by Zig Ziglar
IT TAKES ACTION
I want to emphasize that what you get by reaching your goals is not nearly as important as what you become by reaching them. What about you? Are you sold on the necessity of having goals? Have you started your record keeping so you can find out where you are? Have you taken the first step toward setting your goals? Have you started listing the obstacles that stand between you and your goals? Can you at least partially “see the reaching”? If you answered yes to all of these questions, draw a bold square around the word “Goal” on the “Stairway” page. Then make a note on your Trigger Page to complete the record keeping on your goal-setting commitments in thirty days. At that time turn again to this page and encircle the word “Goal.”
Commit your goals to writing on one or more 3 x 5 cards. Make certain you print or type clearly so you can easily read every word in every line. Seal the card or cards in plastic and keep these goals with you at all times. Review them daily. In a later chapter you’ll understand more fully why this is so important. For the present, action is our objective. Remember, the largest locomotive in the world can be held in its tracks while standing still simply by placing a single one-inch block of wood in front of each of the eight drive wheels. The same locomotive moving at 100 miles per hour can crash through a wall of steel-reinforced concrete five feet thick. That’s the way you are when you’re in action. Start now and get up that head of steam. Crash through those obstacles that stand between you and your goals.
With the completion of this segment you are on step number three. As you can clearly see, it is not designed for sitting. You hold your foot on it only long enough to step up to number four. With this in mind, take your felt-tip pen and on the third step write in big bold letters: “ME—ON MY WAY.”
SEGMENT FIVE
Attitude
Purpose:
I. To demonstrate the importance of a right mental attitude.
II. To identify some of the many characteristics of attitude.
III. To insure your attitude against stinkin’ thinkin’.
IV. To give you a four-step formula on how to control your attitude so that regardless of the circumstances, your attitude foundation is solid.
V. To point out that when you choose a habit, you also choose the end result of that habit.
VI. To teach you how to avoid and/or eliminate destructive habits and acquire good ones.
CHAPTER 14
Is the “Right” Attitude Important?
50,000 SCHOOLS FOR MEDIOCRITY
Would you like to make more money, have more fun, enjoy life more, reduce fatigue, increase effectiveness, get along better with your neighbors, contribute more to society, enjoy better health, and improve your family relationships? No, you are not reading an advertisement for Geritol. Nor is it Hadacol reborn. Nevertheless, all of these things are not only possible but entirely probable with the right mental attitude.
In America today there are over 50,000 schools that will teach you how to do everything from trimming toenails and operating heavy machinery to removing tonsils and curling hair. However, there is not a single school in existence that will teach you how to be any better than mediocre unless you have the right mental attitude.
This is one thing about which everybody agrees, whether they are doctors, lawyers, teachers, salespeople, parents, kids, Democrats, Republicans, coaches, or athletes. They all share the opinion that your attitude, as you undertake a project, is the dominant factor in its success. In short, your attitude is more important than your aptitude.
Despite the overwhelming evidence that supports the importance of the right mental attitude, our entire educational system from kindergarten through graduate school virtually ignores or is unaware of this vital factor in our life. Ninety percent of our education is directed at acquiring facts and figures with only 10% of our education aimed at our “feelings” or attitudes. And even then, 10% is misleading because much of it is aimed at athletic events and their related activities (band, pep squad, cheerleader, etc.).
These figures are truly incredible and distressing when we realize that our “thinking” (facts) brain is only 10% as large as our “feeling” (emotion-attitude) brain. Keep reading—it gets worse. A study by Harvard University revealed that 85% of the reasons for success, accomplishments, promotions, etc., were because of our attitudes and only 15% because of our technical expertise (facts). Simply stated this means we are spending 90% of our educational time and dollars developing that part of us which is responsible for 15% of our success. We spend 10% of our time and finances developing that part of us which accounts for 85% of our success. And this doesn’t take into account the happiness and enjoyment factors. That is the prime reason See You at the Top and the courses based on the book (Born to Win, “I Can,” Coaching to Change Lives, Teaching to Change Lives, and Strategies for Success), which deal with this tremendous need in our educational system, have been so effective. Students, teachers, and business people are literally starved for guidance in building the proper attitude foundation.
As a matter of fact, William James, the father of American psychology, stated that the most important discovery of our time is that we can alter our lives by altering our attitudes.
In layman’s language we are not “stuck” with the attitude we have. Whether it’s good, bad, or indifferent, it can be—it will be—changed, and this book provides some of the answers about how to change to the P.L.A. (positive life attitude).
THE MILLION-DOLLAR DIFFERENCE
There are many facets to this fascinating subject we call attitude. One of them concerns optimism. An optimist, as you probably know, is a person who, when he wears out his shoes, just figures he’s back on his feet. I love the way Robert Schuller differentiates between the optimist and the pessimist. The pessimist says, “I’ll believe it when I see it.” The optimist says, “I’ll see it when I believe it.” The optimist takes action—the pessimist takes a seat. An optimist takes a look at a half glass of water and says it’s half full. The pessimist looks at the same half glass of water and says it’s half empty.
