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an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers 2020

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FIRST EDITION

© Jack Canfield 2020

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Contents

Cover

Title Page

Copyright

Introduction: Best Practices for Using Your Workbook

I. The Fundamentals of Success

1. Take 100% Responsibility for Your Life

2. Be Clear Why You’re Here: Determine Your Life Purpose

3. Decide What You Want: Envision Your Ideal Life

4. Use the Power of Goal-Setting to Achieve Your Vision

5. Use Affirmations and Visualizations

6. Believe It’s Possible

7. Take Action!

8. Everything You Want Is on the Other Side of Fear

9. Ask Without Fear of Rejection

10. Ask for Feedback Early and Often

11. Practice Persistence

II. Transform Yourself for Success

12. Practice Meditation

13. Clean Up Your Messes and Your Incompletes

III. Build Your Success Team

14. Surround Yourself with Successful People

15. Start a Mastermind Group and Work with an Accountability Partner

IV. Create Successful Relationships

16. Have a Heart Talk

V. Success and Money

17. Develop a Positive Money Mind-set

Your Life Success Journal

Suggested Reading and Additional Resources for Success

About the Authors

Praise for The Success Principles™ Workbook

More Inspiring Titles From Jack Canfield

About the Publisher

For journal entries, fill-in-the-blank lines, and fill-in-space sections please use your e-reader’s Notes feature.

Introduction: Best Practices for Using Your Workbook

The most difficult part of any endeavor is taking the first step, making the first decision.

ROBYN DAVIDSON

Award-Winning Australian Author

What does it take to become a success at anything you want in life? What do the world’s top achievers do to excel in their careers, finances, philanthropic endeavors, relationships, and more? Is there something special about them—qualities that other people simply don’t have? Or is there a “secret formula” that we can all follow to help us succeed?

There is.

And for the past 40 years, I’ve made it my life’s work to research, understand—then teach—these “secret” principles of success.

Of course, like most people, I was not brought up with any kind of self-help or human-potential concepts. I grew up in Wheeling, West Virginia; my mother was an alcoholic and my father was a workaholic. As a kid, I took summer jobs to make ends meet. And later, while I was fortunate enough to go to college on a scholarship, I paid for my books, clothes, and dates by serving breakfast in the campus dining hall. The money I earned never went very far. In fact, by the end of the month, I was so broke, you’d find me eating my famous “21¢ dinners”—a 10¢ can of tomato paste and garlic salt over an 11¢ bag of spaghetti noodles.

All that, however, was about to change.

After graduation, I was teaching high school history in inner-city Chicago when a chance job offer from insurance multimillionaire and personal-growth pioneer W. Clement Stone fostered a brand-new career for me: working for his foundation and teaching others the fundamental principles of success he had identified and written about in his bestselling books.

I immersed myself in this fascinating work. Not only did I vow to make it my own lifelong pursuit to study what works, I applied these principles to my own life, eventually started my own training company, and started teaching others these principles, too. It’s a career path I’ve followed for more than 40 years.

Along the way, I discovered there’s a series of principles by which successful people live. They don’t always start with lots of money or high-level connections or other privileged circumstances, but they do take action on goals that matter. They plan and they focus and they persevere. They become constant learners. They keep score on the critical drivers of their success. They believe in themselves. They have a positive money consciousness. And they surround themselves with successful people.

These are the fundamentals by which I’ve lived my life, and they were the principles I was enthusiastically teaching in the late 1980s when repeated requests from audience members inspired me to collect the stories I told from stage into a book called Chicken Soup for the Soul®. When 144 publishers turned me down for the book, I again applied these principles and persevered until one publisher finally said yes.

Today, 26 years later—with 230 Chicken Soup titles in the series and more than 550 million books in print—these ground rules are still serving me in my career, relationships, pursuits, and life. My second book series, The Success Principles™, is the compendium of these proven fundamentals of success. It’s now in 36 languages and has readers in 112 countries.*

But what about you? What can you do to achieve all that you want . . . and more?

As a follow-up, companion guide to The Success Principles, this workbook is designed to help you get from where you are to where you want to be. Whether you’ve read the original Success Principles book or not, you’re in the right place. This Workbook is designed with both readers in mind.

If you’re already familiar with the success principles, this Workbook will help you put them into daily practice. And if you’re new to personal-growth work, each chapter will give you the essential information you need to learn, understand, and put into action the individual principles you discover.

ALL THAT YOU WANT TO BE, DO, AND HAVE IS POSSIBLE BY COMPLETING THE CHAPTERS IN THIS BOOK

Throughout this book are 17 chapters detailing the most important principles I teach. These are the basics that will help you take control of your outcomes—and take the right actions toward achieving the life of your dreams.

We’ll start with Chapter 1, the fundamental principle you must follow: Take 100% Responsibility for Your Life.

One of the most pervasive myths today is that we’re entitled to a great life—that somehow, somewhere, someone (certainly not us) is responsible for filling our lives with continual happiness, exciting career options, nurturing family time, and blissful personal relationships simply because we exist. But the real truth—and the one lesson this entire workbook is based on—is that there’s only one person responsible for the quality of the life you live.

That person is you.

When you realize that you—not your circumstances, not other people—are responsible for your success (or lack of it), your life will dramatically shift. When you accept that your actions (or your failure to act), your thoughts, your beliefs, the words you say to yourself, and the pictures you hold in your mind have tremendous sway over your results, then you will have taken the most important step of all toward a life of freedom, abundance and fulfillment. Chapter 1 will teach you that you always have a choice about what you think and how you act. You have a choice in how you respond to life’s events. Once you realize that, you’ll have regained your power—the power to create the life you truly want.

Other chapters will follow to help you decide what you want, set and achieve goals, ask for what you want, clean up your incompletes, build a support network of smart people . . . and much more.

And within each chapter, you’ll find a number of tools to help you apply what you learn. I’ll even help you create a new habit around each principle, so you can sustainably implement it day after day. It’s these kind of combined actions that will steadily bring you success.

So, what can you look forward to as you shortly turn the page and start your journey?

“Discovering More About You” Exercises & Worksheets

Within each chapter, exercises of different kinds will help you get into action applying The Success Principles to your life. The first of these is called Discovering More About You. For example, in Chapter 14, you’ll learn to surround yourself with successful people. Author Jim Rohn once said, “You are the average of the five adults you spend the most time with.”

Not only is that a powerful condemnation of the toxic and limiting people in your life, it’s also a compelling wake-up call to surround yourself with solution-oriented, possibility thinkers. That’s what top achievers do. They cultivate relationships with a core group of people who can help them on their path to success.

To help you apply this principle to your life, I provide an exercise and worksheet called Your Current and Future Groups that asks you to list the people you spend time with—then evaluate whether they’re a benefit or an obstacle to your growth, progress, and success. The worksheet called Your Ideal Mentors asks you to create a list of at least 10 people with specific skills—either by name or description of their job title—from whom you could learn the most. I often ask my national sales audiences how many attendees know the name of the top salesperson in their company. After virtually everyone raises their hand, I ask, “How many of you have approached that person to ask their strategies for success? And how many of you have asked that person to mentor you?” Virtually no one raises their hand. This exercise will help you surround yourself with successful people.

