How Gracious are You?

by Jan Janzen

It´s easy to be in a good mood when things are going well. It´s natural to be polite when people are polite to you. And it´s a piece of cake to live from spiritual principles when you´re “in the zone”.

I also know that there are times when I am what I call “consciously unconscious” and I don´t give a damn. Those are the times when I know I am being stubborn, selfish, judgmental and even though I know it; I´m not open to changing. It´s those times when I realize how far I still have to go in my own spiritual development. Perhaps you know only too intimately what I am talking about.

It´s why I continue to admire the people here in Guatemala. The only word that even comes close to describing them is gracious. I have never described any culture as gracious but it seems the most appropriate in describing these absolutely beautiful people.

Finding Opportunities in Any Economy

by Jack Canfield

Your own beliefs and behaviors are great predictors of your success than any fluctuation in the marketplace. Even when the newspapers splash the word recession across the front page, you can write your own success story.

Master the Art of “Inverse Paranoia”

Take 100% Responsibility for Your Life - Starting Today

by Jack Canfield

This isn’t a trick question.

Certainly you know the answer—the person who has been responsible for the life you live right now: YOU.

Everything about you is a result of your doing or not doing... Your income. Debt. Relationships. Health. Fitness level. Attitudes and behaviors.

I've often said that you are either creating or allowing everything that is happening in your life.



I think everyone knows this in their hearts, but often times people convince themselves into thinking that external factors are the source of their failure, disappointment, and unhappiness.

External factors do not determine how you live. YOU are in complete control of the quality of your life, by either creating or allowing the circumstances you experience.

When I hear people complain about the state of their life (be it their problems with personal finances, weight, their jobs, or general dissatisfaction), I like to help them see things differently.

If they feel “stuck” and unable to move forward for whatever reason, I ask them to scrutinize both what is working well and what isn’t working well in their life and see how they’ve arrived at where they currently are.

For example, if a woman tells me she’s unhappy with her weight—she travels frequently, and has no to time to exercise or seek healthy foods—I point out that her weight is not a result of her travels and schedule. It’s an outcome of what she chooses to eat and how she chooses to move, regardless of her daily agenda. Why not make a conscious effort to pre-plan healthy meals and snacks, even if it’s on the go, and sneak in 10 minutes here and 10 minutes there to be physically active (hey, I know some frequent flyers that make it a habit of running through airports!).

If you’re frustrated with any area in your life, then it’s time to take a little inventory.

Certainly there are wonderful things happening, whether it’s your job, your romantic relationship, your children, your friends, or your income level. Your accomplishments are just as important as your missteps.

First, congratulate yourself on your successes; and then take a look at what isn’t working out so well. What are you doing or not doing to create those experiences?

Watch out! If you find yourself beginning to complain about everything but the choices you’ve made, then you need to take a step back. See if you can stop blaming outside factors for your unhappiness.

When you realize that you—and only you—create your experiences, you’ll realize that you can un-create them and forge new experiences whenever you want.

How empowering is that!

You must take responsibility for your happiness and your unhappiness, your successes and your failures, your good times and your bad times.

All too often we choose to claim the successes and blame the failures on others or other circumstances. When you stop blaming, however, you can take that energy and redirect it to focus on shaping a better situation for yourself. Blaming only ties up your energy. Imagine roping all the energy into a positive effort.

Some ideas to make this happen:

1. Believe, Believe, Believe! Have unwavering faith in yourself, for good and bad. Make the decision to accept the fact that you create all your experiences. You will experience successes thanks to you, and you will experience pain, struggle, and strife thanks to you. Sounds a little strange, but accepting this level of responsibility is uniquely empowering. It means you can do, change, and be anything. Stumbling blocks become just that—little hills to hop over.

2. Take no less than 100% responsibility . Successful people take full responsibility for the thoughts they think, the images they visualize, and the actions they take. They don't waste their time and energy blaming and complaining. They evaluate their experiences and decide if they need to change them or not. They face the uncomfortable and take risks in order to create the life they want to live.

3. Stop complaining . Look at what you are complaining about. I’m fat. I’m tired. I can’t get out of debt. I won’t ever get a better job. I can’t stand the relationship I have with my sister. I’ll never find a soulmate in life. Really examine your complaints. More than likely you can do something about them. They are not about other people, other things, or other events. They are about YOU.

4. Make an immediate change. Are you unhappy about something that is happening right now? Make requests that will make it more desirable to you, or take the steps to change it yourself. Making a change might be uncomfortable for you. It might mean you have to put in more time, money, and effort. It might mean that someone gets upset about it, or makes you feel bad about your decision. It might be difficult to change or leave a situation, but staying put is your choice so why continue to complain?

You can either do something about it or not. It is your choice and you have responsibility for your choices.

5. Pay attention. Looking to others for help and guidance is helpful, but don’t forget to stay tuned in to yourself—your behavior, attitude, and life experiences. Identify what’s working and what isn’t. If you need to, write it all down. Then…

6. Face the truth and take action for the long term . You have to be willing to change your behavior if you want a different outcome. You have to be willing to take the risks necessary to get what you want. If you’ve already taken an initial step in the right direction, now’s the time to plan additional steps to keep moving you forward, faster.

Isn’t it a great relief to know that you can make your life what you want it to be? Isn’t it wonderful that your successes do not depend on someone else?

If you need just one thing to do different today, than you did yesterday, make it this:

Commit to taking 100% responsibility for every aspect of your life. Decide to make changes, one step at a time. Once you start the process you’ll discover it's much easier to get what you want by taking control of your thoughts, your visualizations, and your actions!


© 2010 Jack Canfield


Jack Canfield, America's #1 Success Coach, is founder of the billion-dollar book brand Chicken Soup for the Soul© and a leading authority on Peak Performance and Life Success. If you're ready to jump-start your life, make more money, and have more fun and joy in all that you do, get your FREE success tips from Jack Canfield now at: www.FreeSuccessStrategies.com

Will Holiday Habits Set You Back in 2010?

