True success isn't just about achieving goals—it's about developing a philosophy that guides your decisions, shapes your character, and creates lasting fulfillment.
Redefining Success
Success is often misunderstood as merely the accumulation of wealth, status, or recognition. However, a deeper philosophy of success recognizes that true achievement encompasses personal growth, meaningful relationships, contribution to others, and alignment with your core values.
The most successful individuals throughout history have understood that external achievements are byproducts of internal development. They focus on becoming the type of person capable of creating the results they desire. This connects deeply with the art of execution—turning vision into tangible reality through consistent action.
Earl Nightingale's Definition
In his transformative recording "The Strangest Secret," Earl Nightingale provided what he believed to be the best definition of success ever formulated:
"Success is the progressive realization of a worthy ideal."
If you're working toward a predetermined goal and know where you're going, you are successful. If you're not doing that, according to Nightingale, you're failing—regardless of your income or status.
The Strangest Secret: We Become What We Think About
Throughout history, the great wise teachers, philosophers, and prophets have disagreed on many things. But on one point, they are in complete and unanimous agreement:
"We become what we think about."
This single idea—what Nightingale called "the strangest secret in the world"—has been echoed by Marcus Aurelius ("A man's life is what his thoughts make of it"), Ralph Waldo Emerson ("A man is what he thinks about all day long"), and William James ("The greatest discovery of my generation is that human beings can alter their lives by altering their attitudes of mind").
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Benjamin Disraeli
"Everything comes if a man will only wait... A human being with a settled purpose must accomplish it, and nothing can resist a will that will stake even existence for its fulfillment."
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William Shakespeare
"Our doubts are traitors and make us lose the good we oft might win by fearing to attempt."
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George Bernard Shaw
"People are always blaming their circumstances for what they are. I don't believe in circumstances. The people who get on in this world are the people who get up and look for the circumstances they want, and if they can't find them, make them."
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Dr. Norman Vincent Peale
"If you think in negative terms, you will get negative results. If you think in positive terms, you will achieve positive results. Believe and succeed."
The Mind as Fertile Ground
Nightingale compared the human mind to fertile farmland. Just as land doesn't care what seed you plant—it will return corn or poison with equal abundance—your mind doesn't discriminate. It will manifest whatever thoughts you consistently plant within it.
This understanding transforms how we approach daily habits and discipline. Your habitual thoughts become your reality, whether you consciously choose them or not.
A Kinder, Gentler Philosophy of Success
Philosopher Alain de Botton, in his insightful TED talk "A Kinder, Gentler Philosophy of Success," challenges our modern obsession with achievement and status anxiety.
The Problem with Modern Meritocracy
The Snobbery Problem
De Botton identifies job snobbery as a global phenomenon. Within minutes at a party, you're asked, "What do you do?" Your answer determines whether people are delighted to see you or quickly make their excuses.
The Envy Epidemic
In our egalitarian society, envy has become the dominant emotion. We don't envy the Queen of England—she's too different. But we envy our school friends, colleagues, and neighbors.
"It's perhaps easier now than ever before to make a good living. It's perhaps harder than ever before to stay calm, to be free of career anxiety."
The Dark Side of Meritocracy
While politicians celebrate meritocracy, de Botton reveals its psychological cost: if you truly believe those at the top deserve their success, you must also believe those at the bottom deserve their failure.
In medieval England, a poor person was called "an unfortunate." Today, they're called "a loser." This linguistic shift represents 400 years of evolution in who we believe is responsible for our lives.
Finding Balance: Sympathy Over Judgment
De Botton advocates for a return to tragic art's wisdom—recognizing that people can fail while maintaining dignity and deserving sympathy. As Saint Augustine wrote: "It's a sin to judge any man by his post."
Your job title doesn't define your worth. This wisdom helps us develop resilience against both external judgment and internal resistance.
The Four Pillars of Success Philosophy
1. Clarity of Purpose
Without a clear sense of purpose, success becomes arbitrary. Define what success means to you personally, not what society expects. You must have a definite goal—a specific destination that gives your daily actions meaning.
Action Step: Write down your goal on a card. Make it specific. Carry it with you and look at it several times daily.
2. Disciplined Action
Success is built through consistent, disciplined action over time. It's not about grand gestures but the compound effect of daily habits.
Nightingale's research: Out of 100 people who start working at age 25, by age 65, only one will be rich, four will be financially independent, five will still be working, and 54 will be broke. The difference? Goals and consistent action.
Action Step: Develop systems, not just goals. Create daily routines that support your long-term vision. As we explore in our guide to habits and momentum, consistency beats intensity.
3. Continuous Learning
Successful people maintain a growth mindset. They view failures as learning opportunities, seek feedback actively, and invest in developing new skills throughout their lives.
Universities have proven that most of us operate on about 10% or less of our abilities. Your mind is the last great unexplored continent on Earth.
Action Step: Commit to becoming a lifelong learner. Read widely, seek mentors, and embrace challenges. Apply mental models to accelerate your learning.
4. Resilient Mindset
Setbacks are inevitable on any meaningful journey. A success philosophy includes frameworks for maintaining motivation during difficult times and using obstacles as stepping stones.
