3 Things I learned After Making a Million Dollars | Jack Canfield

Hi there. I'm Jack Canfield, and today I want to talk to you about three things that I learned after becoming a millionaire. Now, since you may also have the goal of becoming a millionaire one day, you may find it helpful to learn these lessons now. And I think some of them might surprise you. I actually became a millionaire quite suddenly, almost overnight. As a result, I didn't have a lot of time to adjust to suddenly having much more money than I was used to. It happened very fast after the success of the first Chicken Soup for the Soul book took off. That experience taught me three powerful lessons about money and about being a millionaire. The first lesson is money doesn't change you as much as you think. You've heard the saying money can't buy happiness. Well, it's true. If you were happy before you had money, you're going to be happy when you have a lot of money. And if you're unhappy before you have money, having money isn't going to make you feel any happier or any more fulfilled. Now, we all know people who have very little money and who are very happy. We all know people who have a lot of money and are very unhappy. Money doesn't really have anything to do with it. At the same time, there are certain things that money definitely does help with. Money can help you handle unexpected expenses more easily. It can help you give your kids a good education, will provide you and your loved ones with better health care. It alleviates certain hardships, and that's really a good thing about that. But even though money can change the world around you, it won't change you. Who you are, how you see the world, and how you interact with it, all that stays the same. So if you're afraid of attracting money into your life because you're worried it's going to change you in some bad way, don't be scared about it. Having money so simply tends to amplify the person you already are. If you're a good person who wants to make a positive impact in the world, you can do a lot more good things. When you have money, you can fund a lot of great projects. Now, if you're a terrible person who only thinks about yourself, you'll be just as terrible a person with a lot of money. We've all met or read about those people. Now, the second lesson I learned is that having more money than other people can make you very uncomfortable. Two years after the first Chicken Soup for the Soul book came out, I made $6 million in one year. And that was a major amount of Money. And I have to say, it made me very uncomfortable. I actually felt some guilt around it, and I had to wrestle with my own sense of worthiness. I wasn't sure I deserved that kind of money when so many people in the world had nothing. Not only that, I noticed that even though I hadn't changed the way some people related to me did, in the eyes of many, Jack Canfield the millionaire was a very different person than Jack Canfield, a relatively successful speaker and coach. And having people treat me differently all of a sudden was a very uncomfortable experience. Now, I did eventually get used to it as I became more comfortable being a person with money, but it did take some time. Now, the final lesson I learned when I became a millionaire is this. Money forces you to look at what you truly value. As I became more comfortable with having money, I had to take responsibility for it and decide what to do with it. I had to figure out what was most important to me, what were my values, and what did I really, truly care about. What I discovered was that I felt a strong responsibility to use my money to do good in the world. But how did I want to give my money to a school like Harvard, where I graduated from, or give it to support homeless kids living in Santa Barbara, where I live? I ultimately decided to help build schools in Africa because my background and my values lie in education and to support organizations dedicated to environmental sustainability, to provide a future world where my grandchildren could survive. So that's how I chose to give back. And I also sat down with my family, and together we decided what local charities we were going to donate money to. It was a great opportunity to educate my kids on good money habits and. And the responsibilities of having money. Now, of course, there is also the danger of buying too much stuff when you have money. People who suddenly have a lot of money may be tempted to make a lot of big purchases and surround themselves with way too much stuff they don't really need. When I first became wealthy, I went through a phase that I call my nouveau riche stage, in which I spent too much money on nice sweaters and clothing. And at one point, we even had a personal chef cooking all our meals. But I ended up gaining too much weight from having a chef, and my wife became aware that she valued her privacy in the home more than the convenience of having someone else do all the cooking. So we decided to spend our money in ways that better served us and our community. So when it comes to spending your money in a way that truly makes you happy, you really need to Examine yourself, your values, and your priorities and decide what is truly right for you. Remember the that it's okay for money to make you uncomfortable, but that's just because it's exposing you to new situations beyond your current comfort zone. It's not significantly going to change you in any way. But if you want to be smart with your money and use it to create a life you truly love, put your money where your values are now. Use it to make a positive impact and create the kind of world you want to live in. That's how you create a deeper, true life purpose, deeper meaning and greater abundance. Now here's your homework to complete after watching this video, I want you to play the Millionaire game. From this point forward, I encourage you to act as if you were already a millionaire or a multimillionaire. How would you feel when you woke up in the morning? What would your intention or purpose for the day be? What would your mindset and your outlook be? How would you interact with your family, your friends, your co workers, your clients, your customers? If you were already a millionaire? How would you walk and how would you talk and how would you hold your body? I want you to fully visualize how you would move through the world as a millionaire and then start acting that way today. Now, one of the most powerful exercises I do in my live seminars and training is to have people stand up and mill around the room, interacting with each other as if they were already millionaires. And at the end of the exercise, I asked them if they feel any different, if they acted any different. And almost everyone reports that they feel more confident, they were more outgoing, they're happier, more enthusiastic, and more energized. And yet they hadn't really become millionaires except in their minds. And we know from the Law of Attraction, when you feel, talk, and act like a wealthy person, you attract more wealth and abundance into your life. The energy you put out into the universe will help you attract the people that the resources and the opportunities to actually make that dream of wealth and abundance a reality. So I'd like you to leave a comment below with your thoughts and I'll be sure to read it and get back to you if I can. So thank you for watching. And remember, nothing will change for the better until you do. Now, if you found this video helpful, make sure you like it, share it with a friend who may need it, and subscribe to my channel. For more videos like this one, and for some additional resources on how to attract wealth and abundance into your life, visit my website at Jackcampfield Com. Thanks again for watching.