The Secret hard at work!
My oldest Sister Donna called me today after reading my post about gratitude and had some positive comments to share. Donna brought up “The Secret” then asked if I had seen it and what my thoughts were on the DVD. Have I seen it? I live it, I love it and whether you believe that having a positive attitude and thinking without limits teamed with inspired action will bring you anything you ask for, or if you feel that “The Secret” is just some new age hocus pocus, I really don’t care…..this is my story.
The picture I posted in this blog entry… why is it significant? It looks very similar to my blog header doesn’t it? Well the picture in this blog entry was taken from the balcony off of my master bedroom of my lake home. Sounds bragadocious… it isn’t, what it is, is ”The Secret” hard at work and I only share this to illustrate my point. Where do I look every day, my blog, why did I choose that picture for my blog header… because I wanted that view. How long have I dreamed of living on Lake Monona? 3 Years! How long after I started this blog with that picture did my dream become a reality? EXACTLY 9 WEEKS!
Coincidence…I think not! I had my staff at KW Crossroads embark on a one day retreat, we spent the morning doing strategic planning, the afternoon at the spa, and the late afternoon creating dream boards. A dream board is a collection of your goals and dreams put on paper for you to constantly see. We did this based off of “life wheels” where we rate different areas of our life. The place I scored the worst was family and personal life. On by dream board I made family a focus….. what happened? I have the most wonderful companion anyone could ask for and a beautiful baby girl (Brooklynne) on the way.
The Secret has spoiled me!
Is this just a series of fortunate events or the power of the secret working for me. Another goal of mine was to become a published author…I’m moving towards that goal daily. How do I know that? From comments I receive from readers like you, we have a small following today, but in just 90 days over 2000 people have viewed this blog.
So the question is…do you believe in “The Secret”. Is it really a secret? Is asking the universe the same as prayer? One piece of the secret that people often miss is that simply asking the universe or praying alone won’t cut it, it takes inspired action. If we sit on the couch asking as hard as we can and don’t create opportunity for ourselves it doesn’t work. To have this lake home it took action in an inspired moment and a lot of creativity. To create a family took a whole other kind of inspired action.. no pun intended. So what if it does work… the dream board… asking the universe for what you desire…. and inspired action. Wouldn’t it be worth it to try? If it doesn’t work, what have you lost? A piece of posterboard and a few moments of thought that would have most likely been filled with garbage manufactured by the media conglomerate.
So if you want to give it a try… here are the steps.
- Get a piece of poster board from your favorite “Big Box” store.
- Divide the poster board into 4 quadrants, Career – Professional – Personal Financial - Health, Spiritual, Philanthropic
- Ask yourself… If you were talking to someone in 2013 and you had to tell them the last 5 years were phenomenal… what would have had to happen in each quadrant between 2008 and 2013 for you to be able to say IT WAS ABSOLUTELY PHENOMENAL!
- Write your answers in the quadrants and then cut out visuals for those dreams from magazines and glue them on the poster board.
- Put the poster somewhere you can see it, your office, your bathroom, your closet etc…. take a picture and print off a smaller version to keep in your wallet.
- (Optional) Do this exercise with your companion and have their goals as well.
Remember that is the first step…. inspired action is next. Identify who can help you achieve these goals and how you can get their. Remember to think without limits and eliminate excuses because I’m not buyin’ them! If you need assistance with the activities that will help you reach your goal, shoot an email to TheNextLevel@kw.com and I will gladly assist you. You owe it to yourself to take the time to do this exercise… remember you often react to life… get proactive and work on your life because nobody will change it for you.
Week to Date #’s
Contacts Made: 34
New Apts Set: 6
New Apts Had: 0
2ndApts. Had: 3
(transition apts) 0
Yes to KW: 0
In Transition: 1
Joined: 0
No: 0
Undecided: 3
Needs Delivery?: Moving Listings, Buyer Urgency, Financing
Handwritten Notes: 4
Personal Education: KW Resources Review
Aha’s/Blurb: I am grateful for all I have today.
Yours in making dreams come true,
Brett Boettge
KWTL – Madison Crossroads
608.661.7000
TheNextLevel@kw.com
The Secret is the latest and by far the worst example of a HIGHLY profitable trend where self-help gurus with fabricated new age titles and little relevant education, credentials or legitimate expertise brainwash us into believing that they know what is best for us, our marriages and our families.
