The Greatest Secret by Earl Nightingale - Video & Complete Transcript

This is Earl Nightingale. I’d like to tell you about the strangest secret in the world.

Some years ago Albert Schweitzer, the the great doctor and nobel prize winner, was being interviewed in Londonand a reporter asked him “Doctor, what’s wrong with men today?”

The great doctor was saddened for a moment and then he said, “Men don’t think”.

And it is about this that I want to talk to you.

We live today in a golden age.

This is an era that man has looked forward to, dreamed of, and worked toward for thousands of years but since it’s here, we pretty well take it for granted.

Ours is a land of abundant opportunity for everyone.

But you know what happens?

Let’s take 100 men and we’ll start even, at the age of 25. If you’d ask any one of them if they wanted to be a success, he’d tell you he did and you’d notice that he was eager toward life.

There was a certain sparkle to his eye. An erectness to his carriage and life seemed like a pretty interesting adventure to him but by the time these men reached 65, only 5 would have made the grade.

Only 5 are successful.

When we say only 5% achieve success we have to define success and here’s the definition:

“Success is the progressive realization of a worthy ideal.”

If a man is working toward a predetermined goal and knows where he’s going that man is a success.

If he is not doing that, he’s a failure.

Success is the progressive realization of a worthy ideal.

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’s conformity”

A survey was made one time that covered a lot of men, working men and these men were asked, “where do you work?

Why do you get up in the morning?” 19 out of 20 had no idea.

They simply said “everyone goes to work in the morning” and that’s the reason they do it: because everyone else is doing it.

And there you have the trouble today.

It’s conformity.

People acting like everyone else without knowing why, without knowing where they’re going.

Now, we learn to read by the time we’re 7. We learn to make a living by the time we’re 25.

Usually by that time, we’re not only earning a living, we’re supporting a family.

And yet by the time we’re 65 the great majority hasn’t learned how to become financially independent in the richest land that has ever been known.

Why?

They conform.

They’re acting like the wrong percentage group, the 95% that don’t succeed.

Why do these people conform?

Well let’s get back to our definition of success.

Who succeeds?

The only man who succeeds is the man who is progressively realizing a worthy ideal.

He is the man who says “I’m going to become this” and then begins to work toward that goal. He succeeds because he knows where he’s going.

Think of a ship leaving a harbor.

Think of him with a complete voyage all 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 it will reach that goal.

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 no destination.

We just start the engines and let it go. I think you’ll agree with me that if it gets out of the harbor at all, it will wind up at some deserted beach a derelict.

It can’t go anyplace because it has no destination, no guidance and it’s the same of the human being.

I’ll tell you who the successful people are: a success is a schoolteacher who’s teaching school because that’s what he or she wanted to do.

The success is the woman who is a wife and mother because she wanted to become a wife and mother and is doing a great job at it.

The success is the man who runs the corner gas station because that’s what he wants to do.

The success is the successful salesman who want to be top salesman and grow and build with his organization.

A success is anyone who is doing deliberately a predetermined job because that is what he decided to do deliberately but only 1 out of 20 does that.

That’s why today there isn’t really any competition unless we make it for ourselves.

Instead of competing all we have to do is create.

For twenty years I looked for the key which would determine what would happen to a human being.

Was there a key, I wanted to know, which would make the future a promise that we can foretell to a large extent?

Was there a key that could guarantee a person’s becoming successful if he only knew about it and knew how to use it?

Well there is such a key and I found it. Here’s the key to success and the key to failure.

We become what we think about.

Now let me say that again, we become what we think about.

Throughout all history, the great wise men and teachers, philosophers and prophets have disagreed with one another on many different things.

It’s only on this one point that they’re in complete and unanimous agreement.

Buddha said “all we are is what we thought about.”

Marcus Aurelius said “a man’s life is what his thoughts make of it”

Disraeli said this: “Everything comes if a man will only wait. I’ve brought myself by long meditation to the conviction that a human being with a settled purpose must accomplish it, and that nothing can resist a will that will stake even existence for its fulfillment.”

