''The Strangest Secret'' was a 1956

spoken word Spoken word refers to an oral poetic performance art that is based mainly on the poem as well as the performer's aesthetic qualities. It is a late 20th century continuation of an ancient oral artistic tradition that focuses on the aesthetics of ...

record by

Earl Nightingale Earl Nightingale V (March 12, 1921 – March 25, 1989) was an American radio speaker and author, dealing mostly with the subjects of human character development, motivation, and meaningful existence. He was the voice during the early 1950s of ...

, which sold over one million copies and received the first Gold Record for the spoken word, which helped launch the fields of business motivation and audio publishing. It was later adapted into print and video forms.

Origin

In 1950,

was inspired by the words "we become what we think about" in

Napoleon Hill Oliver Napoleon Hill (October 26, 1883 – November 8, 1970) was an American self-help author. He is best known for his book ''Think and Grow Rich'' (1937), which is among the best-selling self-help books of all time. Hill's works insisted th ...

's book ''

Think and Grow Rich ''Think and Grow Rich'' is a book written by Napoleon Hill in 1937 and promoted as a personal development and self-improvement book. He claimed to be inspired by a suggestion from business magnate and later-philanthropist Andrew Carnegie. Firs ...

'' around the same time he bought an insurance agency. He provided weekly motivational speeches to the agency's sales staff. In 1956, he recorded a motivational speech to be played while he was on vacation. Nightingale's employees spread word of the speech, and demand for the recording grew so large that he and friend Lloyd Conant formed the Nightingale-Conant Corporation to manage sales.

Content

The audio recording was later adapted into print form as a short, 44-page essay. The teachings focus on nonconformity and self-education, and summarizes that "You are now, and you do become, what you think about."

In other media

Nightingale's recording has been redistributed in various mediums since its initial release. In 2018 Janice Bryant Howroyd released an updated version with her edits and enhancements, read from a female perspective.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Strangest Secret, The Business books Self-help books 1957 non-fiction books 1956 EPs