The Secret

by: Maryanne

Most of my writer's boards have been abuzz lately with talk of The Secret, a movie that promises to unlock "the secret to unlimited joy, health, money, relationships, love, youth: everything you have ever wanted".

Pretty powerful stuff, huh? Even Oprah jumped on The Secret bandwagon and had a panel of The Secret teachers on her show yesterday to talk about how people can change their lives.

The only problem I found with The Secret is that....well, it's not much of a secret. The idea that what you can see with your mind’s eye is what you will create in your life has been around for years. That if you believe positive things will happen, you will attract positive things into your life. Not only have these ideas been around for years but most truly successful people have espoused these beliefs in interviews and books for as long as I can remember.

Now I don't want to seem like I'm knocking this new craze. I'm all for people bettering their lives and reaching their dreams. And, if you need to spend $29.95 for a dvd on how to do it, I say go for it.

For those of you who aren't ready to whip out your credit card just yet, let me offer a few suggestions I've found helpful in my quest to becoming a successful writer. I'll call these Maryanne's Secrets, although, chances are, you've all heard my secrets before.

1) Define success for yourself. Is success making a lot of money (or money period)? Is success seeing your name on the spine of a book sitting in a bookstore? Is success writing ten or fifteen minutes every day?

For example, my writing dream has always been to make a living (i.e. money) as a writer. For years I worked on different novels and magazine articles and made some money along the way. But I never felt successful. It was only when I realized that I personally would only feel successful when I made a certain amount of money that I recognized I needed to change courses and do a different type of writing (one that would make me the money I sought).

2) Once you've defined exactly what success is for you, write down the necessary steps to achieve that success.

3) When you've defined what steps you need to take to be successful, make a plan for implementing these steps in your life.

Another added bonus of defining what you need to do to reach your goal, is to also see what you need to NOT do. By defining the steps I needed to take, I was able to comfortably turn down writing opportunities which did not funnel into my ultimate goal of making a living as a writer.

4) You have a plan in place and now you must not only stick with that plan but visualize yourself at the place you're trying to get to. If your goal is to be a successful author or freelancer, take five or ten minutes a day to visualize yourself as a successful author or freelancer. When you work, think success and feel success. Feeling and acting successful will draw success and good things to you.

Did Maryanne’s Secrets not do it for you? For those of you who want more or want more from people who actually know what they’re talking about, check out SuccessConsciousness or read M. Williams' article Banishing the Bogeyman: A Writer's Visualization. Both are interesting reads and can give you some pointers in reaching your full potential as a writer!