Chicken Soup for the Soul

Mark Victor Hansen and his friend, Jack Canfield, had an idea to write a book of short stories that would touch the souls of many people. After the book was written the title seemed to be not quite right. So he went into meditation and asked for guidance about a title. He wanted the book to be special, to captivate the imagination of the public, so the title was critical. He went to bed each night with the phrase in his mind: “Mega bestseller”.

What Do You Do When You Are Turned Down 134 Times?

After a few days, Hanson woke up with the phrase “Chicken Soup” in his mind. He didn't understand until he remembered that his mom had always made him chicken soup when he was sick. After more contemplation, the final title was born: “Chicken Soup for the Soul”. Everybody he shared this title with got goose bumps almost instantly.

However, even though a major breakthrough had been achieved with the title, bills were piling up, and his spouse got more nervous with each passing day. The title was there but the book was not selling. How could they continue to promote the book to publishers when real life was intruding so heavily?

Hansen received over 33 rejection letters even though he was not an unknown in his field. In the following weeks, he was turned down by 134 more publishers. Finally, a small printing company agreed to take on the project if the authors agreed to buy the first 20,000 copies!

Well, what are you going to do if this is your dream? You just keep the faith and keep on doing it. Hansen and Canfield agreed to buy the first 20,000 copies themselves, and the book hit the market in 1994. It did not make it to the first bestseller list until 14 month later. During all that time, the two men ceaselessly promoted the book by their own efforts.

Guess What Happened Next?
The book became the greatest top-selling success story in the history of non-fiction books with over 100 million books in print and over a billion dollars in combined sales!

Your Dreams - The Source Of Infinite Power

If you love what you do, you can never fail! Why? Because you will never run out of juice. You will always be motivated. During the inevitable times when you are discouraged, you will find a way to simply acknowledge the state you find yourself in, take a break, and the juice will be back in no time. If you live your talents you will be empowered by the universal source — a source that is beyond your wildest imagination and it is of infinite supply.

No argument can make you stop doing what you love to do. Many people have wonderful reasons for what they do and for what they want to accomplish. These reasons are as varied and personal as anything in the universe. If you take away these reasons and ideas, people fall into a black hole because there is then no longer any substance behind their reality—their dreams have been cut off at the source.

If there is only one important thing in your life, then surely it must be this: to find and live your dreams. Don't waste any more time doing things you don't like. Yes, you are taking a risk, but you will never want to go back once you have made this choice.

Just in case you have not discovered the marvellous "Chicken Soup for the Soul" book, you can find it here at Amazon.com along with the books in the series:


or from Amazon.co.uk


They also make great presents.

Jim Rohn Excerpts from the Treasury of Quotes

I am a huge fan of Jim Rohn, the silver haired American business philosopher. He speaks such wisdom, inspiring and challenging with his words.

Here are some Jim Rohn quotes:
"Don't wish it were easier; wish you were better. Don't wish for less problems; wish for more skills. Don't wish for less challenges; wish for more wisdom."

"Discipline is the bridge between goals and accomplishment.

"To become financially independent you must turn part of your income into capital; turn capital into enterprise, turn enterprise into profit; turn profit into investment; and turn investment into financial independence."

"We can have more than we've got because we can become more than we are."

"Success is nothing more than a few simple disciplines, practiced every day, while failure is simply a few errors in judgment, repeated every day. It is the accumulative weight of our disciplines and our judgments that leads us to either fortune or failure."

"There is no better opportunity to receive more than to be thankful for what you already have. Thanksgiving opens up the windows of opportunity for ideas to flow your way."

"Goals. There's no telling what you can do when you get inspired by them. There's no telling what you can do when you believe in them. There's no telling what will happen when you act upon them.

You might be familiar with The Jim Rohn Excerpts from the Treasury of Quotes, which broke the 2,000,000 in sales mark last year. Its huge demand is based on the fact that it is an extremely elegant booklet (gold foil on burgundy leatherette), it is very high in content (it contains more than 130 quotes on 21 specially selected topics from the original Treasury of Quotes by Jim Rohn) and it makes an excellent gift for family, friends and colleagues; yet it sells for less than a dollar each when purchased in multiples.

Also, each Jim Rohn booklet has a special TO and FROM section along with space to add a personalized note. There is a dedication:

"I wish for you a life of wealth, health and happiness; a life in which you give to yourself the gift of patience, the virtue of reason, the value of knowledge, and the influence of faith in your own ability to dream about and to achieve worthy rewards."

Think of the impact on someone when they receive such a positive heartfelt wish from you. They make an excellent stocking filler or business gift for clients - much better than yet another pen or calendar - and will be referred to time and time again. Brilliant idea!

The wide range of topics in this little booklet means that it really will speak to everyone:

Personal Development
Leadership/Management
Activity/Labor
Desire/Motivation
Knowledge/Education
Results/Success
Goals/Plans
Time/Time Management
Lifestyle
America/Government/Politics
Business/Career/Marketplace
Resolve/Belief/Asking
Skills/Fundamentals
Choice/Change/Decision
Fear/Doubt/Negativity
Influence/Association
Communication/Persuasion
Kids
Finances/Wealth
Relationships
Motivation

Click here for The Jim Rohn Excerpts from the Treasury of Quotes.

On the same site you can also subscribe to Jim Rohn's ezine so regularly receive his pearls of wisdom in your inbox.