The Secret of The Secret
Aug 28, 2023Millions of people have bought Rhonda Byrne’s book The Secret. If you don’t have a copy, I suggest you pick one up. I have never met Rhonda and I’m not affiliated with her businesses. But I think the book is a short and interesting introduction to the law of attraction.
The film and book made quite a stir when they first came out in 2006. The concept was quickly shortened to a mantra that said, “Ask, Believe and Receive.” Shortly thereafter I met many people who “asked and believed.” But they didn’t “receive” the million-dollar check/new house/big promotion they wanted.
This phenomenon became so frequent that I started to offer a seminar that I called “The Secret of The Secret.” This is my take on how to apply the law of attraction in the business of coaching and creating.
The Law Of Attraction
Thousands of books, websites, videos and the like will tell you more than you ever wanted to know abut the law of attraction (LOA).
As creators and advisors, we depend upon our ability to attract clients who could benefit from our input. Let’s unpack the “law” to see how it could really work to help us reach a wider audience.
At its core, the LOA posits that a positive mindset brings positive results. And vice versa.
Detractors will say that this is nothing more than confirmation bias, the tendency to seek out information that proves you right. “I ‘put it out there’ that the sun would rise again today and it did! Hallelujah! I manifested that!”
I think there’s more to it than that, as we will discuss.
Enthusiastic adopters say that our affirmations attune us with cosmic vibrations that then inexorably bring our deepest desires to manifestation. “If I just ask for what I want and then believe that I’ll get it, I will automatically receive it!”
Maybe.
The problem with magical thinking like this is that when it doesn’t work, we blame the petitioner. “You didn’t believe hard enough.” “You didn’t ‘let it go’ enough.” “Your desires weren’t pure enough.”
Ask
There are many positive and effective concepts involved in the LOA.
The “ask” requires that you focus your intent. What is it you really want, in detail? Part of the ask involves visualization of the desired result, to include all of your senses. See, hear, taste touch and smell the result.
This level of detailed intent is excellent for project management. It will focus your thoughts and allow for a specific delineation of tasks, milestones, measurement and assessment. Will it align your energy with the specific cosmic frequencies of manifestation? Maybe.
The last part of the ask is to “let it go.” If you operationalize that to mean, “stop expending your energy on worry about things out of your control,” I wholeheartedly agree.
If you take that advice to mean, “just forget about the whole thing and see what happens,” it’s probably not a great idea.
Believe
The “believe” section of the LOA formula also has two main components. The first is to literally believe that what you have visualized is going to happen. Confidence - based upon competency - is always a good thing. It inspires coworkers, investors and others related to your business (and, if we are being “real,” it inspires you as well).
But blind confidence that a desired outcome will just “happen” can be a bad decision. If “believe” means just forget about evaluating milestones, assessing outcomes and adjusting operations in real time, its a fool’s game.
The second part of the believe step is to manifest gratitude.
Yes and hell yes.
Gratitude is a powerful weapon against doubt, worry and existential angst. Thankfulness increases our mental and physical health, enhances our interpersonal effectiveness and graces us with exceptional resilience.
Does gratitude attune us to occult forces that otherwise might conspire against us? Who cares. It’s healthy and it works. You can’t get enough of it in your daily routine.
Receive
This last step is the part that has left a trail of broken hearts, disillusionment and regret. At its worse, the “receive” has caused people of good intent to altogether give up.
Why?
Because it has been widely interpreted to mean that once you ask and believe, all you have to do is sit back and wait for mana to pour from heaven.
Do I know people for whom that exact thing has happened? Yes I do. Is it possible that whatever you want will manifest without further effort on your part? Yes it is. Is it possible that you will be the single winner of a billion-dollar PowerBall lottery? Yes it is.
Are any of these situations common enough to be necessary and sufficient for your success? No.
What’s Missing
My personal experience and that of thousands of people with whom I have worked indicates that there is a missing ingredient. The admonition to receive is not a magic pill. There is a final step necessary in order to receive the thing you so ardently desire.
This is the not-so-secret “secret” of The Secret and of any practical application of the law of attraction. All successful businesspeople know and use this last step every day. They know that without this final piece, the rest is frequently just a pipe dream.
OK, here it is. To receive that which you have envisioned, planned for and for which you are preemptively grateful one thing remains:
You have to work your ass off.
Detail those plans. Monitor that performance. Do more of what is working and stop those efforts that aren’t bringing results.
For creators, that means you have to put yourself out there for your audience. Build community. Pour out your heart and your compassion and your intelligence. Decide what it is that you stand for and then stand for it. Do the thing that you are uniquely able to do and make sure people know about it.
Do. The. Work.
But you already knew this.
When you add this last ingredient, you will receive what you want, and are willing to work for. Will you also access the Akashic records and be tuned in to the universal frequency of manifestation?
Maybe.
As always, I welcome your thoughts. You can reach me through the comments section on my Substack or Medium accounts or the blog section on my website. If you have found value in this article, consider following my Instagram and Twitter accounts. Coming this November, subscribe to my River of Creation podcast - The Podcast for Creators, wherever you download your podcasts.
- JWW
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