Motivation from the Master

Zig Ziglar has helped millions find the ability and drive to succeed. For more than 30 years, this motivational marvel has wowed audiences around the world with his simple yet penetrating insight into personal achievement. In books and seminars, Ziglar’s message transcends mere motivational speaking. While he believes that attitude plays a key role in determining success, Ziglar stresses the importance of balancing a positive attitude with the hands-on abilities necessary to accomplish our dreams. As always, Ziglar has a ready anecdote to illustrate his point.

“When I was in the seventh grade, I went out for the boxing team. I weighed a whopping eighty-two pounds. I was very confident, because I had enjoyed a certain amount of success as a playground gladiator. The guy I was going to spar with weighed about sixty-two pounds, and I just knew I’d kill him. What I did not realize was that he had been on the team for two years already. It took him about three seconds to figure out that the straightest distance to my nose was a left jab. Two seconds later, he figured it out again. And again and again. Since more than my feelings were getting hurt, I decided I was too busy for the boxing team.

“But then the coach took me aside and started teaching me some fundamentals. Within a couple of weeks, I was able to hit my opponent once in a while. I quickly learned that the hitter had more fun than the ‘hittee.’ After about three or four weeks, I was actually winning. And the point here is that when I went into the ring the first time, I had a great attitude; I was positive, optimistic, enthusiastic, and highly motivated, but I was about to get killed. When I added the skill to the attitude, my effectiveness went way up. Neither attitude nor ability alone will get you there. You need them both to be successful.”

Besides attitude and ability, Ziglar’s recipe for success includes many additional ingredients. Part of the problem facing many people, he says, is that they lack a clear destination in life. And without a destination in mind, it’s nearly impossible to find your way. By contrast, Ziglar can enunciate a clear definition of success.

“Many people are mistaken in equating success solely with money,” he says. “To me, success means getting a reasonable amount of the things money will buy and all of the things money won’t buy. Money is not the most important thing, but when you need it, there are few substitutes. So while I like the things money can buy, I love what money won’t buy. It bought me a house, but it won’t buy me a home. It would buy me a companion, but it won’t buy me a friend.

“Then the second part of what success means relates to when you’ve dealt with the physical, mental, and spiritual aspects of life. If I made millions and destroyed my health in the process or neglected my family, that’s not success.”

Unlike some speakers who talk a good game but fail to live up to the ideals they espouse, credibility is not an issue for Zig Ziglar. If he talks the talk, he walks the walk, too. When he tells audience members that physical fitness will increase their energy, help them perform better, and improve their lives, he’s speaking from experience.

“Twenty-five years ago, I made a decision to do something about physical fitness,” he says. “Since then, I’ve been eating sensibly and exercising regularly. Today my exercise regimen includes vigorous walking five to seven times a week and a twenty-minute routine involving push-ups and stretching, as well as weightlifting. Now at age seventy, I can stay on the treadmill five minutes longer than I could when I was forty-five. That means that I have more documented energy today than I did twenty-five years ago. Does that enable me to be more productive? Of course it does. Do I have more fun at it? Absolutely.

“Now some people say, ‘I have been smoking and drinking for thirty-five years, and it has never hurt me.’ But what they don’t know is how great they could have been had they abstained from those things from the start. So right now I’m more enthusiastic than ever about exercise and diet, because I have so many plans. And to be able to reach my other goals, I have to reach my physical goals, too.”

Anyone who has seen Zig Ziglar speak can attest to his enthusiasm and vigor. This bountiful energy helps him maintain a travel schedule that would daunt many a newcomer to the motivation field. Surprisingly, whether he has given the same talk 5 or 500 times, Ziglar always dedicates at least three hours to preparing for each show.

“The majority of that time I will simply be giving the talk mentally. But this is essential, because it frees up my creative side. My left brain is so totally trained on that area that it frees my right brain to be creative. And I guarantee you that there will be some creative thoughts, ideas, or a release of information as a result of combining these things that will make a difference. And that is the way creativity works.”

Despite his phenomenal success, the result of hundreds of thousands of appreciative and satisfied customers, Ziglar still hears the familiar refrain that motivational speakers fail to produce long-term results. In a way, he says, he fully agrees.

“A reporter once asked me how I responded to the charge that motivation is not permanent,” Ziglar explains. “I said, ‘Absolutely right!’ It is not permanent. Neither is bathing. But if you bathe every day, you’re going to smell good. In my seminars, I explain that fifteen minutes a day of motivation from a good recording or book can make a tremendous difference in your life and give you a motivational lift every day.

“As a matter of fact, until just recently, one of the mysteries that had plagued me for a long time was why we get approximately two hundred times as many testimonial letters from people who have read my books or listened to my recordings as from people who saw me appear in person. And while we get tremendous responses from the speeches, I discovered the reason for this discrepancy from a study done by Stanford University. [Researchers] found that 95 percent of the people who believe in the concepts we talk about – who know they need to have goals, the right attitude, the applicable skills – are unable to implement this philosophy because they don’t have the resources to follow through. They don’t have the recordings or book to refer to and follow up with repetition. And that study’s results reinforced what I have always believed: repetition is the mother of learning and the father of action, which means it is the architect of accomplishment.”

Ziglar and his family suffered their greatest personal adversity when his daughter Suzy died after a protracted battle with pulmonary fibrosis. While he admits to enduring extraordinary turmoil over the tragedy, Ziglar says that he emerged from the experience with a renewed faith and positive outlook on life. The result was his book Confessions of a Grieving Christian (B&H Books, 2004).

“What I wanted to share in the book,” Ziglar says, “is that there is a hope that goes beyond anything we can possibly expect. In fact, it’s more of a journal in that I share my thoughts and feelings as I felt them, especially as they remind me of her. In Dallas, we had some snow, and my other children and wife and I all started weeping because Suzy had a passion for snow. If she saw one snowflake, she would tell everyone that she was going into her snow dance to produce six to eight inches of snow. So the snow brings back that memory. The book encourages people to let the tears flow and give people credit for good intentions when they say they know how you feel. Because nothing compares to losing a child. In the natural order of things, she was supposed to come to my funeral, not the other way around. So I encourage people, don’t deny your grief, let the tears flow, but look to the source of all joy and know that God is really in control.” •