How to become 3 times better at anything | Zig Ziglar (Motivation)

There is a dramatic difference between positive thinking and positive believing. A lot of times people get the impression that we think that us positive thinkers, that can, can just do anything. Had a guy ask me one time, he said, do you really think you could whip Muhammad Ali? Well, you know, that's kind of crazy, even though I fought in the ring 2 years. I don't think I could whip Muhammad Ali. I'm too old, I'm too fat, I'm too slow, I'm too scared, I have a low threshold of pain.

But you know, if I really thought I could, maybe I'd last 20 seconds instead of just 15.

Positive thinking won't let you do anything, but it will let you do everything better than negative thinking will.

I believe that life is tough, but this I do know: I know that if you're tough on yourself, that life itself is going to be much easier on you.

Zig Ziglar was one of the world's most popular motivational speakers. Ziglar was one of 12 children raised by a widowed mother during the Great Depression. He wrote over 25 books, including See You at the Top, and inspired millions of people around the world. In this exclusive training, Ziglar shares with us powerful strategies to boost positivity, fix your attitude, and set the foundations for success. Special thanks to the Ziglar family for partnering with us to release this exclusive exclusive content on our YouTube channel. Enjoy.

I was coming in on the plane the other day, which is generally the way I fly, and I was seated next to an old boy, and I couldn't help but notice that he had his wedding band on the index finger of his left hand. And I looked at him, I said, hey partner, you got your wedding band on the wrong finger. He said, yeah, I married the wrong woman. Well, of course, you know, I have no way of knowing whether in fact he did marry the wrong woman or not. I'm just delighted to be able to say that I did not marry the wrong woman. As a matter of fact, as some of you know, just last week my redhead and I celebrated our 50th wedding anniversary. So rather obviously, I did not marry the wrong woman. Now don't misunderstand. I noticed a couple of you look a little bit skeptical. I did not say we'd been married 50 years. Folks, I'm only 55 years old. What I said was we celebrated our 50th wedding anniversary, which we did. You see, we had heard so much about that 50th wedding anniversary that we just decided to go ahead and celebrate early. And folks, I'm here to tell you, that is some more celebration. As a matter of fact, we're going to repeat it this year. Now, want to emphasize a point. One of these days, if we're both here, We definitely will celebrate the 50th, and one of the reasons I'm confident that we will is because the night we said "I do," we planned someday on celebrating the 50th. You see, ladies and gentlemen and students, we discovered a long time ago that things happen to people when they plan for those things to happen. And in the I Can presentation, in the I Can course, in the I Can concepts, We have a plan which you're really going to get all motivated and excited about.

About 8 years ago, not far from this very studio, they opened a new cafeteria.

It was a busy place, and I like to eat in cafeterias, but we passed it by because we just didn't want to wait in a line too long. And finally one day, the line didn't appear to be so long, so the redhead and I went down to the cafeteria. Now, as we were walking down, I could see what the people were getting and what was available, so I had a chance to kind of decide in advance what I wanted. And so when I got in the serving line, you know, I came walking down and I said to the person, "I'd like some of that and some of that and some of that and some of that." Now, the reason I like a cafeteria is because I can see exactly what I'm going to be eating in just a few minutes, and so I can say, "I want that piece of fish. No, the one over there in the corner. That's right, that's the idea." And then I get down to the cornbread line, you know, and I'd say, I say, and I want the one that's got all the crust on it, you know, really dark brown. I, I like it real brown. So I, I just like a cafeteria. I like to pick out exactly what I want. Well, we got down to the end of the line.

I reached in my pocket and pulled out my money, and the little lady down there held up her hand and she said, no, you don't pay for it until you get ready to go.

I said, you mean to tell me you're going to let me eat all of this food before I pay for it?

She said, yes, that's the way we do it.

Well, you know, students, I've thought about that, I guess, 10,000 times since then, because you see, life is exactly like that in one respect, but it's 180 degrees opposite from that in another respect. You see, in the game of life, I absolutely believe that there is a cafeteria line. I believe it's a banquet hall. I believe it's a smorgasbord.

I, I believe we can literally choose what we want out of the game of life.

But unlike life, you see, there's this gradually obvious difference. Actually, it's not that gradual, but there's this dramatic difference.

In the game of life, first of all, you make the deposits, then you get the reward. In the cafeteria, we got the reward and then paid for it.

