Developing the Qualities of Success. Zig Ziglar

what creates the excitement. She was a very humble person.

      Humility is one of the great qualities of leadership. That doesn’t mean that when a person is humble that they think less of themselves, it simply means they think of themselves less. Over a period of time Gerry’s confidence grew, but it never turned to arrogance. You see, when you get arrogant, that’s when Buster Douglas knocks out Mike Tyson. And for the benefit of those of you who are not fight fans, that’s when Mike was the unbeatable heavyweight champion of the world and Buster Douglas was almost a nobody. They weren’t even betting on it because he was such a prohibitive favorite, and that was the last fight Buster Douglas ever won, right there.

      Gerry Arrowood retained her humility; she built her confidence, she worked very, very hard. She became that student. But she took what she had and developed it. That’s one of the reasons I will say so many times to you that you need to listen to your audios over and over. You see, they keep hope alive. When you hear these things in your mind over and over, you’re going to get a lift.

      Now, I’m certain that when Gerry Arrowood got out of the car that night to deliver that cookware, she wasn’t thinking, “Well, you know, Zig’s been tellin’ me I can have everything in life I want if I’ll just help enough other people get what they want, and what I want to be is vice president in charge of sales training for that big ol’ cosmetic company, and if I deliver these cookware sets, then I’ll get to be the vice president in charge.” Now, isn’t that insane? She did it because it was the right thing to do. I was in a jam. She felt a loyalty to me and a concern for me as a friend and as her employer. It’s a philosophy I’m talking about. I’m not talking about a tactic.

      Now let me ask you a question: How many of you consider yourself to be honest and at least reasonably intelligent? Let me ask you honest and intelligent people a question. How many of you, as a general rule, get more work done on the day before you go on vacation than you normally get done in two, three, even four days? Now, if we can figure out why and how and repeat it every day, without working any harder, does it make sense that you’d be more valuable to yourself, your company, your family and your community? The answer is yes. No question about it. Yes, it does make a whole lot of sense.

      So let’s see if we can do a little exploring and find out why, and here’s the first thing: First of all, you’ve already said that you are honest and intelligent. Now, I want to make another profound statement. What you do off the job determines how far you go on the job. Every athlete knows that. Every entertainer knows that. Every public speaker ought to know that. If every other worker, doing anything, would learn that, then they would be getting ahead much faster in life.

      They did a study on the typical American plant and the person working the line on an hourly basis watched an average of thirty hours of television a week. The person in charge of that line watched an average of twenty-five hours of television a week. The foreman watched an average of twenty hours of television a week—are you noticing a little trend here? The plant superintendent watched an average of fifteen hours of television a week. The vice president of the plant watched an average of twelve to fifteen hours of television a week. The president watched an average of eight to twelve hours of television a week; the chairman of the board watched an average of four to eight hours of television a week and fifty percent of that time they were watching training videos.

      What do you think would happen to that person who’s watching thirty hours of television a week if they were to take ten of those hours and get involved in doing what you’re doing right now; reading good books, attending valuable seminars, getting that education? Is there a chance that they are a victim of circumstances or is it because they are a victim of inertia? It’s easy to go home and sit down in front of the television and let it dominate or run their life. See, the television doesn’t have that much good information. It does some things to you but the biggest damage television does is what it keeps you from doing. It keeps you from talking to folks, keeps you from exercising, keeps you from reading, keeps you from learning, keeps you from associating with other people, developing friendships and a hundred and one other things.

      What all this leads up to is, on the night before vacation, how many of you get out a little sheet of paper and say to yourself, “Now, Self, tomorrow you gotta do this and this and this…”? How many of you do that? Now, in its simplest form that is goal-setting. I do a lot of public seminars where I’m fortunate enough to be on the program with some real celebrities; I mean, President Ford, President Bush, Schwarzkopf, Colin Powell.

      Now, I don’t classify them as buddies. I’d love to, but don’t misunderstand. I am proud of the fact that the last time I saw Colin Powell he did give me a big ol’ hug and, since he’s one of my heroes I liked that, But anyhow…I do a lot of public seminars. Now, they did a study—and who is they? They is David Jensen, the Chief Administrative Officer for the Crump Institute for Biological Imaging, Department of Pharmacology, UCLA School of Medicine. Now, with a title like that, you know he is somebody, don’t you? Well, he’s a good friend of mine, too. They did a study on the people who came to the seminars. It represents a broad section of American industry, everybody from psychiatrists and truck drivers to school teachers and household executives, salespeople, entrepreneurs, business owners—all kinds of people. And those who set goals and developed a plan of action to get there earned an average of $7,401 a month. Those who did not set goals earned an average of $3,397 a month. Over four thousand dollars a month difference.

      Do you have time to invest another ten minutes a day to pick up another four thousand bucks a month? The survey also showed that not only did they earn the additional money, but they were happier and healthier and got along better with the folks at home. People who know where they’re going and have a plan to get there are easier to get along with, that’s what this really does boil down to. You set those goals and then you got organized. Organization is important. Our controller at our company is well-organized. She even proofreads the Xerox copies she sends out. And then, once you’ve got it organized you’ve accepted responsibility. Now, that’s something a lot of us don’t like to do. And it goes back to Adam and Eve; you remember the story. They were in the Garden of Eden. God gave it all to them. He said, “You can have everything you want, and there’s a tree right in the middle of the garden, leave it alone. Don’t eat it.”

      Well, you know what happened. They ate the fruit on the tree. To this day a lot of people say it was the apple in the tree that caused man’s problems. Not so. It was the pair on the ground that created the problem. And you know what happened. God came walking in the garden that evening and He said, “Adam! Where are you?”

      Now, God knew were Adam was, but He wanted Adam to say, “Over here, Lord.”

      “Adam, did you eat that fruit?”

      Now, God knew the answer, but He wanted Adam to confess, but Adam did “the manly thing,” and has passed it on to every generation since. He said, “Lord, let me tell you about that woman!”

      The Lord said, “Eve! Did you eat that fruit?” She kept the ball rolling.

      She said, “Lord, lemme tell you about that snake!” And, of course, the snake didn’t have a leg to stand on!

      Now, for the benefit of you Bible students, I know theologically I don’t have a leg to stand on with that last statement, either, but here’s the point I’m making. You don’t have a leg to stand on, I don’t have a leg to stand on, when we constantly blame other people and the past. Now, realistically, if somebody fouled up your past—come on, you’re not going to give them permission to ruin your future, are you? What we have to do is get serious about doing something about our future. We have to get serious about doing things with our lives.

      I speak and write at the seventh grade, ninth month level. Now, the reason I do that deliberately is because I learned a few years ago if you kept it there that even the college professors would be able to follow right along with you and understand what you’re saying. And see, college professors are people. But, like my good friend, Dr. Steve Franklin, a college professor at Emory University, says, “You know, Zig, the great truths in life are simple. You don’t need three moving parts and four syllables for it to be significant. Think