From the author of The Strangest Secret come some of the most empowering and inspiring life lessons one could ever learn.
Earl Nightingale
It is my hope and wish for you to take at least one of these lessons and use it as your mantra in living a life that is worth living.
29 Life-Changing Lessons to Learn from the Great Earl Nightingale
1. Never give up on a dream just because of the time it will take to accomplish it.
“Never give up on a dream just because of the time it will take to accomplish it. The time will pass anyway.”~ Earl Nightingale
2. We are all self-made, but only the successful will admit it.
“We are all self-made, but only the successful will admit it.”~ Earl Nightingale
3. Wherever there is danger, there lurks opportunity; wherever there is opportunity, there lurks danger.
“Wherever there is danger, there lurks opportunity; wherever there is opportunity, there lurks danger. The two are inseparable.”~ Earl Nightingale
4.. When you judge others, you do not define them, you define yourself.
“When you judge others, you do not define them, you define yourself.”~ Earl Nightingale
5. Be happy NOW.
“Learn to enjoy every minute of your life. Be happy now. Don’t wait for something outside of yourself to make you happy in the future. Think how really precious is the time you have to spend, whether it’s at work or with your family. Every minute should be enjoyed and savored”~ Earl Nightingale
6. Don’t let the fear of the time it will take to accomplish something stand in the way of your doing it. The time will pass anyway.
“Don’t let the fear of the time it will take to accomplish something stand in the way of your doing it. The time will pass anyway; we might just as well put that passing time to the best possible use.”~ Earl Nightingale
7. What you think today and tomorrow, next month and next year, will mold your life and determine your future.
“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, you will mold your life and determine your future. You are guided by your mind.”~ Earl Nightingale
8. A great attitude does much more than turn on the lights in our worlds.
“A great attitude does much more than turn on the lights in our worlds; it seems to magically connect us to all sorts of serendipitous opportunities that were somehow absent before we changed.”~ Earl Nightingale
9. The more intensely we feel about an idea or a goal, the more assuredly the idea, buried deep will direct us along the path to its fulfillment.
“The more intensely we feel about an idea or a goal, the more assuredly the idea, buried deep in our subconscious, will direct us along the path to its fulfillment.”~ Earl Nightingale
10. 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.
“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.”~ Earl Nightingale
11. Success is not the result of making money; making money is the result of success.
“Success is not the result of making money; making money is the result of success – and success is in direct proportion to our service.”~ Earl Nightingale
12. When a man makes up his mind to do something then it’s only a matter of time for him to succeed.
“Men credited with all kinds of ability, talent, brains and know how, including the ability to see into the future, frequently have nothing more than the courage to keep everlastingly at what they set out to do. They have that one great quality that is worth more than all the rest put together.
They simply will not give up! When a man makes up his mind to do something then it’s only a matter of time. Staying with time take bulldog persistence. This seems to be the entrance examination to success – lasting success — of any kind!” ~ Earl Nightingale
13. The opposite of courage in our society is not cowardice… it is conformity.
“The opposite of courage in our society is not cowardice… it is conformity.”
14. Problems are challenges to creative minds. Without problems, there would be little reason to think at all.
“Problems are challenges to creative minds. Without problems, there would be little reason to think at all.”
15. Our attitude toward life determines life’s attitude towards us.
“Our attitude toward life determines life’s attitude towards us.” ~ Earl Nightingale
16. No man can get rich himself unless he enriches others.
“No man can get rich himself unless he enriches others.”
17. Be of service. Build. Work. Dream. Create. Do this and you’ll find that there is no limit to the prosperity and abundance that will come to you.
“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 that there is no limit to the prosperity and abundance that will come to you.”~ Earl Nightingale
18. Everything you and I will ever have will come to us as the result of the way we use our minds.
“Everything you and I will ever have will come to us as the result of the way we use our minds, the one thing we possess that makes us different from all other creatures.”~ Earl Nightingale
19. The driving force of a career must come from the individual.
“The biggest mistake that you can make is to believe that you are working for somebody else. Job security is gone. The driving force of a career must come from the individual. Remember: Jobs are owned by the company, you own your career!”~ Earl Nightingale
20. Even if our home burns down we can rebuild it. But the things that we got for nothing, we can never replace.
“Even if our home burns down we can rebuild it. But the things that we got for nothing, we can never replace.”~ Earl Nightingale
21. 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.”
“And the greatest teacher of them 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.”~ Earl Nightingale
22. Any person who contributes to prosperity must prosper, in turn, himself.
“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.”~ Earl Nightingale
23. Live this new way and the flood gates of abundance will open and pour over you more riches than you may have dreamed existed.
