Getting Unstuck | Zig Ziglar (Positive Thinking)

I get a little unhappy and concerned when I hear some highly motivated individual stand up and say man with positive thinking you can just do anything folks that simply is not true that is not positive thinking that is new age thinking how many of you would rate me as being positive optimistic and upbeat can I see you well that's what I am I really am but I got to tell you if you need major surgery bring I don't recommend me now I'd do the best I can I'd be positive optimistic and upbeat but You' still

die if you think all you got to do is think positive then ladies and gentlemen you're headed for a downfall that positive thinking is step one what positive thinking will do is let you use the Ability which you have that is awesome but it will not let you use something you do not have have positive thinking won't let you do anything but it will let you do everything better than negative thinking will zig Ziggler was one of the world's most popular motivational speakers Ziggler was one of 12 children raised by a widowed mother during the

Great Depression he wrote over 25 books including see you at the top and inspired millions of people around the world in this exclusive training Ziggler shares with us how to use the power of positive thinking to set better goals fix your mindset and change your life special thanks to the Ziggler family for partnering with us to release this exclusive content on our YouTube channel enjoy my goodness what an excited and exciting audience and I understand out in TV Land they're also having a wonderful time that's wonderful that's great you know I had uh always thought

of myself as being an optimist I mean I'm the kind of guy that take my last $2 and buy a money belt with it I mean you know uh that's my nature and then I heard about this lady who was in a retirement home and she'd been there a few months when a gentleman joined the home and his luck would have it first day at lunch he was seated directly across the table from her and after a few moments he started to squirm a little bit you know and he looked at her and he said

ma'am said uh you're staring at me and it's making me uncomfortable she said well I just can't helpen and he said what do you mean she said you look so much like my third husband I absolutely cannot believe it the color of your eyes the expression on your face the color of your hair your personality your sense of humor you look just like my third husband he said third husband said how many times have you been married she said twice well [Music] uh now I'd say there's an optimist I would say that positive thinking is

imported but let me share a little of my story with you uh first two and a half years I was in selling I was not an overwhelming success as a matter of fact I wasn't even a whelming success now that doesn't mean a didn't sell a lot I I did I mean I I sold my furniture sold my car that is real close to the truth I've bought gasoline many times 50 cents worth at a time I've had my electricity disconnected I've had my telephone disconnected had to turn the car back in when I and

it's most embarrassing thing that ever happened to me my first baby was born hospital bill was $64 I didn't have $64 I had had to get out and make two sales to get my own baby out of the hospital I know what it is to be broke to be discouraged to have to make a sale today if we were going to eat tomorrow I know what tough times are how confusing it can be but one day I went to a meeting and incidentally this session is increasing productivity and profitability they go together the speaker at

that particular meeting was a man named PC Merill Mr Merill was addressing 21 of us but as a practical matter he was only speaking to me that's the day my whole world turned around I am from a small town in Mississippi I am the 10th of 12 children I visioned had a picture of myself as a little guy from a little town who would struggle all of his life Mr Merill made the presentation when it was over he took me aside he said Zig I have watched you for the last two and a half years

and I have never seen such a waste now folks that'll get your attention I said well Mr meil what do you mean he said Z I believe you could be a great one I believe you could go all the way to the top I believe that you could be a national champion and someday if you chose to do so I believe you could become an executive in this company if you just believed in yourself and went to work on a regular schedule want to emphasize a point in 2 and A2 years I had learned how

to get prospects I'd learned how to make appointments how to conduct demonstration how to handle objections and how to close sales technically I was a trained salesperson but until Mr Merill said those words to me and it was because of his Integrity that I chose to believe them it was absolutely impeccable he had set all of the records for the company he had written the training program for the company now he taught me nothing new about selling but when he convinced me that I could be a champion I walked out of there a totally changed

man I saw myself totally differently I finished that year the number two salesman in America out of over 7,000 I had the best promotion the company had and the next year I was the highest paid field manager in the United States two years later I became the youngest divisional supervisor in the 66 year history of that company and set some training records which still stand to this day the only thing that had changed was the picture I had of myself and once that picture changes things begin to change in your life when you begin to

