Get A New Level Of Thinking

Several years ago now, I was at a seminar and the topic of discussion was principles of success. At that time, I was still befuddled about an eternal question that lingered for me that was so eloquently stated by Earl Nightingale in his timeless recording, ‘The Strangest Secret’. That question was this, “Why does a person become the person they become?”

It was a powerful question for me the first time I heard the recording in 1977 and even more so almost 15 years later when I was at the seminar because I was not living the life that I knew was possible for me at that time. Outwardly, my life and accomplishments didn’t look all that bad compared to the average person; which was the problem. I didn’t want nothin’ to do with average – the best of the worst, the worst of the best and the cream of the crap. Deep inside I just knew there were gifts, talents and abilities that I flat out was not expressing because of one thing and one thing only…ME.

So here I am at this seminar trying (note trying…) to figure this all out and this Uber successful multi-gazillionaire that made it sound so easy said something that struck me like a lightening bolt (I shared with you in the DI titled, ‘Results Rather Than Reasons’). He said, “Have you ever wondered why some people get seemingly everything they want and others get nothing but the left over scraps. Why some people make things happen and others go ‘What happened?’ It’s because some people are so stupid they need to stay that way! If I make more in one night while I sleep than most of you make in a year and I tell you exactly what to do, how to do it and when to do it to get the same results and then you still don’t do it…one of us is stupid…you decide which one.”

Even before the advent of today's cancel culture (which you may include me in now), I was aghast, mortified, peeved, and annoyed at the audacity of his arrogance. What a S.O.B. to be saying that to me and everyone else…until he followed up with ‘the rest of the information’. He said, “If you’re hearing me it’s because it’s true for you. If so, here’s how you get un-stupid. You get a new level of thinking. Einstein said it best, ‘you can’t get out of a problem using the same level of thinking that got you in it to begin with. You’ve got to get a new level of thinking. Bottom line is you get exactly what you think about most of the time.”

OHMIGOD, I hear in my head like I’ve got turrets syndrome. I’ve heard that before. I remembered it like it was yesterday. At the end of ‘The Strangest Secret’, Earl Nightingale shared the answer to the question when he said, “You become what you think about most of the time.”

I realized right then what an idiot I had been. I had been using my own thinking, which of course I had a high regard for (stupidly…), to get out of my problem. ‘I’ could figure it all out on my own. ‘I’ could just work harder. ‘I’ could outsmart everyone else and find the shortcuts. Until I recognized that it wasn’t working for me. I was not where I wanted to be, could be or should be. It was that ‘AHA’ moment that turned it all around for me personally.

I stopped listening to me and started learning from the people who had what I wanted with blind faith. I stopped analyzing any and everything they said to do and just did it because it worked. I started to immerse myself into learning EVERYTHING I could about the most outrageously successful people in the history of the world and here’s what I found…

Stay tuned Thursday for part 2!

Believe...