My Personal Problem With All Of This

[JOE]

This may have been touched upon before......in fact I am sure that it has but here goes


My problem with the law of attraction is this:


Most of the people who sell us the Law of Attraction, seem (to my admittedly biased and potentially uninformed eyes) to be making their living SOLELY (or at best mostly) from selling the idea about the LOA


My sources for making such an assertion are few and I admit that I am not privvy to their other sources of wealth or income and that my opinion might be totally way off. BUT from watching the SECRET and reading about authors such as Wayne Dyer, Esther Hicks, et al..................................it seems that these people are LIVING THE Secret .....to a much or lesser degree on OUR devotion and making a living out of our addiction to the idea


I have heard the rumours of Bill Gates reading Charles Haanel's Master Key System and don't doubt that the ideas of LOA are beneficial to success etc BUT I would feel much happier if somebody who pops up in the LOA field were to say "Look....I made all my money in advertising/Dog Food/Fetish clothing and I owe my wealth to following these ideas"

But from waht I can see, there is a tendency for the authors we are Most familiar with, to have made their money from selling the idea of the LOA, so effectively their wealth, has come from them selling us the idea of wealth creation (?). For example, even in THE SECRET, Jack Canfield or whatever his name is (CHICKEN SOUP FOR THE SOUL guy) admitted that he made money from selling his book........GREAT .........good luck to him.......but he made his money from selling a book and an idea about making his money. Again, great.............but I would prefer Jack Canfield to tell me that he made his money in sports or the porno industry.....and then wanted to tell us his secrets. For so many LOA or similar authors to make their living from what I can see is peddling the idea of LOA seems a bit strange.

I AM NOT A DISBELIEVER IN LOA

I am just curious and a little suspicious that this seems to be the only area where our heroes are at least publicly, successful.
Again, I do not know the personal histories of the various authors etc and I have no way of verifying whether they are or were successful in other fields or whether this success was attributable to the LOA.
Furthermore, I do not know whether there are numerous other authors or successful people who utilise the LOA and don't admit to it (for whatever reason.....jealousy, guarded secret or ignorance)

whether it is all a crock of horse manure........................................
or whether they are utilising it unconsciously and cannot see how they are using it

I would like to think that the authors such as Hicks, Canfield, Dyer etc are altruistic and trying to spread some universal truth for the good of mankind but from my perspective, it would be more beneficial if somebody already wealthy, from other means .....asserted that their wealth was accountable to the LOA and that they SUBSEQUENTLY felt the need and the drive to spread the wealth of information. THAT IS MY PROBLEM WITH THE LOA

[John Wesley]

I totally understand what you mean, Joe. There are a lot of people out there trying to sell books and other things related to the LOA, and it is good to be incredulous. I think you just have to take the idea for what it's worth. There is definitely truth behind it, but it isn't really new. 'Think and Grow Rich' by Napolean Hill is a basically about the LOA but it isn't called that.

Learn from the idea, use it to help yourself, but don't be one of the people that accepts it will finality and gets suckered by someone who promises to solve all your problems by revealing some great Secret.

[annie]

I know what you mean.

But Jack Canfield can't be lumped in that group because Chicken Soup for the Soul series is HUGE BUSINESS. He became a multi-millionaire from books, and now he has credibility to appear on The Secret and promote LOA.

I know I'm completely "small potatoes"...but I used it for 16 years (LOA) solely before I shared it with anyone on a fee basis (business).

I used it for a gourmet food business that made my family over a million dollars.

I too, would like to hear more stories from regular people (or rich people ) that weren't trying to sell their stuff

(DON"T LOOK AT MY SIGGY!!!! )

[dor]

I have had the same thoughts Joe...
but what about andrew carnegie/napolean hill? it's a version of LOA.

[Nico Kempe]

I would check the topic "What have you manifested recently" first, because it's packed with "every day people"'s experiences, I think.

