savings or investments first,
then live off whatever is left.

Understand Your Current Finances

Many people aren’t conscious of what they spend money on, how
much they’d need to save to retire comfortably, or even how to save for
retirement. Taking steps to understand your personal finances will
position you to grow wealthy in the way you choose. Here are the
steps:
1. Develop financial literacy. Learning about finances can help you
prepare for retirement, save for the things and experiences that are
important to you, and more. Canfield suggests reading at least one
book a month about finances to grow your understanding of the
subject. View Canfield’s recommendations here.

2. Calculate your net worth. Use the formula Net worth = Assets (the
value of things you own) - Liabilities (your debts). You can calculate
it yourself by tallying your assets and liabilities and using the
previous equation. Or, use digital tools to do so, or have a financial
planner do it.

3. Calculate what you need for retirement. Meeting with a financial

planner can help you calculate how much money to save for
retirement, as can digital tools and software. This is a baseline: Once
you decide what being wealthy means to you and how this changes
your expenses, you’ll likely need to adjust. (See the next section,
“Begin Your Journey Toward Wealth” to learn more).

4. Track your spending. Make a list of your fixed monthly expenses, like
housing, Internet service, and gym membership. Look at your
expenses from the previous six to 12 months and calculate your
average monthly variable expenses. Examples of variable expenses
include going to the movies, doctor visits, and your water bill. Finally,
for one month, write down everything you spend money on, no
matter how small, to gain awareness of your spending habits.

Begin Your Journey Toward Wealth

The choices you make today affect your ability to live the life you want
in the future. To get from where you are now to your desired level of
wealth, follow these three steps:

1. Decide what being wealthy means to you. What being wealthy

means varies for everyone. One person might want to become a
multimillionaire, while another may want to earn enough money to
take an annual two-week vacation. Brainstorm, and consider revisiting
Chapter 3: Identify What You Want.

2. Calculate how much you’d spend in one year. Make a table or list of
everything you’d spend money on when you’re wealthy. Include
expenses like housing, food, bills, vacation, and investments. Research
future costs, like a new car, or membership at a country club. Tally how
much you’d spend to determine how much you’d need to earn to
comfortably afford those costs.

Also, consider how much money you’ll need to earn to retire

comfortably and maintain the level of wealth you want. Consider how
your spending may change when you retire. For example, you may
spend less on clothes for work, but you may spend more on gas for
road trips.

One rule of thumb is that for every $1,000 per month you earn, you
need $230,000 invested when you retire. Example: If your taxable
income is $4,300 per month, have $1 million invested when you retire
to be able to withdraw 6 percent per month.

3. Create goals to help you achieve wealth. Examples of goal

statements include:

I will earn $75,000 annually by January 3, 2022 at 12 p.m.

To pay off my credit card debt, I will direct 15 percent of my take-

home pay toward that debt each month.
 I’ll invest $500 in my low-cost index fund every month.

Remember, the key is to make your goal as descriptive as possible in

terms of what you’ll be doing and when you’ll have accomplished it.
Revisit Principles 7, 8, 11, 23: Set Goals for a refresher.

Changing Course: Sheila and Mark Robbins’ Story

Sheila and Mark Robbins worked hard but didn’t think much about
how to grow their wealth. Mark managed a car dealership and Sheila
worked as a flight attendant, each contributing automatically to their
employer’s 401k plans. When they were in their mid-fifties, the stock
market plummeted and they witnessed half of their retirement savings
vanish overnight. They decided to research a safer way to invest their
life’s savings, taking courses and reading Rich Dad, Poor Dad by Robert
Kiyosaki. They determined that buying real estate would be a safer bet
and bought 15 houses worth a total of $2 million in the span of a year.
These houses also produced rental income. They also started two
additional businesses. Overall, making the effort to learn and take steps
to reshape their financial future put them on the road to the wealth
and financial security they sought.

(Shortform note: Read our summary of Rich Dad, Poor Dad by Robert
Kiyosaki.)

Principle 58: Save and Invest Your Money

Saving for retirement will help you reach financial independence—not

having to work for money. But many people don’t know how to
effectively save. This section discusses how to start saving money to be
able to retire comfortably.
The Power of Compound Interest
Many people balk at the idea of consistently saving money. They may
be deeply in debt or may not think saving is important. Though saving
money may not seem important, it’s necessary to ensure you have
enough money to retire comfortably. Plus, if you force yourself to save
a certain amount of money each month, it’s easy to see when you don’t
have enough left over to live on, which encourages you to earn more
money so that saving feels comfortable.

Even saving a small amount of money each month can go a long way
over the long term. Saving early and regularly not only helps you put
money away, it allows your money to earn interest that compounds
over time.

Here’s how compound interest works: If you invest $1,000 into a fund
or account that earns 10 percent in annual interest, you’ll earn $100 by
the end of the year for a total of $1,100. If you reinvest the $1,100, you’ll
accrue $110 in interest for a total of $1,210. If you keep reinvesting your
initial investment and the interest you earn each year, the amount of
money you have will double every seven years. The earlier you start
investing, the more time the money has to grow and earn interest.

Example: Mary and Tom each invest $150 per month into accounts that
earn 8 percent interest. But Mary starts when she’s 25 years old and
stops investing when she’s 35. In contrast, Tom starts when he’s 35 and
continues to retirement age. When they each turn 65, they’ll have
different amounts of money, as shown in the following table:

Amount
Age Age Amount Invested Money
Invested Annual
 (Starting (Stopping Per Interest Over at Age
investing) investing) Month Investing 65
Period

Mary 25 35 $150 8% $18,000 $283,385

Tom 35 65 $150 8% $54,000 $220,233

Even though Mary only invested money for eight years, she reaches age
65 with an additional $63,152 due to interest compounding over 40
years versus Tom’s 30 years.

Tips to Save
Here are five tips to save enough money:

1. Save at least 10 percent of your income per month. It may not seem
like much, but even just saving a small amount now helps you save
later.

2. Save more than you spend. This tip is also called the 50/50 law
because to save more than you spend, you effectively can’t spend
more than 50 percent of what you earn. This rule was developed by Sir
John Marks Templeton, a stockbroker. He and his wife decided to
invest 50 percent of what they earned in stocks and give 10 percent of
their income as tithes to their church, leaving them to live on just 40
percent of their income. He became a billionaire.

