The Resilient Mind - 20 Minutes That Will Change the Rest of Your Life - Zig Ziglar

Episode Date: July 13, 2026

Zig Ziglar was a best-selling American author and speaker who uplifted millions with his motivational message. One of his infamous lecture "See You At The Top" talks about why a positive mental attitude is critical for your success.Take action and strengthen your mind with The Resilient Mind Journal. Get your free digital copy today: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://bit.ly/Download_JournalExplore tools from past guests of the podcast. Some links below are affiliate links, meaning we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you:💓 HeartMath: https://www.heartmath.com/resilient🧠 Muse: https://choosemuse.com/resilientmind🌿 Brain Ritual: https://www.brainritual.com/THERESILIENTMIND🌍 The Resilient Mind Podcast is a proud member of 1% for the Planet — building resilient minds and a resilient planet.Licensed for use from https://mindsetdrm.com/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

How could a man hit a target he could not see? That's a pretty good question. Here's another one. How can you hit a target? You do not have. Have you got one? Are you a meaningful, specific, or are you a wandering generality? People today complain of lack of time.

It's not lack of time that's the problem. It's the lack of direction. Are you a wandering generality? Or are you a meaningful, specific? Are you going to work tomorrow because that's what you did yesterday? If that's the reason you're going tomorrow, you won't be as good tomorrow as you were yesterday because you're two days older and no closer to the goal you do not have.

Now, I've got sense enough to know that some of those airplanes are coming down faster than they're going up. It's dangerous for that plane to fly. You see in the newspapers where the ships leave the harbor and you see where some of them sink, it's dangerous for the ship to be on the ocean. And yet the engineers tell me that it's more dangerous for that plane to stay on the ground. That it will rust out faster than it will wear out up into the heavens. They tell me that that ship will collect more barnacles in the harbor

and become unseaworthy faster than it will sailing the high seas. Besides, planes are built for flying. ships are built for sailing houses are built for living and man too was built for purpose he was designed for accomplishment he's engineered for success he's endowed with the seeds of greatness and the greatest danger we as human beings have is when we do not do anything at all and i'll make this statement 40 times in my book that you can get everything in life you won't if you'll just help enough other people get what they want. I was raised in the little town of Yazoo City, Mississippi. Now, I know that a lot of folks go around the country trying to impress people

by claiming to be from Yazoo City. But I really am. Now, when I was a boy, during the Depression, we lived next door to some rich folks. I knew they were rich for two reasons. Number one, they had a cook. Number two, the cook had something to cook. During the Depression, I was a sure sign of wealth. I was over there for lunch one day as I tried to be every day.

And I don't misunderstand that. Even though there was a depression on, we certainly had plenty to eat at my house. I know we had plenty because if they ever passed my place for seconds, said, always tell me, no, you've had plenty. So I know we had plenty. Now, the cook brought the biscuits out, and this is not an exaggeration. Those biscuits were not as thick as my wrist was. And I looked at it for a moment.

I said, Maude, what in the world happened to your biscuits? She reared back, gave a big old time of life, and said, well, I'll tell you about those biscuits. She said they squatted to rise. But she said they just got cooked in the squat. You know anybody that's getting cooked in the squat? The people who wait for Aunt Matilda to move out are John to get on the day shift, or the new models to come out, or the new mayor to come in, or for the new advertising campaign to get started.

The people who wait on the new senator in Washington, or until inflation slows or the rate of interest come down, the people who wait for changes to take place out there before they do the changing in here are flat going to end up getting cooked in the squat. The rule is simple. You do it now. You do it now. Unfortunately, a lot of people stand in front of the stove of life

and they say, now a stove, you give me some heat, then I'll put some wood in you. That ain't the way it works. You got to put something in before you can get anything out. So many times, you know, the employee goes to the employer and say, give me a raise, and I'll start coming to work on time. So many times they will come to them and say, make me the boss. Now, I know I haven't been here very long,

don't really deserve to be the boss, but I just function better when I am in charge of the thing. You reward me now, and then I promise you, I'll learn what this business is all about later on. Reward me now, and I'll produce later. It doesn't work that way. Can't you just see a young, in school saying, teacher, if I take a failing grade home, my parents are going to skin me alive,

pass me on this quarter, and next time, I'll study more than anybody else. Reward me now, I'll produce later. It doesn't work that way. Can't you just see an old farmer standing out in the fields in October and saying, Lord, I know I didn't plant a thing this year, but if you give me a big crop this year, I'll plant more than anybody next year. It ain't that way, folks. You've got to put something in before you can expect to get anything out. Well, he's just a pomp in a way, you know, that's hot. It's August. I mean, the question is, just how much pumping are you going to do for a drink of water?

