Jack Canfield – Living the Good Life and Loving It

Perhaps best known for his book and subsequent franchise, , Jack Canfield was a moderate success before he just decided he was going to set an “outrageous” goal of making $100,000 as an author.  Within a few months, he’d written a book, finally got a few breaks and found himself on the bestseller list, where he’s stayed since.  For over 30 years, Canfield has been a motivational speaker, bringing a message of personal affirmation – encouraging one to feel as if they deserve success – and outlining clear paths to allow others to make and achieve goals. 

Jack was born as one of the first wave of baby boomers in 1945.  He earned a spot at Harvard University in the early 60s and received a BA in Chinese History in 1966.  He also found time to play on the school rugby team and become a fraternity member – both invaluable chances for networking that would assist him in later life.  He decided to go back to school and learn with the legendary Dwight Allen, who was changing the way education was conducted in the United States by taking a physiological approach.  Later in 1972, when he received a Masters degree in Education from the University of Maryland in Amhurst, Jack was ready to begin teaching others.

After that, he taught throughout the 1970s at the secondary and university levels, even taking a job as a psychotherapist for a time before starting his own company to share his secrets for success with others in 1984, though he’d been making motivational speeches and spreading his wings from the mid-70s onward.

In 1990, Jack pitched an idea that he was working on with his business partner Mark Victor Hansen, also a self-help speaker and author.  People had been coming up to him at seminars for many years and asked him to listen to their heart-warming stories that illustrated the successful adaptation of the Chicken Soup for the Soul book and then tried to get it published, only to find that over 200 companies would pass on the title before Health Communications decided to take a chance on it.  As history tells, it was an overnight success.  In fact, in 1997 they were the top-selling authors in the United States.  The series has sold over 100-million books worldwide, and been translated into nearly 50 languages.

As CEO of Chicken Soup for the Soul® Enterprises, founded in 1993, he has placed well over 100 items in the marketplace in addition to the over 100 books that have been contributed to the franchise by other authors.  In 15 years since the release of the first Chicken Soup books, Jack has done well over 1000 interviews and television appearances.  He and Mark Hansen are also in the Guinness Book of World records for having seven books ranked on the New York Times Bestseller list at once.

Never having given up his seminar and training work — face to face with people — today, Jack is the owner and director of The Canfield Training Group and Self Esteem Seminars for corporations and executives in Santa Barbara, California.  He lives in California and travels internationally giving lectures to corporate and university audiences.  His clients include scores of fortune 500 companies looking for uplifting motivational training.

Also, in Culver City, California, he runs The Foundation for Self Esteem, designed for people at the lower end of the fiscal spectrum who want to turn their lives around. His clients include those trying to get off public assistance, single mothers and young people, just starting out.

Little did he know when he agreed to appear in the 2006 film, The Secret, that it would become the next biggest thing in self-help and advice after his own Chicken Soup books.  Along with Marci Shimoff and Lisa Nichols, who have also written Chicken Soup books, he gave interviews about the power of gratitude and clear personal vision. 

Jack has since partnered with Bob Proctor and Reverend Michael Beckwith to lead seminars in their “Secrets to Getting Rich” venture.  The seminars and affiliate programs are designed to assist people in breaking free of their nine-to-five prisons and taking responsibility for the negative thoughts that plague people everyday.

In addition to the Chicken Soup for the Soul books, Jack has wrote or co-wrote several other books that expand on his principles of self-esteem.  These include , Dare to Win, Heart at Work, The Aladdin Factor and most recently, The Success Principles, where he shares over 60 tried and true axioms of his personal good fortune.