But you see, in the game of life, it doesn't work that way. You go to school, you study your lessons, They give you the test and you pass to the next grade. You go through that grade and that grade and the next one and the next one and the next one until one day you walk down the line, they give the diploma. Then you go down and you get yourself a job, and then you work on the job, and after you have worked, then they give you the reward. The farmer clears the land, he plows the soil, he plants the seed, he fertilizes it, he cultivates it, he lays it by, he gathers the harvest, he takes it to the barn, he he calls it to market, and then and only then does he get the reward.

You see, in the game of life, that's the way it works. Now, I want to make a couple of points very, very strong and clear right here.

I'm going to have a lot of things to say in the I Can course, but there are two things I want to emphasize over and over and over, and that is that you are what you are and you're where you are because of what's gone into your mind. And you can change what you are, you can change where you are by changing what goes into your mind. The second thing I'm going to say to you, students, actually is along those same lines, and that is, as I will say to you in the course over and over, if you don't like you, don't worry about it, for the very simple reason, you see, that you're not stuck with you.

You can grow, you can change, You can start from where you are with what you've got and become the kind of a person you really want to be. But the second major point I want to emphasize here is simply this: I'll never tell you that life is easy.

If you listen to every recording I'll ever make, if you read every book I'll ever write, if you hear me in every speech I'll ever make, you'll never hear me say to you that life is easy, because I don't believe it is. I believe whether you're in the military service, whether you're a student, Whether you're a teacher, whether you're a principal, whether you're a parent, whether you're a salesman, whether you are a sales manager, or even a singer— Diane Morgan—

I believe that life is tough. But this I do know: I know that if you're tough on yourself, that life itself is going to be much easier on you.

It's going to be more fun. It's going to be rewarding. You see, I do believe it's fun. I believe it's exciting. I believe it's rewarding. I believe life is one of those things that we can extract a great deal from, and I believe it God offers a lot. I believe that in the tomorrows of our life, that health and prosperity and happiness and friends, I believe all of those things are available. Yes, I, I'm an optimist.

I mean, I'm the kind of guy who'd go after Moby Dick in a rowboat and take the tartar sauce with me. I mean, that's my nature.

And for your information, uh, students and parents, you might as well understand this very early in my presentations. I tell folks I'm, I'm like a cross-eyed discus thrower.

I I don't set any records, but I do keep the crowd alert.

And, uh, and you know, I think that's going to be pretty important. So if I say life is not easy, but it is fun, it is exciting, it is rewarding, then let me expand on that just a little bit by simply saying to you that there is a dramatic difference between positive thinking and positive believing. A lot of times people get the impression that we think that us positive thinkers that can just do anything. Had a guy ask me one time, he said, do you really think you could whip Muhammad Ali? Well, you know, that's kind of crazy, even though I fought in the ring 2 years.

As a matter of fact, the only reason I quit was because of my hands. The referee kept stepping on them, you know.

No, I don't think I could whip Muhammad Ali. I'm too old, I'm too fat, I'm too slow, I'm too scared, I have a low threshold of pain. Besides that, the guy never bothered me. But you know, if I really thought I could, I mean, if I really thought I could, then maybe I'd last 20 seconds instead of just 15. See, students, here's a critically important point: positive thinking won't let you do anything, but it will let you do everything better than negative thinking will. I've seen positive thinking and positive thinkers move some mountains.

I really have.

But positive believing is what we teach in the I Can course. Now, what is the difference? The difference is, as I explained to the guy who was asking the question, if Larry Holmes were to say, hey, I believe I can whip Muhammad Ali— you see, Larry Holmes has already whipped Muhammad Ali. He's had 37 fights. He's never been beaten. He's at the peak of his career.

He has He has every reason for believing that, yes, he could whip Muhammad Ali. So you see, the difference is this: positive believing is an optimistic hope, but it's based on reasons for believing that you can move those mountains and do those things.

What does positive thinking then actually do? Well, when we walked in this studio this morning, it was completely dark. There wasn't a hint of a light, and the technician started throwing switches, you know, and now as you can see, it's brilliantly Now, when they threw the switch, they did not generate any electricity.

You see, that had already been generated and stored. When they threw the switch, it released the electricity. That's what it did. That's what positive thinking does, you see, students. It releases the electricity.

Now, when we are the knowledge which is in your mind, you see, in the I Can course, as a specific example, we discovered that over 90% of the students who take the course improve their grades in at least one on another subject. Over 60% improved their grades in all of their other subjects. And, and why would that be? Very simple. We found out something a long time ago. We discovered, you see, that if a student does not believe he or she can pass, they won't even study. We change their attitude, convince them, yes, they can pass, and so they'll study. Now, you see, it was the thinking that opened the books for them, got them to studying, but it was the working which got them the results. Remember, I'm not going to tell you it's easy.

