As a
Depression-era child, Earl Nightingale was hungry for knowledge.
From the time he was a young boy, he would frequent the Long
Beach
Public Library in California, searching for the answer to the
question, "How can a person, starting from scratch, who has no
particular advantage in the world, reach the goals that he feels
are important to him, and by so doing, make a major contribution
to others?" His desire to find an answer, coupled with his
natural curiosity about the world and its workings spurred him
to become one of the world's foremost experts on success and
what makes people successful.
Earl Nightingale's early career began when, as a member of the
Marine Corps, he volunteered to work at a local radio station as
an announcer. The Marines also gave him a chance to travel,
although he only got as far as Hawaii when the Japanese attacked
Pearl Harbor in 1941. Earl managed to be one of the few
survivors aboard the battleship Arizona. After five more years
in the service, Earl and his wife moved first to Phoenix then
Chicago to build what was to be a very fruitful career in
network radio.
As the host of his own daily commentary program on WGN, Earl
Nightingale arranged a deal that also gave him a commission on
his own advertising sales. By 1957, he was so successful, he
decided to retire at the age of 35. In the meantime, Earl had
bought his own insurance company and had spent many hours
motivating its sales force to greater accomplishments. When he
decided to go on vacation for an extended period of time, his
sales manager begged him to put his inspirational words on
record. The result later became the recording entitled
The Strangest Secret, the first spoken word message to
win a Gold Record by selling over a million copies.
In
The Strangest Secret, Earl had found an answer to the
question that had inspired him as a youth and, in turn, found a
way to leave a lasting legacy for others About this time, Earl
met a successful businessman by the name of Lloyd Conant and
together they began an "electronic publishing" company
which eventually grew to become a multi-million dollar giant in
the self-improvement field. They also developed a syndicated,
5-minute daily radio program, Our Changing World, which
became the longest-running, most widely syndicated show in
radio.
When Earl Nightingale died on March 28, 1989, Paul Harvey broke
the news to
the country on his radio program with the words, "The sonorous
voice of the nightingale was stilled." In the words of his good
friend and commercial announcer, Steve King, "Earl Nightingale
never let a day go by that he didn't learn something new and, in
turn, pass it on to others. It was his consuming passion."
Quotes by Earl Nightingale
"You become what you think about."
By Earl Nightingale
"People with goals succeed because they know where they are
going... It's
as simple as that."
By Earl Nightingale
"What's going on in the inside shows on the outside."
By Earl Nightingale
"Creativity is a natural extension of our enthusiasm."
By Earl Nightingale
You are, at this moment, standing, right in the middle of your
own "acres of diamonds."
By Earl Nightingale
Learn more about
Earl Nightingale
and his best selling program
