BREAKING: Zig Ziglar’s Most Powerful Motivation Tips for Achieving Your Dreams!

Hello, Believe Nation. I started the Mentor Me series with the idea to spend a little bit more time with people who've done a lot more than us, and hopefully by watching their videos, a little bit about their mindsets, their beliefs, their values, their work ethic, the way they think rubs off onto us so that we can be the best version of ourselves. So today we're gonna learn from Zig Ziglar on motivation. Mentor me, Zig. And as a reminder for you guys, as Zig is talking, if he says something that's really inspirational and motivating for you, Make sure to write it in the comments below and put it with quotes around it so other people can be inspired as well.

I'm not gonna spend much time on work, and don't look shocked. It's not that I don't think it's tremendously important because it is. We've got to accept responsibility. We've got to accept the fact that we've got to perform. And as I tell the kids all over America today, now is the best time you'll ever have in life to get ahead. Now's the most opportune time in America that it has ever been to get ahead. Here's what I say: If you show up for work on time and stay there until the appointed departure time, if you do what they pay you to do and then they pay you, then nobody owes anybody anything. Now, if you want a raise, get there a few minutes early. Ask for extra things to do. Be cheerful and positive and optimistic and helpful. Don't goof off and try to get out of work. Deliberately seek the boss to find extra work, and then I will absolutely guarantee you a raise in short order. Now, your current employer might not be the one to give you the raise, but somebody down the street's going to see what you're doing, and they're going to say, "That's the boy I want working for me. That's the girl I want working for me because he or she are doing more than they're paid to do." That's the way you get a raise. Oh, don't misunderstand. You got to work. You can't be like this old boy down home. And you're gonna find out earlier there are an awful lot of old boys down home. Somebody, at least there were when I was down there, somebody asked him how long he'd been working for his company and he said, "Ever since they threatened to fire me." So that's about the size of it, Jeff. But here's what we've discovered. If you got a good self-image, if you have your goals set in life, if you've got the right mental attitude, nobody has to tell you, "Go to work." That just follows naturally. So this is what we're going to work on and you gotta, have a desire to succeed. You can't just casually want the good things in life. It's got to become a passion for you. Your dream has got to be more than just an idle thought. You got to be willing to build a foundation under it, and that's for sure. And we're going to be taking these steps, and quite obviously, ladies and gentlemen, I believe that these steps are what is necessary. But let me, let me identify to you what one of the major problems in America is. One of the problems is, you see, we have said to people, all of these things are available. We've shown them the big homes, the big cars, the swimming pools, the jet set, the, you know, that style of living that a lot of people say, "Yeah, I'd kind of like that." Then on the other side of the ledger, we have said everybody not only can get these things, but everybody deserves these things. America is a rich and affluent land, and everybody can get them. Then we have another segment of society that says that crime is caused by poverty. Poverty. With one segment saying you deserve these things and you ought to have them, and another segment saying that crime is caused by poverty, we subliminally, subconsciously plant a thought: don't wait to get it, go get it right now. There has never been a definitive study that establishes any correlation between crime and poverty. During the Great Depression, the crime rate was much lower in 1939 than it was in 1930, at the end of a decade of the roughest depression our country has ever had. So what we're saying is, let's start climbing some steps. You see, we could draw you an elevator to the top, but I'd have to be honest and say the elevator doesn't work. You're going to have to start taking these steps, and you're going to have to take them one at a time. But I've discovered that people don't mind taking the steps if you tell them where they are, Show them how many there are, and then tell them exactly how to climb the steps. But you see, you gotta climb the steps. You can't skip them. On September 15, 1944, in Jackson, Mississippi, at the YWCA, at exactly 18 minutes after 8 o'clock, I saw the prettiest little girl standing over by the Nickelodeon. Now some of you won't know what a Nickelodeon is. That's a jukebox, okay? And I thought to myself, "Boy, what I'd really like to do is I'd like to go over there and I'd like to grab her in my arms and I'd like to start hugging her and kissing her right now." That's exactly what I wanted to do. But if I had, she wouldn't be sitting here as my wife of over 30 years today because I would have skipped too many steps. So I did something real original. I walked up to her and I said, Hi. And she said, hi. And the first thing you know, since it was a dance, there we were, a little YWCA dance, and we were dancing. And I got her telephone number that night, and we had a lot of telephone calls. And then one day I said, hey, we ought to be going out. And she said, okay. So we had a date, then we had another one and another one. And then, you know, it wasn't but 2 years and 2 months and 11 days and 1 hour later that she became my very own, but we took some steps along the way. I don't care how bright you are in school, you cannot move from 2 times 2 equals 4 into analytical geometry. You gotta take some steps. Now the mistake a lot of people make is they get on one step and sit there. Uh, you know, that's not what I'm talking about either. What I'm talking about is taking these steps and then you will get this. A number of years ago, Laurie Majors, my executive assistant, got a phone call from a lady in Birmingham, Alabama. At the end of the conversation, she said, Zig, she said, I believe this woman thinks she's got an impossible problem, but I believe you can solve that problem her— with her in just a few minutes if you will spend that time with her. I said, well, Laurie, tell her to meet me backstage. I'll get there about 10 minutes early. My schedule was such that was about all I had. Well, I got there and I was on backstage behind the curtain on one side. She spotted me from the other side and as she walked across the stage, I have never seen as much anger in a human being in my life as I saw in her. She almost started crying when she saw me. She said, "Oh, I'm just so glad to see you. I got this horrible job. I hate it. I hate everything about it. I hate everybody down there." I mean, you're talking about negative Nell. She was it. She said, "Can you help me?" Now understand, I've only got about 10 minutes. So I looked at her, and one thing I have learned— I don't do counseling, but I talk with a lot of people who do in psychology, psychiatry, and the ministry. And they tell me that everybody who comes to you with a problem are not necessarily looking for a solution. I couldn't understand that for a long time. Why do they bring you a problem if they don't want to solve it? Well, I can tell you why. They want to tell you about it, you about it, you about it, you about it, and you about it. And if you foul up the deal and solve the problem, they can't tell you again, you again. They want the attention that goes with the problem. And every company, just about it, has that kind of an individual. They want the attention that goes with griping and complaining. Well, I looked at the lady, and it wasn't unkindly, But firmly I said to her, "Yes, and you know, ma'am, I'm afraid your problem is about to get worse." She said, "What do you mean?" I said, "I believe they're going to fire you." She was stunned. I couldn't have stunned her more if I'd hit her in the face with a bucket of ice water. She said, "Fire me? Why on earth would they fire me?" The inflection in her voice clearly said, "They're the bad guys. I'm the good guy. Why don't they fire them and keep me?" Have you ever noticed that people who are the problem never recognize that they are? They're in complete denial. They think denial is just a river in Egypt. "Why would they fire me?" I said, "Ma'am, I don't believe there's a company in America big enough to contain this much poison in one small spot." Have you ever noticed that when somebody's about to lose something they've been complaining about, whether it's a car, a home, a mate, a job, or whatever, when all of a sudden it appears they're going to lose them, it takes on brand new value. She looked at me and said, "Well, what can I do?" I said, "Do you really want to know?" She said, "Yes, I do. That's the reason I came to see you. I came looking for help, but you sure haven't been any help so far." I said, "Well, ma'am, I've got an idea, and I will absolutely guarantee you—" It positively, definitely, absolutely will work if you will just do it. She said, I'll try anything within reason. I said, okay, when you get home tonight, all of your household tasks are complete, it's bedtime. Get off in a room right by yourself, get a sheet of paper out, and at the top of it write, I like my job because— she interrupted me, she said, that'll be easy, I don't like nothing about that job, don't like nothing about those people down there. And I said, "Well, just as a matter of curiosity, do you work there for benevolent reasons, or do they pay you for working there?" She said, "Well, I got to confess, they pay me." And I said, "And you don't like to be paid?" "Oh," she said, "yes, I do." I said, "Okay, tell you what you do. Open your notebook right now. We'll start our list of the things you like about your job. They pay you for working there, and you do like it, don't you?" She said, "Absolutely." But she just stood there. I said, "No, open your notebook now and we'll get busy on the list." She just stood there. I said, "Ma'am, let me, let me tell you what my experience in life has been. I've discovered that in 100% of the cases, no exceptions, people who won't take step number 1 never take step number 2." You see, she had come to me with an impossible dream. Her dream was that nice Mr. Ziglar was going to solve all of her problems and she would live happily ever after. After. Well, folks, I got news for you. I can't solve her problems. I can't solve your problems. But I will give you some steps that I absolutely, definitely, and positively will work for you, as it worked eventually for her. I said, well, ma'am, let me tell you something. Unless you're willing to take step number 1 right now, it's been nice talking with you. She angrily opened her notebook. Before we got through, there were 22 things she liked about her job. Not only did they pay her for working there, they paid her above average. She had 3 weeks vacation with pay. She had a retirement program. She was in on profit sharing. She had health insurance, life insurance, and accident insurance. She lived less than 10 minutes from home. She was in on management decisions. The company sent her to 3 seminars a year to be paid for. She had her own private office and parking place. 22 things that she liked about her job. "Man," I said, "when you get home tonight, everything is finished. Get off in a room right by yourself. Close the doors. Change one word from 'I like my job' to 'I love my job.' Get in front of that mirror." And folks, I cannot say this strongly enough, but I'm going to try. The eyes are the windows of the soul. Look yourself in the eye. And with excitement and enthusiasm say, "I love my job because they pay me for working there. I love my job because they pay me above average for working there. I love my job because they have a wonderful insurance program. I love my job," before every one of the statements. You will sleep better that night. You see, there's something hidden in what I'm saying to you now. When she says, "I like my job," she's really saying, "I'm grateful for my job." And of all of the emotions we can have, according to Hans Selye, the number one stress pessimist in America, the healthiest of all human emotions is gratitude. I said, you go down that list. I like my job, I love my job rather, that is a way of gratitude. You'll sleep better the first night. Tomorrow morning when you get up, get back in front of the mirror just before you go to work. Get back in front of the mirror and repeat the process again with excitement and enthusiasm. I love my job because— and take the list with you. Because the reality is, you see, you will have started to change from a fault-finder to a good-finder. Some people do really find fault like there's a reward for it. They really do. Take the list with you, and you will be able to add to that list, absolutely guaranteed. Do this every morning and every night, and you will have an astonishing recovery. From this advanced case of stinking thinking. Now, I didn't say that to her, but I'm saying it to you. That's what it was. It was an advanced case of stinking thinking. Well, 6 weeks later, I was back in Birmingham, Alabama. I was doing a follow-up sales seminar. Now, the lady was not in sales, but she had been listening to my tapes. She had been listening to Automobile University, and she had discovered that everybody sells. Everybody who will ever hear this is in selling. Whether you're a schoolteacher, a civil service worker, a military personnel, an executive secretary, it doesn't make any difference what you do, you sell every day of your life. There she was on the— at the sales seminar, seated on the front row, grinning so wide she could have eaten a banana sideways. I'm telling you, you're talking about somebody that was excited. She was turned on. I said, "Well, how you doing?" She grinned even more broadly and said, "Mr. Ziglar, I'm doing wonderfully well, and thank you for asking." She said, "You cannot believe how much those people down there have changed." I got to lay it on the line, folks. You're not going to change anybody else till you change you. Everything really does begin with you. Now you see, the unfortunate thing, this lady had been raised in a very negative environment. First, her parents had told her that she'd never amount to anything. They had said, "You know, you're always late. You're always sloppy. Why can't you be like your brother or your sister or whatever?" When she got married, her husband had continued it. And so, her self-talk had become completely negative. Everything that she said about herself was negative. You know, like, "Dad said I'll never amount to anything." Or like, "My husband says I can't do anything right." But when she started changing the input, then some radical changes took place. I want to talk a little bit about goals on the light of how do you lose 37 pounds and write a book. I'm just going to kind of give you that as an example. For 24 years of my adult life, by choice, I weighed well over 200 pounds. I say by choice because, you see, I have never accidentally eaten anything. I mean, it's always been deliberate. And when I choose to eat too much today, I have chosen to weigh too much tomorrow. You can choose to set goals and realize your potential, or you can choose not to set them. Now, if you choose not to set them, you got to understand that the consequences are not going to be good down the road, for For 24 years I was going to lose that weight. As a matter of fact, in 24 years I lost several thousand pounds of weight. How many of you already know exactly what I'm talking about? But it wasn't until I wrote it down, put a date on it, listed the obstacles I had to overcome, identified the people, the groups, the organizations I needed to work with, spelled out a plan of action, set that time limit in there and identified all of the benefits to me, it was only when I did that that the goal became a reality and I lost the weight. For 10 or 15 years, I was gonna write a book. You know anybody who's gonna do just a whole lot of things, folks? I was gonna write a book, but it wasn't until I got busy writing the book and writing the plans first before the book ever materialized. Now, if it sound like I'm trying to sell you on having goals, how many of you are getting close already? How many of you are becoming convinced right quick like that you need to have those goals? There's no question about it. The immortal J.C. Penney many, many years ago said, "Give me a stock clerk with a goal and I'll give you a man who will make history. But give me a man without a goal and I'll give you a man who will make history." A stock clerk. Now the interesting thing is goals do not care who has them. Let me give you a classic example of the way they work. In 1950, a war-torn, devastated Japan, a nation which had lost an incredibly high percentage of its young men, their cities were in ruins, they had been bombed out, but in 1950 they got together, they meaning industry and government, got together and set a goal. The goal was, "We're gonna be the number one nation in the world," during the 1950s, in the production of textiles. In 1959, ladies and gentlemen, they accomplished that objective. In 1960, they set another goal. We're going to be the number one nation in the world in the production of steel. Now, when you understand there's