An Army of Normal Folks - What Zig Ziglar Got Right (And Modern Self-Help Gets Wrong)

Episode Date: April 3, 2026

Zig Ziglar didn’t build his success on hype or shortcuts—he built it on discipline, service, and helping others win first. In this Shop Talk, we break down the simple principles that can improve how you live, work, and serve—and why modern self-help has made them far more complicated than they need to be.Support the show: https://www.normalfolks.us/#joinSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Hey everybody, it's Bill Courtney from an army and normal folks. Welcome to the shop. Hey, Alex, welcome in. Hey, we got some fun updates for you, Bill. Uh-oh. I'm serious. Oh, good. So, ANF Oxford had its first Army activation this weekend.

Oh, okay. And we had 40 volunteers come. And do what? To build 12 beds for kids without them. Oh, that is awesome. So sleep in heavenly peace. That's fantastic. 40 people showed up.

Where'd you do it? I don't know if you're familiar with the old army. Armory Pavilion. Oh, yeah. Beautiful space on University. Does he Dean Baseball Park is right there behind it or something? No, I think that was the former location of the Armory, yes. But this is on University Avenue.

So right across from Cheney's, walk-ons, that community garden. Okay. It's a big open, beautiful space. Did you put out a sign? Uh-huh, yeah. Did people say, what is this all about? I don't know if we ended up getting that, but that's part of the idea. I'm sure people were, actually what's cool to is someone to introduce me to this black motorcycle club

called the Night Owls, and they rolled up with four people. That's awesome. And they built beds. That's fantastic. And then in Memphis, A&F Memphis had their first army activation. Well, you were in Vegas, otherwise, maybe you would have been there. Yeah, but they were doing the bushes. They were doing that the urban farm at Knowledge Quest in South Memphis.

How many people showed up? 38 people, including 10 kids. Really? And people from the neighborhood in South Memphis, our Army members, Marlon Foster, the head of Knowledge Quest gave a talk about their work to the group. I mean, Supplesi was fantastic. That's awesome. Yeah.

I'm sure Lydia was a rock star. Yeah. I mean, I wasn't there. Sadly, I had my own competing army activation. But it was good. I heard it was really good. How did she, was she happy? Yeah, she's thrilled a little bit.

Join a service club. They're awesome. Did the people have fun? Or help start one. Or help start one. I've actually had calls in the last week and someone scheduled with somebody in D.C. There's a group having a call in Huntsville coming up. So, two, we're trying to find a collection of people who can help start it.

One thing we've learned is, like, it's definitely easier doing it if you got a group of people helping you do it. So, yeah, if you have interest in any of your markets, too, also don't feel like it's entirely on you. If you just would be interested in being one of the leaders, that could be super helpful. Did the people enjoy it? Did it seem like people have fun? Yeah, people loved it. That's awesome. That is really, really, really great.

Okay, so those are updates. Those are updates. All right, shop talk number 98. Who's 98? Well, do you have any guesses? No. Jason Collins in the NBA. Yeah.

More 98 for the Celtics Wizards is a tribute to murdered college student Matthew Shepard, making it a significant number for solidarity in the NBA. See? And 98's kind of an interesting number in the NBA, right? I guess. That's kind of high. Yeah. No football guys?

Jesse Armistead, five-time pro bowler for the Giants. Oh, there's a good one. I got it. I don't know this one. Sean Lee from the defensive tackle for the Chargers, but he was a part of the two tons of fun defense of lines. I don't know anything about that. I got chastised by By listener.

Oh, yeah? Someone not just me? Yeah, it was a number. I think it was 97 maybe. It could have been 96, but Simeon Rice from the Tampa Bay Buccaneers who was a massive. And we missed that? We didn't get it.

They said, how dare you forget that? Well, how dare you not write us in advance? So let us know that was coming. You should write this in advance and tell us, but I am saying openly, publicly, I apologize to all the Tampa Bay Buccaneers people. And I'm sorry that we didn't mention Simeon Rice, but we are now. I'm just glad we got Buccaneers fans. That's true. We got Buccaneers fans.