And other, similar exercises and worksheets are included in every chapter.

Make-It-a-Habit Worksheets

Did you know it takes 21 to 30 days of repeated action to create a new habit in your life? Habits are those things we do almost without thinking, and—for better or worse—these habits put our life on autopilot toward success or mediocrity. To help you put your own success on autopilot, I’ve featured Make-It-a-Habit worksheets in each chapter that are designed to help you sustainably practice that principle, every day or every week, for the rest of your life.

What’s an example of these worksheets? In Chapter 7: Take Action!, I reveal that taking action toward your goals not only skyrockets your confidence, it puts you in the game doing what you need to do instead of keeping you on the sidelines—a spectator who’s only thinking about or talking about what you want. To help you create the daily habit of being in action toward your goals, I feature a worksheet called Practice the Rule of 5—where, every morning, you can record those five tasks you must achieve by the end of the day.

Your Life Success Journal

Of course, once you’ve completed the exercises, it’s time to permanently embed these lessons and insights into your consciousness by frequently reviewing what you’ve learned. I’ve included an easy tool for that: at the back of this workbook is Your Life Success Journal—a section where you can record the insights you learned along the way. At the end of each chapter, you’ll be prompted to find the appropriate pages in the Life Success Journal, answer a few questions, and make notes about your newfound knowledge. This way, once you’ve completed the Workbook, you’ll be able to quickly locate what was most important to you.

Affirmations

Finally, each chapter contains an affirmation for you to use as you’re assimilating that principle into your life.

Affirmations are vividly detailed statements of you living, working, and enjoying life as if your goals had already been achieved. Affirmations help the brain focus on bringing about your heartfelt desires. I’m happily depositing my first $100,000 royalty check as a bestselling author, is one example of an affirmation. I’m joyfully receiving the company’s top sales award, is another.

How Do Affirmations Work?

As scientists now know, the brain is a goal-seeking organism. If you give it a compelling, colorful, crystal-clear image of what you want—by frequently repeating an affirmation statement that describes that “want”—it will work night and day to create the opportunities, contacts, resources, and circumstances needed to achieve that vision. In fact, the brain has a special part called the reticular activating system that filters through the millions of impressions, images, sensations, messages, and thoughts it processes each day and passes to your conscious mind that specific information which will help you reach your goal.

I’ll talk more about the power of affirmations in Chapter 5. But before then, you’ll notice an affirmation at the beginning of each chapter. As you’re working on a single chapter, I recommend that you repeat its affirmation several times a day. As you read, feel the positive emotions that arise—joy, pride, confidence, gratitude—as you experience achieving that goal in your mind’s eye.

OUR ROLES: MINE AND YOURS

As I share with you the principles and lessons I’ve researched and implemented over a lifetime, you’ll discover that—while you and I are in this process together—practicing what it takes to create success is up to you. Whether it’s having more money, experiencing more fulfilling relationships, enjoying more time off, making a greater difference in the world, or being the person you know you were meant to be, I can only provide you with a practical plan for implementing these principles and making their use a habit—today, tomorrow, and for the rest of your life.

That’s my role.

Your Role

This is where you come in. It’s one thing for me to share this knowledge with you. But it’s something else entirely for you to take action on this newfound knowledge. This is not a book for you simply to read. Rather, it’s a book for you to do. Your doing will make all the difference in getting the life you want.

HOW TO GET THE MOST FROM THIS BOOK

What’s the best way to get the most from this workbook? Be willing to take these principles seriously—as though your future depended on it. Catch yourself if you start to think, I already know about this (especially if you’ve already read the original The Success Principles book). Instead, ask yourself, But am I doing this? And then think about how your application of an individual principle can benefit you and bring about the life you want.

Commit to Studying One Chapter a Week . . . Or More

Read one chapter a week and complete all of its exercises—a commitment that should take about one to two hours of your time. Then, during the next seven days, allow the ideas you just learned to simmer. Practice the Make-It-a-Habit daily activities from that chapter during the week, too.

Finally, When You’re Ready, Make “The Decision”

At some point, as you’re studying and applying these principles—or when you’ve tested enough of these principles for yourself—you might find yourself on the brink of a very important decision: whether or not, once and for all, you’ll take a stand on behalf of your own future.

After all the books you’ve read and the self-improvement programs you’ve tried, you might realize that what’s really needed now is your commitment to stick with this Workbook to the very end and practice these success principles in earnest—perhaps for the rest of your life.

Remember, the principles always work, if you always work the principles.

It might be difficult. It might be uncomfortable. It might require you to do things you never believed you could do before. But your newly focused and success-oriented life can only begin when you make the decision to stick with the process, follow the directions, take one step at a time, and complete the chapters in this Workbook week after week. Along the way, you may also decide that you’ll fully adopt these principles and make them an ongoing part of your life—not just for the rest of your life, but for the best of your life.

Your Option: Find a Success Partner and Make This Journey Together

While there’s great value in going through this Workbook on your own, you’ll experience even more impact if you find a partner and go through the Workbook together. Just like having a yoga buddy or a running partner, you can encourage and support each other through the process, have fun together, and increase the likelihood of staying on track with your progress.

MY PROMISE TO YOU

Here’s my pledge to you: By learning these principles and following their guidelines, your life will never be the same. You’ll not only experience the freedom of knowing you’re in charge of your own destiny, you’ll have the knowledge and power you need to take the action required to create the success you long for.

Yes. It is possible.

You have what you need in your head . . . and in your hands. Be assured that hundreds of thousands have come before you—learning and applying these principles with great success. It is truly possible for you to experience profound, rapid, and lifelong change, too. These principles work. Learn them and apply them.

FINALLY, STAY IN TOUCH!

We’d love to stay connected with you on your journey. Engaging, asking questions, and celebrating your wins is proven to further your success even more, so make a commitment to stay connected!

We look forward to hearing about your breakthroughs and successes.

Please send us your thoughts at workbook@jackcanfield.com or tag us on social media!

@jackcanfield_official

@jackcanfieldfan

@jackcanfield

@canfieldjack

*You’ll find The Success Principles: How to Get from Where You Are to Where You Want to Be at all major bookstores and online retailers in most major languages. Special editions for teens, life coaches, and other readers are available, too.

Part One

The Fundamentals of Success

Success is neither magical nor mysterious. Success is the natural consequence of consistently applying the basic fundamentals.

JIM ROHN

Motivational Philosopher

Chapter

1

Take 100% Responsibility for Your Life

The moment I take responsibility for everything in my life is the moment I gain power to change anything in my life.

Affirmation Based on a Quote by

HAL ELROD

In ancient days, architects and builders had few measuring tools. As a result, the most important step when building a structure was the placement of the very first block of stone. All the remaining stones were placed based on this first stone: the cornerstone.

