More than 50 years ago, Earl Nightingale gave away the secret. It all boils down to "you become what you think about." It seems simple, but applied correctly it can have a profound effect on your life.
The origins of this brief but powerful message can be traced back to a night in 1956. Then the owner of an insurance agency, Earl Nightingale was in the habit of giving his sales staff a weekly “pep talk” over the office’s intercom system. The staff came to count on these talks, so when they learned that Nightingale would be leaving on a week’s vacation, and would therefore be unable to deliver his talk, they became upset. Earl’s solution was to record his message on audio tape, so that it could be played in his absence.
The inspiration for the message itself pulled Nightingale out of a deep sleep in the early hours of the morning. He immediately woke up, went to his desk, and typed it out, then recorded it that very day. When it was played for his staff, they were astounded by what they heard. Word of the remarkable message quickly spread, and soon the office was flooded with requests for a copy. It seemed that everyone who heard it was amazed by its simplicity and power, and wanted to pass it along to someone else.
The secret in question is the fact that "You become what you think about." This phrase means that an individual’s daily thoughts have a strong impact on their actions, which has a strong impact on their lives. This belief that a person’s persistent thoughts have a strong impact has since been taken up by any number of personal development experts including Brian Tracy, Anthony Robbins and others.
Originally The Strangest Secret was intended to be a recording of inspirational messages delivered to the sales staff of a Chicago insurance company owned by Mr. Nightingale. Over the years it has become a motivational classic, and is the only recorded message ever to get a gold record. It has been distributed in many different forms over that time.
For the first time ever, Simple Truths has released an excerpt of The Strangest Secret as a short film. You can take a look at The Strangest Secret Movie and hopefully get inspired to "think" yourself into a better life.
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It’s a secret really touched my heart. I always read these for motivation but The Secret today seemed even more special. I looked at the number of readers (94) on the RSS page and was amazed. If we are what we think about then why do we bother to read all the bad news in the newspapers or gleefully look at the turbulent lives of the celebrities? It makes me wonder what the 93 other people read and if they wonder how we can get more people to think more positive thoughts in their lives. If we truly are what we think about then the shootings, and the world hunger that are on-going show me a society who have lost the focus on how great we could be. Why do so many of use only want to read and watch the bad news or tragedies? There is little room in the newspapers or on Television for good-news events. Not very many people read or want to know these good things but I bet the 93 people who read this website embrace the positive. Thanks for publishing The Secret and keep up the great work.