What is the Secret?

Your life begins with what you focus your attention on

Thousands of thoughts pass through our minds every day. We think about what we want, what we fear, what happened yesterday and what might happen tomorrow. Most of those thoughts appear automatically.

MySecretWay was built around one simple idea:

if you consciously choose the direction of your thoughts and return to it regularly, you can start to change the way you see yourself, make decisions and act.

This is the practical meaning of the idea often called the Secret, manifestation, affirmation or the law of attraction. It is not about stating a wish once. It is about creating a clear inner picture of who you want to be, how you want to live and where you want to go.

Thought → attention → decision → action → result

Imagine two people in a very similar situation.

The first one tells themselves every day:

“Nothing works out for me. I have no luck. I can’t do it.”

The second one:

“I look for opportunities. I am growing. I can find a solution.”

Will the second sentence alone put a million on the table? No. But it can change something far more real.

The second person may notice an opportunity sooner, start a conversation, try one more time, explore a new idea, make a decision or take an action the first person would never even consider.

After a week the difference may be small. After a year — enormous.

That is why at MySecretWay we treat an affirmation not as a magic spell, but as a tool for consciously directing your own attention and action.

Why does repetition matter?

A one-off thought disappears quickly. A thought you return to regularly becomes more and more available in your awareness.

If every day you remind yourself:

“I take care of my health.”

you increase the chance that, facing a concrete choice, health is exactly what comes to mind.

If every day you think:

“I am growing my business and I notice new opportunities.”

your mind may more often direct attention to information about business, clients, investments and opportunities.

It does not mean the world has magically changed. What changed is what you look for in it and what you pay attention to. And this is where the idea of the Secret starts to meet psychology.

What does science say?

Psychological research does show that the way people think about themselves and their goals can influence their later behaviour.

In psychology, the term self-affirmation usually means reflecting on the values that matter to a person. That is not exactly the same as repeating a sentence about a future goal many times. Research supports working with values, attention, intentions and behaviour, but it does not confirm a magical law of attraction.

Studies on self-affirmation — affirming your own values — show a small but measurable effect on readiness to change behaviour. A meta-analysis covering 144 experimental tests found a positive effect of affirmation on accepting information, intention to change and subsequent behaviour¹.

Neuroimaging studies also show that affirming values can influence activity in brain regions linked to self-related processing and valuation, and those changes were associated with later behaviour change².

It is worth separating three different things: support for mindset and attention (where research does show something), planning and action (well-documented goal-pursuit techniques), and the spiritual or personal interpretation of the Secret (a matter of belief, not science). None of them guarantees a specific outcome.

This is not proof of a “law of attraction”. It is, however, evidence of something very interesting: how we think about ourselves can affect how we respond to information and which actions we take next.

What matters most is linking thought with action

Here science offers an important hint. Simply fantasising about a beautiful future does not always help. In some studies, people who only imagined the ideal outcome later put in even less effort than people who also realistically considered the road to the goal⁴.

So MySecretWay should not mean:

“I will say 1000 times that I am a millionaire and then wait.”

A better model is:

Vision + belief that change is possible + focus + plan + action.

That combination has far more in common with what psychological research shows.

Not “I will”. Start with “I am”

The traditional approach to affirmations recommends phrasing sentences as if the desired reality were already part of your life.

• Instead of “I will be confident.” → “I am becoming more and more confident.”
• Instead of “Some day I will earn well.” → “I am creating a life in which I achieve financial independence.”
• Instead of “I don’t want to be stressed.” → “I am calm and I solve problems step by step.”

Your mind then receives a message about the direction you want to follow.

An affirmation should be believable to you

Research shows that heavily exaggerated positive statements can actually make some people feel worse — especially when they completely contradict what a person really believes about themselves³.

So instead of “I am the richest person in the world.”, this often works better:

• “Every day I learn to manage money better and build my wealth.”
• “I am open to opportunities that increase my income.”

Such a sentence still sets a direction, while your mind can accept it.

Your mind needs a direction

Think of car navigation. If you do not enter a destination, you can drive for hours without knowing where to. But the destination alone does not make the car arrive. Navigation only says: “Go this way.”

An affirmation works in a similar way. It is a reminder:

“This is where I want to go.”

MySecretWay is here to help you hold that direction.

Why does MySecretWay let you repeat an affirmation?

