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 good 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 to, 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 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 you 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 and erectness to his carriage, and life seemed like a pretty
interesting adventure to him. But by the time they're
65, one will be rich. Four will be financially independent, five will still be working, 54 will be broke. Now, think a moment. Out of the 100, only five make the grade. Why do so many fail? What has happened to these
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 learned to read
by the time we were seven. We learned 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 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 school teacher 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 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 one 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 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 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 any place 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 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 will 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 knowing 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 will 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've 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 will 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 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 you sow, so shall you reap. Remember, the land doesn't care. It will return poison in just as wonderful abundance as it will corn. So up 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 on the Earth. It contains riches beyond our wildest dreams. It will return anything we want to plant. Now, you might say, What 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 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 will 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 and 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 is no way that it cannot. You see, that as 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
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 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 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 you believe, so shall it be done unto you.'

The Strangest Secret (1956) by Earl Nightingale

The Master Key Society is for seekers in the pursuit of wisdom, meaning, and self-improvement. We are built on the pillars of wisdom, inner growth, and the quest to elevate consciousness. Our mission is to manifest the higher self through creative action. Our hope is for all of us to explore and realize our full potential to inspire, create, and transform lives. Welcome and thank you supporting the work.
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