3. Invest automatically each month. The best way to ensure that you
save money each month is to set up automatic contributions to
retirement funds. Depending on your employment situation, there are
two ways to do this:
 Use your company’s retirement plan. If your company offers a
401k or other retirement plan, choose to have a portion of your
income directed there each month. That way, it’ll be
automatically set aside before you get your paycheck and you
won’t have to pay taxes on the money until you use it. If your
company matches what you put into your 401k, take advantage:
Make the largest contribution you can legally. Ideally, contribute
at least 10 percent; however, if that feels like too much,
contribute as much as you can.

Open your own IRA or Roth IRA. An IRA, or Individual Retirement

Account, is a great way to save money if your employer doesn’t
provide a 401k. Ask a financial advisor whether an IRA or Roth
IRA would be best for you. You can contribute $5,500 per year to
a traditional IRA, or $6,500 if you’re 50 or older. Set up an
automatic transfer from your bank account into this account so
that you don’t have to think about it.

4. Consult with a financial advisor. A financial advisor can tell you how
to best invest your money, or can do it for you. Ask friends if they have a
financial advisor they recommend, or look for someone who has
experience managing the finances of someone in the same stage of life
as you. Make sure they charge a flat fee rather than a variable rate
based on how much money you have.

5. Insure your assets. Protect your assets with insurance or legal

agreements. This could include a prenuptial agreement between you
and the person you’re planning to marry or liability insurance if you’re
self-employed.

Don’t Just Save; Invest: Oseola McCarty’s Story

 Oseola McCarty, a resident of Hattiesburg, Mississippi, had to
drop out of school in the sixth grade to care for her family.
She spent the next 75 years doing housework such as ironing
and washing clothes while saving as much of her earnings as
possible. By 1995, she had amassed $250,000 in savings and
chose to donate $150,000 to the University of Southern
Mississippi to be used for scholarships for students in need.
As generous as this was, McCarty could’ve grown her wealth
even more if she’d invested it in the stock market. In 1965,
she had an estimated $50,000 in savings. If she’d invested it
at that time in a fund earning an average of 10.5 percent
interest, she would’ve had approximately $999,628 by 1995.

Principle 59: Spend Consciously

It’s common to think that being successful means living a lavish

lifestyle and not having to think about what you spend money on.
Though living the lifestyle you want while investing and growing your
wealth is an admirable goal, it’s still important to learn how to
consciously spend money. Conscious spending means two things:

1. You spend only the money you have. You earn more than you
spend, and don’t take on debt to buy what you want.

2. You do what you want while spending little. You devise creative
ways to do things that don’t require spending a fortune.

On the whole, conscious spending will allow you to get what you need
without having to go into debt or spend much to get it. This section
covers four tips for developing a conscious-spending mindset.

Tip #1: Pay in Cash

To encourage yourself to spend only on what you need, pay in cash for
most things. Counting the amount of cash you spend on a given
purchase and seeing what you have leftover makes you more aware of
the money leaving your possession than when you use a card. You may
find that purchases you deemed essential feel less so. It’s also harder to
make large purchases because you can’t use credit and may have to
save up for them.

Tip #2: Pay Less Than Full Price

Another way to buy expensive things is to buy them for less. Here are
five ways to do it:

1. Buy used. You can often find barely used, second-hand items for a
fraction of their normal price. For example, Canfield knows a
woman who buys all of her designer clothes from a consignment
store.

2. Buy on sale. Many companies do seasonal sales, offering significant

discounts on their wares. For example, Canfield knows someone
who likes buying vintage Cadillac convertibles, but he makes sure to
buy them in the winter when they’re usually steeply discounted—
most people aren’t thinking about buying a convertible in cold
weather.
3. Ask for a discount. Though it may feel uncomfortable to ask for a
lower price, the worst the seller could do is say no. Since it could
save you money, it’s worth a try.

4. Do your research. Use the Internet or call different stores that offer
the same item to find the best price.

5. Trade. Instead of paying for something in cash, ask the seller if they’d
accept another good or service as payment. For example, in
exchange for your neighbor repairing your car, you could give them
a home-cooked meal instead of cash.

Tip #3: Carefully Consider Student Loans

U.S. residents have more student loan debt than credit card debt. This
is in part because it’s fairly easy to get an education loan. This may
allow universities to justify increasing tuition and fees because they
figure students and their families will have no problem paying. Instead
of resigning yourself to taking on massive debt to attend college, strive
to take on as little debt as possible using one or more of these
methods:

Seek scholarships. Scholarships are gifts and don’t have to be

paid back. To make yourself more competitive, consider doing
internships or becoming involved in affinity or industry groups
that offer scholarships.

Go to a community college for the first two years. Tuition at

community colleges is often cheaper than at other universities.

Live at home. Living at home can save you thousands of dollars

 on room and board. In general, always aim for the cheapest
living situation. For example, it’s possible living in the dorms may
be cheaper than living off-campus because you don’t have to
pay to furnish the place yourself.

Tip #4: Pay Off Your Debts

When you have debt, you have to pay a portion of your earnings toward
it each month instead of putting this money toward things you care
about in the present. To free up your money for things you want to buy
in the present, pay off your debts. Here are some tips:

1. Don’t borrow money. It’s hard enough to get out of debt, let alone if
you continue to take on additional debts. The solution is to spend only
the money you have—no credit cards, no payment plans.

For example, if you’re considering taking a $10,000 loan with 10

percent interest to purchase a car, and you have 60 months to pay it
off, you’ll end up paying an extra $3,346.67. If you can’t stomach the
idea of paying $13,346 instead of $10,000, consider buying a car for less
money, or decide whether you really need it.

Also, don’t take a home equity line of credit to pay off your credit card
debt. Though this allows you to bundle your debts and get a lower
interest rate, it means effectively starting your payments over from the
beginning—where you pay more toward interest than principal. If
you’ve been paying certain debts for a while, you may already be
paying more toward the principal than interest, making it worth it to
stay the course and pay it off.

2. Start with the smallest debt and work up. Even paying off a small
debt can give you the motivation to pay off more: You can now direct
the money you had to put toward that small loan toward your larger
debt instead. For example, once you pay off $5,000 in credit card debt,
you can put the money you were paying toward that toward your
$17,000 in student loans.