no iron ore in Japan of any significance, there's no coal of any significance there, we're going to be the number one nation in the world in the production of steel. It seemed like an absurd goal, and yet they reached their objectives. They had taken all of the steps. In 1970, the Japanese set another goal. They said, "During the '70s, we'll be the number one nation in the world in the production of automobiles." They missed it, folks. One year it took them until 1980. In 1980, they set another goal, and this time their goal was, "We're going to be the number one nation in the world in the production of computers and electronics." Yes, indeed, ladies and gentlemen, you absolutely must have those goals. You gotta write them down. You gotta put a date on it. You gotta identify those obstacles. You've gotta identify the people, the groups you need to work with. You gotta find out what it is you need to know. You gotta develop a plan of action and you gotta write it down. What's in it for me? Now that's a formula that I have just given you, pure and simple. Now if I were to ask you what 3 times 3 was, there isn't a person here who could not instantly answer it. But if I were to ask you, what is 5,128 times 2,165? Odds are enormous that very few of you could pop out the answer that quickly. But if I were to say to you, get your pencil and paper out, figure it out, then all of you could figure it out. Why? You know the formula. Now you see, if you know the formula, it really doesn't make any difference, ladies and gentlemen, what the goal really is. When I started to write the book, I took precisely the same steps that I'm talking about. I wrote down the objective. I wrote down the time I completed or expected to complete the book. Identified the obstacles there, and yes, I know this is repetitious. It's the mother of learning. I wrote out and identified the people, the groups, organizations I needed to work with. I devised a plan of action to do it. I spelled out what I needed to know, and I wrote it all down. What's in it for me? You see, the basic problem is most people, when they're working on their job, they get to thinking, "You know, I really ought to be spending time at home with my family." And then when they're at home with their family, they get to thinking, "You really ought to be out there working for my family." And so, when they're out there working for their family, their mind is back home, and when they're back home, their mind is back out there in the field. And then they tell everybody, "Well, I don't ever have time to do anything!" No wonder you're always traveling! You see, the basic problem is not lack of time, it is lack of direction. We all have exactly the same amount of time whether we're a millionaire or a pauper. All of us have 24 hours every single day. The truth is, ladies and gentlemen, we must have goals if we're gonna do anything. Goals do a lot of things. For example, they enable you to chase the blues away. I've never known anybody who was truly depressed who had specific and long-range goals. Goals. And what goals do is they create activity. And you see, activity, as you work towards reaching them, creates the very excitement which you need in order to accomplish or reach your objectives. The psychologist put it this way: logic will not change an emotion, but action will. And as you get busy working towards these dreams of yours— and yes, you absolutely must have your dreams, ladies and gentlemen— and what we're going to do is look at the ways you build a foundation underneath those dreams. Several years ago, they did an experiment with a number of college students, and in this particular experiment, they let them go to sleep, and they hooked these brain machines up to them. With these brain machines, they could determine precisely within a matter of seconds when the student went to sleep. Then they could tell when that student started to dream, and as the student would start to dream, they would awaken him or her. And then they'd let them go back to sleep, and that is no problem, but when they started to dream, they would awaken them again. And with those brainwave machines, they can tell exactly when they start to dream. At the end of one night of this kind of treatment, many of the students were nervous and fidgety. At the end of, uh, two nights of this kind of treatment where they had a reasonable amount of sleep but no dreaming, they became very irritable and very short and very cross. At the end of just three nights of a reasonable amount of sleep but no dreaming, they could tell that some of them were headed for some psychological difficulties. And so what they did was they aborted the experiment. Now, about 24 hours later, most of the students were back to normal. Within a week, all of them had returned 100%. But the experiment proved something very conclusively, and that's this: when you're asleep, ladies and gentlemen, you need your dreams. I'm here to tell you that when you're wide awake, you also need your dreams. You must have your goals. You'll never make it as a wandering generality. You must become a meaningful specific. If you're going to work tomorrow because that's what you did yesterday, you're not going to be as good tomorrow as you were yesterday because now you're 2 days older and no closer to the goal which you do not have. Have. You can't make it as a wandering generality. Most people understand you got to become a meaningful specific. It reminds me of an experiment done some little while ago by Jean-Henri Fabre, the great French naturalist. He took a number of processionary caterpillars, so named because they follow each other in a procession, and he lined them around a flower pot until they formed a never-ending circle, and they started going round and round 24 hours that first day. And then they went the next day and the next, and by the— about the third or the fourth day, he put some pine needles into the center of that flower pot. That's the food of the processionary caterpillar. They kept going round and round 7 full days and 7 full nights. They went round and round until they literally dropped dead from starvation and exhaustion. With an abundance of food less than 6 inches away, they had starved to death because they confused activity with accomplishment. You've got some friends that are in the same shape. They're busy, busy bee all the time. They're going, going, going, going, and they're here and they're there and they're somewhere else, but they never really accomplish anything because they don't have those specific clearly identifiable objectives. You gotta have those goals. And this story really covers all of the concepts, all of the ideas in which we believe. That's the reason we're going to give you the story in the detail which we are. When I met Bernie, he— you know, we had a little discussion about what he was doing in Kansas City, and he said, I came down to hear the salesman. And I said, yeah, but it costs a lot of money to come this for? He laughed. He said, "Well, Zig, thanks to my son David, I don't have to worry about money." I said, "Bernard, that sounds like a story. Why don't you tell me?" He said, "I'll be glad to." This is the story. He said, "You know, Zig, when our son David was born, our joy literally knew no bounds. We already had our 2 daughters. Now we had our son, and that was what we had hoped that we would have when we got married." But he said, "It wasn't long before we noticed that something was wrong with David." His little head hung too limply to the right side of his body for it to be a normal situation, and he drooled too much. And so we went to the doctor, and the family doctor said, 'No problem. He'll outgrow it.' But he said, 'You know, Zig, we knew that it wasn't quite that simple, so we took him to a specialist. And the specialist, after a very thorough examination, told us that he had the reverse of clubfoot.' And he said, 'We treated him for that for several weeks, and then it dawned on us that this wasn't it. It was more serious than that.' that. So we found who the top specialist was in all of Canada, and we went to him. And this specialist, after a very thorough examination, said to us that David is a spastic. He has cerebral palsy. He's never going to be able to walk or talk or count to 10. And I suggest that you put him in an institution for his own good and for the good of the, quote, normal members of the family. But Bernie Lofty looked at me and he said, "You know, Zig, I'm not a buyer. I'm a seller. I could not buy the idea that my son was going to grow up and be a vegetable. All that doctor had really convinced me to do was to go find a doctor who was not problem-conscious and look for one who was solution-conscious." So we went to other doctors. He said, "As a matter of fact, we went to 30 different doctors, and all 30 of them in essence all said the same thing, and that is that there is no hope for this little boy. And then they heard of a Dr. Pearlstein down in Chicago, reputedly the foremost authority in the world, but he was so good that he was booked for 2 solid years in advance. Now that didn't particularly bother Bernie because hope for the first time had reared its elusive head, and Bernie just figured that somehow or another he was going to get his son in front of Dr. Pearlstein. Well, he found out that Dr. Pearlstein was a bridge player, found out his home number, found out that he played every Friday night with his son. He called him there and they made a deal. At the first cancellation that they had, Dr. Pearlstein was going to call Bernie and they would put David, or take him on an airplane immediately to Chicago. Well, just 11 days later they got the call. They loaded David on the airplane, they took him down there, and Dr. Pearlstein gave him easily the most thorough examination I believe that any child has ever had. When the examination was all over, he said to Bernie, "This boy is a spastic. He has cerebral palsy. He will never be able to walk or to talk or count to 10 if you listen to the prophets of doom." But he said, "I want you to know that I am not problem conscious. I want you to know that I am I'm solution conscious, and I fervently believe there is something which can be done for David if you are willing to do your part. Well, rather obviously, the Leifstecks said, "Doctor, what is it you want us to do? Spell it out." Dr. Pearlstein and his nurses spelled it out in minute detail. He said, "First of all, you're going to have to work this little boy beyond all human endurance. Then you're going to have to work him some more." You're going to have to push him until he literally falls, and then you are going to have to push him some more. You've got to understand now that once you start this process, that there is no backing up or slowing down or staying away from it. This is a lifetime process because if you ever discontinue this, then he will revert back to where he was before. One last thing. Don't let him see any other victims of cerebral palsy taking therapy, because if he watches them take therapy, he will pick up the awkward, inadvertent movements they make, and subconsciously he will make them a part of his own movements. Bernie and Elaine left Chicago enormously excited because Dr. Pearlstein had given them extra hope. He had added believability to it. He had presented them with a plan. To tell you the truth, that's what we've attempted to do all the way through Born to Win. Every time we make you a promise, we give you a plan of action. You see, folks, motivation without instruction and education is ultimately frustrating. For me to tell you you can do something and not to tell you how is a cruel hoax that we have studiously avoided throughout. Every time we've said, "You can do it," we've always said, "Here's the way to do it." Well, they went back to Winnipeg, and they went to work with David. They built a little gymnasium down in the basement of their home. They hired a physical therapist and a bodybuilder, and they went to work. It took them a lot of months, but finally one day David Lovechik could move the length of his own body. It took them several years, but then one day Bernie got a call from the therapist. He said, "Come on home. I believe David is ready." and he rushed home, and David was down in the gymnasium on a mat. And as he was attempting to do a push-up, and as that little body started to rise into the air, the physical and emotional exertion was so great there wasn't a dry inch of skin on that little body, and the mat appeared as if somebody had sprinkled it with water. When that one perfect push-up was completed, David and Bernie and Elaine and the therapist and the bodybuilder and the two sisters and the neighbors all broke down and shed those tears which clearly say that happiness is not pleasure. Happiness is victory. No, you don't pay the price. You enjoy the benefits that Diane was so beautifully singing about. Now the story is even more remarkable when you understand that one of America's leading universities had also examined David and they said, There are no motor connections to the right-hand side of his body. He has no sense of balance. He will never be able to swim or to skate or to ride a bicycle. He just simply will be different. It'll probably take him 2 years even to learn how to float. On October the 23rd, 1971, my wife and I flew to Winnipeg, Canada, to attend the bar mitzvah of, quote, little David Leifsey. Oh, I wish the television cameras had been turned on then. I wish the movie cameras of the world had been there to have witnessed what we saw, especially since I'd been working with Bernie a couple of times each year between that first day back in 1965. And I'd watched David as he grew and as he made all of that progress. But this particular day, as this boy walked walked tall and straight and strong to the front of the synagogue as he uttered those words that moved him into the manhood of the faith of his forefathers. Knowing what I knew at that particular time, that he had already done as many as 1,100 push-ups in a single day, that he had run 6 miles nonstop, that he was shooting golf in the high 80s, that he was one of the best table tennis players in all of Winnipeg, Canada, that he was skating on the neighborhood hockey team, that he was running the wheels off his fourth bicycle. Oh, I tell the story about David in a lot of the details because, you see, I happen to believe that this story literally covers all of the areas that we cover in Born to Win. You see, to begin with, they dealt with David on a very honest basis. They never said it's going to be easy. The parents were never told it's going to be easy. They were told that you've got to stay with it, but if you'll suck it up and can tough it out and stay with it, the results are going to be dramatic. They dealt with the thing character, because you see, character is the ability to carry out a good resolution long after the excitement of the moment has passed. And there were many times when the excitement was no longer there, but David stayed with it, as did his parents. Integrity, they dealt— integrity, of course, means basic wholeness. And they dealt with the entire person. Of David Lovesick, physical, mental, and spiritual, the whole bit. As far as loyal is concerned, nobody. I mean, those two big sisters and the mother and the dad and the doctors and the therapists, they all were loyal to an incredible degree as they worked with David, helping him to accomplish his objectives. And rather, obviously, trust is deeply involved there because it takes a lot of trust for a youngster year after year after year to be willing to do these things when his buddies are all out playing and having a marvelous time. Now you talk about love. When I think of the story of David Leipziger, I think it's one of the most beautiful love stories I have ever heard. You see, when he was about 2 years old, every night they had to put heavy leg braces on his legs. Now David is a beautiful boy, olive complexion, beautiful green eyes, coal black hair. Every night as he would lay there getting ready to go to bed, he would ask his mom and ask his dad, "Mom, do we have to put the braces on tonight?" Or, "Dad, do we have to put them on so tight?" You parents obviously will relate to this. Here a child is whom you love deeply, and with tears in his eyes, he's asking, "Do you have to do it?" But Bernie and Elaine Loftick loved David so much that they said, "No." no to the tears of the moment so they could say yes to the laughter of a lifetime. When you love someone, you do what is best for that person. Let me share with you a, a true story out of my notebook of life. Number of years ago, got an incredible letter from a gentleman in Toronto with a substantial check in it. He said, my friend Steve Walker is following the wrong role model. He's working himself to death. His family's falling apart. He's— his health is in danger. And he's modeling himself out of his boss. And he trusts you and respects you. If you will give us 1 hour, I will fly him to Dallas and give you this check. Wouldn't you love to have a friend like that? I sent the check back and I said, come on down. Steve and I had quite a little talk. And in our talk, I asked him why he had such a role model. Why did— what about this man that made him so completely important in his life? And he said, "Well, he's the most successful man I have ever known." And I said, "Well, Steve, what do you call success?" Now it took several minutes for him to go down the list. But the interesting thing is, though