The Secret by Rhonda Byrne

I’m surprised to see the enthusiasm that still lives around the book The Secret by Rhonda Byrne. It was released in 2006 but still, 8 years after its publication, most of the comments I see about self-help books relate to this one. Even one of the comments on my own book is about the secret!

I must say that I got FAR MORE reactions from strangers while reading this book than any other ones! People rarely interrupt to comment or ask about what I am reading. But for The Secret, it was EVERYWHERE and ALL THE TIME!! I initially read it in 2007, one year after it’s release, but even when I reread it years later people would still react and tell me that it is “their favourite book” or that it “changed their lives”!

I’m not sure what kind of impact it had on me. After reading it, I bought an expensive suit and hoped that I would attract a lot of money that way. Unfortunately, I simply ended with an expensive suit and a hefty credit card charge! I reread the book once or twice but it’s only recently, almost a year ago now, that I had my big insight. It’s when I watched YouTube videos from Bob Proctor that the Law of Attraction truly started to resonate with me.

The Secret holds very precious concepts. But I find that putting them into practice is not sufficiently explained in the book. The major thing that needs to change is the mindset. And that’s a though one. The mindset only changes slowly and important and sustained effort is required to make that change last. I find that getting inspiration from people who have already succeeded is a better option.

Most of the rich and successful people are unaware of the concepts of the Law of Attraction. They simply worked hard, steadily, with excellent focus and a clear intention on where they wanted to go. These are the principles that will make you successful. The principles in The Secret make it sound like it requires no effort to attract what we want and that is not entirely true. There is no effort required in manifesting what we think about, but there is GREAT effort required to focus our attention! We are so used to being dissipated, bombarded by distractions all the time, that it is becoming harder and harder to focus on anything.

The theory in the book is very interesting and a good eye-opener on being careful about what we think about, but the true determinant in success is ACTION. I’m glad I read The Secret but most of my progress happened in live seminars and because of the daily routines I established to increase my perseverance. You can read about Self-Help Perseverance here.

I’m curious to know what you thought of the book and if you applied any of its theory into your life. Has it made a significant change for you?