3. Pay off your debts early. If you don’t work to spend more than the
minimum payment on your mortgage or credit card, you can end up
paying thousands of dollars more over the life of the loan. To avoid this,
pay more than you owe each month. When buying a home, look for a
lender who offers bimonthly payments, meaning you pay half of your
monthly mortgage twice per month. These loans reamortize with each
payment, shaving seven years off of a 30-year mortgage. If you can’t
find a lender who offers this, pay a bit more toward your mortgage
each month, or make one extra mortgage payment per year. This works
for credit cards, too.

Take Action: Curb Your Spending

To assess your spending habits, try these two activities:

1. Inventory all the stuff you’ve bought but haven’t used in the past
year. Estimate how much money you spent on all of it. It could be
anything, from clothing to tools to games and toys. It’s one thing to
use the things you buy, but if you’re not using them, consider
whether you needed to buy them at all.

2. Assess your small expenses. Make a list of all of the things you
regularly spend money on and assess whether you could direct this
money toward something that suits you better. For example, if you
spend $0.50 a day for a newspaper subscription you never read, that
 adds up $182.50 per year. Consider whether that money could be
better spent on something that brings you more happiness, like a
plane ticket home for the holidays. If you cut down on small
expenses, you could save a lot of money in the long run.

Principle 60: Increase Your Income

To build your wealth, you can either spend less of your earnings, or earn
more. Earning more is better because it allows you to save money for
retirement while not having to forgo things you want to buy in the
present. This section offers suggestions for how to earn more.

Three Basic Steps to Earn More

Here are three steps to earn more money:

1. Determine how much you want to earn.

2. Brainstorm what you can do to get it. The three main things you can
do are provide a service, make a product, or add some kind of
additional value to your company.

3. Develop and deliver it. Once you’ve decided what you’ll do, make a
plan and follow it.

Optional: Consider developing additional streams of income. This

could allow you to earn more money on top of full-time work. Plus, if
demand for one of your income streams fluctuates, you have your
other income streams to fall back on. Aim for sources of income that
don’t require a large initial investment of time or money. That said,
don’t be shy about developing the skills you need to reach your goals
and build new income streams. This includes taking online courses or
going back to school.

Five Strategies to Earn More

There are four strategies to earn more money. You can choose some or
all depending on what suits you.

Strategy #1: Help Your Company Make More Money

To increase your income within your current company, find a way to

increase your company’s revenue in exchange for a cut. Companies are
increasingly open to employees doing this. Here are three ways to
increase your company’s revenue:

Offer work that your team is especially good at to other

departments in exchange for additional pay.

Identify a customer who isn’t buying extra goods or services

from your company, and spend time convincing them to buy, or
buy more.

Find an underappreciated asset or service your company offers

that you could maximize in some way for extra cash.

Even if you work in your off-hours to make this happen, having the
extra cash could make it worthwhile.

Strategy #2: Start a Network Marketing Business

Network marketing jobs are another way to make extra cash selling
specific goods. You become a representative of the company and work
to grow the network of people buying your product. Products include
toys, cosmetics, and vitamins. It can be very lucrative: Approximately
20 percent of all new millionaires in the U.S. achieved their success
through network marketing.

Visit the Direct Marketing Association’s website (www.dsa.org) to

browse companies. Because some direct marketing companies don’t
last, find one that has been around a while and is widely liked. Try the
products to make sure you like them, as it will be difficult to convince
people to buy them if you don’t like them.

Strategy #3: Solve Problems or Fill Needs

One of the best ways to create a new income stream is to think of a

problem you’d like to solve, and devise a product or a service you can
provide to address it. Ask yourself:

What is something you or others need or want?

Is there something you need to get rid of or address in some

way?

Are there any activities you’d find more enjoyable with some
kind of new good or service?

Example 1: Ira and Linda Distenfield decided they wanted a career

change. They asked themselves what need they could fill in their
community. One thing they identified was reasonably priced legal
services and paperwork: Often, law offices charge hundreds of dollars
for paperwork or services that take them only minutes to do. Getting a
divorce can cost between $2,000-$5,000 while bankruptcies cost
around $1,500. The Distenfields decided to start a business that offered
legal paperwork and some services for less than $399. They called their
business We the People and have now served 500,000 customers
across 30 states.

Example 2: While surfing, Nicholas Woodman realized that athletes

were interested in a low-priced camera that could attach to their
bodies during sporting adventures. He decided to finance the
company by buying shell necklaces for $1.90 in Bali and selling them
for $60 in the states. With some additional help from his parents, he
founded GoPro and made his camera a reality. When Woodman was
38 years old, a Taiwanese company bought 8.88 percent of the shares
for $200 million, which lifted the total market value of the company to
$2.25 billion. Woodman, who owned the majority of the shares,
became a billionaire.

Strategy #4: Start a Web-Based Business

These days, it’s easy to sell products or services online from the
comfort of your own home. Here are a few ways to do it:

Sell goods on Craigslist. Craigslist offers a completely free

advertising platform, allowing you to hawk your wares without
paying a membership fee.

Create an online shop through sites like Etsy and Yahoo Stores.
These sites let you set up your own online storefront which
allows you to virtually display any products you make or acquire,
such as antiques or clothing. When a customer visits the site and
searches for a certain type of product, the results they see could
include products from your shop that match their search.

Create your own website and subscribe to a shopping cart

service. If you want to sell goods or services through a personal
website, create a website and subscribe to a shopping cart
service, which allows you to accept credit cards and other forms
 of payment. This method can work well for selling knowledge
products—digital learning materials such as online courses or
audiobooks made by you.

Sell someone else’s product. Find a product you like and sell it in
exchange for a portion of the proceeds.

Example: Shane Lewis wanted to support his wife and two children
while he attended medical school. He decided to find a product he
could sell to make some extra money and set up an online storefront
through www.StoresOnline.com. He found a rapid urine testing
product that he could market to people who wanted rapid drug
testing. It took a few months for orders to start coming in, but he was
soon exceeding his goals for sales per month. Lewis began selling two
other products and now earns enough so that his wife doesn’t have to
work and he can afford medical school without having to depend on
student loans.