As a matter of fact, I'm going to tell you the story of the Chinese bamboo tree because I think that's so critically important that we understand that story. A good friend of mine, Joel Weldon, who's an outstanding speaker from Phoenix, Arizona, tells the story.

The Chinese plant the seed, they water it, and they fertilize it, but the first year nothing happens. And the second year they water it and they fertilize it and nothing happens. And the third year they water it and they fertilize it and nothing happens. And the fourth year they water it and they fertilize it and nothing happens.

And the fifth year they water and fertilize the seed and the 5th year, sometimes during the course of that 5th year, the Chinese bamboo tree grows in a 6-week period roughly 90 feet.

But the question is, did it grow 90 feet in 6 weeks or did it grow 90 feet in 5 years?

And the answer, rather obviously, is that it grew 90 feet in the 5-year period of time. Because, you see, students, had there been any year When they did not water it and fertilize it, there would have been no Chinese bamboo tree. You're going to face that in school. You're going to face that in life.

You know, the teacher's giving you a tough problem in physics or chemistry or algebra or trigonometry or whatever, you know, and you work on it and you say, I don't believe I can get this answer. And you work again and you say again, I don't believe I can get the answer. And you work again and then you say, teacher, they made a mistake. They— this is a fouled up one. There, there is no answer to this. And the teacher said, Hey, go try it one more time.

And you work at it one more time, and then all of a sudden you say, oh my goodness, how could I have missed it? It's as plain as the nose on my face. You see, students, by hanging in there— and there's not a one of you who hasn't already had that experience— by hanging in there, it makes a difference.

Hey there, it's Mark Timm with the Ziglar Family, and I sure hope you're enjoying the video from my mentor, the legendary Zig Ziglar. Because you're part of Evan's audience, we want to give you a special bonus. It's a cool little book called The Little Book of Big Quotes, packed with awesome content. This book is free just for you. Check out the description below and it's yours. Alrighty, let's get you back to Zig.

Last May, I went over to Cooper Clinic to take their ball kid treadmill test. Dr. Cooper's the man who wrote the book Aerobics. Over 10 million copies have been sold.

Around the world. And this is going to sound just a little bit like I'm bragging, because really I am.

I stayed on the Baulkhead treadmill test longer than any member of the Dallas Cowboy football team.

Now, I mention that for a couple of reasons.

Number one, incidentally, also is the fact that I have a resting heart rate of 41. Now, students, if that doesn't mean anything to you, let me put it this way.

Dr. Cooper has examined 24 world-class athletes. I'm talking about men who have won the gold medal in the Olympics, and the average resting heart rate they have is 44. And I tell this story because, you see, 9 years ago when I started my exercise program, my idea of exercise up until then had been simply to fill the tub, take a bath, pull the plug, and fight the current. And, and I believe you'll agree that's really not much of an exercise program. My only exercise, you know, had been in caution and running down people and that kind of a thing, you know. No, I did not have much of an exercise program. The first day I started the program, I literally ran a block, but I did better the next day. I ran a block and a mailbox, and then it was a block and 2 mailboxes, then a block and 3, then one day I ran a half a mile, then a mile, then 2 miles, and 3 miles, and 4 miles, and, and so on, you see. It wasn't easy.

It took me 9 months before I enjoyed the first run. A lot of times, students and parents, there are going to be situations when you're not going to get overly excited about.

There's a lot of times you're going to have to do some things you just flat don't want to do. You're not going to feel like going to school, or you're not going to feel like coming down to run the school or to teach the class, but you got to suck it up and tough it out and hang in there.

I'll never tell you it's easy because I don't believe it is, but I'll repeat myself. Life is fun, it's exciting, it's rewarding.

Yes, I do believe that health and prosperity and happiness and peace— and friends, I believe those things are available. But in order for those things to be available, I'm absolutely convinced that we must build our lives on a solid foundation. Now, what's the foundation? Well, I believe it includes honesty and loyalty and love and dependability and character and integrity. With that kind of a foundation, you see, you can start from where you are and go after whatever it is that you want.

I was up in Calgary, Canada, here 3 or 4 years ago, went up on Calgary Tower to have dinner at 626 feet up in the air.

Now, the only way I can relate to 626 feet, that's over 2 football fields high. Well, as we were going up, the recording was on, and it told us how big the building was, how much it weighed. And I was so impressed.

It said this building weighs 12,000 tons, but 7,000 of the 12,000 tons are underground.

