Mark: A study cited in a famous book found that ninety-nine percent of all failures come from people who have a habit of making excuses. Michelle: Wow, ninety-nine percent? That feels incredibly high. And a little judgy. Mark: It sounds harsh, right? But what if the one thing holding you back isn't your circumstances, your boss, or the economy, but your right to complain about them? Today, we explore the radical idea of giving that up for something much more powerful. Michelle: Giving up the right to complain? That sounds... both impossible and incredibly freeing. Where is this idea coming from? Mark: It's the cornerstone of The Success Principles by Jack Canfield, with Janet Switzer. And Canfield isn't just some theorist; this is the guy who co-created the Chicken Soup for the Soul series. He and his partner, Mark Victor Hansen, famously faced over 140 rejections from publishers before it became a global phenomenon that sold hundreds of millions of copies. Michelle: Hold on, 140 rejections? I would have given up after ten. That’s insane persistence. Mark: Exactly. He lives and breathes these principles. The book is a distillation of everything he learned from his own mentors and his journey from a challenging upbringing to massive success. It's become a classic in the self-help world, highly rated by readers for decades, because it’s not about quick fixes. It’s about a fundamental shift in how you see the world and your place in it. Michelle: Okay, I'm intrigued. If it's the secret behind that level of success, I'm listening. So where do we start? What's the first, most important principle? Mark: It's the one that underpins everything else, Principle #1: Take 100% Responsibility for Your Life.

Michelle: Okay, Mark, I have to push back on that immediately. 100%? That sounds like a recipe for self-blame. What about things that are genuinely not our fault? A sudden illness, a natural disaster, getting laid off because of a corporate merger... You can't be responsible for that. Mark: That's the exact question everyone asks, and it's the most important clarification. Canfield isn't saying you're at fault for the event. He's saying you are 100% responsible for your response to the event. He introduces a simple but profound formula: E + R = O. Event + Response = Outcome. Michelle: E + R = O. Okay, break that down for me. Mark: The Event is the thing that happens. It’s the traffic jam, the critical comment from your boss, the rainy day, the earthquake. Most of these, you can't control. The Outcome is what you get—frustration, a learning experience, a new opportunity, a ruined day. The only variable you have total control over is the R, your Response. Your thoughts, your actions, the words you use. If you don't like your Outcomes, you have to change your Responses, not blame the Events. Michelle: That’s a powerful reframe. It shifts the focus from what's happening to you to what you're going to do about it. Mark: Precisely. He tells a fantastic story about the 1994 Northridge earthquake in Los Angeles. It destroyed a major freeway, turning a one-hour commute into a three-hour nightmare. A CNN reporter was out interviewing drivers stuck in the gridlock. Michelle: I can only imagine the responses. Pure rage, I bet. Mark: The first guy she interviews is exactly that. He’s leaning out his window, red-faced, screaming about the government, the construction crews, his terrible luck. He’s a total victim of the Event. His Outcome is stress, anger, and high blood pressure. Michelle: Sounds about right. Who was the second person? Mark: The reporter walks over to another car, and the guy inside is just smiling, relaxed. She asks him how he’s dealing with it, and he says, "I can't do anything about the earthquake. I knew the commute would be terrible, so I'm prepared." He points to the passenger seat. He had a thermos of coffee, a bunch of audiobooks, his laptop to get work done, and even a Spanish language course on tape. He said, "I'm treating this as my university on wheels. I'm not going to let this ruin my day." Michelle: Wow. Same event, completely different responses, and therefore, completely different outcomes. One guy is in hell, the other is in a mobile classroom. Mark: That's it exactly. The first driver was focused on blaming the Event. The second driver focused on mastering his Response. This applies to everything. Canfield tells another story about a Lexus dealership during the first Gulf War. The war started, and suddenly, nobody was coming into the showroom. The Event was the war and the resulting economic anxiety. Michelle: So their sales must have plummeted. A classic external factor they couldn't control. Mark: Right. The sales team could have sat around, complained about the news, and blamed the war for their poor sales. That would be one Response. But the manager chose a different R. He said, "If people won't come to the Lexus, we'll take the Lexus to the people." Michelle: What did they do? Mark: They got a fleet of their new cars, drove them to the most affluent neighborhoods, country clubs, and polo grounds, and just started offering test drives on the spot. People would drive the new Lexus, and then get back into their own three-year-old Mercedes or BMW and suddenly feel dissatisfied. Their old car didn't feel as good anymore. Michelle: That is brilliant. They changed their response from passive waiting to proactive engagement. Mark: And their sales went through the roof. They sold more cars per week during the war than they had before it broke out. They couldn't change the Event—the war—but by changing their Response, they created a phenomenal Outcome. It’s about giving up complaining and blaming, which are just ways of giving away your power. Michelle: So it’s not about self-blame, it's about self-empowerment. Shifting from 'Why is this happening to me?' to 'Okay, this is happening. What am I going to do now?' That actually feels much lighter than carrying around resentment. Mark: It is. It's the ultimate power move. Because the moment you take responsibility, you gain the ability to change your situation. A victim can't change anything. A creator can.