understand that yes there are some things that we can do when we learn that failure really is an event it is not a person that yesterday really did did in last night and today is a brand new day when you understand that then we can move forward and as I indicated earlier it's not what happened in your past that makes that much difference you see the past is important but it's the way we see our future that's going to make the difference now the question is what can we do effective immediately that can make a

dramatic difference in our productivity and our profitability you see everybody works fors oh I know somebody else signs your paycheck but the reality is we're each self-employed and if you don't believe it just quit producing now what I what am I talking about I'm talking about a very obvious truth now let me ask a very serious question how many of you consider yourself to be honest and at least reasonably intelligent could I see your hands please all right now some hands did not go up let me ask you a question was it the honesty part

or the intelligent part that uh now I can relate to the intelligent part because I was always in the part of the class that made the top half possible so uh you know I'll relate to that now how many of you honest intelligent people as a general rule get more work done on the day before you go on vacation hey you're listening faster than I'm talking then you normally get done in 2 or three days can I see your hands please all right now if we can find out why and learn how and repeat it

every day now give the rest of it without working any harder or any longer would we be more valuable to ourself our family our company and and our community how many of you know that you would can I see your hands please all right now let's take a look ladies and gentlemen at what we can do now to begin with you have already acknowledged that you are an honest intelligent person that's what you've already said now how many of you honest intelligent people on the night before the day before vacation got out a little of

paper and you said to yourself now self tomorrow you got to do this and this how many of you did that can I see your hands please all right now we call that goal setting ladies and gentlemen short range but that's goal setting now why is go setting important David Jensen at UCLA did a study specifically on the people who come here me speak at public seminars where people buy tickets to come in now we have the we have the smage board of America there we have psychiatrist and truck drivers we have entrepreneurs and household

Executives we have college professors the military we have teachers and students and major corporate Executives field managers sales people we have everybody there and those who set goals earn an average of $7,400 a month those who do not set goals though they have the same information earn an average of 3 $ 1,397 a month and this is documented in Academia now in addition these people who set the goals not only earn the additional money but they're happier and healthier and have more friends and get along better with the folks at home how many of you

have noticed that people who know where they're going generally speaking are easier to get along with can I see your hands please right people with with direction are that way in my lifetime I have never known a depressed person who had specific long range objectives you don't have time to be worrying and getting depressed now understand I understand clinical depression I am still saying that I have never seen a depressed person who had specific long range goals now once you wrote down what she's going to do the next day then you got it organized this

is the first import most important this is second this is third is that about what most of you do let me encourage you to make one small change don't put down the most important put down the most disagreeable as number one now for example if you got to go tell Charlie some bad news and Charlie's number five on the list you finish number one and you know what's in the back of your mind got to deal with Charlie finish number two I got to talk to Charlie get him out of there put him number one

as a old boy down home and say friend if you going to have to swallow a frog you just don't want to look at that sucker too long I mean uh he ain't going to get no prettier you can count on it as a matter of fact he's going to get uglier go ahead and get it done and then you accepted the responsibility Barbara touchman two time you little surprised Winer noted historian says the number one need in our society today are people who will accept responsibility for their behavior and their performance it is not

his fault her fault or their fault it is your responsibility once you accept that responsibility then you make the commitment you know it's my job if I don't do it somebody is going to have to I make the commitment to do it you know most people are about is committed as a comicazi pilot on his 39th Mission I mean you know they just really don't don't take it that seriously you got to you got to have that commitment and the next day you show up on time as a matter of fact you might be a

little early wouldn't you okay now in addition to that when you get there you uh you you you really get started on it you don't stand around and say well wonder what I ought to do now you get busy on I'm here to tell you the boss likes people that get their on time and get busy this helps to ensure Employment Security in a world where job security doesn't exist and you're enthusiastic about it I mean on the way to your job that day you were talking to yourself all the way there you know the

first thing I'm going to do when to get there is this and then I'm going to do this and then I'm going to we talk to ourselves all the time anyhow Dr Joy brother says people who talk to themselves are above average and intelligence US Air magazine March 1990 said that what you say to yourself has a direct bearing on your performance people talk to themselves all the time how many of you even talk to golf balls can I see your hand go in the hole hang in there turn left hold up you know what

