Earl Nightingale (March 12, 1921 – March 25, 1989) was an American radio speaker and author, dealing mostly with the subjects of human character development, motivation, and meaningful existence.^[1] He was the voice during the early 1950s of Sky King, the hero of a radio adventure series, and was a WGN radio program host from 1950 to 1956.^[2] Nightingale was the author of The Strangest Secret, which economist Terry Savage has termed '…one of the great motivational books of all time.' ^[3]

Earl Nightingale’s 17-year quest for the secret of success ended one night in 1950, when he came across a sentence in a book. To Nightingale, it was more than a string of words on a page—it. Earl Nightingale is one of the most inspirational people I’ve ever come across. When you read one of his books, or listen to one of his audio tapes, you discover that every other sentence is pure gold. The following 45 morsels of wisdom were taken from Earl Nightingale’s essay, “Lead the Field”. “If the grass is greener on the other side it’s probably getting better care.”.

Biography[edit]

Nightingale was born in Long Beach during 1921. His father, Earl the 4th, abandoned his mother during 1933. After his father left, his mother relocated the family to a tent in nearby Tent City.

Diana Nightingale is the widow of Earl Nightingale.^[4] She has continued working with Earl's commercial themes.^[5]

Military career[edit]

When Nightingale was seventeen years old he joined the United States Marine Corps. He was an instructor at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, and was on the USS Arizona during the attack on Pearl Harbor and was one of fifteen surviving Marines aboard that day.^[6] Other than Pearl Harbor, it is unknown if Nightingale experienced combat.

Career[edit]

After the war, Nightingale began work in the radio industry, which eventually resulted in work as a motivational speaker. During the autumn of 1949, Nightingale was inspired while reading Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill.^[7] Quoting from the Earl Nightingale official website: 'When he was 29, Earl's enlightenment had come to him as a bolt out of the blue while reading, Think and Grow Rich. It came when he realized that the six words he read were the answer to the question he had been looking for! That, 'we become what we think about'. He realized that he had been reading the same truth over and over again, from the New Testament...to the works of Emerson. 'We become what we think about.' 'As ye sow, so shall ye reap...'^{[8][failed verification – see discussion]}

During 1956, he produced a spoken word record, The Strangest Secret, which sold more than a million copies, making it the first spoken-word recording to achieve Gold Record status.^[9][10] During 1960, a condensed audio version of Think and Grow Rich was narrated by Nightingale. It was titled, Think and Grow Rich: The Essence Of The Immortal Book By Napoleon Hill, Narrated by Earl Nightingale, and produced by Success Motivation Institute. Also in 1960, he co-founded the Nightingale-Conant corporation with Lloyd Conant. In 1987, Nightingale-Conant published another very successful audio book: Lead The Field. During 1987, Nightingale published his first book, Earl Nightingale’s Greatest Discovery.

Nightingale’s radio program, Our Changing World, became the most syndicated radio program ever, and was broadcast across the USA, Canada, Mexico, Australia, New Zealand, Fiji, South Africa, the Bahamas, and 23 additional overseas countries, as well as the Armed Forces Network.

After his retirement, Nightingale and his wife, Diana, formed the company Keys Publishing.

Just prior to his death during 1989, Nightingale created a new format for a book named The Winner’s Notebook. It included his text, his illustrations, and incorporated space for a private journal.

Nightingale died on March 25, 1989, in Scottsdale, Arizona, of complications after heart surgery.^[11]

Recognition[edit]

Nightingale won a gold record for the LP record album The Strangest Secret.

In 1976, he won the Golden Gavel Award from Toastmasters International.^[12] He was inducted into the National Speakers Association Speaker Hall of Fame.^[13]

In 1985, Nightingale was inducted into The National Association of BroadcastersNational Radio Hall of Fame.^[14]

During the mid-1980s, Nightingale received the Napoleon Hill Gold Medal for Literary Excellency for his first book, Earl Nightingale’s Greatest Discovery.

Legacy[edit]

During his lifetime, Nightingale wrote and recorded more than 7,000 radio programs, 250 audio programs as well as television programs and videos.^[15]

The Belgian popular music band Felix Pallas used some quotations of The Strangest Secret in their song 'Song for Melody', which was part of their first EP 2S4T.^[16]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

1. ^The Nassau Guardian - Meteorological Myths – Editorial Colume – 30 June – 2003. [1]Archived 2010-03-22 at the Wayback Machine
2. ^Chicago Tribune – CHICAGOLAND - Kenan Heise - Mar 29, 1989
3. ^Chicago Sun Times - THE SAVAGE TRUTH | Economic fears are a big part of country's problems – Terry Savage – March 9, 2009. [2]^{[permanent dead link]}
4. ^'Earl Nightingale's Greatest Discovery'. Success Magazine. March 30, 2009. Retrieved February 19, 2017.
5. ^Daniel. 'Drug and Alcohol Rehab: Diana Nightingale Conversation'. Happy Recovery. Retrieved February 19, 2017.
6. ^Lanka Newspaper – We Became What We Think About – Monday, 2 April 2007
7. ^Think and Grow Rich, The Essence of the Immortal Book by Napoleon Hill, Narrated by Earl Nightingale, Success Motivation Institute, 1960
8. ^'Earl Nightingale Website/About'. Archived from the original on 2011-07-10. Retrieved 2011-07-03.
9. ^'Mark Victor Hansen: Listen to Earle Nightingale and The Strangest Secret'. Archived from the original on 2011-06-30. Retrieved 2011-07-04.
10. ^PR - Bob Proctor from The Secret shares His Insights on Learning, Creating Prosperity & The Law of Attraction - Allison Kugel - April 02, 2007 [3]
11. ^Chicago Tribune - NORTH SPORTS FINAL, C Edition - Kenan Heise. - Mar 29, 1989 - [4]
12. ^'Archived copy'. Archived from the original on 2011-09-05. Retrieved 2011-08-26.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
13. ^'CPAE List'. CPAE Speaker Hall of Fame. National Spekers Association.
14. ^Lexington Herald Leader-'RADIO'S NIGHTINGALE TO LECTURE' - D1 LIFESTYLE = April 24, 1986 [5]
15. ^Secrets Of A Superstar Speaker - Lilly Walters - McGraw-Hill - ISBN0-07-134707-0 / 9780071347075 - [6]
16. ^Song For Melody - 2S4T by Felix Pallas

