James Arthur Ray: Five Qualities of Successful People and Other Notes from Tonight’s Teleseminar

Of all of The Secret teachers, James Arthur Ray is probably the one I agree with most. Yes, I have some points of differentiation when he gets into his pseudo-quantum stuff (just because we may all be made up of “energy” doesn’t mean we attract things on our own “vibrational” level), but I’m willing to overlook that. At least he’s trying.

At least he doesn’t say dumb stuff like Bob Proctor’s ridiculous quote:

“If you don’t understand [the law of attraction] that doesn’t mean you should reject it. You don’t understand electricity, probably. First of all, no one even knows what electricity is…Do you know how it works? I don’t know how it works, but I do know this: you can cook a man’s dinner with it, and you can also cook the man.”

Perhaps Bob doesn’t have time to mosey on over to How Stuff Works and spend a few minutes reading how electricity works… guess he doesn’t really want to know. Or maybe he just doesn’t care. [And yes, this matters and is relevant - especially if you want to talk about how on the micro level, we’re all electrons or energy or vibrating or attracting stuff… shouldn’t you at least learn basic physics if you’re going to make comparisons?]

But that’s a digression.

James Ray is of the camp that believes that taking action is a fundamental component to success. I completely agree with that. Actually, I found myself agreeing with most of his philosophy on the call he did with Alex Mandossian tonight.

First up, he mentions the five qualities of successful people. These are:

1) Intention - or what is it that you want? When most people answer this, they respond with what they don’t want because they’ve never really thought about it.

2) Attention - We can only attract or manifest an intention if we maintain focus on this. It’s not enough to simply want something and then forget about it until something reminds us of it five months later.

3) Energy - You have to put energy into getting what you want. Usually, that means giving. As he says, “the more you give, the more you get.”

4) Belief - You have to believe in what you’re intending. For businesses, that means you must believe in your own ability to achieve your goals, that your product or service is beneficial to the market, and that your industry provides a valuable service to the world. For personal relationships, that means you must believe that you are contributing your best to the relationship, that your significant other also is, and that together, you both are creating something of value for the environment in which you live.

5) Growth - Another of James’ points was that “if you’re not growing, you are dying.” Or, if you intend for something to happen, you must grow into the type pf person capable of handling that intention. If you want to run a multi-million dollar company, you must grow into the successful leader who can manage that type of company.

I also liked James’ point that you need more than just your thoughts and feelings - you also need to take action. You can’t sit in your home visualizing $1 million to drop in your lap. You must actually do something to make it happen.

I think this is where he differs from most law of attraction proponents who think that it’s fundamentally about your “vibrational harmony” with whatever you want to attract to yourself - and where I think he actually agrees with law of attraction critics like Mark Joyner of Simpleology.com.

In lesson one of Simpleology (which is free over at his site), Mark demonstrates his “law of straight lines” which states that the shortest distance between two points is a straight line. He then asks you to try an absurd experiment. You’ll need a stop watch and a glass of water. You’ll goal is to take a sip of water. In method #1 which he labels “voodoo”, you are to fix you attention on the glass of water, close your eyes and say an affirmation or prayer that asks “the universal god force to manifest this water in my mouth” and then sit there and hope the universe answers back “your wish is my command.” You can yell or sweet talk or think positively about the water. Of course, by the end of the water doesn’t end up in your mouth. In method #2, the straight line method, you simply pick up the glass of water and take a sip.

Yes, it’s meant to be tongue in cheek, but it does a great job of highlighting the absurdity of the “wishful thinking” people out there who want something for nothing.

James also makes some good points about goal setting. If you’re going to create a goal, it must be specific, measurable, and create passion in you. His example is that he wants to bring his program to every country in the world. Currently, he’s in the 80s (I don’t remember off hand the exact number he mentioned), but that’s about 45% of the way to his goal. It’s specific and measurable - he knows how many world countries there are, and can calculate his progress. It’s also something that’s important to him and fills him with passion.

The final point James made that I’ll mention here was about what people say. When people tell you they don’t have enough time, that’s just an excuse or a good story. You find the time to do what’s truly valuable to you. You find the money to buy the things that mean the most. That reminded me of one of Rich Schefren’s videos he released before the launch of his most recent coaching program (which I’m a member of).

If you visit The Profit Vault, you can download a free 1 hour 45 minute video called “Gaining Momentum” in which Rich debunks pretty much any excuse you could possibly have for starting your own business. He basically tells you that if you want to create a successful business, you need to get off your duff and do something. And yes, there will be work involved.

Yes, you must become clear about what you want. Yes, visualization is important. Yes, you must believe you will be successful - but you still need to take the appropriate actions to achieve your goals.

Overall, I thought the call was worth listening to - and he certainly sold a boatload of his Success Certain Coaching. I didn’t purchase it, but that’s primarily because I’m involved in two other coaching programs at the moment. If you’re interested in his stuff, check it out.