You can go into downtown Dallas or downtown Portland or downtown Chicago or Manhattan or anywhere else, and a good engineer can look at the hole in the ground and tell you how big the building is going to be. You can look at the foundation upon which a person builds their life, or builds their marriage, or builds their family, or builds their school, or builds their career.

You can look at the foundation and predict a great deal about what's going to happen to that individual in their career.

Honesty is obviously one of the critical areas. There's a book out and the book is entitled The Corporate Bigamist. And in the book, the author talks about the fact that they interviewed 100 of America's top business executives, men who are presidents and the chairman of the board of the Fortune 500 companies. And these men unanimously said that if you're going to go to the top and stay there, you've got to build on honesty and character and integrity. They even used a word which I found to be awfully strong. They said anybody who thinks they can get ahead in life and stay ahead who's not honest is Dumb.

Pretty strong language. Simple example. I have a nephew, his name is Jack Ziglar. He lives in Montgomery, Alabama.

When he was 41 years old, the company he had been working for for 18 and a half years went out of business, and Jack Ziglar was without a job.

He has a serious heart condition, and at age 41, because of insurance requirements and all, it was very difficult for him to get a job.

One night he got a call from a man who said, I want to talk to you tomorrow. Well, Jack went over there and he thought he'd recognize the name, and when he walked in and saw the man's name, he remembered he'd gone to school with him over 20 years earlier.

They'd worked in a grocery store together over 20 years ago. The reason the man called Jack was simply this. He said, "I remember over 20 years ago in the grocery store, you were the only one of the youngsters working who was not ripping the boss." off. You're the only one who wasn't stealing. 20 years later, he got the job.

See, folks, we believe in I Can, that you can get everything in life you want if you'll just help enough other people get what they want.

You play it straight. You see, the beautiful thing about having a foundation is simply this: if you go somewhere in life and suffer disappointments, you can never fall any further than the foundation itself. You can never go all the way to the basement.

Second thing simply is character. When I, when I talk about character, I'm really talking about just hanging in there tough. You know, a lot of times when I'm around the country speaking, I'll have young speakers come to me and they say, "I want to be a speaker. How do I do it?" And I explained to them that I made over 3,000 speeches before I ever received my first fee. I believe you got to hang in there tough on many different occasions. I would have made 10,000 had it been necessary because it was a dream of mine.

It was a goal, but you got to stay with it.

Integrity, when I think of integrity, I think of the immortal golfer Bobby Jones. Bobby Jones, as you know, was one of the greatest golfers in my mind, the greatest golfer who ever lived.

He retired at age 28.

In the last 11 British Opens and U.S.

Opens that he entered, he placed either first or second in 8 of those 11.

He won 4 US Opens. He would have won the 5th except in one of the Opens when he was out in the rough, as he was addressing the ball, and there wasn't another person within 50 feet of him in all probability, as he was addressing the ball, the ball moved ever so slightly, just a fraction of an inch, and then it simply settled back into place.

The ball, in other words, was never out of the same position it was in. Bobby Jones called a penalty stroke on himself.

The officials scoffed at it. They said, "No, we're sure it didn't move." And Bobby said, "I demand, I insist that you penalize me the stroke." He lost that U.S.

Open by one stroke.

A lot of the newspapers made a great deal to do about it.

Bobby Jones was absolutely incensed.

He said, "I can't understand why anybody would get excited or make any comment at all about what I've done." He said, telling a man he deserves a lot of praise because he refused to rob a bank.

He said, if you don't have integrity, you don't have anything.

I believe it's a solid foundation to build on. And then, of course, we've got to throw loyalty and love and dependability in there. We've got to entertain all of these various characteristics.

We've got to, we've got to have that solid foundation if we're going to go to the top. I think of a South Georgia school teacher named Mamie McCullough.

She went to a meeting in Atlanta, heard a speaker named Zig Ziglar, bought a book, See You at the Top, read it, and said, this is what education is missing in our school systems today. She went back and, and she taught a course, and the principal of the school wrote me and said it was the smoothest best school year he had had in 38 years as an administrator. And, and I got all excited, and, and we started talking, and Mrs. McCullough kept teaching that course, and, and later they made her the principal of that school.

They said a lot of it had to do with her attitude. But when I think of I Can, I think of a story Mrs. McCullough tells about a little black girl named Dallory Horn. Dallory was tall, slender, very shy.

No member of her class, or her family rather, had ever graduated even from high school. And they worked through the foundation, they worked through the self-image, and they got to the goals.

And Dallari one day said, "Miss McCullough, I'd like to stay behind and tell you about my goals." And Mrs.

McCullough said, "Dallari, that's great." Well, when she stayed behind, then all of a sudden she seemed to lose her nerve and say, "Miss McCullough, I'm embarrassed.

