Earl Nightingale - How to Master the Basic Fundamentals of Life and Success

You see, the average man believes some businesses are better than others instead of realizing the truth that there are no bad businesses. There are just those people who don't know enough to see the opportunities in the work they're in. Living successfully, getting the things we want from life, is a matter of solving the problems which stand between where we now are and the point we wish to reach. I want to recommend that you take just 1 hour a day, 5 days a week, and devote this hour to exercising your mind. If you're worried about your income or your future, you're concentrating on the wrong end of the scale. Look the other end. Concern yourself only with increasing your service, with becoming great where you are, and your income and your future will take care of themselves. Millions suffer today from a malady called panophobia. Panophobia means fear of everything. It's an uneasy feeling, a feeling of insecurity that generally manifests itself as a sort of lump of fear that settles right behind the belt buckle, especially on Sunday evening and on Monday morning. Who is your boss? You have only one, and every working person, from the president of the largest corporation to the shoeshine The employee has the same boss. He is simply the customer. Hello, I'm Earl Nightingale. I want to tell you a little story which will, well, which could make a wonderful difference in your life. Now, if you already know about everything I'm going to say, you're a remarkable person, and according to the latest statistics, you belong to the top 5% of all the working people in the world. You're to be congratulated. If you don't know about the things I'm going to say, well, you've been holding yourself back, not only on the job, but you're also missing a big percentage of the greatest joy in life. I want to talk about your boss and your relationship with him. How you handle this relationship will determine your success or failure. It will determine how much money you make or do not make, and it will determine whether you're a happy person or an unhappy person. So let's talk about You and your boss. Who is your boss? You have only one. And every working person from the president of the largest corporation to the shoeshine boy has the same boss. He is simply the customer. There never has been, there is not now, and there never will be any boss but the customer. He's the one boss you must please. Everything you own, he's paid for. He buys your home, your cars, your clothes. He pays for your vacations and puts your kids through school. He pays your doctor bills and writes every paycheck you will ever receive. He'll give you every promotion you will ever obtain during your lifetime. And he will discharge you if you displease him. Now sometimes, particularly in these days of, oh, seemingly complex economics and big business, we lose sight of just what business is. It all started back during the most primitive times. A man, in order to fend for himself and his family, had to provide his own food and his own shelter. He had to do his own fighting and fashion his own rough clothes and crude weapons for hunting and materials for fishing. Later, he had to manufacture his own farming implements. In short, each man had to personally take care of every department of life. Now, naturally, it came about that men and women with certain talents appeared. One was particularly adept at fashioning spears, another at fishing, another at hunting, another at making garments, and so on. And it was only natural that soon these individuals found that they could best spend most of their time in the pursuit of that which they were most talented at and trade their production for the production of others. As a result, the man who made spears found that others would give him a share of their food, clothing, and so on if he'd provide them with spears. Thus trade and commerce began. Now, it's far more complex today, but still based on the same principle. A person's money is the result of his production, and he trades it for things he needs and wants. And it's here that logical discrimination comes into the picture. Now, since his money is the result of his work, it's left to his discretion where he spends it. And it's here that he assumes the role of boss. He will spend his money only with those whom he feels have earned it. And this is as it should be. You and I are exactly the same way. If someone treats you badly in any way, well, you instinctively feel that he hasn't earned your business and you'll withhold it from him. And our prosperity as individuals hinges directly on our attitude toward what we do for a living. The man who works on an automobile assembly line might not think much about the car at the point of sale, or about the family which will eventually buy and travel in that car, but that family pays his salary. And they will withhold the purchase of the car on which he works if it does not earn their respect and admiration. If you doubt this even for a moment, think of the cars which once were popular and which can no longer be seen on the road. This applies to all products. Having earned a successful place in the economy should never be confused with keeping it. It must be earned every day, year in, year out. There's not a company that could not go out of business Everything depends on how the boss is treated, the boss being the customer. And yet the customer is eminently fair, just as you are. He can be won back, and if he's treated with the importance he deserves, he can in a few years bring a lot of other people into your place of business. Now let me tell you something you may not have thought about. If you got in your car and started driving across the country, you'd pass many thousands of businesses, from small restaurants, drugstores, grocery stores, and gas stations, to great sprawling corporate complexes taxes, covering hundreds of acres and employing thousands of people. By simply looking at each one, you can tell how they're treating the boss. Did you know that your rewards are in exact proportion to your service? Well, that's right. We're paid exactly what we earn, but no more. And you can tell by looking at any business exactly what it has earned by seeing what it has. And it's the same with people. We get back exactly what we earn, but not a penny more. And this again is just the way it should be. A person might be underpaid for a while, but the scales of life balance eventually, and he will in the end receive just what he's earned. There are, of course, two ways in which we're paid for what we do. One is tangible in the form of money, and the other is intangible, but just as important. To many, it's more important. This latter form of payment comes in the form of inner satisfaction and in the form of joy as a result of accomplishment. It also comes in the form of satisfaction in position, in the standing it gives us. So each of us is paid in these two ways: money and satisfaction. There's a simple way to increase both of these forms of income, money as well as inner satisfaction, and you'll be able to spend and feel the results. First, I want you to understand completely the great law which lies as the foundation of all life, business and personal. It is that our rewards in life will always be in exact proportion to our service. The more you think about this and observe people in business, the more you'll see the undeniable truth of it. Now try as best you can to estimate the proportion of your total ability you have been giving to your work. I don't think anyone gives 100%. I don't think it's possible to give 100% day in and day out. I know I don't. But estimate what you consider to be the percentage you have been giving to your work. Would you say it's been 30%, 50%? Anyway, try to decide. Now, since your rewards will be in exact proportion to your service, well, you can increase your income both financially and from an inner satisfaction standpoint simply by narrowing the distance between what you have been giving to your work and the 100%, which it may be said you could give under ideal conditions. Now, you don't have to ask for a raise. The income will appear of its own accord and at the right time. You may want to question this, but Try to take my word for it. Now, the second point I want to make is this: if you begin to do your work better than you've ever done it before, you will immediately begin to receive incalculably more inner satisfaction. You'll also find what may have been a boring or uninteresting job will take on new meaning and interest. No matter what it is you do during the entire working day, try in every case to do a little more than you have to. More than you're being paid for. Because unless you do more than you're being paid for now, you can't justify an increase in pay. And the third point I want to make is this: each of us is interdependent. As I pointed out earlier, other people pay our salaries, buy our homes, clothes, feed and educate our children. Therefore, we depend on others for our very lives, just as they depend upon us. Now, if we expect others to give us excellent service and fine products for the money we spend, doesn't it make good sense that we should treat them the same way? Every hour spent at our work should be spent in the attempt to give the best of which we're capable, a baker's dozen for the money our company's customers spend for our products and services and with which our salaries are paid. A person who tries to get the maximum return for the minimum of effort is only kidding himself. Sooner or later, the scales will balance. They must, for that's the law, whether we like it or not. This kind of individual actually shrinks as a person, as a human being, and he has no real place in a dynamic and swiftly changing world. The fourth point is to try each day to find some way in which the work you're doing can be improved. Here again, you're guaranteeing an increase in your income in both categories. We all know that the cynics will laugh at this. I know them, you know them. But I don't know one who could be said to be doing well, do you? I know lots of men and women who are at the top of their fields who live their lives every day in the way I've suggested. Rather than go along with someone who's never proved in his own life that he knows, I'd prefer to believe the one who said, "As ye sow, so shall ye reap." I feel, as I'm sure you do, that he was more qualified to speak than the know-it-all who's behind in his installment payments. Anyway, it's worth a test. If you follow my suggestion for the next year, you'll be a different person living a rich, rewarding, and meaningful life. 4 things, all of them simple. 