Why Henry Ford Knew More Than “The Secret”
“If you think you can do a thing or think you can’t do a thing, you’re right.” – Henry Ford
This famous quote from quintessential American success story Henry Ford encapsulates the very core of why positive thinking works, and why it is one of the most often touted tool of personal development literature. It also highlights, by contrast, what is wrong with the (in)famous book and DVD “The Secret”, cited recently by another blogger as one of the most successful infomercials ever.
Positive thinking works not because of any cosmic or pseudo-scientific forces at work, but because our thinking can be one of the most crucial limits on our capabilities.
Let’s first take a closer look at what Henry Ford said, and how that wisdom can work for us, before looking at what’s wrong with “The Secret”.
Apply Ford’s wisdom to achieve your dreams
Ford told us that if we think we can do something, we’re right — and if we think we can’t do something, we’re also right. The surprising conclusion of that quote highlights the fact that if we tell ourselves we cannot do something, we’re restricting ourselves. There is no way we can succeed if we believe that we will fail. It’s just shooting ourselves in the foot.
But by believing in our own success, we are setting ourselves up for failure. Does that mean that I will be able to fly just by thinking that I can? Of course not. It is only by hard work, by finding creative solutions, by persistence even with repeated failures, that we will be able to fly. Ask the Wright brothers.
Sure, you say, this stuff is obvious. But if it’s so obvious, are you applying it to your daily life? Have you taken the time to define your dreams, and the steps that it will take to get there? Have you asked yourself if you believe in yourself, and if you believe you can achieve those dreams? And what steps are you taking today — not tomorrow or next year — to make those dreams a reality.
If you are doing all of these things already, I congratulate you. You’ve taken the steps necessary to be a success. But if you aren’t, ask yourself why not? What is holding you back? Too much stuff going on in your life? Or maybe your dreams are something that you’ll get to “someday”, but not today? Or maybe you don’t really believe you can do it. You need to analyze that and make some changes.
Btw, Ford was great when it comes to success quotes. Here’s just one more of many: “It has been my observation that most people get ahead during the time that others waste.”
The Problem with “The Secret”
Now let’s take a (brief) look at the very popular movie and book, “The Secret”. First, let me say that there are some very good concepts in the Law of Attraction, which is highlighted in “The Secret” — basically, the Law of Attraction is just new packaging of some older, but successful, concepts, namely the power of positive thinking and visualization.
Positive thinking, as discussed above, can be a powerful force in making your dreams a reality. And the method of visualizing your dreams has been proven repeatedly to be a great way to making them come true — in athletics and business and everywhere in between. By seeing something, in your mind, in vivid detail, you are making it more likely that you will find a way to turn that picture into reality. Again, it will still take hard work and creative thinking and problem-solving, but this is one method for getting there.
But “The Secret” takes these concepts and turns them into pseudo-scientific concepts, shrouded in a conspiracy theory. Which cheapens the whole deal, IMO. The movie uses “electromagnetic waves” and concepts of quantum physics to explain why the Law of Attraction works.
The problem is that it takes real scientific phenomena and twists them in ways that have not been proven. There is no scientific evidence that the electromagnetic waves that we actually do send out into the universe have any effect in changing the world around us in the way that we want the world to change (or have any discernible effect on these things at all).
Why Positive Thinking Works
The thing is, none of these pseudo-scientific facts are necessary to explain why positive thinking and visualization work. The explanation is very simple, and it’s encapsulated in Ford’s quote:
- First, if you think you can’t do something, you won’t. It’s that simple.
- Second, if you think you can, you’re more likely to do the things necessary to make it happen.
- Third, if you have a very clear picture of what you want, you are more likely to find the path necessary to get there than if you don’t really know what you want. It’s simply defining your target, as opposed to not knowing where your target is.
That’s all. Nothing fancy, nothing pseudo-scientific, no conspiracies — just simple, powerful concepts that actually work. Concepts that you can, and should, apply to your every day life right now.
Leo Babauta blogs regularly about achieving goals and becoming productive through daily habits on Zen Habits. Read his articles on the Top 50 Productivity Blogs, doubling your productivity, keeping your inbox empty, becoming an early riser, and the Top 20 Motivation Hacks.