I myself, certainly not a millionaire and not having a company, have tried the L.o.A. in a few small tests, and they actually worked.
Lazy and easily distracted as I am, I haven't really consciously used it since though.

The kind of tests I tried was intending to meet a certain type of person and intending to get a specific coat (which I couldn't find anywhere near untill suddenly my sister asked me to go to a market across the country).
Sure, they're rather small examples, but still, if you watch the signs, and appreciate them, you can get some pretty neat results.

[JOE]

Wow


great answers and amazingly fast

being in the UK, I fully expected that I wouldn't hear anything until tomoorw midday at least but I have already had all these responses (much different than other forums I am involved with)

I admit, I have NO way of knowing about Hill or Carnegie....purely down to the fact that I have no idea about their histories etc.
As for Canfield (I hope that is right) I suspect that success breeds success......(NOT ALWAYS I KNOW AND PSYCHOLOGY AND THE INSTANT MILLIONAIRE TODAY/PAUPER TOMORROW SITUATION CAN EXIST)

Did he make his business first or did he have a great idea in promulgating his idea, then he had bank and business leaders, willing to invest in his successful venture?

What I want (and as you state Carnegie and Hill might have achieved this) is to hear stories of successful people, who THEN decide to sell ideas.....not people who have a successful idea and then peddle it to the masses repeatedly under different guises
For example, Gene Simmons out of Kiss has been spectacularly successful and made himself a mint out of a group who were massive in the seventies............regrouped in the nineties and made a short term killing from nostalgia and the SAME idea

In the eighties, Kiss were still touring with successive line-ups and Gene himself was moving into movies and television (with limited but by most people's standards a level of success)

But he hit the big time again by re-visiting his original idea of make up and flashbombs (and admittedly his early catchy songs)

I feel that some of the LOA authors are similarly one trick ponies.....living off the initial idea and getting minor (yet cerdible) success from affiliated ideas


just my admittedly biased and limited viewpoint

[dor]

Napoleon Hill - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The "Carnegie Secret" is a concept that Napoleon Hill studied extensively. Carnegie told Hill that the formula for success was so powerful that if learning how to apply it was taught to students, the time they needed to spend in formal schooling could be cut in half. This formula, Carnegie repeated, was used by all the leading businessmen and inventors of the late 19th and early 20th century. Carnegie asked Hill to go out and confirm the application of the formula by the 500 richest Americans (and others)....
One of the basic premises of the “Carnegie Secret” or “Carnegie Formula” is that whatever your mind focuses on will attract like-minded people to you.
Carnegie made his millions in the steel industry- he was the son of poor immigrants from Scotland. He became the richest man in the US.

[JOE]

I Didn't Know That


Thanks For The Information

Joe

[Indy107]

Ok here's my take.

First, I think we (as a majority of common peoples) are just now being exposed to "The Secret" for the first time. Thousands of people are flocking to this stuff. So we need to 'wait and see' if anyone can apply this to their own particular line of work and get wealthy from it. If they do, chances are - they will want to write a book about it also, or start a website, or whatever. I would.

Second - I live in a small town - and my business suffers from the same problem all the other little businesses around me suffers from. Lack of people - pop ~20k. First you need a good product - whether its information, or a service, or a trinket, or videos of naked women, you need something to sell, then you need people to buy it. If you are only selling your 'stuff' to a small select group of people, you won't make it very far. At least in my town anyways. You need a larger audience.

What's the fastest way to reach millions of people all at once? Books, Internet, Movies, Videos on the Internet? They are simply doing what they've been doing for years. They were all highly successful businessmen and women, doing what they do, selling what they sell, making their livings, long before any of us heard of the Secret. And now they are reaching millions of additional people.