I don't want to tell you." Miss McCullough said, "Oh, Dallari, I'm interested in, in what you have to say." Dallory said, "Miss McCullough, I want to be a medical doctor." Miss McCullough threw her arms around her and hugged her and said, "Oh, Dallory, that's just beautiful. You certainly have the mind to do it." I honestly do not know if Dallory will ever be a medical doctor or not, but this I do know: she graduated from high school. She's now in her third year of college. Her objective is to be a medical doctor. I wouldn't bet two cents against it if I were you.

A person who has made a commitment, as Mrs. Mary Crowley is inclined to say, one person with a commitment, one person with a conviction is worth 100 who only has an interest.

And there's a girl who has a commitment. She has a conviction.

I'll never forget a little girl named Marcy Lemery. I was speaking up in Rockford, Illinois, and Marcy was one of the students in special ed, and the I Can class had been doing so exceptionally well up there that the teacher Suggested that a couple of those students needed to come into the class, and they came into the class.

One of them was named Marcy Limmery, and Marcy was one of these girls.

They hauled her in there clawing, kicking, scratching, screaming. She didn't want any part of this crazy class where they was all excited and, and where the students actually stood up when they wanted to ask a question, and they stood up when they answered a question, uh, you know, because that builds the self-image better than anything else can possibly do, is learning how to speak. She didn't want any of that class where when you ask somebody, "How you doing?" and the students would say, "Super good, but I'll get better," or, "Fantastic, but I'm improving." No, Marcy didn't want any of the class, and she made such a scene, demanded to be taken out, and finally one day the teacher said, "Well, Marcy, you're creating such a disturbance, we're going to let you go to the library, but here's the deal I'll make with you. If you will just listen to the recordings," "Of the class. Put the plug in your ear and listen, then I'll let you out of the class." Well, Marcy figured it wouldn't hurt her, and so she grudgingly agreed to listen to the recordings. When she heard them the one time, she said, "Well, you know, really, I got to admit, they weren't that bad. I guess I'll listen to them again." She listened to them the second time and said, "You know, actually, there are some people who would even benefit from listening to this kind of a message." And so she listened a third time and decided, "Hey, it It might even be pretty good.

She listened the fourth time. I met Marcy when I was speaking at the Sales and Marketing Executive Club there in Rockford. Pretty as a picture, she came up and just hugged my neck and gave me a big old kiss, and I, I kind of relate to that, you know.

Marcy Limmery, you see, went on to do some amazing things. She was voted one of the outstanding students in the school. She got a letter in track.

She managed the basketball team.

She placed fourth on the rifle team.

Of 7 members. And you see, the story has more because Marcy Limmery is blind.

The only thing she can see is lights and shadows. When she would fire her weapon, the students would say to her, 'No, Marcy, you need to aim it just a fraction to the left there.' You see, folks, you're what you are and you're where you are because of what's gone into your mind. You can change what you are. You can change where you are by changing what goes into your mind.

Any farmer will tell you that if you're going to raise beans, you got to plant bean seeds. If you're going to raise positive, loving, caring, dedicated students, you see, folks, we've got to plant positive, loving, dedicated, caring thoughts.

The truth of the matter is we plant too many of the negative thoughts in our society today. You listen to the conversation around you. It's either unrealistic or it's absolutely negative. You know, an overweight person sits down at the table and says, "Everything I eat turns to fat." That's pretty negative. A parent sends a child off to school, says, "Now don't you get run over." Well, that's pretty negative. They have a wreck right out here on the streets of Dallas, and 2 minutes later somebody else is saying, "Call the wrecker," and you've already had the wreck. See, what you need is a tow truck. We've got to change our terminology is what I'm saying. Why, they— you know, most people wake up in the morning with an electronic rooster. And what does the average person call that electronic rooster? Anybody in the audience, what do they call it? Alarm clock. See what I'm talking about? They sound an alarm when somebody's robbing the bank or the building's on fire. If you wake up scared, that's enough to make anybody negative, isn't it? You see, the truth of the matter is it's an opportunity clock. Well, now you think about it. You see, if you hear it, that means you've got an opportunity to get up and go.

If you don't hear it, that might mean you done got up and gone, and I'll tell you, that can be pretty serious.

Why, they bring out a loaf of bread, and what do they call the first slice on that loaf of bread? Anybody?

The heel or the end.

See what I'm talking about? I've never seen a loaf of bread in my life that didn't have two beginnings. We, we've got to change our terminology. That's really what we do in I can is we change the terminology, and that is so critically important. Why, right here in Dallas, certainly one of the most positive cities in the whole world, I was coming in on the plane just the other day, yesterday to be specific, and as we approached Dallas, the captain of the aircraft, I mean the head honcho, the man in charge, as we'd say over home, the daddy rabbit, got on the telephone and in a deep resonant voice said, We are now making our final approach. Scared me half to death. I told the stewardess, I said, would you please go tell him to make it his next to final approach? I got some important things that we got to get done. Yeah, you see, there is a positive approach you can take. For example, when I think of the positive approach, I think of a principal up in our— an assistant principal up in Indianapolis, Indiana, a man named Charlie Pfluger. Well, Mr. Pfluger last year was in a school which was closing down. That was to be the last year. Well, you know, we've been saying for a long time that there are 4 groups of students who get a lot of attention in school. Well, the first group, you know, is the athletic hero.

There's nothing wrong with that.

And the second group that gets a lot of attention is the beauty queen and There's certainly nothing wrong with that. And the third group of students who gets a lot of attention is the ath— or the scholarly student who makes exceptionally good grades. There's nothing wrong with that.

But there's a fourth group of students who get a lot of attention, and that's the loudmouth troublemakers, and there's a whole lot wrong with that.

So Mr. Fluker came up with an idea, and he would see a student pick up a piece of paper or erase the board or return an item, you know, that had been lost, Mr. Pfluger would say, hey, what you need is an I can. And he literally gave them a simple little piece of paper like this. It must cost about a fourth of a penny, you know. He would give them an I can, and all the other teachers would give the students I cans, you know. And when the student accumulated, I believe it was 100 I cans, he gave them a t-shirt, an I can t-shirt. Last year they gave out 580 7 I Can t-shirts. That sounds kind of expensive because, you know, they are not inexpensive. But when you realize that drug abuse dramatically dropped, violence almost became non-existent, vandalism not a single case, and Mr. Jim Akard over here with Lake Dallas High School can kind of relate to that because in the 2 and a half years they've been teaching the I Can course, there's not been a a single case of vandalism there. And you know, his teacher, Mrs. Randolph, can also relate to that because let me tell you a little story. I might be talking out of school here just a little bit, but you see, she used to smoke cigarettes. Now I know some of you folks won't believe that, but for over 20 years, as a matter of fact, she smoked cigarettes. And, and they started talking about goals one day, and, and the student says, 'Mrs. Randolph, we got a goal for you.' We want you to quit smoking. She said, no, now this is for you. I mean, this is what you need to do. Well, you know how students are. Somebody said, no, it's not for just us, it's for you too.

And after over 20 years, she was affected dramatically by the class itself and no longer smoked cigarettes. You see, folks, that are the people who benefit the most from all of this, literally of the teachers.

Because you see, the teachers are so critically important in our society today. It's been demonstrated so that there no longer is any question about it that teacher expectation has a direct bearing on student performance. And when you start pumping in the good, the clean, the pure, the powerful, and the positive every day not only in the minds of the students but in the minds of the teachers, then some amazing, beautiful, critical things happen in that society. Yes, in the I Can course we follow— after we've built our foundation, we follow some interesting steps. You see, in the course we tell you without hesitation, you gotta have a good healthy self-image. Then we explain to you why you must have a good healthy self-image.

And then the most important step of all, we tell you how to build that self-image. In the I Can course, we never make a promise unless we give you a plan so that you might fulfill that promise.

You know, I Can, we tell you, you got to know how to get along with other people, and we say, here's why you do have to get along with other people, and here's how you do it. We say you got to have goals. Here's why you got to have goals. Here's the way you set those goals. We tell you, you got to build a winning attitude.

We say, here's why you got to have a good attitude, here's how you build them. Harvard University did a rather extensive study, came to the conclusion that 85% of the reason people get jobs and get ahead in those jobs is because they have the right mental attitude. But folks, you know, as far as I can determine, and as far as Harvard could determine, In the public school systems today, less than 1% of our educational time and dollars are spent teaching how to build a winning attitude.

