If you are into the personal development space long enough or just been hanging around in the “self-help” section of a bookstore for a while, you probably are very familiar with the phrase “law of attraction”.
Yes, made famous by Rhonda Byrne’s bestseller The Secret, which is a decent book, but definitely not close to great or anywhere near. Truthfully I am not quite sure how it became a best seller, but that’s another issue.
Now back to the topic of the day. So last week my friend/colleague Chung recommended a book called 從負債2000萬到心想事成每一天：15個實現願望的口頭禪，符合宇宙法則、越說越好運！（Japanese Original：借金２０００万円を抱えた僕にドＳの宇宙さんが教えてくれた超うまくいく口ぐせ）by this Japanese man called Koike Hiroshi, and I read it. It is a quick one, took about 2 hours to complete and I must begin by saying that it is kind of “clickbait” – the author has a debt of 20 million Japanese Yen, which is just about 140,000 USD or 1.1 million HKD – not as much as it sounds. But the book does hold some value.
First, it is a quick read. I generally like quick reads. If you can make the point sticks with a person with 10 pages, there is really no need to write 100 pages. (I am looking at you, Atomic Habits, Deep Work and the like:-) )
Further, it has a very fun presentation. It wraps the whole idea of “holding positive thoughts” in a simple, easy to understand, fun story with an imaginary character like a Genie.
The whole book basically take the law of attraction and give it a spin. If I have to sum this book up, it would be:
You are what you believe.
The physical reality is highly subjective. Different people seeing the same object can have very different thoughts. You can control how you interpret a situation.
The world would tend to accept whatever judgment you place on yourself. So, believe in yourself and your future.
Very good book. Read it.