Excerpts from
Earl Nightingale's Greatest Discovery by Earl Nightingale Order in Adobe PDF eBook or printed form for $9.95 (+ printing charge) or click here to order in printed form from Amazon.com for $16.95 Book Description Earl Nightingale, for the first
time in any book, presents his greatest
discovery, now his own time-tested formula for success, and tells a new
generation how to apply it to the hectic pulse of contemporary life He
has re-examined
the theme he first recorded thirty years ago, and the result is an
exciting but
practical guide to succeeding as a curious, adventuresome, and happy
person. What is success? Why do some
succeed
and others never make it? Is it worth all the sacrifice required, or
are we
chasing a dream that can never be satisfied? Earl Nightingale, the
fabulously successful
businessman, broadcaster, and philosopher of achievement began a search
for the
answers to those questions at an early age that led him to write his
famous
essay, The Strangest Secret in
1956. First recorded at CBS and then produced by Columbia Records,
Nightingale's essay became the first spoken message ever to receive a
Gold Record
for selling more than 1,000,000 copies and was the precursor of
today's
booming audiotape industry. In response to the growing success of
his message,
in I960 Nightingale and his good friend. Lloyd Conant, formed the
Nightingale-Conant Corporation, today's leader in the audio
publishing
Industry.
Foreword While vacationing with my
family in Hawaii I received a long-distance telephone call from my
secretary.
"I know that you told me to keep all business matters strictly on hold
until you return," she said, "but I just knew that you would want to
have this message." "I sure hope it is
important," I responded, "because I do not want to even think about
anything for the next few weeks." "You received a
telephone call from Earl Nightingale," she informed me "He wants you
to write the foreword for his book, Earl Nightingale's Greatest
Discovery:
"The Strang-est Secret... Revisited." I was sure you would want
to know that right away since you've always talked so enthusi-astically
about
the importance of his message, and you listen to that tape every week." Five minutes later I was on
the telephone to Earl and when we finished our conversation I said to
my wife,
"Can you imagine, Earl Nightingale, the author of The Strangest
Secret, actually wants me to write the foreword for his book. This
is
one of the
greatest honors of my life." You see, the content of The
Strangest Secret has been a source of inspiration for me for as
long as I
can remember. Somehow the words on that beautiful little recording
solidified a
philosophy of life that I had always practiced, yet had never seen
articulated
in print or on a recording. I have recommended to many of my clients
over the
years, listen to The Strangest Secret, I have told my
children, listen
to The Strangest Secret, my business associates,
friends, clerks,
and even total strangers who seem to need a shining beam of truth in
their lives. Always the advice is the same—listen to The Strangest
Secret. Listen
carefully and come back to me with how you think the message might
apply to
you. So, you can well imagine my state of excitement when I heard the
words—Earl Nightingale wants you to write the foreword for his book—Earl
Nightingale's Greatest Discovery: "The Strangest Secret...
Revisited." As honored and thrilled as
I was to have Earl ask me to say something here in the pages of this
magnificent
book, somehow it seems fitting. For all of my life I have been blessed
with
this marvelous gift of knowing the importance of The Strangest
Secret. I
have used it since I was a little boy. I have applied the essential
messages of
this book throughout all the days of my life, and parlayed the
essential ingredients
of the "strangest secret" into any and all success I have ever
enjoyed. I have lived The Strangest Secret since I
first showed
up on this planet in 1940, and Earls recording, and now his
long—overdue book
are the instruments which have illustrated to me most vividly—"Yes,
that's
it. I've been doing it this way all along and it really works." For me,
Wayne Dyer, Earl's contributions have been the exclamation point on a
lifetime
of living by my own inner signals. For many others, Earl provides a
glorious
road map for how to get out of the self-imposed rut that they may have
created
for themselves. It matters not how you use
Earl's recordings and this book, just the fact that the information is
now in
print makes me feel that many many people will be able to benefit and
use the
"strangest secret" in ways based upon where they are on the path of
their own enlightenment. And as Earl states so fittingly, "We are here
only to serve others," and serve others he has done for a lifetime. But
somehow, with the publication of this book, Earl's lifetime of serving
is now
fixed in permanence. The library shelves of the world will now house Earl
Nightingales Greatest Discovery. Inquisi-tive children still
unborn, will
leaf through the pages of this gem in a future generation or even a
future
millenium. It is now where it has always belonged: available for
everyone, in
all languages, in a form that will last forever. A recording is a magnificent
way to experience a piece of truth and beauty, but a book is something
to curl
up with, to open on a long airplane ride, or to keep handy as a
reference
during a particularly troublesome time. Obviously, I am ecstatic
that Earl has put his message into this format. It deserves to be a
BOOK! When I was a very young
boy, a woman once told me three words that literally sum up the message
of Earl
Night-ingale's Greatest Discovery. She said, "Wayne, if you don't
want
something bad to happen, or if you want good things for yourself in
your life,
be careful about what you think, for you will become what you think as
sure as
the dawn follows night. Always remember, THOUGHTS ARE THINGS." Wow
— the entire world wrapped up in those three magic words — THOUGHTS
ARE THINGS! Think hard on this as you read the pages of
Earl's book. A
thought is the
most powerful force in the universe. You can make of your life whatever
you
wish if you learn to make your thoughts work for you. Today, workshops are
conducted all over the country on Creative Imagery, Visualization,
Selftalk, Success-Imagery,
Positive Affirmations, and the like. Volumes are being written on the
subject,
and even hard-core scientists and pragmatic diehards in all fields are
beginning to explore this realm of thought as a vehicle for
transformation. In education, business, religion, medicine and
virtually all
fields of human exploration, the emphasis is now shifting to the
importance of
attitude and thought. Business leaders spend millions on training their
workers
to use their creative thinking capacities and attitudes to improve the
bottom line.