And yet one of the things I'm privileged to do, I work with a lot of the corporate giants around the country, the Chevrolet division of General Motors, Phillips Petroleum. I work a lot with all of the direct sales companies. I work with people like McDonald's and Jack in the Box and Chick-fil-A and any number of others. And what these managers, I mean the top echelon, tell me over and over and over, they say, if you can send us a youngster who is enthusiastically courteous, whom we can depend on, and who understands the basic principles of communication, reading and writing, they say, we can teach them the other things they need to know. You see, in America today, teenage unemployment is a national scandal. In reality, over 20% of our white teenagers and over 50% of the black teenagers and other minority groups are unemployed, and many of them want to get a job. Now let me insert something right here, students, and that's this: if your reason for wanting to get a job is so you can buy yourself a car and buy yourself a lot of records, and, uh, buy yourself some fancy clothes, I'm going to tell you those are the wrong reasons for getting a job that might well interfere with your education. If you need to get a job to help support the family, help make certain that you do have a place to stay, make certain that you can secure an education, that's the right reason for getting a job. So assuming that you've got the right reason for getting a job, Let me stress here that we now are teaching a sales presentation in I Can about how to get those jobs. You see, let's visualize a 16-year-old who's never worked before and under the present setup without I Can training, which incidentally is now available from kindergarten on through graduate school in college. Let's assume just for a moment that you've not had the training, but you go to apply for a job and the employer says, what's your experience?

You're likely to say, "Well, I've never worked before." You know what your chances are of getting a job then. Here's the sales talk we teach based on the assumption that you've learned the principles in the I Can course.

We say the youngster ought to say to the employer, "Well, I've had a lifetime of experience in telling the truth.

I've had a lifetime of experience in knowing that if I'm going to get a job and keep that job, I've got to be here on time and do what I'm supposed to do and stay till the job is finished.

I've had a lifetime of experience in knowing that if I'm going to get a job and keep it, I got to know how to get along with people.

So I've been making a study of how to get along with my fellow human being. And I've had a lot of experience in knowing that the only way you're going to be able to keep me on the payroll is for you to make a profit. And sir, I'm going to work awfully hard to help you make a profit so I can keep my job. And I believe that's the kind of experience your company needs. I need a job. I want a job. I'm ready to go to work right now. And this I promise, you will not be disappointed to someday be able to say, I was the man, or I was the woman who gave that young person their first job. I won't let you down, and that's a promise. Can I start today?

See, folks, I just believe that with a talk like that, I know somebody, you know, goes to the average employer like that. Listen, I don't believe you could get out of there until they had you signed up and ready to go to work. Well, that kind of gives you some idea about what all this is about. And so many times the question then comes Well, how's the course taught and who teaches the course? Well, that's the exciting thing about it. We have here the, we think, the most outstanding approach to education, and educators unanimously agree to it. Somebody a long time ago said that if you hear something, you forget it.

If you see it, you remember it.

But if you see it and you hear it and you do it, then you understand it.

Stand and hence will succeed in whatever you're doing.

So we start with a textbook. This is an abridged edition of See You at the Top.

This is what the students read.

Then we have a series of 12 sets of recordings, or 12 recordings, which contain the same message as the book. You see, when you see it and hear it, you really dramatically increase the impact. And then of course, you know, there are some students who unfortunately cannot read, or they're in the lower grades and have not learned to read yet, and so they get a tremendous benefit from hearing the message. In addition to that, we have the workbook, the student manual, and the students work the exercises in the course. In the manual also, there are 15 games which you are are going to be playing, which are learning experiences in addition to the speaking experience, which I made reference to earlier in this presentation. So what you do is you hear it, you see it, and you do it. Now, the other nice thing about it is that we have a series of teaching tapes which teach the teachers how to teach public speaking. For example, Dr. Ken Cooper has given us a tape on how to take care of your body physically. We think that's critically important. And then we have a series called Zig Ziglar's Lift for the Day. It's a 60-second presentation so that over the intercom once or twice, or in many schools 5 times a week, there's a 60-second motivational lift, and all of the students and all of the teachers and all of the administrators in the school will get to participate in the class. That's the reason the class goes so much beyond simply the students who are in the class. That's the reason drug abuse is down. That's the reason violence is down. That's the reason attendance is up. That's the reason grades are better. Now, a lot of times then after, people say, "Well, what do you teach and how do you teach and what's involved in the course? Who do you select to teach that course?" They visualize somebody having to be 10 feet tall, you know, and a brilliant individual to teach the course. Well, now, I'm not going to kid you. As you well know, Dr. Lindsay, since you're in charge of the educational development in our course, the teacher is the key issue. And if you've got an outstanding teacher, then you're going to have an outstanding class. But the way it's structured, I'm going to without equivocation say that this manual, which has been put together By Mrs. McCullough, by Dr. Lindsay, by Dr. Velmo Walker, a psychologist, by Don McCullough, who also is a psychologist, and by a battery of teachers and several years of experience, I'm going to tell you this is the finest teacher's manual of any kind I've ever seen anywhere under any circumstances.

