This speech is amazing, it is both inspirational and funny. Rowling details her trek to fame while inspiring the student body to find theirs. It is a good watch and I know that you will apreciate it.

Mike

JK Rowling Harvard Commencement Speech and the benefits of failure and imagination.

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

What we achieve inwardly will change outer reality.
–Plutoc

As is the tale so is life, not how long it is, how good it is is what matters.

–Seneca

Rhonda Byrne has said that “The Secret” was inspired by “The Science of Getting Rich.”  That is a great book, and I love it – but the opeing scenes of the movie tells a different story and I wonder why.

The book that Byrne pulls out of the trunk in The Secret begins like this…

The World’s Greatest Discovery

A chapter title that is not from The Science of Getting Rich and a quote from Edgar Guest, that great poet.

This is not how The Science of Getting Rich begins but rather how Robert Collier’s The Secret of The Ages begins.

The scene goes by quickly but if you advance your DVD playback slowly, you can see it as in the screen capture above and in the Rhonda Byrne video clip at the end of this article.

Both of these books are great books and both have a similar message.  We have audio of chapter 11 (The Law of Attraction) of Collier’s book on this site.

Interesting is that Collier is listed in the part of of The Secret’s website called “Behind The Secret” but Wattles is not.  However you can get an ebook of “The Science of Getting Rich” but not of “The Secret of The Ages” on The Secret website.  In Byrne’s Recommended Reading List we find The Science of Getting Rich (and many other success classics) but not The Secret of The Ages.

This is only an observation, not any great controversy.  The messages of both books are congruent and both carry the same great message of the law of attraction.

The Science of Getting Rich is all about the law of attraction, but never calls it that, Collier’s book, The Secret of The Ages is likewise about the LOA and it even has a chapter by that name.

So I invite you to choose your success, watch The Secret and read The Science of Getting Rich or The Secret of The Ages…  Perhaps you’ll even double down and take both of these classics to heart.

Rhonda Byrne and The Secret of the law of attraction

The Secret blog

The secret blog is my mini-journal about the secret.  Learn when new web pages appear on http://www.thesecretandberich.com. 

“The Secret of The Ages” by Robert Collier

By Nathan S. Collier

My grandfather, Robert Collier, died in 1950, two years before I was born. He was a tremendous businessman, a pioneer in the mail order sales business, and wrote “The Robert Collier Letter Book” on business correspondence.Robert Collier also had a strong spiritual side and in the late 1920s wrote some of the first self-help books, including one called “Secret of the Ages.”

The Science of Getting Rich:  The Origin Of The Secret Law Of Attraction

The Science of Getting Rich is a success book written by Wallace D. Wattles in 1910. It is considered a “philosophy of Mental Science or Mind Science.”  It is widely credited as preceding the New Thought Movement.

An Introduction To The Science Of Getting Rich

Although Rhonda Byrne, the author of “The Secret” says that “The Science of Getting Rich” is was one of the books she was influenced by, she missed some crucial points about what Wallace Wattles had to say.

The Science of Getting Rich – Secret Book – Wallace Wattles

The Science of Getting Rich – Secret Book – Wallace Wattles.  The Book Behind The SECRET is The Science of Getting Rich by Wallace D. Wattles.

The Science of Getting Rich Summary Affirmations

This is a video summary of The Science of Getting Rich by Wallace D. Wattles. The Science of Getting Rich is the book that inspired the movie “The Secret” Watch this video two times per day and observe positive changes in your life.

The Secret Law Of Attraction And The Science Of Getting Rich

The Science of Getting Rich preceded other financial success works such as Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill. Rhonda Byrne described the The Science of Getting Rich as the basis for her movie, The Secret, as well as the book by the same name.

How can failure lead you to success? Great inventors like Thomas Edison talked about ideas like failing forward. Great baseball players strike out more than the hit home runs, new products fail more often than the succeed. John Maxwell has a book called “Failing Forward.”   If you Google “Failing Forward” there are more than 52 million results.

All human advancement is built on failure

If you are learning new skills, exploring new markets, entering a new sport, no matter what you are doing… don’t be discouraged when you don’t do it perfectly.

Sometimes a toxic environment whether home, or the wrong friends will taint your thinking and cause you to believe that you shouldn’t pursue your dream because you are not doing it perfectly, because you go out the first day and have no sales to show, because you struck out at bat, because you broke on the high note, because, because, because… Whose voice is that in your head telling you to stop. Whose voice is telling you you are not good enough.

Listen to the voice of your heart, listen to your dreams; aren’t your dreams a message from God? Aren’t your dreams sacred communication to you from the universe? Whose voice should you listen to?

I recall scriptures from Habbakuk: “…be utterly amazed, for I am going to do something in your days that you would not believe, even if you were told.” This is how our dreams are. We may have difficulty believing them: “me the top sales-performer?” “Me, valedictorian?” “Me the new manager?” “Me write a book?” Learn not to question those urgings from within they are God seeking to work through you.

Again from Habbakuk: “Write the vision and make it plain upon tables that he may run who reads it.”  I’ve always loved that scripture.  Write down those things from your heart and read them, run to carry them out.  Not every effort will produce results, you may fail more than you succeed especially at first, but continue.

As always Kalil Gibran has something good to say: “Faith is a knowledge within the heart, beyond the reach of proof.”  This is what we are talking about here at the core of this post is the element of faith.  This doesn’t have to be religious if you don’t believe in God.  It’s about you, have the knowledge within your heart.

Failure: The Secret To Success

Failure. The mere thought can paralyze even the most heroic thinkers and keep great ideas off the drawing board. But is failing really that bad? We get an inside look at the mishaps of Honda racers, designers and engineers to learn how they draw upon failure to motivate them to succeed. From poor color choices to blown race engines, these risk-taking individuals provide an honest look at what most people fear most. Watch the film and discover the upside of failure.

Failure is not an end rather it is a message, try something else – achieve your dream…  Failure is not you, it is a message, try something else – achieve your dream…

Always reframe and view rejection as a learning, a honing experience. It is said that Colonel Sanders was turned down (rejected) over 1000 times before he got his first franchisee for Kentucky Fried Chicken. All the while he was traveling around, sometimes sleeping in his car all on the strength of a recipie he belived in.

Rejection doesn’t mean the rejector is right in rejecting you. Look at all those 999 who didn’t take the opportunity that made the Colonel and the Colonel’s number 1000th call rich men. So it’s right don’t take it personally – it may be bad judgement on the rejector’s part.

Thomas Edison failed 10,000 times at making a viable light bulb. At last the bulb lit and lasted and Edison gave a great gift to the world. Rejection and failure are actually two sides to the same coin.

Both of these men had belief that got them past the hard places. You must develop a vision that lets you continue to take action in the face of rejection.

Sales trainers always talk about statistics for sales calls. After a little time you might learn that you make 10 calls and make one sale. In this case each turn down should be viewed not as a rejection but as another step toward the sale.

These kinds of ideas apply to everything in your life. Sometimes you just have to get out there and keep going. Many give up after one or two tries at something new, but that is not how life works, stick to it.