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.
GOALS
Have you ever wondered why so
many people work so hard and honestly
without ever achieving anything in
particular, and why others don't seem
to work hard, yet seem to get everything?
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 continue
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 circumstances
... by things that happen to
them ... by exterior forces.
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 convoy
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 slowest
vessel to remain in formation.
That's why it's so easy to make a living
today. It takes no particular brains
or talent to make a living and support
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:
WE BECOME WHATWE
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."
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 interests
in it will be those which characterize
belief." He continues, " ... only
you must, then, really wish these
things, and wish them exclusively,
and not wish at the same time a hundred
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 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."
Well, it's pretty apparent, isn't it?
We become what we think about. A
person who is thinking about a concrete
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 confusion,
anxiety, fear, and worry will
thereby create a life of frustration, fear,
anxiety and worry. And if he thinks
about nothing ... he becomes nothing.
AS YE SOW — SO SHALLYE 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 decision.
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, worthwhile
goal ... or confusion, misunderstanding,
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
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 several
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 particular
job? Do you want to go places in
your company ... in your community?
Do you want to get rich? All you have
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 building
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 yourself
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
through
e a s t e r n
Arizona and
I saw one of
those giant earthmoving
machines
roaring along the road
with what looked like 30
tons of dirt in it — a tremendous,
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 similarity
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 doubleedged
sword. We must
control our thinking. The
same rule that can lead
people to lives of success,
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 hundred 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.
30-DAYACTION IDEAS FOR PUTTING
THE STRANGEST SECRET TO WORK FOR YOU
For the next 30-days follow each of
these steps every day until you have
achieved your goal.
1. Write on a card what it is you
want more that anything else. It may be
more money. Perhaps you'd like to
double your income or make a specific
amount of money. It may be a beautiful
home. It may be success at your job. It
may be a particular position in life. It
could be a more harmonious family.
Write down on your card specifically
what it is you want. Make sure it's a
single goal and clearly defined. You
needn't show it to anyone, but 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, and immediately
you have something to work
for — something to get out of bed for,
something to live for.
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," as Dorothea Brande said. No matter
what your goal — if you've kept
your goal before you every day —
you'll wonder and marvel at this new
life you've found.
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. The only people
who make money work in a mint.
The rest of us must earn money. This is
what causes those who keep looking for
something for nothing, or a free ride, to
fail in life. Success is not the result of
making money; earning money is the
result of success — and success is in
direct proportion to our service.
Most people have this law backwards.
It's like the man who stands in
front of the stove and says to it: "Give
me heat and then I'll add the wood."
How many men and women do you
know, or do you suppose there are
today, who take the same attitude
toward life? There are millions.
We've got to put the fuel in before we
can expect heat. Likewise, we've got to
be of service first before we can expect
money. Don't concern yourself with the
money. Be of service ... build ... work ...
dream ... create! 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 — by that I mean suddenly find
yourself overwhelmed by negative
thoughts — 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.
Take this 30-day test, then repeat it
... then repeat it again. Each time it
will become more a part of you until
you'll wonder how you could have
ever have lived any other way. Live
this new way and the floodgates of
abundance will open and pour over
you more riches than you may have
dreamed existed. Money? Yes, lots of
it. But what's more important, you'll
have peace ... you'll be in that wonderful
minority who lead calm, cheerful,
successful lives.
Learn more about Earl Nightingale and his many timeless books and audio programs.
