Summary of “The Success Principles” : This book is for anyone who wants to fulfill their ambitions and their dreams, whether personal or professional: it offers sixty-four practical and inspiring principles that touch upon all aspects of life to lead you to where you really want to be.
By Jack Canfield in association with Janet Switzer, 2015, 624 pages.
Note: This guest chronicle was written by Marie-Noël from the blog Des Editions Label Vie
Chronicle and Summary of “The Success Principles”:
Part One: The Fundamentals of Success
“Learn the fundamental principles of the game and stick to them. Improvised solutions never work” Jack Niklaus
- Take full responsibility for your life
“All blame is a waste of time. No matter how much fault you find with another and regardless of how much you blame him, it will not change you.” Wayne Dyer
The first thing to accept on the road to success is that you are the only person responsible for your life. Not that you know how to prevent events from happening. But you are free to choose the response that you will have in the face of an event.
If you do the same thing every time you are faced with a situation, do not be surprised if it always produces the same results. Take full responsibility for your life if you want to take responsibility for your success one day.
- Discover your “Reason for Living”
“Decide upon your major definite purpose in life. And then organize all your activities around it.” Brian Tracy
Learn to find what motivates you above all else and then organize all your activity around this deep objective. Your true motivation is linked to the role that you think you have in life. It will always give you the resources to move forward because it is closest to the true meaning of your life, what you are fundamentally made for.
- Decide What You Want in Life
“The indispensable first step to getting the things you want out of life is this: Decide what you want” Ben Stein
At the beginning of your existence, you knew exactly what you wanted and did what was required to obtain it. And you got it because you were a baby. As you developed, you were influenced by your family’s prohibitions and beliefs and you came to believe that you couldn’t have everything that you wanted in life. You will have to learn how to target your desires and objectives clearly if you want to achieve them.
- Believe It’s Possible
“Whatever the mind can conceive and believe, it can achieve.” Napoleon Hill
Modern science has demonstrated that our brain responds better not to what is actually happening, but to what we think will happen, and this is because of our past experiences. It is the basis of the placebo effect. By imagining positive expectations, you are putting yourself in the best position for them to happen. If you expect to succeed, then that is what you will do.
- Believe in Yourself
“You have to believe in you when no-one else does – that makes you a winner right there.” Venus Williams
Starting from the preceding principle, you must believe first and foremost that you will be capable of achieving the success (or the thing) that you desire. This is a state of mind that will have to be cultivated. You are responsible for choosing your thoughts. If you waste time thinking that you will not succeed or choose to believe in yourself to reach your goal.
- Don’t be Paranoid
“When life hands you a lemon, squeeze it and make lemonade!” Clement Stone
You can decide that life and other people are conspiring against you and position yourself as the eternal victim. But if you look for the advantage in every situation, you will undoubtedly discover opportunities that you would have missed if you were only focussed on yourself and your bad luck.
- Unleash the Power of Goal-Setting
“You want to set a goal that is big enough that in the process of achieving it you become someone worth becoming.” Jim Rohn
Once you have decided what meaning you want to give to your life, you now have to set clear and precise objectives. Without these, your desires risk remaining dreams. Choose clear and detailed objectives that offer you growth and that represent progress for you. Re-read them three times a day and always keep them close to hand.
- Divide and Conquer!
“The secret of getting started is breaking your complex overwhelming tasks into small manageable tasks, and then starting on the first one.” Mark Twain
Our goals often appear to be overwhelming. In reality, they are composed of small simple tasks that can be completed one after another. For each of your objectives, establish the different steps to implement them and the order in which to program them. Draw mental maps, make lists, plan your day and start at the beginning.
- Success Always Leaves its Mark
“Success always leaves its mark.” Anthony Robbins
Nowadays, practically everything that can be done has probably already been done by somebody else. This means that if that person succeeded, then they have left traces that you can use to your advantage. Look for people who have already succeeded in the field that you want to get involved in, and find out how they succeeded. Contact them, imitate them, take them as your example.
