INC. Magazine recently published a list of the Best Ten Motivational Books Of All Time. Some of my personal favorites were on the list, like Think And Grow Rich, The Power of Positive Thinking, and How To Win Friends and Influence People. This last was my father’s favorite, as he had once attended a talk given by author Dale Carnegie, and had taken several seminars given by Carnegie’s organization.
I’ll confess my favorite experience reading a list like this is to find Moneylove as one of the books listed, which I have done on some occasions. I was absent from this one, but my second best experience is finding a friend and colleague on the list. One of the books on this particular list is Og Mandino’s The Greatest Salesman In The World. The magazine picked their favorite quote of Og’s:
“I will live this day as if it is my last. This day is all I have and these hours are now my eternity. I greet this sunrise with cries of joy as a prisoner who is reprieved from death. I lift mine arms with thanks for this priceless gift of a new day.”
But my favorite Og Mandino quote is:
“Jerry Gillies will have you laughing all the way to the bank. Gillies doesn’t just lay down rules. He shows you with techniques that anyone can use, exactly how to accomplish all the objectives necessary to attract money–lots of it.”
And this was from one of my all-time favorite reviews of Moneylove, written by Og, who was the editor of SUCCESS Magazine at the time. It was sent to me by dozens of readers. I wrote to him and expressed my appreciation and said I hoped we could meet.
I got a very gracious reply. Finally we did meet, at a National Speakers Association convention in Las Vegas. We were not close friends, but shared many delightful moments when our paths crossed from time to time.
One of these occurred when I was walking by the blackjack tables on my way up to my room at that convention. It was after midnight, and there, seated alone at one table with a cocktail in front of him, was Og Mandino.
I had just thrown my clothes on to come down to check the banquet room where we had had an evening dinner event. A fellow speaker I had just met had given me the manuscript of a book she had just finished writing. The only place I could put it as we were eating was under my chair, and I had forgotten it there. But when I went back, there was no sign of it, and security had not seen it either.
I had emptied my pockets and just grabbed my key when I went down to the banquet hall, but as I saw Og, I felt in my pocket and found one lone $5. chip. I asked Og if I could join him and, with a big smile, he said “C’mon, sit down.”
I told him I wouldn’t be there long as I just had one chip with me. He said, “Poverty consciousness! Use your Moneylove principles.”
Amazingly, we ended up sitting and chatting for over three hours, as he nursed his one drink, and I ran $5. up to $500 (my biggest win ever). When I first sat down, he pointed to his blackjack hand and his drink and said, “Some of my fans might be disillusioned if they could see me now.”
Og was known for his spiritual energy as well as his great writing and speaking skills, but he was human like all of us. Those who knew him, admired his integrity and his genuine spiritual charisma. His books and audios live on, as he does in the memory of everyone who ever met him. I consider myself very fortunate to have done so.
Jerry
