“We are all self-made, but only the successful will admit it.”
Earl Nightingale
What follows are notes I took while listening to a recording of Earl Nightingales‘ on his Recipe for Success.
1. Our rewards in life will always be in exact proportion to our contribution, our service.
The money you are paid by the company you work for will always be in direct ratio to the need for what you do, and the degree of difficulty involved in replacing you.
2. The Goldmine: The key to every human being’s success lays in his mind, the goldmine between his ears.
One idea can make you rich.
A lot of good ideas can move you steadily upwards in the work you do.
Nothing is now being done as well as it must be done in the future.
Think deliberately and with a purpose.
Begin by thinking at a special time every day.
How will my business be conducted ten years from now? Try to do it now.
a) Start getting up a little earlier than you are accustomed to.
b) Write your financial goal at the top of a blank piece of paper (the amount of money per year you intend to earn soon).
c) Think about your goal and what it would mean to you and your family.
d) See how many ideas you can come up with to help you reach that goal, ideas to improve what you now do for a living, ways of increasing your contribution to match your income goal.
f) Think of ways of improving what is now being done.
Try for five ideas every morning and write them down.
Save those sheets of paper in a special ideas file.
Try to develop a feeling of expectancy. Try to develop a feeling that the goal you are shooting for is a sure thing and that it is only a matter of time before it is realized.
TRY NOT TO THINK OF THINGS OUTSIDE OF YOUR OWN LINE OF WORK OR WHATEVER IT IS YOU ARE MOST INTERESTED IN.
TO THINK WELL AND PROFITABLY YOU MUST DISCIPLINE YOUR THINKING. KEEP IT ON COURSE, CONTROLLED. KEEP IT IN ONE FIELD. SPECIALIZE!
3) The Word: ATTITUDE.
Human beings can alter their lives by altering their attitudes and mind.
WE BECOME WHAT WE THINK ABOUT.
Your total environment is a reflection of you as a person.
Beginning now, begin to act as would the person you most want to become.
That is:
IF YOU WERE ALREADY IN POSSESSION OF THE GOAL YOU ARE SHOOTING FOR, HOW WOULD YOU CONDUCT YOURSELF AND ALL OF YOUR AFFAIRS?
Well, do it now, and tomorrow and the next day.
BEGIN NOW TO ACT THE PART OF THE PERSON YOU MOST WANT TO BECOME and you will end by becoming that person, subtly, in little ways, in the way you dress, in the way you talk, in the unfailing courtesy you show to every person to whom you come in contact.
Begin to act the part of the person who has already achieved that which you are shooting for.
Before you can do something, you must first be something.
When you behave like the person you most want to become, the things that person would have tend to come to you. It is simply cause and effect.
Don’t be in too big of a hurry. It takes longer to build a skyscraper than to build a chicken coop. Build slowly, steadily, and well. Then when you make it, you’ll keep it. You’ll stay on top.
It’s your attitude toward the people with whom you come in contact with, that will determine their attitudes toward you.
Practice your attitude every day, every waking hour.