The Secret, my arse....
The Secret makes me bloody tired when the idea becomes that the universe delivers customers and success just because you think about them enough. Focus is good. Belief in your project is good. But it doesn’t replace the work of building a business.
I’ve answered an incredible number of emails from entrepreneurs today, here in September 2010. They aren’t getting fewer. And now and then, I also receive messages about The Secret and all those forces of the universe.
There’s something useful in staying focused
I’ve read the book myself, though it was a long time ago. And there are elements I think are fine.
Staying focused on your projects is a bloody good idea. Visualising having done well can be good too. There’s nothing wrong with imagining a result and working towards it.
I use some of that thinking myself. Not by sitting imagining myself on a podium or driving around in a Ferrari.
But I have an inner conviction that what I’m working on will succeed. That’s an incredibly powerful force for me.
Once I’ve decided it’ll succeed, I spend less energy constantly wondering whether it actually will. Of course, I’ve also tried to assess the risk if I’m wrong.
I like that combination: Believing in what I do while taking the risk seriously.
To me, The Secret is old material dressed up in mystery
What I can’t stand is the leap from focus to the universe somehow delivering what you want.
Even reasonably intelligent people I know write or tell me about it. If you focus, it’ll come from the universe.
I don’t believe God has a Ferrari factory. And I don’t think he can teleport expensive cars into people’s garages, however capable he may otherwise be.
All that attraction of the universe and that sort of mumbo jumbo is no use to me.
To me, it’s old wine in new bottles. Ordinary ideas about focus and action get made mysterious. And lots of people absolutely love the mysterious.
I get carried away by my own irritation too
In the video, I go off on a tangent about a story I’d heard involving the UN or perhaps the EU and some kind of contact person if little green men came to Earth.
I can’t even remember who the story was supposed to concern. It’s a remark from my rant, not information I’ve verified. I use it to illustrate my irritation at how easily mysticism can be taken seriously.
There may well be more than I understand. I readily admit that. There’s plenty I don’t have a handle on, including debit, credit and bookkeeping.
But that’s a long way from simply focusing and having everything drop into your lap like manna from heaven. I don’t believe that.
It’s comfortable to be let off doing the work
I think some American businesspeople make a fortune selling that idea. And some people read it and think: How lovely.
Instead of working hard and really getting stuck in, you just need to watch a self-development video with people discussing the forces of the universe.
I’m harsh in my criticism and think it can become an excuse for laziness. It’s nicer to sit at home in your dressing gown watching a video than to go out, sweat and make your business work.
But when the video ends, Ferraris still aren’t falling from the sky.
Customers don’t come running either just because you think about them standing at your door.
Focus needs to be followed by action
I’m not saying abandon focus or belief in yourself. That’s precisely something I use myself. Also read Skab din egen succes on finding your own way and acting on what you want.
But my conviction is that it all takes hard work. You need to go out and build your business. Imagining the result doesn’t do it.
Fine, you’re focusing. You bloody well need to if you want to make money. But that has never been a secret.
So take care, and may the forces of the universe be with you, as I say with a twinkle in my eye at the end. I’d still make sure to get the work done myself.
Also read about the joy of building a business along the way.
Bloody hell, I’m tired of all that "The Secret" crap…. Best wishes, Martin
HØRT!!!
Mmmmmm… Hahaha…:-)