Jeff Brown

Review: The Secret (Rhonda Byrne)



Posted: Thursday, July 24, 2008

by
Inner Projection

Just read Napoleon Hill's Think and Grow Rich. That's where Byrne discovered "the secret." It's nothing new, no secret at all. It's is just like the laundry shop owner, Mr. Lee, in the old Calgon commercial who tells a customer he gets the cloths white using an "Ancient Chinese secret." Of course, Mrs. Lee reveals the truth to the customer, "Ancient Chinese secret, huh?"

We say the same thing to Ms. Byrne. But she's done nothing wrong here. Hill's book is part of the public domain and anyone can grab ideas from his book (but beware, too many know of his work) or others that are in the public domain and do the same.

But don't get me wrong. The law of attraction is part of a positive thinking mindset that is good in that regard, and even I was excited after my first viewing of The Secret. But think about this . . . When you're told by the "experts" in the film (those guys with a string of alphabets after their name) that the law of attraction works not just once in a while, not just some of the time, but each and every time and on and on with the hyperbole and exaggeration . . . Well, as any good critical thinker knows--or human with common sense for that matter-- very rarely if ever does anything happen all of the time or never .

If every time I've desired something with perfect faith in my desire (there's a problem right there, huh?), and I don't get what I want . . . then what? You can't always get what you want; nevertheless, positive thinking, getting rid of negative thinking, complaining, gossiping, wasting time, etc. is good stuff, but even the greats have been frustrated, in the extreme. Lincoln failed numerous times in business and politics until he was successful in his late 40s. Washington lost most of his battles . . . on and on. Failure puts a nice perspective on success and is part of the design for a purpose.

And the majority of successful have had failure in their lives, some again and again for years and years. What was happening? Not enough "attracting" the right things? Not of a proper mindset? What of Christ or Martin Luther King, did they not think in the most selfless, grandest, considering the many above and beyond their own welfare? What greater, more successful type of thinking exists?

But my biggest problem is the oversimplification of the law of attraction. All you have to do is see what you desire, manifest the reality of your desires by visualization--see it, see it, see it--and after enough time and faith . . . PRESTO! Here's your Porsche!

The law of attraction is only the tip of the iceburg. What is missing is the discipline; work; negating of destructive habits and thoughts, focus; overcoming fear, doubt, and anxiety; knowledge; trial and error; understanding failure and its worth; having clear, obtainable goals; work, work, work; and then, did I mention? work, work, work.

So this law of attraction spoken of in The Secret is all fine and dandy, but the bottom line is that this video was put together to hype up excitement so it could go viral, meaning that it was created to promote not necessarily be accurate.

What I would like to see, now that the video and book have been out some time, the percentage of people who've watched the video or read the book and to what extent they've been successful.

Let's not keep that a secret, and we'll see how well this Secret really works in the real world.
Jeff is a Career, Life, & Mentor coach & CEO of  www.InnerProjection.com: working with students and parents using the proprietary Success, Design and Preparation system creating a plan to ensure his clients are of the 30% of college grads who don't waste 10 to 15 years or leave 100s of thousands of dollars on the table.

Prior to owning Inner Projection, Jeff worked as a computer programmer and in tech. support, but hated it enough to move from his home in Connecticut to do stand up comedy in Boston where he worked with such comics as Bill Burr, Dan Cook, and Billy Martin and wrote for people like Mz. Michigan who needed material for her ventriloquism act. He then moved to Los Angeles to do more stand up, but found being a coach & college instructor more rewarding. He's married with 3 children.
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