SEE YOU AT THE TOP

by Zig Ziglar

  This weight loss goal really became reachable when I broke it into daily increments. When it dawned on me that in order to lose 37 pounds in ten months all I had to do was lose 1.9 ounces a day, I really got excited. Thirty-seven pounds is a lot, 3.7 pounds is not really that much, but 1.9 ounces is such a little bit. I put the weight on a bite at a time and I had to take it off the same way. The old adage that “by the mile it’s a trial but by the inch it’s a cinch,” is certainly true because of what the psychologists call “achievement feedback.” Each step for-ward—each accomplishment—or in my case, each bit of measurable weight loss increased my enthusiasm and bolstered my confidence that I could succeed again and again.

  Yes—success begets success. That’s why it is so important as you set and seek any goal, to arrange it so you can enjoy some success of some kind virtually every day. This “positive feedback” increases your confidence so you begin to “expect” and “see” yourself as accomplishing more and more, which means you will do and be more and more. The only way to reach your long-range goals is through achieving short-range objectives. Keep your eye on your major objective, but remember as you reach your daily objectives you are getting closer and closer to those long-range ones.

  In order for my goal to have significance I had to set a reasonable time limit. Had I planned to lose 37 pounds in 37 years or even 37 months, the time involvement would have been too lengthy. On the other hand, had I attempted to lose 37 pounds in 37 days, that would have been even more ridiculous. Not only would it have bordered on the impossible, but the effect on my health could well have been disastrous. My time schedule was ambitious, yet reasonable and attainable.

  THE MARTYR

  Before we continue I have a question for you. Have you ever seen a living, breathing, real, live martyr? At one time I at least felt like one. Let me explain. When the “opportunity clock” sounded off each morning I would often think to myself, “What’s a 46-year-old fat boy doing getting up and running all over the neighborhood while his buddies are sound asleep?” Then I would look down at my 41-inch waistline and ask a question, “Ziglar, do you want to look like you or like the guy in the Jockey shorts?” Since I didn’t want to look like me, I’d hop out of bed and start running.

  However, just because I had made the commitment to run and lose weight didn’t mean I had to like it. As a matter of fact, I “fussed” every step I took. I ran in the snow of Winnipeg, Canada, the sand of Acapulco, the rain of Minneapolis, the orange groves of Florida, and on safari in Africa (I ran faster there than anywhere). And don’t you think for one minute that I ever missed an opportunity to tell friend, foe, family, and even complete strangers about this enormous “sacrifice” I was making because I had made this commitment to lose the weight. I must have been quite a bore and am a little surprised that I was able to keep either friend or family.

  Incidentally, this was in character, because for years I had told audiences literally hundreds of times that if you wanted to accomplish anything worthwhile you had to “pay the price.” (I could even put a strain in my voice and a pained expression on my face when I said you had to “pay the price” that would bring tears to the eyes of all but the strongest.)

  Then one day I was running on the Portland State University campus in Portland, Oregon. It was a beautiful spring day. The temperature was about 75 degrees and many of the students were relaxing, studying, or courting, and here comes Zig jogging along. As I felt the ground and concrete flowing beneath my feet, it dawned on me that this run was “different.” Suddenly, I knew that I was having the time of my life. At age 50, armed with the knowledge that I was in better shape physically than I was at age 25, and that I could out-run 98% of the college students in America over a two-mile run, it was obvious to me that you don’t “pay the price”—you enjoy the benefits.

  To emphasize my point, when I was within seven pounds of reaching my goal my gall bladder ruptured. It was four days before the doctor discovered the problem. During those four days, I probably hurt as much as I had all my life combined. By the time they got inside to correct the problem, an abscess had formed under my liver and I was full of poison. My doctor told me my excellent physical condition at that time played an important part in my recovery. As a matter of fact, the Redhead was somewhat astonished that I was not even sore as a result of the operation. No, I am totally convinced you don’t pay a price for good health, you enjoy the benefits of good health.