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Comments
Jeremy says on May 21st, 2007 at 9:48 am
Great article! I agree 100% that “The Secret” takes a very sound concept based on reason and turns it into a pseudo-scientific quack theory. It’s degrading an otherwise proven method and turning people off to personal development.
Matt says on May 21st, 2007 at 10:47 am
Nice analysis. There is such a huge leap between believing that your thinking affects your performance and believing that there is some cosmic thought-activated vending machine. Thanks for point out the effectiveness of the rational side of that gap.
Heather says on May 21st, 2007 at 11:51 am
Sorry, but while I think that the Secret has some serious problems (if a woman is assaulted, she brought it on; people are dying in Darfur because they’re too negative) I can’t hold Henry Ford up as someone to take advice from. His anti-semitic work (publishing anti-semitic writings for many years and accepting a medal from the Nazi government) makes him too unpalatable to hold up as someone to take as an example as to how to live my life.
That being said, I have frequently said to my students that they need to believe that they will do well. If they think they’re going to fail an exam then they are more likely to do so. It’s psychological.
Gomengb says on May 21st, 2007 at 3:40 pm
Hear, hear! (But people _want_ to believe in magic.)
ZHereford says on May 21st, 2007 at 5:23 pm
I’m so glad to see a common sense approach to achieving success instead of the hype we’ve been reading about lately with “The
Secret”. In some ways it diminishes the concept of hard work and applying yourself intelligently.
Siew Cooper says on May 21st, 2007 at 8:33 pm
I agree wholeheartedly, having just written an article in similar vein in my own blog! The principle of the Law of Attraction is so fundamentally simple – I really don’t understand why people need the comfort of buying into self-help books like The Secret to reach wealth, health and happiness. I actually think people are more likely to be unhappy after their investment in such products doesn’t lead to true fulfillment.
Or, scarier still, that they so greatly desire to see the effects of the principles they buy into, that they will believe that they’ve attained it before they’re anywhere near their true goal.
AgentSully says on May 21st, 2007 at 9:30 pm
Great post. I was thinking about this recently too before reading this. I think that the reason why having a thought in our mind works towards manifesting it in reality is because of the actions we take. You need the thought before you can have the action. But the thought alone won’t do it.
When I watched The Secret, at first I thought it was kind of a spoof, because it was so hokey.
I still believe in prayer though so I think some of the things said in The Secret are true. The only problem is they restating stuff that is already in other religions. The reason why The Secret grates on people -and myself- is that this stuff is Not a secret.
And there are some good things too when they talk about relationships. They say that what you focus on the most is what you get more of. Focusing on the positives and be the change you want to see in the relationship. (Gandhi, anyone?)
Good marketing though I guess. What can we learn from it?
People have a HUGE desire to believe in something. And that the masses will consume anything that is packaged well.
Hmmm.
Irene says on May 22nd, 2007 at 2:44 am
I agree that success needs us to be optimistic all the time, otherwise it would be impossible to do so if we already gave up. We must learn how to consider the impossible possible.
walt tom says on May 22nd, 2007 at 3:20 am
Inspiring and thought provoking post. I have to disagree on one count though.
Our thoughts do have a great deal of influence on the world around us. This HAS been scientifically proven on at least one medium, a rather important one: water.
Google Masaru Emoto to learn about his experiments if you’re interested.
G-Man says on May 22nd, 2007 at 4:29 am
Well written post, but it buy into the lie that the whole positive thinking industry is based on:
“First, if you think you can’t do something, you won’t. It’s that simple.”
Really? Why does everybody just accept this as true? Because it sounds good?
Wake up people. Smell the coffee, you’re buying into yet another round of self-help, pyramid scheme nonsense written by people who want to get rich writing about this stuff.
Just think about your own life – how many times have you though you couldn’t do something but done it anyway? Millions probably. This just goes to show the whole post is based on a false assumption to start with.
Come on people, aren’t we all tired of the self-help industry by now? It’s just like diets – they DONT WORK!!!!
