My team is reading Napoleon Hill’s “Think and Grow Rich” and I recalled that years ago I had heard the audio of Earl Nightingale talking about "The Strangest Secret". The messages are so similar.
Earl talks about why only 5% of human beings achieve success.
He says we first have to define success. Success is bringing into reality your dreams and goals and doing what you have always wanted and planned to do. You have heard the saying “Love what you do and you'll never work another day in your life.”
Our dreams and goals give us direction and a destination to reach.
Earl says, “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 and that the key to success and the key to failure is this:
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 people have learned it or understand it. That’s why it’s strange, and why for some equally strange reason 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 existence for its fulfillment.”
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 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, make them.”
In the Bible - Mark 9:23: “If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes.”
Earl goes on to state that it’s pretty apparent that we become what we think about.
When we continually think about our worthwhile goal, we are going to reach it.
And, it’s just as apparent that the person who has no goal doesn’t know where he’s going. The person who has thoughts of confusion, anxiety, fear, and worry will create a life of frustration, fear, anxiety and worry.
Think about your goal in a relaxed, positive way. Picture yourself in your mind’s eye as having already achieved this goal. See yourself doing the things you will be doing when you have reached your goal.
We are the sum total of our own thoughts so we are where we are because that’s exactly where we really want or feel we deserve to be - whether we want to admit that or not.
So we will be the product of our thoughts today and in the future. What you think today and tomorrow and next month and next year will mold your life and determine your future. You are the product of your thoughts.
So do what the experts have been telling us for centuries and become the person you want to be.
Earl goes on to tell us, “The moment you decide on a goal to work toward, you’re immediately a successful person and you are then in that rare group of people who know where they’re going. Out of every hundred people, you belong to the top five. Don’t concern yourself too much with how you are going to achieve your goal and 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.
Here is Earl Nightingale’s 30 day challenge:
For the next 30-days follow each of these steps every day until you have achieved your goal.Write on a card what it is you want more than anything else.
1. Write down on your card specifically what it is you want. Make sure it’s a single goal and clearly defined.
Carry it with you so that you can look at it several times a day.
Think about it in a cheerful, relaxed, positive way each morning when you get up,
Look at it every chance you get during the day and just before going to bed at night.
As you look at it, remember that you must become what you think about, and since you’re thinking about your goal, you realize that soon it will be yours. In fact, it’s really yours the moment you write it down and begin to think about it.
2. Stop thinking about what it is you fear. Each time a fearful or negative thought comes into your mind, replace it with a mental picture of your positive and worthwhile goal. And there will come a time when you’ll feel like giving up. It’s easier for a human being to think negatively than positively. That’s why only five percent are successful! You must begin now to place yourself in that group.
Act as though it were impossible to fail.
3. Your success will always be measured by the quality and quantity of service you render. Most people will tell you that they want to make money, without understanding this law. This is why people who keep looking for something for nothing, or a free ride will always fail in life.
Be of service … build … work … dream … create….help others! Do this and you’ll find there is no limit to the prosperity and abundance that will come to you.
Don’t start your test until you’ve made up your mind to stick with it. If you should fail during your first 30 days and by that I mean suddenly find yourself overwhelmed by negative thoughts then simply start over again from that point and go 30 more days. Gradually, your new habit will form, until you find yourself one of that wonderful minority to whom virtually nothing is impossible.
Above all … don’t worry! Worry brings fear, and fear is crippling. The only thing that can cause you to worry during your test 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.
Great Success and Abundant Blessings!
Sandy Blomstrom
"It's good to be blessed. It's better to be a blessing." ~Author Unknown
Comments
Excellent post Sandy!! Thank you
Hello Sandy it's great to see you in the SE community. This is a excellent blog post you shared. I am a huge fan of Earl Nightingale.