they're not in the same order that I have put them, or they— we list them now, These are the 8 things that he said he really considered to be successful. If a man was happy and healthy and at least reasonably prosperous and secure, if he had friends and peace of mind and good family relationship and the hope that future's going to be better, he said, I'd consider that man as successful. Now I'm going to really encourage you to take some notes right here. And all I want you to do, and you'll be the only one that'll see it, Somewhere write in my— as I go down the list, write whether you get a plus on that one or a minus on that one. You'll be the only one to see it, but it might be an eye-opener. You see, most people never dare to evaluate really where they are. And you got to know where you are before you can really determine your chances of getting what you really want out of life. And so I said to Steve, I said, I understand that your boss is very important to you. You consider him to be successful. When he finally got through with the identification, as I said earlier, these were the 8 things that he said, I think that's important for success, to measure success. I said, well, Steve, let me ask you now, as far as happy is concerned, tell me, how happy is your boss? He said, oh, I don't think he's happy at all. I said, why not? He said, well, I've never heard him laugh and he seldom smiles. And besides that, he's got ulcers. I said, "Well, do I give him a plus or a minus?" He said, "Oh, you give him a minus. Please grade yourself as we go. This is so important for you." Then I said, "That also tells me something about his health if he's got those ulcers. Do I give him a plus or a minus?" He said, "You give him a minus." I said, "That also says something, Steve, about his peace of mind because you don't get ulcers because of what you eat, but what's eating you." I said, "Do we give him a plus or a minus?" He said, "We give him a minus." I said, Steve, I've asked you one question about what success is, what balance is, what's important to you. One question and your boss comes up with 3 minuses. I said, tell me how prosperous he is. He said, man, he's got money running out of his ears and he's getting more every day. I said, we give him a plus on that one, don't we? He said, we sure do. I said, how secure is your boss? He said, well, he's as secure as money can make you. And I said, "Well, Steve, let me ask you. Did you read where two billionaire brothers here in Dallas went bankrupt?" I said, "How does your boss compare?" "Oh man, he doesn't have that kind of money." "Did you read where our ex-governor was worth $100 million at one point? He's now bankrupt. How does your boss compare?" "Oh, he doesn't have that kind of money." Now understand, Steve equated security with corporate position and bucks in the bank. So I said, "Well, Steve, let me ask you. Would we give your boss a plus or a minus or just a question mark on that?" He said, "Let's be generous and give him a question mark." I said, "How many friends does your boss have?" I hope you're marking these for you. "How many friends, real friends, do you, uh, does your boss have?" He said, "I don't think he's got any. I'm not his friend. I just happen to admire the guy. Tell you the truth, he's somewhat of a jerk." I said, "Okay." We give him a minus on that one. I said, tell me about his family. And he said, well, his wife's divorcing him. Well, that one's easy to answer. I said, how much hope does he have for the future? He said, well, before I started talking to you, I thought he had a lot, but right now I don't think he's got any. Why did that statement come forth? Because for the first time he had evaluated it. That's what we need to do, evaluate where we are. Are we investing our time properly, using our resources properly? What will the end results be? Well, then I said to Steve when that was over, we give him the minus there. I said, Steve, of the 8 things that you consider marks of success, he gets 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 minuses. He gets 1 plus and 1 question mark. I asked Steve a question. I'm going to ask you the same question. Steve, would you swap places with your boss right now knowing what you know? He looked at me kind of stunned. He slowly arose to his feet and said, "No, I wouldn't." Would you? Well, I'm one of these real fortunate, uh, people. I was raised in Yazoo City, Mississippi. Now, I know a lot of people go around the country bragging about being from Yazoo City, but I really am. As you probably know, it's not a big place. We don't even have a village drunk. We share with a little community next to us. Main Street runs through the car wash, so we got a mirror on the end of town, make the town look bigger. I mean, you know, it's not a real big place. But let me tell you why I can tease about Yazoo City. Former president of the American Medical Association's from there. Former president of the American Bar Association is from there. Former president of the Southern Baptist Convention is from there. Former vice president of the Southern Baptist Convention is from there. The former chairman of the Republican National Committee is from there. Jerry Clowers is from there. I mean, you know, it's quite a place. Now, a lot of people ask me, "Well, you know, how do you account for all of that?" Well, two things: had good preachers and a wonderful superintendent of education that saw to it that the kids got a good education. I'm proud to be from Yazoo City. We lived next door— when I was a child, we lived next door to some rich folks. Now, I know they were rich for two basic reasons. Number one, they had a cook. Number two, the cook had something to cook. Now, during the Depression, folks, that was a sure sign of wealth. I was over there for lunch one day, as I tried to be every day. And don't misunderstand this now. Even though there was a depression on, we had plenty to eat at my house. I know we did because if I ever passed my plate for seconds, they'd always say, "No, you've had plenty." So I know we had plenty. That particular day, the cook brought the biscuits out and I looked at them and they were not as thick as my wristwatch. And I said, She said, "Maude, what on earth happened to your biscuits?" And she ran back and gave that big old tummy laugh, you know, and she said, "Well, let me tell you about those biscuits." She said, "They squatted to rise, but they just got cooked in the squat." You know anybody gets cooked in the squat? Oh, they're a half a mind to do this or they're going to do that, but the half a minders and the going to doers are the never doers. You've talked to them, you know. They hear about a good idea, you know, and they— you hear about it and try to get them —And they say, "Well, you know, I'd love to get involved in it, but it's almost time for the kids to get out of school. And you know, this is our busiest time of the year. But I'm really interested. After school gets out, I won't have so many things to do with all the parties and all, and then I'll get involved." And when school ends, you know what happens? They say, "Well, you know, I didn't realize it, but it seems that we've got more to do than ever before. And you know, I'm busier than ever. Got to take the kids somewhere all the time. Wait till the kids get back in school and then I'll, I'll really get involved." Kids get back in school and they say, "Well, you know, this is the first year in 19 years years that dear old Central High has finally fielded a winning football team, and I got to support the kids there. Wait till football season is over, then man, I'll really get involved in it. Football season end, they say, well, you know, it's— here it is nearly Thanksgiving and Christmas, and you know, people don't want to be bothered with sort of thing this time of year. Wait after the first of the year, man, and then I'll really get after it. Oh, now wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. I know exactly what you're thinking. You're thinking I've lost interest, but that's not the way I am. Now just let me tell you the way I am. See, what I do is I get everything organized in a real one-two 2, 3 bases, and then when the time comes to strike, man alive, I'll pass all these cats that have gotten out in front of me now. But I'm telling you, this is just not the right time of the year. Wait after the first of the year. The first of the year comes and they say, did you ever see weather like this before in your life? I mean, you never know whether you live in San Francisco or Buffalo or Yazoo City or wherever it is you live. Did you ever see water like— weather like this? I mean, you can't depend on it. Wait till this weather clears up, man, and then we'll really get They say, "You know, I haven't hit a golf ball or wet a hook in I don't know when. And you know, fellow can't work all the time. You said it yourself, you got to have some time for yourself. Wait till I have a little recreation and then man alive, I'll get with it." And they have a little recreation and then they say, "Well, you know, it's almost time for the kids to get out of school." That's where we came in. Folks, let me tell you something. People who wait for Aunt Matilda to move out, or John to get on the day shift. People who wait for the next senator to be elected or the next governor to come in, people who wait for the next advertising program to get started or wait for the tax structure to change or wait for anything that happens out there before they do anything in here are the people who get cooked in the squad. The message is, We need to do it now. You don't have to be great to start, as my friend Joe Saba says, but you got to start to be great. I want to talk with you about the greatest profession on the face of this earth. I want to talk to you about the sales profession. I believe— oh, go ahead, I got time. Yeah! I just happen to believe that America is the greatest land land on this earth, uh, because we are a land of salespeople. We're certainly not the greatest because we're the biggest, because we're not. Russia and China and Canada, Brazil, they're all bigger than we are. We're not the greatest because we have the most people. Why, India and Russia and China got lots more people than we have. We're not even the biggest because we have the most— are the greatest because we have the most natural resources, though we've certainly been abundantly blessed in that area. But then so has India for that matter, much of Africa, parts of Russia, Canada, Brazil, all rich in natural resources. No, we're not the greatest because, uh, we have the most people or the most land, but we're the greatest because essentially we are a land of salespeople. And I don't know how you feel about it, but I for one am tremendously excited about being a salesperson. The truth of the matter is America was discovered by a salesman. Not by any stretch of imagination could you accuse Christopher Columbus of being a navigator. Now, if you'll remember, folks, that dude is looking for India. Now, he missed it 12,000 miles. Not by any stretch of imagination could you accuse him of being a navigator, could you? And you might say, uh, well, yeah, but was he a salesman? Well, let me tell you the story. He was an Italian in Spain. Now that's way out of his territory. He's only got one prospect to call on, and if he misses a sale, he swims home. Now you tell me, was he a salesman or not? He called on Isabella, told her the story. She says, Chris, it sounds like a good idea, but man, $12,000 for 5 little old ships? See, a lot of people don't realize they started out with 5, but 2 of them did go over the side. You might as well know now, I tell folks I'm like a cross-eyed discus thrower. I don't set any records, but I do keep the crowd alert. And you know, and I think that's important. He told Isabella the story, you know, and she related to it. She said, you know, it sounds wonderful, Chris, and if I could raise the $12,000, I'd, you know, I'd buy the idea in a minute, but we don't have any money. How many of you salespeople have ever had a prospect tell you that they'd buy if they had had the money, but they just don't have the money. Well, Chris looked at her and he said, "Look, Izzy." Now understand, I, I was not there, so I'm not certain this is verbatim, but you, you got that string of beads hanging around your neck there. Let's take them down to the pawn shop. We'll hock them. We'll finance this deal. Well, your history books will clearly tell you they used some unusual methods to raise the money to finance the trip. Then when they started sailing in those three little ships, Columbus really had a sales job because those sailors thought they were going to go over the side. I mean, literally. And every single day he had to sell in order to sail. And as a matter of fact, he had agreed to turn back towards the homeland if they had not discovered or sighted land within a certain time. And just 8 hours before the crucial decision was made is when they discovered the land. And the call came forth, "Land ho!" And the most profitable sales call in history came to a close. And then Columbus made the mistake that a lot of salespeople make in our world today. He did not service the account. He did not keep on selling. And a man named Americus Vespucius entered the picture, and he serviced the account. We did not become the United States of of Columbus, we became the United States of America. America was populated by a salesman. Sir Walter Raleigh toured the coffee houses of London selling those ignorant, fearful, superstitious people on the idea that they should leave the relative security of their homeland and come into this vast, uncharted, foreboding, uh, weird wilderness that lay beyond the sea. It was a tremendous sales job. We were freed by a salesman. Do you really understand the tremendous recruiting job that George Washington had to do? He had to convince the farmers, the merchants, the backwoodsmen, the shipbuilders, the landowners, and all of the people to leave their homes, go to war against the most powerful nation on the face of this earth, largest army, most powerful navy. And he had to be honest and say, now look, if we win this war, there's no way I'm going to be able to pay you. And if we lose, they're going to hang you to the highest tree. Now, how many of you sales folks do any recruiting? Can I see your hands, please? Now, I want you to visualize this scene. You're trying to recruit somebody to sell with your company, and you have to tell them, look, if you make the sale, I don't have any money. I'm not going to be able to pay you. But if you miss the sale, we're going to line you up at daylight and we're going to fire away. Now, that was the job Washington had to do. But he did the job. You know, we won our independence. As soon as we'd won our independence, Alexander Hamilton, the first Secretary of the Interior— or the Treasury, rather— came to Mr. Washington and said, "Let's get the Congress to appropriate some money so that we might study the methods the British have used to establish their agents and factories around the world." The money was appropriated. I don't know if you've ever thought about this or not, but did you realize, ladies and gentlemen, for the first 168 years that America was populated, we had only moved to the Appalachian Mountains? Did you realize that with the appropriation of this money, we did set up trading posts, and just 30 years later, we were already to the Pacific Ocean? Yes, I'm proud to sail, because you see, our land has been developed because we are a land of sailors. Salespeople. Now, at this point, you might have a question in your own mind. Well, see, if that's the case, if we as salespeople have done so much, why is it that salespeople are held in such low esteem? Why is our reputation not better? Why is it that people do not respect the profession, uh, you know, more than they do today? Well, I believe, ladies and gentlemen, that one of the reasons that only 2% percent of the graduating seniors from college today are interested in going in the profession of selling is because we have not done our thorough job as salespeople. Basically, there are 4 reasons why the profession of selling is not regarded as high as it ought to be, and is fast becoming, I hasten to add. Number 1, did you realize what the dictionary says about the word sell? The dictionary says it's a fraud. It's a hoax. It's right there in the dictionary. Can you believe such a thing like that? We ought to sue those rascals for writing such things as that. Number 2, we've done a lousy job of selling the profession of selling. Now, we've sold our goods, we've sold our products, we've sold our services, but we really haven't done a very good job of letting people know what the sales profession is all about. But we're correcting that right now, and you're part of the correction, because by the time we get through here, you're going to have that jumping up and down enthusiasm about the profession of selling. See, a lot of people are tremendously proud of their company, awfully proud of their products, their goods, or their services, but for whatever reason, they seem to be a little hesitant to let people know they're in the profession of selling. We just simply have not done the sales job. Now, there's the third reason why a lot of people don't really understand what the profession of selling is all about and why they have so many erroneous ideas. A few years ago, a fellow named Arthur Miller wrote a play. He called it, of all things, Death of a Salesman, and they feature some dude named Willy Loman, the perennial loser. And a lot of people have come to identify that with the sales professional, and that is absolutely weird, wild, insane Way out. Doesn't make any sense. They showed that thing on Broadway as a play. They made a movie out of it a long time ago, and I thought they had finally put the deal to bed. And then they showed it on television, and then they showed it again on television, and then they revived the play on Broadway, and now they're doing the same thing again. I could not believe— why don't they make a play entitled Death of a Doctor or Death of a Lawyer, or, you know, or something like that? It'd make even more sense. Absol— Absolutely. And then you take the music man, fella named Harold Hill, the consummate con man. You know the story behind him. And a lot of people have gotten these weird ideas, therefore, from these presentations about what the profession of selling really is all about. And then there's a fourth reason, and that's this old Yankee peddler image, which is still a hangover. You know, an amazing number of people think that any— that a good salesman can sell anybody anything under any circumstances. That's crazy. Only a con man could do a thing like that. Selling is not making people want something they don't need, nor is it making them buy something they do not want. Selling in the professional sense is uncovering a need and then bringing to that individual the products or the goods or the services which fill that specific need. Now let me see if we can establish some things here with some questions. How many of you folks sell a pretty good product? Can I see your hands? Okay. How many of you sell an extraordinarily good product? Can I see your hand? How many of you believe that when you sell that good product— well, let me ask you this way. Uh, the products you sell, how many of you sell one that solves a problem? Can I see your hand? Okay. How many of you believe that when you sell a product that solves a problem that you deserve a profit? Can I see your hand? Okay. How many of you believe that when you sell two products that solve two problems that you deserve two profits? Can I see your hand? Okay. Now, what you're saying is that the more problems you solve, the more profit you deserve. I'm not trying to put words in your mouth because, as the late Fred Herman would say, that ain't sanitary. Okay, but that really, uh, you know, that really is what you're saying, isn't it? Okay, now how many of you been in the profession of selling for as long as a year? Okay, how many of you still got all of the money you've earned in the last 12 months? Okay, how many of you have got customers whom you sold a year ago, 2 years ago, 5 years ago, 10 years ago, who are still using and enjoying the benefits of what you sold them a year or 2 years ago or 5 years years ago? Can I see your hands? Now here's a very important question: who made the best deal? Was it you or the customer? The customer. Alright, then is the sales process something you do to somebody or something you do for somebody? Isn't it for somebody? See, I fought in the ring 2 years. Matter of fact, the only reason I quit was because of my hands. Referee kept stepping on them. But one of the things, one of the things the coach used to always tell us when he had sent us out, he said, "Now, Zig, the first round, spar around, find out where the opponent is weak and capitalize on the weakness." In football, the coach says to the quarterback, "Find out where they're weak and exploit that weakness." In tennis, the instructions are, "Find out where the opponent is weak and exploit the weakness. In the world of selling, we find out where the opponent, that is the customer, is weak, that is has a need, and strengthen that need by selling them our goods, our products, and our services. You see, it really is true, folks, selling is something you do for somebody and not to to somebody. And that's our role. That's what we want to simply bring to you— what is the truth about what this profession really is all about. Because a lot of times people say, okay, Zig, you got me sold that the selling profession is a marvelous profession. Now tell me the truth about these salespeople, and tell me what the salesperson receives as a result of doing all of this selling and all this serving. Basically, in my judgment, the salesperson is the ultimate free person. You're in business for yourself but not by yourself. You see, the truth of the matter is you're the chairman of the board, you're the president, you're the secretary of treasury, you're the chief executive officer, you're the administrator, and oh yes, you're the janitor too. I mean, as salespeople, we do the whole bit, don't we? But the nice thing about it is you can get up any morning you want if you want to, because you occupy all of those positions, you can get right in front of that mirror, give that big old grin, you know, like a fella I saw the other day, the only guy I've ever seen who could eat a banana sideways. I mean, listen, that guy was grinning. I mean, he really was. Well, you can get in front of that mirror and, you know, you can look yourself right in the eye and say, "You're such a nice guy," or, "You're such a nice girl, you deserve a raise." And the board just met. The vote was unanimous. The raise will become effective just as soon as you are. I mean, you see, the nice thing, the nice thing about this profession of selling is that we do have that ultimate freedom. Now, when we talk about ultimates, also in my judgment, it's the ultimate security in the world of selling. Is where you're going to find it. As you might recall, in the last recession, you know, the newspapers and the television and the radio have predicted 18 of the last 2 recessions. I mean, they seem to be right on the target, as my good friend Don Hudson would say. But you know, when you, when you analyze what they really say, when you look at the last recession, for example, there were some pilots and attendants who lost their job. There were some executives, some builders, some manufacturers who lost their job. There were secretaries and stenographers and file clerks who lost their job. There were teachers and superintendents who lost their job. There were a lot of people who lost their jobs. These were honest, sincere, dedicated, hardworking, intelligent, committed people. They lost their jobs not because they were not committed, not because they were not productive, but they lost their jobs jobs because of the economy that we experienced. Now I challenge you, name me one honest, sincere, dedicated, hard-working, productive salesperson who lost their job during the recession. Ultimate security! Ultimate security! Absolutely! I'll never, I'll never forget, I was doing a sales training seminar in Atlanta, Georgia, Georgia. And these two young men came up to me and they said, you know, we'd like to get our money back on the seminar. And I said, what's the problem? They said, well, we just got fired from our job and we have no need for sales training if we don't have something to sell. And I said, well, let me ask you guys a question. Do you like to sell? They said, oh yeah, we love to sell. Well trained. And they were good-looking young men, 25, 26, 27 years old, sharply dressed, you know, They said, "We just had a personality conflict with the boss." I said, "Well, would you like to have another job in the world of selling?" They said, "We sure would." I said, "You come on into the meeting and I'll have you 25 job offers before you leave out here tonight. Is that a fair deal?" They said, "It's a fair deal." And then that night I asked the question, "How many of you—" Well, I'll ask you, how many of you folks here tonight are in the world of selling and you're recruiting or hiring salespeople? People? Can I see your hand? Now let me ask you a question. How many of you have an opening right now for an honest, sincere, dedicated, conscientious, hardworking, productive salesperson? Can I see your hand? They literally had more job offers than they could even remotely consider for at least the next 2 weeks. Now why is that? Simply because a salesperson has the greatest security in the world. General— General Douglas MacArthur said that security is the ability ability to produce. And my friends, if you've got that ability to produce in the world of selling, I can absolutely guarantee you, you really do have that security. Now, you know, when we do have recessions, we deal with them in different ways. For example, in the business community, in the regular, uh, or business structure, you know how they deal with recessions and declines and drops in business. They get these— all of the people together And the president of the company, you know, gets on his best sad look and he wears his sad suit, you know, and he makes this little brave speech about, "We've got some tough times ahead, but we're gonna tough it out. I mean, we're gonna tighten our belt. We're gonna cut the lights off early. I'm sorry, we're gonna have to let a few people in this department go and a few people in this department go and a few people in the other department go, and we're really gonna have to be on this austerity program, but we are going to tough it out." And that's the way they deal with the recession. Recession. Now, when sales organizations are confronted with that situation, they call another big meeting. They get all of the folks together and say, now folks, you know, we hear this talk about this recession, but we have figured out a way to deal with it. We are all just going to have to work real hard to reduce our sales, and that's the way we'll solve the problem. Isn't that the way they generally handle it? Or do they get everybody together and they say, hey, you've heard all of this baloney about a recession. Let me tell you our answer Man, we're going to put on a sales contest like you have never heard of before in your entire lifetime. We're going to put up prizes like you cannot believe. We're going to involve here some motivational training programs and some sales training programs, and we're going to have some incentives here that'll absolutely boggle the imagination. And I'll tell you what's going to happen. We're going to get out there and we're going to show them where a recession is. We know business is never either good or bad out there. Business is either good or bad right here between your own two ears. Ears. And if you're thinking is stinking, your business is going to be in the same shape. We're just going to give all of you a little checkup from the neck up, and we're going to go out there and we're going to knock them dead, and we're going to sell, sell, sell. Now let me ask you a question. During the last recession, whenever it was, how many of you actually sold more during the recession than you'd sold before the recession? Can I see your hand? Ah, isn't the world of selling an absolutely incredible thing? Yes indeed. The salesperson really is an unusual individual. Do we make money? How many of you read U.S. News and World Report? Can I see your hand? About a little while ago in one of the issues of U.S. News, they had a fascinating article in there. You know what the article said? It said that more salespeople are millionaires than doctors. Now I don't know how that gets to you, but I kind of say, aha! Hey, what about that? We make more money than doctors! Those dudes make. What about that? Yeah, I had, I had the privilege just last week of addressing a sales organization. Their average income was over $70,000 a year, or in that neighborhood. And that's one more really nice neighborhood, is it? Is, you know, I talk to salespeople all the time who their first year in the business make $20,000 and $30,000. I've seen them who make $100,000, $200,000. There's As a matter of fact, years ago, Charles Schwab, who really was the master salesman, and Diamond Jim Brady, those dudes made a million dollars a year selling over 100 years ago. An amazing thing, this profession of selling. Yes, there is a substantial amount of income possibilities there, but you know what else? The Cox Report revealed here about 2 years ago that in the world of selling We're the ones who supply by far the biggest majority of the corporate officers. Now, many years ago, it was the salespeople, and then they drifted into the accountants and the attorneys, and they made, uh, the corporate officers out of them. But in the last 5 years, and the trend is now on a runaway path, they're realizing that what they really need running the organization is the optimistic, positive-thinking outlook of the sales organization and the salesperson running that organization. They need somebody so optimistic they'd go after Moby Dick in a rowboat and take the tartar sauce with them. I mean, basically, uh, you know, that's the kind of individual that they are looking for. Yes, it's great to be a salesperson. Now, hopefully I've exploded a lot of the myths about the profession of selling and what the salesperson himself or herself really earns. But the question comes up, who is the best salesperson? What type individual or personality makes the best salesperson? For years and years, the general public has been led to believe that it's the extroverted, happy-go-lucky, back-slapping, uh, hail fellow, well met, joke-telling, uh, uh, kind of an individual who makes the best best salesperson. I'm glad you're seated because this might shock some of you, but if we were to divide this audience right here into two groups, one group are all introverts and the other group are all extroverts, I got news for you, the introverts will outsell the extroverts 100 times out of 100. That's right. Now that probably shocks you. Now that doesn't mean that maybe the best salesperson might not be an extrovert. They could well be, But I'm talking about over the long haul. Now, why is that? And incidentally, let me hasten to add, the introverts in many cases have acquired some of the characteristics of the extrovert. I mean, they've learned to be a little more outgoing, a little broader smile, a little more enthusiasm, and a little better handshake, and this kind of thing. But I'm talking about the nature of the individual. Why would the introvert make the better salesperson? There's several reasons for First of all, it is because the introvert is far more likely to be better organized and they are better students. They study the procedures and the techniques. They're not as likely to sell by the, quote, "seat of their pants." They will follow the procedures which are there. Number 2, they're more detail-oriented and incidentally more people-oriented. They're far more inclined to ask questions to uncover the needs of the prospect. Prospect and find out what the prospect needs instead of trying to roughshod run over them and dominate them with personality and tell them all about the wonderful merits of their merchandise without finding first of all if their needs will be met by what they're selling. Third thing about introverts is realistically, folks, uh, they're more introverts than they are extroverts, and so they have more people to relate to as far as the process of selling is concerned. So what can those who are extroverts do about it? The same thing that introverts can do. You can acquire the training, the characteristics, and the habits of the introvert, just as the introvert needs to acquire some of our characteristics. And yes, people can definitely do that. That's probably going to shock most of you when I tell you this, because all you've seen me here is in front of a group of folks, and I'm laughing, and I'm talking real loud, and I'm bouncing up and down, and I I exude a lot of energy and a lot of confidence and a lot of enthusiasm. So, when I tell you this, it's probably gonna shock you, but I too am an introvert, very much so. Now, you might think I'm the loudest introvert you've ever seen in your life, but emphatically I am an introvert. I have simply acquired some of the characteristics of the extrovert. You see, you're not stuck with the way you are. One of the most exciting things I can tell you is that you can change. I can tell that you're what you are and where you are because of what's gone into your mind. You can change what you are and you can change where you are by changing what goes into your mind. And the beautiful thing about the profession of selling is you have an opportunity to be with and around the optimistic, the positive thinkers, the people who are encouraging and building you up and helping you to do more of the good things of life. When you start talking about the salesperson and the kind of individual involved in it, I think one of the most exciting reports I've ever read was put together by the Forum Corporation out of Boston, Massachusetts. They did a considerable study on 341 salespeople. 173 of these salespeople were the top-notch producers. I mean the super productive salespeople. 