By Jack Canfield


You are an accumulation of your habits. From how you get out of bed, how you shower, how you dress, how you shop for food and eat meals, how you exercise, how you walk, sit, and talk, how you respond to the world, how you act in front of others, and how you think; you are living out your habits.

Habits are necessary. Because they typically come naturally and automatically (“through habit”), they free up your mind so you can concentrate on how to survive day to day. You don’t have to think about how to drive your car so you can be on the lookout for danger while you are driving. You don’t have to think about how to walk so you can concentrate on where you’re going.

Unfortunately, habits can also keep you locked in self-destructive patterns, which will limit your success.

This is especially true during stressful periods, like holidays. This is when it’s far too easy to let bad habits take over and multiply with every holiday symbol that you see.

So, what’s the secret to surviving this holiday season, bring in the new year feeling fantastic—physically and emotionally—and have more confidence in the future?

You will need to drop those bad habits and develop new ones that are in line with the life you want to live. This will help you to get through the holidays cheerfully and embrace 2010 with high hopes. People don’t suddenly appear in the life they want to live, habits determine their outcome!

So ask yourself, what are the habits you have that are keeping you from achieving your goals? Which ones seem to become magnified during the end of the year, setting you up for feeling behind and lousy come January 1st?

Really be honest with yourself. Are you always running late? Do you make promises you can’t keep? Do you get enough sleep? Do you make excuses for not eating well and scheduling exercise? Do you plan out your day?

Imagine what your life would be like if all those habits were their productive counterparts.

What would your life be like if you ate healthy meals, exercised and got enough sleep? What if you saved money, stopped using credit cards and paid cash for everything? What if you stopped procrastinating, overcame your fears, and began networking with people in your field? Would your life be different? I bet it would!

So, my suggested action step for you is to write down some productive habits you could adopt and visualize in your life. Step two is to “act as if” you were living these new habits right now!

I know, you thought you wouldn’t have to do this until New Year’s, but I’d like to help you get moving toward creating more successful habits today, so you’re already in motion when 2010 lands.

I’d recommend you plan on developing four of your new success habits each year, one for each quarter. That means right this instant you can map out which four you intend to adopt in 2010, and then create a method that will support your new habits.

Here are some ideas:

You could write it down on a card that you keep with you and read several times a day. You could make it a part of your daily visualization.

You could also enlist the help of an accountability partner who has habits to change.

It’s important to make a 100% commitment to each of your new habits, so be specific about the steps that you’re willing to take in order to drop an old habit and adopt a new one.

Don’t be vague about how you will change your habits. Spell it out for yourself so you can recognize situations that motivate you to act out your new habit.

Just developing four new habits a year will dramatically shift your life to be more in line with your vision. And the more in line it becomes, the easier the other habits are to replace because your perspective is shifting and you can see more clearly how your old habits aren’t serving you anymore.

Get ready for 2010 today! Focus on habits that will launch you forward, not back.

Make the decision. Make the commitment. Then watch your new, positive life unfold!

I'll be back in two weeks with another edition of Success Strategies. Until then, see how you can discover ways to immediately implement what you learned from today's message!



© 2009 Jack Canfield

Jack Canfield, America's #1 Success Coach, is founder of the billion-dollar book brand Chicken Soup for the Soul© and a leading authority on Peak Performance and Life Success. If you're ready to jump-start your life, make more money, and have more fun and joy in all that you do, get your FREE success tips from Jack Can field now at: http://www.freesuccessstrategies.com/

Stay Focused on Your Core Genius

by Jack Canfield

I believe you have inside of you a core genius... some one thing that you love to do, and do so well, that you hardly feel like doing anything else. It’s effortless for you and a whole lot of fun. And if you could make money doing it, you’d make it your lifetime’s work.

In most cases, your Core Genius is directly tied to your passions and life-purpose.

Successful people believe this, too. That's why they put their core genius first. They focus on it—and delegate everything else to other people on their team.

For me, my core genius lies in the area of teaching, training, coaching and motivating. Another core genius is writing and compiling books. Over my 35 year career, I have written, co-authored, compiled and edited more than 150 books, and I love to do it! I do it well, and people report that they get great value from it.

Compare that to the other people in the world who go through life doing everything, even those tasks they’re bad at or that could be done more cheaply, better, and faster by someone else.

They simply can’t find the time to focus on their core genius because they fail to delegate even the most menial of tasks.

When you delegate the grunt work—the things you hate doing or those tasks that are so painful, you end up putting them off—you get to concentrate on what you love to do. You free up your time so that you can be more productive. And you get to enjoy life more.

So why is delegating routine tasks and unwanted projects so difficult for most people?

Surprisingly, most people are afraid of looking wasteful or being judged as being above everyone else. They are afraid to give up control or reluctant to spend the money to pay for help. Deep down, most people simply don't want to let go.

Others (potentially you) have simply fallen into the habit of doing everything themselves. "It's too time-consuming to explain it to someone," you say. "I can do it more quickly and better myself anyway." But can you?

Delegate Completely!

If you’re a professional earning $75 per hour and you pay a neighborhood kid $10 an hour to cut the grass, you save the effort of doing it yourself on the weekend and gain one extra hour when you could profit by $65. Of course, while one hour does’t seem like much, multiply that by 52 weekends a year and you discover you’Ave gained 52 hours a year at $65 per hour —or an extra $3,380 in potential earnings.

Similarly, if you’re a real estate agent, you need to list houses, gather information for the multiple listings, attend open houses, do showings, put keys in lock boxes, write offers and make appointments. And, if you’re lucky, you eventually get to close a deal.

But let’s say that you’re the best closer in the area.