- Release the Brakes
“No problem can be solved from the same level of consciousness that created it.” Albert Einstein
The negative image that you have of yourself, the traumatic experiences that you have not yet overcome and your false beliefs about reality constitute your comfort zone and act like the handbrake on your car. Stop repeating the same experiences over and over and stop believing that things cannot be changed. Change your behavior, change your internal dialogue using positive affirmations and visualization of these affirmations.
- Picture What You Want, And Get It!
“Imagination is everything. It is the preview of life’s coming attractions.” Albert Einstein
Visualization, the art of creating images that hold irresistible power in your mind, is a powerful tool in achieving objectives because it stimulates the creative power of your subconscious, allowing your brain to be on the lookout for new resources in your surroundings and exercising a magnetic draw. Visualize your future, add sounds to it and fill your images with emotions because emotions imprint better than ideas. Use tools such as paintings, photographs, or a visualization notebook.
- Act As If
“Believe and act as if it were impossible to fail.” Charles E.Kettering
Act as if is a proven strategy for success. Act as if sends strong signals to your subconscious which will set to work to find original solutions to establish coherence between one’s perceptions and reality. Act as if you have already arrived wherever it is you want to go and enjoy the emotions associated with your success now.
- Take action
“If your ship doesn’t come in, swim out to it.” Jonathan Winters
You are paid for the results of your actions. Therefore, you must take action. And yet, the temptation to analyze, plan and organize is strong, whereas all you have to do is act. Nothing will happen if you don’t act. Even if you are mistaken, even if you fail, there will always be a way to bounce back. Don’t wait to be perfect to act.
- Go For it! Lean Into Success
“You can’t cross the sea merely by standing and staring at the water” Rabindranath Tagore
When you go for it, you set the universe in motion in the direction you want to take because success will come to meet you if you reach out to meet it. You open yourself up to opportunities, you go from discovery to discovery, instead of standing still and waiting for something to happen to you. Don’t be afraid to set out on your path, to start the journey, even if the end is not in sight. At some point, because you have started, an opportunity will present itself to take you a step further along the way.
- Be Afraid, But Do It Anyway!
“I’ve lived through some terrible things in my life, some of which actually happened.” Mark Twain
Of course, you are going to feel scared. Fear is a natural phenomenon and you have to accept the feeling instead of running away from it. It is not going to kill you. It is uncomfortable but manageable. And the greater your fear, the greater your sense of success will be. You can live with fear or you can overcome it. The more you face up to it, the less fear will scare you.
- Be Prepared to Pay the Price
“If I miss a day of practice, I know it. If I miss two days, my manager knows it. If I miss three days, my audience knows it.” André Previn
Most achievements require a certain amount of work and some sacrifices. Even if your work is driven by passion, it will be preceded by effort, practice, failures: that is the price of excellence. Anyone who has succeeded can tell you a story about how they pushed back their limits, sacrificed a part of their life to carry their project to its conclusion. You have to discover what price you are willing to pay, to do everything that has to be done, and to take the time required to get it done.
- Ask! Go Ask! And Ask!
“You have to ask. Asking is, in my opinion, the world’s most powerful –
and neglected – secret to success and happiness. Percy Ross
Most people are afraid to ask for what they need to move forward: fear of tarnishing their image as a “self-made man”, and above all fear of rejection. You can learn how to ask and you will rapidly realize that you have nothing to lose and everything to gain. But for your request to succeed, you have to ask at least one person who will be in a position to give you what you need.
- Reject Rejection
“I take rejection as someone blowing a bugle in my ear to wake me up and get going, rather than retreat.” Sylvester Stallone
Your requests will not always be successful and you will have to learn to endure rejection. In fact, rejection is a myth. How we interpret rejection is what makes the difference. When it comes down to it before you made your request you had nothing. If the answer is “no”, then you still have nothing after your request.
