by Zig Ziglar
Unfortunately, most people are in about the same condition. They don’t know where they are, have no idea where they’ve been, but they invariably think they know where they’re going. Am I talking about you? If I am, then you might have acquired this book just in time.
I challenged the young salesman with a question: “How would you like to become an immortal in the cookware business?” Now, the word immortal is a pretty challenging word. He took the bait and responded enthusiastically, “How?” “Easy,” I answered, “just break the all-time company record.” This time his response was considerably less enthusiastic. He said, “That sure is easy for you to say, but nobody, including me, will ever break that record.” Naturally I was curious, so I asked what he meant by “no one will ever break that record.” He informed me rather emphatically that the record was not “honest” because the man who set it had his son-in-law selling cookware in his name.
INCENTIVE—THE SOUL OF SUCCESS
This young man’s Loser’s Limp was, “I can’t do it because the record isn’t honest.” I reassured him the record was legitimate and challenged him by saying, “If one man set the record another can break it.” Since incentive is the soul of success, I dangled some rewards before him. First of all, I assured him that if he broke that all-time record the company would hang his picture in the home office along with the president’s. He liked that. Then I told him his picture would be used in national ads and articles, and he would become famous as the best “pot” salesman in the world (that was before marijuana was a problem, and “pot” was something you used for cooking). He really liked that. Finally, I told him they would make him a “gold pot,” or at least one that looked like gold. That did it as far as motivation was concerned, but he still had some doubt about how much he could sell.
I reminded him he could break the record by taking his best week and multiplying it by 50. He grinned and said, “Boy, that’s easy for you to say . . . ” I interrupted, “Yes, and it’s easy for you to do, if you believe you can.” He still wasn’t convinced he could, but he promised to give it serious thought. That’s an important point, because a goal casually set and lightly taken is freely abandoned at the first obstacle.
NO “IF” DECISIONS
On December 26th he called me from his home in Augusta, Georgia. Never before, nor since, have I participated in a telephone conversation that could compare with that one. The wires must have gotten hot. You could feel the excitement from Augusta to Columbia, South Carolina. He brought me up to date. “You know, since our visit earlier this month, I’ve kept exact records of everything I’ve done. I know how much business I get when I knock on a door, make a telephone call, conduct a demonstration or open my sample case. I know how much I sell every week I work, every day I work, and every hour I work.” With a tremendous burst of enthusiasm, he added, “I’m going to break that record.” I squeezed a word into the conversation to say, “No, you’re not ‘going’ break the record. You just broke the record.”
I did this because not once did he use the word “if.” It wasn’t an “if” decision. Take the word “life” and look at it. The two center letters in the word “life” are “if.” Many people go through life making nothing but “if” decisions. These are not decisions for success but preparations for failure. Not this guy. He didn’t say, “I’m going to break this record if I don’t wreck my car.” It’s good he didn’t because that’s what happened. He didn’t say, “I’m going to break this record if there is no illness in my family.” There was. He didn’t say, “I’m going to break this record if there are no deaths in my family.” He buried two loved ones, including a brother. He didn’t say, “I’m going to break this record if I don’t lose my voice.” It’s good he didn’t because in December, with the goal literally within his reach, his voice was in such bad shape his doctor ordered him to stop talking. So he did the only thing he could do—he changed doctors. No, his decision was laboriously arrived at but simply stated: “I’m going to break that record, period.”
We need to look at his target in order to really appreciate the size of the undertaking. Never before had he sold over $34,000 in a single year, which wasn’t too bad at the time. However, the next year, selling the same product, in the same area, at the same price, he delivered and paid for, after all cancellations and credit rejections, over $104,000 worth of cookware. He sold over three times as much as he had ever sold in a single year. As a result, he broke the all-time record. Incidentally, the company did follow through on the reward he and I discussed. He got the publicity and the gold “pot.”
