This is The Ziglar Show, planet Earth’s core source for the fuel for success…hope and inspiration. This is episode 443, and I have something special for you. We’re going to hear 11 minutes of Zig Ziglar giving an overview of his personal story, which is profound. Then we’ll be joined by a student of Zig’s who had a very similar experience to Zig’s. the question is…why did these guys overcome every reason to fail? And what can that mean for us?
Hi, everyone, I’m Kevin Miller, your host of The Ziglar Show. Go now to Ziglar.com/Christmas. Why? Great packages, huge savings and…get a gift for someone, or yourself, that actually matters. That will be remembered, used, and will inspire true performance. Who doesn’t need that? Ziglar.com/Christmas
So, today I’m going to queue up a talk from Zig where he gives his personal story. Why?
Zig’s story…part of it.
Which is why my fave Zig book is his autobiography. He had every reason to fail. Or be mediocre. To be average. To better himself and make an ok living. Maybe even a good living.,/p>
But no reason to become a legacy and an icon and the world’s poster child for inspiration and motivation!
Get his book to get the full stories. This is merely an 11-minute premise, but it’s rich.
My story is your story and I’ve walked in your shoes.
Zig says, “I’ve never lost a child or a spouse,” though not too long after he recorded this, he lost his oldest child and daughter, Suzie, to pulmonary fibrosis, from which he wrote a book, Confessions of a Grieving Christian.
“I’ve had someone who loved me all of my life.”
“Always been healthy -- emotionally, physically.”
As far as uncertain about what tomorrow is bringing, no clue of what we will be doing; how can I handle any number of situations? “I have walked in every pair of shoes in this room today.”
“I was milking cows before I was eight years old.”
“You can’t make a good deal with a bad guy.”
He worked out of necessity and duty.
His boss at the grocery store wanted to train him and mentor him.
Why?
“He was a linchpin” – Seth Godin
His mother, if you’ve heard his testimonials…
Quick story of seeing his wife for the first time.
He wanted to embrace her and be affectionate right away.
But…he would have been skipping steps. An analogy for all of us wanting to skip steps that we must take.
We are here to dig into the big issue that he does cover, why did he overcome? Why did he see such circumstances and overcome while many more, though, are overcome? So joining me now, Dan Miller, author, speaker, the life coach.
You have such a similar story, having five kids and a farm, doing barn duties early morning. When I was five, we had to roll the bushes, cut the strings; we had calves which we had to bottle feed; jobs. So, it seems that lots of leaders come from hardships that they overcame. Most of the people overcome hardship. Hardship grows strength. But does this happen every time, what do you think?
You can see it in other ways. Like, I saw a guy working in a grocery shop once actually pull the trigger and kill one man. He is in jail and he has two sons, both in their mid-thirties. One is a reputed financial advisor with a beautiful wife, three kids, and doing well, and the other is just like his dad, dealing drugs and robbery and ended up in jail. After asking both, they replied, “With the father I have, what do you expect from my life?” One found the dad was a bad example of what not to do and one used him as his excuse, “I did what I saw.”
That is the core question: Why did one overcome and why was the other overcome by it? That is why you are here. You are supposed to give us seven steps and five keys.
Here it is. People aren’t happy with what they do; people have so many competitors. Same environment, same business, same platform: one is going bankrupt and the other’s business is sky-rocketing. If we go back to my upbringing, the milk and cow things, my parents were very strict and clear about their ideology, and they did not welcome the idea of changing your destiny. But I saw this as an opportunity that I really can change my destiny. I can have more, give more, do more. That became a really foundational principle for me when I was thirteen years old. There were things like that that made me believe that more was possible.
Why did you have that desire, whereas, others in the same circumstance -- I mean, your siblings -- did not?
When I was small, I went to a small school in Ohio where we had 32 kids in a class. At the 40th reunion, when I went back, I found only two people who left that town; one is me and the second is a girl. People in the environment didn’t see possibilities beyond what was right there – and, believe me, there weren’t many possibilities right there. I, as a little kid, always dreamed about being at other places. I didn’t have TV or radio at home. That drove me into books, and I was like a magnet with books.
The more I read, the more I imagined myself in the world like that. I think that part is how we are wired; we are wired differently. I had the belief that my life could be dramatically different in what I saw in there.
Where did this DNA of desire come from? You said you are wired differently, and people listen to this and are trying to inspire themselves, motivate themselves. So, as in DNA of desire, how are you wired differently?
In that two-people story, one of them chose to be a victim and one chose not to be victim. That is the critical point. If we see ourselves as a victim, then we really have our hands tied.
All you can do is watch your actions and listen to your words. If you wanna change, change the actions, change the directions of your words and your life will be changed.
Very appropriate story for me. I grew up expecting to be the exception to the rule. And, in many ways, I always have been. But that doesn’t mean you skip the necessary steps, and I thought I would. And I have the scars on my shins from the stumbling and bumbling that happens when you try to skip steps that are not to be skipped.
Maybe you can take them faster or more gracefully, but you can’t skip them.
If you wanna know where you are going, just watch where your feet take you.
That’s the thing, you can change the direction of your feet. I am so optimistic about it, which is the way I am wired. I have never seen myself as a victim.
Do you see a comfort-based culture as being a benefit when it comes to wanting more?
Do you believe in “No Pain, No gain”? Do you believe that there is only way to “go spiritual,” and that is to go through hardship? No
I have talked to so many people who have lost their jobs and are devastated in their lives, and after some months they say, “This is the best thing that ever happened! It forced me to take a new look at where I was and where I want to be.” So, I wanna take that initiative to think where I am and wait for the hardship to become the only motivation.
It is not a matter of more that makes our life better, it is just simply how can we make it better.
One last question, what is the motive -- what I want, what drives me? I mean, what do we want? What do you want and why do you want it? Without that, it feels purposeless. How can we inspire people to do what they want to do? How can I inspire myself to do what I want?
The courage and effort are not enough; there has to be a purpose. Otherwise, it is just an exertion. This is all; I mean, it has to be a purpose.
It doesn’t excite me to just have more, you know, just more books, or courses, or whatever. So what does excite me? It is the testimonials I get from the people, the thank-you notes, people telling me how their life has been transformed, that motivates me. I want to increase that potential to help more people see the opportunity, believe in their potential. Well, that is the strong, driving purpose for me that keeps me going.
How often does a one-night stand and a Vegas wedding work? Hardly ever. How does a one-night stand and pregnancy work out?
How does winning the lottery work out?
How does being given a big position in a family business without earning it work out?