Your situation remains unchanged. You are the one making a big deal about the “no”. However many “no”s you have to face, if you persevere with your requests, one day a “yes” is bound to happen. Great people have lived through harsh rejections and they did not give up. That is how they became great.
- Use Feedback and Comments to Your Advantage
“Feedback is the breakfast of champions.” Ken Blanchard and Spencer Johnson
To be able to improve, you have to be prepared to listen to feedback. You can also go looking for it because it will be the compass that guides your enterprise to success. Avoid taking criticism personally; it is just an indication of how you can adjust your trajectory. Airline pilots don’t feel resentment towards air traffic control. And yet, the controllers are constantly correcting their position.
- Never Stop Evolving!
“He who stops being better stops being good.” “Olivier Cromwell
To be successful, it is essential to acquire new skills and to adapt your knowledge to the rapid changes of the modern world. If you don’t want to get discouraged, you will need to move forward with small steps and give yourself time to learn. Progress requires time. Often, one tiny step forward can make you stand out from your competitors.
- Be Aware of Your Success
“If you want more of something, you will have to start measuring it.” “Charles Coonradt
Keeping accounts means keeping track: precisely measure your progress, your successes, your objectives. Learn to count everything that happens on your path. Keeping scores naturally incites you to improve them. But measure what you want and not what you don’t want.
- Persevere!
“Fall seven times, get up eight times.” Japanese proverb
The difficulty is of little importance; the more you persevere, the better your chances of success. Perseverance is probably the main quality among all winners. It will not always be easy, but by refusing to abdicate you learn new lessons and develop new skills. Never give up on your dreams or your hopes even if the time you take to reach your goals appears to belong.
- Observe the Rule of “5”
“Success is the sum of small efforts – repeated day in and day out.” Leo Robert Collier
Decide each day to do five precise things that will bring you closer to your objective. Each of these things will allow you to anchor your determination and keep discouragement at bay. Results will always follow determined efforts in the right direction.
- Exceed Expectations
“It’s never crowded along the extra mile.” Wayne Dyer
By genuinely putting yourself at the service of others through your actions and by being ready to satisfy people above their expectations, you are sure to gain some loyal customers who respect the work you do. Always seek opportunities to go one step further, even if nobody asked you to. This will become a symbol of your quality. Always go the extra mile.
Part Two: Transform Yourself for Success
“The greatest discovery of my generation is that a human being can alter his life by altering his attitudes.” William James
- Drop out of the whiners’ club and join the winners’ club
“You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with.” Jim Rohn
Your surroundings and the people you spend time with having an enormous influence over you, and most of the time they prevent you from evolving. Sort through your relationships, seek out people who succeed, motivating relationships that lift you higher. Easy to say, less easy to do. However, you cannot ignore this step.
- Assess Your Past Successes
“You are a living magnet. What you attract in life is in harmony with your dominant thoughts.” Brian Tracy
We generally assign more importance to failures than to successes. Being aware of one’s successes increases self-confidence. Make an inventory of your successes: the most important ones first. Continue to establish the list of the hundreds of others that you never took the trouble to consider. Don’t forget to think about your future successes and to anchor them in the present.
- Keep Your Eye on the Prize
“It is easy to give in to negativity and defeatism. In contrast, an effort is required to remain positive and motivated.” Dona Cardillo
Satisfaction about all your progress is one of your rewards. It is important to learn to make an assessment using a positive approach at the end of the day. And to let a good night’s sleep and your subconscious do the rest.
- Clean Up Your Messes and Finish the Unfinished Projects
“If a cluttered desk is the sign of a cluttered mind, what is the significance of a clean desk?” Laurence J. Peter
Most people cross the thresholds of the various stages of their plans for getting the last one: conclude, achieve, end. Everything that you leave hanging is using part of your psychic energy. Ending things is essential for learning; you have to make room for the new.
- Make Peace with the Past to Better Embrace the Future
“You cannot change the past, but you can change the present and future.” Colin Powell
Among the things to conclude, we often find painful relationships that have been left hanging. Forgiveness is an essential step in moving forward and fully living your now, without being held back by the chains of the past.