SMARTER AND HARDER
Many people ask if he got that much smarter. I point out that he did get some smarter because he now had eleven years of experience instead of ten. Many ask if he worked that much harder. I assure them he worked some harder and certainly smarter. He organized his time and learned the value of a minute. He found that 10 minutes here and 20 minutes there soon added up to from one to two hours per day. This was eight to ten hours per week or, incredibly enough, 400 to 500 hours a year. That was the equivalent of over fifty full eight-hour days in a year. In short, he discovered that everyone doesn’t have 60 minutes in every hour, 24 hours in every day, or even seven days in every week. Each man only has as many minutes, hours, and days as he uses. When he quit counting time and started making time count, he was able to produce considerably more business and still have more time for himself and his family.
He started by finding out, through keeping records, exactly where he was. (You—if you’re a salesman—must do the same thing. Find out how many prospects you must approach to secure an appointment. How many appointments you must make in order to tell your story. How many presentations you must make in order to make a sale. Combine this information with the knowledge of how much time it takes to secure an appointment that sticks. How much time it takes to make a presentation and complete a sale, including driving time, service time, paper work time, etc. With this information you will know where you are. Then it’s simply a matter of arithmetic. With this information you will know what happens for every hour you work, but hold the phone. You will almost immediately have to revise your goal upward—and often dramatically—because your confidence, bolstered by these facts, will make you much more productive.)
As we break this story into parts, we realize the young man involved all the principles of goal-setting as well as the principles of “goal-reaching.”
(1) He kept records to find out where he was.
(2) He committed to paper the goals he wanted to achieve on a yearly, monthly, and daily basis.
(3) He was very specific ($104,000).
(4) He set the goal big—but reachable—to create excitement and a challenge.
(5) He made the goal long-range (one year) so he would not be overcome by daily frustrations.
(6) He listed the obstacles between him and his goal and formulated a plan to overcome the obstacles.
(7) He broke his goal into daily increments.
(8) He was mentally prepared to discipline himself to take the necessary steps to reach his goals.
(9) He was absolutely convinced he could reach his goals.
(10) He visualized himself as already reaching his goal before the year started.
To reinforce an idea expressed earlier in this segment, you should be careful about sharing your goals with others. If you are confident and need to put yourself on the spot by sharing your goal with others, then go ahead. However, you will be wise to be very selective about sharing your goals. It’s helpful if you have associates or loved ones who will share your optimism and give you added confidence that you can reach your goals. It’s definitely harmful if you share your dreams with a “wet blanket” who ridicules your ideas and belittles your efforts.
The young man in the story (I’ll identify him later) shared his goals with his family, who believed in him and gave him support. He also shared his goals with other people, because he knew himself well enough to kno
w that he would be more likely to reach his objective if he put himself on the spot.
I recognize the examples I use in goal-setting will not fit each individual case, but the principles will fit your situation. At some time in the future, perhaps you will be in our Born to Win seminar and can work directly with one of our trainers in setting your specific goals. In the meantime, here are some other thoughts which should be helpful.
GOOD TODAY—BETTER TOMORROW
Let’s take the case of the parent who said, “How can I set a series of goals?” First of all, a parent should have a big goal. One of the biggest goals parents can have is to teach their children how to live in a complex society and pay their own way. To raise their children to be happy, healthy, and morally and emotionally sound is a big goal for any parent. A long-range goal could be to teach the children to be contributing members of society. Parents can also teach children enough by word and deed that they will have an honest shot at spending eternity with Jesus Christ.
One of the finest daily goals we can set is to teach our children how to do things for themselves. The Chinese say it well, “If you give a man a fish, you feed him for the day, but if you teach him how to fish, you feed him for life.” Teach your children how to do things, how to be self-supporting and self-sustaining. In a nutshell, a major goal for all parents should be to work themselves out of a job. What could be a better daily goal for a parent than that?
