The Secret

So my mother in law, Lisa, introduced me to The Secret.  Before you roll your eyes, don't worry, I'm not about to talk about the imaginary discs that we shoot out of our bodies to magnetically attract positive or negative vibes from the earth (that one's for you, Jake)!  I just want to talk about the laws of attraction that I believe have always existed.  I live my life this way and think it's gotten me most of the way to where I am today.  It's why I LOVE life.


Sometimes people ask me how I got so lucky, why I have been able to achieve many things.  Some of it is luck, but a LOT of it is attitude.  Optimism.  Idealism.  Naivete?  I don't think so, but you be the judge.  I am intentionally idealistic!  I know that bad things happen, and we do fail, but I also find that when I really envision the outcome I want, more often than not, I get it.  When I envision success as the only option, I tend to succeed.  


Take, for example, the game of golf - putting, to be exact.  If I envision the ball rolling into the cup, I'll often sink the putt.  But if I try to think it'll happen but not really believe it, I'll miss the putt.  There is a difference.  I can be one foot away from the cup but if I feel a sense of doubt, I'll miss the putt.  Isn't that silly?  I've learned that when I feel this sense of doubt, I should step away from the putt, shake it off, and re-address the ball.


So how does this translate to life?  Why don't we always envision the best if it will always get us the best?  Obviously, we aren't capable of 100% confidence.  We doubt our abilities when giving a big presentation, taking a test, interviewing for a job.  But there are also other players at stake keeping us from achieving our every vision.  Hypothetically, if everyone envisioned the best possible outcome in every scenario, couldn't we all be happy?  The problem here is that our needs and wants compete with one another.  And the times we don't get what we want - they're important too.  They give us perspective and make us grateful for when things go well.  We feel failure and rejection which makes us stronger and teaches us to do it better next time.  


It's certainly not all luck, it's certainly not all mentality, nor is it all skill.  It's a combination that we constantly have to balance, but the more we can practice skill with that right "winning" mentality, coupled with a little bit of good luck, the more often it's going to feel damn good to succeed.