The 4th Secret Law of the Sportsperson - by Dr Stephen Simpson

I wrote last month about the 3 Secret Laws that top athletes use either consciously or unconsciously as part of their elite performance toolkit. I also mentioned that there is another 4th Secret Law, known as the Law of Attraction.  This law proposes that our conscious and unconscious thoughts can influence external events.

The best-selling film, book, and audiobook The Secret11 describes the Law of Attraction in more detail. The film was released in 2006, and became instantly popular.

The Law of Attraction argues that positive people attract other positive people to them. It goes further, and proposes that positive events attract further positive events. 
These ideas are not original, and similar theories were proposed by Napoleon Hill in his book Think and Grow Rich12. This book was published in 1937, and sold over 60 million copies, so at least it worked for Hill. Many of its readers were convinced it worked for them too.

The Secret instructs us that all we have to do is ‘Ask, Believe, and Receive’, and let the power of the universe take care of everything else. I interpret these simple instructions as follows.

Asking is the vivid visualisation of our skilfully constructed objectives. Writing is the doing part of thinking, and others might name such a list as affirmations, or more simply as a wish list. I wrote about visualisation last month, so there are no surprises here.

Believing is just that. Whilst some scepticism is probably natural, outright rejection is unlikely to work, if the Law is to be believed.

Believing takes a leap of faith, and may be impossible for some. Most of us have been brainwashed over the years into believing that success comes only from hard graft. That practice makes perfect. If something sounds too good to be true, it is too good to be true.How then do some people float through life with a smile on their face, and achieve great success with seemingly effortless effort?

Receiving is also a tricky concept to explain. Sometimes it is easier to give a gift to another than to receive one yourself. The Law of Attraction requests that we watch for signs, that we interpret the events around us within the context of what we have asked for. That reception is an active process, and not a passive one.

Receiving is not waiting for the universe to tap you on the shoulder with a wonderful gift. The gift is already out there waiting for you; you just have to find it.

Clearly this is only one of countless views of how the Universe may or may not work. Therefore not surprisingly there have also been many critics of The Law of Attraction. Equally there have been many strong supporters too.

Most people subscribe to religion or some other faith-based belief. None can be proven on a strictly scientific basis, but we do not live in a laboratory. Religions have enjoyed enduring popularity through the ages, and continue to do so. Therefore believing comes naturally to most people.

Perhaps this is how The Law of Attraction works, or maybe not. However the truth is that living life with a positive attitude has got to be a lot more fun than expecting everything to go wrong. The brain gets used to making happy chemicals, so why break the habit?

Curiously, some people seem to be lucky at whatever they do.  People describe such lucky events as coincidences, as synchronicities, or as just plain serendipity.  Inexplicably these coincidences happen to some people a lot more than others. 

It might be multiple holes in one for golfers, or winning the lottery for others. It might be being in the right place at the right time to land the dream job, and there are many other examples. They are all part of the universal Law of Attraction.

Top athletes seem able to produce the most amazing performances when they need them the most. It is as if they have the ability to tune into a different or wider part of the energy of the electromagnetic spectrum than we can.

Perhaps you would like to experiment with your wish lists, visualisations, affirmations, call them what you choose. Let me know how you get on, I find such feedback fascinating.
 

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