A reader recently emailed me a link to a post he read entitled: “Self Growth: Discerning Fraud From The Real Thing”. He thought it would be of interest to me as the author of the post discussed my book, The Hidden Secret of Think and Grow Rich.
It was an interesting read and the title of the post prompted me to write an article on the subject.
Being that the self improvement world is so big to begin with, it’s bound to have its share of bad apples in it.
So how can you tell the bad apples apart from the real thing?
First off, the best bet you have is your own personal B.S. meter. If it’s going off when you’re reading or watching something, be on your guard. I won’t mention any specific examples of the kind of material I’m talking about simply because I don’t think they deserve to be mentioned.
Your B.S. meter should be going off if the material is telling you that if you do what they say, that it’ll be really easy for you to achieve your goals, that it’ll take no effort, require little to no work, etc., and by far, that’s the biggest area where fraud takes place because let’s face it, nobody wants to hear the same old song and dance when it comes to work. Everybody wants to skip it, but people forget it’s the work that shows you the way. It shouldn’t be shunned.
The second thing to look out for is if they seem to continue to stress and focus on ONE thing.
It’s never just ONE thing. If it is, you can easily make any argument against it. That’s like saying a whole Thanksgiving feast is made up of turkey. There’s a lot more to a Thanksgiving feast than just turkey. Similarly, there’s a whole variety of principles of success out there right now and people get overwhelmed by all of them, so it tickles their ears when they hear that there’s only ONE that they have to focus on. It gives them permissions to put all the other ingredients aside or sweep them under the rug.
The third test you can use to spot fraud is simple.
If the train of logic fails, then look out.
They will try to “cloak” their premise with fancy language and theories but look closely at the premise and the logic surrounding it. If you can’t follow it, if the reasoning and logic is not CRYSTAL CLEAR, if it doesn’t make any sense, if you seem to run into this brick wall that nobody seemingly wants to expand upon or clearly explain, or it’s something they just gloss over, toss it. It’s trash. It’s useless. They’re just talking in circles.
The reason why fraud in the self improvement world seems to be able to permeate so much and get so much attention is because it’s not “concrete” enough. If it was concrete material to begin with, nobody would be debating it. But because it’s not concrete, because there’s so many holes in it, it creates controversy, which is just good for the material in the first place, because it just results in easy marketing as it gets people talking and debating, which just piques other people’s interests and curiosity to go out and buy it. The maker of the fraudulent material then makes his/her quick buck and gets out.
But wait, there’s more. Because the material is so unclear, it creates markets that try to fill the gaps, to help people who are still clinging to it, to really understand the fraudulent material, but again, they’re just stringing them along, milking them for all they’re worth, sending people further into a downward spiral in the self improvement world.
I hate the self improvement literature out there that appeals to people’s “easy” nature, that provides such a narrow lens, that has no train of logic whatsoever, and the worst part of it is that people fall for it, getting hopelessly lost in the process.
That’s why I’m so passionate about The Hidden Secret in Think and Grow Rich because it’s the complete antithesis of all the fluff out there. It’s solid, concrete, proven material with irrefutable logic and CRYSTAL CLEAR examples from Napoleon Hill’s own book, as it shows how you can naturally induce all the principles of success to achieve the goals you truly desire.
Here are some excerpts from the author of the “Self Growth: Discerning Fraud From The Real Thing” with regard to The Hidden Secret in Think and Grow Rich.
“Brian Kim, in his “Hidden Secret in Think and Grow Rich”, spells it out and using “Think and Grow Rich” as a base, also spells out a very practical strategy of success which is so down to earth that it presents a tremendous contrast to the hot air of “The Secret” movie, as well as “What the bleep do we know”
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“What bothers me most about these kinds of movies and resulting “philosophies” is that they seem to taint the real thing. The reason I was attracted to watching these kinds of movies in the first place is reading “Think and Grow Rich” by Napoleon Hill, which made so much sense to me and felt so positively empowering that I found myself easily believing it. And I still do think that “Think and Grow Rich” is the real deal that can really and actually help people achieve what they desire to achieve.”
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“And what better proof is there than the number of people who read the book and in their reviews repeatedly claim that it helped them successfully achieve such things as start their own businesses, beat an addiction problem etc. Just do a search for “think and grow rich review”. It’s very easy to find them. I tried looking for negative reviews as well and it isn’t as easy to find, and that’s after 70 years of the book being available.”
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“Anyway, these days I am actually trying to apply the practical philosophy of success presented by Napoleon Hill and made even more practical by Brian Kim. I’ve set up a rather ambitious yet believable goal based on my desires, decided to pursue it and to consistently try to instill in myself the confidence and belief that I can achieve it. Yes, I am applying positive thinking, but NO, I am NOT applying “The Secret” as they are defining it. I am not expecting anything awesome to happen to me merely on the basis of my positive thinking. What I expect instead is quite natural, that I will be more inclined to take action and consequently WILL take action to achieve my goals; from the first stage of collecting knowledge I need to achieve it, to organizing into primary and secondary plans to the actual execution of them that will lead me to the achievement of the goal.
And there’s nothing especially supernatural or even spiritual about that.”
Those who’ve read my articles and book will know there’s no B.S to my work. It’s very down to earth, practical, realistic, solid, and most importantly, logical. It doesn’t just focus in on one thing, but rather shows the whole enchilada, all the principles of success and how they can be induced naturally, without having to “force” each one, and it shows all this through CRYSTAL CLEAR irrefutable logic, plenty of examples and explanations that will inevitably lead you to realize how you’ve used it to achieve your past goals without even realizing it too, simply because you’ve utilized the exact same natural success mechanism that’s within each and every last one of us.
So if you’re sick of all the superficial hot air, fluffy pop psychology for the masses out there and want some real MEAT you can sink your teeth into, something that will connect everything you’ve ever read about on goal achievement flawlessly together, it’s time you go back to the one book that so many have credited their success to: Napoleon Hill’s Think and Grow Rich, and the much needed derivation and explanation of the secret in his book, The Hidden Secret in Think and Grow Rich.
And if you haven’t even read Napoleon Hill’s classic Think and Grow Rich, don’t worry because you get a copy of it absolutely FREE when you get a copy its counterpart, The Hidden Secret in Think and Grow Rich.
Click here to get your copies of the two books today!