Often their only contribution to society is introducing some exotic sounding, new age philosophy. However, they often cleverly form an incestuous group of like-minded “experts” who cross-promote each other by swearing their success is due to following the beliefs of another member of their “cult!” All the while, they ply the airwaves jockeying for an ever-larger audience by appearing in the national media to garner third-party endorsements.
The Self-Help Movement has become the Self-Destruct Movement by diminishing or destroying our critical thinking skills to choose and evolve on our own. We have given up the freedom to build healthy lives, marriages and families based on our unique history and life experience. Instead many victims, blinded to the value of their own life experiences, are attracted to the latest secret in self-help, in an attempt to find out what they should think, feel and how they should act… this is the definition of a cult.
The solution is a return to our (common) senses! The best way out of this learned “self-helplessness” is to go cold turkey. Stop following ALL self-help gurus now. Begin, instead, to reclaim your natural, God-given ability to think for yourself. The common sense that was once readily available to all of us is still there free of charge and waiting to be applied to just about any challenge we might face in life… all you have to do is use it.
Please, let’s all work together to stop the flock of “sheepeople” who blindly move from one UNPROVEN concept to the next, looking for the answers to life’s challenges that you already possess and that is the OBVIOUS!
John-
Thank you so much for taking the time to comment on this post… I actually banked on it. I agree with some points of your comment, for example “The Secret” DVD is a massive profit center. Kudo’s to all who thought of a way to package success principles in a way to reach the general public. They deserve their profits!
Let’s take a look at “The Secret” for a second, take all the flashy editing out, the celebrity testimonials and what do we have? We have proven basic concepts backed by science and case studies. What is the dream board? It is a collection of written goals isn’t it? A Harvard Business School study of a graduating class shows that only 3% of graduates had written goals, 13% had goals, and 84% had no goals. That 3% earned 10 times that of th 84% group. Take away the commercialized “Dream Board” and call it what it is… WRITTEN GOALS like you said it’s common sense.
To say “The Secret” takes away critical thinking is a fear of mine as well. What I have found is that many who watch or read “The Secret” still have a “Silver Bullet” mentality. Most people miss the piece in the DVD where it states that it takes INSPIRED ACTION. Seizing the opportunity when it arises is where most fall short and then claim that positive thought, written goals and verbal goals do not work. I want to be very clear that you ultimately make the choice to succeed in your daily actions. My dreamboard, positive thought and constant positive reinforcement are my tools along the way.
Again John I allowed you to be part of my story because you bring up some common myth’s. You can’t honestly tell me that this world would be worse off if we all had goals and focused on positive thought can you? Again Kudo’s to all who have created a medium to introduce success principles to mainstream America. The Secret truly transcends age, occupation, religion and social status, embrace it or not it’s up to you.
Sincerely,
Brett Boettge
It takes more than common sense. I have common sense up the wazoo. I always do the sensible thing and I stay afloat, but I may also be numb to life. I laugh, cry, get angry, I do my job very well, I take care of my family very well, but who am I? I could be that so-called sheep person wandering aimlessly in life. I like to call it auto-pilot. I am surrounded by reader’s of self-helplessness (almost every woman I know), but the point is only you can change your life. I have not succumbed to the hours of reading how I can make my life better. Instead I have just been plodding along on auto-pilot making enough money to pay my bills and compiling a larger and larger list of things to do. I do not do them. I have raised my son on auto-pilot, gone through my marriage on auto-pilot and then I got a wake up call. It was not a health issue or anything like that, it was an outside observer that said to me look at your life. “Is this where you wanted to end up”. I woke up and thought “Wow, how did I get here?” “This is not where I want to be!” Although I am just starting my journey, I have already achieved more on my to do list than I have in the past ten years. There is something to be said about being positive as all the successful people I know are positive. I have been surrounded by negative. I look forward to making my dream board and finding happiness and success in all aspects of my life. I know it will not be easy. The easy thing would be to push that auto-pilot button and just cruise through another twenty years with a roof over my head, my bills paid, food, but I want more. I hope everyone gets their wake up call-life is too short to sleep through it.
I took the long way to get to this website. But I am here and there is a reason for that. My theory of “The Secret” is to have faith & believe and keep balance. I can look at many people I know and I find that the ones that are happy, the ones that are successful – those are the ones that have made choices to be living the dream life. They have goals, they took action and they continue to succeed no matter what obstacle life throws at them. They have a well balanced life which includes family, friends, work, a higher power and play! To achieve this is hard work, but if you shoot for the moon you just might reach the stars. Listen to your inner guide, when you start hearing the negative, time to reprogram yourself with the positive!!