Earl Nightingale - The Strangest Secret

Earl Nightingale

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Published by:
Laurenzana Press atSmashwords
Copyright (c) 1994-2011 by Diana Nightingale

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All rights reserved. Without limiting the rightsunder copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may bereproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, ortransmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical,photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without the prior writtenpermission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher ofthis book.

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www.LaurenzanaPress.com

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Laurenzana Press
PO Box 1220
Melrose, FL 32666 USA

Copyright (c) 1994-2011by Diana Nightingale

All rights reserved. Nopart of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any meanswithout the prior written permission of the Publisher.

More Earl Nightingale

Download FREE audios of classic Earl Nightingalemessages, includingAs A Man ThinkethandAcres of Diamondsat www.DownloadEarl.com

Table ofContents

Introduction

Thebook you are about to read was written and recorded on a record in1956 by Earl Nightingale. This message is the answer to thequestion that he had been searching for from the time he was aboutnine years old.

Earl Nightingale had been born in economicallydepressed times. As a child, because they were so poor, Earldesperately wanted to know why some people grew up to enjoyprosperity while others, like his family, struggled merely tosurvive.

Unable to find answers to his questions fromgrownups, Earl began reading everything he could, believing thatsomeone, somewhere, had the answer.

Many years passed, and when Earl was 35 yearsold, he wrote and recorded this message. It was to be played oneSaturday morning to a small group of salesmen during hisabsence.

When Earl returned, he learned that the messagehad made such a positive impact on the men they wanted copies toshare with their friends and family.

Earl arranged with Columbia Records to duplicatethe record to meet the many requests.

Much to Earls surprise, in very little time,without any real advertising or marketing, over a million copieshad been sold and he received a Gold Record.

Earl called the message The StrangestSecret. And this single recording was the seedling from whichthe entire Personal Development Industry grew.

And because Earl had discovered the true meaningof The Strangest Secret, which determines the outcome of oneslife, he went from poverty to become one of the most highlyrecognized voices and names throughout the United States and fromthe West Indies to South Africa.

His daily radio program, Our Changing World, wasthe worlds most widely sponsored radio program and was heard dailyacross the United States, Canada, Mexico, Australia, the Bahamas,Guam, New Zealand, Puerto Rico, the Armed Forces Radio, and 30countries overseas.

Since my husbands death in 1989, I havecontinually looked for new, effective ways to continue to shareEarls many messages of inspiration with the world. This eBook isone of those ways.

The Personal Development Industry is so vasttoday, and yet, people around the world attribute The StrangestSecret as being the one message that has most positively affectedtheir lives.

As you read, you will notice how the statisticsreflect those of the mid 1950s. But more than 50 years later, themessage is as true and valuable as it was then.

I hope you enjoy the book, but more than that, Ihope you put The Strangest Secret to work in your life.

Diana Nightingale

The Strangest Secret

I would like to tell you about thestrangest secret in the world.

Not long ago Albert Schweitzer, the great doctorand Nobel Prize winner, was being interviewed in London and areporter asked him, Doctor whats wrong with men today?

The great doctor was silent for a moment andthen he said, Men simply dont think. And its about this that Iwant to talk with you.

We live today in a golden age. This is an erathat man has looked forward to, dreamed of and worked hard forthousands of years.

But since its here, we pretty well take it forgranted.

We, in America, are particularly fortunate tolive in the richest land that ever existed on the face of theearth. A land of abundant opportunity for everyone, but do you knowwhat happens?

Lets take a hundred men who start even at theage of 25. Do you have any idea of what will happen to those men bythe time theyre 65?

These one hundred men, who all start even at theage of 25, believe they are going to be successful. If you ask anyone of these men if he wanted to be a success, he would tell youthat he did and you would notice that he was eager towards life,that there was a certain sparkle to his eye and erectness to hiscourage and life seemed like a pretty interesting adventure tohim.

But by the time theyre 65 one will be rich.Four will be financially independent. Five will still be working,54 will be broke.

Now think a moment, out of the one hundred, onlyfive make the grade. Why do so many fail? What has happened to thesparkle that was there when they were 25? Whats become of thedreams, the hopes, the plans and why is there such a largedisparity between what these men intended to do and what theyactually accomplished?

When we say about 5% achieve success, we have todefine success, and heres the definition. Success is theprogressive realization of a worthy ideal. If a man is workingtowards a predetermined goal and knows where he is going, that manis a success. If hes not doing that, hes a failure. Success isthe progressive realization of a worthy ideal.

Rollo May, the distinguished psychiatrist, wrotea wonderful book called Mans Search for Himself, and inthis book he says the opposite of courage in our society is notcowardness, it is conformity. And there you have the trouble today.Its conformity. People acting like every one else without knowingwhy, without knowing where theyre going.

Now think of it. In America right now there areover 40 million people 65 years of age and over and about 13million of these 40 million are broke. Theyre dependent on someoneelse for lifes necessities.

Now we learn to read by the time were seven. Welearn to make a living by the time were 25. Usually by that time,were not only making a living, were supporting a family. And yet,by the time were 65, we havent learned how to become financiallyindependent in the richest land that has ever been known. Why? Weconform. And the trouble is that were acting like the wrongpercentage group -- the 95% who dont succeed.

Now why do these people conform? Well, theydont know really. These people believe that their lives are shapedby circumstances, by things that happened to them, by exteriorforces; theyre outer directed people.

A survey was made one time that covered a lot ofmen, working men, and these men were asked this question. Why doyou work? Why do you get up in the morning? 19 out of 20 had noidea. If you ask them, theyll say everyone goes to work in themorning and thats the reason why they do it because everyone elseis doing it.

The Definition of Success

Now lets get back to our definitionof success. Who succeeds? The only man who succeeds is the man whois progressively realizing a worthy ideal. Hes the man who says,Im going to become this and then begins to work towards thatgoal.