Born in 1935 as the middle child of a modest family in Northern Ontario, Canada. Robert Proctor was not an outstanding youth. Born into a worldwide depression that only gave way for a Second World War, Bob (like many of his peers) just wasn't interested in school.
As a result, he didn't do very well, eventually dropping out just a few months of high school.
Even in the 1950s there were few lucrative career choices for high-school dropouts, so he soon joined the Canadian Navy for a four-year stint. After a mostly uneventful stint, he came home to Ontario, settling down in Toronto to work as a fire fighter.
He has since described himself during this period as being "broke, sick and miserable."
So, when his friend Ray Standford gave him a copy of Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill, he was ready for a change.
The initial sum of $25,000 may seem modest by today's standards, but in 1961, it was several times the average blue-collar wage in Toronto, even someone so lucky as to have a steady and lucrative positive such as a city employee.
To the protests of his brother fire fighters, he quit anyhow.
Shortly, he'd started up a janitorial company that specialized in cleaning offices. Just twelve months after that, he was the head of a nation-wide janitorial chain and had made several times his original goal. Within a few years, he was a millionaire.
Clearly the book had some sort of effect. He felt compelled to share this success with others through sharing the secret he'd learned.
Bob was ready to learn more and he devoured all the books he could come across on the subject, many from 19th century such as those by the proponents of New Thought Movement.
He continued to study and found a mentor in Earl Nightingale, creator of the gold record winning "The Strangest Secret," and voice of over 7,000 motivational radio broadcasts.
A pioneer of the self-help movement that sprung up in the 1970s, Earl taught sales forces and housewives alike that "you become what you think," since it occurred to him "like a bolt out of the blue," while preparing an inspirational talk for insurance salesmen in 1958.
Bob went to work with him as a content salesperson in Chicago, Illinois, and soon became Earl's right hand man.
In the mid 1970's Proctor decided to begin his career as a life coach and continues, 30 years later, in that capacity.
In the ensuing years, Bob has taught executives at scores of companies such as Prudential and Metropolitan Life as well as Malaysia Airlines.
He continued to seek new material to explained why some people were successful and some were not. Dr. C. Harry Roder of San Antonio's Concept Institute, Eric Hoffer of The True Believer fame and Leland Von Syring are among those Bob made acquaintance of during his travels to work with corporate clients.
They gave Bob indispensable advice that he's incorporated into his programs and seminars. Any time he noticed his life was going along much more smoothly than before, he sought out the nugget of wisdom and investigated it.
The resulting program is, in essence, his life's work.
He has written numerous books on the topics of getting what you want out of life and fulfilling goals since the 1960s including The Success Puzzle, The Winner's Image, The Goal Achiever and his highly influential and best selling, You Are Born Rich.
Most recently he's been featured on the phenomenally successful movie "The Gift", as an interviewee and philosopher. With other experts from the film Bob has been conducting 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 spry as ever, in his early 70s, expressing sincere gratitude for his good fortune and abundance everyday.
He remains committed to the teaching of his system for attaining personal satisfaction.
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