Freedom is - (period.)  

Lesson 02 - Earl Nightingale - Know the Strangest Secret

Transcript:

Born in Los Angeles and raised in Long Beach during the Depression years, the poverty Earl Nightingale's family endured sparked his years of study to find out why his family and relatives were poor while others were much better off. And his introduction to the Long Beach City library during his childhood started fulfilling that quest.

Later,  while stationed as a Marine in Hawaii, he volunteered at the local radio station. But his professional work in this field began in Phoenix, where he learned his basics and went on to Chicago's WGN to build a profitable and expanding daily commentary program.  While so successful that he retired from his union broadcasting job at age 35, during this he also uncovered a key secret in a used book store in Chicago - the secret he had been looking for his entire life - found in a used copy of Napoleon Hill's Think and Grow Rich.

Nightingale invested in an insurance company, and would spend hours inspiring them with motivational talks. Once, due for a long vacation, his sales manager suggested he record a talk they could play over and over in his absence. Waking with inspiration at 4am one morning, he rushed to his study to write out what had come to him during his sleep.  This recording became the first spoken-word record to sell over a million copies and go Gold.

This was his Strangest Secret recording.

Available in various formats even today, this recording has influenced an entire generation of its own.

Here are what I consider the key points - though you should get a copy of this transcript as well as the actual recording for your own regular use:

1. Success is the progressive realization of a worthy ideal.

2. People with goals succeed because they know where they're going. It's that simple. Failures, on the other hand, believe that their lives are shaped by circumstances - by things that happen to them - by exterior forces.

3. The key to success and the key to failure is this - WE BECOME WHAT WE THINK ABOUT.

4. A person who is thinking about a concrete and worthwhile goal is going to reach it, because that's what he's thinking about. Conversely, the person who has no goal, who doesn't know where he's going, and whose thoughts must therefore be thoughts of confusion, anxiety, fear, and worry will thereby create a life of frustration, fear, anxiety and worry. And if he thinks about nothing - he becomes nothing.

5. Our mind can do any kind of job we assign to it, but generally speaking, we use it for little jobs instead of big ones. So decide now. What is it you want? Plant your goal in your mind. It's the most important decision you'll ever make in your entire life.

6. Every one of us is the sum total of our own thoughts. We are where we are because that's exactly where we really want or feel we deserve to be - whether we'll admit that or not. Each of us must live off the fruit of our thoughts in the future, because what you think today and tomorrow - next month and next year - will mold your life and determine your future. You're guided by your mind.

7. You see, the very law that gives us success is a double-edged sword. We must control our thinking. The same rule that can lead people to lives of success, wealth, happiness, and all the things they ever dreamed of - that very same law can lead them into the gutter. It's all in how they use it - for good or for bad. That is The Strangest Secret!

8. The moment you decide on a goal to work toward, you're immediately a successful person - you are then in that rare group of people who know where they're going. Out of every hundred people, you belong to the top five. Don't concern yourself too much with how you are going to achieve your goal - leave that completely to a power greater than yourself. All you have to do is know where you're going. The answers will come to you of their own accord, and at the right time.

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Nightingale gave a 30-day program to follow in that recording.  And certainly, you could follow that and become a complete success in everything you set your mind to.

Your lesson assignment will incorporate many steps of this program - so that you, too, can master the Strangest Secret.

Assignment:

We are going to borrow from  Nightingale's 30-day program to advance your progress this week. If you can get a copy of his recording, “The Strangest Secret”, it will help keep you motivated. Again, while Nighingale-Conant and others still offer his recording, you can also get this as a free download from different sites. (It's even been made into a video several times and available that way.)

These steps will add to what you are doing on a daily basis:

1. “I want you to write on a card what it is you want more that anything else. It may be more money. Perhaps you'd like to double your income or make a specific amount of money. It may be a beautiful home. It may be success at your job. It may be a particular position in life. It could be a more harmonious family. Each of us wants something.

“Write down on your card specifically what it is you want. Make sure it's a single goal and clearly defined. You needn't show it to anyone, but carry it with you so that you can look at it several times a day. Think about it in a cheerful, relaxed, positive way each morning when you get up, and immediately you have something to work for ---- something to get out of bed for, something to live for.

“Look at it every chance you get during the day and just before going to bed at night. As you look at it, remember that you must become what you think about, and since you're thinking about your goal, you realize that soon it will be yours. In fact, it's really yours the moment you write it down and begin to think about it.”

2. “Now we come to the difficult part. Difficult because it means the formation of what isa probably a brand-new habit, and habits are not easily formed: Stop thinking about what it is you fear. Each time a fearful or negative thought comes into your mind, replace it with a mental picture of your positive and worthwhile goal. And there will come times when you'll feel like giving up. It's easier for a human being to think negatively than positively.”

3. 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 every one that asketh, recieveth. And he that seeketh, findeth. And to him that knocketh, it shall be opened."

Nightingale actually recommended to write these words on the back of that card above. You read the your goal on one side and then flip it over to read the other.

4. “Devote your thirty-day test to completely giving of yourself without thinking of giving 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've found.”

5. “See that during these crucial first thirty days, your own inspiration is kept at a peak. And above all, don't worry. Worry brings fear, and fear is crippling. The only thing that could cause worry during this test is trying to do it all yourself. Know that all you have to do is to hold your goal before you. Everything else will take care of itself. Remember also to keep calm and cheerful. Don't let petty things annoy you and get you off course.”

Stay tuned for Lesson 06...

Where we learn from an Hawaiian Kahuna, who teaches us the 7 underlying principles that guide and transform all life on this planet - and have since before there was recorded history...