The reason is simple. The optimist is putting water in the glass so he knows there will be enough. The pessimist is taking water out of the glass. It’s almost a universal truth that the person who is taking from society with no real effort to contribute to society is pessimistic and often fatalistic because he fears there won’t be enough for him. The person who is doing his best and is making a contribution is optimistic and confident because he is personally working on the solution. In life, the difference between success and failure is often only an inch or two.
For example, the great race horse Nashua won over a million dollars on the race track in less than one hour of actual racing. Hundreds of hours of training were involved, but only an hour of competitive racing on the track. Obviously, Nashua was worth at least a million dollars and a million-dollar horse is truly a rare animal. You can buy 100 ten-thousand-dollar race horses for a million dollars and that’s a mathematical fact. The reason is obvious. The million-dollar horse can run 100 times as fast as a ten-thousand-dollar horse. Right? Wrong! He can run only twice as fast. Right? Wrong again! As a matter of fact, he can run only 25% faster, or is it just 10% faster or 1% faster? Wrong on all counts.
How much faster can a million-dollar horse run than a ten-thousand-dollar horse? Several years ago at the Arlington Futurity, the difference between first and second place was $100,000. The Arlington Futurity is a race of one and one-eighth miles, which as you well know is 71,280 inches. (You did know that, didn’t you?) The difference between first place and second place was one of those 71,280 inches. That’s right. There was 1/71,280th difference between first and second place, and I might repeat that other inch was worth $100,000.
The winning jockey in the 1974 Kentucky Derby was paid $27,000. Less than two seconds later, the jockey who brought his horse home in fourth place crossed the finish line. He was paid $30. Now whether that is right or wrong is beside the point. That�
�s the way the game of life is played and we cannot change the rules of the game. What we can and must do is learn the rules well and then play them to the best of our ability.
Attitude is the “little” thing that makes the big difference. The story of life proves that it is often the minute things that spell the differences between triumph and tragedy, success and failure, victory and defeat. For example, if you call a girl a kitten, she will love you. Call her a cat and you’re in trouble. Say she’s a vision and you score points. Call her a sight and you’ve got a problem. It’s the part of the blanket that hangs over the bed that keeps you warm. (If you don’t believe this, it just means that you’ve never been “short sheeted.”) A watch that’s four hours off is no problem because anyone will instantly know the watch is wrong and make the necessary corrections. One that is four minutes wrong—especially if it’s slow—can create all kinds of problems. For example, if I’m scheduled to catch a flight at 10:00 a.m. and I get there at 10:04, I’m in serious trouble because of the arrangement I have with the airline. The deal is simply that if I’m not there when they get ready to go they are to go ahead without me. I found out last summer that they live up to their end of the agreement. I also found out that airplanes are much easier to catch before they leave the ground.
ALMOST IS NO FUN
In your race to the top in the game of life, the difference between success and failure is frequently measured in minute amounts. The difference between happiness and unhappiness, making or missing a sale, being champion or an also-ran is often measured in inches, but the difference in the rewards for the winner and the also-ran is enormous.
There is no commission on the sale you almost make, no fun on the trips you almost take, and no security or joy in the promotion you almost get. There is no thrill in “almost” doing anything in the game of life. The thrill comes from the accomplishment, and many times the difference between accomplishment and failure is having the right mental attitude.
Attitude has many facets, and that’s one of the reasons we cover it in such detail in this book. Take, for instance, your own attitude. If you are a student and you study for grades, you will get them. But if you study for knowledge, you will get even better grades and considerably more knowledge. If you strive to make a sale, you will probably make it. Strive to make the sale in such a way that you build a career and you will sell even more and build your career in the process. If you work only for a salary you will get one, but it will probably be small. If you work for the betterment of the company you represent, not only will you get a bigger salary, but you will get personal satisfaction as well as respect from your colleagues. Your contribution to your company will be infinitely greater, which means that your personal and professional rewards will be greater. This story says it quite well.
Several years ago on an extremely hot day, a crew of men were working on the road bed of the railroad when they were interrupted by a slow moving train. The train ground to a stop and a window in the last car— which incidentally was custom made and air conditioned—was raised. A booming, friendly voice called out, “Dave, is that you?” Dave Anderson, the crew chief called back, “Sure is, Jim, and it’s really good to see you.” With that pleasant exchange, Dave Anderson was invited to join Jim Murphy, the president of the railroad, for a visit. For over an hour the men exchanged pleasantries and then shook hands warmly as the train pulled out.
Dave Anderson’s crew immediately surrounded him and expressed astonishment that he knew Jim Murphy, the president of the railroad, as a personal friend. Dave then explained that twenty-three years earlier he and Jim Murphy had started work at the railroad on the same day. One of the men, half jokingly and half seriously, asked Dave why he was still working out in the hot sun and Jim Murphy had gotten to be president. Rather wistfully, Dave explained, “Twenty-three years ago I went to work for $1.75 an hour and Jim Murphy went to work for the railroad.”