Earl Nightingale is one of the most inspirational people I’ve ever come across. When you read one of his books, or listen to one of his audio tapes, you discover that every other sentence is pure gold. The following 45 morsels of wisdom were taken from Earl Nightingale’s essay, “Lead the Field”.

1. “If the grass is greener on the other side it’s probably getting better care.”

2. “Each of us creates his or her own life largely by our attitude.”

3. “You can control your attitude. Set it each morning.”

4. “It is our attitude toward life that determines life’s attitude toward us. We get back what we put out.”

5. “Others treat us as we treat them. They react to us. They only give us back a reflection of our own attitude.”

6. “Most people begin their day in neutral. They will simply react to whatever confronts them.”

7. “Gratitude and expectancy are the best attitude.”

8. “. . . Our outlook on life is a kind of paint brush and with it we paint our world. It can be bright and filled with hope and satisfaction or it can be dark and gloomy. The world we experience is a reflection of our attitude.”

9. “Don’t take the attitude of waiting for people to be nice to you – be nice to them.”

10. “Be positive, cheerful, grateful and expectant.”

11. “Always keep that happy attitude. Pretend that you are holding a beautiful fragrant bouquet.”

12. “Don’t wait for change. You change.”

13. “Develop and project an attitude that says ‘yes’ to life.”

14. “You must radiate success before it’ll come to you.”

15. “Treat every person as the most important person on earth. To them, they are the most important person.”

16. “People don’t have great attitudes because of great success, they have great success largely because of great attitudes.”

17. “Don’t catch the bad and infectious attitudes of others.”

18. “Before you can achieve the kind of life you want you must think, act, talk, and conduct yourself in all of your affairs as would the person you wish to become.”

19. “Ask yourself every morning, ‘how can I increase my service today?’”

20. “Goals reflect your choice of destination.”

21. “Most people don’t know what they want. Do you?”

22. “Set worthy goals. Don’t drift along as a wandering generality. Be a meaningful specific.”

23. “Success is not a destination but a journey. Anyone who is on course toward a worthy goal is successful. Success does not lie in the achievement of a goal but in its pursuit. Success is a journey!”

24. “One thing a goal must do is fill us with positive emotion when we think about it. The more intensely we feel about a goal the more progressively we’ll move toward it.”

25. “Control your thoughts. Decide about that which you will think and concentrate upon. You are in charge of your life to the degree you take charge of your thoughts.”

26. “Spend one hour every day thinking about your goal and how to get there.”

27. “Don’t waste time thinking about needless things.”

28. “Whatever it is you seek in the form of rewards, you must first earn in the form of service. Each of us serves a portion of humanity, all those with whom you come in contact.”

29. “Every-time we use a product or service, someone is serving us.”

30. “Think not about future rewards but about present service.”

31. “Find what you can do best that renders service to others and do it with all your might.”

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32. “Make the best use of what you have and what you are in the time you’ve been granted.”

33. “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.”

34. “Put in motion the right cause and the right effect will take care of itself.”

35. “Life can only return to you that which you sow. What do you have to sow? You have great wealth; you can think,
you have talent, and you have time.”

36. “Money is the harvest of our production and service. We in turn use it to obtain the production and service of others.”

37. “Money is an effect. It is the result of a cause, and the cause is valuable service.”

38. “We will receive not what we idly wish for but what we justly earn. Our rewards will always be in exact proportion to our service.”

39. “Success is the progressive realization of a worthy ideal.”

40. “Failures . . . believe that their lives are shaped by circumstances … by things that happen to them … by exterior forces.”

41. “Think of a ship with the complete voyage mapped out and planned. The captain and crew know exactly where the ship is going and how long it will take — it has a definite goal. And 9,999 times out of 10,000, it will get there.”

42. “The human mind is much like a farmer’s land. The land gives the farmer a choice. He may plant in that land whatever he chooses. The land doesn’t care what is planted. It’s up to the farmer to make the decision. The mind, like the land, will return what you plant, but it doesn’t care what you plant.”

43. “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.”

44. “Success is not the result of making money; earning money is the result of success — and success is in direct proportion to our service.”

45. “Your world is a living expression of how you are using and have used your mind.”

Earl Nightingale Daily Checklist

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Earl Nightingale 30 Day Challenge

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