What is the Law of Attraction?

If you have spent any time at all in the personal development arena you must have come across the term "Law of Attraction".

This law was made popular in "The Secret" movie (based on "The Secret" book by Rhonda Byrne).  But it is not a modern idea at all.  Many of the basic concepts of the law were outlined in the early 20th century by both Wallace Wattles, in "The Science of Getting Rich", and Napoleon Hill, in "Think and Grow Rich" and other books.

It goes back a lot further than this, though, as "The Secret" makes abundantly clear.  In Matthew 7:7 Jesus says "Keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for", and in Matthew 21:22 "If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for."

These two quotes go to the very root of the Law of Attraction.  Notice the two qualifications Jesus added - "keep on", and "believe".  Both are vital qualifications, especially the latter.  Without true belief you are not truly asking, and therefore it will simply not happen.  Persistence is also important.  Just asking the once and then forgetting all about it is not likely to achieve anything at all.

Much has been written on the subject of the Law of Attraction.  You will find references to it throughout my blog.  You will also come across many books and courses that are based almost entirely on this law, some of which I have tested and found to be excellent material and have therefore recommended to my subscribers from time to time.  But if you break down what all the gurus say, you will find much of it is focussed on ensuring you believe 100% and that you continue to persist in making your requests.

In order to concentrate that belief, and make it really powerful, you must invest it with real emotion.   Otherwise it will not be recognised as a true request and will just be ignored.  There are many different techniques you can use to create the right powerful emotions.  The starting point, though, is finding out what it is you truly want.  This might sound obvious, but for many people it is not.  They go through life never really knowing what they want and never having a real passion for anything at all.  Many others think they know what they want but identify the wrong things.  For example, they may think what they want is lots of money.  But do they really?  Or do they want some of the things that money can buy?  It is far better to identify in your mind what it is you really want, as you are much more likely to be passionate about those things than you are about money!

They may not be physical things of course.  You may want the freedom to do what you want when you want, rather than having to slave at a job you don't enjoy every day.  That is something that money could buy for you, but that is not the only way to get it - maybe a career change will bring you what you really want.  So in that case, focus your desire on that freedom - and at the same time, be more specific about what it is you want when you say "freedom to do what I want".  You may well be surprised at how quickly the Law of Attraction works for you once you phrase your request more carefully.  You begin by focusing on the kind of work you really want to do, and within days you see opportunities to do that work and take up those opportunities.  This is a great example of the way the Law of Attraction can work.  Not by magically making those things you said you wanted appear as if the Law were a genie, but simply by making you more aware of the opportunities that have been there waiting for you all the time.

In a short blog article I cannot teach you everything you need to know about the Law of Attraction.  There are some great courses out there which you should use to develop this much further.  Keep your eye on your inbox for recommendations from me about these (and if you are not yet getting e-mails from me about them, go to www.beallican.com where you can download 4 great personal development e-books and at the same time register for me to keep you informed).  But hopefully this has given you a taster and will encourage you to explore the Law of Attraction further.

Success Is Almost within Reach

A few months ago I reproduced an extract from Napoleon Hill's classic, "Think and Grow Rich".  If you are really serious about achieving your goals (whether or not they are financial goals), you simply have to get a copy of this book and start putting into practise what Napoleon Hill preaches.

In the meantime, here is another valuable and informative extract, this time showing just how easy it is to give up when you are on the brink of success!

"Now, let us ... study a man who had plenty of tangible evidence of riches, but lost it, because he stopped three feet short of the goal he was seeking. 

THREE FEET FROM GOLD 

One of the most common causes of failure is the habit of quitting when one is overtaken by temporary defeat. Every person is guilty of this mistake at one time or another. An uncle of R. U. Darby was caught by the "gold fever" in the goldrush days, and went west to DIG AND GROW RICH. He had never heard that more gold has been mined from the brains of men than has ever been taken from the earth. He staked a claim and went to work with pick and shovel. The going was hard, but his lust for gold was definite. 

After weeks of labor, he was rewarded by the discovery of the shining ore. He needed machinery to bring the ore to the surface. Quietly, he covered up the mine, retraced his footsteps to his home in Williamsburg, Maryland, told his relatives and a few neighbors of the "strike." They got together money for the needed machinery, had it shipped. The uncle and Darby went back to work the mine. 

The first car of ore was mined, and shipped to a smelter. The returns proved they had one of the richest mines in Colorado! A few more cars of that ore would clear the debts. Then would come the big killing in profits. 