Ralph Waldo Emerson said this: “a man is what he thinks about all day long.”

William James said “The greatest discovery of my generation is that human beings can alter their lives by altering their attitudes of mind.”

And George Bernard Shaw said: “People are always blaming their circumstances 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, they make them.”

Well it’s pretty apparent, isn’t it? We become what we think about. It stands to reason that a person who’s thinking about a definite and worthwhile goal is going to reach it because that’s what he’s thinking about and we become what we think about.

Conversely, the man who has no goal doesn’t know where he’s going and his thoughts must therefore be thoughts of confusion and thoughts of anxiety, fear and worry, becomes what he thinks about. His life becomes one of frustration, fear, anxiety and worry.

And if he thinks about nothing, he becomes nothing.

You see, the human mind is the last great unexplored continent on earth. It contains riches beyond our wildest dreams. It will return anything we plant in it.

Now, you might say, “If that’s true, why don’t people use their minds more? Why don’t they till their fertile mental soil?”

We have the answer to that too.

Our mind comes as standard equipment at birth. It’s free and things that have been given to us we place little value upon. Things that we pay money for we value. The paradox is that exactly the reverse is true.

Everything that is really worthwhile in life came to us free: our minds, our soul, our bodies, our hopes, our dreams, our ambitions, our intelligence, our love of our families, and children and friends.

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 several times.

Even if our homes burn down we can rebuild them but the things we got for nothing.

The really valuable possessions, we can never replace.

The human mind isn’t used merely because we take it for granted. It can do any kind of a job we assign to it but generally speaking, we use it for little jobs instead of big important ones. Universities tell us that we are operating on about 10% of our abilities.

Decide now.

What is it that you want?

Find your goal in your mind.

Give yourself direction and a destination.

It’s the most important decision you’ll ever make in your life.

You see, the very law that gives us success is a two way sword.

We must control our thinking.

The same rule that can lead a man to a life of success, wealth, happiness and all the things he’s dreamed of for himself and his family—that very same law—can lead him into the gutter. It’s all in how he uses it, for good or bad.

This is the strangest secret in the world.

Remember these words from the Sermon on the Mount and remember them well. Keep them constantly before you.

“Ask and it shall be given you. Seek and you shall find. Knock and it shall be open unto you. For everyone that asketh, receiveth and he that seeketh, findeth and him that knocketh, it shall be open.”

It’s as marvelous and as simple as that. In fact it’s so simple that in our seemingly complicated world it’s difficult for an adult to understand that all he needs is a purpose and faith.

Above all, don’t worry. Worry brings fear and fear is crippling. The only thing that can cause you to worry is trying to do it all yourself.

 Know that all you have to do is hold your goal before you. Everything else will take care of itself. Remember also to keep calm and cheerful.

Don’t let petty things annoy you and get you off course. Prosperity is founded upon the law of mutual exchange: any person who contributes to prosperity must prosper in turn himself. Sometimes the return will not come from those you serve but it must come to you from some place.

That’s the law. For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.

There are no exceptions to a law. You can drive down any street inAmericaand from your car estimate the service that’s being rendered by the people living on that street. Have you ever thought of this yardstick before? It’s interesting.

Once this law is fully understood, any thinking person can tell his own fortune. If he wants more, he must be of more service to those from whom he receives his return. If he wants less, he is only to reduce this service.

This is the price you must pay for what you want. If you believe you can enrich yourself by deluding others you can end only by deluding yourself. It may take some time but just as sure as you breathe, you’ll get back what you put out.

The prisons and the streets where the lonely walk are filled with people who have tried to make new laws just for themselves.

We may sometimes avoid the laws of men but there are greater laws that can’t be broken.

One time I heard grove Patterson the other great chief of the Toledo Daily Blade make a speech and as he concluded his speech he said something that I’ve never forgotten.