[Angela]

Originally Posted by JOE

I feel that some of the LOA authors are similarly one trick ponies.....living off the initial idea and getting minor (yet cerdible) success from affiliated ideas
just my admittedly biased and limited viewpoint

Joe, do you feel there's something wrong with being a one-trick pony and making money off of that trick? Are you thinking, maybe, that these authors are putting one over on gullible readers and laughing all the way to the bank? Do you feel that you have something to lose by trying the techniques or reading the books?

I was pretty skeptical about the law of attraction (and I remain skeptical about channeling), but someone gave the Hicks' book for my birthday, so none of my cash was laid out for it. There were one or two concepts that really hooked me -- especially the one about "try to think thoughts that make you feel good when you think them," and also the "games" or whatever they're called -- the techniques at the end for raising your thoughts up the scale of consciousness. I had so much fun with that that I did an experiment (1 Day Atheist LoA Test in Progress thread) and found all kinds of fun "attractions" coming my way. That day was enough for me to want to continue and even share it with others.

Is it a ruse? If it is, that's ok with me because it is so stinkin' much fun to be aware of and control my thoughts, to feel good at will, and to watch amazing abundance fall into my lap. If you are still suspicious yet feel intriqued, you can always get the book out the library!

[AmandaP]

I've just recieved a copy of 'the Secret' and have set myself time to watch it today. Theres been so much talk about it, I simply decided now was my time to try it. I've set a goal to watch it daily and to use the LOA in every area of my life for a 90 day period. I have a desire to see it work for my family and am going to keep a diary of actions taken and thought patterns that I need to alter. Hopefully I'm successful and I can tell you about it.

[Nico Kempe]

wow, that's pretty thorough.
I am very curious to know how it goes, keep us posted..)

[Dani]

Bob Proctor made his initial success in sales, then started out on the coaching/teaching front.

He has coaching clients who pay him a hundred thousand of dollars a year for an hour a week of his time. Most of these clients have been with him for several years.

They pay $100,000 a year, for many years, to him. Why? Because what he teaches works, and they make far more than they pay him.

Applying these techniques had me scream up the ladder in my IT career, where when I dropped out of it, I was earning fully 6 - 8 times the salary of all my friends who I went to Uni with, doing the -same- job as them.

I then dropped my IT career to become a coach, because I wanted to share these ideas and help others achieve the success I had. So now I make a lot of my money from teaching others, because I now know how to show others how to get more in their life, having done it myself.

[Acting Like Godot]

Here is the story of Angela Bailey, a former Olympic medallist, who attributes her sporting success to the Law of Attraction:

Law of attraction and sports hypnosis used by famous Olympic athlete, Bailey

Brian Tracy, in his early years, worked as a construction worker / sailor / dishwasher / farmhand etc. He worked his way up from zero, and made his big money in:

"sales and marketing, investments, real estate development and syndication, importation, distribution and management consulting"

before turning to the field of personal development (and yes, he writes about the Law of Attraction too): Brian Tracy International

[Acting Like Godot]

Originally Posted by AmandaP

I've set a goal to watch it daily and to use the LOA in every area of my life for a 90 day period. I have a desire to see it work for my family and am going to keep a diary of actions taken

About keeping a diary of the LOA effects on EVERY area of my life - I have been doing something similar. I started on 27 November 2006, on my blog: Acting Like Godot: The Great Experiment

Since then:

my sex life improved Acting Like Godot: Heheh (9 Dec 2006)

I've been nicer to my kids Acting Like Godot: Come to Think of It (9 Dec 2006)

my investment portfolio grew from $210,339 on 10 December 2006 Acting Like Godot: Money Growing Quick As Rainforest in Full Swing to $232,295 on 5 Feb 2007 Acting Like Godot: Feeding Time)

I made some big discoveries in meditation Acting Like Godot: Dynamic Meditation (25 Dec) - the one I describe here is useful for IM too.

my time management improved a lot Acting Like Godot: More on Time Management (29 Dec)

I manifested a couple of new job opportunities Acting Like Godot: Just A Little Bit Psychic (9 Jan)