  This is applicable to all areas of life. You don’t pay the price for success (now remember, success is acquiring a reasonable or large amount of all the good things), you enjoy the benefits of success. You pay the price for failure. You don’t pay the price for a good marriage—you enjoy the benefits of a good marriage. Note: All of these benefits require commitment and effort on your part, but the benefits in each example are so great that they are well worth it.

  TAKE IT OFF—PERMANENTLY

  Now, if you have a weight problem you would like to permanently solve, here are some basics to follow. First, make certain it is your idea and your decision to lose the weight and that you have not been pressured into action by someone else. Second, go to a skinny doctor for an examination. An overweight one either doesn’t know, doesn’t believe, or doesn’t understand the devastating effect of carrying a lot of excess weight. He cannot convey the conviction nor give you the psychological reinforcement you will need to sustain a weight reduction program.

  Third, don’t use pills as a crutch to lose weight. You didn’t get fat (doesn’t sound good, does it?—doesn’t look good either) taking pills, and you won’t get permanently slim by taking pills. (If “pills” worked there would be no overweight doctors, would there?)

  Fourth, make certain your doctor is a positive thinker and doesn’t tell you what you can’t eat. Why should you clutter your mind with negatives? Your concern and concentration should be on what you can eat. Make that list and keep it in front of you. Use the good old C.S. (Common Sense) diet principle. Don’t—oh, please don’t—get involved in the roller coaster “fad” diets that promise dramatic weight loss “without getting hungry.” (All you will permanently lose on those 30-day diets is a month.) In most cases one thing put that weight on: Habit—a bad one. You ate too much, and one thing is going to take it off: Habit—a good one. Eat less food, get on a sensible exercise program, and maintain a balanced diet over a period of time. You didn’t gain “forty ‘leven” pounds in one weekend. It was “one more bite” that “done you in.”

  My next observation is not scientific but I advise you to stay away from cottage cheese. Based on my personal observation, I have come to the conclusion that cottage cheese is fattening. I say this because nobody but fat folks eat cottage cheese. (Dr. Martin told me I could eat anything I wanted—then he gave me a list of the things I was going to want.)

  On the serious side, there are two things wrong with roller coaster dieting. First, to lose weight and then gain it back is destructive to your self-image. Second, it is hard on your physical body and puts a strain on your entire system (ask your skinny doctor why).

  Let me also tell it like it is. If you are going to lose weight you are going to get hungry—and that’s a fact. It will help if you guys will take a 3 by 5 card and print these words on it. “Hungry? You bet I am, but it’s worth it to change from ‘lard’ to ‘hard.’” The girls should print: “Hungry? You bet I am, but I’m changing from ‘fat’ to ‘fit.’” You will still be hungry, but you’ll be reminded of your goal and much less apt to whine about feeling hungry.

  Since you are serious about doing something about you—for you— I also urge you to turn back to the Self-Image segment and remind yourself that you deserve to be slender and healthy. Remember, pleasure (eating too much, or eating the wrong foods) is very short-lived, but happiness (being pleased with your slimmer, healthier, extended life— five to twenty years longer) is of much longer duration.

  The fringe benefits that go with weight loss are too numerous to en
umerate, but this I stress. When you reach the weight loss goal you set, your self-image and self-confidence will grow by leaps and bounds and will spread to many other areas of your life. Remember—success begets success.

  Don’t get the wrong idea. I tell the story in detail not in an effort just to get you to lose weight, but because it involves every principle of goal-setting and goal-reaching. First of all, the goal was mine. Neither the Redhead nor my doctor had “talked” me into going on a diet or losing weight.

  Second, my credibility was at stake since I had said you could be like you wanted to be, and I obviously wasn’t like I wanted to be.