He said “My years in the newspaper business have convinced me of several things. Among them: that people are basically good and that we came from some place and that we’re going someplace. So we should make our time here an exciting adventure.

The architect of the universe didn’t build a stairway leading nowhere.”

And the greatest teacher of all, the carpenter from the plains of Galilea gave us the secret time and time again, “as you believe, so shall it be done unto you.”

Earl Nightingale

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Great Power of Choice Quotes

Do you prefer that you be right, or that you be happy?
A Course in Miracles

When you have learned how to decide with God, all decisions become as easy and as right as breathing.
A Course in Miracles

Marriage is not a ritual or an end. It is a long, intricate, intimate dance together and nothing matters more than your own sense of balance and your choice of partner.
Amy Bloom

Both abundance and lack exist simultaneously in our lives, as parallel realities. It is always our conscious choice which secret garden we will tend...when we choose not to focus on what is missing from our lives but are grateful for the abundance that's present--love, health, family, friends, work, the joys of nature and personal pursuits that bring us pleasure--the wasteland of illusion falls away and we experience Heaven on earth.
Sarah Ban Breathnach

Destiny is not a matter of chance, it is a matter of choice. It is not something to be waited for, but rather something to be achieved.
William Jennings Bryan

I believe that life is a journey towards God, and that no one has the right to insist that you go a certain road.
Pat Buckley

Life is the sum of all your choices.
Albert Camus

If someone throws you the ball, you don’t have to catch it.
Richard Carlson

Instead of looking at life as a narrowing funnel, we can see it ever widening to choose the things we want to do, to take the wisdom we've learned and create something.
Liz Carpenter

We either make ourselves happy or miserable. The amount of work is the same.
Carlos Castaneda

Your own words are the bricks and mortar of the dreams you want to realize. Your words are the greatest power you have. The words you choose and their use establish the life you experience.
Sonia Choquette

Every choice before you represents the universe inviting you to remember who you are and what you want.
Alan Cohen

Attachment to being right creates suffering. When you have a choice to be right, or to be kind, choose kind and watch your suffering disappear.
Wayne Dyer

Our lives are a sum total of the choices we have made.
Wayne Dyer

The strongest principle of growth lies in human choice.
George Eliot

All men and women are born, live, suffer and die; what distinguishes us one from another is our dreams, whether they be dreams about worldly or unworldly things, and what we do to make them come about…We do not choose to be born. We do not choose our parents. We do not choose our historical epoch, the country of our birth, or the immediate circumstances of our upbringing...But within this realm of choicelessness, we do choose how we live.
Joseph Epstein

The last of human freedoms – the ability to chose one’s attitude in a given set of circumstances.
Viktor Frankl

All too often people fail to focus their choices upon results and therefore their choices are ineffective. If you limit your choices only to what seems possible or reasonable, you disconnect yourself from what you truly want, and all that is left is a compromise.
Robert Fritz

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I – I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference.
Robert Frost

The brain simply believes what you tell it most. And what you tell it about you, it will create. It has no choice.
Chandler Fuller

Faced with the choice between changing one's mind and proving that there is no need to do so, almost everyone gets busy with the proof.
John Kenneth Galbraith

What you thought before has led to every choice you have made, and this adds up to you at this moment. If you want to change who you are physically, mentally, and spiritually, you will have to change what you think.
Patrick Gentempo

There is so much about my fate that I cannot control, but other things do fall under the jurisdiction. I can decide how I spend my time, whom I interact with, whom I share my body and life and money and energy with. I can select what I can read and eat and study. I can choose how I'm going to regard unfortunate circumstances in my life-whether I will see them as curses or opportunities. I can choose my words and the tone of voice in which I speak to others. And most of all, I can choose my thoughts.
Elizabeth Gilbert

In the place of stillness, rises potential. From the place of potential, emerges possibility. Where there is possibility, there is choice. And where there is choice, there is freedom.
Gabriella Goddard

