The Secret is Out!

In This Issue:

• Main Essay: The Secret is Out! by Krista Jones
• Resource Referral: Choose to Give Yourself the Best Life Ever
• Quick Copy tip: A Common Problem with Working from Home

The Secret is Out!
by Krista Jones

I spend much of my time working in the self-development market. Even though I work with everything from spiritual growth to wealth-building products, there’s a piece of advice that is often echoed by various gurus:

Write down your desires and dreams in explicit detail.

As a writer, that’s easy for me to do. I know that putting something in writing can convert a nebulous feeling into a concrete reality. But sometimes that works against me because I tend to write things down too succinctly. You know, “Get an assignment with XYZ company by June 1st”—that sort of thing.

After writing a few promotions for different products, it dawned on me that not only was I not providing enough detail in my written descriptions, but I also wasn’t taking the next, and arguably the more important step—feeling as though the desire has already come true.

So on November 22, 2005, I decided to take the experts to task. I wrote a detailed description of the car I wanted. I even wrote when I wanted to buy it.

Then every day for a week or so I looked back over my description and then envisioned the sleek body, the smell and feel of the leather seats, and the purr of the engine. I even imagined how I would feel when I was sitting behind the wheel of the car.

This daily exercise was fun, but then deadlines starting approaching and before long I allowed myself the disservice of being too busy to dream. And I never looked at that description again.

That was until last week when I started flipping through the pages of an old journal. When I landed on that page and re-read the description, three things immediately got my attention:

First, the description was extremely close to the car I currently drive.

Second, I had written that I wanted the car by September 1, 2006. (I bought the car on July 27th.)

And here’s the part that really blew me away: I also had written the amount that I wanted for my old car. Although the selling price I had written down was $4,000 more than the average selling price of the make and model of my car, I got the exact amount I had written down!

I had forgotten about writing all that stuff down. And even though I hadn’t looked at those words for many months, they came true down to the slightest details—to the penny even.

I guess those experts really know what they’re talking about.

I relay this story because, looking back, I wish I had done the same thing when my burning desire was to become a copywriter.

Of course I wrote down my generic goals for when I wanted to land my first paid assignment, how long it would take to earn enough to quit my job, and what markets I wanted to work in.

But I didn’t write any of those goals down to the bones. I didn’t write about the joy of landing and delighting clients, what I would do to market myself, or how much time I would spend practicing and continuing to educate myself. Looking back I think writing everything down to that level of detail—and feeling the emotion of achieving each goal—would have made a tremendous difference.

If you haven’t tried doing this with your deepest desires, give it a try. It only takes three steps:

1. Write down your specific desire in Technicolor detail.
2. Read what you wrote aloud.
3. Feel your desire with all five senses—as if it has already happened.

Repeat steps 2 and 3 every day (the experts say two to three times a day is best).

Although I already have a pretty good idea what will happen, let me know how it turns out.

Resource Referral: Choose to Give Yourself the Best Life Ever

Last summer a friend told me she wanted me to watch a DVD that she had recently purchased. Although she wouldn’t tell me what it was about, she said it was right down my alley. The next time I saw her she handed it over. It is called The Secret.

Well, what can I say? My friend knows me pretty well because I loved it. You may have heard of it because it’s starting to make some pretty big waves. In fact, the “teachers” of The Secret were on Oprah yesterday.

To sum it up, The Secret is about using the law of attraction to get what you want in life. When you think about it, that’s exactly what I used when I wrote the description of the car I wanted and then experienced the feelings of already having it.

While you can argue that understanding the law of attraction really isn’t a secret, I still think the teachers, which include superstar copywriter Joe Vitale, convey the information in a compelling way. So much so that I bought my own copy and watched it again on New Year’s Day. I’ve since had three friends—including Monica—ask me about it. Yesterday, Oprah reported that six people told her about The Secret in one day! Obviously, I’m not the only one who is inspired by a nudge to focus on what I want rather than what is.

In addition to the law of attraction, you’ll learn about the power of your thoughts to attract your desires, visualization and your inalienable right to have, do and be whatever your heart dreams of.

Whether you’re aware of it or not, you’re living the secret every day. Why not make it work for you rather than against you?

Get your copy of The Secret today, but make sure you put a label on it because you can bet you’ll be passing this one around.
Order it here.

Quick Copy Tip: A Common Problem with Working from Home

I adore working from home, but it can have its drawbacks.

One of them can be finding it hard to stop working. My first couple of years as a freelancer I had books, computers, papers, and files strewn all over the house. And if I wasn’t really careful, I’d quickly lose myself in my work whether I was in my office or my bedroom.

As you can imagine that drained me after a while. No room in the house was a shelter from work and my mind was always “on”.

But I’ve wised up. Although I still like to move around the house when I work, I make sure that at the end of the day, all of my work stuff is in the office where it should be. And I’ve made it a practice to never, ever work in my bedroom.

Now the line between my work and personal lives is not so blurred. Not to mention my house is quite a bit neater. And my mind is more peaceful and balanced.

If you are working from home—or plan to—I urge you to make a similar distinction. That may be easier said than done when you’re first starting out, but do it as soon as you can.