The Secret of "The Secret"

My sister gave me an early Christmas gift this Thanksgiving; it was the DVD version of "The Secret".  I am, and always have been, a self-help junkie so I was thankful for her thoughtful gift and was looking forward to watching the video.  I did take me a couple of weeks to watch it -- movies like "I Now Pronounce you Chuck and Larry" and "Live Free or Die Hard" took precedence.

"The Secret" is about the law of attraction.  Which basically states that your thoughts and feelings are what ultimately create your life.  Negative thoughts and focusing on what you do not have will lead you to an average life at best, whereas focusing on your desires will often bring those desires to fruition.  First let me preface by saying that this is an issue that is very subjective and open to interpretation, opinion, faith, and belief.  I am about to share with you my opinion and personal experience with "The Secret".

In the opening scenes, I saw what I expected -- a cinematic dramatization of the principle described.  This is fine -- it was fairly well done and kept my interest. Much better than a boring lecture for 90 minutes.  But I soon discovered the "cheese factor" was higher than I expected.  At times, I thought I was watching an cable infomercial with all the images of happy people frolicking about in slow motion, images of money, fancy cars and mansions reminding us all of our materialistic inadequacies. In this case, the "cheese factor" refers more to the attempt to persuade through exaggeration and bad acting.  Watching this 90 minute video with my wife and my dog made me uncomfortable.  Not only because of the cheese factor, but also because my dog had really bad gas that night. 

Here are a few issues I have with "The Secret":

1. When it comes to success, there are no secrets.  The idea of a secret is a marketing gimmick.  Wouldn't it be great if there were a secret that you did not know, that if you did, you would be healthy, wealthy and wise?  The law of attraction is one of the many success principles that help people succeed.  It has been a major topic of many self-help gurus since Dale Carnegie popularized the Genre.   It is as much of a "secret" as Britney Spears' personal life.
2. Over simplification.  It would be nice to have all the things we desire in life just by doing A,B and C?  It is our nature to look for the "easy way", that is why over simplifications SELL.  Why work hard for something when you can get it by watching a 90 minute video?  I don't believe this oversimplification gives people hope, rather it makes people feel inadequate and turns them off from pursuing true success.
3. Too metaphysical.  I am a believer in the law of attraction.  However, I do not see this law as a some mysterious communication system with the universe. To me, the law of attraction makes perfect psychological sense.  When you focus on what you want, you take action toward the attainment of those desires on both a conscious and subconscious level.  It is that simple.  It is YOU that is making things happen, not some genie in a lamp or mystical force.  For those of you who believe in a higher power (God, Allah, Sacred Grasshopper) perhaps it is that higher power that gives you the courage, strength and wisdom to attain the earthly desires you seek.  I think God has more important things to do than help me get a gold watch.

Criticisms aside, "The Secret" contains some good stuff.  My favorite part of this video is the idea of how your thoughts control your health.  I am a huge believer in the mind-body connection.  I do not see this as "miraculous" or even metaphysical -- just undiscovered science.  It is proven without any doubt that our minds are responsible for serious disease and even death.  The most obvious example being how stress effects us, or how the loss of loved one can cause a chemical reaction in our brains that results in depression.  Why is it so hard to comprehend that our minds can keep us healthy, speed our recovery from illness, or even cure the "incurable"?

"The Secret" does convey the very important success principle of the law of attraction first popularized by Napoleon Hill's "Think and Grow Rich" back in 1937.  It was well illustrated in the video (despite the the extra cheese) and I believe sharing this principle in the form of a cinematic adventure will positively effect the lives of many people.

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The Never Ending Membership

About a year ago I signed up for a one year membership to the Gold's Gym in my office park.  When I signed up, I knew it was least a one year commitment, and I did not have a problem with that.  Now when it came time to pay, they only gave me one option -- although I knew there were other options.  They asked me for a credit card number so they can automatically bill me each month.  Being the sometimes lazy person I can be, I gave them my number.  Big mistake.

Running a membership-based business, I can tell you that not all monthly memberships are evil.  In fact, they are usually very convenient and hassle free.  This is when a good company backs up the membership.  However, when a desperate company has control of your credit card, that is when the trouble starts.

When I signed up for my membership, it was done verbally at the gym, with nothing more than a signature.  One would reasonably expect the same type of process when terminating the membership -- at the gym, in person, perhaps signing a cancellation agreement.  With Gold's Gym, that was not the case.

When I approached the front desk at the gym to cancel, they dismissed me by handing me a business card and telling me to "just call the number on the card".  So I did.  As expected, I was taken through a long automated attendant clearly designed to confuse and cause members to hang up.  I did not.  I followed the complex maze of instructions until I finally heard the option to speak to an representative.  A very stern gentlemen came on the phone and explained to me that in order to cancel my membership, I needed to write a LETTER (not email) that contained certain information and send it to their address via CERTIFIED MAIL!  How many people do you think forget to do this, or put it off, or just eventually cancel their credit cards to stop the charging?  Lots according to http://www.consumeraffairs.com.  In fact, on that site alone I found 48 documented complaints of a similar story -- but in many cases, the billing continues even after the cancellation.

Bo's general rule of thumb for memberships: 1) the cancellation process should be no more difficult than the registration process and 2) it should be done through the same media.  For example, how many times have you "subscribed" to e-mail lists, only to see in the footer that to unsubscribe, send a letter to "po box..."?  This is an obvious case of shady business practices and what Gold's Gym is doing is no different.

From a business perspective, it appears that this technique is nothing more than cheap attempt to squeeze more dollars out of former members.  On paper, Gold's can see how this increases their profit.  But what they do not see on paper is the bad reputation they are getting all over the country through the media power of the Internet, as well as people like me who will avoid that chain of gym at all costs in the future and recommend to others that they do the same.  When we support a business that engages in deceptive or outright fraudulent business practices, we are indirectly responsible for helping them rip off others.  Harsh, but true.

I did send in the letter as requested, and time will tell if they will automatically honor my request for cancellation.  But I have a feeling that something will, "fall through the cracks".

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