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$12

weekly
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The Strangest Secret: Big Ideas That Will Change Your Life

Completed by 20 learners
Ages 13-18
Live Group Class
Each week we select a classic or contemporary writing, speech, interview, quote, movie clip or life and consider how to have a winning mindset.
Average rating:
4.8
Number of reviews:
(655 reviews)

Live video meetings
1x per week
7-16 learners per class
45 min

What's included

1 live meeting
45 mins in-class hours per week

Class Experience

Do you know the Strangest Secret?

We become what we think about most of the time.

Each we will draw inspiration from a great writing, speech, quote or life and discuss the importance of mindset in creating a great life. This class is a spinoff from my class Great Works. In that class we examined the ideas of the philosopher and pyschologist William James who wrote, “The greatest discovery of my generation is that human beings can alter their lives by altering their attitudes of mind.”

He also wrote, “If you only care enough for a result, you will almost certainly attain it. If you wish to be rich, you will be rich. If you wish to be learned, you will be learned. If you wish to be good, you’ll be good. Only you must really wish these things and wish them exclusively and not wish at the same time a hundred other incompatible things just as strongly.”

Examining William James led us to the teachings of Earl Nightingale and his "Strangest Secret."

“We become what we think about most of the time, and that’s the strangest secret.” - Earl Nightingale

While my course Great Works focuses on the arts, there was a desire among students to go deeper in this vein, so I created this course to focus on this specific topic -- the power of the mind to shape our reality.

This is a discussion based course and students are encouraged to share their own ideas. Each week the instructor will select a piece as a starting point as our inspiration. It could be a book like "How to Win Friends and Influence People" by Dale Carnegie. It could be "The Strangest Secret" or "Lead the Field" by Earl Nightingale. It could be the Steve Jobs Stanford Commencement Address. It could be Matthew McConaughey's University of Texas Commencement Address.

We could draw inspiration from Machiavelli, who wrote:

“All courses of action are risky, so prudence is not in avoiding danger (it's impossible), but calculating risk and acting decisively. Make mistakes of ambition and not mistakes of sloth. Develop the strength to do bold things, not the strength to suffer.”

Or from Jack Kerouac who wrote, “The only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones who never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, burn, like fabulous yellow roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars and in the middle you see the blue centerlight pop and everybody goes 'Awww!'"

Life is 10 percent what happens to you and 90 percent how you react to it. This class is about developing a winning mindset, and how our thoughts create our reality.

This class will continue indefinitely and I will continue to schedule out new topics for each week.

Learning Goals

Over time students will be exposed to incredible people and ideas who will shape their life. Students will build a storehouse of stories and examples of mental toughness and inspiration.

Other Details

Parental Guidance
Parents should be aware that in this class I may occasionally share content that includes profanity. This will not be normal, but it may occasionally come up.
External Resources
In addition to the Outschool classroom, this class uses:

    Meet the teacher

    Joined December, 2019
    4.8
    655reviews
    Profile
    Teacher expertise and credentials
    We live in a big and fascinating world and one of my goals with my classes is to help kids develop an interest and appreciation for the world around them and different cultures. My classes draw from my own experiences as a world traveler. I've visited and lived abroad in seventeen countries. In high school my friends and I started our own Dead Poet's Society. I love setting and achieving big goals, like riding my bike, solo and unassisted, from Stockholm, Sweeden to Copenhagen, Denmark. I'm a lifelong student of history and I'm also the former deputy director of the historic home of President Ronald Reagan. In 2010 was a candidate for United States Congress. In addition to teaching on Outschool, I am involved in humanitarian work in Guatemala with Cultiva International and around the world with World Hope International. I am also a coach and consultant to leaders of non-profit organizations. Author of two books, unWorking and Backdoor to the White House, both available on Amazon and wherever books are sold.

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