Medical schools, that once scorned the idea of the mind as healer, now
offer specialized
courses in wellness training and visualization as adjuncts to the
entire
healing process. Educators are redirecting
their efforts to help young people to understand the significance of
their
"selftalk" in the formation of their self-images, and ultimately
their success in life. The focus is now, more than ever, on how one
thinks and
uses his unlimited potential for positive-attitude development to
create the
kind of existence one desires. All of this "new thought" or "new
age" thinking originated in the concepts that Earl Nightingale recorded
and has now written in this book. Thoughts Are Things! Positive
thoughts
create a positive image, and soon the individual will act upon those
images,
rather than the negative, self-defeating thoughts that previously
filled one's
conscious-ness. Being healthy is a function of first thinking healthy.
The will to live is nothing more than a thought to
live. The belief in one's abilities is nothing more than a thought
in
one's
abilities. The perseverance to push onward is nothing more
than the thought
to push onward. The expectation of happiness is nothing more
than the thought of happiness. The desire to be loved
is nothing more
than the thought to be loved. Indeed, it all boils down to THOUGHT. While some may say that it
is too simple to say that thought controls everything, nevertheless,
for me it
is crystal clear. We in fact become what we think about each and every
day. I
believe so strongly in this message that I take it several steps
further. It is
my belief that once we remove all the junk inside of us, that is the
hate,
anger, fear, depression, anxiety, stress and so on, we then open
ourselves up
for unlimited use of our thinking abilities. When we are clear
inside—or
centered if you will— thinking miracles begin to occur. We can think
our way to
levels never before even imagined while so filled with the junk. And
how do we
rid ourselves of that inner junkpile? By acknowledging that it only
gets there through
thought in the first place. There is no stress in the world, only
people
thinking stressfully. There is no anxiety in our world, only people
thinking
anxiously. The logic is irrefutable. Thought creates our inner world,
and
thought can eradicate that which we have created which is
self-defeating. How
does one do it? By taking charge of how one elects to think each and
every
moment, one day at a time. The habit of thinking in healthful
productive ways
can replace the habit of thinking in self-condemning ways. In this
book, Earl
makes it easy for us to see specifically how to make our minds works
for us; to
become what we choose through thought. I have never seen it written
more
succinctly, nor have I read it stated in a more readable style. Earl Nightingale's great
gift to millions of us over the years has been his ability to
communicate seemingly
complex matters in a commonsense listenable way. His very brief
broadcast
required him to get to the point and eliminate all of the oatmeal.
Those
thousands and thousands of five-minute spots provided Earl with the
discipline
for getting to it. As you read through this eminently readable volume,
you will
see the effects of those years. The precision is right here in every
page. The uncounted
"AH HAs" will astound you. Most books in the
"self-development" field are manuals to study, much like a reference
text. Believe it or not, this book is a page-turner, a rarity indeed in
this
field. Just like you can't wait to hear the rest of one of Earl's radio
spots,
here you will find yourself wanting to read more. Earl has combined
philosophy,
psychology, socio-logy, and his love for the English Language with his
plain
old-fashioned horse sense, and created what I am absolutely certain
will be a
classic in its own field. He has created his own genre, his own format,
and it
will defy compartmentalization. It is uniquely Earl Nightingale. Just
like his
recordings have the specialized stamp of a one-of-a-kind presentation,
with his
immediately recognizable gravelly voice, a blending of quotations from
the
masters, and his own common sense from having been "dragged up"
through the suffering and stench of poverty, so, too, does this book
have the
Nightingale stamp of uniqueness. It is all here: the stories that
capture your
imagination, the philosophy that is timeless, the wisdom born of having
lived
through it, and the remarkable advice that can transform your life if
you so
choose. This book, like its classic predecessor in the audio format, is
like a
warm shower running inside of me. It feels right, it is comforting, and
it also
is an instrument for cleansing. I am proud to have shared a few of my
thoughts
in the opening pages of this jewel. While I am mighty proud of my many
books
and recordings in the entire field of human development, I must say
that many
of the ideas in those products had their original seeds sown in the
simple
logic and the powerful words of Earl Nightingale's Greatest
Discovery. As you read through the
pages of this book, keep in mind those powerful words that I heard as a
very
young boy: Thoughts Are Things. For indeed, if you can get
hold of this
idea, and take total control of your own free will to think as you
choose, and
then take action on those new and self-serving thoughts, you will not
only
transform your own life, but you will begin to impact in the same way
on those
around you. And ultimately, it is only through a change in
consciousness
(thought) that the entire world will be transformed. Such is the impact
of this
critically important book. A thought can transform you, those
immediately
around you, and the entire world as well. Thank you, Earl, for
putting your life-changing thoughts down on paper, and for thinking of
me to be
a small part of your contribution, I can only say I am honored—and that
is no
secret! Dr. Wayne W. Dyer Author, Your Erroneous
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