Everybody’s daily goals should be to do the best they can today while preparing for a better tomorrow. The future is the place where you’re going to spend the rest of your life. Daily accomplishments are bricks leading to that place. If you regularly and firmly put the bricks into place with proper goal-setting procedures, you will eventually build your stairway to the top. In order for you to properly set your lifetime goals as stated earlier, you must clearly understand that the elevator to the top is “out of order.” You’re going to have to take the stairs—one at a time. Fortunately, they are clearly marked and are beckoning you to climb them—all the way up.
* * *
IF YOU ARE TRULY COMMITTED TO A BALANCED LIFE, OUR PERFORMANCE PLANNER WILL BE AN EFFECTIVE TOOL TO HELP YOU SET AND REACH YOUR GOALS THROUGH DAILY DISCIPLINED ACCOUNTABILITY. FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT:
Ziglar Training Systems
2009 Chenault Drive
Carrollton, TX 75006
1-800-527-0306
972-233-9191
Fax 972-991-1853
www.zigziglar.com
CHAPTER 13
Reaching Your Goals
BE HONEST WITH YOU
When I started this book the words were flowing easily and coming out well, at least in my mind. When I wrote the words, “You can go where you want to go, do what you want to do, have what you want to have, and be what you want to be,” I’ll have to confess I held those words out in front of me and with a degree of satisfaction said to myself, “That’s good.” Unfortunately, I had to hold the words some distance away, because there was a 41-inch waistline and 202 pounds between me and those words. As I read the words, I started thinking and talking to myself. (It’s not bad to talk to yourself. It’s not even bad to answer—however, if you ever catch yourself saying “Huh?” to the answer, you’re in trouble. That’s the position I found myself in.) The thought occurred to me that eventually some reader would ask if I really believed what I had written. Since honesty starts within, I was led to re-evaluate every word I had written. In a nutshell, it boiled down to this—if I believed it, I should live it and if I didn’t believe it, I shouldn’t write it. With this in mind I asked myself, “Are you really like you want to be, Zig?”
As I wrestled with this question it became more and more obvious that I was either going to have to delete this portion of the book or have difficulty living with myself. It was also inevitable that I would be confronted with people who ask embarrassing questions. In addition, my son was eight years old and I felt that a father should be able to spank his children until they were at least twelve years old. At the rate I was going, I wasn’t even going to be able to catch mine. The thing that sent me looking for help, though, was the Redhead, who kept telling me to hold my stomach in—and I already was.
Fortunately, Dallas is the home of the world famous Aerobics Center founded by Dr. Kenneth Cooper. Dr. Cooper is variously described as either the Air Force Doctor or the Running Doctor. He has done considerable research into the effect of aerobic conditioning on the body. When you see anyone jogging or walking, he is probably doing so because of the direct or indirect influence of Dr. Cooper.
I secured an appointment and went down for the five hour examination. They started by taking two quarts (at least it looked like two quarts) of blood. They just kept filling those little vials. I thought they were starting a blood bank with me as the major supplier. Next, they dunked me into a tank of water and completely immersed me three times to determine the amount of body fat I had. They discovered I was 23.9% pure lard, which wasn’t exactly ideal. Next, they put me on a treadmill and wired me to a machine so they could monitor my heart and check my pulse as I walked. The length of my walk revealed my physical condition, so I was chagrined when I only walked long enough to get four seconds out of the “horrible” range and into the “just awful” range.
When the examination was completed and the figures compiled, Dr. Randy Martin, the examining physician, had me go into his office to review the results. With a big smile on his face, Dr. Martin explained to me that they used computers to compile their information and the figures proved I was not overweight. However, I was exactly five and one-half inches too short. I commented that this was really bad, but Dr. Martin explained that actually I was in remarkably good physical condition—for a 66-year-old man. When I reminded him that I was 46, his expression made a dramatic change.
