Maybe you don’t remember The Secret.
(Lucky you.)
It was the popular book a few years ago, teaching you how to live your dream life. Wealth, freedom, love – whatever you wanted, you could get it through the Law of Attraction.
The Law of Attraction says that if you focus on what you want, visualise it and feel gratitude, then it will magically come to you.
Eh, fine, I suppose it’s not the worst idea out there. Gratitude for what you have is a beautiful thing. Visualisation can be part of a strategy for success.
But visualisation alone isn’t enough. Even if the universe works by the Law of Attraction, you need to do the work to become the sort of person who’ll attract what you want. You need to reflect on your failures and take action. Daydreaming about your wishes won’t do much.
It’s a lazy shortcut. Believing The Secret is enough means you don’t have to do anything difficult.
So I’m not a fan of the book.
But I will defend it on one count.
People accuse it of blaming victims. If you live in abuse or poverty, then (according to The Secret) it’s because you didn’t wish hard enough!
No, no, no.
That’s not how advice works.
If The Secret works, then people in poverty haven’t used it.
If diets work, then fat people haven’t followed them.
And if jobs liberate women, then housewives only have themselves to blame.
Your problems are caused by <X> – do <Y> instead. That’s the essence of all good advice, assuming <Y> works. If that’s blaming the victim, then so is every useful statement.
Anyway, I’m not a fan of The Secret.
If you want something, you still have to work for it.
And visualisation is a weak technique. If you want something bad enough, you deserve a better technique than that.
In fact, forget The Secret.
You need something real and grounded in good Christian principles.
Something like my Christian conditioning program.
If you want to thrive in 2024, then you might want to read more about it: