1

The
Magic
Word

7
 1
The Magic Word Notes

H
1 ello this is Earl Nightingale, and I’d like to
2 tell you about the magic word. The experts
3 call it the most important word—as far as the
4 results we get from life are concerned—in this or any
5 other language. And the magic word is ATTITUDE.

6 Attitude is defined as “the position or bearing as

7 indicating action, feeling, or mood.” And it is our
8 actions—feelings—or moods—which determine the
9 actions, feelings, or moods of others toward us, and
10 which control, to a surprising extent, our success or
11 failure.

12 Here is where we have the first opportunity to

13 add some real heat to this powerful program.
14 Consider this: you live simultaneously on three
15 planes ... 1) you are a spiritual being; 2) you
16 have a marvelous mind; and 3) you live in a
17 physical body.

18 1. SPIRITUAL - THOUGHT ENERGY

19 NON PHYSICAL

20 2. INTELLECTUAL IDEAS

21 3. PHYSICAL THINGS OR RESULTS

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Notes
22 Earl explained that attitude is our “position
23 or bearing as indicating action, feeling or mood.”

24 Think of what he said ... attitude is ACTION,

25 FEELING or MOOD. That would indicate
26 attitude is expressed by both your mind and your
27 body.

28 Now, we THINK in pictures or images ... we

29 certainly have an image of our BODY, but we do
30 not have one for our MIND. No one has ever
31 seen the mind ... and where there is no image
32 there is confusion. The image is what brings
33 order to the mind. This is why Solomon said,
34 “Where there is no vision, the people will perish.”

35 It was after years of serious study that I

36 stumbled upon this beautiful truth. Without an
37 image of the mind, your understanding of
38 attitude will very likely be distorted. However, that
39 does not mean you will not be successful in life.
40 You could have a great attitude and become
41 highly successful ... yet, not understand exactly
42 what attitude is and how it has affected your
43 success in life. A person in this position is
44 frequently referred to as an unconscious
45 competent. When this is the case, a person’s
46 success would be non-transferable. Since their
47 success has its foundation in their attitude and
48 since they do not have a clear understanding of

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Notes
49 what attitude is, they would be unable to explain
50 their cause of success to another person ...
51 possibly even a loved one. Situations like this
52 are not uncommon.

53 Before we help you in forming an image of

54 the mind, let’s continue with Earl Nightingale’s
55 description of the magic word.

56 It is, then, our attitude toward life which will determine

57 life’s attitude toward us. Now, what does this mean
58 exactly? Everything operates on the law of cause and
59 effect. Everything we say or do will cause some effect.
60 Now, we’re charged with producing causes ... the effects,
61 or the rewards of our actions, will always take care of
62 themselves. That’s why I say success can be
63 guaranteed, and will come to us every time if we live in
64 a certain way. Good attitude—good results. Fair
65 attitude—fair results. Bad attitude—bad results.

66 Earl explained, “Everything operates on the

67 law of cause and effect.” That was correct,
68 however, we are going to expand upon that.

69 Dr. Wernher von Braun who is considered the

70 father of space exploration stated, “The natural
71 laws of the universe are so precise that we have
72 no difficulty building a spaceship that we can
73 send to the moon, and we can time the landing
74 with the precision of a fraction of a second. He

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Notes
75 also said these laws must have been set by
76 someone. Everything in life is controlled by law.
77 Cause and Effect is just one of the laws.

78 Earl recognized that everything was

79 controlled by law. In the final lesson he quotes
80 Ralph Waldo Emerson who said, “Let him learn
81 a prudence of a higher strain. Let him learn that
82 everything in nature, even dust and feathers go
83 by law and not by luck ...”

84 The law has been described as the uniform

85 and orderly method of the omnipotent God. In
86 other words, the law is God’s modus operandi.
87 There are seven laws. I found it amazing how
88 well Earl included all of the laws in “Lead the
89 Field.” As we come to them, they will be brought
90 to your attention ... which will heighten your level
91 of understanding and give you greater control
92 over your life.

93 As we return to “Lead the Field,” that is

94 exactly what Earl Nightingale is suggesting.

