Funny you should mention that. I once had an angry (and completely ridiculous, I might add) patient call me a used car salesman of the worst stereotype– even as a dentist, when I wasn’t even trying to sell him anything. I was actually kicking him out of my practice!

FR- I would think people would want to hear! Ha! But I guess it goes so much farther than that. I didn’t think about it until after the dialogue here, but I think selling something that people don’t want actually teaches us to be better sales people.

I’ve read both of Achor’s books..they’re okay…but if you really want to go back to the positive thinking movement…it started long before what we see on bookshelves these days…it was John Stuart Mill, Jeremy Bentham, Immanual Kant, Arthur Schopenauer…to Dale Carnegie, Napoleon Hill, Stephen Covey…(Pankey quoted Hill and Barkely quoted Carl Rogers…part of the New School of Thought school in the fifties…my favorite is still Maslow). The point is that it has become like a universal secular religion…does it work?

I only know like most religions…it’s plausable. Today we find it everywhere…from Nike slogans and presidential speeches…to shelves in bookstores…from business motivation to self help and diet and exercise.

I agree that belief is an integral part of vision and something I had never really considered before… believing that x can happen is a powerful motivator. I’ve enjoyed Shawn Achors work Happiness..I guess the thing that makes vision tough for me is defining what my vision is!

There is no doubt the people need something to believe in. Scott Peck and the Buddha tell us that life is tough. That is universal. Everyone is looking for hope…fir a hopeful future. That is one of the things religion does for people. Tom Hanks in the movie Castaway used a soccer ball he called Wilson. Does it work? It only matters that it is plausable…if it is it provides the hope and the strength for positive action…vs. what?
Doing nothing…?

Barry- in response to your observation that personal development/positive psychology has become an unorganized form of religion… very interesting point. I hadn’t thought of it that way, and I can totally see it. I’ve always been pretty open to this kind of stuff– even back in high school I remember secretly listening to Anthony Robbins tapes that my mom got me! 😉 I picked up a book here and there over the years, but it wasn’t until I became very desperate for change a few years ago that I really dove into this stuff. I think it helps tremendously, and I’m chuckling inside thinking that in a way I’ve found a new religion for myself. Love that Einstein quote.

Jeff Olson in The Slight Edge writes about the 95 out of 100 who can’t make changes. They stay in their comfort zone…but most programs (self-help and I guess the MLM as well…and even Nike say Just Do It), ….most programs really don’t address the human motivation system which lies deep inside the recesses of the brain. That emotional reward center seeks goals we may not be aware of…like comfort…and to overcome that requires strategy…not just affirmations.