- Face what isn’t Working and Fix it
“Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored.” Aldous Huxley
If you want to know success, you have to give up denying things that are obvious confront what is not working: a toxic environment, an unhappy marriage, a lack of energy, excess weight, poor health… Denying reality also takes a lot of energy, and you will realize this when you have successfully confronted the fears hidden behind this denial.
- Embrace Change
“Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future” John F. Kennedy
Change is inevitable; it is the essence of life. You can make it an ally and learn to turn it to your advantage. You cannot control cyclical or structural changes. In contrast, you can adapt your reactions and accommodate these changes.
- Transform Your Inner Critic into a Personal Guide
“Don’t believe anything you hear – even in your own mind.” Daniel G. Amen
Your internal dialogue is eighty percent negative. And your negative thoughts have a decisive effect on your behavior. Your thoughts affect your health and can even kill you. The good news is that you can decide to crush them like ants. You can choose to replace them with constructive thoughts by establishing an encouraging dialogue with your inner critic.
- Transcend the Prison of False Beliefs
“If you say: “I can’t afford it,” your subconscious mind works to make it true. Select a better thought. Dr. Joseph Murphy
Your beliefs are part of the thoughts that are holding you back. They have been anchored in you following negative experiences. The first thing to do is to make a list, and then see how each of them is holding you back, to find an antidote sentence that will cancel it out, and to visualize what you could be without this belief.
- Develop Four New Success Habits Every Year
“Success is a matter of understanding and religiously practicing specific simple habits that always lead to success.” Robert J. Ringer
Eighty percent of our behavior is made up of habits. Habits are what is keeping you where you are. If you are not where you would like to go yet, learn new habits. Start by listing all the ones you would like to get rid of and put a new habit in place to replace them. Then choose 4 to change over the coming year.
- Ninety-nine percent is Hell; One Hundred percent is Ecstasy!
“There is a difference between intention and commitment.” Ken Blanchard
One hundred percent commitment is the only path to success. You must decide to succeed and make every effort to get there: no way back, one track and one track only. Not only must you have the intention of reaching your goal, but you also have to decide what it is once and for all and commit yourself to it 100%.
- Learn and Prosper
“If I am through learning, I am through.” John Wooden
There are different ways to acquire more knowledge and more skills: reduce time spent in front of the television, read more, study the lives of people who have succeeded, participate in conferences and seminars about success. Above all, remain open to new ways of learning, be ready to catch the ball on the rebound, and prepare yourself now for your future success, even if it seems to be distant. Commit to learning your entire life
- Find Motivation in the Masters
“I don’t want to be one of those guys who gives their kids a ton of advice without being able to prove its value. What kind of authority would I have then? How can I convince them to pursue their dreams if I haven’t done it myself?” Jeff Arch
Constant outside motivation makes it possible to counter the early negative indoctrination we received on the subject of success and its possibility. The great masters of motivation record audio footage of almost all their training sessions. This allows you to be in permanent contact with a direct source of motivation.
- Use Passion and Enthusiasm to Fuel Your Success
“Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm.” Ralph Waldo Emerson
When you are in a state of enthusiasm, you are naturally inspired and passionate. This passion comes from love and the pleasure that you take in what you do. It appears when you accomplish what you are destined for. When you are happy and doing something you really enjoy, you are a winner. Choose to live out your passion.
Part Three: Build Your Success Team
“Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much.” “Helen Keller
- Focus on Your Own Genius
“The biggest mistake people make in life is not trying to make a living doing what they most enjoy.” Malcolm Forbes
Your own genius is that activity that requires almost no effort on your part, that you love to do and the idea of getting paid to do it barely registers with you. If you could earn money that way, you would make a profession out of it. Delegate everything else to create time to devote to your productivity.
