Why the Law of Attraction Doesn’t Work

Dallas is a beautiful town, I think. I wouldn’t know because I’ve been in a hotel conference boardroom with a speaker client doing a 2 Day Turnaround session to clarify her business message and clear her head. We’re knee deep in “stuff” and it’s a blast getting everything organized into a plan.

Just as I thought we were finished, she looked over at me, her eyes softening and said “Let me ask you a question. When you really want something, I mean REALLY want it, and you’ve tried everything to get it – visualization, inner work, negative beliefs, when do you know it’s just not going to happen and you give up?”

“I mean, I read your story about going to Alcatraz,” she continued. “You were in San Francisco for a very short time for a speech and you really wanted to see Alcatraz. You’d never been there.”

“Yes, I remember” I giggled, since she was telling me my own story, straight from the pages of The Accidental Millionaire.

“You only had one afternoon open so you decided to go to Alcatraz. When you got to the ticket booth, they were sold out for a week. Then, out of the blue, someone magically appeared with two tickets to Alcatraz and you got to go – that afternoon! I really, REALLY, want to make this happen for me.” she continued. “But every time I see a little bit of success, it just slips away. I know what I want, but it always seems to elude me. I’m really over the Law of Attraction – it just doesn’t work.”

“Hold on there,” I interrupted her The Law of Attraction works REALLY well, IF you understand one fundamentally important and very crucial distinction. Knowing what you want is only the beginning. Nothing happens until you DECIDE to have what you want.”

“Huh?” she said, cocking her head.

“Go back to Alcatraz. You see, I didn’t just want to go to Alcatraz, I DECIDED to go to Alcatraz. I did the most obvious thing to make that happen – buy tickets. When they were sold out, I used the Law of Attraction to find a different way. I never would have said to myself the way to get to Alcatraz is to walk into a T-shirt shop, notice a booth selling timeshares that was giving away two free tickets to Alcatraz if I viewed the presentation. Which is exactly what I did, by the way. Because I made the DECISION, possibilities opened up to me that I would not have noticed.”

“Waiting around for the Universe to deliver what you want is a waste of time. Using the Law of Attraction to attract things to you requires that you stop waiting around and DECIDE to have the thing you want. Only then do you notice all of the abundance and possibility around you that will help you to reach that objective.”

“So wait a minute,” she continued, “I really want new hardwood floors. I’ve picked them out, found someone to install them, even saved up the money. Then something happened and I spent the money on something I probably didn’t even need. What happened? Why don’t I have the floors. I really want them!” she exclaimed loudly.

I smiled. “Because you didn’t decide to have hardwood floors. You had fun picking out the flooring, finding the people and saving the money. But you still had never said to yourself ‘I’m installing hardwood floors next year.’ Therefore, when something else came up and sounded good, you DECIDED to do that instead.”

“It’s like this,” I continued, her mouth now hanging open “If you’ve decided to lose weight and are presented with a plate of doughnuts, you’d probably choose something different. But if you hadn’t made the decision to lose weight, you might not give eating the doughnut a second thought.”

“WOW!” she exclaimed, jumping up from her seat, “I GET IT! THIS IS HUGE!”

“Yes, it is” I said quietly, allowing the moment to fully unfold.

“I didn’t make the decision to have the floors. I didn’t make the decision to be successful in my business. I was just waiting around for opportunities to present themselves, waiting for IT to happen and never defining IT!” she was on a roll. “From now on, I will make DECISIONS to have what I want. Thank you!.”

She hugged me tightly and it dawned on me that maybe I could revisit some decisions of my own (or maybe some non-decisions). Always learning and growing, I’ve made some new decisions recently and almost magically, quickly and effortlessly, the object of my decision has shown up in my face.

So what decisions do you need to make to have the things you want?

More money? DECIDE NOW to be a good money manager, salesperson, whatever.

More time? DECIDE NOW to spend your time wisely and evaluate every action before you jump in.

Better relationships? DECIDE NOW to have what you want in your relationship. Get real if it’s not working.

I think you get the idea. Leave a comment and let us know what you will DECIDE to have now.

Isn’t this fun?

By Stephanie Frank