95 You see, each of us shapes their own life. And the

96 shape of it is determined by our attitude, the attitude
97 we hold most of the time! Sounds simple, doesn’t it?
98 But, it’s not quite that easy. For most of us, learning
99 this new habit takes time. But once it’s mastered, our
100 daily lives will become as changed as if we walked out
101 of a dark tunnel into the bright clear light of day.
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102 A person with a poor attitude toward learning, for
103 example, in school or afterward, isn’t going to learn very
104 much until they change their attitude. I know you can
105 think of examples of this in your own life. If we take the
106 attitude that we cannot do something, we generally will
107 not do it. An attitude of failure—and we’re whipped
108 before we start!

109 So, we know, then, that what we receive from life,

110 what we accomplish, or fail to accomplish, is due in
111 large measure to our overall attitude.

112 W i ll i am Ja mes of H a rv ar d said the gr eatest

113 discovery of his generation was that “HUMAN BEINGS
114 CAN ALTER THEIR LIVES BY ALTERING THEIR
115 ATTITUDES OF MIND.”

116 In virtually every seminar you attend and

117 every self help book you read, William James
118 is quoted.

119 “HUMAN BEINGS CAN ALTER THEIR LIVES

120 BY ALTERING THEIR ATTITUDES OF MIND.”

121 That sounds pretty simple doesn’t it?

122 However, it is not very easy, it can’t be ...
123 otherwise more people would do it. Why don’t
124 they?

125 The answer is obvious, they don’t know how.

126 James was right, a change in attitude will change
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Notes
127 your life. However ... teachers tell that to
128 students .. doctors tell it to patients ... sales
129 managers tell salespeople and counsellors tell
130 couples who are having trouble ... just a change
131 in attitude is all you require.

132 The person in question will agree and they

133 desperately want the good that is promised to
134 them. What is the problem? Attitude is a mind/
135 body thing, and we were given no image of the
136 mind.

137 What I am going to share with you now, I found

138 after nine years of searching. It has been the
139 single most valuable concept I have ever
140 learned ... for me, it brought all the pieces of
141 the puzzle together. It is an image of the mind.
142 It was originated by Dr. Thurman Fleet (circa
143 1934) in an attempt to show patients how they
144 could heal their body by controlling the activities
145 of the mind.

146 This drawing will eliminate confusion and

147 give you a model to begin working with as you
148 proceed through this program. To help you
149 personalize this image, permit the large circle
150 ... the mind, to be your head, and the smaller
151 one to be your body. Mind is movement and as
152 such, is in every cell of your body. However, you
153 must have an image to have order. So, your
154 head will represent your mind.
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Notes

CONSCIOUS MIND

SUB-CONSCIOUS
MIND
(This model of the mind and
body was originated by the late
Dr. Thurman Fleet of San
Antonio, Texas, in 1934
BODY [circa]. Dr. Fleet was the
founder of Concept Therapy.)

155 CONSCIOUS MIND—THINKING MIND

156 The conscious mind is the part of you that

157 thinks. Visualize the top half of your head as
158 your conscious mind. Your free will lies in this
159 part of your mind. You can accept or reject any
160 idea. No person or circumstance can cause you
161 to think about thoughts or ideas you do not
162 choose. This is important because the thoughts
163 you choose will eventually determine your
164 results in life. As you accept a thought, it is
165 impressed upon your Sub-Conscious mind.

166 SUB-CONSCIOUS MIND—

167 CONDITIONED MIND

168 This part of you functions in every cell of your

169 body. However, for our image, the bottom half of
170 your head will represent your sub-conscious
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Notes
171 mind. Every thought or word your conscious
172 mind chooses to accept, this part must accept
173 ... it has no ability to reject.

174 This part of you operates in an orderly

175 manner. “By Law” it expresses itself through you
176 in feelings and actions. A n y t h o u g h t y o u
177 continuously impress upon your subconscious
178 over and over becomes fixed in this part of your
179 personality. Fixed ideas will then continue to
180 express themselves without any conscious
181 assistance until they are replaced. (Fixed ideas
182 are more commonly referred to as “habits.”)

183 BODY—INSTRUMENT OF THE MIND

184 The body is the most visible part of you. The

185 body is the physical presentation of you, the
186 material medium; it is merely the instrument of
187 the mind, or the house you live in. The thoughts
188 or images that are consciously chosen and
189 impressed upon the sub-conscious, must move
190 your body into action. The actions in which you
191 are involved determine your results.

192 No. 1—Thoughts, No. 2—Feelings, No. 3—

193 Actions, No. 4—Results.

194 To c h a n g e r e s u l t s — c h a n g e t h o u g h t s ,
195 feelings and actions. Keep it simple.

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196 To develop a good attitude toward the world in
197 general—each of us must first develop a good attitude
198 toward ourselves. We can’t give to others something
199 we don’t have, so it’s the attitude we take toward
200 ourselves which determines our attitude toward others—
201 which radiates to the world around us.