- Redefine Time
“One of the toughest adaptations that people have to make is about their conception of time and the way to manage it.” Dan Sullivan
It is important to learn to manage your time. Divide it into three major categories: days of high productivity devoted to developing your special expertise, days of preparation that are used to prepare the initial planning, research, training, and days of rest and leisure with or without your family.
- Surround Yourself with an Efficient Team and then Delegate
“If you don’t have an assistant you are one.” Raymond Aaron
All the greats know how to surround themselves with an efficient team to take charge of all the activities associated with their personal genius. Choose the members of your team and then trust them. Some people love to do the tasks that we hate and often do them better.
- Just Say No!
“You don’t have to let yourself be terrorized by other people’s expectations of you.” Sue Patton Thoele
Modern means of communication mean that we are at the disposal of the time thieves. You must learn not to always yield to the wishes of other people and not to respond to all sources of distraction. Forbid yourself from doing things that you know you shouldn’t. Others will sense the boundaries. For the rest, you will have to learn to say no without feeling guilty: you say no for yourself, not against others.
- Refuse the Good to Accommodate the Extraordinary!
“Good is the enemy of better!” Jim Collins
According to the Pareto principle, just 20% of your actions are responsible for 80% of your success. Devote yourself in priority to the 20% of your activity that offers the most cost-effective results. Stop specializing in things of secondary interest. By refusing mediocrity, you make room for the extraordinary.
- Stand on the Shoulders of a Giant
“Successful people rely heavily on their mentors. Ordinary people don’t. It’s that simple.” Robert Allen
Most of the time, despite all the available information, we ask for advice from the people around us instead of getting information from people who have been successful in the field in question. Why don’t you make contact with your mentors? Look for mentors who possess all the qualifications and experience you need to achieve your goal. Determine in advance what you wait for and follow their advice – do not disturb them for nothing. Be prepared to return the service.
- Hire a Personal Coach
“I absolutely believe that people, unless coached, never reach their maximum capabilities.” Bob Nardelli
You are well aware that an international athlete cannot succeed without a coach. So, if you want to do great things, you too must have your personal coaches; business, writing, and marketing coaches and even a personal coach. They will help you to take the best possible decisions for your company or on a personal level.
- Assemble a group of “Great Minds”
“For where two or three gather in my name, I am there with them.” Matthew (18-20)
Popular wisdom tells us that “Two heads are better than one”. So imagine the result if you gather five or six heads to find solutions, exchange ideas, build relationships, encourage you, and to keep each other motivated. In 1937, Napoleon Hill was already talking about this in his book “Think and Grow Rich”. You don’t have to choose them from your area of activity. This will offer you new perspectives on your projects.
- Take Your Own Advice
“All the resources we need can be found in our own mind.” Theodore Roosevelt
Education has taught us to seek the answers to our questions outside ourselves. And yet, most successful people have followed their own intuition. Listen to your “inner voice”. We all have intuition; we just have to develop it. How? Through meditation or by asking yourself questions. Above all, be attentive to the answers from your unconscious and act immediately. The more you trust your intuition, the more it will be available and you will be in a constant flow of intuitive reactions.
Part Four: Create Successful Relationships
“Personal relationships are the fertile soil from which all advancement, all success, all achievement in real life grows.” Ben Stein
- Be Here Now
“Listen to hundreds of times. Reflect thousands of times. Only speak once. “Anonymous
You are enthusiastic about your projects and you want to talk about them when you meet people. Or you are in habit of monitoring and running your teams. But it is often more interesting to listen: when people feel listened to, they will find you friendly, open and…interesting. Even if you do not say a single word about yourself. What’s more, you will discover people’s real needs. This will give you opportunities to respond to them and thereby find an interest in your product or service.
- Have a Heart Talk
“Take time to appreciate different points of view and the emotions that go with them. It can turn former adversaries into partners on the same team.” Cliff Durfee
Opportunities to let out our emotions are somewhat rare in everyday life. Emotions often accumulate to such a point that it is difficult to concentrate on the “business at hand”. The glass is full, leaving no more room to listen to others. It is impossible to listen without first being heard.