Strategy #5: Be an Occasional Entrepreneur

You don’t have to make a full-time or even part-time job out of your
side hustle. Becoming an occasional entrepreneur allows you to make
products or sell services only when you need extra cash. Here are
some methods that Janet Switzer, author of the book, Instant Income,
recommends:

Sell specialty goods. This could include crafts that you’re adept
at making, such as fishing flies or jewelry.

Offer consulting services. This works for any kind of expertise

you may have. To find potential customers, identify who would
need your services and develop advertisements that target the
websites, publications, and other media people in that group
 consume. You can also find people or companies that offer
similar services and negotiate a referral.

Provide any other kind of service. Almost anything you enjoy

doing could be something another person would prefer to hire
you to do so they don't have to. For example, you could plan
parties, mow lawns, haul garbage with your truck, or redesign
people’s living spaces.

Exercise: Plan How to Earn More

Evaluate how you might supplement your current income.

Which one to two strategies appeal to you most to increase your

income? Why?

What additional information would you need to consider pursuing

each of these strategies?

Focus on the strategy that appeals to you most. What kind of

adjustments would you need to make to your schedule, lifestyle, and
so on to implement this strategy? For example, if you decide to
become an occasional entrepreneur selling handmade pottery, but
you’re still working full-time, you may need to dedicate some evening
or weekend hours to this work.

Principle 61: Donate Your Money and Time

Though growing your wealth is a worthy goal, so is sharing your wealth
to help make the world a better place. This section explains the
benefits of sharing your wealth through tithing.

Tithing 101
Tithing means giving your wealth to spiritual institutions or
philanthropic organizations that you care about. Corporations can
donate a portion of their proceeds to worthy causes. For example, the
CEO of Medtronic pledged to give 2 percent of the company’s profits
to charity. As a company has grown, they’ve gone from donating $1.5
million in the first year to $17 million in more recent years.

For individuals, there are two types of tithing:

1. Give money. God created a world where the success of an individual

contributes to the success of others around them. When you share
your wealth and care for others, you bring additional prosperity for
yourself. To celebrate this reality, a common practice is to give 10
percent of your income to the church, mosque, or synagogue you
attend or derive spiritual guidance from. You can also dedicate a
portion of your income to donating to charitable organizations you
care about.

Example: Canfield and his co-authors for the Chicken Soup for the
Soul series decided that they wanted to donate a portion of the
proceeds from their books to organizations that addressed pressing
issues in the world such as homelessness, teen suicide, and the
environment. Over the years, Canfield and his co-authors have
donated millions to worthy organizations. They also donate part of their
personal incomes to their respective churches and chose to recruit
additional co-authors for their books. Though this meant that they’d
earn less money per book, it gave them the ability to produce over 200
books, which they couldn’t have accomplished with just two co-
authors. They’re convinced that sharing wealth in these ways brought
them maximum prosperity compared to holding onto it.

2. Volunteer. Many charities do work that benefits the community. But

many of them rely on volunteer help rather than maintaining a
dedicated staff. Volunteering your time to these organizations is a way
to share the wealth you have with the community to help make it
better.

Tithing and Abundance

It may seem counterintuitive that giving away money would bring you
more prosperity while buying things for yourself wouldn’t. Yet this is
what many dedicated tithers report. One reason could be that tithers
consciously choose to grow and share their wealth while steering clear
of greed. Instead of feeling a sense of scarcity that makes them want to
hold onto their money, they feel a sense of abundance: They have
enough wealth to meet their needs and share it with others.

This sense of abundance is good for the environment. When you feel
you have enough, you aren’t interested in overconsuming material
goods, which depletes the environment of its limited resources.
Instead, you share the money that would’ve been spent on goods with
the world to make it a better place.

Financing College by Avoiding First Class: Tom’s

Story
Tom, a neighbor of Canfield’s, is part of the Director’s Guild of America
and helps produce films around the world. Tom’s contract specified
that he’d be flown first class anywhere he went. On a shoot in New
Zealand, he wanted to fly his sons there and asked what the cost of a
coach class ticket was. It was $1,800—Tom’s first class ticket had cost
$7,700. Tom hadn’t known just how expensive it was to fly first class. He
wondered if his company would be willing to book his tickets in coach
class and give him the difference to use for things like motorcycles or
vacations. But he also thought of people who couldn’t afford to attend
college and decided to use the difference in cost to pay students’
tuition.

The first year, Tom was able to pay one student’s tuition for a whole
year and now gives to conservation efforts. As Tom told more
colleagues about his decision, they started following suit, too. His
decision illustrates how getting enough and sharing the rest can make
the world a better place.

Principle 62: Serve Others

Just as sharing your wealth brings you prosperity, serving others

enriches your life while making the world a better place. This section
discusses how to start doing it, and the success stories of those who
have started on this path.

Questions to Get Started

To serve others, ask yourself the following questions to determine
which opportunities align with your interests:

1. Which organization’s work do you admire? You may already know of

an organization whose work you’d like to help bolster in some way.
Explore what needs they have for your skills or expertise.

2. Which causes, issues, or people are important to you? Examples

include childhood literacy, veterans, or the environment.

Ways to Serve
Here are some common ways to serve others:

1. Volunteer. Volunteering is one of the best ways to serve others. Many

organizations rely on volunteers with business expertise for accounting,
fundraising, and recruiting volunteers. They also need board members
knowledgeable about business.

The benefits of volunteering include:

Expanding your personal and professional network. When you

volunteer, you meet many people who may become friends or
be able to connect you with jobs and other professional
opportunities. Plus, studies show that people who volunteer
when they’re young land higher-paying jobs later in life. This
could be because some companies value hiring employees with
volunteer experience on their resumes.

Developing new skills. Volunteering can be a great way to hone a

new skill. Some companies recognize this and have built
volunteering into their employee evaluations. For example,
SAFECO has a program that connects employees with volunteer
opportunities that will help employees develop useful new
skills.

Improved health. Studies of volunteers show that volunteers

tend to get sick less often, have greater self-esteem, and recover
from heart attacks faster compared to people who don’t
volunteer.

