As an avid reader of leadership books, I was surfing the net recently and came across this old article from the father of personal development, Earl Nightingale.
His recording "the Strangest secret offers an incredible insight into success and has been inspiring to millions of people worldwide. it is as timely today as it was when it was written in 1957. Its still one of the top selling audio on personal development today.
Even though sometimes I have so much going on family, my career, my daily activities which some of us call the daily grind this writing always inspires me and keep me focused.
I will present it in 3 parts as it is kinda long but the insights will transform your life as it did mine.
he Strangest Secret (Part 1of 3)
by Earl Nightingale
The 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.
Some years ago, the late Nobel prize-winning Dr. Albert Schweitzer 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.
Only five out of 100 make the grade! Why do so many fail? What has
happened 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 accomplished?
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 progressive 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 entrepreneur who start his own
company because that was his dream -- that's what he wanted to do. A
success is the salesperson who wants to become the best salesperson in
his or her company and sets forth on the pursuit of that goal.
A success is anyone who is realizing a worthy predetermined 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 psychiatrist, 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 supporting 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 acting like the
wrong percentage group -- the 95 who don't succeed.
Part 2 Tomorrow
Posted By: Hugh Palmer
Thursday, October 1st 2009 at 9:47AM
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