202 When you see someone with a poor attitude toward

203 others, you can be sure they have a poor attitude toward
204 themselves. They don’t like themselves. They’re
205 unhappy about something. A happy person reflects their
206 happiness in their attitude. A person with a poor attitude
207 most of the time is unhappy and frustrated most of the
208 time ... and they’re a human magnet for unpleasant
209 experiences. When they come, as they must because
210 of their attitude—they reinforce their poor attitude,
211 thereby bringing more problems and so on. (That
212 person becomes a self-generating, doom-fulfilling
213 cycle.) But for the person with a good attitude, the same
214 principle holds true in reverse. Expecting the best—
215 that’s what they get most of the time.

216 Now, why would a person persist in a poor attitude

217 ... expecting the worst? Well, we’re so familiar with
218 ourselves that we tend to take ourselves for granted;
219 we tend to minimize what we can accomplish—the
220 goals we can reach—and for some equally strange
221 reason, we believe others can reach heights which we
222 cannot! We tend to overlook the fact that there is enormous
223 undeveloped potential within each of us—a great reserve
224 of talent and ability which we habitually fail to use.
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Notes
225 There are millions of human beings living narrow,
226 darkened, frustrated lives—living defensively—simply
227 because they take a defensive—doubtful attitude
228 toward themselves and, as a result, toward life in
229 general.

“ENERGY
IS”

YOU CHOOSE
YOUR THOUGHTS
(Intellectual Mind)

YOUR THOUGHTS
CAUSE
YOUR FEELINGS
(Emotional Mind)
which

CAUSE ACTIONS
YOUR R

230 Attitude is the reflection of a person. (What’s going

231 on on the inside shows on the outside.) One’s attitude
232 is incalculably powerful. It can bring about marvelous
233 results for us. But we must train it, patiently, day by day.

234 Now, for just a minute, let’s talk about people—

235 successful people—who go sailing through life from one
236 success to another and who, when they occasionally fail
237 at something, shrug it off, and head right out again.
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238 No matter what a person does—whenever you find
239 a person doing an outstanding job and getting
240 outstanding results, you’ll find a person with a good
241 attitude. These people take the attitude toward
242 themselves that they can accomplish what they set out
243 to accomplish; that achievement is the natural order of
244 things; that there’s no good reason on earth why they
245 can’t be competent—successful. They have a healthy
246 attitude toward themselves ... and as a natural result ...
247 toward life and the things they want to accomplish.

248 Because of this, they achieve some remarkable

249 things and come to be called successful, outstanding,
250 brilliant, lucky and so on. They are quite frequently no
251 more brilliant or talented than the majority of the people
252 by whom they’re surrounded ... but they have the right
253 attitude. They find their accomplishments not too
254 difficult simply because it seems so few others are really
255 trying ... really believe in themselves.

256 Successful people come in all sizes, shapes and

257 colors, and in widely varying degrees of intelligence,
258 background, and education. But they have one thing in
259 common, they expect more good out of life than bad;
260 they expect to succeed more often than they fail—and
261 they do.

262 When you want something worthwhile, take the

263 attitude that there are a lot more reasons why you can have
264 it, than why you can’t. Set out to earn it—go after it—work
265 at it—ask for it—and nine times out of ten, you’ll get it.
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Notes
266 Now, think about this.

267 Our environment, the world we’ve created around

268 ourselves, is really a mirror of our attitudes. If we don’t
269 like our environment, we can change it by changing our
270 attitudes. The world plays no favorites; it’s impersonal.
271 It doesn’t care who succeeds and who fails; nor does it
272 care whether we change or not. Our attitude toward life
273 doesn’t affect the world and the people in it nearly as
274 much as it affects us.

275 It would be impossible to even estimate the number

276 of jobs which have been lost, promotions or good grades
277 missed, sales not made, marriages ruined by poor
278 attitudes. But you can number in the millions the jobs
279 which are held though hated, the marriages which are
280 tolerated but unhappy, the parents and children who fail
281 to understand one another—all because of people who
282 are waiting for the world and others to change toward
283 them, before they’ll change, instead of being big enough
284 and wise enough to at least make a test which will prove
285 where most of the trouble lies ... in our own poor attitudes.