I'm you know what I'm talking about don't you all right now you say the right things though you're saying I'll do this and then I'll do this and then I'll do that that's the kind of self talk that makes a difference you're enthusiastic you're somewhat like little Johnny now little Johnny was a is a second grader one Friday afternoon teacher said now Johnny our class this weekend if anything exciting happens tell us about it on Monday morning well on Monday morning you know little Johnny was sitting there in his little desk and he was all

over the place so the desk was sitting still she said Johnny looks like you had a good weekend yes ma'am sure did what'd you do Johnny me and my Daddy went fishing we C 75 catfish they all weigh 75 lbs now Johnny so son you know that's not true oh yes ma'am it is said my dad is a great fisherman I'm even better than he is we caught 75 catfish they all weighed 75 PBS now Johnny if I were to tell you that on the way to school this morning about two blocks from here all

of a sudden a big old 1200 lb grizzly bear rared up right in front of me was about to grab me and eat me up when this little old8 PB yellow dog appeared out of nowhere jumped up grabed the grizzly bear by the nose threw him down bounced him back and forth broke his neck killed him dead Johnny would you believe that he saidoh yes ma'am he said as a matter of fact that's my dog [Music] now get enthusiastic about what you do now having said that let me also put this mild disclaimer in there

enthusiasm is great but it's like running in the dark you might get there but you might get killed on the way unless you have done what you did the night before that is you developed a plan of action and that's so important and you know as you got started that old PMA that positive mental attitude was going full speed ahead I don't believe there's anybody in this country that is excited about positive thinking as I am and I think one of the reasons for that is I understand what it will do but I also understand

what it won't do do I get a little unhappy and concerned when I hear some highly motivated individual stand up and say man with positive thinking you can just do anything folks that simply is not true that is not positive thinking that is new age thinking now New Age thinking simply says in essence all is one and one is all and I am God god well there are three things I know number one there is a God number two it ain't me number three it ain't you either let's get real how many of you would

agree that David Robinson is an optimistic upbeat positive thinking guy can I see your hands please all right I agree with you on top of that he's a wonderful gentleman now David Robinson has that wonderful attitude but I got to tell you he would be a total and complete failure as a [Music] jocky would you agree with that I don't care how positive he thinks he can't do that how many of you would ratee me as being positive optimistic and upbeat can I see you're well that's what I am I really am but I got

to tell you if you need need major surgery friend I don't recommend me now I'd do the best I can I'd be positive optimistic and upbeat but you'd still die now hear the rest of this because you see folks unrealistic expectations are the seedbed of depression if you think all you got to do is think positive then ladies and gentlemen you're head for a downfall that positive thinking is step one what positive thinking will do is let you use the Ability which you have that is awesome but it will not let you use something you

do not have positive thinking won't let you do anything but it will let you do everything better than negative thinking will can you in ually by that no problem see what you're doing on the day before vacation you simply your positive thinking is permitting you to use the Ability which you have see positive thinking works like this when we walked into this room it was Pitch Black you know how they lighted it simplest thing I've ever seen in my life all they did was throw switches just flip switches and the room's lighted now why is

that well very simple the electricity already been generated and flipping the switch released it to come into this room that's what positive thinking does the youngster who is not studied for the test can think all the positive thoughts he wants to but if he goes in that classroom unprepared he's going to flunk that sucker you can absolutely count on it positive thinking releases the information which you have if you don't have it there's nothing there to release positive thinking is the enormously important and you focus on the issue at hand and as you finish one

you decisively move to the next one now when I say decisively move I don't mean you get in a run for there but you quickly move to another now let me tell you something this is where leadership prevails and this is where productivity just really balloons upward I want to emphasize a point when Lloyd Benson was Senator he said that for every 1% increase in productivity 1 million new jobs were created when mosbach was Secretary of the Treasury he said that for every1 billion do in export there were 20,000 jobs created now you mentioned that

you did two or three times as much work the day before you went on vacation is normal what I'm talking about here is one or two% increase what I'm talking about is something that when you finish a task you decisively move to the next one and here's where your value to your company dramatically goes up because other people whether you know it or not are watching you and when you move decisively instead of trying to cut you off at the past they literally will move aside and let you go that's a literal truth how many