At any moment you have a choice that either leads you closer to your spirit or further away from it.
Thich Nhat Hanh

The journey to financial freedom starts the MINUTE you decide you were destined for prosperity, not scarcity-- for abundance, not lack. Isn't there a part of you that has always known that? Can you see yourself living a bounteous life-- a life of more than enough? It only takes one minute to decide. Decide now.
Mark Victor Hansen

I am one with the Power that created me. I am totally open and receptive to the abundant flow of prosperity that the Universe offers. All my needs and desires are met before I even ask. I am Divinely guided and protected, and I make choices that are beneficial for me. I rejoice in other’s successes, knowing there is plenty for us all.
Louise Hay

Volunteering is not a choice, it’s a responsibility.
Ashley E. Hyder

Faith is an act of rational choice, which determines us to act as if certain things were true, and in the confident expectation that they will prove to be true.
Dean Inge

Each of us literally chooses, by his way of attending to things, what sort of universe he shall appear to himself to inhabit.
William James

The greatest weapon against stress is our ability to choose one thought over another.
William James

Never cut what you can untie.
Joseph Joubert

I am not what happened to me. I am what I chose to become.
Carl Jung

You can’t stop the waves, but you can learn how to surf.
Jon Kabat-Zinn

The really tough choices…don’t center upon right versus wrong. They involve right versus right. They are genuine dilemmas precisely because each side is firmly rooted in one of our basic, core values.
Rushworth Kidder

You have the power in the present moment to change limiting beliefs and consciously plant the seeds for the future of your choosing. As you change your mind, you change your experience.
Serge Kahili King

I believe that we are solely responsible for our choices, and we have to accept the consequences of every deed, word, and thought throughout our lifetime.
Elisabeth Kubler-Ross

We need to teach the next generation of children from day one that they are responsible for their lives. Mankind’s greatest gift, also its greatest curse, is that we have free choice. We can make our choices built from love or from fear.
Elisabeth Kubler-Ross

This is your world. Shape it or someone else will.
Gary Lew

Most of us can, as we choose, make of this world either a palace or a prison.
Sir John Lubbock

My will shall shape my future. Whether I fail or succeed shall be no man’s doing but my own. I am the force: I can clear any obstacle before me or I can be lost in the maze. My choice, my responsibility; win or lose, only I hold the key to my destiny.
Elaine Maxwell

There are only two choices; make progress or make excuses.
Ellen Mikesell

I learned that we can do anything, but we can't do everything... at least not at the same time. So think of your priorities not in terms of what activities you do, but when you do them. Timing is everything.
Dan Millman

It is not only for what we do that we are held responsible, but also for what we do not do.
Moliere

We cannot choose the things that will happen to us. But we can choose the attitude we will take toward anything that happens. Success or failure depends on your attitude.
Alfred A. Montapert

Choice is your greatest power. It is an even greater power than love, because you must first choose to be a loving person.
Caroline Myss

Life is an endlessly creative experience, and we are shaping ourselves at every moment by every decision we make.
Kent Nerburn

It’s choice – not chance – that determines your destiny.
Jean Nidetch

Joy does not simply happen to us. We have to choose joy and keep choosing it every day.
Henri Nouwen

Life is a garden. It is an opportunity. You can grow weeds, you can grow roses; it all depends on you.
Osho

You cannot prevent the birds of sorrow from flying over your head, but you can prevent them from building nests in your hair.
Chinese Proverb

We all find ourselves in situations that at times seem hopeless. And, we all have the choice to do nothing or take action.
Catherine Pulsifer

A real decision is measured by the fact that you’ve taken a new action. If there’s no action, you haven’t truly decided.
Anthony Robbins

It is in your moments of decision that your destiny is shaped.
Anthony Robbins

You are now at a crossroads. This is your opportunity to make the most important decision you will ever make. Forget your past. Who are you now? Who have you decided you really are now? Don't think about who you have been. Who are you now? Who have you decided to become? Make this decision consciously. Make it carefully. Make it powerfully.
Anthony Robbins