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Notes
THOUGHT
ENERGY
IS

YOUR
THOUGHTS
BECOME AN
IDEA

IDEA CAUSES
EMOTION

Condition
Vibration is Circumstance
expressed Your action
Emotion through Environment causes a
alters ACTION REACTION
vibration Results which
alters your

286 All right, so a successful attitude will help to bring us

287 the success we seek. But just how does a person get
288 this kind of attitude?

289 The easiest and most effective means of forming a

290 good attitude habit is to begin conducting yourself as
291 though you have a good, positive, expectant attitude
292 toward life. If you’ve never tried it, you’ll be amazed at
293 what happens. Remember that actions trigger feelings,
294 just as feelings trigger actions.

295 Not long ago, I read a line which went: “Life is dull
296 only to dull people!” This is true. It could also have
297 read: “Life is interesting only to interesting people.”
298 Or, “Life is successful only to successful people.”
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Notes
299 You must first become mentally ... from an attitude
300 standpoint ... the person you wish to be.

301 A famous restaurateur was asked by a newspaper

302 reporter one time: “When did you become successful?”

303 And he replied, “I was successful when I was sleeping

304 on park benches. I knew what I wanted to do, and I knew
305 that I’d do it.” You see, his attitude had been one of
306 success, of expecting success, long before the material,
307 the tangible rewards of success had been earned.

308 The great German philosopher Goethe put it this

309 way: “BEFORE YOU CAN DO SOMETHING, YOU
310 MUST FIRST BE SOMETHING.”

SmellTaste
Hear
See Touch
RESULTS
CAUSE
THOUGHTS

THOUGHTS STIR
EMOTIONS

Emotion Vibration
causes causes
vibration Results

311 Chances are you know people who seem to be what

312 others call “lucky.” All kinds of wonderful things happen
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Notes
313 to them—and they give the impression of happily sailing
314 through life having a wonderful time and accomplishing
315 more in a year than most people do in five.

316 If you will conscientiously go about the test I’m going

317 to recommend, and concentrate on it every day, you’ll
318 find yourself beginning to join this small, happy, and
319 extremely productive group of people. You’ll find
320 yourself becoming “lucky,” as they say, and most of your
321 problems will take care of themselves.

322 Of this you can be sure—the results will be nothing

323 short of amazing. Now, here’s the test.

324 Act toward the world—everything and everyone, with

325 an attitude calculated to produce the results you want.
326 That is, if the result you want is more success in what
327 you’re doing, act as though you are already in
328 possession of that success. If you want others to treat
329 you with admiration and respect, treat others with
330 admiration and respect ... first.

Results
you want

Feel yourself
with the result
you desire

BODY

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Notes
331 T R E AT E V E R Y PERSON AS THE MOST
332 IMPORTANT PERSON ON EARTH. Do this for three
333 excellent reasons:

334 1. As far as a person is concerned, he or she is the

335 most important person on earth.

336 2. Because this is the way human beings ought to

337 treat each other.

338 3. By treating everyone this way, we form an

339 important habit.

340 There’s nothing in the world that men, women and

341 children want and need more than self-esteem, the
342 feeling that they’re important, that they’re needed, that
343 they’re respected. They will give their love, their
344 affection, their respect—and their support—to the
345 person who fills this need.

346 Have you ever noticed that the higher you go in any
347 organization of value, the nicer the people seem to
348 become? You see, the bigger the person, the easier it
349 is to talk to them—to get along with them—and to work
350 with them. Do you know why? It’s because they have a
351 good attitude, and the people with the best attitudes
352 just naturally rise to the top. They don’t have a good
353 attitude because of their position, they have a position
354 as a result of their attitude.

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Notes
Cosmic or Divine Consciousness The Law of Vibration
states there are
millions of levels of
vibration. As you

LEVELS raise your level of

conscious-ness, you
OF mentally move on to a
higher frequency of
AWARENESS thought and are
operating with a
higher level of aware-
ness. Your level of
awareness is always
Self Consciousness reflected in your
results.
Simple Consciousness

355 The people with the best attitudes are the

356 same people who operate with a fairly high level
357 of awareness. Think of it this way, science and
358 theology are the only points of reference to which
359 you can go, in search of information with respect
360 to your true potential. Both of these areas
361 clearly indicate that nothing is either created or
362 destroyed, which would indicate all the
363 knowledge there ever was or ever will be is 100%
364 evenly present in all places at the same time.
365 All the power there ever was or ever will be is
366 100% evenly present in all places at the same
367 time. In other words, the way to fly an airplane
368 has always been here. The Wright brothers
369 merely became aware of the principles
370 governing flight. Edison merely developed a
371 higher degree of awareness when he created the
372 incandescent light. It was awareness that took

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Notes
373 us out of a cave and put us in a
374 condominium.

