Whatever you can do or dream, begin it.

— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

The Missing Secret

I have a secret. It’s the secret behind The Secret. It’s the secret to all success. Irene whispered it to me on a rainy hillside. Do you want to hear it?

You know The Secret: that Law of Attraction stuff. What you think about expands. What you focus on materializes. What you visualize, you attract into your life.

I’m a big fan of the Law of Attraction. I use it all the time. But I think the purveyors of The Secret leave out a major component of the formula and do a huge disservice to those well-intentioned folks who can’t understand why their lives don’t change, even with all the good that they imagine will unfold.

Those folks say the Law of Attraction doesn’t work. They visualize and visualize and nothing comes to pass.

It’s because they don’t know the secret behind The Secret.

I do. I know the real secret. And I will tell it to you.

Visualization Is Not Enough

Visualization is important. But something more is required.

It’s called action. Action is the secret behind The Secret.

We cannot hit a target we cannot see.  So envisioning what we want to have, where we want to go, who we want to be, are essential components of success. We need a clear picture of our goals if we are going to have any prospect whatsoever of attaining them.

But visualizing is not enough.

Once we know what we want, we need to move.  We need to take action. Tony Robbins would say, “massive action.”

I was reminded of this a few days ago as we completed our first ultra-marathon in tropical storm Irene. For months, we’d been visualizing the day we would cross the finish line. But as important – perhaps more important – we’d been getting out the door. Running. Following a specific plan of action. Incremental steps. Day in and day out.

Irene – they called her Irene – pummeled the hillside on the day of our race with wind and torrential rain.  She taunted us. We laughed and ran across the meadow.

We had trained in wind. We had trained in rain.

It didn’t matter.

The finish line was firmly planted in our minds. But we were there, together with Irene, because we had done the work.

Thomas Jefferson once wrote, “It is wonderful how much may be done if we are always doing.”

Surely there are times for planning. But it is so easy for all of us to get lost in the planning and never start out.

Start out. Even if you can’t see the whole way. Take the first step. And then the next. You’ll be amazed at the progress you will make.

Emerson said, “Once you make a decision, the universe conspires to make it happen.” It most certainly does. But it doesn’t happen by itself.

Life Is An Action Sport

Life is an action sport. Participation is required.

The title of our ultra-marathon training guide is: Relentless Forward Progress.

It’s about life.

It’s the real secret.