And finally, old Bernard said, you know, Jim, I don't believe there's any water down there. Jimmy said, yeah, it is Bernard. You know, in South Alabama, the wells are deepened. Oh, we're glad they're deep because the deep of the well, the cooler, the cleaner, the sweeter, the pure, the better tasting the water. And isn't that true of life? Isn't it true that if you could become an MD by six weeks at summer school that the rewards would be almost minimal or nothing and how many patients would you have? Isn't it true that if you become a sales expert in three days of a training school that the

rate of pay would go down rather radically? Isn't it true that anything worth doing is worth doing poorly? Until you can learn to do it well. We'll never know how many kids have missed. a college scholarship because they didn't study an average of 10 more minutes a day. We will never know how we come so close to promotion, but we grew discouraged and quit too soon. We'll never know how much more success we would have had had we just had a little more pumping in there and pump and puff and puff and pump. Well, finally, old Bernard just got

disgusted through up his hand. He said, Jimmy there just no water down there. Jimmy said, don't stop, barred on earth. Don't stop. If you stop it, water's going to go all the way back down. then you're going to have to start all over again. The reality is, folks, and I'm totally convinced of this, this is the story of America, this is your story, this is a story of success, this is the story of life. I believe with all of my heart that if you were pumped long enough and hard enough and enthusiastically enough,

that eventually the award is going to follow the effort, and then once that water starts to flow, all you've got to do is just keep a little easy, steady pressure on it, and you're going to get more water than you can possibly use. When you're asleep, ladies and gentlemen, you need your dreams. I'm here to tell you that when you're wide awake, you also need your dreams. You must have your goals. You'll never make it as a wandering generality.

You must become a meaningful specific. If you're going to work tomorrow because that's what you did yesterday, you're not going to be as good tomorrow as you were yesterday, Now, you're two days older and no closer to the goal, which you do not have. You can't make it as a wandering generality. I want to talk a little bit about goals on the light of how do you lose 37 pounds and write a book. I'm just going to kind of give you that as an example. For 24 years of my adult life, by choice, I weighed well over 200 pounds.

I say by choice because, you see, I have never accidentally eaten. anything. I mean, it's always been deliberate. And when I choose to eat too much today, I have chosen to weigh too much tomorrow. You can choose to set goals and realize your potential, or you can choose not to set them. Now, if you choose not to set them, you've got to understand that the consequences are not going to be good down the road. For 24 years, I was going to lose the way. For the only four years, I was going to lose that weight. As a matter of fact, in 24 years, I lost several thousand pounds of weight. How many of you already know exactly what I'm talking about? But it wasn't until I wrote it down, put a date on it, listed the obstacles I had to overcome, identified the people, the groups,

the organizations I needed to work with, spelled out a plan of action, set that time limit in there, and identified all of the benefits to me. It was, only when I did that, that the goal became a reality, and I lost the weight. For 10 or 15 years, I was going to write a book. You know anybody who's going to do just a whole lot of things, folks? I was going to write a book. But it wasn't until I got busy writing the book and writing the plans first before the book ever materialized. Now, if it sound like I'm trying to sell you on heaven goals, how many of you are getting close already? How many of you being coming convinced right quick like that you need to have those goals. There's no question about it.

The immortal J.C. Penny many, many years ago, said, give me a stock clerk with a goal, and I'll give you a man who will make history. But give me a man without a goal, and I'll give you a stock clerk. A commitment play is heavily in everything. If you've made a commitment when you hit the rough spots, not if, when you hit the rough spots, your immediate thought is, how can I solve the problem? If you've not made the commitment when you hit the rough spot, whether it's in marriage or education or career or whatever, your first thought is, man, how can I get out of this deal? And so that commitment plays a huge role.