1, remember that our rewards in life will be in exact proportion to our service. 2, by giving your work a larger percentage of your capabilities and talents, you will, you must increase your income substantially. 3, Since our lives depend on others, treat others in every facet of your life exactly as you want others to treat you. If you expect others to give you excellent products and services for the money you and your family spend, then you should make certain that your job is handled excellently, since it's the money of others which pays your salary. 4. Try to find some way every day in which your work can be improved. And above all, know your boss. He's the customer. Treat him with the respect, care, and courtesy and humor he deserves. Remember that he pays all of your bills every month. He will buy everything you will ever own. He may be, of course, crude, coarse, ignorant, selfish, conniving, and a thoroughgoing savage. He often will be. And here it's more important that you treat him with all the care and attention you can muster. If you don't, and if you permit his attitude to affect yours, you're admitting that he's the stronger person. If you respond the same way he conducts himself, you're admitting you're no better than he is. But most people are nice people. They're people like you and me who want to be liked, who want to get along, and who want to be friends. They have problems and sorrows of their own, of which we're not aware, and they have bad days and disappointments. Make sure that the time they're with you is a high spot in their day, and they'll want to come back. Not just because of your company, but because of you. If you do these things for a year, you'll be surprised and delighted, and you'll find that you wouldn't live any other way for the world. If you're already living this way, you know what I mean. Every business, every organization, from the smallest to the very largest, needs a leader. They have their committees, their echelons of command, and perhaps a widely dispersed group of semi-autonomous divisions. But the overall company and each of its divisions must have strong and able leadership. Contrary to popular belief, you do not raise morale in an organization. It filters down from the top. The attitudes of the people working in any organization will always reflect the attitude of the leader. And finally, this leader will always be found to be just one person. I'm sure you're aware that even the largest and oldest companies with many thousands of employees and hundreds of management people will, when they find themselves in trouble or not doing as well as they should, seek out one man and place him in the position of final authority. The whole company, the board of directors, and perhaps thousands of stockholders all look to this one person for leadership and success. Wherever you find a successful going concern, whether it's a government, a business, a club, or a well-organized home, you find behind its success an outstanding leader. This is the most valuable person in society. In industry, he makes the wheels turn, the entire economy work. This is the man who's been responsible for the growth of nations and their position in the world. He's the employer of millions. He's the dreamer, the planner, and a clock to him is something that other people watch. You'll find him working early and late, and when he's not working, he's usually planning. Back during the Depression of the '30s, the phrase most often heard by employers was, "I'll do anything." Millions were unemployed. Thousands of business firms had closed their doors. and outside employment offices, long lines of people stood waiting for any kind of work. It was during this time in Long Beach, California, crowded to overflowing with thousands who had migrated there looking for work— I know because I was a kid there— that a man I knew made an interesting discovery. He found that he could go to work almost anywhere he chose. Now, amazing as this may sound, it's true. It dawned upon him one day that The business establishments of various kinds were just as anxious to succeed as were the people looking for work. The owners and managers of these businesses were worried and concerned over the hard times which had descended upon the country, and a great many of them were looking for someone to come to their aid, the person who would somehow show up and solve their business problems. But all they heard was people asking for work and saying, "I'll do anything." These people were asking for a paycheck from a man who was very likely teetering on the brink of financial ruin himself. And so signs appeared in windows all over the land reading, no help wanted. This was a negative form of advertising, and while it kept the plenty of hordes away from the door, it also hurt business. Well, this friend of mine decided to become a part of the solution instead of a part of the problem, and his method was simple. And it worked like a charm. He selected the kind of business he felt he would like to work in and in which he could build his career. He then devoted a month to finding out all he could about that particular business. He talked to other people in the same line. He heard their problems and what they felt was wrong. He talked for hours asking questions about what they felt was needed and so on. He went to the public library and read everything he could find on that industry. And then he began to think of ways and means by which this business might be improved. When he was ready and finally made his call on the company for which he decided to work, instead of asking for a job, he said something like this: I believe I know of several ways in which your business can be greatly increased, and I'd like to talk to you about them. Well, here he was selling the one thing on earth in which his prospect was most interested. The fact that he now knew a good deal about the man's problems permitted him to talk intelligently. And he took a positive attitude, expressed a willingness to pitch in and help the man put his business on a sound and profitable footing. And that's right, he got the job. Now, what had he done? Well, first he had specialized. He had selected one line of work and decided that was where his future would be. Now he had to prove himself, and he did. The best way for you to develop the security that lasts a lifetime is to become outstanding at one particular line of work. Look at it this way. Regardless of economic ups and downs, the industry of which that line of work is a part will continue to operate. It won't shut down completely. As long as you're in the top 5% of the people in that industry, you know you'll always be in demand. You'll be wanted and needed, not just where that industry is concerned, but where you and your family are concerned also. The man or woman who becomes truly outstanding at what he or she does has the world on a string. Here's the person of confidence and peace of mind. Here's the person who's quietly aware of his ability and intimate knowledge of his job in his particular industry. Ask yourself this question: am I now such a person? Down deep inside, you know the answer. If your answer is yes, you're among the most fortunate people and in one of the smallest and most elite groups on Earth. If your answer was no, it can be turned into a yes in a surprisingly short time. The first step is to make one really big and important decision. It's a decision the great majority of people never make and suffer as a result. Failing to make this decision keeps a person from ever really getting on course or clarifying his goals. If you make the decision I'm now going to recommend, you can take a deep breath, Give a comfortable sigh of relief, fix your eyes firmly upon your target, and go to work relaxed, comfortable, and sure in the knowledge that the success you seek will be yours. The great steel magnate Andrew Carnegie, when asked the formula for success, answered, put all your eggs in one basket, then watch the basket. Let's be frankly realistic. Who gets laid off work during an economic slump? Well, what gets thrown over the side when a ship is in danger of going down? Everything not absolutely vital to the operation of the craft and the safety of its passengers. And it's the same with a business or any other organization. With a corporation, its main purpose is to remain in business forever. As long as it remains in business, it can provide a needed product or service, protect the investment of those who have faith in it, and provide jobs for those who are vital to its continuity of operation. It's the duty of management to protect the firm and the people who depend upon it, just as it's the captain's duty to do everything in his power to keep his ship sailing. All a person needs to do is to make certain that he or she is a vital part of his business or organization. Those who insist on remaining spare gear must expect to be jettisoned when things get too rough for safety. Nobody, particularly the captain, likes to see cargo thrown over the side, but If it'll help save the ship, there's simply nothing else to do. That's why people are laid off. It has nothing to do with management and labor relations or personalities, and in the long run, it's best for everyone since once