You rarely have time for everything you want in this life, so you have to make choices, and hopefully your choices can come from a deep sense of who you are.
Fred Rogers

You need courage to be creative. You need the courage to see things differently, courage to go against the crowd, courage to take a different approach, courage to stand alone, if you have to, courage to choose activity over inactivity.
Jim Rohn

What you don’t do can be a destructive force.
Eleanor Roosevelt

In any moment of decision the best thing you can do is the right thing, the next best thing is the wrong thing, and the worst thing you can do is nothing.
Theodore Roosevelt

Destiny is a name often given in retrospect to choices that had dramatic consequences.
J. K. Rowling

It is our choices...that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities.
J. K. Rowling

Each decision we make, each action we take, is born out of an intention.
Sharon Salzberg

You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself any direction you choose. You're on your own, and you know what you know. And you are the only one who'll decide where you'll go.
Dr. Seuss

A man is happy so long as he chooses to be happy and nothing can stop him.
Alexander Solzhenitsyn

We are the choices we make.
Meryl Streep

Attitude is more important than the past, than education, than money, than circumstances, than what other people think or say or do. It is more than appearance, giftedness, or skill. It will make or break a company, a church, a home. The remarkable thing is, we have a choice every day regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day. We cannot change the past. We cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play the one string we have, and that is our attitude.
Chuck Swindoll

Don't be a time manager, be a priority manager. Cut your major goals into bite-sized pieces. Each small priority or requirement on the way to ultimate goal become a mini goal in itself.
Denis Waitley

Everything is something you decide to do, and there is nothing you have to do.
Denis Waitley

Life is like a game of chess…there are many moves possible, but each move determines your next move…where you wind up is the sum total of all your past moves…but first you have to make some kind of move.
Mort Walker

You are the colors you choose.
Vicky Wall

Nothing but what you volunteer has the essence of life, the springs of pleasure in it. These are the things you do because you want to do them, the things your spirit has chosen for its satisfaction. The more you are stimulated to such action the more clearly does it appear to you that you are a sovereign spirit, put into the world, not to wear a harness, but to work eagerly without it.
Woodrow Wilson

Every day, passion speaks to us through our feelings. That’s why when you allow yourself to become anesthetized by what others think, you literally block yourself from living the life you were called to live. I promise you that if you make a choice that doesn’t please your mate, your friends, your mother, or whoever, the world will not fall apart. The people who truly love you want you to love yourself.
Oprah Winfrey

Understand that the right to choose your own path is a sacred privilege. Use it. Dwell in possibility.
Oprah Winfrey


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Are You Being Your Authentic Self?

You hear people say "be your authentic self" and you might think yes, I am, but are you really?

Over the years, I’ve had different friends and associates tell me I was “authentic” and that was one of the things they liked and admired about me. I always appreciated what they said as a nice compliment and went about my business. 

A friend that I met on Twitter, Tom Ziglar, (son of Zig Ziglar) and I started chatting years ago and he said that a large part of what he learned about success from his father was to be authentic and he gave me that great compliment in my twitter stream.

The other day, a very good friend whom I now hear from only once a month or so called me because something happened in his life. 

Manifestation

Manifestation is the ability to hold, focus and direct our creative energies into form.

In general, most people tend to disperse their creative energies - their life force - because they have not been taught that these energies are the key to manifesting their dreams and heart's desires.

In order to manifest, we must be able to hold those creative energies in the vessel of our body until, with our intention, focus and direction, we send them out to create something we desire.

For those that are not used to the feeling in their bodies that the build up of these energies generates. It can get intense, and so they seek to disperse the energy, usually through patterns of addictive behavior. Their energy is scattered everywhere and, much like buckshot, little if any of it hits the target. If we recognize these patterns and learn instead to cultivate our creative fire, then manifestation on every level is possible.