Down went the drills! Up went the hopes of Darby and Uncle! Then something happened! The vein of gold ore disappeared! They had come to the end of the rainbow, and the pot of gold was no longer there! They drilled on, desperately trying to pick up the vein again-all to no avail. 

Finally, they decided to QUIT. They sold the machinery to a junk man for a few hundred dollars, and took the train back home. Some "junk" men are dumb, but not this one! He called in a mining engineer to look at the mine and do a little calculating. The engineer advised that the project had failed, because the owners were not familiar with "fault lines." His calculations showed that the vein would be found JUST THREE FEET FROM WHERE THE DARBYS HAD STOPPED DRILLING! That is exactly where it was found! 

The "Junk" man took millions of dollars in ore from the mine, because he knew enough to seek expert counsel before giving up. Most of the money which went into the machinery was procured through the efforts of R. U. Darby, who was then a very young man. The money came from his relatives and neighbors, because of their faith in him. He paid back every dollar of it, although he was years in doing so. 

Long afterward, Mr. Darby recouped his loss many times over, when he made the discovery that DESIRE can be transmuted into gold. The discovery came after he went into the business of selling life insurance. 

Remembering that he lost a huge fortune, because he STOPPED three feet from gold, Darby profited by the experience in his chosen work, by the simple method of saying to himself, "I stopped three feet from gold, but I will never stop because men say 'no' when I ask them to buy insurance." 

Darby is one of a small group of fewer than fifty men who sell more than a million dollars in life insurance annually. He owes his "stickability" to the lesson he learned from his "quitability" in the gold mining business. 

Before success comes in any man's life, he is sure to meet with much temporary defeat, and, perhaps, some failure. When defeat overtakes a man, the easiest and most logical thing to do is to QUIT. That is exactly what the majority of men do. 

More than five hundred of the most successful men this country has ever known, told the author their greatest success came just one step beyond the point at which defeat had overtaken them. Failure is a trickster with a keen sense of irony and cunning. 

It takes great delight in tripping one when success is almost within reach."

I can almost guarantee that this has happened to you too.  Not once.  Not twice.  But many times!  You will probably never know, of course, unless like Darby you learn the truth from someone who picked up the baton when you dropped it.  What is more, I can pretty much guarantee that it will happen to you again.  And again.  And again.  Unless you do something about it and learn to keep going so you can reach your goal.

Hopefully this little extract from "Think and Grow Rich" has reminded you of the need to get your own copy if you don't already have one.  Here is the link for you:

Or if you are in the UK:

Think and Grow Rich

Have you read "Think and Grow Rich" by Napoleon Hill?  You really should!  It is probably one of the most important books great achievers featured in "The Secret" studied and used to achieve their success.  But do not be deceived by the title.  Yes, it focuses on getting rich, and you can most certainly use the techniques in this book to become very rich indeed, but the concept is not limited to acquiring material wealth.  It can be applied to achieve anything you truly desire.

Just to give you a taste of things to come when you read this marvellous work, here is a story Napoleon Hill tells at the beginning of the first chapter.  The story of the man who "thought" his way into partnership with Thomas A Edison.

TRULY, "thoughts are things," and powerful things at that, when they are mixed with definiteness of purpose, persistence, and a BURNING DESIRE for their translation into riches, or other material objects. 

A little more than thirty years ago, Edwin C. Barnes discovered how true it is that men really do THINK AND GROW RICH. His discovery did not come about at one sitting. It came little by little, beginning with a BURNING DESIRE to become a business associate of the great Edison. 

One of the chief characteristics of Barnes' Desire was that it was definite. He wanted to work with Edison, not for him. Observe, carefully, the description of how he went about translating his DESIRE into reality, and you will have a better understanding of the thirteen principles which lead to riches. When this DESIRE, or impulse of thought, first flashed into his mind he was in no position to act upon it. Two difficulties stood in his way. He did not know Mr. Edison, and he did not have enough money to pay his railroad fare to Orange, New Jersey. These difficulties were sufficient to have discouraged the majority of men from making any attempt to carry out the desire. 

But his was no ordinary desire! He was so determined to find a way to carry out his desire that he finally decided to travel by "blind baggage," rather than be defeated. (To the uninitiated, this means that he went to East Orange on a freight train). He presented himself at Mr. Edison's laboratory, and announced he had come to go into business with the inventor. In speaking of the first meeting between Barnes and Edison, years later, Mr. Edison said, "He stood there before me, looking like an ordinary tramp, but there was something in the expression of his face which conveyed the impression that he was determined to get what he had come after. I had learned, from years of experience with men, that when a man really DESIRES a thing so deeply that he is willing to stake his entire future on a single turn of the wheel in order to get it, he is sure to win. I gave him the opportunity he asked for, because I saw he had made up his mind to stand by until he succeeded. Subsequent events proved that no mistake was made." 