Michelle: Okay, so once you've made that internal shift to being a creator, what's next? Do you just start trying things randomly and hope for the best? Mark: Not at all. And this is where Canfield’s approach becomes incredibly practical and, for some, a bit controversial. The next major idea is that success isn't a mystery you have to solve from scratch. As he puts it, "Success Leaves Clues." Michelle: Success leaves clues. I like the sound of that. It makes it sound like a detective story. Mark: It kind of is. The idea challenges the myth of the lone genius who invents success out of thin air. Canfield argues that almost anything you want to do, someone has already done it successfully. Your job isn't to reinvent the wheel; it's to find out how the wheel was built and then build your own. It's about strategic modeling. Michelle: So, finding a blueprint and following it. That almost sounds too simple. Is originality overrated when it comes to success? Mark: From this perspective, yes, at least in the beginning. The goal is to learn from those who have already achieved what you want to achieve. This could mean reading their books, taking their courses, or, most powerfully, finding a mentor. He calls this "finding a wing to climb under." Michelle: That's a great analogy. But finding a mentor sounds great in a book, but how does someone actually do that in real life without coming across as a pest or a stalker? Can you give me a real-world example of how this works? Mark: The book has a perfect one: the story of Les Brown, who is now a world-famous motivational speaker. But he started out with nothing. He was born in an abandoned building in a poor part of Miami and was labeled "educable mentally retarded" in school. His dream was to be a disc jockey. Michelle: That's a huge gap to cross. From being labeled like that to becoming a public personality. Mark: A massive gap. But he didn't just wish for it. He started looking for clues. He hung around the radio station, WMBM, just watching. He would bring food and water to the DJs. He made himself useful. He studied their every move, their tone of voice, their timing. He was actively gathering clues. Michelle: He was apprenticing himself, even unofficially. Mark: Exactly. He eventually got a job as a gofer at the station, running errands. He wasn't on the air, but he was in the building. Every chance he got, he would go into an empty studio and practice, pretending he was on the air. He was rehearsing for the role he wanted. He had a mentor in his high school drama teacher who helped him with his speaking voice. He was constantly learning, modeling, and preparing. Michelle: So he was ready for the opportunity before it even existed. Mark: That's the key. One Saturday, one of the on-air DJs, Rockin' Roger, started drinking on the job. The station manager was panicking, looking for a replacement. Les Brown was right there. He said, "Sir, I can do it." The manager was hesitant, but he was desperate. He put Les on the air. Michelle: And he nailed it, I'm guessing. Mark: He was an instant hit. The phone lines lit up. People loved him. He had spent so much time studying and practicing that when the Event happened—the DJ getting drunk—his Response was perfect. He was prepared. He got a full-time gig and his career took off from there. He didn't have a formal "mentorship program," he just relentlessly sought out clues and prepared himself. Michelle: That story is incredible. But it also feels like it's from a different era. Today, with the internet, has finding these 'clues' become easier or just... noisier? It feels like everyone's a guru. Mark: That's a great point. It's both. The clues are more abundant than ever. You can watch interviews with your heroes for hours, read detailed biographies, take online courses from experts. You can reverse-engineer the career path of almost anyone. The challenge, as you said, is the noise. Michelle: Right. How do you separate the real clues from the marketing fluff? Mark: Canfield's own story is a good guide here. He was mentored by a man named W. Clement Stone, a self-made multimillionaire. Canfield didn't just listen to him; he went to work for him. He immersed himself in Stone's environment and learned the principles firsthand. The modern equivalent is to not just consume content passively, but to apply it rigorously. Test the principles. See what actually works. The real clues are the ones that produce results, not just the ones that sound good on a podcast. Michelle: So the principle remains the same: find what works and do that. Whether it's a person, a book, or a business model. Don't start from zero if you don't have to. Mark: You got it. It's a strategy of intelligent imitation, which eventually leads to your own unique form of innovation once you've mastered the fundamentals.

Michelle: So, when you put these two ideas together, a really clear picture emerges. It's a two-part formula for taking control of your life. First, you take absolute ownership of your internal world—your mindset, your reactions, your choices. That's the 100% Responsibility part. Mark: The E + R = O. Michelle: Exactly. Then, once you've sorted out your internal world, you look to the external world for a blueprint to follow. You find the clues left by others. So it’s not about blame; it’s about power. And it’s not about being a lone genius; it’s about being a smart strategist. Mark: That's a perfect synthesis, Michelle. And the connection between the two is the most profound part. Taking 100% responsibility is what gives you the clarity and the humility to even look for clues in the first place. Michelle: What do you mean by that? Mark: Think about it. A person who is blaming the world for their problems—a victim—doesn't look for a mentor or a blueprint. They're too busy pointing fingers. They think their problem is unique and unsolvable because it's caused by external forces. Michelle: Right, they're looking for someone to blame, not a solution to model. Mark: But the person who says, "Okay, my results are my responsibility"—the creator—is immediately forced to ask a different question: "How do I create a better result?" And the most logical answer to that question is to find someone who has already done it. Taking responsibility is the foundational mindset that unlocks every other strategy in the book. You can't effectively use the clues if you're still blaming the game. Michelle: Wow, I never thought of it that way. The first principle is the key that unlocks the door to the second. You have to own your situation before you can learn how to change it. Mark: That's the core of it. It’s a powerful loop. Own your response, then find a better response to model. Repeat. Michelle: So the challenge for everyone listening is simple. For the next 24 hours, try to catch yourself every time you blame someone or complain about something. Don't judge it, just notice it. Then ask yourself: what is one tiny response I could change right now? Mark: I love that. A 24-hour complaint-free challenge. It's harder than it sounds, but the awareness it creates is the first step. Michelle: Let us know how it goes! We're always curious to hear your stories and what you're learning. You can find us on our socials and share your experience. Mark: This is Aibrary, signing off.