#833: Jack Canfield — Selling 600+ Million Books, Success Principles, and How He Made The 4-Hour Workweek Happen
Update: 2025-10-29
Description
Jack Canfield is the coauthor of more than two hundred books, including, The Success Principles™: How to Get from Where You Are to Where You Want to Be and the Chicken Soup for the Soul® series, which includes forty New York Times bestsellers and which has sold more than 600 million copies in 50-plus languages around the world.
This episode is brought to you by:Monarch track, budget, plan, and do more with your money: https://www.monarch.com/timAG1 all-in-one nutritional supplement: https://drinkag1.com/timHelix Sleep premium mattresses: https://helixsleep.com/timTimestamps:[00:00:00 ] Who is Jack? [00:01:57 ] How a single “yes” from Jack shaped my career.[00:04:55 ] A contract lesson: How Chicken Soup for the Soul sold millions in China with zero royalties.[00:06:45 ] Jack’s background: From poverty to Harvard.[00:09:43 ] Discovering Chinese history and the “easy A” that changed everything.[00:11:07 ] Winning “Teacher of the Year” teaching Black history.[00:14:35 ] High praise from Sammy Davis Jr.[00:17:37 ] W. Clement Stone: The $600 million mentor who turned motivation into a science (and insurance).[00:21:35 ] Stone’s challenge: Take 100% responsibility and stop watching TV (a 14-month year hack).[00:22:40 ] From visualizing $100,000 to a million.[00:25:42 ] Chicken Soup origins.[00:27:35 ] Mark Victor Hansen joins.[00:29:15 ] 144 rejections later.[00:31:28 ] The ABA miracle.[00:34:05 ] The Rule of Five.[00:36:05 ] Selling The Soul and splurging on sweaters.[00:37:27 ] The Soup sourced from the universe.[00:39:33 ] The big break.[00:41:22 ] Word-of-mouth magic.[00:45:37 ] Lessons from live feedback.[00:47:27 ] The burnout years.[00:49:25 ] Life after Chicken Soup.[00:51:05 ] Late-night typing marathons and pun-laden chapter transitions that led to The Success Principles.[00:54:02 ] How Jack’s love of transformation beats any royalty check.[00:55:07 ] Retirement reflections.[00:59:32 ] Jack’s longevity formula: Laughter, organic food, love, and letting go.[01:02:10 ] An ayahuasca awakening.[01:03:39 ] The story of Rythmia Life Advancement Center and how it’s affected Jack.[01:06:43 ] Breaking belief loops and understanding community as medicine.[01:10:06 ] E + R = O and strategies for taking 100% responsibility of one’s life.[01:22:27 ] Why “clean up your messes” is first in Jack’s list of productivity tips.[01:29:27 ] Where to begin if you’re unfamiliar with Jack’s work.[01:31:08 ] Ken Blanchard: “Feedback is the breakfast of champions.”[01:32:13 ] Parting thoughts.*
For show notes and past guests on The Tim Ferriss Show, please visit tim.blog/podcast.
For deals from sponsors of The Tim Ferriss Show, please visit tim.blog/podcast-sponsors
Sign up for Tim’s email newsletter (5-Bullet Friday) at tim.blog/friday.
For transcripts of episodes, go to tim.blog/transcripts.
Discover Tim’s books: tim.blog/books.
Follow Tim:
Twitter: twitter.com/tferriss
Instagram: instagram.com/timferriss
YouTube: youtube.com/timferriss
Facebook: facebook.com/timferriss
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/timferriss
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
This episode is brought to you by:Monarch track, budget, plan, and do more with your money: https://www.monarch.com/timAG1 all-in-one nutritional supplement: https://drinkag1.com/timHelix Sleep premium mattresses: https://helixsleep.com/timTimestamps:[00:00:00 ] Who is Jack? [00:01:57 ] How a single “yes” from Jack shaped my career.[00:04:55 ] A contract lesson: How Chicken Soup for the Soul sold millions in China with zero royalties.[00:06:45 ] Jack’s background: From poverty to Harvard.[00:09:43 ] Discovering Chinese history and the “easy A” that changed everything.[00:11:07 ] Winning “Teacher of the Year” teaching Black history.[00:14:35 ] High praise from Sammy Davis Jr.[00:17:37 ] W. Clement Stone: The $600 million mentor who turned motivation into a science (and insurance).[00:21:35 ] Stone’s challenge: Take 100% responsibility and stop watching TV (a 14-month year hack).[00:22:40 ] From visualizing $100,000 to a million.[00:25:42 ] Chicken Soup origins.[00:27:35 ] Mark Victor Hansen joins.[00:29:15 ] 144 rejections later.[00:31:28 ] The ABA miracle.[00:34:05 ] The Rule of Five.[00:36:05 ] Selling The Soul and splurging on sweaters.[00:37:27 ] The Soup sourced from the universe.[00:39:33 ] The big break.[00:41:22 ] Word-of-mouth magic.[00:45:37 ] Lessons from live feedback.[00:47:27 ] The burnout years.[00:49:25 ] Life after Chicken Soup.[00:51:05 ] Late-night typing marathons and pun-laden chapter transitions that led to The Success Principles.[00:54:02 ] How Jack’s love of transformation beats any royalty check.[00:55:07 ] Retirement reflections.[00:59:32 ] Jack’s longevity formula: Laughter, organic food, love, and letting go.[01:02:10 ] An ayahuasca awakening.[01:03:39 ] The story of Rythmia Life Advancement Center and how it’s affected Jack.[01:06:43 ] Breaking belief loops and understanding community as medicine.[01:10:06 ] E + R = O and strategies for taking 100% responsibility of one’s life.[01:22:27 ] Why “clean up your messes” is first in Jack’s list of productivity tips.[01:29:27 ] Where to begin if you’re unfamiliar with Jack’s work.[01:31:08 ] Ken Blanchard: “Feedback is the breakfast of champions.”[01:32:13 ] Parting thoughts.*
For show notes and past guests on The Tim Ferriss Show, please visit tim.blog/podcast.
For deals from sponsors of The Tim Ferriss Show, please visit tim.blog/podcast-sponsors
Sign up for Tim’s email newsletter (5-Bullet Friday) at tim.blog/friday.
For transcripts of episodes, go to tim.blog/transcripts.
Discover Tim’s books: tim.blog/books.
Follow Tim:
Twitter: twitter.com/tferriss
Instagram: instagram.com/timferriss
YouTube: youtube.com/timferriss
Facebook: facebook.com/timferriss
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/timferriss
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
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