Just what young Barnes said to Mr. Edison on that occasion was far less important than that which he thought. Edison, himself, said so! It could not have been the young man's appearance which got him his start in the Edison office, for that was definitely against him. It was what he THOUGHT that counted. If the significance of this statement could be conveyed to every person who reads it, there would be no need for the remainder of this book. 

Barnes did not get his partnership with Edison on his first interview. He did get a chance to work in the Edison offices, at a very nominal wage, doing work that was unimportant to Edison, but most important to Barnes, because it gave him an opportunity to display his "merchandise" where his intended "partner" could see it. Months went by. Apparently nothing happened to bring the coveted goal which Barnes had set up in his mind as his DEFINITE MAJOR PURPOSE. But something important was happening in Barnes' mind. He was constantly intensifying his DESIRE to become the business associate of Edison. 

Psychologists have correctly said that "when one is truly ready for a thing, it puts in its appearance." Barnes was ready for a business association with Edison, moreover, he was DETERMINED TO REMAIN READY UNTIL HE GOT THAT WHICH HE WAS SEEKING. 

He did not say to himself, "Ah well, what's the use? I guess I'll change my mind and try for a salesman's job." But, he did say, "I came here to go into business with Edison, and I'll accomplish this end if it takes the remainder of my life." He meant it! What a different story men would have to tell if only they would adopt a DEFINITE PURPOSE, and stand by that purpose until it had time to become an all-consuming obsession! 

Maybe young Barnes did not know it at the time, but his bulldog determination, his persistence in standing back of a single DESIRE, was destined to mow down all opposition, and bring him the opportunity he was seeking. 

When the opportunity came, it appeared in a different form, and from a different direction than Barnes had expected. That is one of the tricks of opportunity. It has a sly habit of slipping in by the back door, and often it comes disguised in the form of misfortune, or temporary defeat. Perhaps this is why so many fail to recognize opportunity. Mr. Edison had just perfected a new office device, known at that time, as the Edison Dictating Machine (now the Ediphone). His salesmen were not enthusiastic over the machine. They did not believe it could be sold without great effort. Barnes saw his opportunity. It had crawled in quietly, hidden in a queer looking machine which interested no one but Barnes and the inventor. 

Barnes knew he could sell the Edison Dictating Machine. He suggested this to Edison, and promptly got his chance. He did sell the machine. In fact, he sold it so successfully that Edison gave him a contract to distribute and market it all over the nation. Out of that business association grew the slogan, "Made by Edison and installed by Barnes." 

The business alliance has been in operation for more than thirty years. Out of it Barnes has made himself rich in money, but he has done something infinitely greater, he has proved that one really may "Think and Grow Rich." 

How much actual cash that original DESIRE of Barnes' has been worth to him, I have no way of knowing. Perhaps it has brought him two or three million dollars, but the amount, whatever it is, becomes insignificant when compared with the greater asset he acquired in the form of definite knowledge that an intangible impulse of thought can be transmuted into its physical counterpart by the application of known principles. 

Barnes literally thought himself into a partnership with the great Edison! He thought himself into a fortune. He had nothing to start with, except the capacity to KNOW WHAT HE WANTED, AND THE DETERMINATION TO STAND BY THAT DESIRE UNTIL HE REALIZED IT. He had no money to begin with. He had but little education. He had no influence. But he did have initiative, faith, and the will to win. With these intangible forces he made himself number one man with the greatest inventor who ever lived. 

How did you like this taster?  If you truly study it and put into practice what you learn from it, this extract alone can help you achieve your life goals.  But if you want to develop it further, then get yourself a copy of the complete book.

Here is the link for you:

Or if you are in the UK:

Book Review

Books on How to be Successful

Very many of my readers orginally found this blog because they were looking for ways to be more successful.  For my November Book Review I have therefore focused entirely on books that are aimed at exactly that - how to become more successful.  And I believe the authors I have chosen are amongst the most qualified to help us all achieve this.

Click on the title of any book that particularly interests you and you can buy it right away from Amazon.

For my UK readers, or anyone who wants to pay in pounds sterling or have the booked shipped from the UK, click on the "UK Link" right at the end of each review.

