From a flyer I received:
“This series of two one-hour teleclasses is for those who already have a specific goal. Do you want to learn the strategies and tools that successful achievers use to achieve their goals?
Successful achievers know that they have to take 100% responsibility for achieving the lifestyle, relationships, financial freedom, and career opportunities that they want to experience in life. During this class we will explore their secrets and you will leave the class with the knowledge of how to put a successful plan together that you can implement immediately. Your goals can be about anything – career, health, relationships, finances, career, etc.
Topics we will cover include:
- Getting very clear about what you want and why you want it.
- What will you gain by achieving your goal – what will you lose by not going for it?
- The importance of being able to visualize your goal.
- What is your biggest fear and how can you manage it?
- Setting boundaries and making sure how you spend your time honors your goal.
- Putting a plan together with specific action steps and benchmarks.
- Building a support system.
WHEN: Two consecutive Thursdays from 8-9PM ET (5-6PM PT), 11/10, 11/17
COST: $79 Members ($95 Nonmembers) “
When I’d finished reading it, getting more and more irritated, I sat back and asked myself, “Now why did that get you so riled up?” It was a flyer offering to teach people how to exert their will in their lives, to achieve what they want. How could that be irritating?
Well it was. And like all such occasions of intuition, the truth arrives in a direct, subterranean route, not bothering to stop at the stage of consciousness for time in the limelight. As I went deeper into my reaction, I noticed certain words jumping out at me from the flyer. And they pushed buttons as they jumped.
The first such word was “secret”. The flyer says that there are secrets that you don’t know about, and that if you pay some money, those secrets can be yours. And presumably, other people who know the secrets are not telling for free, else you’d have heard the information already from somebody else. I suspect one of the secrets is that if you want to earn a living, you have to figure out how to get other people to give you money. The program advertised is one such method, the veiled deceit.
Another irritating phrase was “implement immediately”. This implies quick fixes. Anyone who’s tried to drop old habits and begin new ones knows that behavioral change will take a long time to acquire. There are no easy fixes. If someone is going to the seminar, they are not yet able to get what they want without help, so the odds of them being able to acquire “immediate” self-discipline in the areas advertised are low.
And the flyer welcomes all. Everyone is invited, because it is implicitly communicated that everyone can succeed. It’s just a matter of putting into action the right recipe, and that recipe is 100% effective when followed. However, that’s not reality. The truth is that we are all born with different levels and kinds of talents. Some of us can paint, and others can’t spell “paint”. Some of us can make things and others can’t figure out how to use their hands as door stops (like me). Some of us can solve polynomial equations in our heads and others lose contests of wits with quadripeds. Most of us are somewhere in between.
These kinds of seminars promote the culture of possibilities. And for that, I forgive them their hopefully well-intentioned, but misguided offering. But I would love to see a flyer that started this way:
“Success: It Ain’t no Secret
Come to this seminar to find out why you shouldn’t come to these seminars. In thirty short minutes, you’ll understand forever why nobody can give you a sure-fire recipe for success. All they can do is encourage you to aim high, work hard, try your best, be kind to others, put your family ahead of yourself, earn your way, tell the truth, keep learning new stuff, don’t make excuses, and don’t forget to breathe. Now that we think of it, just send us $79.00, stay home and read the last sentence for two hours.”
I’d send the check just because I’m thirsting for the simple truth. And simple doesn’t mean easy.