I watched a film called The Secret over Christmas on YouTube. It’s based on a bestselling book by Rhonda Byrne and some of you may have already heard of it. I know I did somewhere back in the mists of time and I purchased a copy which then sat idly on my bookshelf for a number of years before watching the film reawakened my interest in it.
The book and film are based on the Law of Attraction which is described as the Secret to success in life by a number of prominent, successful business men and women around the world. It posits that “everything that’s coming into your life, you are attracting into your life and it’s attracted to you by virtue of the images you’re holding in your mind”. Essentially you are what you think and believe and whatever you’re thinking or is going on in your mind, you are attracting more of into your life.
One of the fundamental questions it addresses is why 1% of the population earns 90% of the money. It’s no accident, it’s designed that way because the 1% understand something that the other 99% don’t. That’s the Secret. If you think of yourself as a magnet, one of the laws of nature is that like attracts like, so it stands to reason that if you’re thoughts are firmly fixed on one thing constantly, you’ll attract more of that into your life. You become what you think about most but you also attract what you think about most.
The problem is most people think about what they don’t want and they end up attracting more of this and wonder why it shows up again and again. The law of attraction is responding to their thoughts, essentially the signal that they’re putting out into the universe and bringing them things that match those thoughts. When you’re positive in your outlook and orientation, you’ll tend to attract positive people and events; when you’re negative, you’ll attract the opposite. So you want to become aware of your thoughts and choose them carefully because most of us attract by default. Easier said than done because for most of us, our thoughts are on autopilot.
This got me thinking (literally) about all the things that I as a Search Professional would like to attract more of into my life. Better clients, better candidates, better job openings, better fees. It also led me to think more about what my clients (and candidates) would like to attract more of into their lives and specifically on the desire of many insurance clients to attract better talent into their businesses. The Secret suggests that this is a three step process:
- Ask for what you want. You don’t need to use words, just thoughts. What do you (Mr/Ms Client) really want? Imagine you’ve hired the perfect candidate and one year from now you’re walking down the hall with that perfect hire to their first annual appraisal. You’re smiling, they’re smiling and you’re thinking to yourself my gosh you’ve had a terrific first 12 months with my firm. What will they have accomplished?
- Answer (to what you’re asking). The Universe will do this for you and start to rearrange itself to make that (great talent) materialise for you. You don’t need to know how, just trust that the universe will do this for you. The universe likes speed, don’t second guess, act. Suddenly you’ll see opportunities to hire great talent appear before your eyes, great candidates will suddenly present and you’ll find the hiring process becomes clearer and easier to fulfil. Martin Luther King said you must “take the first step in faith. You don’t have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step”.
- Receive (what you’re asking for). But first you must bring yourself into alignment with what you’re asking for. If you’re thinking about attracting a great hire for your business but you don’t have the proper structure, supports and tools in place for that hire, it’s likely to end in tears.
Most people look at their current state of affairs and see that’s what they are. This is wrong. That’s what they were – a residual outcome of their past thoughts and actions and if they’re constantly living in this residual, it’s like a self-fulfilling prophecy, a feedback loop if you will. For some clients this can manifest itself in their hiring strategies. Because they believe themselves to be an “average Insurer/Broker”, they believe (wrongly) that they’ll only attract at best average talent into their business. It requires a major shift in their thinking to get people and businesses to look and think differently about themselves. As James Arthur Ray cites “when you look at your current state of affairs and define yourself by that, then you doom yourself to have nothing more than the same in the future.” It’s potential failure in perpetuity if all that we are is the result of what we have thought.
The Secret suggests some powerful processes to help shift your thinking. They are gratitude and visualisation.
- Gratitude. Start making a list of all the things you are grateful for. This shifts your energy/thinking from what you don’t have to being grateful for all the good things in your life. Instead of focussing on the one bad hire you’ve made in the past 12 months, focus on the five great hires you’ve made over the past three years and be grateful for them. As soon as you start to feel differently about the things you already have, you’ll start to attract more of the good things you’ll be grateful for.
- Visualise. The mind can’t distinguish between what is real and what is imaginary. If you’ve been there in your mind, you’ll go there in body. Always and only dwell on the end result. If that end result is to have a €5M T/O business within 2 years, then only focus on that. Albert Einstein said that “Imagination is everything – it’s the preview of lifes coming attractions”. If you decide on what you want, believe you can have it and believe that you deserve it, then just close your eyes and visualise having it in your life. Then release it into the universe. The universe will figure out how to manifest it for you and the great talent that you want to attract to your business will show up.
If you’d like a complimentary assessment of your ability to source and attract great talent to your insurance business, call us today for a confidential discussion.
Campbell Rochford – Turning Good To Great!