So here we go. All right, everybody. Shop Talk 98. Nice updates from Alex. A public apology for omitting Simeon Rice. Shopton number 98 today. What Zig Ziglar actually teaches and why it matters now, I'm looking forward to diving into this,

because when I was a pup, when I was 17, 18, 19, I was listening to Zig Ziglar tapes. I think the guy is one of the better communicators of our time. So I'm glad to be taking this up right after these brief messages from our generous sponsors. A silver 40 caliber handgun was recovered. at the scene. From IHeart podcasts and Best Case Studios, this is Worshack, murder at City Hall.

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What? And he was really good at it. You probably won't believe it either. Okay, I don't think that's true. I'm telling you, the guy was a spy. Did you know Doll got cozy with him? the Roosevelt's, played poker with Harry Truman, and had a long affair with a congresswoman. And then he took his talents to Hollywood, where he worked alongside Walt Disney and Alfred Hitchcock,

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We are on it every day, all day. Follow us, Amy and T.J. for news updates throughout the day. Listen to Amy and T.J. on the IHeart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to podcasts. When you listen to podcasts about AI and tech and the future of humanity, the hosts always act like they know what they're talking about, and they are experts at everything. Here, the Nick Dick and Poll Show, we're not afraid to make mistakes. What Coogler did that I think was so unique.

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Listen to the Nick, Dick, and Paul show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. All right, everybody. Welcome back into the shop. Shop talk number 98. Let's talk about some Zig. Zig Ziglar.

Hey, I don't think it's in the prep, but I was curious and I forgot to write it down. You know his real name? Ziggs? Yeah. I always thought it was Zig. It's Hillary and Ziggler. Hillary? Yes.

I'll be daggone. That's interesting. Of course, he went by Zig. Yeah, smart. Ziggs much better. Okay, here we go. I'll start here. Most people under 40 probably don't even know who Zig Ziglar is, which is an absolute shame because he's a national treasure.

There was a time when Zig Ziglar was one of the most recognized voices in America. I mean, honestly, he was up there with Billy Graham. I mean, that's the kind of guy he was. He spoke to millions of people live. I was one of them one time, and we were in Indianapolis, and the thing was packed. his recordings sold millions of copies worldwide his book see at the top which i've read and his tapes which i've listened to became one of the most widely read personal development books ever he was on stages with presidents CEOs and world leaders fortune 500 companies brought him in to train them specifically in sales

this wasn't some fringe motivational guy zigg was the guy and here's what's crazy The principles that made him famous are the exact principles we're missing today. As an aside, you know, he's from Yazoo City, Mississippi. It's coming up, Bill. Jeez. Yeah, that's pretty cool. Zig didn't come from privilege. He came from loss.

At five years old, his father died, and his young sister died just two days later. His family was left broke. He grew up in Yazoo City, Mississippi, with very little. So when he later stood on stage, talking about attitude and discipline, it wasn't theory. It was actually his own survival. He started out as a failing salesman before the books, before the speeches. Zig was a door-to-door cookware salesman, which your host, Bill Courtney, yours truly, also did one summer, which is how I found out who Zig Ziglar was. My freshman year in college, to make money for tuition, I sold the same cookware, door-to-door that Zig Ziglar sold.

I would love that videotape of you selling it. True story. He was struggling, not by a little, but badly. Then a mentor told him, you can get everything in life you want if you will just help enough other people get what they want. I'm going to say it again. You can get everything in life that you want,

if you will just help enough other people, get what they want. Zig said that one sentence changed everything for him. He stopped pushing product. He stopped chasing a commission. And what he started doing was, solving problems and helping people, his career took off. Here's the lesson for us. If you want to make an impact, stop focusing on what you want

and start focusing on what others need. This works in business, relationships, and service. He believed discipline, not hype, builds a life. Zig wasn't about feeling motivated. He once said, people often say motivation doesn't last. Well, neither does bathing. That's why we do it every day. That's so Zig Zigler.

It's not fluff. That structure, he believes success is scheduled. Growth is repetitive. Impact is consistent. You don't need a new purpose. You don't need a new plan. All you need is daily action. Zig tied success directly to service.

This is why he matters to an army of normal folks. He said, you don't build a business. You build people, and then people build the business. Oh, my gosh, that is so good. And it is what I say all the times. People think a company or the buildings and the machinery and all of that. It's not. The company is the people.