Why would you want to waste your time writing listings, doing lead generation, placing lock boxes, and making videos of the property when you could have a staff of colleagues and assistants doing all that, thus freeing you up to do more closing? Instead of doing just one deal a week, you could be doing three deals because you had delegated what you’re less good at.

One of the strategies I use and teach is complete delegation. It simply means that you delegate a task once and completely - rather than delegating it each time it needs to be done.

When my niece came to stay with us one year while she attended the local community college, we made a complete delegation - the grocery shopping. We told her she could have unlimited use of our van if she would buy the groceries every week. We provided her with a list of staples that we always want in the house (eggs, butter, milk, ketchup, and so on), and her job was to check every week and replace anything that was running low.

In addition, my wife planned meals and let her know which items she wanted for the main courses (fish, chicken, broccoli, avocados, and so on). The task was delegated once and saved us hundreds of hours that year that could be devoted to writing, exercise, family time, and recreation.

Most entrepreneurs spend less than 30% of their time focusing on their core genius and unique abilities.

In fact, by the time they've launched a business, it often seems entrepreneurs are doing everything but the one thing they went into business for in the first place.

Many salespeople, for example, spend more time on account administration than they do on the phone or in the field making sales, when they could hire a part-time administrator (or share the cost with another salesperson) to do this time-consuming detail work. In most cases, in a fraction of the time it would take them and at a fraction of the cost.

Most female executives spend too much time running their household, when they could easily and inexpensively delegate this task to a cleaning service or part-time mother's helper, freeing them to focus on their career or spend more quality time with their family.

Don't let this be your fate!

Identify your core genius, then delegate completely to free up more time to focus on what you love to do.

I believe that you can trade, barter, pay for and find volunteer help to do almost everything you don't want to do, leaving you to do what you are best at - and which will ultimately make you the most money and bring you the most happiness.


© 2009 Jack Canfield


Jack Canfield, America's #1 Success Coach, is founder of the billion-dollar book brand Chicken Soup for the Soul© and a leading authority on Peak Performance and Life Success. If you're ready to jump-start your life, make more money, and have more fun and joy in all that you do, get your FREE success tips from Jack Can field now at: http://www.jackcanfield.com/

Going The Extra Mile Will Get You Even Further

by Jack Canfield

Are you someone who consistently goes the extra mile and routinely over delivers on your promises?

It's rare these days, but it's the hallmark of high achievers who know that exceeding expectations helps you stand above the crowd. Almost by force of habit, successful people simply do more.

As a result, they experience not only greater financial rewards for their extra efforts but also a personal transformation, becoming more self-confident, more self-reliant, and more influential with those around them.

These high achievers stand out from the crowd because of their extra efforts. They are unwilling to give up, even in the face of difficult times.


They get the promotions, they get the loyal customers, they grow their businesses twice as fast, they get financial rewards, job security, and they go home feeling satisfied.

Do you exceed expectations?

Do you surprise people with more than they were expecting from you?

Do you have the opportunity - but also the personal initiative - to go the extra mile?

To be successful you must change your thinking. You can only win by making extra efforts. People who go the extra mile always get payback. You will discover yourself becoming more self-confident, more self-reliant and more influential with those around you.

People notice the special services and all the small touches that make dealing with you so pleasurable. And when they are talking to their friends they will mention you and recommend you because you are the one who stands out.

People will see that you pay attention to detail, that you consider all the small things that really make a business successful, that you care about your image, and that you belong with all the other people who work hard to achieve. You will attract new business and new opportunities.

Listen to any success story and you will hear of someone who worked exceptionally hard to get what they wanted.

You’ll hear how they put in the extra time, did what wasn’t part of their job description, and over-delivered on what was asked of them. You’ll hear how they stuck at it until they broke through, and usually you’ll hear how it only took them a couple of years to do it.

What have you been doing for the past couple of years? Think of what you could accomplish if you made it a habit to exceed everyone’s expectations. Image what doors could be open to you if you decided to be of better service and value.

How are you willing to go the extra mile? What kind of extra service are you willing to provide in order to stand out from the rest? What areas of your life could you be giving more of your effort and time, becoming more valuable, and improving your reputation?

Be willing to treat everyone like you’d treat your dearest friend. Don’t skimp on service. Don’t be mediocre or run of the mill. Show people what you are capable of. Show them that you care about your image and reputation.

When it comes to success, the people who are willing to go the extra mile get there that much faster!



© 2009 Jack Canfield

Jack Canfield, America's #1 Success Coach, is founder of the billion-dollar book brand Chicken Soup for the Soul© and a leading authority on Peak Performance and Life Success. If you're ready to jump-start your life, make more money, and have more fun and joy in all that you do, get your FREE success tips from Jack Canfield now at: http://www.jackcanfield.com/

The Magic Formula to Better Results

It's Your Response that Counts
by Jack Canfield

In today's economic times, when everywhere you look there’s a rumbling of great uncertainty, I think we should all take a pause (and a deep breath) to think about our lives.

Are we moving in the direction we want to be? When things happen in the world that seem so far beyond our individual control, it can feel unsettling. And even though we think we are the masters of our own success, watching the news these days can chip away at our beliefs.

Even in tough economic times, you get to decide how to respond to certain conditions, opportunities, and outcomes—both good and bad.

While I don’t claim to be an economist, I do know one important fact. The economy is the same for everyone, it’s how you respond to it that determines how you feel about it.

It’s yet another example of what I’ve been teaching for years. . .

E + R = O
(Events + Responses = Outcome)

The basic idea is that every outcome you experience in life (whether it's success or failure, wealth or poverty, wellness or illness, intimacy or estrangement, joy or frustration) is the result of how you have responded to an earlier event (or events) in your life.

If you don't like the outcomes you are currently experiencing, there are two basic choices you can make:

Choice #1: You can blame the event (E) for your lack of results (O).

