It’s Monday — that means it’s time to open up the mailbox and answer YOUR questions!
Do you believe in The Law of Attraction?
On a scale of 1 to 10, how accurate do you believe this statement is?
“Whatever you focus on, you attract into your life?”
For me, the statement alone gets about a 3…
BUT… I also believe there’s something more to it.
Today is a little bit of a different Mailbox Monday issue…
It’s still based on an email from a reader and member.
But it’s more of a “call and response” — Manuel wrote a really interesting email, suggested I share the idea, and I’m doing it with comments…
To have your question answered in an upcoming Mailbox Monday, simply send it in to [email protected].
Maybe you’ll see your name in lights (or at least an essay) as soon as next week!
Here’s today’s reader email…
—
Hey Roy.
Manuel here.
I wanted to write in because this message seems to come at an interesting time and can be of use to your readers.
Each day has a new theme of emails so perhaps you can use this for one of your themes.
Here we go.
Isn’t it crazy when you set your mind to something you want… your mind opens up to all the possibilities and opportunities out there for you to get what you want?
For example, you wrote in this email, “Second, you can get an in-house gig doing the same thing, which has advantages in that it lets you get even more familiar with one group of offers, lets you speak with the people buying the traffic/media, and lets you probably write even more copy, faster.”
I wrote in a while ago about potentially getting in at Agora and now… I’m going back to Agora in a couple days to talk with one of their high-level “free agent” copywriters.
He wants to go deep about his plan for all the new copywriters they may or may not work with.
I already knew I wanted to do it. It seems obvious to be the best decision.
Reading what you wrote only reaffirmed my decision.
This hasn’t been the only time this has happened this year. In fact… I feel like my mind is catching onto ideas, opportunities, and possibilities more now than ever before…
I can go on and on about situations and moments that have happened the past couple of months but… what I was wondering was:
1) Have you wrote about this? Perhaps it would be something worth discussion in your daily emails.
2) If you have, maybe you can revisit the topic and update it with your recent experiences providing it more clarity.
There is something profound and powerful about getting your mind open to chances that has made my life take a 180. Now, let me be clear, I’m not rich… nor am I an expert… hell I’ve been stretching my dollars so far they can compete against a bona fide yogi…
But… the way things have been moving… it’s only going to get better.
Sure there will be setbacks but I’ve hit so many setbacks already that it’s just another day in the office.
And I feel that this idea can really change people’s lives… It’s doing it for me so why not others..?
Plus, as you say, the biggest breakthroughs come through ideas.
Thanks again for your daily and timely emails.
From a daily reader,
Manuel
—
Pretty cool, isn’t it?
Not only do I have a bunch of insiders at some of the biggest, most successful direct response companies in the world reading my email “on the reg” …
But also, reading my emails regularly is also a factor in people getting opportunities at these very same companies!
But that’s not the topic for today.
Here’s what this all has to do with The Law of Attraction…
First, let’s just say that The Law of Attraction is really easy to sell to a segment of the population who really wants to believe in magic.
And don’t get too highfalutin on me.
There are people of all persuasions, of all educational backgrounds who get into this stuff.
Because we want to believe in magic.
We want to believe that when the magician disappears from the stage and appears in the back of the theater, that they magically transported themselves there.
And we want to believe that we can have money show up in the mail just by thinking it.
The truth is, the people who most consistently get rich with The Law of Attraction are the people selling it.
The movie The Secret is estimated to have sold over $65 MILLION worth. (And that’s not including the book and every other offer under the brand.)
In the privacy of our own homes or offices, where we respond to most marketing, we’re prone to believe the “magic” pitch.
Take this pill, go to sleep, wake up skinny and healthy.
Read this book, go to sleep, wake up rich.
Say these three words, make them fall in love with you.
Et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.
Be careful about buying into this…
Because belief alone doesn’t lead to anything!
I can focus on an outcome I want. I can believe I’m going to get it.