The cornerstone of all the success principles is this one: Take 100% responsibility for your life. Everything else rests upon fully understanding and applying this principle. If you are really finally ready to begin to do what it takes to go achieve your next level of success, happiness, and the fulfillment you desire, then I want you to fully commit yourself to the study and application of this principle.*

If there were an easier way to have the life of your dreams, believe me, I would tell you. Really. I learned this first principle myself more than 30 years ago, and it has made all the difference in the success that I and the hundreds of thousands of my students have achieved.

TAKE RESPONSIBILITY

To take 100% responsibility for your life and your results means that you accept the fact that you are the one in charge of all the results you produce. When you fully realize that you—not your circumstances and not other people—are responsible for your success or lack of success, your life will dramatically shift. When you realize that it is your actions or lack of action, your thoughts and beliefs, and the pictures that you create in your mind, then you will have taken the most important step you can take toward a life of freedom, abundance, and fulfillment. When you realize you always have a choice in every moment about what you think and how you act, you will have reclaimed your power—the power to create the life you truly want.

There is an important formula that captures the simple essence of this truth.

E + R = O

EVENT + RESPONSE = OUTCOME

The essence of this formula is that everything you are currently experiencing (your current Outcomes) are the result of how you Responded to earlier Events in your life. And if you don’t like your current outcomes (your health, your weight, your income, your total savings, the quality of your possessions, the quality of your relationships, your level of happiness, your golf score, your job, your sales numbers, where you live . . . everything you currently have and are experiencing), then you have to change the way you are responding to the events that show up in your life!

Let me give you an example.

Let’s say you are given a $4,000 bonus at the end of the year. That’s an event. One response, after taxes are taken out, is to invest the remaining $3,200. The outcome of that is that one year later you have an additional net worth of $3,394. If your response is to spend your bonus, you have no additional net worth. Same event . . . two different outcomes.

Here’s another example. Someone offers you a large piece of chocolate cake at the office party. One response is to eat it. The outcome from that would be to put on more weight. The other response would be to politely refuse it, saying you are cutting back on your sugar intake, and the outcome from that is you maintain your body weight.

Life is 10 percent what happens to you and 90 percent how you respond to it.

LOU HOLTZ

Legendary College Football Coach and ESPN Analyst

There are only three responses (R’s) that you have any control over—your thoughts, the visual images that you create in your mind, and your behavior, which includes what you say (or don’t say) and your actions (what you do or what you don’t do). That is all you have control over.

You might be asking, “What about feelings? Aren’t they a response?” Actually 99% of feelings are an outcome of how you think about something. If you reject me, in order for me to feel sad or angry, I have to first think a thought like, No matter what I do, nobody ever accepts and includes me; I am going to be alone forever.

One of the greatest differences between successful people and those who would merely like to be is how they respond to the events and opportunities in their lives. Here is another example of the same event, with different responses producing different outcomes.

Event | + Your Response | = Outcome
Your spouse forgets your birthday. | You tell yourself, “S/he forgot my birthday. That means s/he doesn’t love me.” | You feel sad and depressed, and your self-esteem takes a hit.

Event | + Your Response | = Outcome
Your spouse forgets your birthday. | You tell yourself, “Somebody who loves me forgot my birthday. I wonder what’s going on with them?” | You end up feeling concerned, but you still have high self-esteem.

WHAT GETS IN THE WAY OF TAKING RESPONSIBILITY?

If taking responsibility for one’s life were easy, everyone would do it. So, what’s up? It turns out that it’s easier to complain about the way things are, to blame others and to make excuses, than to change one’s behavior. Changing is uncomfortable. It takes disciplined effort and intentionally stepping outside of one’s comfort zone. And most people would rather be comfortable than uncomfortable. Let’s take a deeper look at blaming, complaining, and excuse making.

BLAMING: YOU HAVE TO GIVE IT UP

When most people don’t achieve the level of success they want in their life, they tend to blame people and things outside themselves. They blame their boss, their coworkers, their parents, their spouse, their children, economic conditions, high prices, Wall Street, the government, the other political party, the media, the traffic, and the weather.

The bad news: To have the success you want, you have to give up blaming. The good news: As soon as you do, you will experience greater power and energy in your life, and you will attract other positive and powerful people to be around you.

Blaming Mind-set: | It is not my fault. It’s because of what they did. They are responsible.
Success Mind-set: | When I look beyond blaming, I can see how I actually created or allowed this, and I can begin to search for and find ways to get the result I want.

Once you realize that you created it the way it is, you then have the power to uncreate and re-create it the way you want it.

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

Author of Change Your Thoughts—Change Your Life

Take another look at blaming with this example.

Blaming

Event: | Your coworkers continually miss deadlines, causing you to work late to bring projects in on time.
Your Response: | You blame your coworkers and management, but say nothing.
Outcome: | You end up working late many nights, straining your marriage and family relationships, and jeopardizing your health.

No Blaming

Event: | Your coworkers continually miss deadlines, causing you to work late to bring projects in on time.
Your Response: | You find ways to streamline the process, and then quietly present your plan to the team leader.
Outcome: | The manager creates an expanded role for you, giving you more oversight on projects, which leads to increased responsibility, and eventually an increase in salary . . . and you are home earlier to spend time with your family and get more sleep.

The truth is, when confronted with a negative event, successful people look beyond blaming and finger-pointing. Instead, they look for new ways to resolve it. They say something or do something rather than blame someone.

HOW TO GIVE UP BLAMING

Are you willing to give up all blaming? That is the first question you need to ask yourself. If your answer is no, put away this workbook until you are ready to make some changes to get the success you want. If your answer is yes, great. Here is how to do it. The first step is to recognize and acknowledge the blaming that you have been doing up until now.

DISCOVERING MORE ABOUT YOU:

Blaming

Check any of the following blaming thoughts that you have used to justify your current life situation. I don’t have the success I want because:

□ I had a difficult childhood. It’s my family’s fault.

□ The college I went to was not very good. It’s their fault.

□ My spouse doesn’t support my dreams. It’s his/her fault.

□ The company I work for doesn’t respect me or my ideas. The management is to blame for how I feel.

□ My friends aren’t very ambitious, so neither am I. It’s their fault.

□ The reason I am broke is because the economy is terrible/my company doesn’t pay a fair wage/my spouse spends every penny I make/my kids are spoiled/immigrants have taken all the jobs/all the good jobs have moved offshore.

□ I’m overweight because of the food my wife cooks.

Add your own:

1 Up until now, I have blamed for .

2 Up until now, I have blamed for .

3 Up until now, I have blamed for .

The statements you have written above may in fact be true, but they do not need to continue to stop you from going after the success you want. You can change those blaming thoughts to thoughts of responsibility.

For each of the statements you wrote above, write a new “no-blame” thought to replace it. Here are a couple of examples:

Blaming: | The reason I’m not more successful is because my spouse doesn’t support my dreams.
No-Blaming Thought: | Even though my spouse may not support my dreams, I can still take the necessary actions to create a better life.
Blaming: | The reason I’m not making more money is because I don’t have any real options.
No-Blaming Thought: | Even though I don’t see any obvious options, the real reason I’m not making more money is because I haven’t thought creatively and pursued new opportunities.

No-Blaming Exercise

For each of the blaming thoughts you listed above, write a new no-blame thought of how you can be successful regardless.