Because one of the biggest problems with our goals is that we forget them. On 1 January someone decides: “I will exercise.” A few weeks later their life looks exactly the same as before. Not because the goal was wrong — everyday life simply took over again.

MySecretWay is meant to do the opposite. Your affirmation can appear again. And again. And again.

Not to magically change the Universe, but so that your own mind does not forget where you want to arrive.

1000 repetitions is not a magic number

In MySecretWay you can repeat your sentence many times. There is, however, no scientifically confirmed number of repetitions after which a wish “becomes reality”. So treat 100, 500 or 1000 repetitions as a ritual of focus, not a mathematical guarantee of a result.

What matters most is consistency and whether the affirmation later influences your decisions. One conscious repetition combined with action can be worth more than a thousand automatic repetitions with no change in behaviour.

Imagine the future — but also see the road

One of the best-researched visualisation techniques is called mental contrasting. It has two steps. First you imagine the desired outcome. Then you deliberately ask: “What stands between me and that goal today?”

Research shows that combining a vision of the future with an analysis of obstacles and a plan of action can support goal achievement. So with every affirmation it is worth asking two questions:

• What do I really want?
• What can I do today to get at least one step closer?

This is where a dream starts turning into a strategy.

“If X happens, I will do Y”

Psychology also knows a very effective technique called implementation intentions. Instead of only saying “I will exercise more.”, you create a concrete rule:

“If it is Monday, Wednesday or Friday at 6 p.m., I go for a 30-minute walk.”

Instead of “I will grow my business.” you can define:

“Every morning I will check one new sales opportunity.”

Goal-achievement research shows that concrete “if X, then Y” plans help turn intention into action. Combining a vision of the goal, awareness of obstacles and a concrete plan of action has a measurable positive effect on reaching goals.

So… does the Secret work?

The answer depends on what we call the Secret.

If it means “just think about something and the Universe is obliged to deliver it” — modern science does not confirm that. Studies of people who believe in manifestation do show that they often have higher aspirations and see themselves as more effective, but a strong belief in manifestation was also linked to greater susceptibility to risky financial decisions.

If, however, by the Secret we mean consciously defining what we want, regularly directing attention to it, strengthening the belief that action is possible, noticing opportunities, planning and consistently taking action — then a large part of those elements has solid grounding in modern psychology.

MySecretWay — your place of focus

MySecretWay is not here to decide what your life should be. That is your decision. You can create an affirmation about love, family, money, business, healthy habits, calm, self-confidence, learning, career, travel or any other goal that matters to you.

We help you do one thing: return to it regularly.

• You can save your sentence.
• You can read it.
• You can listen to it.
• You can repeat it.
• You can track your progress.

But the most important element always belongs to you: action.

Start with one sentence

Think about it now: if you could change one area of your life, what would it be? Do not write what you do not want.

• Not “I don’t want financial problems.” → “I am building financial stability and independence.”
• Not “I don’t want to be lonely.” → “I am building happy and meaningful relationships.”
• Not “I would like to succeed some day.” → “Every day I do something that brings me closer to my success.”

Think. Repeat. Notice. Act. We cannot promise you that every affirmation will become reality. Nobody can. But we can help you choose a direction, remember it every day, notice possibilities, take action and consistently move your life towards the place you chose yourself.

Your thought sets the direction. Your actions create the road. Start with one sentence.

Scientific sources

The publications below back the passages marked with footnotes. The links lead to the original research.

1. [1] Epton, T., Harris, P. R., Kane, R., van Koningsbruggen, G. M., Sheeran, P. (2015). The impact of self-affirmation on health-behavior change: a meta-analysis. Health Psychology, 34(3), 187–196.

   https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25133846/ (opens in a new tab)

2. [2] Falk, E. B., O'Donnell, M. B., Cascio, C. N. i in. (2015). Self-affirmation alters the brain's response to health messages and subsequent behavior change. PNAS, 112(7), 1977–1982.

   https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1500247112 (opens in a new tab)

3. [3] Wood, J. V., Perunovic, W. Q. E., Lee, J. W. (2009). Positive self-statements: power for some, peril for others. Psychological Science, 20(7), 860–866.

   https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9280.2009.02370.x (opens in a new tab)

4. [4] Kappes, H. B., Oettingen, G. (2011). Positive fantasies about idealized futures sap energy. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 47(4), 719–729.

   https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S002210311100031X (opens in a new tab)