“You’re in awful shape!” he said, “As a matter of fact, if you were a building, I’d condemn you.” Naturally, I wanted to know what I should do so Dr. Martin laid out a precise schedule, detailed in black and white, and threw in a “pep” talk for a bonus. Before he finished telling me what I should do, I was kinda like the little boy who asked his daddy a question. His dad responded, “Why don’t you ask your mother?” The little boy replied, “I just didn’t want to know that much about it.”
A BLOCK AND A MAIL BOX
When I got home my wife commented, “Well, I suppose you’re going to be out running all over the neighborhood.” I replied in the affirmative so she said, “If I’m going to have a 46-year-old fat boy running all over the neighborhood, I want to have you looking as good as possible.” Down to the store she went to buy me some fancy running shirts and shorts to go with the running shoes Dr. Martin had advised me to buy.
While in Dr. Martin’s office I did something that was ugly, but I’ll use the excuse that I had not read Ann Landers at the time. Ann says it is not nice or honest to take pages out of magazines belonging to someone else. Actually, I knew that so I can’t honestly hide behind her, but it was an old magazine so I took the page advertising Jockey shorts. If you don’t read Jockey short ads, let me suggest that you at least look at the picture the next time you see one. You will discover they don’t put Jockey shorts on fat boys. At least they don’t have a “Goodyear.”
The next morning when the “opportunity” clock (negative people call them alarm clocks) sounded, I hopped out of bed, slipped on those fancy running clothes and shoes, tore out the front door—and ran a block, all by myself. The next day, however, I did considerably better. I ran a block and a mailbox. The third day it was a block and two mailboxes, then a block and three mailboxes, until finally one day I ran all the way around the block. When I passed that milestone I woke up the entire family and told them what “Dad had done.”
Then one day I ran a half-mile, then a mile, then a mile-and-a-half, then two miles, and finally four to five miles. I started on the calisthenics bit. I did 6 push-ups, then 8, then 10, then 20, then 40, until I could do the G.I.
push-up, which simply means I pushed myself into the air and slapped my hands at the same time. I started doing sit-ups and the first day I did 8, then 10, then 20, then 40, then 80, then 120. The result was the weight and waistline started coming down. I was also dieting religiously during this period of time (I quit eating in church). Seriously, I did diet and I’ll have more to say about that in a moment. My weight went down from 202—first to 200, then 190, 180, 170, and
165. My waistline dropped from 41 to 40-39-38-37-36-35-34. Ten months from the day after I had written that I weighed 165 and had a 34-inch waistline, it came to pass.
THE PRINCIPLES OF GOAL-SETTING
I give you these details because this story involved every principle of goal-setting and goal-reaching. The goal was mine and since my credibility was at stake, the incentive for reaching the goal was built in when I set the goal. The goal was big. Big enough that it represented a real challenge and forced me to reach deep into the wellspring of my resources to reach the objective. Yet it was neither irresponsible nor impossible. Had I elected to lose only five pounds, then no one, with the possible exception of the Redhead, would have known I had lost any weight. As the pounds melted off (actually, when you are sweating them off you don’t think they are melting) and my waistline started moving down, my family and friends bragged on me a lot. That really helped. I started feeling better and my energy level rose. The time I spent on the running program was returned with a bonus in the form of greater work endurance.
The size of the goal is enormously important. In a preceding chapter I emphasize that a goal can be too big, but please remember this one was under the direction of a skilled physician. The goal was clearly defined—very specific. The target was in distinct focus. The goal was long-range. (As a practical matter, it was actually an intermediate one but for purposes of illustration I’m going to use it as a long-range one.) Ten months was the time remaining from the day I made the decision until this book was to be published. Thirty-seven pounds is a lot of weight to lose—maybe an impossible amount—until you divide by ten, and realize it is only 3.7 pounds per month. With this realization, I became quite optimistic, which is important if you expect to reach your goal. Unfortunately, my optimism turned to confidence and then to overconfidence with the net result that I didn’t bother to get started the first 28 days. (You’re right—I was about to get “cooked in the squat.”)