Zig Ziglar - Developing the Qualities of Success: How to Stay Motivated Volume I

HOW TO STAY MOTIVATED

Developing the Qualities of Success

Volume I

By Zig Ziglar

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Ziglar, Zig

How to Stay Motivated: Developing the Qualities of Success, Volume I

ISBN: 978-1-61339-732-9

1. SELF-HELP / Personal Growth / Success

2. SELF-HELP / Personal Growth

3. SELF-HELP / Motivational & Inspirational

Chapter 1

How to Stay Motivated; Developing the Qualities of Success, is literally for everyone. Whether youre a mechanic or a physician, a college professor or a kindergarten student, this information is something you will benefit from. This book is about hope. Alfred Adler said that hope is the foundational quality of all change. Its my conviction that encouragement is the fuel of that hope, and so this entire book is designed to encourage and inform.

With this in mind, I encourage you to let the entire family and, for that matter, the people you work with, read this, regardless of their age and regardless of what they do. Countless adults have shared with me that these concepts have had a dramatic influence in their lives. In this book I will give you an idea which you will agree is absolutely significant. I will give you four concepts that, if you apply them, will make a difference in your life.

Let's start with this. Do you honestly and sincerely believe there's something you can do in the next two weeks that would make your personal life, your family life, and your business life worse? Do you believe there is something you can do that will make all of them better? Do you believe that the choice is yours? Do you believe that every choice has an end result? Do you believe making the right choices is your responsibility?

Whether you realize it or not, you have just said, Regardless of how good or bad my past has been, regardless of how good or bad my present is, there is something I can specifically do now that will make my future either better or worseand the choice is mine.

Everything is a choice. For example, for 24 years of my adult life, by choice, I weighed well over 200 pounds. Now, the reason I say by choice is simply because I have never accidentally eaten anything. Its always a choice. Now, if I choose to eat too much, then I choose to weigh too much. You are where you are in many ways because of a series of choices you have made.

Let me say something I think is very important. You made the observation that the responsibility is yours to make the right choices. Responsibility carries a lot of weight in life. Barbara Tuchman, two-time Pulitzer Prize winner said, The number one need we have in our society today is people who will accept responsibility. That is so tremendously true. Most people I speak to think I'm in my early thirties, but actually, I'm 68. What that means is I was raised during the Depression. My dad died when I was five years old; there were six of us too young to work. I come from a small Mississippi town, Yazoo City; we don't even have a village drunkwe share with the little community next to us. But its exciting. About once a month a train comes through town and I know that doesnt sound like excitement until I explain we dont have tracks there. We used to hang a mirror at the end of Main Street to make the town look bigger.

Now, let me say something here. I can tease about my hometown for one very good reason; its an amazing little town. The former president of the American Medical Association is from Yazoo City; the former president of the American Bar Association is from Yazoo City; the former president of the Southern Baptist Convention is from Yazoo City. The former editor of Harpers magazine is from Yazoo City. The former Secretary of Agriculture is from Yazoo City. The chairman of the Republican Party is from Yazoo City. Jerry Clowers is from Yazoo City. Now, I have no idea what happened to the other three, but I can tease about my hometown because it has been so productive. Were going to use humor throughout this book because it helps people learn faster, learn more and remember longer. The major point I'm making is we can tease about that little town because of its productivity. People who are confident and productive, they dont mind you kidding them alonggood, clean kidding and humor definitely has a place.

Now, I dont need to tell you that as the tenth of 12 children, six of them being too young to work, in the heart of the Depression in a small Mississippi town, we had a tough time financially. Other families had it tough too, but I'm so grateful that, for whatever reason, I did not choose to notice what we did not have. What I did notice was what a lot of people did have in that little town. Even in those times, I noticed some people wore nice clothes, they drove nice cars, they lived in a nice house, and they took nice trips. They even had dinner out. Some of them played golf at the country club. You know what Ive noticed in every decade of my life sinceand this is the message I really want you to getIve noticed, that regardless of the economy, there are some people who don't pay any attention to it at all. As you well know, the media has accurately predicted 27 of the last two recessions. There are some people who just don't pay any attention to what other people are doing. For example, I've noticed that in some instances, when the economy is absolutely magnificent, there is a bunch of folks going broke. I have noticed that in some instances when the economy is absolutely horrible, there is a bunch of folks getting rich. How many of you have noticed exactly the same thing? Now, this is major point number two. Major point number one is, you do have a choice. You can do something now about your life, making it either better or worse, and the choice is yours.

Number two is this: it is not what is going on out there. A lot of that you cannot change. There is something you can do about you and your future and that's what I want to talk about. Its not what happensout therethat makes a difference in your life, its what goes on between your own two ears. That's what makes the difference.

Neil Rudenstine was the president of Harvard University. His mother was a part-time waitress and his father was a prison guard. Its not who your mama and your daddy might've been; its not what they have done. The question is what kind of legacy will you leave to your children and your grandchildren? It is what you do. A lot of times we encounter people who have a pity party on a regular basis. They have what we call the PLOM diseasePLOM, thats poor lil ol me, and the problem with pity parties is that very few people come, and those who do dont bring presents.

Let me point out, there was a study of 300 world-class leaders. Now, I'm talking about Roosevelt and Churchill; I'm talking about Martin Luther King and Mahatma Gandhi. Im talking about Clara Barton, Helen Keller and Mother Teresa. Seventy-five percent of them were either raised in poverty or abused as children, or had some serious physical impairment. They understood point number three: its not what happens to youits how you handle what happens to you that is going to make the difference.