My review of Jack Canfield’s One Day to Greatness live event.

I recently attended Jack Canfield‘s One Day to Greatness seminar in Dallas, TX. One Day to Greatness is about transforming your life from okay to great. If you don’t know who Jack Canfield is I’m sure you’ve heard of his books. He is one of the original creators of the Chicken Soup for the Soul book series. As always, whenever I attend any workshop or event geared towards personal growth I like to share my experience and learnings. Here’s what I learned from Mr. Canfield:

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

If you want a different outcome you have to change your responses. You may not be able to change the event but you have 100% control of your response. You are 1/2 of the equation (at worst).

Act as if everything that you experience was in some way created, allowed, or promoted by you. Ask yourself, “How did I create this?” Do this for at least the next 67 days. 67 is the magic number when it comes to changing habits. I would caution you though not to put the blame on yourself for life. I realize that some people are already extremely hard on themselves and I don’t want to encourage that. Blaming yourself for everything can crush your spirits and self confidence and keep you stuck. Don’t take this as it’s your fault. Take the perspective that there is some belief, behavior, or habit that you hold that has somehow invited any given experience into your life. On the most basic level, if you go to put on your pants tomorrow and they don’t fit you can appreciate that your eating habits may have created that experience. As you acknowledge that truth you can make different choices.

A caution sign is not a stop sign.

“If you have the combination to the lock it doesn’t matter who you are; it has to open for you.” – Orrin C Hudson, Chess Champion

A lot of the times we let fear or hiccups in the road stop us dead in our tracks. A caution sign doesn’t mean stop. It means to proceed slowing and on alert. Everything you want that you don’t have is stepping outside of your comfort zone. It is moving cautiously when it feels safer to stop. Confidence is successfully stepping outside of your comfort zone. It is successfully taking a risk. When you do the risky thing and you come out okay your confidence grows. How you respond to caution signs and other risky events impacts your life.

Avoid things that weaken you.

Jack did an interesting experiment where he invited a woman on stage. Her name was Jazz. Jack instructed Jazz to hold out her left arm parallel to the ground. She had to hold it tight so that when he tried to push it down it wouldn’t break. Jack asked Jazz what her name was. She answered, “Jazz”. Jack pushed on her arm. It stayed up. Jack asked Jazz to give another name and again asked her what her name was. I don’t recall her fake name but she gave one. Jack pressed on her arm again and it dropped. The lesson? Lying weakens you. There were several other demonstrations Jack walked Jazz through. Here’s what you need to know:

Things that weaken you:

• Lying
• Saying, “I can’t”
• Focusing on your failures
• Criticism and judgment
• Focusing on yourself

Things that strengthen you:

• The Truth
• Saying, “I can”
• Focusing on your successes
• Support and appreciation
• Focusing on service to others

Focus on things that strengthen you. Shield yourself from negative and judgmental energy using your mind. Visualize yourself surrounded by a light that protects you from negativity.

Eliminate “I can’ts” from your life. What are 5 “I can’ts” you’ve been saying to yourself that you resolve to stop saying today? (I can’t lose weight. I can’t get promoted. I can’t find love). Write them down then tear them up!

You have to give up all blaming. You have to stop complaining. Complaining and blaming are responses to events (see above) that don’t make a difference. They have no impact.

You also have to give up all excuses. You have to be solution minded. In other words, don’t make excuses for why things are or aren’t a certain way. Spend your mental energy focused on solutions to shift the way things are or are not.

“It doesn’t take any more effort to dream a big dream than it does to dream a small dream.” – General Wesley Clark

Make the vision real

“Visualize all of your goals and results as already complete…twice a day!” – Jack Canfield

Visualize your goals twice a day everyday. You can’t skip a day. Your performance matches your dominant vision. That’s why visualization is so important. Feel the feelings you would feel if you already had what you want.

“Enough action produces satisfaction.”

Don’t just visualize though. You have to take action as well. This has always been my issue with manifestation. It implies that you don’t have to do anything, but that’s not true. You “manifest” everything you want by taking action. Winners take action.

Share your vision. Sharing your vision is powerful. It makes it more real. The Power of Intention is squared. You have to get in alignment with other people.

Write your goals down. Writing down your goals increases your chance of success by 1100%. Only 4% of people who do not write down goals actually follow through. This compares to 44% of people who do write their goals down following through. You have a much greater chance of accomplishing what you want to accomplish if you write your goals down.

The law of probability says that the more things you try the more likely something will work. As you are moving towards your vision and find yourself struggling to bring it to pass ask yourself, “What haven’t I tried?” There is always something you haven’t tried.

As always there is so much more that I could share from the event but I will stop here. These are my three biggest takeaways. Start implementing these into your daily life today so you too can get to great.

To read about my experience at other personal growth events check out the articles below:

Tony Robbins’ Unleash the Power Within

Mary Morrissey’s DreamBuilder

Tony Gaskins’ Balanced Life Conference

To learn more about how you can get to great I invite you to apply for a complimentary Transform Your Life clarity session at www.transformwithcharlene.com.