If I hear one more person ask me if I've heard about "The Secret" I think I'm going to throw myself out of a plane.

(Disclaimer - I'm more fired up about this because I didn't think of it first!)

Here's "The Secret" in a nutshell: if you want something, get off your ass and make it happen.

How is this even remotely surprising?  People react to this movie as if it's the first time it has occurred to them that you need to be focused on your goals in order to achieve them.

What kind of secret is that?

Or said differently, if that's a "secret," what was the "truth" that was being told to everyone before this movie?

1. You can sit around eat Doritos, play Xbox, and get rich.
2. If you never try, things will just come to you serendipitously.
3. If you focus on 15 things at once, they will all magically happen.
4. Thinking that you're a total loser will make you a big winner.
5. Motivation, ambition and a fundamental need to achieve are not important in being successful

These must have been the evil truths that have been disseminated for so long.  Now "The Secret" has revealed that these truths are incorrect!

Does anyone see the irony here?  The people that actually are motivated, successful and kicking ass don't need to read books about how to be motivated.

I haven't seen something re-packaged and sold like it was a new idea so successfully since Steve Jobs pretended he invented the MP3 player by calling it an iPod.

If you want a book that's "The Secret" to doing business or running the world, try reading Robert Greene's "48 Laws of Power."  That's like the Darth Vader instruction manual for running the world.

</rant>