The Strangest Secret

The Strangest Secret - Part 1 originally recorded in 1957
By Earl Nightingale

I'd like to tell you about The Strangest Secret in the World.
The late Nobel prize-winning Dr. Albert Schweitzer was once asked, "Doctor, what is wrong with men today?" The great doctor was silent a moment, and then he said, "Men simply do not think!"
It is 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. But since it is here we pretty well take it for granted. We are fortunate to live in the richest era that ever existed on the face of the earth. A land of abundant opportunity for everyone. 

But do you know what happens?
Lets 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 are 65?
These 100 people, who all start even at the age of 25, all believe they're going to be successful. If you ask any one of them if they want to be a success they would tell you they did. You would notice that they are eager toward life, there is a certain sparkle in their eye, an erectness to their carriage. Life seems like a pretty interesting adventure to them.

But by the time they are 65, only one will be rich,
four will be financially independent,
41 will still be working,
and 54 will be broke - depending on others for life's necessities.

Now think a moment: 
Out of the 100, only five 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 their dreams, their hopes, their plans?
Why is there such a large disparity between what these people intended to do and what they actually accomplished? 

The Definition of Success
When we say about 5% achieve success, we have to define success. Here is the best definition I've ever been able to find:

"Success is the progressive realization of a worthy ideal."
If someone is working toward a predetermined goal and knows where they are going, that person is a success.
If they are not doing that, they are a failure.

"Success is the progressive realization of a worthy ideal."
Rollo May, the distinguished psychiatrist, wrote in his wonderful book called: "Man's Search for Himself".
"The opposite of courage in our society is not cowardice - it is conformity."

And there you have the trouble today; the reason for so many failures.
Conformity ... people acting like everyone else, without knowing why or without knowing where they are going.
Now think of it.
Right now in America, there are over 40 million people 65 years of age and older.
And most of them are broke.
They are dependent on someone else for life's necessities.
We learn to read by the time we are seven.
We learn to make a living by the time we're 25.
Often by that time we are not only making a living, we're supporting a family.
And yet by the time we are 65, we have not learned how to become financially independent in the richest land that has ever been known.
Why?
We conform.
The trouble is most of us are acting like the wrong percentage group - the 95 who do not succeed.
Why do people conform?
Well, they really don't know. Most people seem to believe their lives are shaped by circumstances, by things that happen to them by exterior forces. They are outer directed people. 

A survey was made one time that covered alot of people, working people.
These people were asked, "Why do you work?" "Why do you get up in the morning?"
19 out of 20 had no idea.
If you press them they will say,
"Everyone goes to work in the morning."
And that is the reason they do it - because everyone else is doing it.
Now let's get back to our definition of success.

Who succeeds?
The only person who succeeds is the person who is progressively realizing a worthy ideal.
It is the person who says,
"I am going to become this", and then begins to work towards that goal.
I'll tell you the successful people are.
A success is the school teacher who is teaching school because that's what he or she wants to do.
A success is the woman who is a wife and mother because she wanted to become a wife and mother and is doing a good job of it.
A success is the man who runs the corner gas station because that was his dream.
A success is the entrepreneur who starts their own company because that was their dream - that's what they wanted to do.
A success is the successful salesperson who wants to become a top notch salesperson and grow and build with in his or her organization and sets forth on the pursuit of that goal.
A success is anyone who is pursuing deliberately a predetermined goal, because that's what he or she decided to do ... deliberately.

But only one out of 20 does that. The rest are "failures." 

That is why today there is really not 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.
I wanted to know if there was a key that would make the future a promise that we could foretell to a large extent.
Was there a key that would guarantee a person's becoming successful if they only only knew about it and knew how to use it?
Well there is such a key and I have found it. 

Thank you for visiting my Blog, for The Strangest Secret Part 2 click here

Mark Khan
Life Coach / Inter-Networker
Skype ID: ageofseth

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