And some people are about as committed as a kamikaze pilot on its 39th mission. I mean, they don't really take it that seriously. I listened to the people who were successful in selling that product. I would learn new things from different ones, new approaches, and that's very, you must be a constant student. A lot of people are afraid to try anything new because they are afraid that they will be embarrassed until they get good at it. Well, one of my favorite sayings is, you know, the most important thing you can do is to understand that anything worth doing is worth doing poorly until you can learn to do it well. My first few sales calls were pathetic, but I knew it was worth doing, so I kept after it, you know.

My first few speeches were a disaster, but I believed that I could develop into that, so I kept at it until I could do it effectively, and all skills are exactly the same way. No running back that sets the records ever set a record the first time he picked up a football. And you can go right down the line with that. So if it's worth doing and you believe in it, go ahead and fail. And the more times you fail, the closer you get into success because you should be learning on every simple thing that you do. And this story really covers all of the concepts,

all of the ideas in which we believe. And that's the reason we're going to give you the story in the detail which we are. When I met Bernie, you know, we had the little discussion about what he was doing in Kansas City. and he said, I came down and hear the session, and I said, yeah, but it costs a lot of money to come this far. He laughed. He said, well, Zig, thanks to my son, David, I don't have to worry about money. I said, Bernie, that sounds like a story.

Why don't you tell me? He said, I'll be glad to. This is the story. He says, you know, Zig, when our son David was born, our joy literally knew no bounds. We already had our two daughters. Now we had our son, and that was what we had hoped that we would have when we got married. But he said it wasn't long before we noticed that something was wrong,

wrong with David. His little head hung too limped into the right side of his body for it to be a normal situation, and he drew too much. And so he went to the doctor and the family daughter said, no problem, he'll outgrow it. But he says, you know, Zig, we knew that it wasn't quite that simple. So we took him to a specialist. And the specialist, after a very thorough examination, told us that he had the reverse of club's feet. And he said, we treated him for that for several weeks. And then it dawned on us that this wasn't it. It was more serious than that. So we found who the top specialist was in all of Canada, and we went to him. And this specialist, after a very thorough examination, said to us that David is a spastic. He has cerebral palsy. He's never going to be able to walk or talk or count to 10.

And I suggest that you put him in an institution for his own good and for the good of the, quote, normal members of the family. But Bernie Loftey looked at me and he said, you know, Zig, I'm not a buyer, I'm a seller. I could not buy the idea that my son was going to grow up and be a vegetable. All that doctor had really convinced me to do was to go find a doctor who was not problem conscious

and look for one who was solution conscious. So we went to other doctors. As a matter of fact, we went to 30 different doctors, and all 30 of them, in essence, said the same thing, and that is that there is no hope for this little boy. Then they heard of a Dr. Pearlstein down in Chicago, reputedly the foremost authority in the world, but he was so good that he was booked for two solid years in advance. Now, that didn't particularly bother Bernie, because hope, for the first time, had reared its

elusive head, and Bernie just figured that somehow and other he was going to get his son in front of Dr. Pearlstein. Well, he found out that Dr. Pearlstein was a bridge player, found out his home number, found out that he played every Friday night with his son. He called him there, and they made a deal. At the first cancellation that they had, Dr. Pearlstein was going to call Bernie, and they would put David or take him on an airplane immediately to Chicago. Well, just 11 days later, they got the call. They loaded David on the airplane. They took him down there. And Dr. Pearlstein gave him easily the most thorough examination, I believe that any child has, overhead. When the examination was all over, he said to Bernie, this boy is a spastic. He has cerebral palsy. He will never be able to walk or to talk or count to 10 if you listen to the prophets of doom.

But he said, I want you to know that I am not problem conscious. I want you to know that I am solution conscious, and I fervently believe there is something which can be done for David if you are willing to do your part. Well, rather obviously, the Lifesik said, Doctor, what is it you want us to do? Spell it out. Dr. Pearlstein and his nurses spelled it out in minute detail. He said, first of all, you're going to have to work this little boy beyond all human endurance. Then you're going to have to work him some more. You're going to have to push him until he literally falls. And then you are going to have to push him some more. You've got to understand now that once you start this process,

that there is no backing up or slowing down or staying away from it. This is a lifetime process because if you ever discontinue this, then he will revert back to where he was before. One last thing. Don't let him see any other victims of cerebral palsy taking therapy. Because if he watches them take him, therapy, he will pick up the awkward, inadvertent movements they make, and subconsciously he will make them a part of his own movements. Bernie and Elaine left Chicago enormously excited, because