smooth sailing has again been reached, additional employment can be made available. So each of us must decide whether we want to be part of the cargo or a member of the crew. It's said that millions suffer today from a malady called panophobia. Panophobia means fear of everything. It's an uneasy feeling, a feeling of insecurity that generally manifests itself as a sort of lump of fear that settles right behind the belt buckle, especially on Sunday evening and on Monday morning. And this extremely unpleasant condition is said to result from the unspoken but realized fact that we're getting credit for more than we're actually doing. It's the perfectly natural and normal understanding deep within each of us that there's something basically wrong about getting praise that's not earned. Or if you're an employee being paid for something you're not doing as well as you possibly can. Now, there's a simple cure for this malady. It's to throw ourselves not out of a window, but into activity, into our work. It's the decision to be worth more than we're being paid. Only in this way can we grow. It's overbalancing the scales in the service we give, knowing that our rewards must follow as a natural result. Now, anyone who will be honest with himself realizes that he's been happiest and most satisfied after having successfully completed a difficult job. You know, a leader is a person who can help others. A leader is any person who realizes the importance of becoming a bigger and better person with the passing of every day, week, and month. A leader takes the responsibility of his own growth. He's a planner, a thinker, a doer. Now, each of us can become such a leader in his own area of activity. It's not difficult, and in the long run, it's easier for us and on us than what at first may appear to be the easier of two courses. Simply fix your eye upon your goal, visualize it with every ounce of your being, and courageously set out toward it. Become a kind of sponge for information which will help you on your way. You don't have to waste years making the mistakes others have made before. You'll be surprised at how quickly you'll reach your goal, but don't be impatient. Know and have faith that what should come to you will come to you in the right time. Everything in the world works on the side of the person who works with nature's laws. And above all, if you should forget everything else, remember that everything about you Everything you will ever have, know, or experience in any way operates as a result of law. Law that is true and unchanging. The law of the stars and of the balance of the world. As Emerson wrote, let him learn a prudence of a higher strain. Let him learn that everything in nature, even dust and feathers, go by law and not by luck, and that what he sows, he reaps. Look about you now. Take stock of your present situation. Because it's nothing more nor less than the result of your past sowing. Are you happy with it? Is it what you want? Then you know what you must sow today and tomorrow and the next day, and in the sowing, rest in the calm, serene, and cheerful certainty that having sown, you will then reap the rich results, the abundant harvest. Near 1843, a man was born who during his lifetime was to have a profound effect on millions of people. His name was Russell Herman Conwell. He became a lawyer, then a newspaper editor, and finally a clergyman. One day a group of boys came to Dr. Conwell at his church and asked him if he would be willing to instruct them in college courses. They wanted a college education but lacked the money to pay for it. He told them that he'd do all he could, and as the boys left, a thought, an idea, began to form in Dr. Conwell's mind. He asked himself, why couldn't there be a fine college for poor but deserving young men? Well, here was a great idea, and he went to work on it at once. Almost single-handedly, Dr. Conwell raised $7 million with which he founded one of the world's leading universities. And he raised the money by giving more than 6,000 lectures all over the country, and in each one of them he told the story called Acres of Diamonds. The story was the account of an African farmer who heard tales about other settlers who had made millions by discovering diamond mines, and these tales so excited the farmer that he could hardly wait to sell his farm and search for diamonds himself. So he sold his farm and spent the rest of his life wandering the vast African continent, searching unsuccessfully for the gleaming gems which brought such high prices on the markets of the world. Finally, in a fit of despondency, broke and desperate, as I remember the story, he threw himself into a river and drowned. Now meanwhile, the man who had bought his farm one day found a large and unusual stone in a stream which cut through the property, and the stone turned out to be a great diamond of enormous value. And he then discovered that the farm was covered with them, and it was to become one of the world's richest diamond mines. The first farmer had owned literally acres of diamonds but had sold them for practically nothing in order to look for them elsewhere. If he'd only taken the time to study and prepare himself, to learn what diamonds look like in their rough state, and had first thoroughly explored the land he owned He would've found the millions he sought right on his own property. The thing about this story that so profoundly affected Dr. Conwell and subsequently millions of others was the idea that each of us is at this moment standing in the middle of his own acres of diamonds. If we will only have the wisdom and patience to intelligently and effectively explore the work in which we're now engaged, we'll usually find that it contains the riches we seek. Whether they be financial or intangible or both. There's nothing more pitiful to my mind than the person who wastes his life running from one thing to another, forever looking for the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow and never staying with one thing long enough to find it. No matter what your goal may be, perhaps the road to it can be found in the very thing in which you're now engaged. You see, the average man believes some businesses are better than others. Instead of realizing the truth that there are no bad businesses. There are just those people who don't know enough to see the opportunities in the work they're in. No matter what our work happens to be, it's our business. We're the manager. If there seems to be no future or opportunity in it, it isn't always because it's not there, but perhaps only because we can't see it. A farmer once poked a tiny pumpkin into an empty jug. The pumpkin grew until it completely filled the jug and could grow no more. When the farmer broke the glass, he had a pumpkin exactly the size and shape of the jug. If we're not careful, each of us can do a similar thing. We can mistakenly poke ourselves into jugs that limit our growth, but it is we who do the poking, not the job, not the company, nor the territory, nor the economy, nor the times. We do it. People who become outstanding at their work are those who see their work as an opportunity for growth and development and who prepare themselves for the opportunities which surround them every day. Preparation is the key. This means becoming so good, so competent at what we're now doing, we will actually force the opportunities we seek to come our way. It takes imagination, creative imagination, to know that Diamonds don't look like diamonds in their rough state, nor does a pile of iron ore look like iron or steel. Great opportunities lurk constantly in every aspect of the work in which we now find ourselves. In order to begin prospecting your acres of diamonds, start to develop a faculty called intelligent objectivity, the ability to stand off and look at your job as a stranger might, a stranger who considers your pasture greener than his own. To do this, start at the beginning. Within the framework of what industry or profession does your job fall? Do you know all you can know about your industry? How did it begin? Why did it begin? Who started it and when? What's your industry's annual dollar volume? How fast has it grown during the past 20 years? What's its projected growth during the next 10 years? In short, start now to become a student of your industry. You'll be amazed at the results. In 5 years or less, you can become a national expert in your field. And it's the experts who write their own tickets in life. Surveys indicate that the great majority of people seem to look at their jobs as being as far as they can go, as the end of the line. They need to realize how really desperately an expanding and dynamic industry needs and seeks the uncommon person who is prepared to share in its growth, how richly it will reward this person of vision and action. On the other hand, those who are not preparing and growing are not just standing still. In relation to their industry, they're going backwards. So ask yourself, do I know as much about my job and my industry as a good doctor or lawyer knows about his job, his profession? You should, you know. This is the attitude of the person who wants to become a professional at what he does for a living. It's far more fun, many times more rewarding and interesting, and the real pro can ride out occasional storms in the economic seas in a safe boat built of research and preparation. In order to become a professional in a world of amateurs, we need to study 3 important subjects. 1, our company and the industry in which it operates. 