Throwback Thursday: Stay Launched—At 81 and Beyond

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Earlier this month, someone placed an order through our website for six copies of The New Common Denominator of Success, a simple purchase of a small but mighty booklet.

But for us, it was anything but ordinary.

That title—The New Common Denominator of Success—is Volume 9 in our Life-Changing Classics series, soon to grow to 37. We first published it in 2008, but its origins go back to a 1940 speech by Albert E.N. Gray. And the message? It's as relevant today as ever.

I still remember when my father, Charlie "Tremendous" Jones, sent me the manuscript. I wasn't running Tremendous Leadership yet—just circling the runway. But when I read it, I thought:

"Holy cow. If we publish this truth, I must come back."

It lit a fire that's still burning.

The Letter That Brought It All Full Circle

Yesterday, I opened my mailbox and found an envelope addressed to me—with a handwritten note tucked inside a copy of The New Common Denominator of Success. The note read:

"Thank you, Tracey! You are 'Awesome.' I'm 81 these days and just started a new business here in Flagstaff. Your dad got me rolling 50 years ago with 'The New Common Denominator of Success.' So why not give him another shot with my NEW business? Stay launched!"

He is eighty-one and just starting again; not from ground zero, but from experience. He even stamped his new business logo and address inside the front cover, so I will never forget him or this tremendous gesture!

Inside the book was a quote circled in ink—one I've heard my father recite thousands of times over the years:

"The common denominator of success—the secret of success of every person who has ever been successful—lies in the fact that he or she formed the habit of doing things that failures don't like to do."

—Albert E.N. Gray

I heard my father recite that quote so many times it may as well have been tattooed on his soul.

In The Key to Excellence, my father shares this:

"That's the power of a book. Let me tell you about one book in particular: The Common Denominator of Success by Albert E. N. Gray. It's been my calling card for years. I don't hand out business cards. Do you know why? Because I'm sensitive—it hurts my feelings when people throw them away! So instead of a card, I give them this book."

"Gray says the difference between successful people and failures isn't that they like doing the hard stuff. No—both kinds hate doing the hard stuff. The difference is that successful people do it anyway. Failures wait until someone forces them. Now, you know who needs to read that book? Me. And how about you?"

That's legacy. That's humility. And that's my dad.

Books That Launch Lives

For 60 years, we haven't just been publishing books—we've been publishing wake-up calls. We don't hand out paper that gets tossed. We hand out truth that gets circled, saved, revisited, and reread when a new chapter of life is about to begin—even at 81.

This gentleman isn't a relic of the past. He's a prophet of what's possible.

He's not winding down—he's staying launched.