He also said, when you help others feel important, you help yourself feel important too. Service isn't charity. It's investment, relationship, development. You're not saving people. you're simply helping them grow. Zig was clear about responsibility. He said,

you are the only one who can use your ability. It's an awesome responsibility. No one else can use your ability. So if you're not using your ability and no one else can use it and you don't use it, you're wasting a gift. If you don't see yourself as a winner,

you cannot perform as a winner. Zig, I want to, I want to be a winner. If you do not see yourself as a winner, you cannot perform as a winner. I'm going to come back to that about a story he once told that I'll never forget. Zig understood that encouragement is fuel. He built his entire career on lifting people up. Zig said, a lot of people have gone further than they thought they could because someone else thought they could.

Most people don't need more advice or more criticism. They need just someone who believes in them. that's something every normal person can give simple belief in another human being so why does zig matter right now here's why we've drifted we've replaced discipline with motivation we've replaced service with self-focused we've replaced responsibility with blame zigg would look at today and say you've made this way more complicated than it needs to be zigg's connection to the army is if you strip Zigg down to his core, here's what you get. Help people, show up consistently, take responsibility,

encourage others, deliver integrity. That's it. That's the Army of Normal folks. That's what Zig Ziegler preached to millions, to presidents, to CEOs. And that is why it's a shame that today, most people under 40 don't even know who he is. This move is yours. Don't walk away inspired. Walk away specific.

This week, help one person get what they need, encourage one person to believe greater in themselves, do one hard thing that you've been avoiding, and don't waste your own abilities. That's Zig. That's how this works, and that's how normal folks change the world. I will tell you, as I read back to, if you don't see yourself as a winner, you cannot perform as a winner. Roger Bannister was the first person to break the four-minute mile. And this is a Zig-Zgler story, and I'll never forget it, and it's fueled me. Prior to Roger Bannister, who was, I think, an Englishman, breaking the four-minute mile,

there were actually Olympic doctors who said a human being could never run under a mile and under four minutes because the human heart would explode, that lungs would collapse. They had actually convinced themselves medically and scientifically that the four-minute mile barrier would never be broken. And so human beings have been running since the beginning of time, and the beginning of time up until somewhere in the 60s when Roger Bannister broke the four-minute mile barrier finally. The all of humanity had never been done until he broke it. people would convince themselves that they just couldn't do it. And to the point that not only athletes didn't believe in their ability to do it,

they were being convinced by their own doctors that if they tried to do it, it'd kill them. Their heart would explode. So if you don't see yourself breaking the four-minute mile, if you can't actually envision doing it, if you actually believe it cannot be done, then you will never accomplish it. Roger Bannister saw himself doing it and he did it.

you know that within two years of that happening, that seven people in the same race broke the four-minute of all. It was not physical. It was mental. And the entire vastness of the existence of humanity, from the first day a human set foot on the planet, until 1960, nobody broke it and convinced themselves they hadn't. Within two years of one man saying,

yes it can be done we had races where every single participant in the way spread the four minutes to me that says everything about our belief in ourselves in being able to do something and once we believe you can but if you don't believe there's no way you can um Zigg uses the same conversation when talking about Sir Edmund Hillary, who was the first to be credited with assuming the mountain top of Everest. Now there's thousands of people a year who climb to the top of Everest. Again, you can't do it, your lungs will bud, blah, blah, blah, blah. Sir Edmund Hillary did it, and it would be argued that the very Sherpas that went with them need the same credit that Sir Eben Hillary got. But the point is, ever since that was done, and throughout the vastest of the industry, nobody did it.

