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. Advertising

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. Advertising

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.” Advertising

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.

Read Next

10 Small Changes To Make Your House Feel Like A Home

What Makes People Happy? 20 Secrets of “Always Happy” People

How to Sharpen Your Transferable Skills For a Swift Career Switch

Scroll down to continue reading article

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. Advertising

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.