Steve says on May 22nd, 2007 at 8:17 am
When I was a young we would all say to each other “What do you want” I would always answer with “A house at the beach, a four wheel drive and a six foot blonde with legs up to here (visual indication shown). Well oddly enough now at the age of 39 that’s what I have. No secret, I just kept on always answering that and it happened. You say and believe things for long enough and you make them happen. Even if its not directly.
Leo Babauta says on May 22nd, 2007 at 4:21 pm
@G-Man: I disagree with you completely. Positive thinking has made a huge difference in my personal life in the last 18 months. In that time, using positive thinking, I have: quit smoking, become a runner, ran a marathon, done a triathlon, lost weight, become a vegan, become organized, doubled my income, nearly wiped out my debt (it was bad), increased my productivity, become an early riser (I wake at 4:30 a.m.) and found more time to spend with my family.
And that’s just the start. I’m making more positive changes every day. And the thing that really did it for me — and I discovered its power when I made the first habit change, quitting smoking — is the simple act of positive thinking.
It’s an old trick, but it does work. I can personally testify to it.
As for doing something you think you can’t do, that may be true of little things, but as for the big things, it’s rare. And the reason is that we don’t even attempt them. I never attempted a marathon before last year, simply because I thought I couldn’t do it. It was too hard. But last year, I told myself I could. And I did. It took an entire year of training, but I did it.
Gavin says on May 22nd, 2007 at 7:44 pm
Interesting post. I tend to agree that whilst The Secret does take some issues a bit beyond what is credible it also takes subjects that are difficult for a lot of people to comprehend and places them in a light that makes them palatable and physical. Which at the end of the day, is what most people need in order to make changes to their life.
At the end of the day, I don’t agree with anyone that tries to take “The Secret” down (and I don’t think this post is doing that). What “The Secret” is trying to do is encourage people to think positively and live a fulfilling life. What’s not to like about that? If it turns out that thinking positive thoughts is a crock but allows people to have a great life through a placebo effect, then who cares? The end result is worthwhile.
Marie says on May 22nd, 2007 at 9:03 pm
Great post. If we always think about things in a positive way, success isn’t far away. A strong belief on something fuels our thoughts to achieve it.
Needleman says on May 23rd, 2007 at 9:11 am
One could argue, in fact, that Henry Ford DID know “The Secret.” Fundamentally, what “The Secret” does is encapsulate and package concepts integral to the Law of Attraction and the Power of Positive Thinking so that people who are unfamiliar with these concepts can grasp them.
Whether or not “The Secret” turns to psuedoscientific concepts in order to explain how it works…I can’t really say. There are many things that are considered commonplace today that would have been considered science fiction, or simply impossible, 50 or 100 years ago (like that cell phone you use daily). Quantum physics was at first considered psuedoscientific, but is now considered an accurate description of how matter and energy interact and interchange.
The fact that “The Secret” was written in such a way that people who have never encountered such “esoteric” concepts as visualizations, affirmations, goal-setting and the like should not detract from the fundamental concepts in it. Like many, I don’t agree with ALL the teachers presented, but isn’t that kind of the point? Here are some tools and concepts to help you make positive change in your life…pick the ones that work for you and USE them!
Sorry about the rant, but in closing let me share my mantra, “Li proceeds Qi.” This means, “Thought (or intent, really) proceeds energy (or action).” Create the idea, or intent, in your mind and then manifest the energy toward it in the physical world. See your goal, then make it happen! Same idea as Ford’s or “The Secret,” but in a nice tidy little package that works for me.
Be well!!
julio says on July 26th, 2007 at 10:42 pm
what the hell would you know(author of the article) maybe u should be a bit more open minded. Ofcourse Henry didnt know the secret however by following its ideals he was able to accomplish what he wanted. The human brain is far more complex than one thinks far more complex and with more potential than a computer
julio says on July 26th, 2007 at 10:44 pm
You need to see What the bleep the secret is just a shallow version of it
BigAL says on August 22nd, 2008 at 4:44 am
My entire life is transformed because of the secret…if you knew me and how I’ve felt about myself for at least 10 years…you would find it to be very magical. God is not magical? HA