The Success Principles(TM): How to Get from Where You Are to Where You Want to Be

by

Jack Canfield & Janet Switzer

"Jack Canfield and Janet Switzer have created something different in the self-help literature - a compendium of the principles that have stood the test of time.  The book is organized in several sections to make these references easier to follow.  The authors also provide many free tools to help you succeed.  If you have already read much of the success literature, you probably think this book isn't for you. I beg to differ. Seeing so many good ideas in one book will help you weld together good habits and actions in even more constructive ways."

-    Donald Mitchell


"If you want to be truly succesful in this life, you need to read this book. It gives you the proper information to succeed. It touches on principles such as time management, money, goal-setting, creating successful relationships and so on. If you follow these principles you will literally transform yourself into a success.
This book gives you valuable information on finances. Money isn't everything, but it can make your life a little easier and this book will show you how to earn more, spend less, and give away while still being prosper.
If you apply these principles to your life, you will see and feel changes for the better. I have applied the recommendations on managing my time and I already see the benefits of a more successful life. I highly recommend this book to anyone that wants to transform their life into a success."

-    Rob P


"As an Author, Coach, and Motivational Speaker I read a lot of books about people, their motivations, and their relationships. The Success Principles is an outstanding example of an educational, inspirational, and motivational guide to success. I love the stories of the people Jack and Janet chose to interview to model the principles. The Success Principles is an excellent book and I give it an A+.
"

-    Kevin A. Decker

If you want to get a flavour of Jack Canfield's message without buying this book you can tell his organisation you would like a free coaching call (not one to one, I should add!) and you can listen to him for 70 minutes without spending a dime!  Click here to book this free coaching call.

UK Link

The Law of Success: The Master Wealth-Builder's Complete and Original Lesson Plan forAchieving Your Dreams

by

Napoleon Hill

This may be a very old text on the subject, but it is as relevant today as it was when Napoleon Hill wrote it, and it forms the basis of many of the success systems marketed today.  Here is your chance to get it from the horse's mouth!


"By applying many of the 16 fundamentals of the Law of Success philosophy we have built a great chain of successful stores. I presume it would be no exaggeration of fact if I said that the Woolworth Building might properly be called a monument to the soundness of these principles."

-    F. W. Woolworth (Yes, THE Woolworth!)


"I have now had an opportunity to finish reading your Law of Success textbooks, and I wish to express my appreciation of the splendid work you have done in this philosophy. It would be helpful if every politician in the country would assimilate and apply the 16 principles upon which the Law of Success is based. It contains some very fine material which every leader in every walk of life should understand."

-    William H. Taft, Former President of the United States and Chief Justice


The above two reviews were, of course, written many decades ago.  But the next one was written in September 2012:


"This is one of those wonderful life-companion books that will be forever at my bedside table.

It is beautifully bound and typeset, and knowing that the words are direct from from the pen of Napoleon Hill gives it an uncanny presence. But it is the content that is the real kicker here. There is no "secret" here, this is the success teachings from which all others stem, written in superbly articulated, engaging and vivid language that feels more like the memory of a recent personal conversation than lessons of life. Don't wait, get it!"

-    W Sitte (Brisbane, Australia)

UK Link

The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success: A Practical Guide to the Fulfillment of Your Dreams

by

Deepak Chopra

"No matter your station in life, this quick-but-poignant read should be considered required reading for all. I make a point of re-reading it almost weekly, and have bought copies for my grandkids to do the same. Regardless of your particular belief system, the message is generic, pure, and enlightening. Great job as usual, Dr. C!"

-    Harold Smith (Bedford, Texas, US)


"I used to not read Chopra, his belief system in my mind was opposed to mind (closed minded, I know).

Then I heard him interviewed by Anthony Robbins and his medical discussion along with spirit blew me away.

I have shared with 1000s of people one thing he said, "We have 60,000 thoughts a day." He went on to share that many people have 95% of the same thoughts the next day.

The statement revolutionized my life and thinking.

Then I read "Do You" by Russell Simmons and he said he gives The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success to all his staff. So I picked it up; and am glad I did.

His discussion about state of mind, gratitude and giving is filled with wisdom. Here is where I appreciate Chopra, he believes people are meant to fulfill their dreams. He believes God has placed us here to be happy, and that there is enough for everyone. I now have several of his books.

Turns out he and I are not so far about in what we believe. "

-    Tobin B. Crenshaw (Canton, OH)


"Love love love this book! Just what I needed.... I recommend this to all. I feel more at peace. It is as though I have connected myself to what I have always known. Read it!"

-    E Jones

UK Link