A turning point in my life came in 1982, at age 25. I purchased a paperback copy of “How to Win Friends and Influence People” for 50 cents at a garage sale and kept it in my service truck. I used to read it at lunch. It inspired me to begin listening to audio cassettes — books on tape. I quit listening to my extensive Blues collection, gave up the front page of the newspaper and began keeping a journal. I turned into a sponge.
As an HVAC Technician I had a C+ level of technical skills, but with Dale Carnegie’s help, I became an A+ people guy. Sales and opportunity soon followed. It became my “People Handbook,” my “Human Relations Bible.” That copy is so dog-eared pages fall out when I open it.
Born in Maryville, Missouri, on Nov. 24, 1888, Dale knew only poverty as a boy. He ascended to become the top salesman in his company and region by hard work and study. He moved to New York City in 1911 and began teaching Public Speaking Courses at night, so he could research and write during the day. In 1936, “How to Win Friends and Influence People” went on to sell over 5,000,000 copies by his untimely death in 1955.
Dale believed and taught that “It’s possible to change other people’s behavior by changing one’s behavior toward them.”
My three favorite quotes from his book are:
“You can make more friends in two months by becoming genuinely interested in other people than you can in two years trying to get them interested in you.”
“Talk to someone about themselves and they can listen for hours!”
“Any fool can criticize, complain and condemn and most fools do. But it takes real character and self-control to be understanding and forgiving.”
I recently reread this classic self-help book and listened to it on CD and determined that if I were to turn his timeless principles into affirmations/goals and bombard my subconscious with my 20 favorite DC principles, (as in, record onto Garage Band, transfer to iTunes and load on my iPhone and listen to it 1,000 times, which takes me about a month) I could raise my interpersonal relationship bar to M. Ghandi/A. Lincoln/M.L. King status.
So here we go … my 20 paraphrased Dale Carnegie (DC) goals, submitted for your approval:
Imagine what would happen and how your relationships might change for good if you read these 20 Goals twice a day for 10 days? Better still, record them and store them on your iPhone and listen to them 10 times a day! You just might win way more friends and influence everyone you meet, but that wouldn’t work where you live or would it?
I kind of miss that old service truck. Come to think of it, I kind of miss audio cassettes too… you know, twisting the reel to make certain it plays right; okay, not really. Now where did I put my iPhone?