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STRANGEST

SECRET

By Earl Nightingale

Know what will happen to 100 individuals who start even at the age

of 25, and who believe they will be successful? By the age of 65, only

five out of 100 will make the grade! Why do so many fail? What

happened to the sparkle that was there when they were 25? What

became of their dreams, their hopes, their plans ... and why is there

such a large disparity between what theses people intended to do and

what they actually accomplished? That is ... The Strangest Secret.

was asked by a reporter, “Doctor, what’s wrong with men today?” The

great doctor was silent a moment, and then he said, “Men simply

don’t think!”

It’s about this that I want to talk with you. We live today in a golden age.

This is an era that humanity has looked forward to, dreamed of, and worked

toward for thousands of years. We live in the richest era that ever existed on

the face of the earth ... a land of abundant opportunity for everyone.

However, if you take 100 individuals who start even at the age of 25, do

you have any idea what will happen to those men and women by the time

they’re 65? These 100 people believe they’re going to be successful. They

are eager toward life, there is a certain sparkle in their eye, an erectness to

their carriage, and life seems like a pretty interesting adventure to them.

But by the time they’re 65, only one will be rich, four will be financially

independent, five will still be working, and 54 will be broke — depending

on others for life’s necessities.

Continued on Page 56

www.advantedgemag.com November/December

The

S ome years ago, the late Nobel prize-winning Dr. Albert Schweitzer

Continued from Page 54

ly without ever achieving anything in

particular, and why others don’t seem

to work hard, yet seem to get every-

thing? They seem to have the “magic

touch.” You’ve heard people say,

“Everything he touches turns to gold.”

Have you ever noticed that a person

who becomes successful tends to con-

tinue to become more successful?

And, on the other hand, have you

noticed how someone who’s a failure

tends to continue to fail?

The difference is goals . People with

goals succeed because they know

where they’re going. It’s that simple.

Failures, on the other hand, believe

that their lives are shaped by circum-

stances ... by things that happen to

them ... by exterior forces.

a family today. We have a plateau of

so-called “security.” So, to succeed,

all we must do is decide how high

above this plateau we want to aim.

Throughout history, the great wise

men and teachers, philosophers, and

prophets have disagreed with one

another on many different things. It is

only on this one point that they are in

complete and unanimous agreement

— the key to success and the key to

failure is this:

Only five out of 100 make the grade!

Why do so many fail? What has hap-

pened to the sparkle that was there

when they were 25? What has become

of the dreams, the hopes, the plans ...

and why is there such a large disparity

between what these people intended

to do and what they actually accom-

plished?

THE DEFINITION OF SUCCESS

First, we have to define success and

here is the best definition I’ve ever

been able to find: “Success is the pro-

gressive realization of a worthy

ideal.”

A success is the school teacher who

is teaching because that’s

what he or she wants to

do. A success is the entre-

preneur who start his

own company because

that was his dream —

that’s what he wanted to

do. A success is the sales-

person who wants to

become the best salesper-

son in his or her company

and sets forth on the pur-

suit of that goal.

A success is anyone

who is realizing a worthy predeter-

mined ideal, because that’s what he or

she decided to do ... deliberately. But

only one out of 20 does that! The rest

are “failures.”

Rollo May, the distinguished psy-

chiatrist, wrote a wonderful book

called Man’s Search for Himself , and

in this book he says: “The opposite of

courage in our society is not cowardice

… it is conformity.” And there you

have the reason for so many failures.

Conformity — people acting like

everyone else, without knowing why

or where they are going.

We learn to read by the time we’re

seven. We learn to make a living by the

time we’re 30. Often by that time we’re

not only making a living, we’re sup-

porting a family. And yet by the time

we’re 65, we haven’t learned how to

become financially independent in the

richest land that has ever been known.

Why? We conform! Most of us are act-

ing like the wrong percentage group —

the 95 who don’t succeed.

WE BECOME WHAT WE

THINK ABOUT

This is The Strangest Secret ! Now,

why do I say it’s strange , and why do I

call it a secret ? Actually, it isn’t a

secret at all. It was first

promulgated by some of

the earliest wise men,

and it appears again and

again throughout the

Bible. But very few peo-

ple have learned it or

understand it. That’s why

it’s strange, and why for

some equally strange rea-

son it virtually remains a

secret.