168 of them were average salespeople. Now all of them had been selling at least 5 years, so we can eliminate the rookie factor. They came from 11 different companies, 5 different industries. They sold everything from petrochemical, uh, banking, life insurance, real estate, and one or two other things. But in this analysis, they discovered that from a pure sales knowledge, sales skill point of view, that the 173 top salespeople and the 168 average salespeople all had almost exactly the same sales skills. Each group knew exactly how to get prospects. Each knew how to get appointments. Each knew how to demonstrate features and benefits. Each knew how to handle objections. Each knew how to close the sales. But there was a dramatic difference in the results because there was one factor that the super salespeople had, and that one factor that the other ones did not have in as large a quantity was this word called trust. Now, my selling friends, listen real good. As I often tell people, this is profound. What they found is this: people don't buy based on what you tell them. They do not buy based on what you you show them. They do buy based on what you tell them and what you show them that they believe, pure and simple, which they believe. Now the question is, who do they believe? It's an old-fashioned answer. They believe the good guys and the good gals, those who are morally sound, who have honesty and character and integrity as the regular tools in their sales arsenal. You see, the most important part of the sales process is the salesperson. Very important. Now, see, that kind of shoots the myth that a lot of people have about the salesperson. The career salesperson understands a lot of things. For example, we learn some things about human nature that helps us deal with our wives or our husbands or our children or our neighbors or somebody like that. For example, as salespeople, on occasion we do have folks who are a little rude to us. How many of you who've have ever had a prospect who was rude, maybe even mean, a little ornery? Would you believe downright nasty? Well, you see, one of the things— not often, fortunately, but it does happen— one of the things we as salespeople learn and understand is this: when somebody is mean and ugly to us, we learn to understand it is not because they want to hurt us, but rather it is because they themselves are hurting. And you see, once we understand that, then we can deal not only with them more effectively, but also with our families and our friends and those whom we love. I believe beyond any reasonable doubt that in America, if every policeman, if every politician, if every schoolteacher, if every civil service worker, if every individual on any kind of payroll anywhere, if they had to go to a real gung-ho sales meeting every every Monday morning before they started walking their beat or delivering the mail or doing whatever job they do, I believe we would have an infinitely better, happier, more excited, producing America. How many of you would agree with that observation? Absolutely. Now, of course, ladies and gentlemen, everything is selling and everybody is a salesperson. A salesperson. Whether you're a dentist, a doctor, a preacher, a teacher, a coach, a child, a music manager, doesn't make any difference what it is that you do. Everybody is a salesperson. Let me share a couple of examples with you of what I'm talking about. When I was between the 11th and 12th grades, ah, during World War II, I went to junior college so I could pick up some extra classes so I could get in the Naval Air All right, now I had to pick up an extra course in history in order to graduate, and so I would be free then the following my senior year to take a lot of extra math and science. Well, I didn't want to take American history. What possible good is it going to do me, uh, you know, to learn something that happened 100 years ago or 200 years ago? But I had to learn it, so I was going to go in there and I was at least going to pass. But don't think I'm going to try to remember it. I'll just transfer the knowledge from the teacher to my mind to the pad, and then I'll get out of there and I'll end it. But the teacher threw me a curve. He was Coach Jobie Harris at Hinds Junior College in Jackson, Mississippi, and you're talking about a salesman, folks. He was a salesman. He spent that entire first period selling me on why I had to learn my history. He really put the story on me. He also sold me that as an individual, if I had any ability that permitted me to do more than support my family, that I had a moral obligation to my fellow human being and my community to donate some of my services for the betterment of mankind. I walked out of that classroom that day a history major. Only subject I made consistent A's in throughout the time I was in college. What I do today in all of the activities outside of my actual business was directly, emphatically influenced by that a schoolteacher, Coach Joby Harris. Everything is selling. I'll never forget when our second daughter was born. Our first child was 3 years old at the time, and I'd been out on the road not long after our baby came home from the hospital. I'd been out on the road and I got stuck. There was a snowstorm and I spent the night in a Greyhound bus, fortunately on the side of the road. When I got in the next morning, I was exhausted. There was There was about 10 inches of snow on the ground, and I had no sooner walked in and just had my topcoat and my gloves and my hat off when the redhead said to me, "Well, honey, we got to go to the store. We need some things." So I reluctantly put all the gear back on, and my 3-year-old said, "Daddy, I want to go." And I said, "Oh, Susie," I said, "the weather's too bad. It's too cold and wet, and I won't be gone long." But she said, "Daddy, I'll be so lonely." I said, "Oh, Susie, you won't be lonely." I said, "Your mother's here. The maid's here. Your baby sister is here." I said, "You won't be lonely." She looked right at me and she said, "But Daddy, I'll be lonely for you." I don't need to tell you she went to the store with me. You see, the truth of the matter is, the truth of the matter is everything is Selling. The third example: at our church we recently got a new music minister. Now please understand that I've got the kind of voice that prompted Mitch Miller to write me a personal letter asking me not even to bother to sing along with. And I, you know, I want you to understand it. My own children ask that I not sing in church. But last Sunday was our first Sunday, and this minister had the congregation so excited. He sold them so much on participating. Now he knows his music too, but he had us so gung-ho that for the first time in my life I actually enthusiastically got involved in the singing process. Everything, ladies and gentlemen, is selling. I mean, everything is selling, and that's one of the reasons that I'm so excited. Excited about it. The question might come up, well, what role does selling play in the economy? Well, I can tell you this: several years ago, the Secretary of Commerce of the United States said this. He said that what we need in America today is 1 million more salespeople, professional salespeople. If you ever really stopped to figure what happens when you make a sale? Now, when you make a sale, let me ask you, how many of you write your order on an order form or an order blank? Can I see your hands, please? Okay. Now, when you make that sale, do you understand, do you realize fully that the order pad you wrote it on did not start out as an order pad? It started out as a tree. And you're the person who paid those people who went out in the woods and cut that tree down when you got out there and made the sale. And then a whole bunch of people hauled that tree to the paper mill, and you're the person who paid those people to haul that tree to the paper mill when you got out there and made sale. Now, in the paper mill, you see, there are hundreds of people manufacturing that tree and a paper, and you're the person who paid those people to manufacture that tree and a paper when you got out there and made the sale. But it goes so much further than that. You see, when you made a sale, you made a profit on that sale. And if you're lucky, your manager made a profit. And if you're real lucky, uh, your company made a profit. That's the way you stay in business, you know. And so you take part of your profit, you go down to the store and you buy a can of 'Beans.' And in essence, that grocer man says if you're going to buy my beans I got to get some more! He goes to wholesaler said need more beans! Wholesaler said 'If you don't buy my beans,' I gotta get some more!' He goes to canner and say 'Need more beans?' Canner said 'If you gonna buy my beans I've got to get some more!' He goes to farmer and he said 'Need more beans?! Farmer said "Are you going to buy my beans?!" I have to get some more on them— do they know how to raise it?" To raise we gotta new tractor because of one I got worn out! He goes down by dealer's head here, 'Gotta have your tractor!' Dealer said 'If you wanna buy my tracto... I gotta another one because these all we've got...' He goes to factory and said hey gotta have new tractors! The factor said even though our traders—we go manufacture or more. To do that, we got to bring in iron, copper, plastic, steel, aluminum, lead, zinc, spark plug. Well, we got to set up factories all over the world, and all of that happened because one day you got out there and made a sale. That's right. And that's what you ought to tell Sell folks. Why am I excited about the profession of selling? I'm excited about the profession of selling, ladies and gentlemen, because as I said earlier, I believe it is the most secure profession on the face of this earth. If my son were to come to me and say, "Dad, I want to get into something that is absolutely secure, what would you suggest as being the most secure thing on this in our country? Without hesitation, I would say, well, son, you ought to get in the world of selling. But suppose my son were to say to me, but wait a minute, Dad, don't most salespeople work on a commission? And I would say, yes, son, salespeople are just like everybody else. Everybody works on a commission. But Dad, I thought your secretary, for example, had a salary. Oh, she does, son. She's on a salary. And as long as she's productive productive, she will continue to receive the salary. Now when she's no longer productive, what's going to happen to the salary? That's right, it's going to go. See, I don't care whether you're president of the company or even the president of the United States, if you don't do like you're supposed to do, they'll get you. And you full well know what I'm talking about, don't you? Now you see, the beautiful thing about the world of I would say to my son is it's one of the few professions that I know of that is absolutely not prejudiced. You see, that auditor doesn't care whether you're white or black or brown. It doesn't care whether you're female or male. It doesn't care whether you're old or young. It doesn't care whether you're educated or uneducated. Doesn't care whether you're introvert or extrovert. When you come bringing the auditors in, ladies and gentlemen, and they start writing those checks checks. It's based on your performance, not the color of your skin, not your sex, not your religious beliefs, not anything else. It is the most fair profession that I have ever seen in my life. I love to sell. Now we've got— oh, go ahead. I've still got time. Now there's an awful lot, there's an awful lot of selling we still need to do. For example, in our society today, did you realize that 42% of the time spent on jobs is wasted? That's right. I was talking to Dr. Tor Dahl, a time management and productivity expert, internationally respected at the University of Minnesota. I said, Dr. Dahl— and when we were chatting, and it was a lengthy discussion— I said, I've read this figure, but I have difficulty believing that that much time is wasted. He said, well, Jake, when you count people coming in late and leaving early, extended coffee breaks, unusually long phone conversation, too many trips to the restroom, taking time off to smoke those cigarettes, the gossip that goes on around a lot of these places, too long at lunch, uh, making, uh, writing those personal letters and all, he says actually 42% is a conservative figure. What we need to do, ladies and gentlemen, is sell everybody on doing their very best. When we sell that idea, I'll absolutely guarantee you the trade deficit will absolutely disappear. If the producers will produce the merchandise, I'll guarantee you us salespeople are absolutely going to get out there and sell. We really are. Now, you're talking about import Worth it? Let me tell you something. When you start analyzing the sales profession, even as I make this, uh, presentation, around our country there are certain organizations which are on strike in various plants and mills and institutions and so forth. Well, let me tell you to think about this. If you ever have any doubts about your validity as a profession and what you do as a person, I want you to think about this. Did you realize that if everybody in America Who sold anybody anything under any circumstances, whether it was a piece of pie, a loaf of bread, a can of beans, a gallon of gas, a life insurance policy, a home, uh, some pills from the drugstore, a suit of clothes, some hair shampoo, a necklace around, uh, your neck or a microphone around your neck. If everybody in America who sells anybody anything everything were to go on strike just for 24 hours? Did you realize we'd be thrown in a recession, ladies and gentlemen, that it would take us months and months to recover from? The damage to our economy would be absolutely incredible. You see, what I'm saying is the profession of selling is such a marvelous, marvelous profession. I'm so proud proud to be a part of it. And I hope that the next time anybody says anything remotely derogatory about this profession of selling, if they get a little negative and say something about those salespeople, I hope you will smile, be very gentle, and be very loving, but look them right in the eye and say, let me tell you something, friend, you enjoy the incredibly high income that you do. Whether you're the postman or the postmaster, whether you are the teacher or the superintendent, whether you're the sailor in the Navy or the admiral in the Navy, whether you're a clerk in the congressman's office or the Congress— where are the congressperson— regardless of what it is that you do, you enjoy the high standard of living that you do because salespeople like me me are out there selling. Be proud you sell, ladies and gentlemen. Buy these ideas we've been talking about. In times of change, the learners shall inherit the earth, while the learned find themselves beautifully equipped to deal with a world that no longer exists. For over 30 years, I've read an average of 3 hours a day. Read my Bible every day, read the paper every day. That way I be— know what both sides are up to. And I just happen to believe that is very, very important. When you start looking at all of these things, when you become a constant student, that's when your, your growth is more substantial, and your motivation and your inspiration and your knowledge. And here's been one of my most interesting discoveries, and I've now written a book on it. It won't be out for quite a little while yet, but how to develop a creative imagination. The more you know about anything, the more creative you become when you add additional information to that. When I wrote Secrets of Closing the Sale, which is the first book and only book as a manual on how the processes that you follow in sales, only book in New York Times— first time in that category that ever reached the bestseller stage. Now, what happened was very important. When I read that book, when I had 98% of it written, somebody sent me a little 3— short 3-paragraph summation. And what this little 3-paragraph said was— this is the heart of the sale. It was 3 short paragraphs. I read those 3 paragraphs and I added 50 pages pages to the book. I'd been selling since I was 8, been sales training since I was 21. I knew a lot about sales. The new information revolutionized a whole lot of things. Keep on going. It helps a whole lot of people. When you talk about relationships, Harvard Business class in 1949, almost, little over 49% of all of the graduates A study was done on them and this class of 1949, 49% of them were at least vice presidents in major corporations. When asked how do they accounted for that, and CNN did a telecast on these men, they said, "Well, number one, our wives were supportive." Their careers were built on integrity. They were risk takers, but they did not, they were not gamblers. What do we do at our company? How many of the things that we teach we teach and what do I teach that are so important to me as I'm talking about it now. Our mission statement includes a big frying pan, "To be the difference maker in the personal, family, professional, and spiritual lives of enough people to make a positive difference in the world." That's a pretty audacious mission statement, ladies and gentlemen, but it's got to be built on character. Are we being successful in —well, over 40 languages of what I've been teaching have been reprinted and used. We've got several, several information bits that really, really have made a difference in the lives of other people. In short, with 40 translations of our work in different languages, we're reaching an awful lot of people. Now we teach things that are generally not taught in school, as I already have said, but I want to talk about another little factor. 90% of the visits to medical doctors are directly or indirectly related to stress. 