In other words, you can blame the economy, the weather, the lack of money, lack of education, racism, gender bias, the current administration in Washington, your wife or husband, your boss's attitude, the lack of support, and so on.

No doubt all these factors exist, but if they were the deciding factor, nobody would ever succeed.

For every reason it's not possible, there are hundreds of people who have faced the same circumstances and have succeeded.

It's not the external conditions and circumstances that stop us -- it's us!

We think limiting thoughts and engage in self-defeating behaviors. We defend our self-destructive habits (such as drinking and smoking) with indefensible logic.

We ignore useful feedback, fail to continuously educate ourselves and learn new skills, waste time on the trivial aspects of our lives, engage in idle gossip, eat unhealthy food, fail to exercise, spend more than we make, fail to tell the truth, don't ask for what we want, and then wonder why our lives aren't working.

Choice #2: You can instead simply change your responses (R) to the events (E) until you get the outcomes (O) you want.

You can change your thinking, change your communication, change the pictures you hold in your head (your images of the world) and you can change your behavior (the things you do.) That's all you really have any control over anyway.

Unfortunately, most of us are so engrained in our habits that we never change our behavior.

We get stuck in our conditioned responses-to our spouses and children, to our colleagues at work, to our customers and our clients, to our students, and to the world at large.

You have to gain control of your thoughts, your images, your dreams and daydreams, and your behavior.

Everything you think, say, and do needs to become intentional and aligned with your purpose, your values, and your goals.

If you don't like your outcomes, change your responses!

Here's an example of how this works...

Do you remember the Northridge earthquake in 1994? I do! I lived through it in Los Angeles.

Two days later I watched as CNN interviewed people commuting to work. The earthquake had damaged one of the main freeways leading into the city. Traffic was at a standstill, and what was normally a 1-hour drive had become a 2-3 hour drive.

The CNN reporter knocked on the window of one of the cars stuck in traffic and asked the driver how he was doing.

He responded, angrily, "I hate California. First there were fires, then floods, and now an earthquake! No matter what time I leave in the morning, I'm late for work. I can't believe it!"

Then the Reporter knocked on the window of the car behind him and asked the driver the same question. This driver was all smiles.

He replied "It's no problem. I left my house at five am. I don't think under the circumstances my boss can ask for more than that. I have lots of music and Spanish-language tapes with me. I've got my cell phone. Coffee in a thermos, my lunch-I even have a book to read. I'm fine."

Now, if the earthquake or the traffic were really the deciding variables, then everyone should have been angry. But everyone wasn't.

It was their individual response to the traffic that gave them their particular outcome. It was thinking negative thoughts or positive thoughts, leaving the house prepared or leaving the house unprepared that made the difference. It was all a matter of attitude and behavior that created their completely different experiences.

If we all experience the same EVENT, the OUTCOME you get will be totally dependent upon your RESPONSE to the situation.

If you want to take control of how you respond to life, you’ll start noticing that your outcomes will be more along the lines of what you have always hoped.

Remember, you control your destiny so make it a fantastic one!



© 2009 Jack Canfield



Jack Canfield, America's #1 Success Coach, is founder of the billion-dollar book brand Chicken Soup for the Soul© and a leading authority on Peak Performance and Life Success. If you're ready to jump-start your life, make more money, and have more fun and joy in all that you do, get your FREE success tips from Jack Canfield now at: http://www.jackcanfield.com/

Chunk Down That Goal and Get Out of Overwhelm

by Jack Canfield

A recent management study revealed that 46% of employees leaving a company do so because they feel unappreciated; 61% said their bosses don’t place much importance on them as people; and 88% said they don’t receive acknowledgement for the work they do.



Whether you are an entrepreneur, manager, teacher, parent, coach or simply a friend, if you want to be successful with other people, you must master the art of appreciation.

I’ve never known anyone to complain about receiving too much positive feedback. Have you? In fact, just the opposite is true.

Consider this: Every year, a management consulting firm conducts a survey with 200 companies on the subject on what motivates employees. When given a list of 10 possible things that would most motivate them, the employee always list appreciation as the number-one motivator.

Managers and supervisors ranked appreciation number eight. This is a major mismatch, as the chart below so clearly shows.

10 Ways to Really Motivate an Employee

Employees
Appreciation
Feeling “in” on things
Understanding attitude
Job security
Good wages
Interesting work
Promotional opportunities
Loyalty from management
Good working conditions
Tactful discipline

Supervisors

Good Wages
Job Security
Promotional Opportunities
Good working conditions
Interesting work
Loyalty from management
Tactful discipline
Appreciation
Understanding attitude
Feeling “in” on things


Notice that the top three motivators for employees don’t cost anything, just a few moments of time, respect and understanding.

Keeping Score

When I first learned about the power of appreciation, it made total sense to me. However, it was still something that I forgot to do. I hadn’t yet turned it into a habit.

A valuable technique that I employed to help me lock in this new habit was to carry a 3” x 5” card in my pocket all day, and every time I acknowledged and appreciated someone, I would place a check mark on the card. I would not allow myself to go to bed until I had appreciated 10 people. If it was late in the evening and I didn’t have 10 check marks, I would appreciate my wife and children, I would send an e-mails to several of my staff, or I would write a letter to my mother or stepfather.

I did whatever it took until it became an unconscious habit. I did this every single day for 6 months—until I no longer needed the card to remind me.

Appreciation as a Secret of Success

Another important reason for being in a state of appreciation as often as possible is that when you are in such a state, you are in one of the highest emotional states possible.

When you are in a state of appreciation and gratitude, you are in a state of abundance. You are appreciating what you do have instead of focusing on, and complaining about, what you don’t have. Your focus is on what you have received… and you always get more of what you focus on.

And because the law of attraction states that like attracts like, the more you are in a state of gratitude, the more you will attract, and even more to be grateful for. It becomes an upward-spiraling process of ever-increasing abundance that just keeps getting better and better.

