Nothing makes me feel more conflicted or secretive than books and movies like The Answer and The Secret. However, you don’t want to hear about my conflicting desire to be existential vs. my desire to do what it takes to be successful. We can have that conversation over a drink or on a hike sometime if you like.
There is valuable information in The Answer by John Assaraf & Murray Smith and I don’t want to keep that under my hat. If you saw the movie The Secret, John was the one in the vignette in which he and his son open a box full of vision boards that has been in storage for 5 years. To his surprise the mansion…double, triple mansion that is…that they are living in at that very moment is the very same one pictured on one of his vision boards years from years before.
In the middle third of the book, he explains how to use affirmations, previous peak experiences, mission statements and vision boards to create a powerful mental picture of your desires and achieve them. The detail he includes thrills me, including a lengthly FAQ section about what do if all these numerous doubts or contingencies crop. For example, last time I tried using daily affirmations (about a year ago) I felt very anxious. Here he says change, even good change makes one anxious and pay attention to it, but don’t stop your affirmations.
Just for the record, I personally don’t believe the quantum physics line that movies like The Secret propose. However, I know these focus techniques (affirmations, writing ones goals, mission statements and vision boards) work and John Assaraf and Murray Smith do an excellent job explaining them because I’ve used them for about 5 years and have achieved almost everything I’ve set out to achieve. Also, I know that professional athletes and other high performers use these and similar techniques to hone their focus.