Earl Nightingale (1921-1989)

Earl Nightingale was born March 12th. 1932 in Los Angeles, California.

Brought up during the Depression, the young Earl was always hungry for knowledge. Even as a young boy, he would frequent the Long Beach Public Library in California, searching for an answer to his most burning 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 to that question, together 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.

His 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. He was on the battleship Arizona in 1941 when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor.

After serving another 5 years in the Marines, he moved to Phoenix, Arizona and then to Chicago and built what was a very successful career in network radio. It was his work in the radio industry which eventually led him to what he did best - motivational speaking.

He was a true entrepreneur. He bought his own insurance company and spent many hours motivating his sales force to accomplish great things. 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.

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 status.

In The Strangest Secret, he had found an answer to that question that had eluded him as a youth and, in so doing, found a way to leave a lasting legacy for others.

Around this time, he co-founded the Nightingale Conant Corporation with a successful businessman named Lloyd Conant. Together they began an "electronic publishing" company which grew to become a multi-million dollar 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.

By 1957, Earl was so successful, he decided to retire at the age of 35.

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."

He had some good pieces of advice for all who want to make a success. Such as:

  • 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 have to do is know where you're going. The answers will come to you of their own accord.

  • 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.

And some of his famous quotes were:

"You become what you think about."

"People with goals succeed because they know where they are going... It's as simple as that."

"What's going on in the inside shows on the outside."

"Creativity is a natural extension of our enthusiasm."

You are, at this moment, standing, right in the middle of your own "acres of diamonds."

You can find out more about Nightingale-Conant right here.


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