2. Focus your company’s products or services on helping others. Sir

John Marks Templeton, the billionaire who didn’t spend more than he
saved, looked at the success of businesses over time. He found that
businesses that focus on improving people’s lives by improving their
services or products are the most successful. To determine whether
your company does this, ask whether the service or product you
provide will be beneficial or useful to the public over time.
Service Brings Joy: Kenneth Behring’s Story
Growing up in an economically depressed part of Wisconsin, Kenneth
Behring earned money through jobs like caddying and working retail.
After high school, he sold used cars and became a millionaire by age 27.
His wealth continued to grow when he started a new career as a real
estate developer. He now regularly makes the Forbes 400 and Fortune
500 lists for wealthiest people in the U.S.; his net worth is about $495
million.

Behring’s interest in serving others began later in life. First, he went

through several stages of trying to find happiness in things. When one
stage didn’t bring him happiness, he moved onto the next one. Here
are Behring’s stages:

1. Accumulation. In this stage, Behring sought happiness by buying

basic things he didn’t have, like a house, and making sure his
business was developing appropriately.

2. Luxury accumulation. Behring decided to start accumulating luxury

items, such as large houses and fancy vacations, thinking he hadn’t
found happiness because he’d only focused on meeting basic
needs.

3. Luxury accumulation, but different. Behring started to wonder if he

didn’t have the right luxury things and experiences. He started
buying expensive classic cars, growing his collection to over 100
cars, and he bought the NFL’s Seahawks team with a friend. Despite
this, he still wasn’t happy.

Behring’s life changed when he agreed to deliver a small order of

wheelchairs to Romania for a friend, using his private plane on his way
home from a trip to Africa. During the visit, he helped lift a man who
had lost his wife and survived a stroke into a wheelchair. The man was
so moved, he began to cry, and Behring experienced deeper levels of
joy than he ever had before. He started the Wheelchair Foundation to
give wheelchairs to people with disabilities.

Part 8: Make the Most of Technology | Principle 63:

Learn What Technology You Need, and Use It

When Canfield first published this book in 2005, the world had yet to
undergo some of the major shifts in technology that we enjoy today.
Canfield added this last part on technology to teach readers how to
take advantage of today’s digital tools and resources.

In this section, Canfield shares tips to embrace digital tools that make
life easier while being selective and strategic enough to prevent feeling
overwhelmed.

Limit Information Exposure

The digital age has produced myriad resources for accessing
information and learning new skills. For example, if you want to learn
how to make sourdough bread, there are plenty of YouTube tutorials to
guide you. However, there is so much information that it can be
overwhelming. Consider taking steps to limit the information you
consume and the technology you use.

Canfield recommends putting yourself on a “Low-Information Diet” as

recommended by Tim Ferriss, author of The 4-Hour Work Week. Ferriss
says exposure to too much information is harmful because:

There’s so much information to consume, it requires a large

portion of your time.

The information is often negative, and many issues are beyond

your ability to change.

Most information has no bearing on helping you achieve your

goals.

Due to these negative factors, choosing to limit time with media can
positively affect your well-being, freeing your time to focus on things
you care about. Instead of consuming all information you encounter,
try these tips:

Ask yourself if the information you’re about to consume is

something important that you’ll use right after you consume it.
If you answer no, then don’t.

Exercise discipline on the web. It’s easy to let ourselves drift

from website to website, article to article, via links and
hyperlinks. Exercising discipline means stopping yourself from
mindlessly drifting through the web.

Limit yourself to information that helps you toward your goals

or other purpose.

Try a one-week information diet. This means avoiding all news

media, like magazines, newspapers, websites, and more. Reading
books is allowed, but only fiction; you can watch TV, but only
shows unrelated to news.

Try out a new habit for 30 days to limit your media

 consumption. For example, try going 30 days without looking at
Instagram.

Use Technology Wisely

As discussed in Principle 31: Embrace Change, it’s important to be
open to trying new technologies that can make your life easier and
allow for more fulfilling uses of your time. But you don’t need to adopt
everything. Follow these 10 tips to maximize your relationship with
technology.

Tip #1: Generate a Brilliant Idea, and Find the Technology to

Support It

You might think you need the best technology available to achieve the
most success. But if you have excellent technology and a bad idea,
you’re not going to succeed. Focus on your ideas first and technology
second. For example, Łukasz Jakóbiak, a resident of Poland, wanted to
create a television show, but he didn’t have the resources to buy
equipment or rent a studio. Instead, he decided to film the show in his
tiny 20-square-meter (215-square-foot) apartment. He records video
with two iPhones and shares it online. Using inexpensive resources
allowed Jakóbiak to succeed.

Tip #2: Identify the Resources You Need to Learn a New

Technology

To learn a new technology, search for resources to help you. Given all
the information we have access to, there are few excuses for not
learning how to use a new technology that you’d find useful. Having
access to these resources allows you to learn quickly and move on to
learn additional skills.

Tip #3: Bookmark Frequently Visited Sites

Even though most Internet browsers automatically complete the rest

of the web address once you start typing, typing in addresses for sites
you frequently visit still wastes time. Instead, use a bookmarks tool to
get to your most important sites quickly.

Tip #4: Use a Passwords Manager—and Log Out Every Time

We have so many accounts on so many websites that it’s tempting to

create a simple password to use on multiple sites. Or you might create
lots of different passwords and list them in a document. Both of these
methods leave you vulnerable to hackers who can use programs to
guess less secure passwords or could gain access to your password list.
Instead, use a password manager service to generate and secure
passwords for all of your accounts and profiles. They’ll also remember
your usernames. Because this service streamlines logging on, log out of
your accounts when you’re done using them—this prevents your
usernames and passcodes from being stolen.

Tip #5: Recognize That the Digital Age Offers No Guarantee of

Privacy

There are many ways the information you share online can be
accessed or spread. For example, people can take screenshots of
photos and share them in other locations apart from where you posted
them. Hackers can intercept email and read it while it’s being sent.
Canfield recommends assuming that anyone could see your online
activity and keeping this in mind as a guide for what you decide to do
and share online.

Tip #6: Use the Cloud or Other Services to Backup Your Devices
Cloud storage allows you to store information and files on a server
rather than on your devices. It was first developed for storing files that
take up a lot of memory, like movies, but now it’s available to store
anything, and can act as a back-up in case your devices are damaged
or stolen.

