18 Who Do You Think You Are?
I’d been told weren’t true. So I just kept studying and I’ve never stopped.
That was in 1961. That was what led me to where I am today, studying
the mind, the laws of the universe, and paradigms.
If you could give advice to those who are still searching for their
purpose in life, what would it be?
I would tell them to do what I did. I’ve always had a coach or a mentor
and it was always a person who had accomplished what I wanted to
accomplish. I went to visit Earl Nightingale because I was so hooked on
his stuff. I was living in Toronto and he was in Chicago. I scheduled a
meeting with him for an hour and when I was leaving I asked him, “What’s
the real secret behind everything?”
He just looked at me and said, “You should find out what you
love to do and then dedicate your life to it. The problem with most people
is they never figure that out.”
I got really excited because I knew what I wanted to do; I wanted
to do what Earl was doing. I made up my mind when I left his office that
that’s what I would do. I ultimately ended up in an office right beside
him because I wanted to work with him; then I got the benefit of work-
ing with his partner Lloyd Conant, too.
I’ve always had a tremendous coach or mentor. And because of
Ray Stanford, I always did exactly what they told me whether I agreed
with it or not. I would do it until I found out they were lying or it wouldn’t
work, but they never lied and it always worked. I realized that our para-
digms are what mess us up. Our paradigms control our logic; they color
our perception.
If you’re getting advice from someone who has demonstrated,
by results, that they’ve done what you want to do, even though the ad-
vice may seem illogical to you, you’ll probably get to where you want to
go.
I believe people should study a little bit every day. It should be-
come habitual, like brushing your teeth, combing your hair, having a
shower or getting dressed. Study the mind, the laws of the universe and
paradigms. There’s enough information on those subjects to keep a per-
son studying forever. I’ve been doing that for going on fifty years and if
I live for another fifty, I’ll continue to do it. The rewards have been
nothing short of amazing.