"All you have to do is know where you're going. The answers will come to you of their own accord." -- Earl Nightingale
Earl Nightingale (March 12, 1921 – March 25, 1989) was an American motivational speaker and author, known as the "Dean of Personal Development." He was the voice in the early 1950s of Sky King, the hero of a radio adventure series, and was a WGN radio show host from 1950 to 1956. Nightingale was the author of the Strangest Secret, which economist Terry Savage has called “One of the great motivational books of all time“.
"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 the change.""All you need is the plan, the road map, and the courage to press on to your destination.""Always keep that happy attitude. Pretend that you are holding a beautiful fragrant bouquet.""Any person who contributes to prosperity must prosper in turn.""Creativity is a natural extension of our enthusiasm.""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.""Everything begins with an idea.""Everything in the world we want to do or get done, we must do with and through people.""Everything that's really worthwhile in life comes to us.""Excellence always sells.""Executive ability is deciding quickly and getting somebody else to do the work.""Get into a line that you will find to be a deep personal interest, something you really enjoy spending twelve to fifteen hours a day working at, and the rest of the time thinking about.""Ideas are elusive, slippery things. Best to keep a pad of paper and a pencil at your bedside, so you can stab them during the night before they get away.""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.""Our attitude towards others determines their attitude towards us.""Our environment, the world in which we live and work, is a mirror of our attitudes and expectations.""People are where they are because that is exactly where they really want to be - whether they will admit that or not.""People with goals succeed because they know where they're going.""Picture yourself in your minds eye as having already achieved this goal. See yourself doing the things you'll be doing when you've reached your goal.""Success is the progressive realization of a worthy goal or ideal.""The big thing is that you know what you want.""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!""The mind moves in the direction of our currently dominant thoughts.""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.""We all walk in the dark and each of us must learn to turn on his or her own light.""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. It gives meaning to our time off and comfort to our sleep. It makes everything else in life so wonderful, so worthwhile.""We can let circumstances rule us, or we can take charge and rule our lives from within.""We tend to live up to our expectations.""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.""What's going on in the inside shows on the outside.""Whatever we plant in our subconscious mind and nourish with repetition and emotion will one day become a reality.""Whenever we're afraid, it's because we don't know enough. If we understood enough, we would never be afraid.""Wherever there is danger, there lurks opportunity; whenever there is opportunity, there lurks danger. The two are inseparable. They go together.""You are, at this moment, standing, right in the middle of your own "acres of diamonds."""You can measure opportunity with the same yardstick that measures the risk involved. They go together.""You'll find boredom where there is the absence of a good idea.""Your problem is to bridge the gap which exists between where you are now and the goal you intend to reach.""Your world is a living expression of how you are using and have used your mind."
When Nightingale was seventeen he joined the United States Marines. He was on the USS Arizona during the attack on Pearl Harbor and was one of twelve surviving Marines on board that day. Before being mustered, Nightingale was an instructor at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina.
After the war Nightingale began work in the radio industry, which eventually led to work as a motivational speaker. In 1956 he produced a spoken word record, The Strangest Secret, which sold over a million copies, making it the first spoken-word recording to achieve Gold Record statusIn 1960, he cofounded the Nightingale-Conant corporation with Lloyd Conant.
Nightingale’s radio program, Our Changing World, became the most highly syndicated radio program ever, and was heard across the United States, Canada, Mexico, Australia, New Zealand, Fiji, South Africa, the Bahamas, 23 countries overseas, as well as the Armed Forces Network.
In 1985, Nightingale was inducted into The Association of National Broadcasters, Radio Hall of Fame.
During his lifetime, Nightingale wrote and recorded over 7,000 radio programs, 250 audio programs as well as television programs and videos.
In the mid-eighties, Nightingale wrote his first book, Earl Nightingale’s Greatest Discovery for which he received the Napoleon Hill Gold Medal for Literary Excellency.
Just prior to his death in 1989, Nightingale created a new format for a book that included his text, his illustrations, and incorporated space for a private journal. He called it The Winner’s Notebook.
After his retirement and before his death, Nightingale and his wife, Diana formed Keys Publishing.