  Third, it represented a strong commitment which you must have if you are to reach your goal. I committed to paper the fact that I weighed 165, when in reality I weighed 202. This was ten months before we went to press and since no publisher would publish the book (until the fourth printing when they decided it would sell), I financed and published it myself. My initial order was for 25,000 copies. (Can you imagine me with 25,000 copies in my warehouse saying I weighed 165 and I go waddling around at 202? Now, friends, that’s a commitment.)

  Fourth, the goal was big—lose 37 pounds. The rule is simple. If the goal is to be effective it must effect change.

  Fifth, the goal was specific (37 pounds) because you must be a “meaningful specific” and not a “wandering generality.”

  Sixth, it was long-range—10 months (or as explained earlier, intermediate).

  Seventh, it was broken into a daily goal of losing 1.9 ounces.

  Eighth, I had a plan to overcome the surplus weight (sensible eating and jogging).

  Ninth, a thorough physical examination had established precisely where I was (37 pounds overweight), which I had to know in order to start in the right direction.

  THIS IS SIGNIFICANT

  I lost the 37 pounds by losing that 1.9 ounces per day—on average— for 10 months. That was 27-plus years ago. The weight is still gone because I changed my lifestyle and started eating sensibly and exercising regularly. Today, at Dr. Cooper’s urging, I walk instead of jog. I also stretch and lift weights. Chances are good if you have a weight problem you just said, “I could lose 1.9 ounces a day.” Now just do it. You’ll be glad you did.

  BE A FLEA TRAINER

  Earlier in this segment on Goals I shared with you the story of the cookware salesman who jumped from $34,000 to over $104,000 in sales in just one year. Here is the rest of the story on how he reached that objective.

  The thing that made the difference is the reason I tell the story. He learned one thing that enabled him to multiply his business. He learned how to “train fleas.” Do you know how to train fleas? I’m serious. It’s critically important that you know how, because until you do, you will never make it big. I’ll emphasize that statement. You are not going to make it big, success-wise or happiness-wise, until and unless you know how to train fleas. (Talking about fleas, did you hear the one about the two fleas at the bottom of the hill trying to decide if they should walk or—take a dog?) That is a fact. Now, I’ll bet you want to know how to train fleas, don’t you? Say yes.

  You train fleas by putting them in a jar with a top on it. Fleas jump, so they will jump up and hit the top over and over and over again. As you watch them jump and hit the top, you will notice something interesting. The fleas continue to jump, but they are no longer jumping high enough to hit the top. Then, and it’s a matter of record, you can take the top off and though the fleas continue to jump, they won’t jump out of the jar. I repeat, they won’t jump out because they can’t. The reason is simple. They have conditioned themselves to jump just so high. Once they have conditioned themselves to jump just so high, that’s all they can do.

  ARE YOU A SNIOP?

  Man is the same way. He starts out in life to write a book, climb a mountain, break a record, or make a contribution. Initially, his dreams and ambitions have no limits but, along the roadway of life, he bumps his head and stubs his toe a few times. At this point his “friends” and associates often make negative comments about life in general and him in particular, and as a result he becomes a SNIOP. A SNIOP is a person who is Susceptible to the Negative Influence of Other People. That’s the reason we suggest you be careful about who you share your goals with.

  Interestingly enough, we can also be “snioped” by the most positive people in the world. For example, when Joe Louis was Heavyweight Champion of the World, he “snioped” his opponents time after time. They were often so paralyzed with fright they were easy victims for his awesome skills. When John Wooden sent his UCLA Bruins onto the basketball court, his opponents were so “snioped” that the issue was often settled before the opening buzzer sounded. That’s part, but just part, of the reason UCLA won 10 national championships in 12 years.

  That’s also one of the reasons coaches repeatedly teach an athlete to fight his own fight or play his own game and not let the opposition force him to play their game.