1 Instead of blaming for ,I could do this:

2 Instead of blaming for ,I could do this:

3 Instead of blaming for ,I could do this:

Stretch opportunity! If you want to take it further after filling in your answers, go back and change the words “I could do this” above to “I will do this.” Go ahead; try it out.

COMPLAINING: YOU HAVE TO GIVE IT UP

Do any of the following statements sound familiar?

My supervisor ignored the special report she requested—again!

My spouse constantly hounds me about the way I eat.

The yoga instructor always starts late.

Here is what’s interesting about complaining: In order to complain, you have to know there is something better available that you would prefer . . . but that you are not willing to take the necessary action to create. You would rather complain because it protects you from having to take the risk to create it the way you want. When you complain, what you’re really saying is, “I have something I prefer, but I’m not willing to risk creating it . . . so I’ll complain to you instead.”

If you complain about your spouse hounding you about the way you eat, you have to have in mind what you would prefer: either for your current spouse to leave you alone, or for a different spouse who doesn’t hound you—like the spouse you have seen at a friend’s house or on a TV show.

Have you noticed that people don’t complain about gravity? It’s because they know they can’t change it. People do complain about their jobs because they know there is a better job out there somewhere, but choose not to change jobs. People do complain about the weather, because they know there is someplace with better weather and that they could move there. But they choose not to, so they complain instead.

Complaining can dissipate some of the energy of an upset, but it doesn’t change the outcome you are experiencing. It also keeps you feeling powerless. With each complaint you express, you give away more of your power. If you want to be successful, you have to stop complaining—now! You will need all of your mental, emotional, and physical strength to take the actions you need to take to go after the success you want.

I know it’s common to complain. It is often socially acceptable, even expected and affirmed, in many groups. If complaining is the norm for the people you spend time with, if you find yourself in an “Ain’t It Awful!” club, you need to quit that club. If they won’t stop complaining, you have to stop spending time with them. You need to surround yourself with responsible, solution-oriented people.

DISCOVERING MORE ABOUT YOU:

Complaining

1 Write down your four biggest complaints.Consider work, family members, finances, body weight, traffic, or other.Sample Answers: It is so hard to lose these extra 10 pounds! My spouse keeps me up all night long with his/her snoring. The people on the town council are all corrupt.(a)(b)(c)(d)

2 For each item you wrote above, write down what you prefer to have. For the most benefit, start each line with, I prefer to have . . . and end each line with, . . . but instead I complain about how . . . (Rewriting may seem tedious, but it allows for deeper learning.)Sample Answer: I prefer to weigh 10 pounds less! But instead I complain about how hard it is to lose weight.(a)(b)(c)(d)

3 Change your complaints to actions.For each complaint in #1 above, complete this phrase: Instead of complaining, I could do to get what I want.Sample Answer: Instead of complaining, I could begin to exercise at least 30 minutes a day.(a)(b)(c)(d)

From now on, whenever you start to complain, you will more likely notice it and catch yourself. You may also be less likely to tolerate complaining from others as you realize there are actions they could take to resolve the situation if they chose to.

MAKING EXCUSES: YOU HAVE TO GIVE IT UP

Dear Reader: I was going to make this a better workbook for you, but I got tired. I ran out of ideas, and I didn’t have enough time. Would you accept that? I hope not. Instead of offering excuses, I am offering you the best possible Workbook, based on research and best practices, for implementing the success principles. I am totally 100% responsible for that. You are not interested in my excuses—only my results, so you’ll get no excuses from me.

HOW EXCUSES STEAL YOUR FUTURE

When you don’t achieve the result you want, or you don’t have the life you want, it is natural and easy to make excuses. You hear people making excuses every day. Making excuses is a response to an event. It is a way of justifying your current results, but it is simply an ineffective response that does not produce a better result. Making excuses disempowers you and prevents you from thinking creatively about what you can do differently.

To create the life and success you desire, you will need to give up all your excuses. Let me say that again because it is so important: To create the life and success you long for, you will need to give up all your excuses. This includes all the reasons you give for why things are the way they are. When you take your focus away from your excuses, you will be able to see clearly why things are the way they are, and focus on what you can do to create what you want.

In the next exercise, you will have the chance to see in writing some of the excuses you’re making that you may not recognize.

HOW TO RESOLVE A LONG-STANDING PROBLEM

In my workshops, I often pair people together and ask them to “coach” each other through the following exercise called the “Difficult or Troubling Situation Exercise,” which helps resolve long-standing problems without blaming, complaining, or making excuses.

Difficult or Troubling Situation Exercise

Take a look at the sample responses below before completing the exercise for yourself.

1 What is a difficult or troubling situation in your life?I’ve been wanting to start my own training business for two years, but I keep putting it off.

2 How are you creating it or allowing it to happen?I keep putting off deciding exactly what I want to teach, and even deciding what to call the business.

3 What are you pretending not to know?It has been eating me up inside, and I want to get going.

4 What is the payoff for keeping it like it is?At least I won’t make a mistake and look foolish to my friends and family.

5 What is the cost for not changing it?I’m miserable in my current job, and I’ll remain miserable if I don’t take action.

6 What would you rather be experiencing?I want to feel like I am walking my talk, that I am “all in” with my life, and that I’m fulfilling my true purpose by doing what I really long to do.

7 What actions will you take to create that?I will decide what topic to start with, create a new Web site, start blogging, and launch my new business.

8 By when will you take that action?By the end of next month. (Gulp! It’s scary to commit to starting, but I know all the steps I need to take.)

9 On a scale of 1 to 10, how likely are you to follow through with that action?10! It has to be a 10. I have been waiting too long, and there is nothing stopping me except my own fear and hesitancy.

Many of the problems that remain unresolved for us are due to one thing: We don’t see that we are part of the problem. We are not taking 100% responsibility for how we are creating it. The series of questions that follow will guide you through a powerful process to correctly define the problem, take ownership for how you are creating it, and clarify how to resolve it.

This exercise is best done with a partner, but it can also be done alone as a journal writing exercise just answering the questions on paper. If you can, find a friend or colleague you trust with whom to do this exercise. You will both benefit from it. Have your partner ask you each of the questions in order. After you complete answering the questions, switch roles and then ask your partner the questions.

Now it is your turn to answer the questions. If you have a partner, each of you will take a turn asking the other the entire list of questions. Don’t respond to, suggest solutions, or judge each other’s answers. Simply assist by asking the questions. If you are doing this exercise alone, simply ask yourself the questions and write down the answers.

Now It’s Your Turn: Difficult or Troubling Situation Exercise

1 What is a difficult or troubling situation in your life?

2 How are you creating it or allowing it to happen?

3 What are you pretending not to know?

4 What is the payoff for keeping it like it is?

5 What is the cost for not changing it?

6 What would you rather be experiencing?

7 What actions will you take to create that?

8 By when will you take that action?

9 On a scale of 1 to 10, how likely are you to follow through with that action?

How are you complicit in creating the conditions of your lives that you say you don’t want?

