The Strangest Secret

You know, I have never really thought about my goals. And I know now that to be successful you should have clearly defined goals. But it certainly wasn’t something obvious to me for a very long time.

I’ve just read “The Strangest Secret” by Earl Nightingale. It’s very short, you can get it for $1 on Amazon or listen to it for free. Don’t be surprised by the quality, it’s from the year 1956:

“People with goals succeed because they know where they’re going,” says Earl Nightingale. And then, “Plant your goal in your mind. It’s the most important decision you’ll ever make in your entire life.”

I know a lot of people hate these kinds of motivational speeches or so-called self-help books. Maybe because this is all obvious to them. To me, however, a lot of that stuff feels new. My family has never talked about settings goals. When I was in high school, and then at university, no teacher ever said anything about goals. I don’t remember my friends talking about it either. I didn’t even know that I was going through my life without any direction — I wasn’t thinking about it at all. I only found out about it later, from books, and YouTube, and blogs. I wish I had access to all those things years ago.

Conformity — people acting like everyone else, without knowing why or where they are going.

—Earl Nightingale

If you don’t have a goal, if you feel aimless — “The Strangest Secret” might be good for you.