of you have noticed that as a general rule people with nothing to do want to do it with you now other people will see you doing these things and they will pick up the pace without even being aware of it you know there's an old saying people won't believe everything you say but they'll believe everything that you do I'd like to see if we can demonstrate the validity of the statement would you mind just emptying your hands just for a moment those of you who are watching it on satellite out in TV Land I want

you to do the same thing now what I'm going to do is this I'm simply going to say one 2 3 go then I want you to slap your hands okay one 2 3 [Music] go folks I don't know how I could have made it in the cleara I slowed down the instructions I demonstrated them you completely ignored what I said but you did exactly what I did the example ladies and gentlemen is so enormously important and you discipline yourself if somebody came along and wanted to talk about the playoff games or last night's TV

show you said look I got to do this let me tell you discipline is one of the most beautiful words ever uh the word discipline is one that ought to bring on you know Smiles instead of frown siil ston expressed It Best in her beautiful book The 25-hour Woman discipline is not on your back needling you with imperatives that's your side encouraging you with incentives did you know that 175 of the CEOs of the Fortune 500 companies or former United States Marines did you realize that 26 of our presidents served in the military and you

tell me what do they teach in the military it's discipline and focus and decisiveness and goals and organization and responsibility they teach all of these things these are the qualities that make a good salesperson a good husband a good wife a good doctor a good lawyer a good mechanic whatever now understand the doctors still got to go to medical school to acquire the specific skills but but look at the qualities you stayed with one until you finished it you were persistent you became a team player as we mentioned and your energy level at the end

of that day was High real high you're so tickled with what you'd been able to do man alive you know when you're the most exhausted that's at the end of the day when you've had to try to fool the boss that you really are busy or if you are the boss youve tried to fool the troops that what you're doing is very imported at the end of a day like that you know you said boy I don't know if I can handle a deal like this much longer your energy level was high you felt so

good about yourself and you were so motivated Now ladies and gentlemen as you look at those qualities right there how many of those are positive qualities anybody how many em leadership qualities now you do understand that I've been talking about you according to what you told told me on your day before vacation so you have got every last one of them plus a whole bunch more now a lot of people deny they have these good qualities because according to or ear lumus to recognize that you have these abilities commits you to use them so a

lot of people deny them they're they what they're in denial uh they think the Nile is just a river in Egypt they don't really you know look at these things and plan on using them now these qualities would make a good husband a good wife or whatever let me emphasize a point uh ladies and gentlemen what would happen if everybody if everybody in your family and everybody in the company got on the page we're talking about can't you just imagine an incredible explosion of business can't you imagine team team workk developing to the degree that

you're even more productive and serve even more people remembering of course that you really can have everything in life you want if you will just help enough other people get what they want now I know a lot of people say well zigga how do you get everybody on the same page won't that take training yes it will every once in a while I'll have somebody say why should I train my people and then lose them well there's one thing worse than training people and losing them and that's not training them and keeping them I'm here

to tell you now that gets expensive we have 60 people on our staff 20 of them sell 60 I mean 40 of them are other speakers and trainers and support people and they work in administration finance and what have you 20 people make sales but every sale every person on our staff can can cost us a sale switchboard operators can shipping Department can service department can finance department can I believe we got to get everybody on the same page now when you get them on the same page a lot of good things will happen let

me give you a specific example about what can happen it's right here in San Antonio Texas and uh let me point out that every leadership objective in every company to be to have everybody saying this is my company or our company not the company or that company there's quite a difference let me tell you about a man who lives in San Antonio that bought these ideas his name is DW rutage if you're a football fan you know that he's at Converse Judson High School if you really follow it you know that three of the last

four years they've won their Class 5A state championships and if you know anything about about Texas football that is almost unbelievable for that to happen but he's got everybody on the same page they thinking team instead of just individuals with marvelous results let me give you an example that means a great deal to us tric cedus Hospital in Dallas has adopted this philosophy bought into it completely and they have trained all of their people I'm talking about I should say we have trained all of them from the janitor to the ladies who push the carts