Marcus Aurelius, the

great Roman Emperor,

said: “A man’s life is what his thoughts

make of it.”

Disraeli said this: “Everything

comes if a man will only wait ... a

human being with a settled purpose

must accomplish it, and nothing can

resist a will that will stake even exis-

tence for its fulfillment.”

William James said: “We need only

in cold blood act as if the thing in

question were real, and it will become

infallibly real by growing into such a

connection with our life that it will

become real. It will become so knit

with habit and emotion that our inter-

ests in it will be those which charac-

terize belief.” He continues, “ ... only

you must, then, really wish these

things, and wish them exclusively,

and not wish at the same time a hun-

dred other incompatible things just as

strongly.”

My old friend Dr. Norman Vincent

Peale put it this way: “If you think in

negative terms, you will get negative

results. If you think in positive terms,

you will achieve positive results.”

George Bernard Shaw said: “People

are always blaming their circum-

stances for what they are. I don’t

“People are always blaming their circum-

stances for what they are. I don’t believe in

circumstances. The people who get on in

this world are the people who get up and

look for the circumstances they want, and if

they can’t find them, make them.”

— George Bernard Shaw

Think of a ship with the complete

voyage mapped out and planned. The

captain and crew know exactly where

the ship is going and how long it will

take — it has a definite goal. And

9,999 times out of 10,000, it will get

there.

Now let’s take another ship — just

like the first — only let’s not put a

crew on it, or a captain at the helm.

Let’s give it no aiming point, no goal,

and no destination. We just start the

engines and let it go. I think you’ll

agree that if it gets out of the harbor at

all, it will either sink or wind up on

some deserted beach — a derelict. It

can’t go anyplace because it has no

destination and no guidance.

It’s the same with a human being.

However, the human race is fixed, not

to prevent the strong from winning,

but to prevent the weak from losing.

Society today can be likened to a con-

voy in time of war. The entire society

is slowed down to protect its weakest

link, just as the naval convoy has to go

at the speed that will permit its slow-

est vessel to remain in formation.

That’s why it’s so easy to make a liv-

ing today. It takes no particular brains

or talent to make a living and support

GOALS

Have you ever wondered why so

many people work so hard and honest-

Continued on Page 58

56 November/December 2004 www.advantedgemag.com

Learn to Think Like a

Billionaire!

Before Donald Trump built his first building ...

He had already built it in his mind.

Before Bill Gates created his first computer program ...

He was already running it in his thoughts.

As you’re reading these words, there are

about 200 people in the United States

whose net worth exceeds one billion

dollars ...

There are an undetermined number of

people who are destined to join the

ranks of the very, very wealthy ...

There are also many millions of people

who will never become rich. Their

hopes and dreams are just as important

to them as those of the future billion-

aires, but their plans will not turn into

tangible realities.

The only question is:

Which group do you want to join?

Learn how to Think Like a

Billionaire — Starting Now!

Call 1.800.288.3396 today!

A Nightingale-Conant audio publication. Available while supplies last.

Nightingale-Conant reserves the right to discontinue production and

sale of any product or service. Nightingale-Conant delivers an uncondi-

tional 30-day satisfaction guarantee on all its products and services.

Continued from Page 56

intelligence, our love of family and

children and friends and country. All

these priceless possessions are free.

But the things that cost us money

are actually very cheap and can be

replaced at any time. A good man can

be completely wiped out and make

another fortune. He can do that sever-

al times. Even if our home burns

down, we can rebuild it. But the things

we got for nothing, we can never

replace.

Our mind can do any kind of job we

assign to it, but generally speaking, we

use it for little jobs instead of big ones.

So decide now. What is it you want?

Plant your goal in your mind. It’s the

most important decision you’ll ever

make in your entire life.

Do you want to excel at your partic-

ular job? Do you want to go places in

your company ... in your community?

Do you want to get rich? All you have

believe in circumstances. The people

who get on in this world are the peo-

ple who get up and look for the cir-

cumstances they want, and if they

can’t find them, make them.”

Well, it’s pretty apparent, isn’t it?

