Born in 1935 as the middle child of a modest family in northern Ontario, Canada, Robert Proctor was not a prominent young man. Born into a global depression that only gave way to World War II, Bob (like many of his classmates) just wasn’t interested in school. As a result, he did not do very well and he eventually dropped out after a few months of high school.

Even in the 1950s, there were few lucrative career options for high school dropouts, so he soon joined the Canadian Navy for a four-year stint. After a mostly uneventful period, he returned to his home in Ontario and settled in Toronto to work as a firefighter. He has since described himself during this period as “broken, sick and miserable”. So when his friend Ray Stanford gave him a copy of Napoleon Hill’s Think and Grow Rich, he was ready for a change.

He quickly decided to put into practice the ideas outlined in the book. The first thing he did was take a figure he wanted to make, write it down, concentrate on it, and put it in his pocket. The initial sum of $25,000 may seem modest by today’s standards, but in 1961 it was several times the average wage for blue-collar workers in Toronto, even someone lucky enough to have a stable and lucrative position as a city clerk. Despite protests from his firefighter brothers, he resigned anyway.

Before long, he had started a cleaning company that specialized in office cleaning. Just twelve months after that, he was the head of a national cleaning chain and had accomplished his original goal several times over. In a few years, he became a millionaire. Clearly, the book had some sort of effect. He felt compelled to share this success with others by sharing the secret he had learned.

Bob was ready to learn more and devoured every book he could find on the subject, many from the 19th century, including those by proponents of the New Thought Movement. He continued to study and found a mentor in Earl Nightingale, creator of the gold record-winning “The Strangest Secret” and the voice of over 7,000 motivational radio broadcasts.

A pioneer of the self-help movement that emerged in the 1970s, Earl taught salespeople and homemakers alike that “you become what you think about” as it occurred to him “like a bolt out of the blue” while was preparing an inspiring talk for insurance salesmen in 1958. Bob went to work with him as a content salesman in Chicago, Illinois, and soon became Earl’s right-hand man.

In the mid-1970s, Proctor decided to begin his career as a life coach and continues, 30 years later, in that capacity. In the years since, Bob has taught executives at dozens of companies including Prudential and Metropolitan Life, as well as Malaysian Airlines.

He continued to search for new material to explain why some people were successful and others were not. Dr. C. Harry Roder of the San Antonio Institute for Conceptual Therapy, Eric Hoffer of the true believer Fame and Leland Von Syring are among those Bob met during his travels to work with corporate clients. They gave Bob invaluable advice that he has incorporated into his programs and seminars. Every time he noticed that his life was going much better than before, he would look for the nugget of wisdom and investigate it. The resulting program is, in essence, his life’s work.

Today, Bob Proctor chairs seminars around the world and spreads his message through the various media companies he runs. The Coaching Consulting Program is offered in conjunction with materials designed to educate users on the human motivations that do or do not lead to success. He continues to offer a twelve-month coaching program through his website that promises to be a rigorous and intensive series of materials and conference calls.

He has written numerous books on the topics of getting what you want out of life and accomplishing goals since the 1960s, including The puzzle of success, The image of the winner, The goal achiever and his highly influential and best-selling, you were born rich. Most recently, he has appeared in the hit movie The Gift, as both an interviewee and a philosopher. With other film experts, Bob has been leading seminars to teach people how to use the power of thought to propel themselves into the powerful people they can become.

Bob claims to be as energetic as ever, in his early 70s, and expresses sincere gratitude for his good fortune and abundance every day. He remains committed to teaching the system for himself to achieve personal satisfaction.