Thinking

Hamilton, New Zealand
October 2019

Take a moment to consider the following quotes, and what they may have in common:
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"A man is what he thinks about all day long."
- Ralph Waldo Emerson.

"We need only in cold blood act as if the thing in question was real and it will become infallibly real by growing into such a connection with our life that it will become real."
- William James.

"If you think in negative terms, you'll get negative results. If you think in positive terms, you'll get positive results. That is the simple fact at the basis of an astonishing law of prosperity and success. In three words, believe and succeed."
- Dr Norman Peale.

"The mind is everything. What you think, you become."
​- Siddhārtha Gautama (the Buddha).
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Ralph Waldo Emerson, American philosopher and poet.

William James, American philosopher and psychologist.

What do these quotes share in common? They all emphasize the importance of actively​ thinking.

The Strangest Secret

In 1957, United States radio speaker and author Earl Nightingale developed The Strangest Secret, an audio record that espoused the importance of thinking in order to succeed in life. It has since been translated into a book (1).
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Nightingale may be considered one of the founders of the popular motivational speaking movement that abounds in many internet-based videos today. It is perhaps ironic that his essential message - to actively think - should largely be spread by a medium such as the internet, which in many ways discourages original thought.

Simply stated, Nightingale's "strangest secret" is that we must control our thinking, for thinking long and hard enough about something leads to its manifestation in reality. The right thinking leads to success. The wrong thinking, the gutter. People with considered goals succeed in life, and people without them fail.
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Earl Nightingale, author of ​The Strangest Secret.

True active thinking requires courage, the opposite of which Nightingale believed was not cowardice, but ​conformity; in other words, acting like everyone else, without knowing why. Something to ponder if the strangest secret - that thinking about something long and hard enough leads to its actualization - initially comes across as simplistic or silly.

Thinking And Success

The strangest secret is a key ingredient to success, which Nightingale defined as the progressive realization of a worthy ideal. That's worth repeating - success is the progressive realization of a worthy ideal. Stated this way, if a person is working towards such an ideal, then that person is a success.

What is a worthy ideal? That which, if realized, somehow serves humanity and the world, with the degree of success in direct proportion to the extent of the service. Moreover, success does not result from making money. Rather, making money results from success. The distinction is often confused; some people assume that a rich person is a success, and although this may be so, it is not necessarily the case, for money is a side-effect of success. An epiphenomenon.

The steps to success are conceptually simple, and they all involve thinking. First, you have to consider what you really want - not what you sort of want, but what you really want, in your gut. Step one is to dream. Second, actively think about the dream - not the occasional thought, but living and breathing it in your head as though it already existed in reality. Step two is to believe. Third, act on the thought - and not just halfway, with some kind of "Plan B" in case of failure, but give it everything, a "100% Plan A" approach, with no looking back. Step three is to work and create.

Is there a step four? Yes...but the world will take care of that.

​Solace.

References
(1) Nightingale. 1957. The Strangest Secret. Laurenzana Press.