Nobody believed it could be done. But once it's done, now we have 2,000, 3,000 people you're doing it. So how does all that, in my mind, go to an army of normal folks? Yeah, if you don't believe we can change society, we won't. If you don't believe we can fix this division and the things that all us, we won't. If you don't think you can help, quote, those people who are in third generation, of poverty, you won't. But if you just look at the vastness of your own blessings

and you look at your own abilities and you think the way Zig did, then an army and normal folks can change the world. And so I think that's the beauty of Zig Zigler. I think it's an absolute shame that most people under the age of 40 don't even know who Zig Ziglar is and see you at the top

and says who says me are two recordings that Zig Ziglar did. And I would love the Army of normal folks to have a resurgence in Zig Ziglar recordings. If you want to be motivated and you want to hear some good old-fashioned common sense or you want your children to be motivated to have some good old-fashioned sons, reinstitute Zig Ziglar in your life and theirs and buy those tapes i'm sure they exist somewhere in some form on apple or some fancy way we listen to stuff these days but for goodness sakes we could use a big old dose of Zig Zigler and uh i think zigzigler would have been a massive supporter of the army of normal folks because of the way he was so that's it what do you get to say

about that Alex oh man i like his thing about the bath like you need to take one every day. Same thing with motivation. Yeah. I mean, that's motivated. Baths don't last. Nothing lasts. It's just like a bath. That's why you have to do it every day. And what I was going to reflect is like even for us, like I find so much inspiration from all of our guests, right? Like all of us need this kind of motivation daily. And hopefully the podcast and our social media content is helpful of that. And then I really love the line. The reason we actually did this today is, I don't remember Bo Girideli, the Sky's Limit guest brought up Zig Ziglar. And you talked about him.

a couple of times over the years and that made me think we should do it. But Bo is the one who mentioned his quote during the interview about you can get anything when you want in life if you help other people get what they want first. Even me, I fall into that trap of like, hey, I want the podcast to be bigger or I want this to be bigger. And it's not really about your customer at the end of the day, right? You're making it about you. Yeah, the way an Army normal folks gets bigger is by us serving more.

Serving people better, making service easier for people. The Army will grow. rather than let's grow the army to help people. Let's help people to grow the army. Yeah. It's a complete different mindset. Absolutely. So I needed to get right on that.

And also kind of gets to your, you know, it's very similar to the turkey person, too. Like, what's your motivation is about you? Or is it actually about other people? That's right. It's exactly it. So, all right, man. Alex, good stuff. Oh, I forgot to mention another one to brag on.

So the ANF Ozaki outside of Milwaukee, John's having a potluck this week. So he's already got three members of his leader. leadership team, but there's more people interested. So they're having a nine-person potluck at his house. All these people are also interested in being a part of the leadership team. But anyway, just a fun example, too. It's so cool. I want to be at these potlucks. It sounds fun. Yes. Can't be everywhere. Yeah, that's about to say that and many others. Okay, everybody, that's it. Shop Talk number 98. Zig Ziglar has a lot to teach us. He would absolutely have been a member of the Army of normal folks, and I am telling you, see you at the top, says who says me.

If you are looking at your under 40-year-old person in your life and you want to institute a little motivation on them, get them to listen to that stuff. Very old school, very basic, very common sense, and really applicable. So that's it. If you enjoyed this episode, please share it with friends and on social, rate and review it, join the Army at normalfolks. It looks like there's a lot of them on YouTube and Spotify and Apple. A lot of us talks. Are they? Yeah.

Do all that. Rate us, review us, all that. And we'll see you next week. See you next week. Bye-bye. Goodbye. What happened in City Hall. Somebody tell me that.

A shocking public murder. This is one of the most dramatic events that really ever happened in New York City politics. I scream, get down, get down, those are shots. A tragedy that's now forgotten. And a mystery that may or may not have been political. That may have been about sex. Listen to Rorschach, murder at City Hall, on the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. You know Roll Dahl.

He fought up Willie Wonka and the BFG. But did you know he was a spy? In the new podcast, The Secret World of Roll Dahl, I'll tell you that story. and much, much more. What? You probably won't believe it either. Was this before he wrote his stories? It must have been.

Okay, I don't think that's true. I'm telling you. I was a spy. Listen to the secret world of Roll Doll on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. On paper, the three hosts of the Nick Dick and Poll show are geniuses. We can explain how AI works, data centers,

but there are certain things that we don't necessarily understand. Better version of Play Stupid Games, win Stupid Prizes. Yes. Which, by the way, wasn't Taylor Swift, who said that for the first time. I actually thought it was. I got that wrong. But hey, no one's perfect. We're pretty close, though.

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