POSITIVE THINKING
Say the word “attitude,” and most people think in terms of the positive and negative mental attitude. Although there are many facets to attitude, as you are discovering, I would like to discuss the most familiar one for a moment. Let’s look together at the positive aspect of attitude. The best definition of “positive thinking” I know came from my daughter, Suzan, when she was ten years old. I had just returned from Pensacola, Florida, where I had conducted a series of seminars for the U.S. Navy.
The family had picked me up at the Atlanta airport and we were driving toward our home in Stone Mountain, Georgia. I was quite excited about the trip and was giving my Redhead some of the details. I overheard Suzan’s girlfriend ask her what her daddy did for a living. Suzan told her I sold that “positive thinking stuff.” Naturally, the little friend wanted to know what that “positive thinking stuff” was. Suzan explained, “Oh, you know, that’s what makes you feel real good even when you feel real bad.” I’ve never heard positive thinking explained any better. How you think does determine what you become.
WOULDN’T IT BE FUNNY
I’m confident you have known a couple who have been married anywhere from ten to twenty-five years and have no children. Then they adopted a baby, and within a year or two they had one of their own. Don’t misunderstand; there are thousands of people who for physiological reasons do not have children.
Many times, if a baby is not immediately forthcoming, the couple grows unduly concerned and soon begin expressing the fear that they cannot have a family. Then they decide to adopt a baby “before it is too late.” When the baby arrives, they are invariably approached by numbers of “friends” and relatives who tell them essentially the same thing, “Wouldn’t it be funny if the same thing happened to you that happened to my cousin, sister, friend, neighbor, acquaintance, etc.? The doctor told them they could not have children so they adopted a baby, and within a few months they discovered they were going to have one all on their own.”
The mind is a dutiful servant and will follow the instructions we give it. For years the couple had been negatively instructing their minds, “We cannot have a baby,” and the body followed the mind’s instructions. Later, when their friends gave them positive examples of others with the same situation, invariably the husband and wife said to each other, “Wouldn’t it be funny if that happened to us?” Now you can finish the story, can’t you?
THE “STRIKE” IS ON
Some time ago I was in Flint, Michigan, speaking at a luncheon for the Flint Board of Realtors. I’ll never forget the experience. Before I spoke I was visiting pleasantly with the gentleman on my left when I made the most serious mistake of the day. I asked him about his business, expecting to get an enthusiastic response, but for the next ten minutes he elaborated on how bad business really was. He informed me General Motors was on strike and when General Motors was on strike, nobody bought anything from anybody. He assured me things were so bad that people were not buying shoes, clothes, cars, or even food, so they certainly were not buying houses. “I haven’t sold a house in so long I honestly don’t believe I would know how to fill out the contract,” he said. “If it doesn’t end in a hurry, I’m going to go bankrupt.” He really labored the point. His attitude was so contagious and he was so negative he could have brightened up the whole room—by leaving it. As “this old boy” down home would say, “He is the kind of guy who can be frequently overheard saying nothing.”
Finally, somebody saved my day by diverting his attention with a question. I quickly turned to the lady on my right and asked, “Well, how is everything?” Now, I think you’ll agree a question like that gave her all kinds of leeway. She could go in any direction she desired and talk about any subject she wished. Guess what she said? “Well, you know, Mr. Ziglar, General Motors is on strike . . . ” I thought to myself, “Oh no, not again.” Then she broke out in a big beautiful smile and finished the sentence by saying, “So business is fantastic. For the first time in months, these people have plenty of time to go shopping for the home of their dreams. Why,
” she said, “some of them will spend half a day looking at one house. They start in the attic and check the insulation. They measure every square inch and check everything from closets and cabinets to the foundation. I even had one couple do their own title search on a piece of property. These people know the strike is going to end and they have faith in the American economy, but the most important thing is this: they know they can buy a home cheaper right now than they will ever be able to buy one again. So, business is really booming.”
Then she got quite confidential as she said, “Mr. Ziglar, do you know anyone in Washington?” (Now remember, this was before Watergate.) I said, “I sure do. I have a nephew in school down there.” Then she said, “No, no, I mean do you know anyone in Washington who has some political influence?” I said, “No, I’m afraid not, but why do you ask?” She replied, “I was thinking. If you knew someone who could keep this strike going for six more weeks, that’s all I would need—just six more weeks and I could quit for the year.”
One person was going broke because of the strike and another was getting rich because of it. The external conditions were the same, but their attitudes were enormously different. I’m convinced your business is never either good or bad—out there. Your business is either good or bad between your ears. If your thinkin’ is stinkin’, your business is going to be the same. If your thinking is right, your business is going to be right.
IT’S JUST A PILE OF WOOD
In the 1930s, minor league baseball was truly outstanding, and it was especially so in the Texas League. In those years, for instance, the San Antonio team had seven batters who hit over .300. Everybody was confident San Antonio would win the pennant, especially with its abundance of outstanding hitters. However, as is often the case on “sure things,” a funny thing happened on the way to the pennant. San Antonio lost its first, second, and third games. They lost the fourth and the fifth and the sixth games, too. As a matter of fact, at the end of 21 games, the San Antonio baseball team, power laden though it was, had lost 18 games.