to the people in the lunchroom to the administrative people to the nurses to everybody because everybody that touches anybody influences somebody else until ultimately everybody's influenced by One Bad Apple or one good apple now as an example at Tri Cities last year they were recognized as one of the 100 top hospitals in America now this was written up in uh the mosquite paper that's the suburb of Dallas there and in order for them to get in the top 100 here's what happens the per adjusted discharge was reduced by 16% now you just ask your CPA

what that will mean to the bottom line not only that but they lowered the mortality by 20% I'm talking about life and death they cut the length of stay by 9% and they they increase their return on assets by 58% when he had everybody on the same team incredible things happen but let me point out ladies and gentlemen that motivation is the key knowledge founded on Truth gives you power but it's motivation which is the switch that releases that power now let me ask you a very very important question how much more did you know

about your job on the day before you went on vacation than you knew 24 hours earlier anybody not a lot is that right okay and yet you were dramatically more productive and the reason you were is because you were motivated now you know I have been talking with you quite a little while I'm going to make a state statement and if it's true I would like to get you to throw your hands up with lots of enthusiasm if it is not true just leave your hands right there by your side is that is that fair

enough even though I've spoken with you well over an hour and normally when people talk to somebody that long they begin to get a little Restless when is that fell going to stop when he's going to give me a break isn't that true answer is yes I'll hit you with the tough on again all right but the reality is even though I've been talking over an hour at this moment you are more physiologically energized than you were when I started if that's true let me see those hands go up please now let me tell you

what's happening in your mind Dr farest tenant one of the I believe the number one drug Authority in America a brain chemist as well has done some research it was reported in the May 1989 issue of meetings and Convention magazine and he's done a lot research since then what happens when you hear an excited message an exciting message with optimism and enthusiasm and some direction which builds hope in a person then the brain literally is INF flooded with endorphins dopamine serotonin dopamine serotonin and those neurotransmitters that physiologically energize you now that's what's been going on

in your mind your psycholog IC Ally lifted and you are physiologically LIF lifted this near for what it's worth I never verbalize anything I never write or record anything until I have validated it psychologically theologically and physiologically you need to put all of them together to get all of the benefits which we have been talking about so the motivation really is important but the knowledge you acquire has to go with it knowledge founded on truth gives you power and motivation is the switch that releases that power yes I do believe there is a significant benefit

to the motivation a lot of people are substantially confused about what motivation is about I was speaking to the National Council of parents for drug-free youth in Washington several years ago wonderful organization Nancy Reagan had been there and made a speech Brook Shields had done a commercial for them I I was a keynote speaker that evening when I finished people said nice things and uh you know it was a wonderful occasion I went upstairs went to bed got a good night's sleep got up the next morning went down for breakfast I was standing at the

finally in the front of the line the uh the head waiter had gone out to seat some people and the restaurant was set up somewhat like this facility this evening except that around the back is where all of the new people came in well these three ladies who had been there the evening before came in the back and they walked around and when they saw me they whispered in tones that you could only hear 100 150 200 yards one of them said there's our speaker from last night second one said yes it sure is third

one said he sure doesn't look motivated to me now you know I don't know how you folks stand when you stand but when I stand I just stand I do not know how to stand motivated so I just I don't know where the ladies thought I should have been standing there look out there maybe wave and jumping up and down while I was doing it that's motivation that's Insanity to motivate is to pull out or Draw out that which is in you Emerson was right when he said what lies behind you and what lies before

you are tiny matters compared to what lies within you when you recognize confess and develop the you and use the Ability you have if you only can find it to the day before vacation uh qualities there it's absolutely awesome what you can do now what would happen for example if you and I could get together every morning for a sales meeting and what would happen if you and I could get together every evening for another sales meeting as you're driving into work we have this little meeting 20 30 minutes or whatever and I share with

you some of the things we're talking about this evening have some fun in the process how many of you believe You' get to work feeling better and consequently be more productive when you got here and if you had another meeting with me that afternoon on the way home you see so many times we leave everything at the company we leave everything on the job our in is expended and when we get home you know we walk in kind of like this and we do not bring the same energy level there but if that dopamine and