Dr. Pearlstein had given them extra hope. He had added believability to it. He had presented them with a plan. To tell you the truth, that's what we've attempted to do all the way through born to win. Every time we make you a promise, we give you a plan of action. You see, folks, motivation without instruction and education is ultimately frustrating. For me to tell you, you can do something and not to tell you how is a cruel hoax that we have studiously avoided throughout. Every time we've said you can do it, we've always said, here's the way to do it. Well, they went back to Winnipeg, and they went to work with David. They built a little gymnasium down in the basement of their home. They hired a physical therapist and a bodybuilder, and they went to work. It took them a lot

of months, but finally one day David Lafschick could move the length of his own body. It took him several years, but then one day Bernie got a call from the therapist. He said, come on home, I believe David is ready. And he rushed home, and David was down in the gymnasium on a mat, and as he was attempting to do a push-up, and as that little body started to rise into the air, the physical an emotional exertion was so great, there was that a dry inch of skin on that little body, and the mat appeared as if somebody had sprinkled it with water. When that one perfect push-up was completed, David and Bernie and Elaine and the therapist and the bodybuilder and the two sisters and the neighbors,

all broke down and shed those tears, which clearly say that happiness is not pleasure. Happiness is victory. No, you don't pay the price. You enjoy the benefits that Diane was so beautifully singing about. Now, the story is even more remarkable when you understand that one of America's leading universities had also examined David, and they said there are no motor connections to the right-hand side of his body. He has no sense of balance.

He will never be able to swim or to skate or to ride a bicycle. He just simply will be different. It'll probably take him two years even to learn. learn how to float. On October the 23rd, 1971, my wife and I flew to Winnipeg, Canada, to attend the bar mitzvah of, quote, little David Lozsche. Oh, I wish the television cameras had been turned on then. I wish the movie cameras of the world had been there to have witnessed what we saw, especially since I'd been working with Bernie a couple of times each year between that first day back in 1900. in 65, and I had watched David as he grew and as he made all of that progress. But this particular

day, as this boy walked tall and straight and strong to the front of the synagogue, as he uttered those words that moved him into the manhood of the faith of his forefathers, knowing what I knew at that particular time, that he had already done as many as 1,100 push-ups in a single day, that he had run six miles non-stop, that he would. He would run six miles nonstop, that he would, was shooting golf in the high 80s, that he was one of the best table tennis players in all of Winnipeg, Canada, that he was skating on the neighborhood hockey team, that he was running the wheels off his fourth bicycle. Oh, I tell the story about David in a lot of the details, because you see, I happen to believe that this story literally covers all of the areas that we cover

in Born to Win. You see, to begin with, they dealt with David on a very honest basis. They never said it's going to be easy. The parents were never told it's going to be easy. They were told that you've got to stay with it, but if you'll suck it up and tough it out and stay with it, the results are going to be dramatic. They dealt with the thing character, because, you see, character is the ability to carry out a good resolution long

after the excitement of the moment has passed, and there were many times when the excitement was no longer there, but David stayed with it, as did his parents. Integrity, they dealt in. Integrity, of course, means basic wholeness, and they dealt with the entire person of David Lofschick. Physical, mental, and spiritual, the whole bit. As far as loyal is concerned, nobody. I mean, those two big sisters and the mother and the dad and the doctors and the therapists, they all were loyal to an incredible degree as they worked with David, helping him to accomplish his

objectives. And rather, obviously, trust is deeply involved there, because it takes a lot of trust. for a youngster year after year after year to be willing to do these things when his buddies are all out playing and having a marvelous time. Now, you talk about love. When I think of the story of David Lipsich, I think it's one of the most beautiful love stories I have ever heard. You see, when he was about two years old, every night they had to put heavy leg braces on his legs.

Now, David is a beautiful boy. Olive complexion, beautiful green eyes, cold black hair. And every night as he would lay there getting ready to go to bed, he would ask his mom and ask his dad, Mom, do we have to put the braces on the night? Or dad, do we have to put him on so tight? And you parents obviously will relate to this. Here a child is, whom you love deeply.

And with tears in his eyes, he's asking, do you have to do it? But Bernie and Elaine Loftick loved David so much that they said no to the tears of the moment. So they could say yes. to the laughter of a lifetime. Thank you for listening. Continue strengthening your mind

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