i'd like to tell you about the strangest secret in the world some years ago the late nobel prize-winning dr albert schweitzer was being interviewed in london and a reporter asked him doctor what's wrong with men today the great doctor was silent a moment and then he said men simply don't think 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 you know what happens well let's take a hundred 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 ask any one of these men if he wanted to be a success he'd tell you he
did and you'd notice that he was eager toward life that there was a certain sparkle to his eye in 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 now 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 five percent achieve success we have to define success and here's the best definition i've ever been able to find 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 the success if he's not doing that he's a failure success is the progressive realization of a worthy ideal rallo may the distinguished psychiatrist wrote a wonderful book called man 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 18 million people 65 years of age and older and most of them are broke they're dependent on someone else for life's necessities now we learn to read by the time we're seven we learn 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 really don't know these people believe that their lives are shaped by circumstances by things that happen to them by exterior forces they are outer directed people a survey was made one time that covered a
lot of men working men and these men were asked 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 well 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 person who succeeds is the person who is progressively realizing a worthy ideal is the person who says i'm going to become this and then begins to work toward that goal
i'll tell you the successful people are as success as the school teacher who's teaching school because that's what he or she wants 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 was his dream that's what he wanted to do the success is the successful salesman he 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 twenty 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 you know for twenty 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's becoming successful if
you 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 seem to 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's a failure tends to continue to fail well it's because of goals some of us have goals some don't people with goals succeed because they know where they're going it's that simple 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'll take it has a definite goal now 9999 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 it 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 or derelict it can't go anyplace because it has no destination and no guidance and it's the same with a human being take the salesman for example there's 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's 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 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 so-called security if that's what a person is looking for but we do have to decide how high above this plateau we want to aim 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 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 it 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 annoying lump of anxiety that perhaps you've experienced before doubt fear well there'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's only on this one point that they are in complete and unanimous agreement let's know what marcus aurelius the great roman emperor said a man's life is what his thoughts make of it the israeli said this everything comes if a man will only wait i brought myself by long meditation to the conviction that a human being with a subtle 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 the author said 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 a hundred other incompatible things just as strongly in the bible you read in mark 9 23 if thou
cast believe all things are possible to him that believeth my old friend dr norman vincent peale put it this way 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 found it to be one of the greatest if not my greatest discovery outside my relationship to god 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 he went on to say 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 is 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 and fear and 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's planted as it's written in the bible as ye so so shall ye reap now remember the land doesn't care it'll 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 must return to
us you see the human mind is the last great unexplored continent on earth it contains riches beyond our wildest dreams it will return anything we want a plant now you might say well if that's true why don't people use their minds more well i think they've figured out an answer to that one 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 minds our souls our bodies our hopes our dreams our ambitions our intelligence our love of family and children and friends and country 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 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 or less of our abilities so decide now what is it you want plant your goal in your mind it's the most important decision you ever make in your entire life what is it you want you want to be an outstanding salesman a better worker at your particular job you want to go places
in your company in your community do you want to get rich 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's no way that it cannot you see that's 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 phenobarbital age the age of ulcers and nervous breakdowns and tranquilizers 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's 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 the next year will mold your life and determine your future you're guided by your mind i remember one time i was driving through eastern 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 30 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 a 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 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 families 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 the great late editor-in-chief of the toledo daily blade maker speech and as he concluded his speech he said something i've never forgotten he said my years in the newspaper business have convinced me of several things among them that people are basically good and that we came from some place 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 ye believe so shall it be done unto you i've explained the strangest secret in the world and how it works now on this side i want to explain how you can prove to yourself the enormous returns possible in your own life by putting the secret to a practical test i want you to make a test that will last 30 days it isn't going to be easy but if you give it a good try it will completely change your life for the better back in the 17th century sir isaac newton
the english mathematician and natural philosopher gave us the natural laws of physics which apply as much to human beings as they do to the movement of bodies in the universe and one of these laws is that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction simply stated as it applies to you and me it means we can achieve nothing without paying the price the results of your 30-day experiment will be in direct proportion to the effort you put forth to be a doctor you must pay the price of long years of difficult study to
be successful in selling and remember that each of us succeeds to the extent of his ability to sell selling our families on our ideas selling education in schools selling our children on the advantages of living the good and honest life selling our associates and employees on the importance of being exceptional people to of course the profession of selling itself but to be successful in selling our way to the good life we must be willing to pay the price and what is that price well it's many things first it's understanding emotionally as well as intellectually that
we literally become what we think about that we must control our thoughts and where to control our lives it's understanding fully that as ye so so shall ye reap second it's cutting away all fetters from the mind and permitting it to soar as it was divinely designed to do it's the realization that your limitations are self-imposed and that the opportunities for you today are enormous beyond belief it's rising above narrow-minded pettiness and prejudice and third is using all your courage to force yourself to think positively on your own problem to set a definite and clearly
defined goal for yourself to let your marvelous mind think about your goal from all possible angles to let your imagination speculate freely upon many different possible solutions to refuse to believe that there are any circumstances sufficiently strong to defeat you in the accomplishment of your purpose to act promptly and decisively when your course is clear and to keep constantly aware of the fact that you are at this moment standing in the middle of your own acres of diamonds as russell conwell used to point out and fourth save at least 10 percent of every dollar you
