Book Review: The Attractor Factor

Posted by Harmony Rousseau on Jan 4, 2008 in Book and Product Reviews, Law of Attraction | 0 comments

Author: Joe Vitale
Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
Year Published: 2005
Rating:
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Joe Vitale is known as a pretty heavy hitter in copywriting and personal development circles. He’s written 17 books, including some on marketing for the American Management Association and the American Marketing Association, as well as a ton of ebooks. With those kind of credentials, you may be a bit surprised to hear that The Attractor Factor is not about direct response or marketing ROI or blogging or any other buzzword you’ve heard recently but on ‘spiritual marketing.’

Spiritual marketing focuses on you. It’s about taking responsibility for where you are at this stage of your life, clarifying what you want, and letting go of those negative beliefs that are holding you back. Know thyself and focus on the good, not the bad, and you’ll soon start seeing life in a much more positive and fulfilling way. That is, follow your passions and the money will follow.

To give you an example from the book, Scrully Blotnick conducted a study of 1500 people some years ago. Category A, made up of 1245 people, said they would pursue money first and then do what they wanted later. Category B, made up of 255 people, said they would seek their interests first and trust that money would follow. Twenty years later, there were 101 millionaires. 100 came from Category B and only 1 from Category A.

So where does spirituality come into play? Vitale takes an Eastern approach when he says

Spirituality is about taking full responsibility for whatever occurs in your life. Good or bad, it has all come to you from you. Joseph Murphy used to say your life is an out-picturing of your inner picture.

Before you write this off as just some new age mumbo jumbo that can’t possibly help you, think about it this way. Americans are starving for meaning in their lives. According to Daniel Pink’s book, A Whole New Mind, more than half of American medical schools now have courses in spirituality and health and the number of Americans that practice yoga has doubled to 15 million since 1999. People are starting to choose happiness over money. And that’s Vitale’s point. He says

the shortcut to creating the life the way you want it: Be happy now. That’s it. If you can be happy right now, in this moment, you will have achieved whatever you want. Why? Because underneath everything you say you want is the desire for happiness.

For those that need some hand holding to get to that point, Vitale offers a 5 step program, to which he devotes the bulk of the book. These steps are:

1. Know what you don’t want
2. Select what you do want
3. Clear all negative or limiting beliefs
4. Feel what it would be like to have, do, or be what you want
5. Let go as you act on your intuitive impulses and allow the results to manifest.

What you’re not doing is setting steadfast goals that you must attain no matter what. Instead, you replace goals with intentions – visions of where you’d like to be in the future – and let your unconscious mind guide you to your destination… or something better. This requires that you take the time to flesh out what exactly it is that you want and imagine yourself fully immersed in that lifestyle. The hardest part of the equation is that once you are clear on what you want, you need to detach yourself from the outcome.

I think of attachment in Buddhist terms. When you’re attached to something, your happiness depends on it (something or someone outside yourself that you have no control of) rather than on you (which you have complete control over). The key to being happy, though, is to just be happy – even if you don’t get what you want. Most likely, you’ll end up with something just as good, or better.

To put it differently, Stephen Shapiro, author of Goal Free Living, recently conducted a study of 1310 people. Of those that took the online survey 73% answered ‘strongly agree’ or ‘agree’ to the statement ‘I get disappointed when I am unsuccessful in achieving the result I pursue.’ Disappointment only leads to unhappiness, and then you’re right back to where you started – giving into all those negative thoughts again.

Vitale is a master storyteller, so much of the book consists of personal anecdotes – how he came to believe the way he does, what it has meant for him and those around him, and how others have responded to his philosophy. The stories sound sincere and quite motivational, although at the end, we learn that one major character lost his way and ended up spiraling out of control, destroying a few lives in the process. That was somewhat of a disappointment for me, given that he was painted in such a positive light throughout the book.

There is also an extensive reference section at the end of the book for those looking for additional resources and home study courses, many of which are authored or co-authored by Vitale.

I found the book to be a fast, inspiring read that I’d recommend to anyone who feels stuck and can’t quite leap over the barrier in front of them. It’s also great if you’re on the fence about making a major decision and aren’t sure which direction to go. By completing some of the exercises, you’ll learn a lot about yourself and by the end, you’ll be much clearer on what you want out of life.

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