JERRY COLONNA

Author of Reboot: Leadership and the Art of Growing Up

The principle of taking 100% responsibility for your life is not something you learn about once and it is solved for the rest of your life. It is more like staying fit. Every day you have to pay attention. Every day you can ask yourself, Did I blame anyone today? Did I complain today, instead of taking action to change the situation? Did I make excuses today when I did not get the result I wanted or that I had promised?

Taking 100% responsibility for everything in your life is a new way of thinking for most people. Over time, as you pay attention and live this principle, it will become second nature to you. Practicing and eventually mastering this fundamental principle is absolutely necessary in order to produce the results you want and to have the life you long for.

To take 100% responsibility for your life means you take ownership for all you do and for the results you produce. As you do that, your life will become less complicated and you will have the energy, power, and ideas to create the life you want. This is captured in the quote you may have heard before: “If it’s meant to be, it’s up to me.”

ARE YOU CHANGING?

Growth = Awareness + Choice. You may not have noticed it fully yet, but reading this chapter and doing these exercises have likely begun to change you. You may begin to notice that something does not feel right when you or someone else starts to blame someone, complain about something, or make an excuse. Simply being aware of this is a huge step in itself. It provides the opening for you to choose a different and more effective response.

When you notice that you are complaining, blaming, or making excuses, you can pause and take a breath. Slow down, become present with yourself, and make a new choice. It is that simple. But it’s not always easy! You have to stay vigilant. The more you stay aware and practice what you have learned, the easier and easier it will get over time until eventually it will become an unconscious habit.

Okay, you have now completed the learning portion of this chapter. However, since this is a workbook, designed for you to put these success principles to work in your life every day and to make their use a habit, there is still a little more work to do.

MAKE-IT-A-HABIT WORKSHEET

Take 100% Responsibility Today

I trust that you now see that to empower yourself to take action toward the success you want, you must be willing to give up blaming, complaining, and making excuses. In order to give up these behaviors, however, you must also become aware of when you are behaving this way.

To raise your awareness, conduct a 100% Responsibility Evening Review every evening for a week. The purpose is to review your day and look for where you may have blamed, complained, or made excuses. Here’s how to do that:

1. Complete the 100% Responsibility Evening Review below, every evening for a week.

Every evening for the next seven days, reflect on your day and consider the following questions. Take your time and consider what you said to yourself, as well as what you may have said aloud to others. Many people find it easier to answer the questions when they close their eyes.

Note: Instead of giving you questions that can be answered by a simple yes or no, the questions that follow are designed to begin a “self inquiry” where you can review your day and identify those situations where you blamed, complained, or made excuses.

Blaming Review

Who did I blame today?

Example: I attended a workshop today, and I blamed (in my thoughts) the person in charge, thinking he did not design the event very well.

From the point of view of taking 100% responsibility, I see that . . .

Example: Actually, I remember now that I did not bring a workbook as requested. I had to borrow a piece of paper, and that limited my ability to do the written work in a manner that would have allowed me to get more value from the activities.

A more responsible statement, or an action to take next time, is:

Example: Instead of blaming the person, even in my head, next time I will ensure I am fully prepared to participate.

Complaining Review

What did I complain about today?

Example: I was tired and sleepy a couple of times today and complained to others and myself about my low energy.

From the point of view of taking 100% responsibility, I see that . . .

Example: I have not been exercising much lately, and I’ve been eating more sugar than is good for me.

A more responsible statement, or an action to take next time, is:

Example: I will increase my exercise by 15 minutes a day for at least four days per week, beginning tomorrow.

As you do this Evening Review and ask yourself these questions, remember to breathe! Relax. Be easy on yourself. You are not bad or wrong. It is a common habit to blame, complain, and make excuses. You are the exception for wanting to change that habit and to empower yourself to create a better life through taking 100% responsibility.

Making Excuses

What did I make an excuse about today?

Example: Someone brought donuts to work today. Those crumb cake ones . . . my favorites. I wanted to ignore them, but I ate one. My excuse was that it was too hard for me to resist.

From the point of view of taking 100% responsibility, I see that . . .

Example: I was the one who chose to eat them. I may as well just drop the excuse. It doesn’t add anything; it just makes me feel like a victim of my own lack of willpower. Instead, I affirm that how I respond to any event in life is up to me.

A more responsible statement, or an action to take next time, is:

Example: First, I can simply accept the fact that I chose to eat them. I can also use a tactic next time such as leaving the snack area right away whenever I see those crumb cake donuts!

2. Make a reminder for yourself—right now—to complete a 100% Responsibility Evening Review each evening this week.

If you are like most people, once you put down this workbook, you may forget about these ideas until you pick up the workbook again. In order to avoid this outcome, you will need to put in extra effort to implement your newfound behaviors. Here are several ways to make a reminder for yourself to do this evening review each night this week.

 Make a sticky note that says, “100% Responsibility Evening Review” and place it on the cover of this workbook. Place the workbook on your bedside table. You may also want to place a sticky note on your bathroom mirror.

 Set a timer on your smartphone for each evening this week with the label, “Evening Review.”

 If you look at your daily calendar in the evening, write an appointment for yourself for your evening review.

3. Write a reminder card.

If you write in a journal regularly, write a reminder on a notecard and place the card in your journal where you will see it.

4. Take a picture.

Snap a picture of the questions with your smartphone for your personal use. Print it or store it where you will see it as a reminder.

Add to Your Life Success Journal

In the back of this Workbook is a section called Your Life Success Journal where you’ll have the opportunity to record your key learnings from each chapter in an easy-to-locate place.

Go to the beginning of Your Life Success Journal now.

*Read Principle 1: Take 100% Responsibility For Your Life in the book The Success Principles for more explanation, stories, and examples.

Chapter

2

Be Clear Why You’re Here: Determine Your Life Purpose

I am passionately and joyfully pursuing my life’s calling, every day moving closer to achieving my goals.

AFFIRMATION

Determining our life purpose—and deciding how we are meant to express it in the world—is one of the most important actions that successful people take to create the lives they want. They take the time to understand what they’re naturally good at and what they’re meant to do—then they pursue that role with passion and enthusiasm. I believe that discovering your life purpose is one of the most important principles of success.

In this chapter, you’ll not only discover what brings you joy and what you’re passionate about, but you’ll also determine the highest and best use of those skills and activities—for you . . . for your career . . . for your family . . . and for the world. You will gain valuable clarity on what your purpose is so you can start living a life of greater meaning, fulfillment, and success.*

BORN THIS WAY

After working with more than a million people all over the world, I have come to believe that each of us is born with a unique life purpose that’s up to us to discover. Your purpose isn’t something you need to make up; it’s already there. You just have to uncover it. You are unique and your life purpose is unique, too.

You have a masterpiece inside you, you know. One unlike any that has ever been created, or ever will be. If you go to your grave without painting your masterpiece, it will not get painted. No one else can paint it. Only you.

GORDON MACKENZIE

A LIFE OF MEANING

Discovering your purpose is key to creating a life of meaning, fulfillment, and success. Clarifying and pursuing your life purpose will not only help you get the success you want, it will also make your journey more fulfilling and enjoyable. When your life purpose guides you, you can use your natural talents and abilities to accomplish what you want. When you’re clear about your purpose, you will know which opportunities and choices are aligned with your purpose—and which are not.

