I am a great believer in luck, and I find the harder I work, the more I have of it."
When I discovered "success anorexia" and Afformations in 1997, I knew that I had finally found my Because - the reason I was here on Earth: to teach people how to stop keeping themselves from success and manifest their desires faster and easier.
Only problem was, I had no idea how I was going to do that.
I'd done a lot of things in my life - worked many different jobs, even gone back to college for a second time. But nothing in my past seemed to prepare me for what I wanted my future to be.
One day, I'm sitting at home and happen to pick up the newspaper. The funny thing is, I almost never read the local paper. But on this day, I did.
And I see that Jack Canfield was doing a book signing right there in my little town. Jack Canfield... from Chicken Soup for the Soul!
I'm excited, so I scan the details. And then I see that the book signing was YESTERDAY! I'm crushed! Nooooooooo!
But then I start thinking: "Wait a minute. Jack lives in California. I'm in Massachusetts. Jack went to the University of Massachusetts, which is right down the street from me. I bet he's going to do something at the university, because he probably wouldn't have flown across the country for just one day."
So I jump in my car and drive over to UMass. Now it just so happens that I knew John, the Director of Alumni Relations, because we had taught a class together.
I burst into his office and say, "John, is Jack Canfield going to be here today?"
He says, "Yes, he's getting an award from the university."
I say, "Would you introduce me to him?"
John says, "There's a private reception for all the award winners in about an hour, at 11 o'clock. If you're here at 11:00, I'll introduce you."
I say, "I'll be here."
I had some time to kill. So I left his office. And that's when something terrible happened...
I started to THINK.
Have you ever noticed that when you THINK, you can mess yourself up? Until that moment, I'd been in the FLOW. I'd read the paper, jumped in my car, burst into John's office. All without thinking.
But now I had time to think, and that's when I started to get really nervous:
"Who do you think you are to talk with Jack Canfield? You've got this stupid little book. It's bound with a piece of tape. You'll look like an idiot. What are you going to say to him, anyway?"
Finally, I said to myself, "Look, you'd better calm down." Then I asked myself, "Why ARE you here, Noah? Why DO you want to meet Jack Canfield?"
All of a sudden, I had a vision. I remembered all the people around the world who had written to me, telling me that this little book of mine had changed their lives. People who were making more money, losing weight, healing their relationships. People who had even decided NOT to commit suicide because they'd read that little book.
Then, in my mind, I saw a sea of people - people I'd never seen before who were glad that I was sharing this information with them.
And I realized I'm simply here to make a difference and help as many people as I can while I'm here on Earth.
I realized that it's not about me. It's about THEM.
When I finally met Jack Canfield, he looked at my tapebound book. He looked at me and said, "This looks good. I'll send it to my publisher."
I said, "Thank you very much." Inside, I'm going: YESSSSS!!
But I stayed calm, said thank you, and walked out of the room... feeling like I was floating six feet off the floor.
Eight weeks later, the Chicken Soup for the Soul publisher called me and said, "We'd like to publish your book."
And I said, "Okay."
And that's how my first book, Permission to Succeed, got published.
By the way, once I had Jack Canfield's endorsement - he was kind enough to provide the cover endorsement for the book - it was pretty easy to get endorsements from John Gray, Neale Donald Walsch, Joe Vitale, Chris Howard, Harvey Mackay, Harv Eker, Stephen Covey...
Because when one superstar believes in you, it's much easier to get the rest of them to line up behind you, too.
So I jump in my car and drive over to UMass. Now it just so happens that I knew John, the Director of Alumni Relations, because we had taught a class together.
I burst into his office and say, "John, is Jack Canfield going to be here today?"
He says, "Yes, he's getting an award from the university."
I say, "Would you introduce me to him?"
John says, "There's a private reception for all the award winners in about an hour, at 11 o'clock. If you're here at 11:00, I'll introduce you."
I say, "I'll be here."
I had some time to kill. So I left his office. And that's when something terrible happened...
I started to THINK.
Have you ever noticed that when you THINK, you can mess yourself up? Until that moment, I'd been in the FLOW. I'd read the paper, jumped in my car, burst into John's office. All without thinking.
But now I had time to think, and that's when I started to get really nervous:
"Who do you think you are to talk with Jack Canfield? You've got this stupid little book. It's bound with a piece of tape. You'll look like an idiot. What are you going to say to him, anyway?"
Finally, I said to myself, "Look, you'd better calm down." Then I asked myself, "Why ARE you here, Noah? Why DO you want to meet Jack Canfield?"
All of a sudden, I had a vision. I remembered all the people around the world who had written to me, telling me that this little book of mine had changed their lives. People who were making more money, losing weight, healing their relationships. People who had even decided NOT to commit suicide because they'd read that little book.
Then, in my mind, I saw a sea of people - people I'd never seen before who were glad that I was sharing this information with them.
And I realized I'm simply here to make a difference and help as many people as I can while I'm here on Earth.
I realized that it's not about me. It's about THEM.
When I finally met Jack Canfield, he looked at my tapebound book. He looked at me and said, "This looks good. I'll send it to my publisher."
I said, "Thank you very much." Inside, I'm going: YESSSSS!!
But I stayed calm, said thank you, and walked out of the room... feeling like I was floating six feet off the floor.
Eight weeks later, the Chicken Soup for the Soul publisher called me and said, "We'd like to publish your book."
And I said, "Okay."
And that's how my first book, Permission to Succeed, got published.
By the way, once I had Jack Canfield's endorsement - he was kind enough to provide the cover endorsement for the book - it was pretty easy to get endorsements from John Gray, Neale Donald Walsch, Joe Vitale, Chris Howard, Harvey Mackay, Harv Eker, Stephen Covey...
Because when one superstar believes in you, it's much easier to get the rest of them to line up behind you, too.
5 Ways to Make Yourself Luckier
Now some would say I got lucky. But after years of studying the Naturals of Success, I know that there are five ways you can MAKE yourself luckier:- Being in the Flow - Being in the moment, being spontaneous.
- Coming From Love - There are only two ways to go through life: coming from fear or coming from Love. Coming from Love means you are coming from "more than enough" - and that's a vibration people can feel.
- Coming From Service - Most people are stuck in a WIIFM mindset: "What's In It For Me?" Service-minded people are tuned to WIIFY: "What's In It For (or What Can I Do For) You?"
- Trusting - Realizing that you don't have to know everything before you start.
- Taking Action - Just doing SOMETHING. Movement is better than stagnation. Even when you make mistakes, you learn something - and do better next time.
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