Home / The Tim Ferriss Show / #833: Jack Canfield — Selling 600+ Million Books, Success Principles, and How He Made The 4-Hour Workweek Happen

#833: Jack Canfield — Selling 600+ Million Books, Success Principles, and How He Made The 4-Hour Workweek Happen

The Tim Ferriss Show

Oct 29, 2025

1h 37m

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 i...

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.

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Timestamps:

[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.

Show notes for this episode: https://tim.blog/2025/10/29/jack-canfield/

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