The Secret and the Law of Attraction
Have you watched the movie The Secret? It became an absolute phenomenon in the personal development field – or at least the commercial side of it.
It scratches the principles of the Law of Attraction, which in a nutshell is:
Like attracts like. Your thoughts define your reality. What you focus on is what you get more of.
The movie briefly presents tools like positive affirmations, neurolinguistic programming, visualizations, vision boards, goal setting and clarity, all of which are definitely helpful methods for developing the mindset leading to success.
Like attracts like. Your thoughts define your reality. – Meg Konovska
However, after watching the movie, a number of people get stuck in visualizing, hoping and praying, expecting instant miracles to happen, and yet… They don’t. Of course, you can imagine their frustration and disappointment, and the bitterness when claiming that the Law of Attraction simply doesn’t work for them.
Well, this is for one simple reason: the movie only scratches the surface and doesn’t tell the whole story. The Secret is not a secret at all. The Law of Attraction is not about getting possessions. It is about living in the Flow and connecting with the higher Source on a much more spiritual level. It is about attitude and mindset defining your actions; whereas actions and behaviours define your outcomes. Combined with your learning abilities, every failure can lead you to success.
Let me explain. Imagine you are an author but you have a self-limiting belief that you are not good enough to get published or read by a large audience.
What does this mindset bring?
- You do not deliver the best of writing you can.
- You do not contact publishing houses.
- Even if you do, you get discouraged by the first rejections and negative reviews (and trust me, you might get A LOT of them!!).
- You feel intimidated by even sharing your work with the world, reconfirming that your writing is really not good enough to be read.
- You give up trying, and eventually, your belief turns into a self-fulfilling prophecy.
End of story!
On the other hand, if you believe you CAN write a book and get published, you will:
- Constantly work on improving your writing style
- Contact as many publishing houses as possible
- You get the constructive feedback of rejections and carry on, contacting MORE publishers.
- You get feedback from your ideal readers (the ones who you are writing the book for).
- If you don’t get an approval from a publisher within a reasonable time frame, you self-publish the book, and you prove all naysayers wrong!
BOOM! Just how cool is that?
The GOYA Law
The Law of attraction does work. However, it only leads to tangible results when used together with the GOYA law. And in case it is the first time you hear of the GOYA law,… GOYA stands for Get Off Your Ass.
Jim Carrey explains it quite clearly in his 1997 interview on Oprah’s show.
Yes, he did visualise and set audacious goals (thus priming his brain for success), but he also worked his butt off to get them accomplished!
I learned the GOYA abbreviation only a short while ago in this interview with John Assaraf – one of the stars in The Secret. He is the one who got THE house of his dreams, without fully realizing that before he actually moved in.
I have the privilege of being in his Neurogym coaching community, where members get VIP support from the amazing experts on the Neurogym team, including John himself.
As important as a mindset is, it is only the foundation. Without developing the skill set and the action set (this is performing the right actions in the right order at the right time), you will hardly get any results in your favour.
Getting the GOYA law into practice
But why don’t we actually DO what we KNOW we should be doing, even when we have the mindset and the skill set? This is because, as John Assaraf points out in the above interview, the brain often confuses having the information how to do something with actually doing it!
Furthermore, it’s the brain’s job to keep you safe – or said otherwise, right in your comfort zone. It is built in deeply in our survival mechanisms. And every step which is a WAY outside your comfort zone will be perceived as a danger! What the brain does is to go into a Fight, Flight, or Freeze mode, or put in simple words – when presented with a drastic change, the brain says:
“Uh-uh! Nope! I won’t do it!”
So how can we apply the GOYA law and actually start doing things differently, thus achieving better results?
Breaking the goal in baby steps can make things incredibly easier! When the change is small and gradual, the brain does not perceive it as a threat.
As important as a mindset is, it is only the foundation. -Meg Konovska
When an overweight person is trying to lose weight, he will not start by losing 10 pounds at once. He will drop them little by little.
When he needs to increase his water intake to 1 gallon a day, he will
not do it from day 1, if he is used to drinking just 2 glasses a day. He
will increase it glass by glass within a 2-week span until he reaches
the recommended intake.
Should he decide to exercise, he will not start with 2-hour exhausting weightlifting sessions at the gym. He will start with 20-30 minutes light body weight exercises until his body adapts. Then he will gradually increase the duration and the intensity of the session, thus building the full routine (and by the way, 1 hour is enough).
Thus, the brain will comfortably grow its comfort zone (repetition intended ), transforming weight loss from torture to pleasure.
The process will become even more effective if every milestone on the Journey is celebrated with a reward of some kind. The same principles applies to any journey, not just weight loss.
Oh, and by the way, for more effective goal setting – and goal achieving – check out this article. You are smart enough to translate the principles in any field, not just blogging.
Now GOYA and do it!
Write down 1 big goal you want to achieve
Break it down into several mini goals
Choose a reward to grant yourself for achieving your first milestone
START taking the steps TODAY
Celebrate your success!
Would you share your choices in the comments below? I would love to hear your thoughts!
And now, tell me, seriously, just how cool is that?
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For more cool articles, check out Just How Cool Is That?! – the website for creatives to learn and share about the Journey and ways to be a successful creative. It is packed with inspiration, motivation and advice for creatives by creatives.
Originally published at www.ericscottburdon.com