2, our job and perhaps the next step upward in our career. And 3, we need to study people, since successfully serving and getting along with people will determine our success or failure. These are 3 subjects on which you can gradually build a fine home library. Your bookstore clerk will help you find the right books if you'll tell him what you want to know. Frequently, all you need in order to make an enormous improvement is simply a reminder of things you've known but have forgotten. Perhaps this study and research in your job, your industry, and ways of increasing your service to others sounds like a big job. Well, it is, but it's fascinating, and in the long run, it pays tremendous dividends, builds complete security, and it can be accomplished in an hour a day devoted to reading and making permanent notes. Think of ways and means by which you can increase your contribution to your company, your industry, and those whom you serve. You'll begin to notice a wonderful change in your world, for as ye sow, so shall ye reap. This applies just as much to the family as it does to the breadwinner. The minute you adopt this attitude, you've joined the top 5% of the people of the world. You virtually removed all competition You're creating rather than competing. You're affecting life rather than just being affected by it. You're becoming a creator and a giver to life instead of just a receiver. By taking this attitude toward your work, your company, and industry, you're automatically taking care of two vital parts of successful living. First, you'll find yourself becoming more interested and enthusiastic about your work and its future, and both interest and enthusiasm are contagious. And second, you're building financial security which will last a lifetime. So keep this thought in mind as often as you can, on and off the job. Somewhere in your present work, there lurks an opportunity which will bring you everything you could possibly want for yourself and your family. It will not be labeled opportunity. It will be hidden in common everyday garments, just as was the hairpin with which a man fashioned the first paperclip. Or the dirty drinking glass, which triggered the paper cup industry. Now, in closing, here are 12 points to remember. 1, if we'll develop the wisdom and patience to intelligently and effectively explore the work in which we're now engaged, we will very likely find it contains the riches, tangible and intangible, we seek. 2, before we go running off into what we think are greener pastures, let's realize our own pasture is probably unlimited. 3, there are no bad jobs. It's the way in which we go about our work that makes it good or bad. 4, let's not poke ourselves into jugs beyond which we cannot grow. Let's avoid self-limitation. 5, only preparation can ensure our taking advantage of the opportunities which will present themselves in the future, opportunities which are around us now. Let's begin to prepare now. 6, put your imagination to work on the many ways and means of improving what you're now doing. 7, learn all you can about your job, your company, and your industry. 8, since there's no limit to the growth of your industry, it must follow there's similarly no limit to your growth potential within that industry. 9, our dynamic and growing economy needs and will well reward the uncommon person who prepares for a place in its growth. 10. Begin to build your library of reference material pertaining to your company, industry, job, and on how to better serve and get along with people. 11. Set aside an hour a day for this study and research. 12. Remember the story of the Acres of Diamonds. I'm sure you find it as amazing as do the rest of us that the great majority of people have to learn things the hard way. It's only natural to think that if a great discovery were made in a particular generation, all the succeeding generations would know about it and utilize it for their own good. But in many things, such is not the case. It's true with inventions and discoveries, which obviously affect our lives, but it frequently is not true when it comes to the great laws which determine the direction of our individual destinies. One time, a group of laborers was hired to work on a farm. These people came from a very small, remote village where motor vehicles were still very scarce. They were enjoying a new experience of being transported boarded on the back of a truck. When they came to the place where they thought they were supposed to get off, well, without giving it a thought apparently, they simply stepped off the back of the speeding truck. Now fortunately, they fell on a soft dirt road, not a paved highway, but even then, the results of their unconventional method of disembarking were, to say the least, surprising. They went bounding, spinning, sliding, and cartwheeling along the dusty road for quite a distance before gravity and friction working together finally brought them to an astounded halt. Well, none was seriously injured. In fact, by the time the terrified driver got back to them, they were laughing uproariously about the whole thing. The truck driver, in explaining the incident later, put the blame on their never having ridden in trucks before. Well, that's the obvious answer, but not the right one. The amazing circus tumbling act on a remote farm road had been caused by ignorance of a law, a law that Operates the same whether a truck, a boat, an airplane, or any moving body is involved. Sir Isaac Newton gave us the law, and it goes like this: a body in motion tends to remain in motion until acted upon by an outside force. When the workers stepped off the back of the speeding truck, they were going the same speed as the truck itself. The outside force was gravity, which pulled them down to the road, still traveling at the same speed. And well, you get the idea. They had been hurt, confused, frightened, and turned upside down because of their ignorance of a law of physics. They might have been killed. Now, all over the world, there are millions of people who are being hurt, confused, frightened, and whose lives are turned upside down because they don't understand the principal law on which everything in the universe operates: the law of cause and effect. This law has been written thousands of times by the greatest minds the world has produced, and as a result has appeared in many forms. For our purposes, it might best be put this way: our rewards in life will always match our service. It's another way of saying, as ye sow, so shall ye reap. And it's been written in many ways, in every language on earth. I like to think of this law in the form of a giant apothecary scale. One of the bowls is marked service and the other is marked rewards. Now, whatever we put into the bowl marked service, the world will match in the bowl marked rewards. If any person alive is discontented with his rewards, he should examine his service. Action, reaction. As you sow, So shall ye reap. What you put in will determine what you must get back in return. So simple, so basic, so true, and yet so misunderstood. If a business is not expanding to the quick and exciting tempo of the times, it must examine its contribution, its service. If a person is unhappy with his income, he must examine and reevaluate his service. Never before in the history of the world have human beings been so interdependent. It's as impossible to live without serving others as it would be to live if others were not constantly serving us. And this is good. The more closely knit this interdependence becomes, the greater will be human achievement. We all seek rewards, and we should understand that rewards come in two forms: tangible and intangible. That is, rewards include the money we earn, the home we buy, the car we drive, the clothes we wear, and they also include the way we feel, our happiness, our peace of mind, our inner satisfaction, the people we meet and enjoy. But remember this: whatever it is you seek in the form of rewards, you must first earn in the form of service to others. All attempts to abrogate, to sidestep this law will end in failure, frustration, and if maintained long enough, ultimate demoralization. We can see this frustration on every side. We can see it in the tense, strained, and nervous faces, in the mountains of tranquilizers which are consumed every day. And we can also see it in the slack, bovine-like faces of those who have found the whole thing too complicated and have simply given up, surrendered to the push and pull of circumstances. How much of this do you suppose is due to misunderstanding or ignorance of this simple and wonderful law of nature? It's my belief that A great deal can be traced to this cause. Now, do you understand this law? Fully understand it intellectually and emotionally? If you do, you can chart a wonderful course through life. Just as the field workers stepped off a speeding truck, just as a child will put his fingers in the way of a closing door, just as a speeding driver discovers he's not going to make the curve. How many times have you been confounded because you acted contrary to the rules? Not just the rules of man, but the rules of nature. How many times have you been in the position of the man who sat in front of the empty fireplace and said, "Give me heat and then I'll give you some wood"? People seem to be divided into those who understand that the wood must be put in before they can expect warmth, and those who feel they should get warmth whether they put anything in or not, or who feel they should get maximum heat from too small a supply of wood. A man's discontent can be said to be represented by the distance between what he has and what he wants. Once he's achieved that which he wants, the odds are good that he'll want still more, for that's the way of people, and that's good. That's a healthy sign. Constructive discontent is what gives us our continuing upward spiral of civilization. So do this if you haven't already. Determine what it is you want. Look objectively at the place in which you now find yourself. Consider the distance separating you from your goal and determine ways of increasing your service so you will build a bridge across it. This puts thinking and creative activity into living. It also assures us that our goals can be achieved by individual effort. A person's world can be compared to a plot of ground. It exists, it's there, it has inherent within itself an amazing potential, and it's