Think about it. The more grateful people are for the gifts we give them, the more inclined we are to give them more gifts. Their gratitude and appreciation reinforces our giving. The same principle holds true on a universal and spiritual level as it does on an interpersonal level.

I challenge you to discover ways to immediately appreciate someone in your life, starting today!

For more tips and suggestions on how you, too, can find ways to appreciate those in your life, read Prinicple 53 in The Success Principles.

© 2009 Jack Canfield

Jack Canfield, America's #1 Success Coach, is founder of the billion-dollar book brand Chicken Soup for the Soul© and a leading authority on Peak Performance and Life Success. If you're ready to jump-start your life, make more money, and have more fun and joy in all that you do, get your FREE success tips from Jack Canfield now at: http://www.freesuccessstrategies.com/

Practice Uncommon Appreciation

by Jack Canfield

A recent management study revealed that 46% of employees leaving a company do so because they feel unappreciated; 61% said their bosses don’t place much importance on them as people; and 88% said they don’t receive acknowledgement for the work they do.



Whether you are an entrepreneur, manager, teacher, parent, coach or simply a friend, if you want to be successful with other people, you must master the art of appreciation.

I’ve never known anyone to complain about receiving too much positive feedback. Have you? In fact, just the opposite is true.

Consider this: Every year, a management consulting firm conducts a survey with 200 companies on the subject on what motivates employees. When given a list of 10 possible things that would most motivate them, the employee always list appreciation as the number-one motivator.

Managers and supervisors ranked appreciation number eight. This is a major mismatch, as the chart below so clearly shows.

10 Ways to Really Motivate an Employee

Employees
Appreciation
Feeling “in” on things
Understanding attitude
Job security
Good wages
Interesting work
Promotional opportunities
Loyalty from management
Good working conditions
Tactful discipline

Supervisors

Good Wages
Job Security
Promotional Opportunities
Good working conditions
Interesting work
Loyalty from management
Tactful discipline
Appreciation
Understanding attitude
Feeling “in” on things


Notice that the top three motivators for employees don’t cost anything, just a few moments of time, respect and understanding.

Keeping Score

When I first learned about the power of appreciation, it made total sense to me. However, it was still something that I forgot to do. I hadn’t yet turned it into a habit.

A valuable technique that I employed to help me lock in this new habit was to carry a 3” x 5” card in my pocket all day, and every time I acknowledged and appreciated someone, I would place a check mark on the card. I would not allow myself to go to bed until I had appreciated 10 people. If it was late in the evening and I didn’t have 10 check marks, I would appreciate my wife and children, I would send an e-mails to several of my staff, or I would write a letter to my mother or stepfather.

I did whatever it took until it became an unconscious habit. I did this every single day for 6 months—until I no longer needed the card to remind me.

Appreciation as a Secret of Success

Another important reason for being in a state of appreciation as often as possible is that when you are in such a state, you are in one of the highest emotional states possible.

When you are in a state of appreciation and gratitude, you are in a state of abundance. You are appreciating what you do have instead of focusing on, and complaining about, what you don’t have. Your focus is on what you have received… and you always get more of what you focus on.

And because the law of attraction states that like attracts like, the more you are in a state of gratitude, the more you will attract, and even more to be grateful for. It becomes an upward-spiraling process of ever-increasing abundance that just keeps getting better and better.

Think about it. The more grateful people are for the gifts we give them, the more inclined we are to give them more gifts. Their gratitude and appreciation reinforces our giving. The same principle holds true on a universal and spiritual level as it does on an interpersonal level.

I challenge you to discover ways to immediately appreciate someone in your life, starting today!

For more tips and suggestions on how you, too, can find ways to appreciate those in your life, read Prinicple 53 in The Success Principles.

© 2009 Jack Canfield

Jack Canfield, America's #1 Success Coach, is founder of the billion-dollar book brand Chicken Soup for the Soul© and a leading authority on Peak Performance and Life Success. If you're ready to jump-start your life, make more money, and have more fun and joy in all that you do, get your FREE success tips from Jack Canfield now at: http://www.freesuccessstrategies.com/

Daily Disciplines for Effortless Success

by Jack Canfield

Hand’s down, one of the most popular questions I’m asked by students is this… “Jack, what are your most important daily actions that you correlate with your success.”

In fact, Oprah Winfrey asked me a similar question just days before appearing on her show. She asked me to come up with some easy-to-apply steps for her viewers to start applying The Law of Attraction in their lives.

One of the basic first steps is to determine, write down and talk about what you do want, not what you don’t want. Be as specific as possible. Once you have clarified what you want, do the following each and every day.

1. Morning Intention, Visualization and Releasing

As soon as you wake up in the morning, take about 5 minutes to focus your mind on your desires, goals and intentions. Start by sitting in a comfortable position, closing your eyes and visualizing your desires and goals as already being fulfilled. Spend 30 seconds to a minute on each of your core desires and goals. You can also take a few moments to visualize your day going exactly as you would like it to.

When you do this, you will often find negative limiting beliefs that are the result of negative programming from your childhood will come up. You may hear thoughts like “I could never afford that,”“there’s no way I’ll ever get that,” or “who am I kidding?” coming up. If you do, use one of the many releasing techniques that are available (see the list below) to release the negative thought. Don’t fight or argue with the thought; just release it.

Remember to also spend several moments feeling the feelings you would feel if you had already manifested your desire in your life. The intensity of the feeling is what fuels the intensity of the attraction.

If you're interested in learning a powerful releasing technique, check out the new documentary movie about the emotional freedom technique (EFT) I use, Try it On Everything; I highly recommend it.

