Jack Canfield words of wisdom

As if! Talk to a teenager these days and you’re sure to hear a favorite saying, “As if,” meaning “As if that’s really going to happen.” The sarcasm just drips off their words.

Jack Canfield describes “as if” in a different way. In The Success Principles, Canfield says, “Believe and act as if it were impossible to fail. Think like, act like, talk like, dress like you have already achieved your goal.”


I thought of a couple of “as if” moments that I’ve experienced in my life. I will never forget my junior year in college when I was involved with the college radio station. One sunny, fall afternoon I was at the “Old Rockpile,” War Memorial Stadium in Buffalo, NY, with Steve Brown. We were there to call the Canisius College Golden Griffins football game for our school radio station. Both Steve and I dressed in navy blazers and khakis so we would fit in with the other local “real” media that were there to cover the game.

A few minutes before kickoff, Steve and I were frantically trying to set up our broadcast equipment. Unfortunately, as the lowly college radio station, we were placed at the far end of the broadcaster’s area and we needed an extension cord, which we conveniently forgot to pack. Then, right at kickoff, with our gear unplugged, Steve put on his headphones and proceeded to welcome our listening audience! We were talking to an audience of two – Steve and me. But it didn’t matter. Steve acted as if he were the lead broadcaster for a major network. We did the entire game unplugged, talking to no one but ourselves. That didn’t matter at all to Steve, who used the opportunity to hone his broadcasting skills.

Today, you can see Steve Brown’s skills as a reporter for Fox News. Every once in a while I’ll catch a report of his and just smile and remember our afternoon in the “Old Rockpile” in Buffalo.

Canfield says, “You can begin right now to act as if you have already achieved any goal you desire, and that outer experience of acting as if will create the inner experience that will take you to the manifestation of that experience.”

If you were in Rochester, NY in the late 80’s and happened to take in a Rochester Red Wings Triple A baseball game, you’d wonder about the young man who would set up a card table in the stands and bring his tape recorder and do play-by-play of the game. Josh Lewin knew he wanted to be a sports broadcaster his whole life, so he pretended as if he was. He became a fixture at the Red Wings games, doing entire broadcasts into his tape recorder. A few years later, when the real Red Wings announcer retired, management came to Josh and gave him the job. He was 21 years old. Josh went on to be the voice of Major League Baseball’s Baltimore Orioles and Texas Rangers. Josh does sideline reporting for the NFL on Fox and does play-by-play for the San Diego Chargers. As a teenager, Josh Lewin acted “as if” in a far different way than today’s teenagers use the phrase.

Decide what you want in your career – top biller status, management, or whatever it is, and act as if you are already there.

I can't wait to participate in our tele-seminar this month with Jack Canfield. I always seem to pick up some new tidbit every time I hear or read something by him.

Leave a comment if you have any words of wisdom you've learned from Jack's teachings.

Tom Ray
Executive Vice President
Jim Doyle and Associates