But today, if that outcome is to play professional hockey (once a dream of mine)…
I got bad news for myself: it ain’t happenin’!
That said, belief is important.
Let me give you wonderful example.
Years ago, I wrote a letter promoting my copywriting services, with the headline:
“Imagine Discovering A Direct Marketing Superstar Like Clayton Makepeace, Gary Bencivenga, Or Michael Masterson At Age 27…”
In retrospect, the letter itself was cocky as hell. And I probably wouldn’t have hired me.
BUT…
That was the mindset I had, from the very beginning. That’s what I was going after.
That was my vision for myself. That was the destiny I believed in.
And then, from that belief…
And here’s the important part…
I WENT TO WORK!
There’s a part of our brain called the reticular activating system. Basically, this is the part of the brain that helps us direct our attention.
It doesn’t do the thinking at all.
Rather, it takes the input from more complex parts of the brain, and uses that as a filter for what sensory input is brought into conscious awareness.
So, if I suggest that you notice your breathing, you may not have been paying attention to your breath at all while you were reading this. However, your conscious mind has just passed on the idea to the reticular activating system to pay attention to your breath. And so now you’re noticing your breath.
You’re constantly directing your attention — paying attention to what’s important, and ignoring what’s not.
That’s your reticular activating system at work.
When you make a decision about something that you want, you’re telling your reticular activating system to be attuned to any stimulus related to that thing.
So, when I wrote that headline, I was pointing my attention toward what I needed to do to fulfill on that.
When Manuel decided he wanted a gig for Agora, he turned at least some part of his attention filters toward looking for that opportunity.
Then, as the world is flying by, we see or hear something related to the thought we had weeks or months ago. Before we had that thought, it would’ve been ignored as noise. But after that thought, our brain brought it to our conscious awareness.
In that moment, we must decide to act on it!
So, I started really paying attention to what it would take to become the next Clayton Makepeace, Gary Bencivenga, or Michael Masterson (aka Mark Ford).
And whenever some little bit of stimulus suggested an action I needed to take, I’d follow through with that.
That’s likely why, in no particular order, I was on the phone with Clayton this morning, with him asking about my availability for project work… Gary B. wrote to me to tell me my promo “sings”… And Mark is at least an occasional reader of these essays and has written to compliment my marketing thinking.
It’s not just because I thought it. It’s because those intentions guided my actions, ever since setting them out nearly 10 years ago.
Manuel’s situation is the same.
It’s one thing to dream of getting a great direct response gig, with practically unlimited opportunity to generate results and rise to the top of this industry.
It’s another thing to have decided that’s an appealing and available proposition, then be willing to do all the work it takes and make the sacrifices it requires to go through with it.
Let me leave you with an analogy…
Imagine an acorn.
The acorn falls from the oak tree. And many things can happen to it. It can be eaten by a squirrel. It can be picked up and thrown into the trash. It can end up mixed with firewood, and eventually burned up. It can be smashed by a car in the street.
That acorn doesn’t become a tree, just because it exists.
In fact, every year most oak trees drop hundreds — if not thousands — of acorns that will never become trees themselves.
But if that acorn is put into fertile soil, nurtured, given water and sunshine, it will start to grow. And if it is kept safe, it will just keep growing. Until, decades later, it is a great oak tree itself.
Any given thought or idea or dream or inclination you may have today is that acorn.
No matter how much you want it to grow or believe it will grow, its growth is not guaranteed.
But when the conditions are right and its growth is encouraged, its growth can continue to delight and amaze and astound you.
If you do the work of nurturing it and helping it grow, the results can be amazing.
Yours for bigger breakthroughs,
Roy Furr
PS: Since Friday, I’ve released Masters of Response interviews from Brian Kurtz, Abbey Woodcock, and Joanna Wiebe for BTMSinsiders members. As of today, there are eight available for instant streaming access. Join here and start watching right away.
If you’re waiting for the public access, that starts Thursday. Here’s the link to grab a 24-hour access pass.
