Every new employee or team member at the New England Real Estate Journal is asked to read Earl Nightingale's "The Strangest Secret." Our founder and CEO Roland Hopkins first read this in 1963 when he started the Journal. Its message still holds true today. Every now and then, as summer reading, I like to go back and read Nightingale's book. Below is my take away, sort of like my own book report. When defining success the best definition found is "success is the progressive realization of a worthy ideal". Meaning that if someone is working toward a predetermined goal, and knows where they are going then that person is a success. If they are not doing this then they would be considered a failure. The reason so many fail today is not that they are cowardly, but that they conform. Conformity is the opposite of courage. Why do people conform? I am not sure. But many of us go through life thinking that the environment, circumstances and other external forces shape our lives. Many people don't know why they go to work other than that is what everyone else is doing. Looking back at success, the only people who succeed are those that go to work saying "I am going to become great at this profession" and begin working towards that goal. That's the difference; goals. Those with goals know where they are going and those who don't have goals don't. It is that simple. The key to success and failure is the same thing "We become what we think about." I am not the first to say this, nor is Earl Nightingale. Many great philosophers dating back from Marcus Aurelius to Ralph Waldo Emerson have disagreed on numerous subjects but all agree on one thing which is " We become what we think about". So what is it that you want? Remember your brain is a fertile field. The enriched soil of your brain can grow riches beyond our wildest dreams. Your brain can grow anything you plant in it. Whether success or failure, no matter what you plant in your brain, you will harvest the fruitful bounty or the weeds of despair. This decision is the most important one you will ever make in your entire life. So what is it that you want? Just plant that seed in your brain, care for it, work steadily towards your goal and it will become your reality. Eric Wilson is the director of social media at the New England Real Estate Journal, Norwell, Mass.