Born in 1921, Earl Nightingale was raised during the Great Depression. After his father abandoned the family in 1933, for a time Earl lived with his mother in a tent in the Tent City established behind the Mariner Apartments in Long Beach, California. From this beginning, Earl began to ponder how a person could rise up from nothing, with no advantage, and make an impact on the world.

Today, Earl Nightingale is widely regarded as one of the greatest motivational speakers and authors of all time, sometimes referred to as “The Dean of Self-Improvement.” A pioneer in “electronic publishing” before the Internet was even a thing, his 1956 audiobook The Strangest Secret was the first spoken-world album to be certified as a Gold Record, going on to sell over 1 million copies. His other successful audiobooks included Lead The Field and readings with commentary of the works of Napoleon Hill.

Nightingale’s radio program Our Changing World became the most syndicated radio program of all time. Nightingale passed away in 1989, shortly after his 68th birthday, survived by his wife Diana.

When the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, the USS Arizona sank under heavy aerial bombardment, the largest casualty event in US Naval history. 1,100 sailors lost their lives on board. Only 350 crew members survived. One of them was Earl Nightingale, a young marine who had recently volunteered to work as an announcer for a local radio station.

At the age of 29, Nightingale read the book Think And Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill, taking from it an insight that changed his life — You become what you think about.

Armed with this epiphany, Nightingale not only committed himself full-force to his broadcast radio career … he also laid the groundwork for drastic prosperity. Instead of just taking a salary, Nightingale negotiated for his compensation to be a percentage of his ad sales.

When radio shows become more popular, the station could charge more for ads on that show. Paid a commission on ad sales, Nightingale’s income became immediately scalable. The more popular his radio show became, the more wealthy he became — without having to work any harder. Nightingale made so much money from this deal that he retired from radio by the age of 35.

Still young and vital, Nightingale purchased an insurance company. He became known for his rousing motivational speeches to fire up his sales team. When Nightingale planned to leave for an extended vacation, his sales manager begged Nightingale to record his motivational speeches so the team could benefit from them in his absence, lest sales drop precipitously. The recordings he made became the basis for his million-plus selling audio classic The Strangest Secret.

Together with fellow champion Lloyd Conant, he went on to be the founder of electronic publication group Nightingale-Conant. With his wife Diana, he later founded Keys Publishing. At the time of his passing, he was one of the most respected motivational speakers and self-improvement experts of his generation.

The Strangest Secret (1957)