2. Use External Images to Keep you Focused on Your Desires and Goals

Keep yourself focused on what you want to manifest by surrounding yourself with visual images of the things and experiences you want to create in your life. There are many tools you can use for this, including creating a Vision Book from our Dream Big Collection

Cut out pictures of the things you wish to own (like your ideal car or home) and pictures that represent the experiences you want to have (like the perfect relationship, your ideal job, perfect health, being at your ideal weight, more joy, inner peace or balance in your life) to remind yourself of how you want it to be. Put them somewhere where you will see them every day—on the mirror, the refrigerator, or in your Vision Book.

For even greater impact, combine your pictures with words that reflect your desired outcome, such as abundance, romance, fun, vitality, etc. I think you get the picture.
When you look at any of these pictures, do what Bob Doyle, who is featured in The Secret teaches— think the thought, “THIS IS MINE NOW! THIS IS WHO I AM!”

3. Think a Better Feeling Thought

Start paying attention to the many times during the day that you have emotional responses (to other people, experiences, or your own thoughts) that are not in alignment with having or producing your desires. Pay special attention to when you feel disappointment, resentment, frustration or anger about your experiences and circumstances.

Remember, it’s your feelings (which are created by your thoughts, opinions, and beliefs) that are creating your current circumstances. You must make a shift by changing your thoughts to ones that make you feel better (i.e., raise your vibration). Remember that you must become a vibrational match for the things and experiences that you want to attract into your life.

It is especially important to focus your thoughts and behaviors on things that cause you to feel joy. Focus your thoughts on thoughts that bring you joy (your lover, your best friend, your grandchildren, your favorite vacation spot) and your actions on doing the things you love to do (pet your cat, work in your garden, listen to your favorite music).

4. Have an Attitude of Gratitude

It is critical to take time each and every day to focus on what you are grateful for! Some people do this in the morning before or after they visualize their desires; others prefer to do it in the evening. Focus on all of the things in your life (most of which you take for granted) that you are grateful for—your health, your children, your job, the nice weather, electricity, running water, a nice stereo system, your flower garden, your pets, your friends).

No matter what your situation, there are always things to be grateful for. The more you focus on what you are grateful for, the more things and experiences you will attract to be grateful for. You may wish to carry a “gratitude rock” like the one Lee Brower talks about in “The Secret”, or log your findings in a Gratitude Journal.

5. Take Action

There are two kinds of actions you can take. Obvious actions are things like, if you want a better car, going to test drive all of the models you are interested in and choosing the exact car you want to have, and saving 10% of your income in a “car account.” If you want to be a doctor, apply to medical school.

There is also what I call “inspired actions.” Once you begin to do the things described above, the universe will start responding by sending people, resources and opportunities you need to manifest your desired result. You are going to find that you have inspired ideas; you must act on them. You must follow those gentle proddings from the universe. Often these intuitive impulses will have no seeming connection to achieving your goal, but if you follow them, they will lead you down a path of wonderful fulfillment.

Here’s a quick way to know if the actions you’re taking are taking you closer to the fulfillment of your dreams and desires.
If you are feeling joy while you are doing them, then you are on the right path. Remember, joy is your internal guidance system, just like the GPS system in a car, telling you are taking the right actions. Follow your joy.

6. Acknowledge That it's Working

If you start to see something change for the better, acknowledge that it is happening. Appreciate it. When you find the perfect parking space, acknowledge it. When you get the table you want in the restaurant, acknowledge it. When you receive unexpected income, acknowledge it. When you meet someone who can help you achieve your goal, acknowledge that Law of Attraction is working. The more you acknowledge that it’s working, the more it will work. It’s that simple.

If you are attracting things into your life that you don’t want, remember that the Law of Attraction is still working. Instead of thinking or saying, “It’s not working,” ask your self, “What am I focusing on, thinking about, talking about, feeling or doing that is bringing this into my life?”

If you want to know what you are thinking about, notice the results you are producing in your life. To change those results, you will first have to change your vibration by changing your thoughts and feelings.

When you make a commitment to take these actions each day, you’ll start to move forward, with confidence, in the direction of your dreams. Believe that they are not only possible, but that they are already in progress.

I'll be back in two weeks with another edition of Success Strategies. Until then, see if you can discover ways to immediately implement what you discovered from today's message into your life.

© 2009 Jack Canfield
Jack Canfield, America's #1 Success Coach, is founder of the billion-dollar book brand Chicken Soup for the Soul© and a leading authority on Peak Performance and Life Success. If you're ready to jump-start your life, make more money, and have more fun and joy in all that you do, get your FREE success tips from Jack Canfield now at: http://www.freesuccessstrategies.com/

Do You Have Any Moment Happening?

This is timely. Jan Janzen's article here mirror's and strenghtens my own Without Action, Law of Attraction Has No Traction.

"Do You Have Any Movement Happening?"

by Jan Janzen



It was a still night last night with hardly a breeze. I had the window wide open, nothing on and the fan on low. And I was hot! After an uncomfortable hour or two of tossing and turning trying to fall asleep I realized that I simply needed to turn the fan on higher. There needed to be more movement!

One little notch on the switch and I now had a marvelous breeze. Up came the sheet and comforter and I was asleep in moments. Such a simple solution to the problem.

Life is a lot like that. People often book a personal healing session with me because they´re stuck. There´s no movement in their life and they are frustrated, tossing and turning, hot and bothered with no resolution in sight.

Movement in life is an interesting thing. Sometimes it can feel painfully slow, pathetically inadequate and even in the wrong direction.

However, something I heard at the workshop I attended in San Diego was that the Universe cannot course correct if we aren´t moving. A plane that stays on the runway goes nowhere. It is actually said that a plane is rarely on course but it still lands where it needs to.

So if you aren´t moving because you don´t know the exact destination, what the weather is going to be like along the way or every detail of the trip, then the Universe cannot support the journey. You have to get off the ground and start moving.

Why don´t we move? Some are control freaks. Yes, some of you need to know everything before you will take action. If I´m talking about you, say yes. Others don´t know what to do, so doing nothing seems like the best course. Consequently, you are the ones stuck on the ground. Maybe you´re afraid that you´ll make a wrong decision or take a wrong turn.

