I believe there’s a natural current in life–a flow in which one thing follows to the next in an effortless progression. At any given time, we’re either moving with or against this current, and this has an enormous impact on our business success.

When we are moving with the current, our life and career expand smoothly and effortlessly. We feel blessed with good fortune. 

When we move against the current, everything takes more effort and Murphy’s Law seems to be the one and only universal constant.

It’s particularly discouraging to be swimming against the current becuase it’s at those times that we feel like we’re doing all the right things, the same things as the successful people around us, but getting different results. In these moments, we begin to question everything we do and start to believe there’s something wrong with us.

The Attraction Myth

The good news is that there’s nothing wrong with you. You’re just swimming upstream, and this is something anyone can change. To understand how, though, we need to look at the way in which we believe results are created.

In our culture, we’re taught that we need to have things in order to do things, so that we can be in a certain state. People believe, for example, they need to have more time, in order to do exercise, so they can be health conscious. Or they think, “When I earn more money, then I’ll save more, and I can be financially responsible.’’

The truth, of course, is that it works just the opposite way. Once we decide to be financially responsible, we save more and as a result are able to build investments that help us earn more. When we decide we are health conscious, we then make different choices–like taking a walk instead of watching TV–and find we have more time than ever to give to our health.

This sequence–be (our state or intention), do (our actions), have (our results)–describes the natural flow. Follow it, and we find ourselves moving far more easily towards success. 

The trouble is that we often get it backwards, focusing instead on the have,in order to do, and finally be. This inverted thinking is what I call the Attraction Myth. It fools us into thinking that we simply attract into our lives what we focus on. It tricks us into believing that if we simply want something enough, we’ll attract it into our life.

Same Things, Different Results

The attraction myth answers a frustrating question for many sales professionals and entrepreneurs: Why is it that two people can do the same things, and yet get different results?

The answer lies in the be-do-have sequence. When we get the sequence wrong – focusing too much on the have–we neglect our intention. Our intention is our state when we take action. It’s the “be” in the equation. 

Consider, for example, the different states, or intentions we can hold while taking the same actions:

It’s not hard to see how different our results can be when we change our intention.

The next time you feel the struggle of moving against the current, resist the temptation to ask what you need to do, or have, in order to change things. Ask instead what intention you need to hold instead.

To learn more about the 7 myths that stand between you and success, download a free excerpt of Deliver the Unexpected here or learn more about the book here.