prepared to react to man's every action. In fact, it must. Now, whatever your job happens to be, think of it for a moment as this plot of ground. Planting the plot is only the first step. We are given the plot, and that's all we should be given. It's what we do with it that will determine its degree of greatness and success. It's like the story of the preacher who was driving by a beautiful farm. The fields were cultivated and abundant, were with well-cared-for crops. The fences, house, and barns were clean, neat, and freshly painted. A row of fine trees led from the road to the house where there were shaded lawns and flower beds. It was a beautiful sight to behold. So when the farmer working in the field got to the end of a row near the road, the preacher hailed him and said, God has blessed you with a beautiful farm. The farmer stopped and thought a moment and replied, yes, he has, and I'm grateful. But you should have seen this place when he had it all to himself. You see, the farmer understood that he had been blessed with a fine farm, but he was also aware that it was his own love and labor which had brought it to its present state. In thinking of ways of increasing your service, read books on your specialty. Read what others have found to work well for them, but at the same All the time, think of original and creative ways of increasing your service, ways that are unique with you and the way you are. Each morning and during the day, ask yourself this question: How can I increase my service today, knowing that my rewards in life must be in exact proportion to my service? Now do this every day and you'll have started to form one of life's most valuable habits. Horace Mann wrote, if any man seeks for greatness, let him forget greatness and ask for truth, and he'll find both. You see, you can cut away all the confusion and complications and nagging worries and vague, half-formed fears by returning to the great truths, the great laws, the great verities on which all success, all accomplishment, the whole world is built. If you're worried about your income or your future, You're concentrating on the wrong end of the scale. Look at the other end. Concern yourself only with increasing your service, with becoming great where you are, and your income and your future will take care of themselves. In William James' essay on vital reserves, he wrote, compared with what we ought to be, we're only half awake. Our fires are damped, our drafts are checked. We're making use of only a small part of our possible mental and physical resources. Stating the thing broadly, he went on, the human individual thus lives usually far within his limits. He possesses powers of various sorts which he habitually fails to use. He energizes below his maximum and he behaves below his optimum. All right, how can we correct the situation? William James gave us the answer. He wrote, either some unusual stimulus fills them with emotional excitement or some unusual idea of necessity induces them to make an extra effort of will. Excitement, ideas, and efforts, in a word, are what carry us over the dam. All right, let your goal represent the excitement. Your ideas and efforts will weigh down the service end of the scale, and the rewards must and will follow. They'll be yours. They are yours. The moment you realize this truth. I want to tell you about a plan you can follow, which takes only a little time each day, 5 days a week, and which brings results out of all proportion to the time spent. For a moment, consider the things your mind has brought you. Everything you have, your work, your relationship with your family and others, your philosophy of life, all come to you as a result of using your mind. Now consider the estimate made by experts. You have probably been operating on less than 10% of your mental capacities, much less. Dr. Herbert Otto, psychologist, educator, and chairman of the National Center for the Exploration of Human Potential, reminds us that many well-known scientists such as the late Abraham Maslow, Margaret Mead, Gardner Murphy, Osborn, English, and Carl Rogers subscribe to the hypothesis that man is using a very small fraction of his capacities. Margaret Mead quotes a 6% figure. Herbert Otto writes, my own estimate is 5% or less. Neurological research at the UCLA Brain Research Institute points to enormous abilities latent in everyone by suggesting an incredible hypothesis. The ultimate creative capacity of the human brain may be, for all practical purposes, they pointed out, infinite. To use the computer analogy, man is a vast storehouse of data, but we have not learned how to program ourselves to utilize these data for problem-solving purposes. Yefremov, the eminent Soviet scholar and writer, says, man under average conditions of work and life uses only a small part of his thinking equipment. If he were able to force our brain to work at only half its capacity, we could without any difficulty whatever learn 40 languages, memorize the large Soviet encyclopedia from COVID to cover, and complete the required courses of dozens of colleges. Now, this statement is hardly an exaggeration. It is the generally accepted theoretical view of man's mental potentialities. Now, how can we tap this gigantic potential? Well, it's a big and very complex problem with many ramifications, but as Herbert Otto points out, it is clear that persons who live close to their capacity, who continue to activate their potential, have a pronounced sense of well-being and considerable energy. They see themselves as leading purposeful and creative lives. If everything you have is the result of using just 10% of your mind, consider for a moment what it will mean to you and your family if you can increase this percentage. Now, none of us as a rule has the slightest notion of the real capabilities of his mind, but believe me when I say that your mind can be compared to an undiscovered gold mine, and it makes no difference whether you're 17 or 70. Look at it this way. Your goal is in the future. Your problem is to bridge the gap which exists between where you are now and the goal you intend to reach. This is a problem to solve. Robert Seashore, when chairman of the Department of Psychology at Northwestern University, pointed out that successful people are not people without problems. They're simply people who've learned to solve their problems. And there you have it. Living successfully, getting the things we want from life, is a matter of solving the problems which stand between between where we now are and the point we wish to reach. No one is without problems. They're a part of living. But let me show you how much time we waste in worrying about the wrong problems. Here's a reliable estimate of the things people worry about. Things that never happen, 40%. Things over and past that can't be changed by all the worry in the world, 30%. Needless worries about our health, 12%. Petty miscellaneous worries, 10%. Real legitimate worries, 8%. In short, 92% of the average person's worries take up valuable time, cause painful stress, even mental anguish, and are absolutely unnecessary. And of the real legitimate worries, there are two kinds. There are the problems we can solve, and there are the problems beyond our ability to personally solve. But most of our real problems usually fall into the first group, the ones we can solve, if we learn how. Now I'm going to assume you've decided upon a goal. Your problem is, how do I achieve it? Your goal may be a promotion, a greater income, a beautiful home. It makes little difference what your goal happens to be, but you have your goal and you know that you will become and you will achieve what you think about. That is, if you stay with it, you will reach your goal. But how? Well, it's right here that your mind comes into play. What is your mind? No one knows for sure. Perhaps the best way to describe it is to quote Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Archibald MacLeish. In his play, The Secret of Freedom, a character says, the only thing about a man that is a man is his mind. Everything else you can find in a pig or a horse. That's uncomfortably true. The human mind is the one thing that separates us from the rest of the creatures on Earth. Anything that comes to us in the future will almost certainly come to us as a result of the extent to which we use our minds. And yet it's the last place on earth the average person will turn to for help. In order to reflect just a moment on the human mind, consider what it's accomplished. Human knowledge has advanced more in the past 50 years than in all the preceding 10,000 years of human civilization. Of all the scientists who ever lived, it's estimated that 90% of them are alive today. We've reached in the area of ideas and human advancement a plateau so high it was undreamed of by even the most optimistic forecasters as recently as 10 years ago. But every new idea triggers additional ideas, so that now we're in an era of compounding advancement on every front and in every area that staggers the imagination. Dr. Harlow Shapley of Harvard has said that We're entering an entirely new age of man. He calls it the psychozoic age, the age of the mind, and you own one free and clear. Now let's look at a few facts. Now, the average working person has at his disposal an enormous amount of free time. In fact, if you will total the hours in a year and subtract the sleeping hours, if he sleeps 8 hours every night, you'll find he has almost 6,000 waking hours, of which he spends less than 2,000 on the job. Now this leaves him 4,000 hours a year when he's neither working nor sleeping. These can be called discretionary hours with which we can do pretty much as we please. At least our minds are free. Now, so you can see the amazing results in your life, I want to recommend that you take just 1 hour a day, 5 days a week, and devote this hour to exercising your mind. Pick 1 hour a day on which you can fairly regularly count. And during this hour every day, take a