It happened again earlier this week. Tuesday’s coaching call with a new, crying client was the tipping point for me. I can recall at least a half-dozen people in as many months who’ve shared with me their significant life challenges in the areas of family, faith, finance, career and health. Each shared with me how they had been inspired by, and had evoked the principles from the book and movie phenomenon The Secret, but had yet to make any progress towards their goals. Let me share with you the secret about The Secret. Are you ready? Here it is…

…there is no flipping secret! I’ve read the book. I’ve seen the movie. And I’ve held my tongue for way too long about this. For that, I am sorry.

The message of The Secret is absolutely useless, UNLESS you take action to make changes in your life. Now I’m a big believer in the power of attitude and outlook. In fact, in many of my talks, I share my belief that a positive attitude is vital to reaching success in any venture. But a positive attitude, thinking good thoughts, and focusing on what you want is a waste of time if you’re not willing to take action and work hard (and smart) to get there. This simple message has been lost on most followers of The Secret that I’ve met.

Please get this point: Action is Power! If I could miraculously download all the good and useful information on the internet directly into my brain, but not take action, all that information is just useless trivia. Too many followers of The Secret are falling short of their dreams, and missing out on the personal reward that comes with old-fashioned hard work. Believe it or not, there’s joy that comes with the blood, sweat and toil in relentlessly striving towards, and ultimately reaching your goal.

I fear that the message of The Secret only fuels the take-the-easy-way-out, it’s-not-my-fault, it’s-not-fair, woe-is-me, victim mentality that has permeated our culture. Too many believe that if they simply wish for good things to happen to them, then it will be so. Truthfully, it just ain’t so.

My new coaching client was lamenting that she hated her job, was frustrated she hadn’t made progress on the business plan she hoped would allow her to leave her job, and that she had lost most of her savings (that was meant for seed capital) in a poorly managed retirement account. As I probed her on the steps she had taken in recent months to make changes in her situation, she broke down in tears. She said she felt like her life was out of control, that she didn’t know what to do, but that she had reread The Secret, and had been watching the film every few days, visualizing opportunity and good things coming her way. “WHAT!? Are your FLIPPING kidding me?” Well, that’s what I wanted to say to her, but instead we developed some action steps to get her off the dime so she could recognize some small victories by the end off the day, and make some significant progress this month.

In the book 9 Things You Simply Must Do, author Dr. Henry Cloud explores the mystery of why some people reach their goals and live fulfilled lives while others don’t. The basis of Principle #5 is that we can achieve what we want by taking action and “acting like an ant.” Many of us had ant farms when we were children. By watching its activities we recognize that at first, very little seems to be happening. Then we witness the ants starting to move the sand, one grain at a time. Soon we begin to see tunnels form and sand hills on the surface. Through one step at a time, one grain at a time, entire ant cities are built. Successful people adopt and practice the “act like an ant” principle by taking one action step at a time.

We can all benefit from this analogy. Identify your goal, break it down into manageable tasks and complete at least one of those tasks every day. Combine this action-oriented strategy with a positive attitude and you’ll be unstoppable. That, my friend, is the real secret.