Lead The Field by Earl Nightingale is a personal development and success classic. It was originally published in the 1960s, but back then it wasn’t a book, it was an audio program published by Nightingale Conant, the personal development company Earl co-founded With Lloyd Conant. Much more recently, in 2018, The Nightingale Conant company (still in business) published Lead the Field as a paperback.
Obviously, a script was used for recording the original audio, but aside from that, it was never in print until now. It is almost the same as the audio, it was simply edited in a few places to reference the “book” rather than “audio” (cassette, record, etc).
Earl was a pioneer. He was one of the first to produce audio programs on vinyl and cassette tape long before podcasts or Audible existed. And Lead the Field was one of the first and best selling of its kind personal development programs in history. He created many more.
When people ask me why should they listen to this man whose material is from 60 years ago, I say just give him a try and decide for yourself. But one reason I’ve studied Earl for years is that he was astonishingly productive and prolific. I want to learn from someone like that. How did he get so much done and start a whole industry that still flourishes today?
After he got out of the Marines, he went into broadcasting and wrote and produced more than 7,000 radio shows. He was best known for “Our Changing World.” At one point he was the most listened to radio personality in America (with a distinctive deep voice made for the airwaves, which later became gravely and just as distinctive in his later recordings). He also created over 250 audio programs, and many video programs as well. He was a machine. An interesting biographical tidbit: Earl was on the USS Arizona during the Pearl Harbor attack. 1,177 crew members died. Earl was one of the 335 survivors. Maybe just luck. But I think he had a destiny to fulfill.
This material might not appeal to everyone. Some people might find the references to people, books, and events of the mid-20th century dated, or consider Earl’s style old-fashioned. Or some people might read or listen to a sample and say, “It’s too simplistic or it’s all just common sense. Everyone knows this stuff.” I can understand that. But I see that as part of the appeal of Earl – his message is simple, just like that other personal development legend Jim Rohn’s was.
The simple fundamentals of life success always worked and still work today. Same as the fundamentals of health and fitness. Earl explains laws of life and success such as the law of cause and effect, which can never be broken and that work whether you are aware of them or not (to your advantage or to your detriment).
The fact that his work is still consumed today shows that he taught simple, no-nonsense success principles that are timeless. Just look at how many You Tube videos of his classics have over a million views (notwithstanding that it’s probably not copyright legal).
Earl Passed away in 1989, so much of the current generation has never heard of him, but if they haven’t, I think they are missing out. As everyone here knows, I am a fan of personal development, including modern titles, but I love the personal development classics too.
I previously introduced to our readers Brian Tracy, a still living legend in personal development (80 years old at the time of this writing), and Jim Rohn, who passed in 2009, another success and motivational speaking legend. So I knew I had to go back even a little further into the classics and introduce you to Earl Nightingale as well, because he was the original. If you study the works of these three men alone, you will be well-grounded in the fundamentals of success in all areas of life.
The success industry does go back a lot further than Earl. If you look up Orison Swett Marden, you will see his books go back to the late 1800s. He was the founder of Success magazine, which is still in print today. I get the physical mag in my mail every month. Then there were decades of books in the “New Thought” genre, which is like personal development combined with some spiritual or metaphysical themes. Some of them are a little out there but others, like “As A Man Thinketh” (by James Allen) are worth reading over and over.
But Earl Nightingale is considered the father of the modern personal development and success industry, having started the whole audio learning movement.
In the classic Lead the Field, you will read about topics including:
- Attitude (The Magic Word)
- Opportunities right under your feet (Acres of Diamonds)
- Goals (A Worthy Destination)
- Your mental power (The Miracle of Your Mind).
You’ll also learn about:
- The law of cause and effect
- The importance of service
- The necessity of integrity
- The power of expectancy
- How to be in the top 5%
- How to achieve financial independence.
- And a lot more
A nice feature of the printed book that many people will appreciate is that there are exercises (“homework”) you can do at the end of each chapter which can help the material stick. By the way, it was Earl Nightingale who first suggested the idea of one of our favorite techniques: Using a GOAL CARD (see chapter 3, page 57). It’s one of the exercises in that chapter. I picked it up from the late Bob Proctor, who was a student of Earl and worked with Earl.
Like many of the personal development and life success titles we review and discuss, this book covers all aspects of success, including money. But there is plenty of potential application of Earl’s success principles to health and fitness, even though he doesn’t talk about it directly.
Sometimes people ask me why I choose books of the month that are more about psychology and personal development than about nutrition and training. I’m sure we’ll choose some titles to review that are health and fitness specific in the future. But you already have access here in the Inner Circle to a vast treasure trove of fitness and nutrition info, and you probably already have the book Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle. That covers a lot of ground.
But the number one reason is that our Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle philosophy is based on the premise that there are four major elements to body, health, and fitness transformation: 1. Nutrition, 2. Resistance training, 3. Cardio training, 4. Mental training. And I am certain it’s the fourth part – mental training, mindset, and the psychology behind getting lean, healthy and fit, where most people fall short. So, I review, and we read mostly books on mindset, behavior change, and psychology. And by the way, reading books itself is part of “mental training.”
Lead The Field by Earl Nightingale was a pick of the month for our Burn the Inner Circle book study club. (If you’re a Burn the Fat Inner Circle member, be sure to join the discussion. (link for members)
One last note: There was another recording and book that Earl released even earlier than Lead the Field. It’s Called the Strangest Secret. I’m going to go ahead with the spoiler: The strangest secret is that we become what we think about, most of the time. It’s about the power of thought. First released as a motivation tool to a group of insurance agents to help improve their sales, the original recording went on to be the first spoken word gold record in the world, exceeding one million copies. This was in 1956 and the original recording was a (vinyl) record.
Because the Strangest Secret is a short booklet and audio that you can read or listen to in one sitting, I am adding that one on my recommended list too. And don’t just listen to it once. I’ve lost count of my listens.
Bottom line: Anyone who is interested in CLASSIC personal development material (that is timeless), should check out Earl Nightingale.
To your success!
– Tom Venuto,
Author of, Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle
Founder of Burn the Fat Inner Circle
PS. Here’s the link to the Lead The Field book on Amazon: amzn.to/4g98sIl
Here’s the link to the Lead The Field Audible audiobook on Amazon: amzn.to/4eTFMl2
Here’s the link to The Strangest Secret on Amazon: amzn.to/4eTFMl2
PPS. If you enjoy your first readings or listenings of Earl’s materials and you want to take a deeper dive, then look up “The Essence Of Success.” It’s a beautiful (but expensive) hardcover, and an Audible or Nightingale Conant audio, 16 hours.
About Tom Venuto
Tom Venuto is a natural bodybuilding and fat loss expert. He is also a recipe creator specializing in fat-burning, muscle-building cooking. Tom is a former competitive bodybuilder and today works as a full-time fitness coach, writer, blogger, and author. In his spare time, he is an avid outdoor enthusiast and backpacker. His book, Burn The Fat, Feed The Muscle is an international bestseller, first as an ebook and now as a hardcover and audiobook. The Body Fat Solution, Tom’s book about emotional eating and long-term weight maintenance, was an Oprah Magazine and Men’s Fitness Magazine pick. Tom is also the founder of Burn The Fat Inner Circle – a fitness support community with over 52,000 members worldwide since 2006. Click here for membership details
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