There are two ways to use cloud storage:

1. Store everything in the cloud through a service like Dropbox.

2. Save files regularly to a back-up hard drive, and periodically back

them up to the cloud.

Though these services are generally reliable and private, there are no
guarantees. If you have files that must remain private, consider storing
them only on your devices. However, you run the risk of losing them if
the device is stolen.

Tip # 7: Limit Yourself to Specific Activities on Each of Your

Devices

Most devices allow you to do multiple activities, such as browsing the

Internet, sending email, and taking photos. But because we have so
many devices available, we often let ourselves do whatever task we
feel like on whichever of our devices is nearby without being strategic
about which device we’re using or limiting our use. Plus, having a
device on hand at all times has created the expectation that you’ll
respond instantly to any kind of communication, from texts to emails.

Canfield offers one main suggestion to more effectively use your

devices: Assign specific purposes for each device, and stick to it.
Canfield recommends the following uses:

Smartphones: calls, texting, taking photos, and using apps like

 Instagram. Phones are designed primarily for communication
with others, so limit their use to communication purposes rather
than consuming information.

Tablets: Browsing. Tablets are optimized for consuming

information rather than typing or taking photos, so stick to a
tablet when you just want to explore online.

Computers: Work-related tasks, such as email, writing a blog

post, or making a spreadsheet. Computers are optimized for
many things, but work-related tasks are where they shine.
Browsing social media or using your computer to text during
work can distract you from doing your daily tasks.

Tip #8: Limit Your Time Managing Email

Managing email is one of the most time-consuming activities for any

professional. It’s common to spend three to four hours per day dealing
with email. To reduce your time spent on email, try these tips:

Cut down on nonessential email. This could include work emails

that are more social than professional or general newsletters
that aren’t useful to you anymore. Though you might worry you’d
hurt your colleague’s feelings by asking to unsubscribe, reducing
the volume of email you get could free your time for other work.
Canfield estimates that reducing your email volume by half
would free 90 minutes of your day for doing other tasks. In a
year, this would amount to 375 hours, or a little over nine 40-
hour work weeks.

Hire an assistant. Hiring an assistant to go through your email

each day and flag the ones you must respond to can significantly
cut down the amount of email you handle. Canfield’s assistant
 flags the most important five emails for him to respond to each
day.

Tip #9: Periodically Review Charges for Technology Services

With so many subscription-based services automatically charging you

each month, it’s easy to lose track of what you’re being charged, leading
you to pay high costs for services you seldom use. If you’re a business
owner, you could be especially vulnerable to paying for services you
don’t use. Periodically go through expenses to identify any services
you’re not using that you can cancel.

Example: A friend of Canfield’s who runs an advertising company

discovered they were being charged about $1,500 per month—
$18,000 per year—for services they no longer used. Canceling the
services allowed them to put that money toward better uses.

Tip #10: Make a List of Technology Annoyances and Address

Them

In Principle 28: Finish Your Projects and Declutter Your Life, Canfield
suggests listing things that annoy you and projects that you have yet to
finish. Similarly, create a new list for technology annoyances or projects
you have yet to finish. Then, systematically address each of them so
they’re no longer barriers to your success. Canfield offers a series of tips
and activities to work through your list on his website.

Principles 64-65: Develop Your Online Brand

Successful people are hyperaware of how their online presence, or
brand, affects their entrepreneurial or philanthropic endeavors. They
actively cultivate a brand that frames them as an authority worth
listening to. In this section, you’ll learn four steps to cultivate a brand
that’ll help your business succeed.

Step 1: Develop Your Online Footprint

To create your brand, it’s important to know what you want to do.
Whether it’s starting a new business or leading volunteers in cleaning
up a local beach, make a plan to get people to engage with you or align
with your cause. You may also want to make yourself attractive to
prospective employers. Do this by creating content that positions you
or your company as credible, forward-thinking, and authoritative.

For example, if you aspire to become a C-level executive someday,

creating an online presence or offering content that shows you’re
forward-thinking and competent will make potential employers more
confident in your abilities. Some executives also hire media relations
personnel, write books, or accept speaking invitations to grow their
presence in their field. People with a significant presence in their field
are often perceived as bringing value to their employer.

Canfield offers three tips to create and share content online.

Tip #1: Create a Website and Blog

A personal website and blog allow you to showcase your work,

accomplishments, perspectives, and solutions. As you share stories
and respond to comments, you can build confidence while growing
your presence on the Internet. Google’s algorithm favors blogs, so
having one is a way to drive traffic to your website.

Here are the steps to create your blog and website:

1. Choose a platform. There are ample online platforms that make it
easy to build a website and blog. Canfield recommends WordPress
for blogs and websites.

2. Build it yourself, or hire someone to do it. Consider including

different pages, such as one that describes you and your work, one
where people can purchase your products, and one to showcase
work. If you’re uncertain about building a website or blog, hire
someone to do it through a freelance site like Fiverr.

3. Consider creating a phrase, buzzword, or brand name that people

can associate with you and your work. Offering people a catchy
phrase can help them search for and find your work online. For
example, Canfield’s phrase for his book series was Chicken Soup for
the Soul.

Tip #2: Identify Your Audience

After creating your blog or website, identify the people you want to
reach by asking:

Who are the people that are most interested in my insight,

knowledge, and expertise?

How are we related? It’s possible you work in or study the same
field. Or they may be people you share interests or hobbies with.

Tip #3: Create Social Media Profiles

Social media profiles are a helpful way to share content that grows your
online brand. They accomplish this in two ways:

You share bite-sized pieces of information to engage readers

and encourage them to read your blog or website where they
 purchase or access your services.

You can network and connect with other professionals and

people in or outside of your field.

LinkedIn and Facebook are the top two social media sites. LinkedIn is
designed specifically as a professional network, whereas Facebook’s
users include people who use it for personal use, business, or both.
You’ll learn more about how to use these platforms later in this section.

Step 2: Create Content and Behave in a Way That

Aligns With Your Brand
Once you’ve created your online footprint, create content and act in a
way that aligns with your brand. Your online behavior affects how
people perceive you and your work. When your behavior is trustworthy,
people perceive you as someone worth listening to. But many people
aren’t careful about how they act online—they may post comments,
photos, or other information that paints an image out of alignment with
their entrepreneurial or philanthropic efforts.