completely blank sheet of paper. At the top of the page, write your present primary goal clearly, simply. Then, since our future depends upon the way in which we handle our work, write down as many ideas as you can for improving that which you now do. Try to think of 20 possible ways in which the activity that fills your day can be improved. You won't always get 20, but even one idea is good. Now remember two important points with regard to this. One, this is not particularly easy, and two, most of your ideas won't be any good. Now, when I say it's not easy, I mean it's like starting any new habit. At first, you'll find your mind a little reluctant to be hauled up and out of the old familiar rut. But as you think about your work and ways in which it might be improved, write down every idea that pops into your mind, no matter how absurd it might seem. Let me tell you what will happen. Some of your ideas will be good and worth testing. The most important thing this extra hour accomplishes, however, is that it deeply embeds your goal into your subconscious mind, starts the whole vital machinery working. And 20 ideas a day, if you can come up with that many, total 100 a week, even if you don't think on weekends. An hour a day, 5 days a week, totals 260 hours a year and still leaves you 3,740 hours of free leisure time. Now, this means you'll be thinking about your goal and ways of improving your performance, increasing your service, 6.5 full extra working weeks a year. 6.5 40-hour weeks devoted to thinking and planning. Can you see how easy it is to rise above the so-called competition? And we'll still leave you with 15 hours a day to spend as you please. Starting each day thinking, you'll find that your mind will continue to work all day long. You'll find that at odd moments when you least expect it, really great ideas will begin to pop into your mind. And when they do, write them down as soon as you can. Just one great idea can completely revolutionize your work and as a result, your life. If you want to develop the muscles of your body, you take daily exercise of some sort. Well, the mind is developed in the same way. Except that the returns are out of all conceivable proportion to the time and energy spent. I've used this system for years and it's given me some of the most gratifying and rewarding experiences of my life. And it costs only 5 hours a week, 5 hours out of 168. Is it worth it? It's like spending 5 hours a week digging in a solid vein of pure gold, because your mind is all of that and much more. Each time you write your goal at the top of the sheet of paper, don't worry or become concerned about it. Think of it as only waiting to be reached, a problem only waiting to be solved. Face it with faith and bend all the great powers of your mind towards solving it. And believe me, solve it you will. Now let's briefly recap. This week, start spending 1 hour each day getting as many ideas as you can. Try for 20 a day on ways to improve what you're now doing. Remember, the achievement of your goal very likely depends upon it. As does your whole future. 2, if everything you now have is the result of using, say, 5 to 10% of your mental abilities, you can imagine what life will be like if you can increase this figure to 20% or more. 3, successful people are not people without problems. They're simply people who've learned to solve their problems. 4, don't waste time and energy worrying about needless things. 40% of them will never happen. 30% have already happened and can't be changed. 12% are needless worries about our health, 10% are petty miscellaneous worries, and only 8% are real. Try to separate the real from the unnecessary and solve those which are within your ability to solve. Last of all, the only thing in the world that can take you to your goals in life is your mind, its effective use, and following through on the good ideas it supplies you. Each of us has a tendency to underestimate his or her own abilities. We should realize that we have deep within ourselves a reservoir of great ability, even genius, that can be tapped if we'll just dig deep enough. It's the miracle of your mind.

I'd like to tell you about the strangest secret in the world. Not long ago, Albert Schweitzer, the great doctor and Nobel Prize winner, was being interviewed in London. And a reporter asked him, "Doctor, what's wrong with men today?" The great doctor was silent a moment, and then he said, "Men simply don't think." And it's about this that I want to talk with you. We live today in a golden age. This is an era that man has looked forward, dreamed of, and worked toward for thousands of years. But since it's here, we pretty well take it for granted. We in America are particularly fortunate to live in the richest land land that ever existed on the face of the earth, a land of abundant opportunity for everyone. But do you know what happens? Let's take 100 men who start even at the age of 25. Do you have any idea what will happen to those men by the time they're 65? These 100 men who all start even at the age of 25 believe they're going to be successful. If you asked any one of these men if he wanted to be a success, he'd tell you that He did. And you'd notice that he was eager toward life, that 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 they're 65, 1 will be rich, 4 will be financially independent, 5 will still be working, 54 will be broke. Now think a moment. Out of the 100, only 5 make the grade. Why do so many fail? What has happened to the sparkle that was there when they were 25? What's become of the dreams, the hopes, the plans? And why is there such a large disparity between what these men intended to do and what they actually accomplished? When we say about 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's 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 is conformity. 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 think of it. In America right now, there are over 14 million people 65 years of age and over, and about 13 million of these 14 million are broke. They're dependent on someone else for life's necessities. 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 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. And the trouble is that we're acting like the wrong percentage group, the 95% who don't succeed. Now, why do these people conform? Well, they don't know, really. These people believe believe that their lives are shaped by circumstances, by things that happen to them, by exterior forces. They're outer-directed people. A survey was made one time that covered a lot of men, working men, and these men were asked this question: Why do you work? Why do you get up in the morning? 19 out of 20 had no idea. If you ask them, they'll say everyone goes to work in the morning, and that's 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 man who succeeds is the man who is progressively realizing a worthy ideal. He's the man who says, I'm going to become this, and then begins to work toward that goal. I'll tell you who the successful people are. A success is the schoolteacher who's teaching school because that's what she wanted to do. The success is the woman who's a wife and mother because she wanted to be become a wife and mother and is doing a good job of it. The success is the man who runs the corner gas station because that's what he wanted to do. The success is the successful salesman who wants to become a top-notch salesman and grow and build with his organization. A success is anyone who is doing deliberately a predetermined job because that's 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. Now, for 20 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 could foretell to a large extent? Was there a key that would 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've found it. Have you ever wondered why so many men work so hard and honestly without ever achieving anything in particular, and others don't seem to work hard and yet seem to get everything? They have the magic touch. You've heard them say that about someone. Everything he touches turns to gold. And have you ever noticed that a man who becomes successful tends to continue to become successful? And on the other hand, have you noticed how a man who is a failure tends to continue to fail? It's because of goals. Some of us have them, some don't. People with goals succeed because they know where they're going. Now think of a ship leaving a harbor and think of it with the complete voyage mapped out and planned. The captain and crew know exactly where it's going and how long it will take. It has a definite goal. 9,999 times out of 10,000, it will get to where it started out to get. 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 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. Take the salesman, for example. There is no other person in the world today with the future of a good salesman. Selling is the world's highest-paid profession if we're good at it and if we know where we're going. Every company needs top-notch salesmen, and they reward those men. The sky is the limit for them. But how many can you find? Someone once said the human race is fixed not to prevent the strong from winning, but to prevent the weak from losing. The American economy today can be likened to a convoy in time of war. The entire economy is slowed down to protect its weakest link, just as the convoy had to go at the speed that would 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. So we have a plateau of so-called security, if that's what what a person's looking for, but we do have to decide how high above this plateau we want to aim for. Now let's get back to the strangest secret in the world, the story that I wanted to tell you today. Why do men with goals succeed in life and men without them fail? Well, let me tell you something which, if you really understand it, will alter your life immediately. If you understand completely what I'm going to tell you, from this moment on, your life will never be the same again. You'll suddenly find that good luck just seems to be attracted to you. The things you want just seem to fall in line. And from now on, you won't have the problems, the worries, the gnawing lump of anxiety that perhaps you've experienced before. Doubt, fear, well, they'll be things of the past. 