Some time back a friend of ours had the pleasant opportunity of having dinner with his friend Earl Nightingale, the famous radio personality and producer of self improvement cassette programs.
Earl made his life’s work studying successful people and how they achieved their successes. Our friend had long admired Earl for his ideas and philosophy.
And on that occasion, our friend asked him what advice he would give his young son if he had one. What, based on his vast experience and knowledge, would be the one thing that would help his son ensure success both in business as well as in his personal life.
Earl said to our friend, “You know, I have often thought about that very question. And after all the years and all the study, I’ve come to the conclusion that your success in life, or in business for that matter, can be boiled down to one thing. That is, your rewards will always be in direct proportion to the amount of service you render.
“You only have to look around,” he said. “The people who serve others, prosper. The people who don’t serve others, don’t prosper. And you can tell just how successful a person is by the amount of service they render to others.
“The problem,” he continued, “is that unsuccessful people either haven’t learned that great secret, or they don’t apply it.”
“The successful people are the ones who develop the habits of doing the things that unsuccessful people don’t do for one reason or another.”