Follow these five tips to align your behavior with your brand:

1. Participate more, and aim to develop more meaningful

relationships. When you sign up for an online profile, you have a new
way to interact with people online. But it’s easy to browse
conversations without interacting. To further your brand, be an active
member of the online communities you’re part of. This could include
commenting, answering people’s questions, and showing an interest in
others.
Being active in online communities is a great way to form a team that
supports you, as discussed in Part 4: Nurture Your Best Self. For
example, you could learn about the work of potential mentors and
strike up a conversation with them through an online forum, growing
your personal support network.

2. Explain your motivation and share your passion. Telling people

about your product or goal won’t necessarily draw in others to your
mission—tell people why you do what you do. Sharing your passion
and enthusiasm is one way to express this. For example, you may be
able to gather a following by telling people you’re raising money to
engineer an improved bicycle helmet. But if you share a personal story
about your sister suffering a bike accident and severe brain injury, even
though she was wearing a helmet, you help people understand why
you’re motivated and passionate about engineering a better bicycle
helmet, which can draw more people to support you.

3. Help others learn. At a basic level, a brand is a demonstration of what

you’re good at. To show you’re good at something, strive to inform
people, teach them something, or offer advice. It means showing more
interest in people and their needs than sharing your message (though
these often go hand-in-hand). Do this in most online interactions, such
as comments, blog posts, or a post on social media.

For example, if you’re a personal coach, offer advice through your blog
that demonstrates the service you provide.

4. Project positivity and share your success. There are many sarcastic or
negative people online. Choose the path of positivity instead to stand
out from the crowd. This means treating others with respect, kindness,
and love and having an optimistic outlook about the world.

Also, share stories about how you became successful. Stories help
people see you in a fuller light and show them how to chart their own
path to success.

5. Give a TED Talk. Canfield recommends visualizing yourself giving a

TED talk someday as a motivation to build your brand. TED talks are
generally given by leaders in their field at TED conferences around the
world; each talk runs for 18 minutes. Though videos of this length don’t
tend to go viral like shorter clips, TED videos often do. The CEO and
curator, Chris Anderson, thinks the following five techniques allow
speakers to engage deeply with viewers:

Using clear language, humor, and minimal jargon

Sparking curiosity about the subject matter in the viewer

Creating an emotional connection with viewers

Focusing on substance rather than performance

Avoiding manipulation of the viewer

Step 3: Use Social Media Effectively

Social media is a powerful tool to connect with colleagues, followers,
and customers. As you create social media posts, you encourage
people to engage with you and your brand, and share what they see
with their friends and colleagues. LinkedIn and Facebook are two of the
most popular social media platforms.

LinkedIn: Virtual Professional Networking

LinkedIn is best used to professionally connect with colleagues.

Canfield offers four steps to begin with LinkedIn:
1. Create your profile. Only include information that’s relevant to your
current business endeavor. For example, it’s not relevant to share
your experience becoming a certified yoga instructor 20 years ago if
it’s drastically different from your current business.

2. Expand your contacts. LinkedIn offers a feature in which it searches

your contacts to connect you with those who already have profiles
on the website. Connect with contacts in a variety of fields and
businesses.

3. Ask for endorsements. LinkedIn will prompt users to endorse their

connections’ skills, such as public speaking, research, or using a
certain computer programming language. These endorsements will
then appear on your profile. Reach out to some of your connections
to get four to five endorsements to start.

4. Participate in groups and publish articles. Joining interest groups of

people in your industry provides a chance to discuss topics and
showcase your skills and knowledge. Posting articles does the same.

Facebook: Connect With Followers and Customers

Facebook is the largest social media site today, with 900 million users,
so it’s the most valuable for you to learn. Canfield describes two tips for
maximizing your success on Facebook.

Tip #1: Structure Your Posts to Attract and Retain Followers

Try the following ideas to create compelling posts that engage people
and build a large base of followers:

1. Use Facebook’s tools to share posts with specific users. Facebook’s

features let you select the characteristics of the people you want
your post to reach, such as age and relationship status. This can be
 used to target people you’d like to have as followers or a specific
subset of people who already follow you.

2. Write posts that link to your website. Social media allows you to
share ideas, while linking to your website where people can get
more information. For example, you can link to your website to
encourage people to sign up for your email list.

3. Only post content that furthers your brand. For example, Canfield
has a friend who is an award-winning flower arranger, but she
doesn’t post about it on her professional social media profiles
because she’s an executive whose business has nothing to do with
flower arranging—it’s just a hobby.

4. Use photos and video. Using photos and video helps create an
emotional connection. Your tone of voice in videos helps viewers
relate to your enthusiasm and passion. The most effective images
show people using your product or following your advice. Some text
is fine, but Canfield recommends limiting it to 100-250 words.

5. Offer exclusive news, information, products, discounts, events, and

so on. Tell people to “Like” your page for this level of access. In
addition, provide exclusive offers for people who already “Like” your
page. This rewards people for their continued interest in your brand
and can drive sales. For example, do a 10-day product giveaway to
reward followers and generate interest and sales.

6. Create posts that engage people in conversation. Posting a quote, a

video of yourself, or asking people to share their ideas and feedback
results in high engagement compared to posting an article link.

Tip #2: Develop a Posting Plan

Once you’ve decided what kind of content you’ll post, use these two
tips to make a plan for when you’ll post:

1. Create a posting calendar. Develop a schedule for when you’ll post

content and what you’ll talk about. Experiment with a schedule that
works best for your schedule and for tapping the interest of your
followers. You can also write posts connected with holidays, current
events, or other things relevant to your followers.

2. Create and schedule posts ahead of time. Facebook has a feature

that allows you to create posts in advance and schedule them for
posting later. Canfield suggests creating a few posts at once and
scheduling them for publication when your followers are online.
Look at the insights page to find out when that is. (You can also use
the insights page to see how your posts performed and adjust
accordingly.)

Step 4: Clean Up Your Online Persona

Given the ease with which personal information ends up online, it’s
possible that some negative information about you will circulate. For
example, sometimes photos end up online that show questionable or
unprofessional behavior. Or you may have experienced a falling out
with a business partner that leaves a digital trail. Services that specialize
in cleaning up and managing people’s online reputations can help you
cultivate the image you want, but Canfield offers steps you can take on
your own, too.