  I have a close friend with the Kirby Company whom I often accuse of “snioping” his fellow Divisional Supervisors into fighting for second place. He just grins, but Jim Sperry has been first for fifteen consecutive years and every year he has had an increase in business. Fortunately, Jim is aware of the fact his fellow Supervisors have taken dead aim on his spot and are after him. Actually, Jim encourages the other Supervisors in every way possible because he knows the tougher the battle for first place the more productive his own division will become.

  The “sniop” listens to the negative garbage from the “prophets of doom,” who give him excuses for failure instead of methods for success. In the process, he acquires his own Loser’s Limp. Not so with our enthusiastic cookware salesman. Not only was he not a “sniop” but he had gotten rid of his Loser’s Limp and had set a big goal. He had a long-range goal: to break the record and become the best “pot” salesman in the world. He had a daily goal: to sell $350.00 per working day. He also had a result: He tripled his business in one year. Incidentally, I know the young man’s story quite well because he’s my younger brother, Judge Ziglar, who is now deceased. I’m also proud that he applied these same “goal-reaching,” flea-training principles to become one of the top speakers and sales trainers in America. He went on to teach others how to reach their goals in seminars all over America, and later as an instructor for the Born To Win Course he taught many people how to set records—and train fleas.

  THE UNBREAKABLE FAITH

  The most outstanding example of a flea trainer is Roger Bannister. For years athletes tried to run a mile in less than four minutes. The barrier seemed unbreakable because the athletes were “snioped.” An athlete might say to the world, “I’m going to run a four minute mile.” But when he would toe the mark the voice of the coach would echo in his ear, “The best you’ve ever done is 4:06. You can’t break the barrier. As a matter of fact, I’ve figured it out scientifically and I doubt if the barrier will ever be broken.” The voice of the doctor with stethoscope in hand would also haunt him saying, “You run a four-minute mile? Why, your heart will come right out of your body. You can’t do it.” The news media speculated at length over the four-minute mile and the general opinion was that the four-minute mile was beyond the physical capacity of a human being. As a result, the athlete was “snioped” right out of the four-minute mile.

  Roger Bannister wouldn’t be “snioped.” He was a flea trainer. So he ran the first four-minute mile. Then athletes the world over started running four-minute miles. John Landy of Australia ran it less than six weeks after Bannister broke the barrier. To date there have been over 500 races run in less than four minutes, including one by a 37-year-old man. At the NCAA track meet in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, in June 1973, eight athletes ran the mile in less than four minutes. The four-minute barrier was broken, but not because man became that much faster physically. It was broken because the barrier was a mental obstacle and not a physical impossibility.

  Roger Bannister succeeded in breaking the barrier for man
y reasons, one of which was the fact that he carefully set his goals to break the barrier. He measured his stride, knew exactly how many he would have to take to run a quarter mile, a half mile, three quarters of a mile, and the full mile. He had four men who paced him: One who paced him for the first 440 yards, another for the second 440, a third for the third 440, and the fourth for the final 440 yards. It’s safe to say he might not have broken the barrier had he not planned so carefully and known exactly what it would take to break that barrier.

  He was obviously a superbly conditioned athlete, but I put an additional amount of emphasis on the flea trainer concept because, you see, a flea trainer is a person who jumps out of the jar. Flea trainers are not influenced by the sniops of life. They clearly understand that you can have everything in life you want if you will just help enough other people get what they want. Flea trainers don’t tell people where to get off . . . they show them how to get on. In short, it’s a philosophy of life that makes a difference in those who adopt it.

  To fully explain and identify flea trainers, I’m including a copy of the “Flea Trainer” Certificate in the book. The only way you will succeed in all areas of your life is to become a full-fledged flea trainer, so I want to make certain you know what a flea trainer is. Incidentally, if you would like a beautiful parchment Flea Trainer Certificate suitable for framing, and the plastic “round tuit” we mentioned earlier, just send your request along with an 8 1/2 x 11 self-addressed envelope stamped with two first-class stamps to: Ziglar Training Systems, 2009 Chenault Dr., #100, Carrollton, TX 75006.