I got a new job, yes, it will pay very well Acting Like Godot: Choices (13 Jan)

From zero exercise, I started running regularly and have moved from huffing and puffing for 20 minutes per run (Acting Like Godot: Running 14 Jan) to comfortably running more than 45 minutes per run (Acting Like Godot: Feet 5 Feb)

I'm an amateur poet. The national education authority selected one of my works to be incorporated into the official school literature syllabus for teaching 14-year-olds (Acting Like Godot: A Bit of Poetry News 18 Jan)

I received an invitation to speak at a conference on social issues (Acting Like Godot: Speech 20 Jan) together with some very high-profile people including politicians and academics (Acting Like Godot: Feet 4 Feb). No I don't usually hang out with politicians / academics, this was a first for me.

Some Harvard researchers came to my country and interviewed me for their international project on those kinds of social issues. (No link for this, as I didn't blog about it).

my little girl displayed phenomenal improvement in her intellectual abilities (Acting Like Godot: Early Readers 27 Jan).

And now the principal wants to promote her to a class meant for older kids (Acting Like Godot: Mama Said 8 Feb).

and I manifested $104,000 in a single lump sum (Acting Like Godot: Fierce 8 Feb 2007)

Unfortunately I also attracted something into my life that I didn't mean to attract. I believe I've chased it away now. But I think Erin Pavlina is the expert who might have some advice for me on this matter. (Acting Like Godot: Some Kind of Fun 8 Feb).

Anyway, yes, LOA works, so please be careful what you think.

(Oh, and if you're interested in seeing how the above events relate to what I actually seek to manifest, well, this post here gives you a list of the things I've been setting out to manifest Acting Like Godot: Why Be Modest? 27 Jan)

Not too bad, eh ......... for a period of less than 2.5 months.

[JOE]

THANKS EVERYONE

AND WOOOOWWWWWW!!!!!!!

Exactly what I hoped for in your reposnses..........experiential and evidence to shoot down my skeptical musings


thanks and MORE please


cheers

[AmandaP]

Hey I love the list Acting Like Godot!! Those are some pretty big changes and I wish you the best of luck. I've just started my first blog and would never have thought about placing my diary on a new one guess I;m still just learning I guess.
I watched the secret for the first time and like everyone I'm sure I will be watching it over and over to really accept and understand it all. But I'm excited
When I woke to a screaming baby this morning(5am) my first thought was 'NOOOOO go back to sleep', but by instantly replacing that with 'WOW his up now I can cuddle and play with him' I smiled ,got out of bed, kissed my baby and have manage to already achieve so much day. The power of positive thought

[Narz]

It's kind of like becoming a job conselor. Help everyone else solve their problems and pretty soon you don't have to solve your own.

[renie408]

Originally Posted by JOE

THANKS EVERYONE

AND WOOOOWWWWWW!!!!!!!

Exactly what I hoped for in your reposnses..........experiential and evidence to shoot down my skeptical musings


thanks and MORE please


cheers

Here's mine...since the last week of December when I decided to start studying the LOA at a point when my family was scarily flat broke and I was suicidally depressed, my husband's business has increased roughly 40%, we have paid all our bills every week with a bit left over, our tax accountant refigured our taxes and we have gone from owing a ton to being owed and I have been nearly giddily happy for days on end. I am now working on changing my intent from 'just being able to pay our bills' to paying our bills with a lot leftover. One of the reasons, BTW, that it is significant that my husband's business has picked up at this particular time is that he has a small construction business and between Christmas and March is usually an extremely slow time for him. As for the IRS, we had been told be the last accountant we used that we owed thousands of dollars. It is essentially the only debt we have, but it has hung over our heads for the past five years. The first accountant we used turns out to have been totally wrong about how she figured our tax and the way she incorporated my husband's company. This accountant straightened it all out, reworked our deductions and now we are getting a small refund. I cannot even begin to explain how this has changed our outlooks.