In thirteen minutes Earl Nightingale explains how some people reach the top!
Earl Nightingale (Mar. 12, 1921 – Mar. 25, 1989) was an American radio speaker and author who talked about human character development, motivation and the meaning of life. The economist Terry Savage said that Nightingale’s book The Strangest Secret was one of the all time great motivational books.
Nightingale joined the Marine Corps when he was 17 and was on board the USS Arizona during the attack on Pearl Harbor. Surviving that, has to be a life changing experience. After the war he was inspired by the reading of Napoleon Hill’s book Think and Grow Rich. It was in 1956 that he created the spoken word record “The Strangest Secret”, which sold one million copies.
It’s only a small percentage of people who are successful. Imagine 100 men, age 25 standing in line in somewhere in America, the land of opportunity. At the age of 65 this is what would happen to them after 40 years of work.
- 1 will be wealthy
- 4 will be independent
- 5 will still be working
- 36 will be dead
- 54 will be dependent on government assistance or family support
Why is it that only a small percentage will be successful? The top 5% didn’t follow the crowd. They made a plan and stuck with it over the long haul. The rest spent what they made, and tried to save what was left. The problem was there never seemed to be enough. Everyone wants to appear successful so they buy the house they can’t really afford and drive the car that doesn’t really fit into their budget, so they can look good. When you add on the high cost of higher education, that becomes the iceberg that sinks many ships.
Most people do what they must to receive a pay check, but your wealth is based on how you do what you do, and how much you save. It doesn’t matter how much you make because everybody wants to appear to be making more. If you spend all you have you can’t pay yourself. Within every job is an opportunity to learn something. But you must look for it. If you develop an attitude of making the most of each situation, over a five year period, something has got to happen.
I started blogger over five years ago as something to keep my mind active after 40 years of work. Of course it would have been nice to add to my social security check but I had to overcome the learning curve of internet marketing. As a baby boomer, the tech stuff went over my head but I had a way of putting my words together. I’m determined by nature and I developed a can do attitude from being in two branches of the military.
Find something that catches your interest that requires your unique skills. I always like reading about the people who got involved in personal development. I was also inspire by Napoleon’s book Thing and Grow Rich, but when I discovered his first work Law of Success I was blown away. I had ordered the hardback edition and was surprised when it arrived with over 1,000 pages.
Over the years I attended seminars to hear the top motivational speakers – Les Brown, Zig Ziglar, and Darren Hardy. In fact Darren Hardy as the publisher of Success Magazine introduced me Jim Rohn. He was inside the magazine on a CD program that gave a speech that caught my attention and turned me into a lifetime fan.
I started writing about motivational speakers and some of the things they had to overcome to be successful as it related to me. The blogging company folded but I kept writing because my focus was on personal development, not company techniques. What I learned is how to do the basic stuff like write, cut and paste.
Along the journey I discovered a unique way to save. Many a house has been built brick by brick. Now I know how to build my financial house gram by gram.
Earl E. Hackett
Writer, blogger, author
Hackett Global Marketing 