The “Heart Talk” is a very structured communication technique. It can be used before or during a staff meeting, at the beginning of a business meeting, after an emotional event, during a conflict between individuals, or regularly to create a heightened sense of belonging.
- Tell the Truth Immediately
“When in doubt, tell the truth.” Mark Twain
Truth often makes us uncomfortable because we fear the consequences. Therefore communication is biased. Hiding the truth requires a lot of psychic effort. In contrast, truth-telling frees our energy. Telling the truth has a powerful therapeutic effect: physical problems disappear, depression dissipates, the joy of living is reborn.
Even if it makes you scared, telling the truth is always beneficial. In business, this honesty will pay more and will give you a “trust capital” that will allow you to win markets even if you do not offer the best price. During an exam, it is often more beneficial to confess ignorance than to show foolishness by inventing wrong answers.
- Express yourself impeccably
“An irreproachable choice of words can lead you to personal freedom.” Don Miguel Ruiz
Taken from the four Toltec agreements, this principle is related to the philosophy of Socrates. Respected spiritual teachers have always preached against scandal-mongering and passing judgment on others.
We often speak unconsciously without measuring the consequences. Whether in reality or energy spheres. What you say to others creates a wave that goes around the world.
Speaking impeccably involves letting your higher “me” express itself: you go on to express yourself with sincerity and integrity. Your words accurately reflect your intentions, your vision, and your dreams.
- When in doubt, check
“There may be an alternative to hard facts, but if there is such a thing, I haven’t heard about it.” J. Paul Getty
Far too many people waste precious time wondering what other people are thinking or what their intentions are. They then make assumptions and make decisions based on pure speculation. All you need to do is ask the other person for clarification to avoid the fear of the unknown lighting up your imagination.
The truth is, without doubt, scarier than what we can imagine: it is possible that once you know all the ins and outs of a situation, you will be forced to make a decision or to position yourself.
- Always be Grateful
“The hunger for love is more difficult to remove than the hunger for bread.” Mother Teresa
“He is leaving his job because of the salary,” think the bosses. “I am leaving my job due to a lack of appreciation and recognition,” said the workers. There is an obvious chasm between employers and employees.
What managers need to understand is that showing gratitude to their staff does not cost them a penny: simply time, respect, and understanding.
But not everyone perceives recognition by the same channels: if you communicate with someone in a way that does not activate his perception, it is a waste of time.
- Be True to Your Word
“Create your future from your future, not your past.” Werner Erhard
There was a time when the given word was sacred. Before making a promise, serious consideration was given to be sure that one could keep one’s word. Nowadays, complex contracts have replaced the given word.
Often, trust has disappeared from business and private life. However, giving your word and taking it back has a high psychological cost that is often unrecognized or ignored. You lose credibility, the trust, and respect of others – your family, your friends, your colleagues, your customers.
Whatever your promise: doing something with your children, submitting a report on time, or tidying the garage. Every promise is ultimately a commitment to oneself. Your integrity and your self-esteem are put into question.
- Be Classy
“There are “models” of excellence in every company; individuals whose behavior becomes an example to follow for all, brilliant and admired beings that we try to emulate.” Dan Sullivan
How do you stand out from the crowd in a world where the majority of people are not aware, and it has to be said, are also “so ordinary”? You have to detach yourself from artificial conventions to access a world of higher consciousness, creativity, and success.
You should draw on the following attitudes: inspire others and train them to give the best of themselves, show more compassion, wage war on meanness, small-mindedness, and vulgarity…
Being classy will help you to succeed.