earn it's also remembering that no matter what your present job it has enormous possibilities if you're willing to pay the price now let's just go over the important points in the price each of us must pay to achieve the wonderful life that can be ours it is of course worth any price one you will become what you think about two remember the word imagination and let your mind begin to soar three courage concentrate on your goal every day four save ten percent of what you earn and five action ideas are worthless unless we act on
them now i'll try to outline the 30-day test i want you to make keep in mind that you have nothing to lose by making this test and everything you could possibly want to gain there are two things that may be said of everyone each of us wants something and each of us is afraid of something i want you to write on a card what it is you want more than 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 and 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 and 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 yours really the moment you write it down and begin to think about it look at the abundance all around you as you go about your daily business you have as much right to this abundance as any other living creature is yours for the
asking now we come to the difficult part difficult because it means the formation of what is probably a brand new habit and new habits are not easily formed once formed however it will follow you for the rest of your life stop thinking about what it is you fear each time a fearful or negative thought comes into your consciousness replace it with a mental picture of your positive and worthwhile goal there come times when you feel like giving up it's easier for a human being to think negatively than positively that's why only five percent are successful
you must begin now to place yourself in that group for 30 days you must take control of your mind it will think about only what you permitted to think about each day for this 30-day test do more than you have to do in addition to maintaining a cheerful positive outlook give of yourself more than you've ever done before do this knowing that your returns in life must be in direct proportion to what you give the moment you decide on a goal to work toward you're immediately a successful person you are then in that rare and
successful category 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're 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 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 receiveth and he that seeketh findeth and to him that knocketh it shall be opened it's as marvelous and as simple as that in fact it's so simple that in our seemingly complicated world it's difficult for an adult to understand that only needs is a purpose and faith for 30 days do your very best if you're a salesman go at it as you've never done before not in a hectic fashion but with the calm cheerful assurance that time well spent will give
you the abundance in return you deserve and want if you're a homemaker devote your 30-day test to completely giving of yourself without thinking about receiving anything in return and you'll be amazed at the difference it makes in your life no matter what your job do it is you've never done it before for 30 days and if you've kept your goal before you every day you will wonder and marvel at this new life you found dorothea brand the outstanding editor and writer discovered it for herself and tells about it in her fine book wake up and
live her entire philosophy is reduced to the words act as though it were impossible to fail she made her own test with sincerity and faith and her entire life was changed to one of overwhelming success now you make your test for thirty full days don't start your test until you've made up your mind to stick with it you see by being persistent you're demonstrating faith persistence is simply another word for faith if you didn't have faith you'd never persist if you should fail during your first 30 days by that i mean suddenly find yourself overwhelmed
by negative thoughts you've got to start over again from that point and go 30 more days gradually your new habit will form until you find yourself one of that wonderful minority to whom virtually nothing is impossible and don't forget the card it's vitally important as you begin this new way of living on one side of the card write your goal whatever it may be on the other side write the words we've quoted from the sermon on the mount ask and it shall be given you seek and ye shall find knock and it shall be opened
unto you nothing great was ever accomplished without inspiration see that during these crucial first 30 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 can cause you to worry during your test is trying to do it all yourself know that all you have to do is 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 now since making this test is
difficult some will say why should i bother well look at the alternative no one wants to be a failure no one really wants to be a mediocre individual no one wants a life constantly filled with worry and fear and frustration therefore remember that you must reap that which you sow if you sow negative thoughts your life will be filled with negative things if you sow positive thoughts your life will be cheerful successful and positive now gradually you'll have a tendency to forget what you've heard on this recording play it often keep reminding yourself of what
you must do to form this new habit gather your whole family around at regular intervals and listen to what's been said here you know most men will tell you that they want to make money without understanding the law the only people who make money work in a mint the rest of us must earn money this is what causes those who keep looking for something for nothing or a free ride to fail in life the only way to earn money is by providing people with services or products which are needed and useful we exchange our time
and our product or service for the other man's money therefore the law is that our financial return will be in direct proportion to our service now success is not the result of making money making money is the result of success and success is in direct proportion to our service most people have this law backwards they believe that you're successful if you earn a lot of money the truth is that you can only earn money after you're successful it's like the story of the man who sat in front of the stove and said to it give
me heat and then i'll add the wood how many men and women do you know or do you suppose there are today who take the same attitude toward life there are millions 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 a service build work dream create do this and you find there's no limit to the prosperity and abundance will come to you prosperity you know 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 some place because that's the law for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction as you go daily through your 30-day test period remember that your success will always be measured by the quality and quality of service you render and money is a yardstick for measuring this service no man can get rich himself unless he enriches others now there are no exceptions to a law you can drive down
any street in america and from your car estimate the service that's being rendered by the people living on that street had you ever thought of this yardstick before it's interesting some like ministers and priests and other devoted people measure their returns in the realm of the spiritual but again their returns are equal to their service once this law is fully understood any thinking person can tell his own fortune if he wants more he must be of more service to those from whom he receives his return if he wants less he has only to reduce his
service this is the price you must pay for what you want if you believe you can enrich yourself by deluding others you can end only by deluding yourself it may take some time but just as surely as you breathe you'll get back what you put out don't ever make the mistake of thinking you can avert this it's impossible the prisons in the streets with a lonely walk are filled with people who tried to make new laws just for themselves we may avoid the laws of man for a while but there are greater laws that cannot
be broken an outstanding medical doctor recently pointed out six steps that will help you realize success one set yourself a definite goal two quit running yourself down three stop thinking of all the reasons why you cannot be successful and instead think of all the reasons why you can four 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 five change the image you have of yourself by writing out a description of the person you would like to be
and six act the part of the successful person you have decided to become the doctor who wrote those words is a noted west coast psychiatrist dr david harrell fink do what the experts since the dawn of recorded history have told you you must do pay the price by becoming the person you want to become it's not nearly as difficult as living unsuccessfully make your 30-day test then repeat it then repeat it again and each time it will become more a part of you until you wonder how you could ever have lived any other way live
this new way and the floodgates 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 whole life to win this is all i can gail and thank you