90%. If we can reduce stress, and incidentally, the same process that reduces stress is exactly the same process that will enable you to have a long, happy life. Long-term balanced career. My stress level, and I face as many deadlines as anybody you know. It's always a book production, a class I'm teaching, a seminar I'm presenting, and each one of them requires time and concentration. Example, how many of you feel like I've made this talk before? Can I see your hand, please? Several hundred times. Hundreds of times. I made it yesterday. You know what I did between yesterday and today? I spent over 6 hours getting ready for today. You see, I think it would be arrogant if I thought I could stand up and spit it out just because I did it yesterday or hundreds of times. That's arrogance. That's when Buster Douglas knocks out Mike Tyson. That's when an expansion team in Houston beats an established NFL team stadium in Dallas. I dare not. Look at the people here, several thousand. I'm taking over an hour to— that's several thousand hours of time. Where would my integrity be if I came here unprepared to make something, a presentation that could make a difference in your life? There is no way. You've got to prepare for it, ladies and gentlemen. When stress does hit you, how many of you will admit that after 9/11 maybe you had How many of you had a little stress? Can I see your hands please? All right. Let me tell you something, folks. If you take the word stressed and spell it backwards, it's desserts. When you respond to life instead of react to it, react is negative. You get sick, go to the doctor, she gives you a prescription, says, see me tomorrow. You walk in the next day, she said, uh-oh, it's not working. We're going to have to change She reads her prescription, you get a little nervous. But if she smiles and says, "Hey, it's working!" And so you have just— she's just responded and you feel better because now you see some real hope in order to get ahead in life. Got a couple of good friends who many, many years ago were riding around in the South Alabama foothills. It was a hot August day and they got thirsty. Bernard Hagood was driving, Jimmy Glenn was the passenger. They pulled behind this old abandoned farmhouse. House, and Bernard hopped out. He ran over, and there was an old pump on the well, and he grabbed the handle, and he started the pump. How many of you have ever used one of these old-fashioned water pumps? Can I see your hand, please? Okay, well, he had got to pumping away, you know. After about 3 or 4 minutes, he said, "Jimmy, better get that old bucket over there and dip some water out of the creek. We're going to have to prime the pump." How many of you know what I'm talking about when I say you You've got to prime the pump. Well, for you underprivileged non-pumpers, that just means you've got to put something in here before you get something out there. See, unfortunately, a lot of people stand in front of the stove of life and they say, "Now, stove, you give me some heat, then I'll put some wood in you." That ain't the way it works. You've got to put something in before you can get anything out. So many times, you know, the employee goes to the employer and say, "Give me a raise, then I'll start coming to work on time." Or so many times they will come to him and say, "Make me I'm your boss. Now, I know I haven't been here very long, don't really deserve to be the boss, but I just function better when I am in charge of the thing. You reward me now and then I promise you I'll learn what this business is all about later on. Reward me now and I'll produce later. It doesn't work that way. Can't you just see a youngster in school saying, "Teacher, if I take a failing grade home, my parents are going to skin me alive. Pass me on this quarter and next time I'll study more than anybody else. Reward me now. I'll produce later." It doesn't work that way. Can't you just see an old farmer standing out in the fields in October and saying, "Lord, I know I didn't plant a thing this year, but if you'll give me a big crop this year, I'll plant more than anybody next year." It ain't that way, folks. You got to put something in before you can expect to get anything out. Well, he's just pumping away. You know, that's hot. It's August. I mean, uh, the question is just how much pumping are you going to do for a drink of water? And finally, old Bernard said, "You know, Jimmy, I don't believe it's any water down there." Jimmy said, "Yeah, it is, Bernard. You know, in South Alabama, the wells are deep and oh, we're glad they're deep because the deeper the well, the cooler, the cleaner, the sweeter, the purer, the better tasting the water." And isn't that true of life? Isn't it true that if you could become an MD by 6 weeks of summer school that the rewards would be almost minimal or nothing and how many patients would you have? Isn't it true that if you become a sales expert in 3 days of a training school that the rate of pay would go down rather radically? Isn't it true that anything worth doing is worth doing poorly until you can learn to do it well? We'll never know how many kids have missed a college scholarship because they didn't study an average of 10 more minutes a day. We will never know how we come so close to promotion, but we grew discouraged and quit too soon. We'll never know how much more success we would have had, had we just had a little more pumping in there and pump and pump and pump and pump. Finally, old Bernard just got disgusted. He threw up his hands. He said, "Jimmy, there's just no water down there." Jimmy said, "Don't stop, Bernard! Don't stop! If you stop, the water's going to go all the way back down and then you're going to have to start all over." The reality is, folks, and I'm totally convinced of this, this is the story of America. This is your story. This is a story of success. This is a story of life. I believe with all of my heart that if you will pump long enough and hard enough and enthusiastically enough, that eventually the reward is going to follow the effort and then And once that water starts to flow, all you got to do is just keep a little easy, steady pressure on it, and you're going to get more water than you can possibly use. The basic problem is this: so many times people get involved in something, and they'll say, "Well, I'll give it a try, and if it works out, that'll be good. And if it, if it doesn't work out, I mean, hey, I ain't gonna kill myself." You know what I mean? Well, I gotta tell you something, folks. You're gonna pump forever like that before anything happens. When you get into something, grab that sucker and get with it. And then once the water starts to flow, then, ladies and gentlemen, that's what Strategies for Success is all about. The basic situation is this: right now you feel good. There is no way you could feel anything but good. But what we want to look at is what can we do to make certain we feel good do it next week, next month, next year. In other words, how can we keep it going? How can we be up most of the time and on when we need to? Now, I'm going to put a lot of emphasis, uh, in this session along the lines of the fact that you can have everything in life you want if you will just help enough other people get what they want. And what we're going to do, ladies and gentlemen, is we're going to work with a formula. We're going to give you some steps and procedures which absolutely will make a permanent difference in your life. I would like to remind you that we touched on the first step in our last session when I said to you the first thing you want to do is you want to claim these qualities of life. You want to simply adopt them as being yours. You want to do everything you can on a steady basis to develop those qualities further and further and further. Step number 2: if you want to be up most of the time and on when you need to be, if you want to build that winning attitude, then you need to be a good finder. I'm going to stray from what a lot a lot of people believe is the norm in life, the old "look out for me first, and then if there's anything left, you can have it" approach to life. As I indicated earlier, we teach a seminar in Dallas called Born to Win. People do come from everywhere. A couple of years ago, we had a major corporation to send in 4 couples. Now, we encourage people to come with their mates if they are married. But, uh, it is not a marriage seminar, though we've seen a lot of husbands and wives walk in at each other's throats and walk out in each other's arms because we did fit them with those new glasses, because we did teach them how to communicate. Again, a lot of people really do think that when they take turns talking, that's communication. And that really is not. Well, in this 3 days, I lecture twice a day, but most of the time is spent around a round table with 6 other people. There's a lot of individual instruction. There's a great deal of individual participation. Somebody has rightly said that if you hear it, you forget it. If you see it, you remember it. But if you see it and you can hear it and do it, you understand, and then you're successful. That's the reason we like to get you involved. It's the doing that makes the difference. Again, you got to be before you can do. You got to do before you can have. Well, these 4 couples came to our Born to Win seminar, and, uh, we had them really involved. When we have these people around those those round tables, every time anybody says anything or does anything, the other 6 people write them a little note and it says, "I like Jane Jones because..." And then they give some specific observable behavior. "Because she is so pleasant and gives me encouragement." At work, you could say something like, "I like Bill Smith because..." He brings his projects in on time and under budget. But at the seminar, at the end of it, each person there has got between 50 and sometimes as many as 150 of those little slips. And they, they literally keep them for months, sometimes even years. Well, the first night, these 4 couples went out to a late dinner at one of Dallas's finest and certainly one of our most expensive restaurants. They hit the jackpot with a waiter. I mean, he was absolutely magnificent. He had been there over 20 years, been a waiter over 25 years. He was totally professional in every aspect of his job. He was there when he was needed, but he did not join the party. When there was a need, he filled it and disappeared. And he could anticipate those needs. He really was great. When then they got his name, and when they got ready to leave, they left him a 25% tip, which is significant, I hasten to add. They also left— each one of them did, that is— one of those little 'I like because' slips. They walked out the front door. They had gotten about 100 feet, 150 feet from the front door when they heard the they heard the waiter's voice from the rear. He was calling to them, "Wait a minute, folks, wait a minute." They looked and there he was. As he ran to them, he was waving those 8 slips of paper. He drew abreast and he stopped. He said, "You know, folks, I've been a waiter over 25 years." Then they said he broke down and literally could not say a thing for what seemed like forever. When he finally regained his composure, he said, 'In 25 years, this is by far the most significant thing that has ever happened to me.' He said, 'I will never forget tonight.' And with that, he turned and walked back in the restaurant. Never a word Just about the tip. Just about those little 8 slips of paper. My good friend, Calvert Robert, from Phoenix, Arizona, says there are over 3 billion people on the face of this earth who go to bed hungry every night. But he says there are over 4 billion people on the face of this earth who go to bed hungry every night for a word of praise. An appreciation of love, of hope, of affection, of encouragement. Wouldn't it be tragic if one of those people was your wife or your husband or your mom or your dad, your son or your daughter, or for that matter, someone with whom you work every day of your life. A nice person, a nice lady, a nice guy who on the surface seems to have everything going their way, but deep down they're in turmoil. And a word of encouragement, of consideration, of kindness, of affection— what a dramatic difference it could make in their lives. And it would only take a Yes, words of encouragement can make such a dramatic difference in someone's life. 3 years ago, I spoke down in Melbourne, Australia. During one of the breaks, a lady came up to me and she said, "Mr. Ziglar, I'm 32 years old." She said, "I have 2 little girls. They're 6 years old and they're 9 years old. They've had psychological problems like you absolutely cannot believe." believe, including a reversion to infantile behavior. She said, I got your tapes on raising those positive kids, and she said, in one of them you say tell your kids that you love them. But she said, Mr. Ziglar, in my 32 years of life, there's never been a living, breathing human being who said to me, I love you. But in your tape, you just kept saying, 'Tell your kids that you love them.' As she said, as a matter of fact, it was weird because it seemed every time I would put that particular tape in, it was always on that exact spot. If you don't tell your kids that you love them, they're going to grow up and get married and have kids, and they won't tell their kids that they love them. And somebody's got to break the chain. She said one night we were We were seated in our den. I was on one side of the room. My 6-year-old was literally at my feet. My 9-year-old was across the room. And all of a sudden, she said, I remembered. And she said, I just more or less blurted it out, girls, I just want you to know I sure do love you. She said, had my 6-year-old been on a spring, she could not have gotten up any faster. She was like a shot out of a gun. She threw her arms around me and hugged me and kissed me and started crying. My 9-year-old across the way ran across and she threw her arms around me and she hugged me and she kissed me and she started crying. And of course by then I was crying too. She said, Mr. Ziglar, I have no idea how long we cried. Might just have been a moment minute or two, but it might have been 5, even 10 minutes. She said, "All I know is that when we finished crying, that those tears had washed away a lot of the hurt and the pain and the bitterness even that had crept into our lives. Though I was emotionally exhausted, there was an exhilaration that is impossible to describe." describe a feeling that I'd never had before in my life. She said, the girls and I promised each other that night that never again would we let a day go by that we didn't start that day and end that day by hugging and kissing and declaring our love. She said, you know, Mr. Ziglar, you would have thought that under the emotions of the moment, the circumstances that were there, you would have thought that it would have been easy but you know, when we got away from the emotion of that moment, we started thinking about it, I felt awkward the next morning. She said, I'm just so grateful that I was mature enough to understand that if you always wait until you feel like doing things, you will never really get them done. And so she said, though it was awkward, awkward at first because you cannot make an overdraft on the bank of love all of your life and then bring that account up to date in one deposit. I don't care how big the deposit is, but the next morning, awkwardly, I grabbed my little girls again. I hugged them and kissed them, told them how much I loved them, and they told me the same thing. Took us a couple of weeks before it even approached being natural. At the end of the month though, we were adding an occasional hug and kiss extra. And Mr. Ziglar, within 60 days, we just used any excuse for the hugging and kissing. And Mr. Ziglar, within 90 days, 98% of all of those psychological problems had disappeared. 