"For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction." — Isaac Newton
You cannot achieve anything without paying the price. But it's far easier to pay the price of success than to endure the cost of failure and regret.
Action Step: When negative thoughts arise, immediately replace them with your positive goal. This practice, maintained for 30 days, can completely transform your mental patterns.
Building Your Success Framework
Start by defining your personal mission statement. What do you want to be remembered for? What impact do you want to have? Write this down and review it regularly.
Four Essential Steps
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Own Your Definition
As de Botton emphasizes, make sure your ideas of success are truly your own. Too often, we inherit our ambitions from parents or absorb them from media. It's bad enough not getting what you want—it's worse to achieve something and realize it wasn't what you wanted all along.
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Accept Trade-offs
You can't have it all. Work-life balance? Nonsense, says de Botton. Any wise life accepts that success in one area may mean sacrifice in another. The question isn't whether you'll make trade-offs, but whether you'll make them consciously.
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Control Your Thoughts
Your mind will think about only what you permit it to think. As Nightingale discovered, the human mind is immensely powerful but requires constant guidance. Will you sit back and let it run into a ditch, or will you keep both hands firmly on the wheel?
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Render Service
Success is not the result of making money—making money is the result of success. And success is in direct proportion to your service.
"No man can enrich himself unless he first enriches others."
Your financial return will be in direct proportion to the quality and quantity of service you render. There are no exceptions to this law.
The 30-Day Success Challenge
Transform Your Life in 30 Days
Earl Nightingale proposed a practical test to prove the power of controlled thinking. For 30 days, follow these steps with complete commitment:
Your Transformation Plan
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Day 1: Write Your Goal
On a card, write what you want more than anything else. Be specific. Make it a single, clearly defined goal. Carry this card with you. Look at it when you wake up, throughout the day, and before bed.
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Days 1-30: Control Your Thoughts
Each time a fearful or negative thought enters your consciousness, immediately replace it with a mental picture of your positive goal. This is the difficult part. There will be times when you feel like giving up. That's why only 5% are successful.
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Daily Practice: Give More
Each day, do more than you have to do. Give of yourself more than ever before, knowing that your returns in life must be in direct proportion to what you give.
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Remember: Act as Though It Were Impossible to Fail
This phrase from Dorothea Brande's "Wake Up and Live" captures the essence. If you fail during your first 30 days, start over. Count 30 more days from that point.
On Your Card, Write:
Front: Your specific goal
Back: "Ask, and it shall be given you. Seek, and ye shall find. Knock, and it shall be opened unto you."
The Long-Term View
True success philosophy takes a long-term perspective. It's about building something sustainable rather than seeking quick wins.
Think Beyond the Self
De Botton argues that modern society's problem is that we have nothing non-human at its center. We're the first society living in a world where we worship nothing but ourselves.
Successful people maintain connection with something transcendent—nature, spirituality, art, or causes larger than themselves. This provides perspective during setbacks.
Save and Invest in Yourself
Nightingale's principle: Save at least 10% of every dollar you earn. This habit, maintained consistently, ensures financial independence and demonstrates self-respect.
But invest in more than money. Invest in your mind, your health, your relationships. Everything worthwhile came to us free—our minds, our souls, our hopes, our dreams.
Embrace Your Limitations
You can't be successful at everything. As de Botton reminds us, work-life balance is largely a myth. Accept that your vision of success will involve elements of loss. A wise life acknowledges where it's not succeeding and makes peace with those trade-offs.
Practice Courage Over Conformity
Rollo May wrote: "The opposite of courage in our society is not cowardice—it is conformity."
Why do 95% of people fail to achieve their goals? They conform. They act like everyone else without knowing why or where they're going. Success requires the courage to be different, to pursue your unique worthy ideal even when others don't understand.
This connects directly with overcoming the resistance that conformity creates.
The Integration of Wisdom
Success philosophy isn't about choosing between Earl Nightingale's optimistic goal-setting and Alain de Botton's compassionate realism. It's about integrating both perspectives:
Important Highlight
- Be ambitious about your goals while being compassionate about your failures.
- Control your thoughts deliberately while accepting that not everything is within your control.
- Pursue success relentlessly while defining success on your own terms.
- Serve others abundantly while maintaining boundaries that protect your well-being.
- Think positively about possibilities while thinking realistically about trade-offs.
"Life should be an exciting adventure. It should never be a bore. A man should be glad to get out of bed in the morning, doing a job he likes because he does it well." — Earl Nightingale
The philosophy of success, properly understood, frees you from the tyranny of others' expectations while empowering you to achieve your authentic ambitions. It recognizes that you become what you think about while acknowledging that failure doesn't make you a loser.
Most importantly, it reminds us that success is not a destination but a journey—the progressive realization of a worthy ideal. The moment you decide on a goal and begin working toward it, you become successful.
Your Next Steps
- Write your worthy ideal on a card today
- Begin your 30-day mental discipline challenge
- Define success in your own terms, free from others' expectations
- Commit to serving others abundantly
- Save 10% of everything you earn
- Replace every negative thought with your positive goal
- Read how to turn your vision into reality
- Build sustainable habits that compound
Remember: You have nothing to lose by making this test, and everything you could possibly want to gain. Your life is waiting. The strangest secret is no longer secret to you. Now, it's time to act.