The Clifton Review
The Clifton Review is a tri-weekly column that examines the question of the Clifton project along with the evolution of the war between two billionaires. We covered the start of this war with articles describing the battle over easement rights, the mysterious burning of a home, the blocks to rebuilding, and countless questionable court filings.
The 2018 series salutes fashion mogul Peter Nygård’s Golden Jubilee detailing his rags to riches story and incredible business success over these past fifty years. The Clifton Review will take an inside look at how he did it.
Is Your Best Tune Still Inside You?
By P.J. Malone
Are you headed to your grave with your best tune inside of you?
Studying the words and actions of fashion mogul Peter Nygard has been quite instructive of his road to 50 years of business success.
A speech he gave to a graduating class from his high school alma mater speaks to his philosophy of life and approach to success.
In his talk, he expressed a concern that arose from observing people on his travels that revealed that some people aren’t allowing themselves to use their gifts. He shared the following:
“People are in constant struggle with time and place. People always seem to have a feeling that they are either too young or too old to do certain things.”
Nygard further expressed, “Most people go to their graves with their best tune still in them. The most beautiful melodies in all the world are never played simple because the average person has never learned to get them out.
He gave this prescription for the graduates to follow on their road to success.
- Develop the right mental attitude
- Establish a goal and purpose
- Pay the price.
Nygard expounded with the following:
Successful people always have a good attitude; they expect more good out of life than bad. They expect to succeed more than fail. You can always tell who’s a successful person—they radiate confidence; they act successful; they expect success; and they get success….
You must determine as to where you want your attitude to take you. Develop your goal—your purpose in life. Develop both a long-term and a short-term goal. Make the long-term goal almost impossible because one thing about the impossible is that you don’t have much competition.
When you establish a goal for yourself, you will feel a surging power pulling you towards it. A goal is a dream in the mind, felt only in the heart that is too big to be denied… Napoleon Hill said, “What the mind of a man can conceive and believe it can achieve”….
Once you have developed the right attitude and clearly defined your goal in life, you are on the road to success. Success has been defined as “The progressive realization of a worthy deal.” You do not, however, necessarily have to be wealthy to achieve success, unless money is your goal. Think about your goal every morning and every night….
You must pay the price. This, in simple terms, means work. To this day, there is no better method of succeeding than to work hard. Success in life is not determined by being dealt a good hand, but by making the best of the hand we are dealt.
What are we given? What are our possessions in life? They are our mind, our abilities, our unique and individual talents, and time. These are our possessions and it is really an enormous amount of wealth. Let’s plan to invest it in the most productive way every day of our lives.
Peter Nygard ended his speech to the graduates by stating that tried and true axiom, ‘you only get out of life what you put into it’.