2,000 years ago, a Jewish scholar wrote a love letter to his relatives in Corinth. Some say it's the most beautiful love letter ever written. He kind of summed it up by saying, "Love never fails." I was interested to note that when you chose those qualities of success, you put loving in there because it is so important. I take you back to the story of the waiter. Now I got a couple of points I want to make with that story. Well, one of them just kind of cute, at least I think it's cute. Wouldn't you, wouldn't you have just loved to have been at the next table that waiter served? Man, don't you know they got served service like nobody has ever gotten before in their life. But the real reason I tell the story, the major point I want to make, is the very heart of everything we do. And that simply is this philosophy that you can have everything in life you want if you will just help enough other people get what they want. Why, the next morning when those 8 people came in— and remember now, the Peter said it was the most meaningful event of his entire career. But you should have seen those 8 people the next morning. They were so high, we had to pull them down off the ceiling before we could bring them into the room. They bought a case of those little 'I like because' pads because they want to give them to everybody. It really does work. And you know, I can almost— I'm I'm not a mind reader, but I know where some of your thinking is. You might sit there and say, "Well, Zig, I can see where it would work for that lady in Melbourne, Australia. Those were her kids. I can see where it would work with that waiter because after all, the reality is he got a bigger tip because he did such a job. But Zig, you got to understand, man, I work on Main Street. I I deal with Wall Street. This outfit I work with, man, they're bottom line. Can you use this philosophy in the cold-blooded, hard-headed business world in which we live? My friend, it works better there than anywhere else. In the December 1987 issue of Executive Excellence, a publication of 16 pages which has a lot of very concise and pertinent articles in it. There was an article in it by Dr. Ken Blanchard, and Dr. Blanchard was, or is, the man of one-minute manager fame. And Dr. Blanchard reported on a study which had been done concerning investing in the Dow Jones, and here's what he said: Had you put $30,000 30 years ago in the Dow Jones, right across the board, the composite. He said today you would have in excess of $100,000. But he said, had you taken the same $30,000 and invested it in the 21 companies which have ethics as the base from which they operate— these qualities right here, ethics, the base from which they operate, plus they have an announced public policy that the reason they're in business is to serve the public. You can have everything in life you want if you'll just help enough other people get what they want. Today you'd have over $1 million. Same article, same article. He reports on a study done by Arizona State University. Of the companies which have paid dividends for the last 100 years. Now folks, that's financial stability if there's ever been financial stability. And these companies have ethics as the base from which they operate and an announced public policy that the reason they're in business business is to serve the public. It's absolutely true. You can have everything in life you want if you'll just help enough other people get what they want. So step number 2, if you really want to keep that attitude right, if you really want to build that career, and if you really want to do the things in life that will make you successful, become a good finder. Now incidentally, folks, you know, again, I'm not a mind reader, but I know sometimes when people sit there in seminary, you're thinking, well, I don't know if I want to do all that. Like this idea of standing in front of the mirror and claiming all of those qualities. I'd be a little self-conscious, Ziegler, if I did that. Now I'll look at them from time to time I'm— but to go through that rigmarole you're talking about, I don't know about that. Friend, let me ask you a question. What have you got to lose? Nobody's even going to know about it but you. But suppose it does what I'm telling you it will do. Wouldn't it be tragic if you chose not to take a simple suggestion that would make a dramatic change in your life. Claim the qualities, number one. Number two, become a good finder. Number three, you need to get an education. One of the things that I do in our company when we bring someone new aboard— at the moment we have about 80 people— and when we bring someone aboard, I like to spend a little time talking with them to let them to know what they can expect from us and kind of find out what we can expect from them, kind of to get to know that individual. Recently we had a beautiful lady to join us after she had been on vacation for 23 years. Now those of you who are mothers will say, "Ziegler, that wasn't a vacation." Seriously, she had raised her children. Now she was re-entering the workplace and she was starting back, and you can understand I understand why she would be a little apprehensive. And incidentally, I understand raising kids is not a vacation, and I would never even mildly imply that. But now she's shifting gears, and as she came in, the first question she asked me was, "Do you discriminate because of a lack of education?" And I said, We certainly do. She looked a little stunned and obviously disappointed, but I said, we never discriminate because of the lack of schooling. Now there's a dramatic difference in the two. You see, you can finish school, and I definitely think you should. You can even make it easy, and I definitely think you should not. But you can never finish your education. And it is never easy. It's something that goes on and on and on. I'm absolutely convinced that there is literally no excuse in America today for anybody not to have a brilliant education. If you can even read at the 5th grade level, and if you cannot read at the 5th grade level, go to your public library. They can put get you in touch with the people who are teaching illiterates how to read. In most every case, once you've gotten turned on to what it can mean to you, I believe you'll do it. There's no excuse for not being brilliantly educated. All you need to do is 3 very simple things. Number 1, you should learn one new word every day. Now ladies and gentlemen, that's not an earth- better in tests. Reader's Digest has an article every month, or a page in there. It pays to enrich your word power. One new word a day, in 5 years you can talk to just about anybody about just about anything. Not because you know a whole lot of big words, but because they have broadened your base. It's gone broader and deeper. And you see, every time learn a new word, that word's got a couple of buddies, and those buddies have got buddies. You learn one new word today, and in 5 years, I'll absolutely guarantee you, it will make a difference. One study involving 1,361 executives revealed— and these are top-level executives— real revealed that they had outstanding vocabularies. Vince Roberts, Vince lives in Ottawa, Canada. Now Vince was 37 years old. He had a 5th grade education. He was a cab driver, and he literally spent hours every week at the airport waiting on a fare. He spent hours every week at the hotels waiting on a fare. And then one day, something happened in Vince Roberts's life. I do not know what it was, but something happened. He became inspired. He realized that he did not have to stay like he was or where he was, so he bought himself a book. The book he bought was a dictionary, a £20 dictionary, and starting on page 1, word for word for word, he went all the way He threw that 20-pound dictionary twice. He ended up owning the Keb company. He ended up investing in the stock market, becoming a very wealthy man. Today he travels telling people how you did it, how he did it. Now, my friend, there is no excuse on earth. There's no reason why you cannot learn at least one new word every day, and it absolutely will make a difference. Step number 2, in order to get that education, you need to read at least 20 minutes every day. Now, I spend about 2 hours a day or more, but you got to understand, this is my business, this is my life, this is my profession. I got to do it. Fortunately, I just absolutely love I love to do it, but 20 minutes a day will make a dramatic difference. Now obviously I'm talking about reading something good, powerful, positive— biographies, autobiographies, self-help books, motivational books, books about your business, your profession, the industry of which you are a part, books about human nature, how to deal with people. If you are an average that's 220 words a minute. If you will just read 20 minutes a day, at the end of the year you will have read 20 200-page books. That is 18 more than the average American reads in a year's time. That will give you a colossal advantage. In whatever it is that you're doing. Folks, the reality is just a little advantage is all most of us need. It's the little things that make the big difference in life. You call a girl a kitten, she'll absolutely love you. Call her a cat, you got a problem, friend, a bad problem. If you say she's a vision, you score all kind of points. Call her a sight, you're in Fellas, can you imagine you look in your wife's eyes and say, "Honey, when I look into your eyes, the wheels of time just stand still." Oh, that's beautiful. That's poetry. But can you imagine what will happen if you look her in the eyes and say, "You know, honey, when I look into your eyes, the whee— when I look into your eyes, I just am reminded that you got a face that'd stop a clock." I'm I mean, ladies and gentlemen, that is something that would make a difference. It's the little things that make a big difference. If my watch is 4 hours wrong, no problem. But if it's 4 minutes wrong, I'm in trouble. Because you see, I'm scheduled to leave this afternoon at 3:45. If it's 4 minutes slow and I get there at 3:49, well, you can see the problem. Because I made a deal with the airlines that if I'm not there when they get ready to go, that they're just to go head without me. And as far as I know, they've always lived up to their end of the agreement. They did it last year in Dallas, I can say that. Little things make a big difference in life. The third thing you need to do to get that brilliant education is you need to regularly listen to cassettes when you're in your automobile. For example, the average salesman one, according to my friend Don Hudson, spends 510 hours a year in his automobile. While you're in that car— and the average person— incidentally, I was a visiting scholar at the University of Southern California for 2 years, and they did a study which revealed that if you live in a metropolitan area and drive 12,000 miles a year, that in 3 years' time, you can acquire the equivalent of 2 years of college education while you're in your automobile. You can literally learn everything from Chinese art and a foreign language to the Bible to financial planning to goal setting to how to close a sale to how to communicate more effectively. There are hundreds of things that you can learn in your automobile. It ought to be the greatest educational institute literally in the world. You spend $10,000, $15,000, $20,000, $30,000, even $40,000 on a car, and yet the typical American, let me tell you what they do. They stomp their foot and gripe and groan and complain every time the traffic gets a little heavy. They see a jam up front and they say, "Daggone it all, when are they going to do something about this?" When the author, when they see a traffic jam, saying, "Oh boy, I bet it's going to take me 30 minutes minutes to get through that sucker. And in 30 minutes, I can learn 3 new words, I can learn 2 new closes, I can learn about financial planning. That's what I'm talking about— using the time that you have. You got to go anyhow, why not get an education while you're on the way? And that won't take one minute of your time. Incidentally, folks, when you talk about time, let me Remind you that 72% of the time when we're watching television, we're watching something we have no interest in. We rush home to see a particular show, The Cosby Show— wonderful show, I've already seen it twice, it is a good show— but a lot of times people will mash a button and change the channel and watch on the other one, and 4 hours later they say, boy, I can't believe I spent the whole night here doing nothing. I'm talking I'm talking about utilizing your time. So step number 3 is get an education. Step number 4, if you really want to go to the top, you want to maintain that attitude, you need to learn how to say hello. You need to know how to greet people properly, whether it's in person or whether it's in the phone— on the phone. Now I do something and have been doing it a long time. Regardless Regardless of what time of day it is, when I greet people, I always say, "Good morning." And whether it's 9 o'clock in the morning or 9 o'clock at night, they always respond. In 85% of the cases, that is, they'll say, "Good morning." Now, a lot of times after they said it, they'll say, "It's not morning." Then I'll say, "Why did you say good morning then?" They said, "I said it because you said it." I said, "That's right." That brings out something very important. It, ladies and gentlemen, and that's this: when you go out in life to find friends, they're very scarce. When you go out to be a friend, they're everywhere. What you send out is what you get back. If you complain because people in a certain area or building were not very friendly, can you honestly say that you initiated in the friendliness yourself? Send it out and and you will get it back. Greet people enthusiastically, whether it's in person or on the telephone. Now, I challenge you to do this: when this seminar is over, go get your Yellow Pages out, look up 10 numbers, swap with one of your buddies who's got 10 numbers, and dial those 10 numbers. And I'll guarantee you, no more than 3 out of the 10 can, can you identify what the name of that business is. You really cannot. They snatch the phone off the hook as if it were an intrusion. What do you mean, Dallas number? I wasn't bothering you. Good morning, company! And you have no more idea than a goat who you have called. I challenge you, call us in Dallas, 214-233-9191. Got a Watts number, but do you more good spend your own dollar. Call us down there and our lady will pick up that telephone and with with considerable enthusiasm, she'll say, "Good morning." Now, a lot of people say, "Ziegler, is it always a good morning?" It sure is. And if you don't believe it, you just try missing one of them. Then she makes a little motivational speech. She says, "It's a great day at Zig Ziglar's. My, and this is Shirley. May I help you?" There are 11 words involved. It takes 4 to 5 seconds to do that, it will save you an average of 9 seconds because nobody ever says, "How'd you say it was? Which company is this? Where are you?" They've gotten the communication very clearly. Now, when I'm at home— and I do stress this— is when I'm at home, when I answer the telephone, I answer it many times singing, "Oh, good morning to you." Now, I'll be the first to admit sometimes there's a long pause. A lot of times I'll sing, "If you don't speak up, I'm gonna hang up." hang up and they'll say, who is this? I'll say, whoever you want. Who do you want? Man, you sure do feel good today. I said, yeah, many years ago I decided I was going to feel good today. Good friend of mine, before his tragic death, Dr. John Kozak, a brilliant young psychiatrist, told me that over 90% of the way we feel is determined by the decision we we make as to how we want to feel and how we expect to feel. There are 51 diseases which are psychosomatic in origin. Answer it with enthusiasm. A lot of times I'll pick up the phone, I'll just say, "Howdy, howdy, howdy." Now, my favorite way of answering the phone at home, "Good morning, this is Gene Ziglar's happy husband." I do it for two reasons. Number one It's the truth. And number 2, fellas, you just can't believe how many points I score with that redhead when I answer that telephone that way. And I love to score points with a redhead. Now, when one of my grandchildren around— I have 2 that are the right age for this. One of them is named Sunshine for obvious reasons. The other one is named Keeper. Now, you know, when a fisherman pulls in a good one, he's got a keeper. And so when we first saw her, we knew She had a Keeper, and that's where the name comes from. If one of them are around, I'll pick up the telephone and I'll say, "Good morning, this is Sunshine's proud granddaddy." Those little eyes just light up, and think of what that does to her self-image. One day Keeper was over at the house. She and I had been talking up in my office. The redhead was down in the den, and I— then Keeper left me and went downstairs. And I had to ask the redhead something, so I just picked up the phone and dialed her, and Keeper picked up the telephone. She said, "Good morning, this is Mamaw's happy, happy granddaughter." I'll tell you, ladies and gentlemen, these kids really, really get with the program. They follow the model which is there. And you might say, "Well, Zig, now why do you do this?" Well, let me tell you something, folks. I do it because, again, you cannot separate your personal life from your family life and from your business life. We were very fortunate early on. We discovered that kids go where there's excitement, they stay where there is love. There has never been a generation in our nation's history that is as starved for affection and intimacy as is this current generation, and they are not getting it, and they that is one of the reasons they turn to drugs and promiscuity, the reason they get involved in gangs and some of the vandalism that takes place. We discovered that if their love was there and the excitement was there, that other kids would come play in our den and living room. Our children's friends wanted to— out of curiosity, what kind of people are they up there that answer the telephone that way. So they would come up. Sometimes we had a traffic jam, but I would prefer 14 of those kids in our den and us know everything going on than to have my child somewhere else and have no idea of what was happening. Now, I kind of hit the jackpot again in this. The redhead is affectionately known as the happy hugger. If it's moving, she will stop it and hug it, and if it is If it's not moving, she'll dust it off and sell it. So when these kids, when these kids would come in, the redhead would grab them and give them that hug. In many cases, that was the only hug they had gotten since the last time they had been there. It creates an amazing environment by answering the phone that way. Parents, I challenge you to do this. If the telephone rings rings and your daughter is standing or sitting around, Mom, just pick up that telephone and with a big grin on your face and a lot of enthusiasm say, good morning, this is Molly's proud mom. Dad, if you're there and the phone rings, you pick up that telephone and you say, good morning, this is Paul's proud pop. And you might have that old gawky, gawkily gangly 15-year-old boy standing there and he might say, "Oh, Dad." But I guarantee