MY OWN LIFE PURPOSE

I have made sure that the work I do is completely aligned with my purpose. That alignment is core to my success and to my satisfaction and joy in life. Here is my life purpose statement:

My life purpose is to inspire and empower people to live their highest vision in a context of love and joy, in harmony with the highest good of all concerned.

I live my purpose in several ways. I inspire people through the stories I tell, like in the 200+ Chicken Soup books that I compiled and edited, and in movies like The Secret and The Soul of Success. I empower others by teaching practical techniques in books like The Success Principles and through this Workbook, as well as through my live and online Breakthrough to Success and Train the Trainer programs. I have conducted trainings and seminars in more than 50 countries and have given more than a thousand speeches to over one million people. And I’ve enjoyed every minute of it because it’s what I love to do, and it’s in alignment with my life purpose.

WITHOUT A LIFE PURPOSE

For some people, though, it’s a challenge to identify their life purpose. However, without a purpose in life, it’s easy to get sidetracked on your life’s journey, to wander and drift, accomplishing little. You may even have asked yourself at one point or another, “What should I do with my life?” Or you may enjoy what you do, but on deeper exploration, discover that you’re passionate about something altogether different from what you currently are doing. Without a life purpose as the compass to guide you, even your greatest achievements may not fulfill you.

WHAT MAKES YOU COME ALIVE?

Where in your life do you find the most joy and fulfillment? The answers to these questions point directly to your life purpose.

Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive, and go do that, because what the world needs is people who have come alive.

HOWARD THURMAN

Author, Philosopher, Theologian, and Educator

Your purpose can provide you with inner guidance that tells you when you’re on course or off course by the amount of joy you’re experiencing. Those activities that bring you the greatest joy are the ones that are most in alignment with your life purpose. When you follow your joy, everything in life seems to fall into place. You’re doing what you love to do, doing what you’re good at, and accomplishing what’s important to you. When you’re on purpose, the people, resources, and opportunities you need seem to naturally gravitate toward you.

YOUR LIVELIHOOD

One of the keys to a happy life is to arrange things so that you spend more of your time doing things aligned with your purpose. When you’re able to combine your livelihood with your life purpose, achieving the success and lifestyle you desire becomes much easier and more natural. With a clearly stated life purpose and a vision of what you want in your life,* you can develop a clear set of criteria for making all your major life decisions (including your career) and for setting a lifetime’s worth of meaningful and fulfilling goals.

A PURPOSE IS NOT A GOAL

It’s important to be clear about the difference between a purpose and a goal. A goal is a specific target you want to reach by a certain time.* A life purpose is not about having something or achieving something. There is no end point to a purpose. Rather, it’s about using your natural talents and being a certain way or contributing in a certain way. It’s that which brings you joy and fulfillment whenever you do it.

Your purpose is your “Why.” It’s your ultimate reason for being. Then, with your purpose in mind, you can write your goals and achieve the results you want.

Your goals, on the other hand, are your “What.” They state what you intend to do, accomplish, or have. When your goals are aligned with your purpose, they’re meaningful for you, and you have more passion and perseverance to achieve them.

WHAT IF YOU’RE THINKING, MY LIFE PURPOSE ISN’T RELATED TO MY WORK?

Stand by! Once you craft your purpose statement in the exercises that follow, we will address this issue.

YOUR PURPOSE IS YOUR PERSONAL NORTH STAR

For centuries, ships on the high seas relied on the night sky for navigation. In particular, they used the North Star, at the tail end of the Little Dipper. While all the other stars appeared to move across the sky with the Earth’s rotation, only the North Star held its position. It served as a steadfast reference point with which sailors could determine the direction to follow.

Our life purpose serves as our own steadfast reference point, with which we can determine the direction we are to follow. This is especially relevant today, when we have so many options available to us. Our life purpose helps us decide among many possible paths, goals, and activities to pursue the ones most fulfilling and satisfying to us.

To determine your life’s purpose—to develop it using crystal clear words that are compelling to you and others—take your time to complete the exercises that follow. Then, finish by writing your own heartfelt purpose statement.

The purpose of life is a life of purpose.

ROBERT BYRNE

American Chess Grandmaster

PURPOSE IS PERSONAL

Since your purpose is highly personal and meaningful to you, the scope of your purpose doesn’t matter—not at all. A purpose statement usually includes some aspect of making a contribution, or doing something for others, in some way. When you’re experiencing joy doing what you’re doing, you are automatically contributing to others. Whatever that good is that you want to do, it’s right for you and others will automatically benefit from it. Whether your purpose is to discover new medicines, or to raise your children with love and caring, your purpose is worthy and sufficient—and it’s needed for the world to work. There is no satisfaction to be had in comparing the magnitude of your purpose with someone else’s purpose. It’s as personal as your favorite book or favorite song. While some people want to end hunger, others want to take cupcakes to the teachers at their neighborhood school. Whatever you’re doing, as long as you’re truly pursuing the expression of your unique purpose, it’s as critical as ending hunger. If it gives you joy, then it’s aligned with your purpose. Think about it. If everyone fulfilled their true purpose, all the needs in the world would be met. People who love to teach would teach. People who love to cook would feed everyone; people who love to fix things would be mechanics; people who love to write, paint, sing, dance, act, and play musical instruments would entertain us; and so on.

Karen Gilmore-Hall says she realized her purpose during her teens. Now in her 30s, Karen says, “My purpose is to be kind and loving and helpful, and to enhance our mutual experience of life.”

She can be “on purpose” almost anywhere or at any time, she says, by encouraging others, helping others feel understood and cared for, and doing her best to be a good friend.

“I try to put more love and smiles into the world,” Karen says, “and believe that good begets good.”

EXAMPLES OF LIFE PURPOSE STATEMENTS

Here are the life purpose statements of people from all backgrounds and interests, whether working locally or living out their purpose on a global stage.

My purpose is to use my talents in art and science to bring about the spiritual awakening of humankind.

SERGEY IVANENKO

Songwriter

My life purpose is to inspire every woman to realize her own personal beauty, regardless of her body type, size, or age, to love herself, and to live brilliantly.

RANI ST. PUCCHI

Fashion Designer and Author

My purpose is to use my skills as an educator to inspire, motivate, and empower others to find their light and to create the happiness they desire.

ROBYN ALLABY

Vice Principal

My purpose is to inspire young women everywhere to pursue their dreams with passion and an unrelenting drive for excellence.

KATRINA OKO-ODOI, PH.D.

My purpose is to publish books of enduring beauty, integrity, and wisdom, and to inspire others to fulfill their most cherished dreams.

JANET MILLS

Coauthor with Don Miguel Ruiz of The Four Agreements

My purpose is to expand the world’s compassion and connection.

JEFF WEINER

CEO of LinkedIn

DETERMINE YOUR LIFE PURPOSE STATEMENT

Now I’d like to help you uncover your life purpose statement.