Something else I learned this year is that the Universe loves speed. The entire Universe is one of action. And if we want to be part of the movement, we need to move.

I still vividly remember last December. I had just resigned as president of the network marketing company. I was exhausted and confused as to what to do next. So after a reasonable amount of rest, I just started to take some courses, to dip my toes in the water and to test the waters in a variety of fields. Interestingly as the year progressed, it was a fabulous time of tremendous movement that didn't always look like I thought it would.

What I have discovered is that movement is a series of small steps. Sometimes there are the large leaps of faith but mostly it´s about little things we do in our lives, one day at a time, one week at a time, one month at a time. Is it always exciting or glamorous? No! Do we always have something to “show” for the effort? No! But it is movement. And movement is what creates our amazing lives.

Last night I simply turned the fan up a notch and found immediate relief. Can you turn your life up a notch? I bet you can. And with that movement, constant, steady and even uncertain at times, 2010 will be your most amazing year.

Happy holidays to all of you and the best of the new year!



Jan Janzen is a non-denominational minister, healer and business coach. She is the author of two books and 8 CDs for the spiritual entrepreneur. To receive Jan's complimentary ebook: 10 Secrets to Living the Life of Your Dreams, visit http://www.janjanzendaily.com/

What's Holding You Back From Your Dreams?

By Jan Janzen


Peggy is 3 foot 8 inches tall. As she got on stage at the RISE conference, I just knew that this woman was going to inspire me and I wasn´t disappointed. Her oldest sibling had also been a dwarf but her parents were reassured by the doctors that it wouldn´t happen again. The next two children were of normal stature and then along came Peggy. The doctors had been wrong.


Peggy´s interview was funny and insightful, provocative and inspiring. Later as I spoke with Peggy on a couple of occasions, I fell in love with her spunk and determination to make her impact on the world.


She wasn´t going to let her size, the stigmatism of her stature and ignorance of others stop her in any way, shape or form. Today as an internationally renowned motivational speaker, Peggy has a positive influence on everyone she meets. Every woman I spoke with at the conference had been deeply touched by Peggy.


Peggy shook me up as I realized that as much as I am “out there” living my dream, I am still holding part of me back. I bet you are too. I realized there was a safety buffer I had established psychologically that was in place to protect me and keep me safe. After struggling financially, emotionally and in my career years ago, I was now making sure that any challenges were averted and carefully avoided. I have to say, it didn´t feel particularly good as I realized what I had been doing but it was a great wake-up call.


Anybody I spoke to at length that weekend felt my turmoil as I experienced my own version of what I call Divine Discontent. At the same time, I knew that my life would never be the same. A barrier had been exposed and was in the process of crumbling. A belief I had set up to keep me safe was now outdated and actually limiting.


Are you too staying safe to a fault, protecting yourself from the challenges, issues, and risks of playing life full on? You see, it´s easy to find all the reasons why you can´t live your dream. It´s easy to be complacent, apathetic and distracted. It´s easy to talk about a dream with a sense of longing and at the same time, with a detachment that doesn´t allow it to really get into the fibre of your life and cause change. And these days, it´s certainly easy to let the everyday issues of life push dreams into the deepest recesses of our souls.


But I know that isn´t where my readers want to be. I´ve heard from enough of you over the years to know that the vast majority of you yearn for a life that is contributing, that is more than average, and that is meaningful, passionate and on purpose. You´re not ordinary folks and that is a good thing. The world needs extra-ordinary people who are willing to step up to the plate, look at the challenges and then still move ahead fearlessly.


How can you do that? If you didn´t listen to the teleclass I did last month on Creating Your Amazing Life: 5 simple ways to have more money, less stress and more fun in your life, then register to get it now. Listen to it, take notes and apply the suggestions. I am getting excellent reviews in from people who took action after that teleclass.


Bring your dream up to the front burner of your life and turn it on high. Do something to fuel that dream by talking about it, writing about it, reading about it and getting attached to the dream emotionally. I asked the question in the teleclass: On your deathbed, what will you regret not doing that you can do now?


There are lots of inspirational people like Peggy around the world. Find one or two that inspires you and allow yourself to be inspired. Remove the safety latch, take down the barriers in your mind to living your dream and let´s follow the path of the leaders who are living their dream.


There´s plenty of room for us all.


Go Make It An Amazing Day!





Jan Janzen is a non-denominational minister, healer and business coach. She is the author of two books and 10 CDs for the spiritual entrepreneur. To receive Jan's complimentary ebook: 10 Secrets to Living the Life of Your Dreams, visit www.janjanzendaily.com

The Secret to Creating Your Amazing Life

By Jan Janzen




Creating Your Amazing Life is really nothing more than a step by step formula



to success. However, very few people seem to follow the system for manifesting

what they really want in their life. Why is this so elusive and evasive for the vast

majority of people?







These are the questions and the answers that will be discussed in the upcoming

issues of Creating Your Amazing Life newsletter.



But today I want to give you a very important secret to creating your own

amazing life.



It´s going to sound really simple when I saw it and you may even smack yourself

in the forehead and say, “of course, duh!” But don´t be too hard on yourself

because most people never really get this. And it´s a shame, because it is the

foundational secret to creating a most amazing life.



So take a deep breath in and out and then read the next paragraph because this

one secret can change your life dramatically.



Are you ready? The number one secret to creating your amazing life is to know

what an amazing life looks like for you.



Isn´t that simple but profound?



Let´s imagine you go into a restaurant and sit down with the menu. You notice

the chicken and pasta dish and that sounds pretty good, but so does the salmon

with wild rice. Then again, the special for the night of tenderloin steak with

cognac mushrooms sounds heavenly. Have you ever noticed how much you can

waffle over a silly dinner menu? So many choices. Too many things that sound

good. And that´s without even taking into consideration the price of each dish

which is often the determining factor for many of our decisions.



