“Decide what you want. Believe you can have it. Believe you deserve it and believe it’s possibleJack Canfield lived in a dysfunctional family. Both of his parents were
alcoholics. His father abused him. Jack lived with low self-esteem, but somehow
managed to become successful regardless of his upbringing. Jack graduated from Harvard. He earned a Master’s Degree in Education
from the University of Massachusetts. He went on to become a high school
history teacher.
In 1976, Jack Canfield experimented with a visualization tool, known as the
abundance check. At that time, Jack was earning around $8,000 per year and
visualized making $100,000 by writing himself a check for that amount. He taped
the check to the ceiling of his bedroom, so that every morning upon waking and
every evening before going to sleep, Jack imagined he would receive a check in
that amount.
Within that year, after a sequence of coincidental events, Jack published his
first book, One Hundred Ways to Enhance Self-Concept in the Classroom. His
earnings for that year were only a few thousand short of his $100,000 target.
Jack Canfield did not stop there. He used the same method to attract one
million dollars. In 1990, Jack shared his vision of publishing 101 inspirational
stories with his partner, Mark. The manuscript of stories remained untitled, until
he visualized the image of his grandmother’s chicken soup and remembered how
she told him it would cure anything. This book would have the same healing powers as that soup, not for the body but for the soul. The book was called,
Chicken Soup for the Soul.
In the first month, thirty-three of New York’s biggest publishing houses
turned it down. Jack and Mark’s manuscript was rejected by 140 publishers! To
make matters worse, their agent told them he could not sell the book and gave
the manuscript back to them.
In 1992, Jack and Mark attended the American Booksellers’ Association
Convention. There, they went from booth to booth talking to editors and sharing
their vision of how their book would uplift humanity by helping people open their
hearts, rekindle their spirits and give them the courage to pursue their dreams.
They left a copy of their manuscript with Peter Vegso, President of Health
Communications, Inc. who caught the spirit of the book and soon agreed to
publish it.
The first ‘Chicken Soup for the Soul’ books were published on June 28,
1993, and had become a Christmas favorite by the end of December. People who
bought one book returned to buy five more copies as Christmas gifts. Word of
mouth led to a great demand for the book. By April of 1994, Chicken Soup for the Soul had made some of the
bestseller lists and by September it had hit the best seller’s lists of The New York
Times, The Washington Post, Publishers Weekly and USA today, as well as five
major lists in Canada.
In 1995, Chicken Soup for the Soul won the prestigious ABBY (American
Booksellers’ Book of the Year) Award based on the books that booksellers most
enjoyed recommending to bookstore customers. Later, the book won the ‘Book
of the Year’ award from Body, Mind and Soul Magazine.
In 1996, A Second Helping of Chicken Soup won the ‘Story Teller World
Award’ for the best anthology of stories. In addition, this book was the winner of
the American Family Institute’s ‘Non-Fiction Literary Award.’
Jack Canfield and Mark Hansen hold the prestigious title of ‘The Best-Selling
Authors of the Year,’ by USA Today for both 1997 and 1998, selling more books
during these two years than any other authors in America.
With 80 million copies sold, Chicken Soup for the Soul has made
international publishing history. Jack Canfield keeps a framed copy of a million
dollar check written to him by his publisher reminding him of the law of
attraction. A great deal about the law of attraction can be learned from Jack Canfield.
The law of attraction is infinite, you can attract whatever you want if you truly
apply the feeling that you will receive it. As for Jack Canfield, he knew what he
wanted. He visualized getting it and took small steps to do it. He describes the
law of attraction as
“Think of a car driving through the night. The headlights only go a hundred
How badly do you want something? It does not necessarily have to be for wealth. It could be for bringing someone home.