you, the next time the phone rings, he will wait for you to answer it. It is the ultimate compliment. When one of my grandchildren are over there, they never answer the telephone. They go to the telephone, but they they wait for me to answer that telephone. I can tell you, it'll do wonders for their self-image. Dad, let me talk to you just for a moment. Dr. Ross Campbell says this, he says the average little 6-year-old boy has only gotten 1/6 as much hugging and kissing as has the average little 6-year-old girl. And in the first grade, little boys get in 9 times 9 times as much trouble— are 9 times as likely, rather, to have a speech difficulty as our little girls. Dr. Campbell said that in all of his years of research, in all of his years of practice, he has never known a single human being with a sexual dysfunction who had a father who was gentle and affectionate and compassionate and loving and kind and some of those other feminine qualities. There's still a bunch of those macho men who say, "Hey, don't kiss my little boy, make a sissy out of him." The absolute opposite is true. The kids are starved for skin They want hugging. They want to know that you care. Fellas, I'll say the same thing about your wives. Let me tell you something, they resent it when you ignore them all day and then give them your undivided attention when the lights go out. And as a practical matter, I'll just As Flat tell you, if you gripe about the mashed potatoes at supper or dinner, all you're going to get the rest of the evening is cold shoulder. Your relationship. I believe we are hungry all over this land for people who are willing to hug when hug is all they're interested in. Habit number 4: learn to greet people in person. If somebody asks you, "How you doing?" instead of the old negatives that you often hear, "Well, fine since it's Friday," or "Good since I get off in 20 minutes," or "Great since it's payday." And don't you love it when there's some people, as my good friend Roy Hatton says, when they pull themselves up to their full height and say, "Well, under the circumstances." I mean, it makes you wonder what they're doing under there in the first place, does it? Now, the next time somebody asks you how you're doing, why don't you just tell them the truth? Why don't you say, outstanding, but I'm improving, or super good, but I'll get better? And you might say, but gee, suppose I'm not doing super good, am I telling the truth? Of course you're telling the truth. You're just telling it in advance, that's all. Why wait on the good stuff? Claim it now. Enjoy it now. Step Step number 6, to build that winning attitude, we need to shape up. Ladies and gentlemen, I'm sorry, you know what I just did? I skipped step number 5. Hey, don't want to do that. Step number 5, cancel that one. As we say down home, some folks could foul up a two-car parade. And so let's back up to step number 5. For 27 hours a year, you do something that's kind kind of neat that we have to do. You know, negative Americans amaze me, and yet so many of them are so negative they call those electrical appliances on the street corners red lights or stoplights or traffic lights, but they really are put there to make traffic go. So the reality is they are go lights. Now let me ask you a question: have you ever been at one of those lights, and you're going to spend 27 hours a year, incidentally, waiting on the right color. And you're sitting there waiting on the right color to come along. You're all excited, you're all enthused, you're highly motivated, you're listening to your Zig Ziglar tapes. And you look out the side of your eye and you can't believe what you're seeing. Here sits a guy over here and he's waiting on the right color to come along, but he's got a good firm grip on that steering wheel. I mean, he doesn't want that car to go anywhere. Got his mouth fixed exactly right just in case he has starts to talk to that thing, and you can't believe it. You're watching him, he's got his foot on the accelerator, he's racing the engine trying to change the color of the light. Let me ask you a question: how many of you have actually ever seen some dodo sitting there racing a car motor trying to change the color of the light? Can I see your hand, please? Folks, I hate to be negative. Matter of fact, I won't be negative. I'll be like a little boy came home from school one day and said, Dad, I'm afraid I flunked that arithmetic test. His dad said, Son, Dad, I'm positive I flunked that arithmetic test. I'm absolutely positive that by racing that car motor, you're not going to change the color of that light. Now, once in a while, and I know we got some very prominent, enormously successful people watching this, and some of them are very sophisticated, and I know some of them say, well, I certainly would not say super good, but I'll get better, or outstanding, but I'm improved. I just wouldn't say things like that. Things like that. That's a little amateurish. That's even a little juvenile. Well, friend, if you think it's juvenile to say super good but I'll get better, just what do you think it is to sit there and race that car motor trying to change the color of the light? Now that's just not going to work. Good friend of mine, Bernie Loftick, in Winnipeg, Canada— he's really more a brother— Bernie is the most positive human being I've ever seen. He's so positive he's never had a cold. Once in a great while he has a warm. He's so positive he won't even talk about the weekend. He says that's negative. He calls it the strong end. And you might say, now come on, Ziegler, you got to be kidding me. Super good, strong ends, go lights, uh, all that kind of stuff. Is that necessary? No, you can be mediocre without it. Mediocre? Who does that dude think he's talking to? I'm the president of my own company. Mediocre? I'm worth over $10 million. Mediocre? Why, I have led the nation in sales every year for the last 3 years. Mediocre? I've got 2 PhDs. Well, bully for you. I still say mediocre because success is not measured by what you've done compared to what somebody else has done. You might have 10 times the ability they have. Success, real success, is measured by what you've done with the ability you have compared to what you could have done. With the ability you have. This procedure is not designed to help you beat anybody. This is designed to make you number one. You see, everybody can't be the biggest and the fastest and the strongest and the smartest, but everybody can be number one. And you are number one when you get up every morning and look yourself in the mirror and say, today I'm going to give I gave it my best shot. You're number one when at the end of that day you can get back in front of that mirror and say, today I gave it my best shot. You're number one with the one who is the most important as far as your success is concerned. So step number 5, if somebody asks you, ladies and gentlemen, directions, instead of saying you go down to the red light Go light. Tell them the truth. You say, you go down to the go light, and the minute you say go light, you'll grin just like you walk through a swinging door on somebody else's push. I mean, you'll get excited about it because it will remind you of today. It'll bring you right back in your own mind right here, and your whole pattern of thinking will be lifted. Step number 6. 6. Shape up physically. Now, when I talk about shaping up physically, there are about 3 factors involved. Remember, we deal with the physical, we deal with the mental, we deal with the spiritual. The first thing in shaping up physically is you need to get enough sleep. The evidence is overwhelming that when you sleep, that's the only time certain chemicals are produced in your brain, and these chemicals are necessary to keep your body in balance. If you don't— if you do not get enough sleep, the first thing you lose is that incredible energy. The second thing you lose is you lose that alertness that makes a difference. And third, you become more susceptible to becoming addicted to prescription drugs are the illegal drugs. So get enough sleep. What is enough? I don't know, but you do. If you have to fight your way awake every morning, try getting a little extra sleep. If that doesn't work, see your doctor. You might need a physical. Then you need to get on a proper diet and exercise program. There are many good books today that you really to look into if you're really going to take care of your health. A lot of times, as I've said earlier, I am a jogger. Many times people ask me, when do you have time to jog? But the reality is, when you exercise, whether it's a fast walk or bouncing up and down and down on rebounds, or riding stationary bicycles or bicycles in the street, or swimming, whatever you do, you activate that pituitary gland. Pituitary gland. It floods the system with endorphins. Your energy level goes up. Your creativity goes up. I run 5 days a week, and I find my energy level is always higher for the next 2 to 5 hours. I don't spend time exercising, I invest time and get a tremendous return. Third thing to do about your physical conditioning, folks, is avoid the poisons. Now, there's some people who get a little uncomfortable when I say this, but I've got to tell you what I know is truth. There's an old saying that you can deny truth, but you cannot avoid it. The day is going to come when it will be there. Every time you light up a cigarette, you have just decided to die 16 minutes earlier than you otherwise would have died. I'm talking about something very serious, folks. 390,000 people a year die as a direct result of smoking. 150,000 die as a direct result of drinking. We do know that every time you take a drink, that it kills certain brain cells. And I don't know how many brain cells you got. Personally, I don't have a single one. To spare. I encourage you, do the things that will make you the most functional. I've even had certain people say, well, you know, I take a drink, it sharpens me up, man, gives me that little edge. Now, me and you know, both know you don't really believe that. Let me tell you why I know we both don't believe it. Here's why. If you were faced with major surgery, would you insist that surgeon has a little snort just before he opens you up. No way. And you're not as sharp either. If you really want to build a winning attitude, step number 7: you need to give it your best shot. Whatever it is that you do, give it your best effort. Now, in corporate America, ladies and gentlemen, I believe that the worker who has said, I will be there at 8 o'clock, that's when my day starts, and I'll stay to 5. I believe most of them will do exactly that. But the question is, how do they get there at 8 o'clock? Here's what I've noticed. I've noticed that most of them get there absolutely in a dead run. I mean, at last 200 yards, they get there. I mean, they are all huffing and puffing. Boy, oh boy, I Traffic was there. I didn't think I was going to make it. They're unpacking their gear and they make their way back to the coffee room. They get them a cup of coffee and they come back and they finish unpacking it. And 10 minutes after their pay starts, then they go to work. Now, they're supposed to work until 5 o'clock. I believe the American worker is a conscientious, sincere individual, and I believe that if there's supposed to be there at, you know, that particular time and stay there until 8— until 5 o'clock. I believe they stay until 5 o'clock. But if you could turn the video cameras on corporate America all over America at 5 o'clock, here's what you'd see: the workers in a 3-point stance, the bell rings, and boom, like they're shot out of a cannon. What they do then is they get out of there. Now they talk about the free freeways being dangerous today? Let me tell you where the danger is. It's trying to get out of corporate headquarters and out of the, uh, the parking lot. That's where the danger is. Let me tell you something. You want to get ahead in what you're doing, my friend, let me encourage you. Get there 10 minutes early. Be ready to go at 8 o'clock. That's so important. Stay there until 5 o'clock, and then you pack up at 5 o'clock, and then you leave. Dr. Joyce, brother, says you cannot consistently perform in a manner which is inconsistent with the way that you see yourself. This will do so many wonderful things for your image because you know you are doing what you're being paid to do. You're accepting responsibility. You're disciplining yourself to do the job properly. And I'll tell you something else, the boss is looking. And those first 10 minutes and those last 10 minutes definitely will make an impression. Give it your best shot. When I was a boy down in Yazoo City, Mississippi— I was born in LA, that's Lower Alabama— but when I was in Yazoo City, Oxford City, Mississippi. I worked in a grocery store. In those Depression years, we used to borrow merchandise from other stores. Charlie Scott was the runner from across the street, and Charlie used to come running in our store to borrow food from us. Like, if his store ran out of tomatoes, he'd come running over there to say, Mr. Anderson, who owned our store, I need to borrow a half dozen cans of tomatoes. And Mr. Anderson would say, okay, Charlie, you know where they are, go 'Go get them.' And old Charlie would go off in a mad dash. He'd grab up the half dozen cans of tomatoes. He'd bring them back. He'd plop them down on that counter, you know. He'd scribble his name on the receipt, and he would take off like a scalded duck. And one day I said, 'Mr. Anderson, how come Charlie Scott always runs?' Mr. Anderson kind of smiled. He said, 'Well, he always runs because Charlie Scott is working for a raise, and he's going to get it too.' I said, I said, "Mr. Anderson, how do you know Charlie Scott is going to get a raise?" He said, "I know Charlie Scott is going to get a raise because if the man he's working for doesn't give it to him, I am." It's an absolute fact of life that when you do more than you're paid to do, you will eventually be paid more for what you do. I was speaking at Clarksville, Clarksville. I was speaking in Clarksville, Mississippi, at the University of Mississippi State. When I finished that seminar, a tall red-headed gentleman came up to me and he said, "Mr. Zeigler," he said, "when have you last seen Charlie Scott?" I said, "Well, I left for the Navy back in 1944. Charlie is 2 years older than I am. He left 2 years before then. I haven't seen him since." He said, "You probably You wouldn't even know him, would you? And I said, no, I really wouldn't. He said, I didn't think so. He said, I'm Charlie Scott. His friends told me that Charlie Scott had taken the lessons of childhood until they became the instincts of his adult life. At age 50, he retired a very wealthy man. I simply am saying this to say to you, ladies and ladies and gentlemen, that it makes no difference where you start. That if you will take these principles that we've been talking about throughout this entire seminar, that they in fact will enable you, by utilizing the principles, by developing the qualities which we have identified, by applying yourself, by giving it your absolute best shot, that you can start from where you are and get the things you want in life. I will remind you yet one more time that failure is an event, it is not a person. I will remind you that regardless of what's happened in the past, the future can absolutely be magnificent. I also will encourage you to spend some of the time of your life with the ones that you love. Our research Research states beyond any reasonable doubt that if we have balance in our life, we're going to be able to accomplish more of our objectives than if we only have that one financial objective. And again, I'm not putting money down, but there are a lot of other things that go along with it. I close with this: Believe in you. You were created by God in his own image. He loves you. He wants the best for you. Believe in your fellow human beings. Believe in what you're doing. Give it your best shot. Believe in the good old USA. I've been almost all over the world, folks. There's not another land like it. How lucky we are to be here. Take advantage of its opportunities. And finally, had I been on trial for my life and had you been my judge and my jury, and had you commissioned me to tell you the things that you needed to do to get the most out of your life, with my very life at stake, I would have said to you exactly what I have said. So take these steps, follow these procedures, because if you do, I'll see you— and yes, I really do mean you— at the top. Thank you and God bless you. Thank you so much.

Thank you guys so much for watching. I hope you enjoyed. I'd love to know, what did you think of this video? Did it— did something change in you? Did you get inspired? Did you get motivated? I hope so. Leave it in the comments below. Let me know what you think and let me know what your favorite part about it was and what change you're going to now make in your business or your life as a result of watching this video. Because watching that That alone isn't enough. You gotta take some action. Finally, I want to thank Qian Yi Chen. Thank you so much for buying a copy of my book. It really means a lot to me. For those of you watching, you want your chance at a shout out in a future video, make sure to pick up a copy of the book and email in your receipt so we can keep track and send you the bonuses. Thank you guys so much for watching. Continue to believe, or whatever your one word is, and I'll see you soon.