Part Five: Success and Money
“There is a science for getting rich, and it is as accurate a discipline as algebra or arithmetic. There are laws that govern the process of acquiring wealth, and when they are learned and implemented, they lead any person to fortune with mathematical certainty. “Wallace D. Wattles
- Develop a Healthy Attitude Towards Money
“There is a secret psychology of money that most people know nothing about. It explains their failure at a financial level.” T. Harv Eker
Most people aspire to success but never get over their erroneous beliefs about wealth, money, and the rich… This is the first thing to do if you want to attain success: determine, uproot and replace all your negative beliefs about the subject. “Money can’t buy happiness”, “Money doesn’t grow on trees”, “Money is the root of all evil”, and you know many others.
It is important to identify all the beliefs that were received most of the time in our early childhood, conveyed by our entourage. The weight of the family and unconscious family loyalty are major obstacles to wealth.
57. You Will Get What You Want Most
“If you don’t put a value on money and seek wealth, you most probably won’t receive it. “ Dr John Demartini,
You have to decide to become rich. Decide what being rich means for you. And exactly how much money this represents.
- “I will have a net worth of …€…”
- “I will make at least…€ next year “
- “I will save and I will invest …€ per month”
- “The new financial habit that I am adopting now is…”
- “To have no more debts, I will…”
Put a price on your dreams: if you want to buy a new car, be aware of how much it will cost you to be as precise as possible about your dreams, desires, and objectives.
- Pay Yourself First
“You have a divine right to abundance, and if you are anything less than a millionaire, you haven’t had your fair share.” Stuart Wilde
Start by reading George Clason’s book: “The Richest Man of Babylon”, written in 1926, and one of the great all-time classics about success. The first principle shared by the hero in this tale is “Pay yourself first”. In other words, put 10% of all your earnings to one side to make them work for you. They will only serve as an investment for your retirement (or before).
Albert Einstein said that the capitalization of interest was the eighth wonder of the world.
Even if you have the feeling that it is impossible to do, try it and test it. The more money we have at our disposal, the more we spend, the less we have, the more we are content with what we have. Understand the mechanisms of richness and …become rich euro after euro.
- Master the Art of Spending
“Too many people spend money they don’t have, buying things they don’t want to impress people they don’t like.” Will Rogers
If you want to become rich, or even very rich, the first thing to do is to spend less! This seems obvious at first, yet, how much money do you spend without even knowing where it has gone? There are some very simple little tricks to reduce your expenditures.
And especially, repay your debts as quickly as possible: as soon as a loan matures, use the monthly payment to repay another one faster.
- To Spend More Money, Earn More
“First I discover what the world needs, and then I invent it.” “Thomas A. Edison
According to the laws of successful objectives, if you want to earn more money, you must determine the exact amount you want. Then find or invent an activity that responds to a need and the means to bridge the gap. Be imaginative or start a business online, join a network marketing company. But don’t try to make money just to make money! Money must always be in exchange for value-added for others.
- Give and You Will Receive
“Money is like manure. If you spread it around, it does a lot of good. But if you pile it up, it will stink.” “Junior Murchinson
Money has to circulate if you want it to come your way. So you should spread it around in return: offer the world your financial contribution. Remember, however, that we are not generous because we want something in return, but because we have already received it.
If you are reading this article, then it is likely that you are among the 10% of the richest people on Earth. The benefits in terms of the popularity of sharing wealth are incalculable. The more generous you are, the more generous the world will be with you.
- Find a Cause to Serve
“One of the most beautiful consolations in life is that man cannot sincerely try to help his neighbor without helping himself.” Ralph Waldo Emerson
The greatest levels of peace and satisfaction come from the assistance that we can offer others. What’s more, it is a movement that goes both ways – the more generous we are with others, the more we reap the rewards of our own generosity. This is a universal principle.
Decide what is important for you: what cause do you admire? Humanitarian work? Youth? Teaching? Your spiritual community? Rehabilitating prisoners? The homeless? Volunteer to put your talents at the service of others; you will get much more in return compared to what you have given. Always focus on giving rather than receiving. It will only increase your sympathy capital.
Part Six: Success Starts Today
“No amount of reading or memorizing will make you successful in life. It is the understanding and application of wise thought that counts.” Bob Proctor
- Start Right Now! Go on!
