On Thursday Oprah featured Rhonda Byrne and a panel of mostly unknown or little-known motivational speakers about the smash-hit Internet movie “The Secret”. If you’re not one of the 5+ million people who’ve paid the $5 to download the movie, then Oprah gave you a taste of what the rest of us have known for quite some time now…that “The Secret” sucks!
The Secret: “You attract what you are. You need to ask (only once), believe and receive.”
I hate to attract negative energy, but the real secret was no where to be found in all of the fluffy, puffy, syrupy crap that was trotted out on stage at the Oprah show. The movie and book are a bit more compelling, but I still wasn’t moved to tears as some of the Oprah show guests seemed to be.
The Secret as I see it, the one that was not shared with Oprah’s guests, is that MARKETING is the secret. “The Secret” as we know it today is simply a repackaged, refurbished version of Charles Haanel’s The Master Key System published in 1917 and republished in 1999. The book was successful then. It’s successful now. But, not because it contains some magic key to a better sex life, better finances, self-confidence or a better life. Nope. The real secret, the one that the books and movie don’t address, is why we are all still need and believe in feel-good fluff that is supposed to cure what ails us in only a few hundred pages or seconds. Bull-hockey!
So, at the risk of being hypocritical, here’s the real secret spelled out:
People are lazy–We want a quick cure for everything though we generally take the long rode to Hell.
People want to feel good–Tell us what we want to hear and generally we will listen, especially if we can hear it easily.
Marketing is better than a good product–Charles Haanel’s book (with it’s expired copyright) may have been a good product, but it was and is a better marketing opportunity. The Secret movie and book (and the sloppy, churchy derivative speeches) are not great product, but the marketing is genius!
What should you take away in terms of your career or professional pursuits?
Find a way to make life easier for lazy people, make it easy for them to use you/your product and market the hell out of you/your product!
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