“Live this new way and the flood gates 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.”~ Earl Nightingale
24. Successful people are not without problems. They’re simply people who’ve learned to solve their problems.
“Successful people are not without problems. They’re simply people who’ve learned to solve their problems.”~ Earl Nightingale
25. Build, work, dream, create and you’ll find there is no limit to the prosperity and abundance that will come to you.
“Don’t concern yourself with the money. Be of service … build … work … dream … create! Do this and you’ll find there is no limit to the prosperity and abundance that will come to you.”~ Earl Nightingale
26. Life should be an exciting adventure. It should never be a bore
“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 that he likes to do because he does it well. One.”~ Earl Nightingale
27. It is not what happens to you in life that makes the difference. It is how you react to each circumstance you encounter that determines the result.
“It is not what happens to you in life that makes the difference. It is how you react to each circumstance you encounter that determines the result. Every human being in the same situation has the possibilities of choosing how he will react – either positively or negatively.”~ Earl Nightingale
28. There is a time when one must decide either to risk everything to fulfill one’s dreams or sit for the rest of one’s life in the backyard.
“There is a time when one must decide either to risk everything to fulfill one’s dreams or sit for the rest of one’s life in the backyard.”~ Earl Nightingale
29. Ask, and it shall be given you.
“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.”~ Earl Nightingale
Bonus:
“But most people live a life of quiet mediocrity and never achieve the success they truly desire because they get impatient. They want easy success or none at all. They see the path to success as a frustration, an impediment.
Each day spent short of the ultimate goal is viewed as a time of failure and as an annoyance. As such, they get distracted by hundreds of little things that each day try to get us off our course. Yet the successful among us know the truth:”
“One, you will become what you think about. Two, remember the word imagination. Let your mind soar. Three, courage. Concentrate on your goal everyday. Four, save 10 percent of what you earn and action. Ideas are worthless unless we act on them.”
“A success is anyone who is doing deliberately a worthy predetermined job, because that’s what he decided to do … deliberately.”
“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.”
“1. Give yourself a definite goal. 2. Quit running yourself down. 3. Stop thinking of all the reasons you cannot be successful and instead, think of all the reasons why you can. 4. Trace your attitudes back through your childhood and try to discover where you first got the idea you couldn’t be successful – if that’s the way you’ve been thinking. 5. Change the attitude you have of yourself by writing out the description of the person you’d like to be. 6. Act the part of the successful person you have decided to become.”
“Do each day all that can be done that day. You don’t need to overwork or to rush blindly into your work trying to do the greatest possible number of things in the shortest possible time.”
“And yet, it’s the last place on earth the average person will turn to for help. You know why? You know why people don’t automatically turn their own vast mental resources on when faced with a problem? It’s because they never learned how to think. Most people will go to any length to avoid thinking when they’re faced with a problem.
They will ask advice from the most illogical people, usually people who don’t know any more than they do: next-door neighbors, members of their families, and friends stuck in the same mental traps that they are. Very few of them use the muscles of their mind to solve their problems.”
“Think about your goal in a relaxed, positive way. Picture yourself in your mind’s eye as having already achieved this goal. See your self doing the things you will be doing when you have reached your goal.”
“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.”
“Everything comes if a man would 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”.”
“The difference is goals. 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.”
“We are at our very best, and we are happiest, when we are fully engaged in work we enjoy on the journey toward the goal we’ve established for ourselves.”
“We come to a rather strange fact. We tend to minimize the things we can do, the goals we can achieve, and yet, for an equally strange reason, we think others can do things that we cannot. I want you to know that that is not true. You do have deep reservoirs of talent and ability within you and you can have the things you want.”
“We live by faith or we do not live at all. Either we venture or we vegetate. If we venture, we do so by faith, simply because we cannot know the end of anything at its beginning. We risk marriage on faith or we stay single. We prepare for a profession by faith or we give up before we start. By faith, we move mountains of opposition or we’re stopped by molehills.”
“Destructive emotions, such as anger, hatred, and jealousy don’t hurt others; they hurt you. They can make your life miserable. They can make you sick. Forgive everyone who ever hurt you—really forgive them—and then forgive yourself. That’s all past.”
“There are millions of human beings who live narrow, darkened, frustrated lives—who live defensively—simply because they take a defensive, doubtful attitude toward themselves and, as a result, toward life in general.
A person with a poor attitude becomes a magnet for unpleasant experiences. When those experiences come—as they must, because of his attitude—they tend to reinforce his poor attitude, thereby bringing more problems, and so on.”
“They do not know that by thinking in new directions (which has been called the definition of genius) they can bring new directions into their lives. Most of them are marking time, as if they have a non-cancelable contract with life. How can we rise above our more egregious mistakes if we just mark time!
Let’s do it better than it’s been done before. Let’s find our partner in the freest, richest land on earth and do something wonderful with this holiday we’ve been mysteriously granted.”
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E. F.
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