Alert! Alert! We’re getting dangerously close to The Secret territory and all that Law of Attraction stuff, which I think has done way more harm than good. I’ll steer us clear of it, though, so hold on.
In Business:
Would you like to know the oddest thing I’ve ever noticed in over twenty years of being self-employed and owning multiple small businesses? When I’m hustling to make things happen — pitching, working leads and even cold-calling on many occasions — opportunities and new clients always seem to pop up out of the blue, totally unrelated to my efforts.
It’s the darnedest thing. So naturally I start thinking that I don’t have do all this hustling. I’ll just sit back and let these new clients keep revealing themselves to me. Then what happens? You guessed it — they all disappear.
The difference between what I observe and all that Law of Attraction stuff is that I’m an involved participant in the process. I’m not passively waiting for good things to come to me. That’s a key distinction.
If I dared to rewrite Emerson (and this is my book, so why not?) I think it would be more accurate to say “Once you make a decision and act on it, the universe conspires to make it happen.”
In Life:
Have you ever bought a new car and then you start noticing a lot more of those cars on the road? Once you get it, or even when you’re just thinking about buying it, it seems like half the people on the road are driving around in your car.
The truth is, there are just as many of those cars on the road today as there were last month before you made the purchase or even started looking. Our minds want to see those cars, so our subconscious lifts the filter and lets all those cars onto the expressway to our conscious mind.
Why? Because it supports a decision we want to feel good about. Remember earlier when I wrote that all buying decisions are emotional, and then we use reason to justify them? This is a prime example.
We want the car because we want it, then we help justify the purchase logically by seeing all the examples of other people making the same decision.
Since I dared rewrite Emerson once, please allow me to do it again (after all, Emerson also said, “The better part of courage is having done it before.”).
“Once you make a decision and act on it, the universe conspires with your mind to make it happen.”
At least now you’re an active participant on both ends of the equation.
So remember…
Once you make a decision, the universe conspires to make it happen.
— Ralph Waldo Emerson