The Structure of a Life Purpose Statement

After decades of helping others determine their life purpose, I have found a format that seems to work best for a clear and focused purpose statement. Work with these two guidelines and see if they work for you and your purpose statement:

 A single sentence

 Easily memorized

Why a Single Sentence?

When you hold your purpose statement to a single sentence it helps avoid the tendency to write long, all-inclusive statements. It helps to bring your purpose to a focus, and identify the essential elements. And it is easily learned and memorized.

Why Easily Memorized?

It’s important to be able to memorize your purpose statement, so that you can call it to mind at any time, and easily share it with others. Your purpose statement isn’t something you write down, file away, and then have to go and look up.

DISCOVERING MORE ABOUT YOU:

Guided Meditation

In my live and online Breakthrough to Success program, I lead the participants through a guided meditation to discover their life purpose.* (We will explore the power of meditation and mindfulness more fully later, in Chapter 12.) This meditation allows you to tap into the intuitive and creative aspects of your mind. We have included this meditation for you at jackcanfield.com/workbook-resources.

Step 1: Find a quiet place where you won’t be disturbed for at least 20 minutes. Have a pen and paper nearby. Bring your Internet-connected device. Listen to the meditation now.

Step 2: If you received a gift during the life-purpose meditation, draw a picture of the gift below. If you have crayons or colored pencils, draw the gift in color.

Step 3: Describe that gift and what you think it means in terms of your life purpose.

WAIT! BEFORE PAUSING OR GOING FURTHER, DO THIS:

Write a brief description of the gift in Your Life Success Journal in the back of the Workbook. Then return here.

THE JOY REVIEW

Those things that bring you the greatest joy are in alignment with your purpose.

When you’re experiencing joy, it indicates that what you’re doing and how you’re being are on purpose. It’s like the GPS in your car or on your phone letting you know that you’re on the correct route. Otherwise, it tells you to make a U-turn. When you go back and review the experiences of your life, and look for what brought you the greatest joy, you begin to get a sense of what your purpose is.

DISCOVERING MORE ABOUT YOU:

The Joy Review

Set aside about 20 minutes to go back over your life and make a list of all the times you felt the most joy. What were you doing? How were you being? You can record them below.

ALTERNATIVE JOY REVIEW

Here’s another variation on the same exercise. To begin to hone in on your life purpose, make a list of five moments when you were doing something that brought you joy. To be most useful, you can state these activities in the present tense by completing the phrase, I feel the most joy when I’m . . .

Examples:

I feel the most joy when I’m spending time with my children.

I feel the most joy when I’m creating a plan to expand my business.

I feel the most joy when I’m teaching others new leadership skills.

Your turn:

I feel the most joy when I’m .

I feel the most joy when I’m .

I feel the most joy when I’m .

I feel the most joy when I’m .

I feel the most joy when I’m .

Now, look at what you wrote and see if you can find a pattern. Are two or more of them a similar type of activity? Write that activity below. Do that once more for the remaining activities. For me, one of the patterns of my joyful times is when I’m teaching. The second one is when I’m leading.

Joyful activity

Joyful activity

WAIT! BEFORE PAUSING OR GOING FURTHER, DO THIS:

Write your current version of your life purpose statement in Your Life Success Journal in the back of the Workbook. Then come back here for the conclusion of the life purpose discovery process.

DISCOVERING MORE ABOUT YOU:

The Life Purpose Exercise

While the meditation, The Joy Review, and the Alternative Joy Review will help you discover your purpose, this exercise is a simple but powerful way to create a compelling Life Purpose Statement. Take the time now to complete this exercise.

1 What are two unique personal qualities that you most enjoy expressing in the world?*Your unique qualities are strengths that are natural and easy for you to express, such as love, joy, enthusiasm, passion, authenticity, curiosity, transparency, creativity, courage, humor, generosity, kindness, patience, peacefulness, perseverance, and wisdom.

1 List two ways you most enjoy expressing those qualities when interacting with others, such as supporting and inspiring. Other ways might include: writing, speaking, coaching, empowering, mentoring, singing, dancing, painting, leading, managing, inspiring, nurturing, protecting, healing, solving problems, building a business, inventing, traveling, creating, organizing, and integrating.

WAIT! Are You Reading This Exercise, But Not Doing the Work Required?

Sometimes it’s easy to just keep reading or scanning the next section to get to the “new stuff.” Remember, this is a workbook, designed for you to actively apply these principles in your life. Grab your pen or pencil and complete each exercise fully in order to move toward the success you long for. If you don’t have the time or desire to do this now, put the book away and come back when you are ready.

1 Assume the world is perfect right now. What does this world look like? How is everyone interacting with everyone else? What does it feel like? This is a statement, in present tense, describing an ultimate condition, the perfect world as you see it and feel it. Remember a perfect world is a fun place to be.Example of my perfect world: Everybody is fully living their highest vision of their life, one in which they’re doing, being, having, and experiencing everything they want.Other examples might include: Everyone is taking 100% responsibility for their own lives . . . or Everyone is living an ecologically sustainable lifestyle . . . or Everyone is living in peace and harmony with everyone else.

1 Combine the answers to the three prior questions into a single statement.Example: My purpose is to use my creativity and enthusiasm to support and inspire others as we all freely express our talents in harmony, love, and joy.

1 Check your life purpose statement in terms of the two guidelines mentioned earlier:(a) Is it a single sentence? If not, you can consolidate it below.(b) Can you easily memorize it? Shorten it, if needed.

1 How does your life purpose statement look to you? Do you want to revise it further? If so, use the spaces below.

WILL YOU KNOW WHEN YOU HAVE DETERMINED YOUR PURPOSE?

Maybe. On the other hand, you may need to try it on for a while. Soon you may find yourself saying, Yes, that is what’s really important to me.

You may think that what you wrote seems too obvious to be as special as your life purpose. You may even think, Everyone probably has a similar one. But if you’re thinking that, don’t be misled! It may seem common to you, but it is uniquely yours. The fact that it has always been true for you may make it seem ordinary.

The test is to ask yourself, Is this what’s truly important to me? When your answer is yes, you’ll know you’ve landed on it. It may be that your newly discovered life purpose statement is like a new pair of jeans that you need a bit of time to feel comfortable in.

ARE YOU THINKING, I CAN’T LIVE MY PURPOSE, GIVEN MY SITUATION?

Do you see obstacles in your life situation preventing you from fully living your purpose? Is it finances, family circumstances, your job, or something else?

If this is what you see, then take 100% responsibility for it, and change your situation! Your happiness, fulfillment, and success are at stake. Here are two approaches.

APPROACH #1: BE RESOURCEFUL AND CREATE YOUR OWN FUTURE

Brainstorm and then research ways that you can live in alignment with your purpose and incorporate those into your life, here and now—or at least very soon.

Here is how one woman solved this problem for herself.

When Julie Marie Carrier was a child, she loved animals. Adults around her would say, “Julie, you should be a vet!” When it came time for college, she enrolled in the pre-vet program at Ohio State University. She was lucky enough to spend her senior year in England, away from family and faculty. As she studied more of the sciences, she came to a stunning realization: I’m totally miserable. I don’t want to be a vet!

