“The Procrastination Equation” by Dr.Piers Steel is one of the many productivity books that on my keeper shelf.
Dr Steele has the delicious title of Professor of procrastination at the University of Calgary and regularly writes articles for the magazine Psychology Today.
I recently came across a post from 2011 comparing The Motivational Wisdom of Lady Gaga versus the advice presented in the popular bestselling book “The Secret” by Rhonda Byrne.
I confess that I have never read any of these “Laws of Attraction” books, but according to Dr. Steel – “The Secret advocates creative visualization, which involves creating vivid and compelling pictures of your heart’s desire, with the aim of drawing this vision toward you. If you believe and even act as if your accomplishments have already happened, Byrne argues, then happen they will.”
I confess that I have never read any of these “Laws of Attraction” books, but according to Dr. Steel – “The Secret advocates creative visualization, which involves creating vivid and compelling pictures of your heart’s desire, with the aim of drawing this vision toward you. If you believe and even act as if your accomplishments have already happened, Byrne argues, then happen they will.”
On the other hand, apparently Lady Gaga was a guest judge on the television show So You Think You Can Dance, and she had this to say: “That’s good that you won a lot of trophies, it’s nice, but you know what? After I sell a bunch of records, I take all the platinum ones off the walls and pretend I haven’t sold a damn one and I’ve got to go do it all again.”
Both Lady Gaga and Rhonda Byrne are using the power of images to motivate their actions and inspire future success but in completely different ways – but they have both been exceptionally successful in their own businesses.
Lady Gaga seems to be suggesting that the platinum records are symbols of past successes which could stifle her desire to go out and strive for future success.
It is almost as if they represent a huge buffet meal that she has just eaten, while she needs to stay hungry and work harder to reach her end objectives that these records represent. Instead of inspiring her, these images of past success are blocking her.
The Secret, on the other hand, seems to advocate that all you have to do is to believe you have already achieved your dreams and desired outcomes and they will magically become a reality.
So who’s right?
Right now I am looking at author copies and framed pictures of some of my book covers on the wall of my study. Should I even have them there? Should I take them down so that I have space for new ones?
Should you leave your future to the power of the images of your fantasy dreams, or put aside the symbols and images, and leverage the power of your hunger and drive to achieve your end results?
In the article, Dr.Steel describes a major psychology study carried out at New York University, and I won’t spoil the surprise for you by telling you what the results were.
I’ll leave that to the professionals.
“Fantasy feels good, but when practiced in isolation it gets in the way of accomplishment. It is the motivational equivalent of pornography, where we allow fantasy to take the place of reality. However, if you are good at fantasy, like Lady Gaga, here’s how to make it work the way she does.
After fantasizing, focus on your present world and how it lacks the things you crave. There will be pain and discomfort because what you long for is no longer in your grasp, but don’t turn away from these emotions; they are a source of power that you can harness to get stuff done.”
What do you think?
Do you find images of your past successes inspiring and motivational?