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 is only on this one point that they are in complete and unanimous agreement. Listen to what Marcus Aurelius, the great Roman Emperor, said. He said, A man's life is what his thoughts make of it. Disraeli said this: Everything comes if a man will only wait. I have 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 he also 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 interest in it will be those which characterize belief. He also said this: If you only care enough for a result, you will almost certainly attain it. If you wish to be rich, you will be rich. If you wish to be learned, you will be learned. If you wish to be good, you will be good. Only you must then really wish these things and wish them exclusively, and not wish at the same time 100 other incompatible things just as strongly. In the Bible, you read in Mark 9:23, "If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth." Dr. Norman Vincent Peale said this: This is one of the greatest laws in the universe. Fervently do I wish I had discovered it as a very young man. It dawned upon me much later in life, and I found it to be one of the greatest, if not my greatest discovery. Outside of my relationship to God. And the great law, briefly and simply stated, is that if you think in negative terms, you'll get negative results. If you think in positive terms, you will achieve positive results. That is the simple fact which is at the basis of an astonishing law of prosperity and success. In three words: believe and succeed. William Shakespeare put it this way: our doubts are traitors and make us lose the good we oft might win by fearing to attempt. 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? And every person who discovered this for a while believed that he was the first one to work it out. We become what we think about. Now, it stands to reason that a person who's thinking about a concrete 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, who doesn't know where he's going, and whose thoughts must therefore be he thoughts of confusion and anxiety and 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. Now, how does it work? Why do we become what we think about? Well, I'll tell you how it works, as far as we know. Now, to do this, I want to tell you about a situation that parallels the human mind. Suppose a farmer has some land, and it's good fertile land. Now, the land gives the farmer a choice. He may plant in that land whatever he chooses. The land doesn't care. It's up to the farmer to make the decision. Now, remember, we're comparing the human mind with the land because the mind, like the land, doesn't care what you plant in it. It will return what you plant, but it doesn't care what you plant. Now, let's say that the farmer has two seeds in his hand. One is a seed of corn. The other is nightshade, a deadly poison. He digs two little holes in the earth and he plants both seeds, one corn, the other nightshade. He covers up the holes, waters, and takes care of the land, and what will happen? Invariably, the land will return what is planted. As it's written in the Bible, as ye sow, so shall ye reap. Remember, the land doesn't care. It will return poison in just as wonderful abundance as it will corn. So up Out come the two plants, one corn, one poison. Now 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, failure, a concrete worthwhile goal, or confusion, misunderstanding, fear, anxiety, and so on. But what we plant, it will return to us. You see, the human mind is the last great unexplored continent. Equipment on the earth. It contains riches beyond our wildest dreams. It will return anything we want to plant. Now you might say, well, if that's true, why don't people use their minds more? Well, I think they've figured out an answer to that too. 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 The fact is that exactly the reverse is true. Everything that's really worthwhile in life came to us free. Our mind, our soul, our body, our hopes, our dreams, our ambitions, our intelligence, our love of family 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 home burns down, we can rebuild it. But the things we got for nothing, we can never replace. The human mind isn't used merely because we take it for granted. Familiarity breeds contempt. It can do any kind of job we assign to it, but generally speaking, we use it for little jobs instead of big important ones. Universities have proved that most of us are operating on about 10% of our abilities. Decide now. What is it you want? Plant your goal in your mind. It's the most important decision you ever make in your entire life. Do you want to be an outstanding salesman, a better worker at your particular job? Do you want to go places in your company, in your community? All you've 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 is 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've reached your goal. Ours has been called the phenobarbital age, the age of ulcers and nervous breakdowns. At a time when medical research has raised us to a new plateau of good health and longevity, far too many of us worry ourselves into an early grave trying to cope with things in our own little personal ways without learning a few great laws that will take care of everything for us. These things we bring on ourselves through our habitual way of thinking. Every one of us is the sum total of his own thoughts. He is where he is because that is exactly where he really wants to be, whether he'll admit that or not. Each of us must live off the fruit of his 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 I was driving through Arizona and I saw one of those giant earth-moving machines roaring along the road at about 35 miles an hour with what looked like 20 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. And 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 two-edged 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 ever 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 for bad. This is the strangest secret in the world. 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, understand it. That's why it's strange, and why, for some equally strange reason, it virtually remains a secret. I believe that you could go out and walk down the main street of your town and ask one man after another what the secret of success is, and you probably wouldn't run into one man in a month who could tell you. Now, this This information is enormously valuable to us if we really understand it and apply it. It's valuable to us not only for our own lives, but the lives of those around us—our family, employees, associates, and friends. Life should be an exciting adventure. It should never be a bore. A man should live fully, be alive. He should be glad to get out of bed in the morning. He should be doing a job he likes to do because he does it well. One time I heard Grove Patterson make a speech, the editor-in-chief of the Toledo Daily Blade, and as he concluded his speech, he said something that I've never forgotten. He said something like this: My years in the newspaper business have convinced me of several things, among them that people are basically good and that we came from someplace and 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 Galilee, gave us the secret time and time again: As ye believe, so shall it be done unto you. On side number 1 of this record, I've explained the strangest secret in the world and how it works. Now, on this side, I want to explain how you can prove to yourself the enormous returns possible in your own life by putting this secret to a practical test. I want you to make a test that will last 30 days. Now, it isn't going to be easy. If you'll give it a good try, it will completely change your life for the better. Back in the 17th century, Sir Isaac Newton the English mathematician and natural philosopher, gave us some natural laws of physics which apply as much to human beings as they do to the movement of bodies in the universe. Now, one of these laws is that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. Simply stated, as it applies to you and me, it means we can achieve nothing without paying the price. The results of your 30 of the 30-day experiment will be in direct proportion to the effort you put forth. To be a doctor, you must pay the price of long years of difficult study. To be successful in selling— and remember that each of us succeeds to the extent of his ability to sell— selling our families on our ideas, selling education in schools, selling our children on the advantages of living the good and honest life, selling our associates and employees on the importance of being exceptional professional people, to, of course, the profession of selling itself. But to be successful in selling our way to the good life, we must be willing to pay the price. Now, what is that price? Well, it's many things. First, it's understanding emotionally as well as intellectually that we literally become what we think about, that we must control our thoughts if we're to control our lives. It's understanding fully that as ye sow, so shall ye reap. Secondly, it's cutting away all the fetters from the mind and permitting it to soar as it was divinely designed to do. It's the realization that your limitations are self-imposed and that the opportunities for you today are enormous beyond belief. It's rising above narrow-minded pettiness and prejudice. Thirdly, to use all your courage to force yourself to think positively on your own problem, to set a definite and clearly defined goal for yourself, to let your marvelous mind think about your goal from all possible angles, to let your imagination speculate freely upon many different possible solutions, to refuse to believe there are any circumstances sufficiently strong to defeat you in the accomplishment of your purpose. To act promptly and decisively when your course is clear, and to keep constantly aware of the fact that you are at this moment standing in the middle of your own acre of diamonds, as Russell Conwell used to point out. Fourth, save at least 10% of what you earn. It's also remembering that no matter what your present job, it has enormous possibilities if you're willing to pay pay the price. Now let's just go over the important points in the price each of us must pay to achieve the wonderful life that can be ours. It is, of course, worth any price. 