375 An animal operates with a simple

376 consciousness. The animal knows and yet
377 knows not. They have senses: they can see,
378 hear, smell, taste and touch. They’re aware
379 of their objective world but not their
380 subjective world. The next level of
381 consciousness is self-consciousness.
382 That’s where you and I operate. We not only
383 have sensory factors to deal with our
384 objective world, we have intellectual factors
385 that permit us to deal with our subjective
386 world.

387 Then you have the higher level that

388 theology would refer to as “Divine”
389 consciousness, “Christ” consciousness or
390 possibly “Krishna” consciousness,
391 depending upon your religious persuasion.
392 Science might refer to this level of
393 consciousness as “Cosmic” consciousness.

394 As a person raises their level of

395 conscious awareness, it’s expressed in their
396 behavior and results. Individuals who work
397 for $25,000 per year, are not necessarily
398 working for $25,000 because they want
399 $25,000, they’re working for $25,000

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Notes
400 because they’re not aware of how to earn
401 $50,000. People suffer from headaches
402 because they’re not aware they can eliminate the
403 headache: it’s their head, they made it ache,
404 and they can make it stop. Individuals with a
405 lower level of consciousness react to conditions
406 or circumstances; those with a higher level of
407 awareness would respond. The higher the level
408 of consciousness, the greater the awareness of
409 the laws that govern the universe. They know
410 that the thought energy they send into the
411 universe dictates what will return.

412 Act toward others and the world at large in exactly

413 the same manner that you want the world, and others,
414 to act toward you. For example, treat the members of
415 your family as the persons they really are: the most
416 important people in your life. Carry out into the world
417 each morning the kind of attitude you’d have if you were
418 the most successful person on earth. And notice how
419 quickly it develops into a habit. Almost immediately, a
420 change will be noticed. Irritations that use to frustrate
421 and annoy disappear. When some less informed person
422 gives you a bad time, stay on the track. When someone
423 cuts in front of you with their car, or acts in any other
424 manner that shows their ignorance and lack of courtesy,
425 don’t permit yourself to drop to their level. Don’t let their
426 unhappiness make you unhappy.

427 When you begin to develop better attitudes, you

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428 should realize you’ve already placed yourself on the
429 road to what you seek. You are well on your way to
430 joining the top three percent of the people. You’ve
431 prepared the ground and planted the seed—you
432 have made of yourself an embodiment of that which
433 you seek.

434 Now in summing up, here are a few points to keep

435 in mind:

436 First, it’s our attitude at the beginning of a task

437 which, more than anything else, will bring about its
438 successful outcome.

439 Second, our attitudes toward others determine

440 their attitude toward us. We’re interdependent. The
441 success we achieve in life will depend largely on
442 how well we relate to others.

443 Third, before you can achieve the kind of life you
444 want, you must THINK, ACT, TALK AND CONDUCT
445 YOURSELF IN ALL OF YOUR AFFAIRS as would
446 the person you wish to become.

447 Fourth, the higher you go in any worthwhile

448 organization, the better the attitudes you’ll find.
449 Attitudes are not the result of success. Success is
450 the result of good attitudes.

451 And, finally, the deepest craving of human beings

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452 is for self-esteem; to be needed, to feel important, to
453 be appreciated. When you treat every person you meet
454 as the most important person in the world, both of you
455 will benefit.

456 To make these important principles a habit-knit part

457 of your life, here are some suggestions.

458 Since your mind can hold only one thought at a time,
459 make those thoughts constructive and positive. Look
460 for the best in people and ideas. Be constantly alert for
461 new ideas you can put to use in your life.

462 Don’t waste time talking about your problems, or your

463 poor health—unless you’re talking to your doctor. It
464 probably won’t help you. It cannot help others.

465 Radiate the attitude of well-being and confidence,

466 the attitude of the person who knows where they’re
467 going. You’ll find good things happening to you right
468 away. Lastly, treat everyone with whom you come in
469 contact as the most important person on earth. Start
470 this habit, practice it consistently, and you’ll do it the
471 rest of your life.

28