“Jump, and you will find out how to unfold your wings as you fall.” Ray Bradbury
There is no ideal time to launch or else you will get to your last day without having fulfilled your dreams. If you have a goal, take the first step. Once you are in the scrum, opportunities to improve will present themselves.
Popular wisdom tells us that “Practice makes perfect.” Stop waiting to be perfectly ready: this will never happen. The major part of life is spent learning on the job. Even if you are shaking, you must dare all the same.
It is time to put into practice all the principles of this book and to set them in motion. Once on the road, you will find that events will take place always in an unpredictable manner. So stop trying to control everything.
- Empower Yourself by Empowering Others
“If you would thoroughly know anything, teach it to others.” Tyron Edwards
Most people on Earth are not feeling so good. Their lives lack meaning or they do not know the first principle of this book: “Take 100% responsibility for your own life”. After reading this book, you are going to be able to change your life and change those of others. You can now teach others how to take the reins of their own life. Is this not the best proof of love that you can give them?
Conclusion about “The Success Principles” by Marie-Noël
How did this book change my life? I have been “hanging around” the world of personal development for more than 25 years now and I already knew quite a few of these principles explained differently. But I could not remember any of what I had learned; it was sleeping in a little corner of my unconscious! And I had mixed everything up as well!
To bake a cake, you need to have a recipe and you need to follow it in the right order. If you forget an ingredient, if you invert one step of the preparation, it’s all over. You can just throw it all away.
Sometimes, you do end up with a cake: it leans to one side, it is too dry, too sweet, too…
My life looked like a semi-successful cake. (Note that I didn’t say semi-unsuccessful…)
Thanks to the “recipe” of The Success Principles, I was able to find the errors I had committed, the steps that I had forgotten or muddled up.
I started over: I started my own business and I turned my dreams of becoming an author into reality.
For all that, it is the work of a lifetime: I sense that the vocation of pastry chef of success is strong in me. And I also want you to take advantage of it.
This book is a real handbook towards success. After reading it, you will no longer be able to say: “I didn’t know”. And that is what makes it extremely troubling.
Concrete examples show you that these principles are applicable in reality and are not just nice ethereal theories.
You may agree or disagree with some or find some advice to be totally absurd or unnecessary. But the principles that underlie this advice cannot be ignored.
This book transforms your way of thinking and of looking at success.
Let’s keep it in our heads: if you conscientiously put in practice all the practical exercises proposed by Jack Canfield, your daily “rituals” of success will take up most of your day!!!!! It is therefore important to choose the ones you agree with and apply them regularly.
Consider this book like a grammar book for a foreign language: at the beginning, you need to dive in and make an effort to remember the theory and exercises. After a while, you no longer need to carry it around with you as the principles are integrated into your speech.
One of the proposals of this book bothers me as a therapist: the repeated and constant use of positive thinking (“I’m fine, everything is fine”). It’s not that this technique is wrong or ineffective, it is just poorly interpreted.
It is often the cause of denial of negative emotions which arrive in a deluge when the positive thinking is too disconnected from reality.
Asking a question instead of making an assertion is more effective for our brain and forces the unconscious to work instead of to turn away.
This is just one detail in the mass of great advice that I read among these 64 principles of success. They bring together and explain the principles that you have already heard over the course of books, eBooks, blogs, sites, or seminars that you have already read or experienced.
Even if you do not apply anything, you may come across just one sentence: the one that could change your life!
Strength points of the book The Success Principles:
- Very pleasant readability visually and easy to read
- Well-documented and well-referenced principles allow you to take things further if you wish
- Inspiring quotes
- Numerous anecdotes related to each principle
- Impressive bibliography
Weak points of the book The Success Principles:
- Its weight! 806 grams
- Not currently available in digital format
- References to a lot of American people that may not be familiar to us (or perhaps just to me)
The score from Marie-Noël of the blog Des Editions Label Vie:
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(1 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)
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