Search Cleanup: A Privacy Option for Europeans

The European Union’s Court of Justice requires that Google allow

people to petition for the removal of information about them from
searches that is “inadequate, irrelevant, or excessive.” This “right to be
forgotten” is designed to help prevent damaging information about an
individual from circulating online forever. On the first day it was in
operation, 12,000 people submitted petitions. Though the law is only in
effect in Europe, it can be worth checking on whether this service is
available where you live.

Exercise: Assess Your Social Media Use

Reflect on your professional social media habits.

Do you use social media to advance your professional brand? Why or

why not?

In Step 3 of the previous section, Canfield offers tips for effective social
media use. List one or two recommendations that could be most
useful to you and briefly describe how they could advance your career.
Principles 66-67: Crowdfund and Crowdsource
Your Endeavors
When you need funding for a new business and can't attract venture
capital, crowdfunding and crowdsourcing offer an alternative. In this
section, you’ll learn tips and strategies to effectively raise money
through crowdfunding and familiarize yourself with different
crowdfunding platforms.

Crowdfunding 101
Crowdfunding means giving money to people, causes, or companies
you care about. Companies and individuals around the world have
used crowdfunding campaigns to fund all kinds of endeavors, such as
launching new companies or products, or creating documentaries. In
2010, crowdfunding generated $89 million; by 2013, it generated $5
billion, an amount expected to double every two years.

Here are four crowdfunding strategies:

1. Use video to tell your story. As we discussed in Principles 64-65,

video is one of the best ways to engage your audience. It allows you
to share your passion in a direct way. Campaigns that used video on
Kickstarter, one of the largest crowdfunding websites, are
successfully funded 50 percent of the time compared to just 30
percent of campaigns without a video. Plus, campaigns with a video
tend to raise more money. However, one of the biggest mistakes is
describing a need but failing to ask for money. Make sure you have a
 clear message describing why you need money and how you’ll use
it.

2. Encourage engagement. This could mean friends, relatives, and

colleagues contributing and sharing the story, or people blogging
about your campaign. Before you launch, create a group of
supporters who will contribute immediately to create momentum.

3. Reward donors. Assemble a dedicated team of people who can do

tasks like thanking donors and share regular updates on your
progress. Contributors to fundraising campaigns tend to follow
updates. Creating a regular schedule of when you’ll update and
sticking to it will encourage regular contributions. Also, create tiered
rewards for different contributions, and make sure that your
product is included as a reward. Thank everyone who contributes to
your campaign at least twice. Repeated thanks may encourage
people to support future campaigns.

4. Reassure people that you can finish the job. Updates are
opportunities to reinforce your credibility by reassuring people that
you’re making progress toward delivering the finished product or
result. Another tip: Express gratitude for those on your team during
updates. This helps people empathize with you and your experience
as you progress.

Crowdfunding Websites

Crowdfunding websites include:

Kickstarter.com. Kickstarter is the best-known crowdfunding

site. It was originally intended for people in the arts, but is used
widely by tech entrepreneurs and inventors. Canfield
recommends looking at the campaign for the “Coolest Cooler,”
which includes features such as a rechargeable battery for its
portable margarita blender and waterproof Bluetooth speakers.
At the time of Canfield’s writing, the campaign had raised
$10,056,281, much higher than its original $50,000 ask.
(Shortform note: The Coolest Cooler company folded in late
2019 without delivering the promised product to one-third of
backers. The campaign is still available to view on Kickstarter.)

GoFundMe.com. GoFundMe helps people raise money for

everything from tuition to business ventures and travel. Chandra
Starr, a 13-year-old whose family had experienced
homelessness, used the platform to raise money to create
vegetable gardens where people without housing could access
fresh food. She raised $14,500, $4,500 more than her initial goal.

Indiegogo.com. Indiegogo allows you to raise money for

anything and offers two options for collecting the cash: Use its
“keep what you raise” method to take whatever money comes in
for a fee, even if you don’t meet your goal, or pay less in fees and
keep what you raise only if you meet your goal.

Fundable.com. Fundable offers two options for raising money:

Raise venture capital from verified investors with a net worth of
at least $1 million, or take contributions from donors in exchange
for rewarding them with the product or service you eventually
offer.

Crowdrise.com. This site is designed for anyone to raise money

for a nonprofit that they care about. The charity just needs to be
registered on the site.

StartSomeGood.com. StartSomeGood is for organizations that

are looking to raise money for nonprofit endeavors but don’t
 have 501(c)(3) status yet.

Causes.com. This site allows people to invest in nonprofits.

Contributions are tax-deductible.

Crowdfunding Success: Pebble’s Story

Eric Migicovsky wanted to raise venture capital to fund the creation of a

smartwatch that could display messages users received from their
smartphones. When no one wanted to back him, he used Kickstarter
with the goal of raising $100,000. Migicovsky and his team created a
tiered rewards system for donors so that anyone donating $115 would
get a watch when it became available, a discount from the $150 they
planned to sell it for. The campaign reached its $100,000 goal within
two hours of going live, and a little over a month later, they had raised
$10,266,844. They also created a video expressing their passion but
lack of money. The video was honest and earnest, convincing people to
contribute.

Crowdsourcing 101
In contrast to crowdfunding, crowdsourcing is tapping into your
network to find people, services, or other resources. With the internet
at your fingertips, it’s easier than ever to search for these resources and
use them to your advantage. For example, Robert Kiyosaki, author of
Conspiracy of the Rich, wrote the book’s introduction first and posted it
on social media to ask his followers what topics they hoped he’d cover
in the book. In this way, he used the Internet to generate interest in his
book and learn what would be most useful to his audience.

Another example of crowdsourcing is gig economy services like Uber.

Customers who use Uber’s app can hail a ride, similar to hailing a taxi,
except these drivers don’t work for a specific taxi cab service—they’re
just locals who have become drivers for Uber’s company. In this way,
Uber effectively crowdsources others’ work to achieve its objective of
providing ready access to taxi-like service.

You can also crowdsource other services you might need for your
business. For example, websites like Fiverr and Elance can connect you
with freelance professionals for help with one-time projects, such as
proofreading or editing your marketing materials.