“The common denominator of success — the secret of success of every man who has ever
been successful — lies in the fact that he formed the habit of doing things that failures
don’t like to do.”

The speech was first given by Mr Gray at the 1940 annual convention of The National Association of Life Underwriters, now the National Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors (NAIFA), Albert E. N. Gray was an official of the Prudential Insurance Company of America. 

Several years ago I was brought face to face with the very disturbing realization that I was trying to supervise and direct the efforts of a large number of men and women who were trying to achieve success, without knowing myself what the secret of success really was. And that, naturally, brought me face to face with the further realization that regardless of what other knowledge I might have brought to my job, I was definitely lacking in the most important knowledge of all.

Of course, like most of us. I have been brought up on the popular belief that the secret of success is hard work, but I had seen so many people work hard without succeeding and so many people succeed without working hard that I had become convinced that hard work was not the real secret even though in most cases it might be one of the requirements.

Hard work was not the real secret even though in most cases it might be one of the requirements.