So let´s leave the restaurant and come back to your life, shall we? Do you feel

overwhelmed by all the choices? Perhaps you´re deciding whether you sell the

house and travel for a year. Alternatively, do you take on an extra project and

pay down the mortgage? Do you quit your job and start the business you´ve

wanted to try forever or do you go for the promotion? Do you end the

relationship that is sucking the life out of you or do you suggest going to the

hottest workshop on men and women in town?



Wow – those are a lot of decisions to make and we make those kinds of

decisions on a daily basis. Or we need to be in order to create an amazing life.



You see CLARITY on what your amazing life looks like is critical to creating it. If

you don´t know what you´re creating, there will be lots of detours, bumps along

the way and more disappointment when you get sidetracked than if you are clear

about where you are headed. Just like in the restaurant, you need to choose a

menu item. You can´t just sit there and expect them to bring you a meal unless

you order it. And have you noticed that sometimes you like your choice and

other times you don´t? It´s very similar to life.



So here´s a few questions to help you get some clarity around your decisions.



• Do you want to live where you currently live?

• What do you like about it? (eg. location, weather, size, convenience)

• What don´t you like? (eg. noise, neighbors, commute to work, layout of

your home)

• Do you like your daily schedule?

• What feels good in your day? (eg. kids, partner, pet, bed, business)

• What feels like an obligation and makes you resentful? (yardwork,

housecleaning, paying bills, babysitting, new puppy)

• If you could do what you wanted for 24 hours, what would you do?

• If you could travel anywhere in the world, where would you go?

• If you could be with any one person today, who would you choose?

• If you had only one thing you could take with you from your house, what

would it be?

• At your funeral, what do you most want people to say about you?



Creating your amazing life is an ongoing journey, not a destination. However, to

even begin reaching anything that resembles amazing, you need to define it.



An amazing life to me means having the health, the resources and the freedom

to explore the world, to be constantly expanding and learning and to feel at

peace with my contribution to this planet on a daily basis while I play in the

sunshine, laugh with my lover and grow with my friends.



It´s actually beautifully summed up in a quote from Atlas Shrugged, a classic

written by Ayn Rand. She said: “What greater wealth is there than to own

one´s life and to spend it on growing.”



Now it´s your turn. By the way, don´t get discouraged if you can´t sum it all up in

a four line paragraph or a memorable quote. There´s no rules about what your

amazing life looks like, how you describe it or how you live it.


So go for it! And together let´s create your most amazing life! You deserve it!


Jan Janzen

© 2009 Women Empowering Women Inc.

Jan Janzen is a non-denominational minister, healer and business coach. She is the
author of two books and 10 CDs for the spiritual entrepreneur. To receive Jan´s
complimentary ebook: 10 Secrets to Living the Life of Your Dreams,
visit http://www.janjanzendaily.com/

Your Comfort or Your Calling

by Cathy Morenzie



What does it take to set a goal and see it through to completion? Where do you find the motivation and inspiration to make up your mind to improve your life for the better?
If you’re anything like me, you know it’s pretty easy to start a project but it’s how you finish that really matters.

60 days ago I started the Start Fast/Finish Strong 100 Day Challenge. I enlisted Preston to do it with me (but that’s another blog post on accountability). At about the 50 day mark, I had an overwhelming feeling of discouragement and frustration.

During this season, God showed me a powerful lesson which I think can also help you in your journey towards reaching your goals.

After starting the 100 day challenge with a lot of zeal, motivation and enthusiasm, I was stopped dead in my tracks at the mid-way point. In retrospect, I see that it was fear that stopped me. In my mind, I believed that the more successful I became, the busier I would become and I envisioned myself losing balance, focus and control of my life. MY schedule was of utmost priority and I did not want that to change. I wanted to only do so much and no more.

So after about a month of getting back to what I thought was 'comfortable,' God led me to the story of Esther.

Queen Esther choose to do whatever it took to fulfil her purpose. Instead of settling for a comfortable life (as a queen), she stepped out of her comfort zone and seized the opportunities that were presented to her and as a result, an entire nation was saved. What if Esther did not step out of the familiar to the unfamiliar? What if she did not obey the calling that God had placed on her life? What if Esther said, "My schedule is kinda full Lord, I can't handle any more?" As I asked myself these questions, I could hear God asking me, "Cathy, do you want to be comfortable all your life or do you want to fulfill your calling."

My answer to Him was and is 'both.' I don't want one in exclusion of the other and I don't think that God wants me to live an 'uncomfortable' life but He showed me that there are times when I have to step out of my comfort zone. There are times when I will be called to do things that don't fit into my schedule. It's usually for a season and is usually followed by a harvest. (Ecc. 3:1, Psalm 1:3). Sometimes we have to do what is difficult regardless of whether we feel like it or not. And He promises to be with us during the entire journey. (Psalm 23:4, Isaiah 41:10)

As you read my testimony, I challenge you to ask yourself the same questions about your goals. Are you willing to do the uncomfortable stuff sometimes? Are you willing to push through when you don't feel like it and when you are out of your comfort zone? What about when you don't have the time? If your answer is a resounding "yes," like mine was, then get back on your horse and continue to dig deep for the motivation to endure to the end.

Keep submitting your health, your goals, your family, your relationships and your finances to God and let Him ease your burdens. That's His promise to you and to me.( Matt.11:28)

I recommit to be led by my calling and not by my comfort level. Will you join me?





Cathy Morenzie has been in the fitness industry for over 20 years. She is a sought after presenter, published writer and fitness trainer who specializes in helping people to lose weight. Her new program "Healthy by Design" teaches people how to lose weight while strengthening their faith. You can learn more about her program and download your free weight release report at http://www.hbdprogram.com/