The "Secret" is: Get Off Your Ass

One bright shiny day my girlfriend calls me.

Girlfriend: They are having a “free seminar” on “The Secret” at the Rio Hotel. Do you want to go?
Me: Not really, I think that stuff is just silly.
Girlfriend: Oh, no! It was on “Oprah” and everything. Everyone swears by it.
Me: How long does it last?
Girlfriend: Two hours.
Me: Sounds like a sales presentation.
Girlfriend: Oh, no. It is a seminar. We are meeting at the Bar and Grill for dinner and have a few drinks before we go.
Me: I can do the few drinks and dinner and see how I feel about attending.
Girlfriend: Meet us at 3 PM at the “All American Bar and Grill”


Click


So, I meet my friends and have a Caesar Salad and few glasses of wine and decide to spend some more time with them and attend the seminar.

We get seated and the room is packed. The speaker gets up and tells us that the biggest book sales are self help, cooking and diet books. However, he states that because of inaction, yet all the best of intentions, 90% never open those books.

So, basically he just stated that buying something does not solve the problem. It is “inaction.”

He continues by telling the group that if they have always done the same thing and expected different results then they are not being realistic. You have to do something different to get different results. So, do something you have never done before. Fill out the forms underneath your seats and especially the credit card information. If you want more out of life, you have to do more.

The form is for a two day seminar at the cost of around $1200. Plus his tapes he sells for $300. He goes on now telling how people that follow his system have the “dream life” as he described. A young wife, Mercedes, home on the beach, financial security. You know all the stuff in the travel brochures and magazines.

Now, he closes the deal by telling the audience that he will allow them to bring one friend for free if they sign up now. Plus he will throw in the tapes. I am sure at this point that he must have had shills in the audience as people run to the back of the room before he even announces that there are payment stations in the back of the room.

As a few people run to the back of the room he tells them that there are a limited number of seats so don’t get shut out. Like cattle they all run to sign up.
What’s wrong with this?
He just told everyone that because you do not take action in your life is why you do not have what you want. Not buying a book or writing it down although that is a great start, but it takes action to meet your goals. You actually have to do it. That is right, get off your ass and do it. That is the total “Secret.” Signing up for this seminar does not release you from the work you need to do.

I am telling the above story to a friend that works in the Hotel that hosted his event. She tells me that the entire group was being herded like cattle the entire two days.

Day 1 of Seminar: Everyone takes turns standing up and telling the 10 things they want to accomplish after they wrote it down. Everyone claps for them. This takes both the morning and afternoon sessions.

Day 2 of Seminar: Everyone breaks through one of those thin pieces of wood. He dates and signs the wood to signify the day you had your break through. Everyone claps. This takes up the entire morning session. The afternoon session is another sales presentation for another seminar to continue your growth because you have already had this breakthrough. The cost of the next seminar is $3000.

Brilliant scam. He has already qualified that everyone in the room believes he cannot do it on their own; they need someone to tell them and the support (mob mentality) to tell them they are worth it because they cannot get off their ass and do it themselves. They voted with their money when they showed up and paid the money. They voted to need someone to tell them what to do. They wanted a short cut.

The truth is that you can write it down, but it doesn’t happen if action does not meet intention. The writing it down can serve as a map, but you have to want it.