orine and the serotonin and all of those endorphin get to really hop in there when you get home the same energy level will be there and ladies and gentlemen we can get so much more done I was a visiting scholar at the University of Southern California for 2 years and here's what a study they did revealed if you live in a metropolitan area and you do qualify in three years time you can acquire the equivalent of two years of college education in your car you learn everything from Chinese art to a foreign language you can

build vocabulary learn sales closure you can learn a thousand in one things in your car we can either use that time or lose that time let me ask you another critically important question because if we're going to get it all we've got to bring balance in our life the day before vacation attitude just simply indicates that yes we can take some steps but if working and arranging our schedule on the day before vacation setting the goals that day if it works that day can you think of any reason why would not work every day I

haven't said a word of about working harder I'm simply talking about working smarter in an organized manner next question if it worked so well on the job doesn't it make sense that if we planned our family time if we planned our exercise time if we planned our personal growth time doesn't it make sense ladies and gentlemen that we would have more time for those things which we plan you you see we got to plan them if we don't plan them they really do not happen there's so many things we can do to take control but

the thing we have got to do is understand even ladies and gentlemen in this world today of downsizing if we can increase the profitability of the company if we can increase our productivity then the down signing is not likely to occur but let me give you a specific example in case it does I'll be the first to admit this is an absurd example but let me ask you a question suppose the Dallas Cowboys go bankrupt now they cannot do it the league won't let him and Jerry Jones own half of Dallas and all of Arkansas

so you know it it is not likely to happen but let's just play like the Cowboys went bankrupt and Jerry called a team together and he said fellas it just breaks my heart to tell you this he said we don't have any more money go out the clothes shop two weeks aage pay is what I'm going to give you and that's it it's all over and oh I hate it cuz I love the cow boys now let me ask you a question if that should happen how many of you believe there's a reasonably good chance

that Troy Aman and EMT Smith and Jay novich and Larry Allen and a few of the Other Fellers could get them a job somewhere else how many of you believe that would probably happen all right next question would they get a job somewhere else because they played for the Cowboys or because they performed for the Cowboys what do you think now if your comping and should go under would you get another job because you worked for specific company a or would you get another job because you performed for the company what do you think and

whose responsibility is it to perform ours we're not victims see there's something we can do and we can do it better and we can do it now no I'm not talking about working harder or longer I'm simply talking about keeping a monitor on our time and organizing it I'm talking about bringing that life in Balance where you consider the physical the mental and the spiritual where you look at the personal and the family and the business I believe I can document the evidence to a conclusive uh point where when you go for quality of life

first standard of living invariably follows but if you go for standard of living first there's no guarantee that the quality of life is ever going to go up we need to live in balance and I want to conclude with this when I was 25 years old I was phenomenally successful I had set some records that as I said earlier still s then I stopped growing and started swelling I had all the answers the next 20 years were up and down had some good years but had some awfully bad years I had to one fiveyear stretch

where I was in 17 different deals and that's all they were as deals we had some tough times when I was 45 years old I was Stone broke and in debt had worked hard all of my life and then I entered the other dimension of life that is where I looked at the spiritual side I lost my Earthly father when I was 5 years old when I was 45 thanks to an elderly African-American lady who spent the weekend with us I met my heavenly father whom I can never lose and as I started reading my

Bible and as I started studying The Book of Proverbs the greatest book on business ever written as I started reading the book of Psalms the greatest book on human relations ever written and as I started looking all the great truths in the Bible I started realizing that there's more to life than what you can get now when I heard that my past had been forgiven that my Lord was with me every day that my future with him was guaranteed that cleared it all up folks I've done a hundred times as much since I I realized

I didn't have to do it myself I closed with this thought believe in you you were created in God's Own image believe in what you do believe in your great company believe in this great country which we are a part of and of infinitely more importance than all of them put together believe in almighty God because if you do I'll close by saying if you'll do these things I will see you and yes I really do mean you not just at the top I will see you over the top thank you and God bless you

for being here this evening thank you so much to watch another amazing Zig Zigler video check it out right there next to me I think you'll love it continue to believe and I'll see you there when somebody says how you doing and you really are doing bad I mean things are just awful what I want you to do is look at your watch when they say how you doing I want you to look at your watching say well at exactly 3:30 I'll be doing super good