Now folks, in the business community, I've seen an awful lot of manuals. I'm going to tell you that if you'll follow this one, that you cannot miss.

So what kind of teacher do we need? Well, the teacher should have about 4 outstanding characteristics. Number 1, they need to be reasonably outgoing.

Now, as we would say over home, we don't think they have to be a tub-thumper.

That means they, they don't have to be somebody quite as enthusiastic as I am or as Mrs. McCullough might be or is. We do need, Dr. Brownlee, somebody who's excited about teaching the course. You know, having been in education all of your life, you can understand and know better than most people I've ever seen that in teaching, if the teacher is excited about the class they're teaching, the students are going to get excited about it. Never will forget when I was a junior in high school, I had to take a summer course because I wanted to get in the Naval Air Corps. Had to take a course in history. I just couldn't understand why anybody would want to learn about history. What good's it going to do me to learn something that happened 200 years ago? But Coach Harris at Hinds Junior College in Raymond, Mississippi spent the first hour selling me on why I had to know my history.

Had I not been in that class that day, I would not be in front of you today. Changed my total perspective on life, and I clearly then understood why I had to know my history. It was dramatic, the impact it had.

Teachers are so critical.

They're so important.

She needs to be excited about teaching this course. Now, the teacher also needs to be non-hypocritical. That's one of the reasons I, you know, was so enthused and so impressed about Mrs. Randolph in that smoking bit because, you know, in the course we talk about not smoking.

We really do.

We talk about discipline We talk about the fact that you've got to suck it up and tough it out and hang in there.

And if the teacher is teaching one thing and doing something else, then folks, that's not going to be effective. And then the fourth quality, she needs to love kids. That's the most important in my mind, and it needs to show. Now, it's a special kind of love. Have a close friend named Bernie Lofty from Winnipeg, Canada. Whose son had cerebral palsy. Every night for something like 3 years, they had to put heavy steel braces on his legs.

And every night for something like 3 years, David Lovesick, a beautiful child, dark brown eyes, coal black hair, olive complexion, every night with tears running down his cheeks, he would say, "Mom, do we have to put them on tonight, or do you have to make them so tight.

But his parents loved him so much that they said no to the tears of the moment so they could say yes to the laughter of a lifetime. There are a lot of times, teachers, when you've got to tell the students not what they want to hear but what they need to hear. You got to love them enough to do that. And if you do that, if you have those four qualities, I believe that's going to make you an outstanding teacher.

Have 2 more points I want to make, and then we're all through with the introduction to the I Can course. In a large southern city, there is a large shopping center, a beautiful place. It's magnificent. But about 40 years ago, it was a city dump. For hundreds of years— over 100 years, rather— they had been hauling the garbage out there and dumping it in that one specific spot.

It was really a mess.

Then one day a builder said, hey, the city is growing this way, let's eliminate the garbage dump. And they got the local builders to take their excavated dirt as they would build new buildings and go out there, and they would dump the excavated dirt over the old garbage dump. They dumped tens of thousands of loads.

And finally one day the builder looked at it and said, well, the foundation is solid, Let's build our shopping center. And they did, and it's beautiful. But you know, folks, that shopping center is built— well, it's really built on garbage, isn't it? Now, tell the story, students and teachers and parents.

I tell the story because, you see, I don't care how much negative I can't garbage has been dumped into your mind over the years. I'm going to tell you, that is pure garbage.

You're what you are and you're where you are because of what's gone into your mind.

You change what you are, you change where you are by changing what goes into your mind. You start today with what you've got, and you start pumping in the good, the clean, the pure, the powerful, and the positive over and over and over.

Feed your mind with good stuff just as regularly as you feed your body, and then I can guarantee you You can become the kind of a person you want to be.

Now I'm going to give each one of you something which we give every member of our I Can class, because this is something which literally will change your life. It's my business card. Oh, I know that, that doesn't sound like a life-changing experience, but you see, on one side it has my name and my address and my phone number. On the other side it has one word And that's T-U-I-T. Now, as you can plainly see, it's round, and since it has to it on the other side, that means this is a round to it. So many times you've told your parents or your teachers, or you've told your boss or somebody else, hey, I'm going to do something just as soon as I get around to it. Well, never again will you be able to say that. When you start to say, I'll do it when I get around to it, you'll be reminded You've already got your round to it, so you'll just go ahead and do it. What do you say?

To watch another amazing Zig Ziglar video, check it out right there next to me. I think you'll love it. Continue to believe, and I'll see you there.

It's not going to be easy, but you are what you are and where you are because of what's going into your mind. You can change what you are. You can change where you are by changing what goes into your mind.