We become what we think about. A

person who is thinking about a con-

crete and worthwhile goal is going to

reach it, because that’s what he’s

thinking about. Conversely, the person

who has no goal, who doesn’t know

where he’s going, and whose thoughts

must therefore be thoughts of confu-

sion, anxiety, fear, and worry will

thereby create a life of frustration, fear,

anxiety and worry. And if he thinks

about nothing ... he becomes nothing.

through

eastern

Arizona and

I saw one of

those giant earth-

moving machines

roaring along the road

with what looked like 30

tons of dirt in it — a tremen-

dous, incredible machine —

and there was a little man

perched way up on top with the

wheel in his hands, guiding it. As I

drove along I was struck by the simi-

larity of that machine to the human

mind. Just suppose you’re sitting at

the controls of such a vast source of

energy. Are you going to sit back and

fold your arms and let it run itself into

a ditch? Or are you going to keep both

hands firmly on the wheel and control

and direct this power to a specific,

worthwhile purpose? It’s

up to you. You’re in the

driver’s seat. You see, the

very law that gives us

success is a double-

edged sword. We must

control our thinking. The

same rule that can lead

people to lives of suc-

cess, wealth, happiness,

and all the things they

ever dreamed of — that

very same law can lead them into the

gutter. It’s all in how they use it … for

good or for bad. That is The Strangest

Secret!

Do what the experts since the dawn

of recorded history have told us to do:

pay the price , by becoming the person

you want to become. It’s not nearly as

difficult as living unsuccessfully.

The moment you decide on a goal to

work toward, you’re immediately a

successful person — you are then in

that rare group of people who know

where they’re going. Out of every hun-

dred people, you belong to the top

five. Don’t concern yourself too much

with how you are going to achieve

your goal — leave that completely to a

power greater than yourself. All you

have to do is know where you’re going.

The answers will come to you of their

own accord, and at the right time.

Start today. You have nothing to

lose — but you have your whole life to

win.

AS YE SOW — SO SHALL YE REAP

The human mind is much like a

farmer’s land. The land

gives the farmer a choice.

He may plant in that land

whatever he chooses. The

land doesn’t care what is

planted. It’s up to the

farmer to make the deci-

sion. The mind, like the

land, will return what

you plant, but it doesn’t

care what you plant. If

the farmer plants too

seeds — one a seed of corn, the other

nightshade, a deadly poison, waters

and takes care of the land, what will

happen?

Remember, the land doesn’t care. It

will return poison in just as wonderful

abundance as it will corn. So up come

the two plants — one corn, one poison

as it’s written in the Bible, “As ye sow,

so shall ye reap.”

The human mind is far more fertile,

far more incredible and mysterious

than the land, but it works the same

way. It doesn’t care what we plant ...

success ... or failure. A concrete, worth-

while goal ... or confusion, misunder-

standing, fear, anxiety, and so on. But

what we plant it must return to us.

The problem is that our mind comes

as standard equipment at birth. It’s

free. And things that are given to us for

nothing, we place little value on.

Things that we pay money for, we

value.

The paradox is that exactly the

reverse is true. Everything that’s really

worthwhile in life came to us free —

our minds, our souls, our bodies, our

hopes, our dreams, our ambitions, our

“The difference is goals . People with goals

succeed because they know where they’re

going. It’s that simple. Failures believe

that their lives are shaped by circum-

stances ... by things that happen to them ...

by exterior forces.”

got to do is plant that seed in your

mind, care for it, work steadily toward

your goal, and it will become a reality.

It not only will, there’s no way that

it cannot. You see, that’s a law — like

the laws of Sir Isaac Newton, the laws

of gravity. If you get on top of a build-

ing and jump off, you’ll always go

down — you’ll never go up.

And it’s the same with all the other

laws of nature. They always work.

They’re inflexible. Think about your

goal in a relaxed, positive way. Picture

yourself in your mind’s eye as having

already achieved this goal. See your-

self doing the things you will be doing

when you have reached your goal.

Every one of us is the sum total of

our own thoughts. We are where we

are because that’s exactly where we

really want or feel we deserve to be —

whether we’ll admit that or not. Each

of us must live off the fruit of our

thoughts in the future, because what

you think today and tomorrow — next

month and next year — will mold your

life and determine your future. You’re

guided by your mind.

I remember one time I was driving

To learn more about Earl

Nightingale and his many timeless

books and audio programs, visit

www.AdvantEdgeMag.com/006 today.

58 November/December 2004 www.advantedgemag.com

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