Have You Read The Secret and Have A Story to Share?
Millions of
Have You Read The Secret and Have A Story to Share?
Millions of people from around the world have read The Secret
an
Every
generation in the past century has had a breakout self-help
book that sells a bazillion copies and bulldozes through a few
million people’s wallets. Napoleon Hill’s Think and Grow Rich1 did
it first in 1936. Then it was Norman Vincent Peale’s The Power of
Positive Thinking2 about
20 years later. Then Tony Robbins’ Awaken the Giant Within3 came
along in the ’90s. This last go-round, it’s been Rhonda Byrne’s The
Secret,4 a
short and pithy read that describes the (in)famous “Law of Attraction.”5
The
funny thing about all of these books is that they all more or less say the same
thing: mind your own thoughts, stay positive and focused on your goals,
ignore self-doubt and
criticism, visualize and concentrate on what you want and
you will eventually have it.
Each
book brings its own generational edge to the same fundamental idea. Hill’s
book, launched immediately after The Great Depression, focused intently on
making money and getting rich. Peale’s work, launched after World War II,
focused on creating a calm and happy domestic life with good relationships.
Robbins’ book, the bible of baby boomer mid-life crises in the ’90s, focused on
self-actualization and living
up to one’s potential.
It’s
not surprising then that Byrne’s work, launched amid the social
media/smartphone age, brings a harrowing narcissism6 and
an “I’m the center of the universe” angle to the same old ideas. And yet, while
all of the previous books offer decent or even quite good advice for
stretches, The Secret is full of misplaced clichés, silly
quotes, and superstitious drivel. It’s a playbook for entitlement
and self-absorption and I think that anybody who reads it and implements its
advice in any serious way will likely make themselves worse off in the long
run.
d have shared their story.