She began to reflect on this, and finally asked herself, What is a job I would love so much that I’d do it for free but that I could actually get paid for? Julie thought back over all the things she’d done in her life and what had made her the most happy. Then it hit her—it was the youth leadership conferences that she had volunteered at, and the communications and leadership courses she had taken. With decisive action, she changed her major, and upon graduation, became a senior management consultant in leadership training and development for the Pentagon—all by the time she was 23! But that’s not the end. She started speaking at events for kids all across her home state, and then went on to launch a new career as a public speaker on leadership and character. She had found her joy, and then created a life—and a livelihood—around her purpose.

APPROACH #2: MAKE YOUR PURPOSE MORE INCLUSIVE

Until you see yourself as able to change your circumstances, state your purpose in a more inclusive way such that you can do it almost anytime or anywhere. Remember, you can bring joy, inspire others, create beauty, or make whatever contribution you want based on your purpose—no matter where you are and no matter what you are doing.

That’s why I wrote my purpose statement as to inspire and empower people to live their highest vision in a context of love and joy in harmony with the highest good of all concerned. I can do that anywhere—and I have. For example, I can be on purpose while I’m on my way to the airport, speaking with a complete stranger, the Lyft driver. I didn’t state that my purpose was only to write books, give talks, or conduct trainings. I do those activities as a way of expressing and living my purpose, but I can live my purpose of inspiring and empowering people no matter where I am and no matter whom I am with.

FIREWORKS

When determining one’s life purpose, some people expect fireworks to go off and their knees to weaken. This rarely happens. For many, it’s a feeling of subtle satisfaction rather than one of explosive ecstasy. It may be a calm feeling of settling into something that seems right. It can be like looking for a pair of jeans that fit well. They may not feel perfect at first, but long-term they work well. Or you may immediately feel a sense of recognition of something that has always been there for you. The difference is that now you have put these feelings into words.

WHAT IF YOU CAN’T DETERMINE YOUR PURPOSE?

Some people can have a difficult time landing on a single life purpose statement, even after completing these exercises. In that case, consider what you come up with as a first draft, and start using it. Then revisit these exercises after a couple of weeks.

Wherever you are with your life purpose statement, I recommend you simply accept what you have for now. You can always revise it later. But just for now, drive a stake in the ground and declare to yourself that, yes, this is your life purpose statement.

Allow yourself to feel satisfied. You have determined (or begun to determine) your life purpose! You now know so much more about the true source of joy and fulfillment in your life. You now know what to focus on in order to have success come more easily to you with fewer struggles.

KEEP YOUR PERSONAL NORTH STAR VISIBLE

When sailors use the North Star for navigation, they have to actually look at it! To use your life purpose for guidance, you have to look at that, too. Keep your purpose visible, as I do. Right now, I look up and my purpose statement is written and posted right in front of me, on my desk.

HOW FULLY ARE YOU LIVING YOUR LIFE PURPOSE?

Answer the following question in the space below. On a scale of 1 to 10 (10 being highest), how fully are you living your life purpose on a day-to-day basis? If the answer is not a 10, write down what you could do to live your purpose more fully.

CONCLUSION

Sometimes our experience of life can seem like we are a small boat in the vast ocean. There are so many currents and winds trying to push us this way or that. There are so many directions we could follow, and so many choices we could make. Yet, something feels different once you’re clear about your life purpose. You have identified your own North Star, your own Rock of Gibraltar. You now know what gives you joy and fulfillment in life. The more you do things aligned with that purpose, the more satisfying your life will be, and the easier it will be to achieve the success you want. You are now ready to experience all the fulfillment and passion and rewards you deserve from a life well lived.

LIVE YOUR PURPOSE

This is the true joy in life, the being used for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one; the being thoroughly worn out before you are thrown on the scrap heap; the being a force of Nature instead of a feverish selfish little clod of ailments and grievances complaining that the world will not devote itself to making you happy.

GEORGE BERNARD SHAW

Nobel Prize–Winning Playwright

MAKE-IT-A-HABIT WORKSHEET

Keep Your Purpose Alive

Below are practical and easy action steps with which you can keep your purpose visible and alive each day.

Select the ones you will do and place a check mark next to them.

After you have checked off the ones you will do, put them on your calendar or add them to your to-do list so that you’re reminded later to actually do them.

1 □ Memorize your life purpose. Use whatever technique you use when you have to memorize something critical, such as writing it down several times or creating a word association. Instead of posting your life purpose statement on your bathroom mirror, post only this prompt: My purpose is . . . By verbally filling in the blank a few times, you will have it fully memorized.

2 □ Read your life purpose statement every morning and every night.

3 □ Create a document on your computer with your life purpose statement that also includes a picture of you, then frame it and keep it on your desk or bedside table.

4 □ Take a picture of your life purpose statement with your smartphone and use the picture as the home screen on your phone or computer.

5 □ Type up your life purpose in a creative and attractive style. Print multiple copies and post it where you will see it, such as your bathroom mirror, your refrigerator, and your car dashboard.

6 □ Make this a part of your morning routine: Each morning, set your smartphone timer for two minutes. During that time, reflect on your life purpose. Think about how you can live it more fully—remembering the joy you feel when you’re participating in those activities that are aligned with your purpose.

7 □ Meditate about your purpose regularly. We’ll cover meditation in Chapter 12, but for now, follow these simple instructions: Spend a few quiet minutes alone, where you won’t be disturbed. Take a few deep breaths, allow yourself to become relaxed, and enter a state of self-love and peacefulness. Reflect on what your purpose means to you, and what your life will be like as you live even more fully on purpose. Allow any images and ideas to come to you. Let this visual journey be as expansive as you can imagine.

8 □ Tell the world! Talk about your life purpose with those special friends who understand or want to know what you’re about.

9 □ If you’re artistic, draw or paint a symbol or picture that represents your life purpose.

10 □ Clip pictures from magazines and create an image of you living your life on purpose.

11 □ Add your life purpose statement to the bottom of your email signature.

12 □ Write down your own idea. Other ways you can keep your purpose alive for you:

13 □ Write down your own idea. Other ways you can keep your purpose alive for you:

14 □ Write down your own idea. Other ways you can keep your purpose alive for you:

Great! Now put the ideas you checked above on your calendar or add them to your to-do list so that you’re reminded later to do them.

Add to Your Life Success Journal

Turn to Your Life Success Journal. You will see several questions to answer about your purpose statement. Go ahead and do this now.

*Read Principle 2: Be Clear Why You’re Here in the book The Success Principles for more explanation, stories, and examples.

*I will guide you through creating your life vision in Chapter 3: Decide What You Want.

*We will cover goals in Chapter 4: Use the Power of Goal-Setting to Achieve Your Vision.

*This meditation, and others, is also available on the audio program Awakening Power: Guided Visualizations & Meditations for Success at JackCanfield.com.

*There are several ways to approach defining your purpose. We learned this version of the life purpose exercise from Arnold M. Patent, ArnoldPatent.com.

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