1, you will become what you think about. 2, remember the word imagination. Let your mind soar. 3, courage. Concentrate on your goal every day. 4, save 10% of what you earn. And Action. Ideas are worthless unless we act on them. Now I'll try to outline the 30-day test I want you to make. Now keep in mind that you have nothing to lose by making this test and everything you could possibly want to gain. There are two things that may be said of everyone: each of us wants something, and each of us is afraid of something. I want you to write on a card what it is you want more than 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. Each of us wants something. Write down on your card specifically what it is that 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 yours really the moment you write it down and begin to think about it. Look at the abundance all around you as you go about your daily business. You have as much right to this abundance as any other living creature. It's yours for the asking. Now we come to the difficult part. Difficult because it means the formation of what is probably a brand new habit, and new habits are not easily formed. Once formed, however, it will follow you for the rest of your life. Stop thinking about what it is you fear. Each time a fearful or negative thought comes into your consciousness, replace it with a mental picture of your positive and worthwhile goal. There will come times when you will feel like giving up. It's easier for a human being to think negatively than positively. That's why only 5% are successful. You must begin begin now to place yourself in that group. For 30 days, you must take control of your mind. It will think only about what you permit it to think. Each day for this 30-day test, do more than you have to do. In addition to maintaining a cheerful, positive outlook, give of yourself more than you've ever done before. Do this knowing that your returns in life must be in direct proportion to what you give. The moment you decide on a goal to work toward, you're immediately a successful person. You're then in that rare and successful category of people who know where they're going. Out of every 100 people, you belong to the top 5. Don't concern yourself too much with how you're 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. Remember these words from the Sermon on the Mount, and remember them well. Keep them constantly before you this month of your test. Ask, and it shall be given you. Seek, and ye shall find. Knock, and it shall be opened unto you. For everyone that asketh receiveth. And he that seeketh findeth, and to him that knocketh it shall be opened. 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. For 30 days, do your best. If you're a salesman, go Go at it as you've never done before, not in hectic fashion, but with the calm, cheerful assurance that time well spent will give you the abundance in return you deserve and want. If you're a homemaker, devote your 30-day test to complete giving of yourself without thinking about receiving anything in return, and you'll be amazed at the difference it makes in your life. No matter what your job, do it as you've never done it before for 30 days. And if you've kept your goal before you every day, You'll wonder and marvel at this new life you found. Dorothea Brand, outstanding editor and writer, discovered it for herself and tells about it in her fine book Wake Up and Live. Her entire philosophy is reduced to the words: act as though it were impossible to fail. She made her own test with sincerity and faith, and her entire life was changed to one of over overwhelming success. Now you make your test for 30 full days. Don't start your test until you've made up your mind to stick with it. You see, by being persistent, you're demonstrating faith. Persistence is simply another word for faith. If you didn't have faith, you would never persist. If you should fail during your first 30 days— by that I mean suddenly find yourself overwhelmed by negative thoughts, you've got to 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. Don't forget the card. It's vitally important as you begin this new way of living. On one side of the card, write your goal. Whatever it may be. On the other side, write the words we've quoted from the Sermon on the Mount: Ask and it shall be given you. Seek and ye shall find. Knock and it shall be opened unto you. In your spare time during your test period, read books that will help you. Inspirational books like the Bible, Dorothea Brand's Wake Up and Live, The Magic of The Power of Believing by Claude Bristol and other books that instruct and inspire. Nothing great was ever accomplished without inspiration. See that during these crucial first 30 days, your own inspiration is kept at a peak. 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. Remember also to keep calm and cheerful. Calm and cheerful. Don't let petty things annoy you and get you off course. Now, since making this test is difficult difficult. Some may say, well, why should I bother? Well, look at the alternative. No one wants to be a failure. No one really wants to be a mediocre individual. No one wants a life constantly filled with worry, fear, and frustration. Therefore, remember that you must reap that which you sow. If you sow negative thoughts, your life will be filled with negative things. If you sow positive thoughts, your life will be cheerful, successful, and positive. Now, gradually, you will have a tendency to forget what you've heard on this record. Play it often. Keep reminding yourself of what you must do to form this new habit. Gather your whole family about and listen to what's been said here at regular intervals. You know, most men will tell you but they want to make money without understanding the law. The only people who make money work in the 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. The only way to earn money is by providing people with services or products which are needed and useful. We exchange our product or service for the other man's money. Therefore, the law is that our financial return will be in direct proportion to our service. Success is not the result of making money. Making money is the result of success, and success is in direct proportion to our service. Most people have this law backwards. They believe that you're successful if you earn a lot of money. The truth is that you can only earn money after you're successful. It's like the story of the man who sat in front of the stove and said 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's no limit to the prosperity and abundance that will come to you. Prosperity is founded upon a 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 someplace, for that is the law. For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. As you go daily through your 30-day test period, remember that your success will always be measured by the quality and quantity of service you render, and money is a yardstick for measuring this service. No man can get rich himself unless he enriches others. There are no exceptions to a law. You can drive down any street in America and from your car estimate the service that's being rendered by the people living on that street. Had you ever thought of this yardstick before? It's interesting. Some, like ministers and priests and other devoted people, measure their returns in the realm of the spiritual. But again, their returns are equal to their service. 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 has only to reduce this service. This is is the price you must pay for what you want. If you believe you can enrich yourself by deluding others, you can only end by deluding yourself. It may take some time, but just as surely as you breathe, you'll get back what you put out. Don't ever make the mistake of thinking you can avert this. It's impossible. The prisons and the streets where the lonely walk are filled with people who tried to make new laws just for themselves. We may avoid the laws of man, but there are greater laws that cannot be broken. An outstanding medical doctor recently pointed out 6 steps that will help you realize success. One, set yourself a definite goal. Two, quit running yourself down. Three, stop thinking of all the reasons why you cannot be successful, and instead think of all the reasons why you can. Four, trace your attitudes back through your childhood and try to discover where you first got the idea you couldn't be a success, if that's the way you've been thinking. 5. Change the image you have of yourself by writing out a description of the person you would like to be. And 6. Act the part of the successful person you have decided to become. 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. Start today. You have nothing to lose, but you have a life to win.

This is Earl Nightingale, and thank you.

For some more incredible Earl Nightingale motivation, check the video right there next to me.

I think you'll love it. Continue to believe, and I'll see you there.

Right off the bat, let's get rid of the old myth once and for all that money is not important. Money is important to any person living in civilized society.

The amount of money we receive will always be in direct ratio to the need for what we do