The Resilient Mind - Change Your Life by Changing Your Thoughts - Zig Ziglar

Episode Date: January 28, 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: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Download Now⁠⁠ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to the Resilient Mind Podcast. In this episode, you'll be listening to Change Your Life by Changing Your Thoughts with Zig Ziglar. This episode is also available in video. Watch it on YouTube by clicking the link in the show notes. Enjoy. Positive thinking won't let you do anything. I get so annoyed when I hear some people enthusiastically stand up and say, Man, what positive thinking, you can just do anything.

Just believe it in man. Think about it positive enough. You can do it. I believe that's ridiculous. See, I'm 60 years old. I don't care how positive I got. I could not whip a boxing champion. I don't care how positive I got.

I could not play football in the NFL or the basketball in the NBA. I don't care how positive I got. I couldn't perform major surgery on you and have you live. Nor could I give you electro-nuclear physics. Positive thinking won't let you do anything, but it will let you do everything. Better than negative thinking will. Now, I know that for most busy people,

getting regular exercise is about as easy as climbing Mount Kilimanjaro. But it can be done. You've just got to hell of a plan. You've got to set some goals because it's just as difficult to reach a destination you don't have. As it is to come back from a place, you've never been. Unless you have definite, precise, clearly defined goals, you will not realize the maximum potential that lies within you. And this applies to every aspect of your life, not just to exercise.

Now, here's some steps you can take towards that end. First, identify your goals, and next set a deadline for reaching them. Make a list of obstacles you have to overcome to reach your goals. Identify the people who can help you overcome those obstacles, and make a list of skills you have and those you need to achieve your goals, and then develop a plan. Now, word about goals themselves. There are seven different kinds of goals.

physical, financial, spiritual, career, family, mental, and social. And these seven types of goals share several characteristics. First, to be effective, they must effect chains. We must have some big goals because thinking big creates the excitement necessary for accomplishment. Second, you must have some long-range goals so that short-range frustrations don't stop you in your tracks. Occasionally, circumstances do arise that are beyond your control, and oftentimes obstacles such as market changes, sickness, accidents, or family problems can be

pretty intimidating. But by keeping your eye on the prize, you will find that the excitement of winning that prize will carry you through the tough times. Third, if you don't have daily objectives you qualify as a dreamer and not as a doer. Dreamers are fine, provided they build foundations under their dreams by working daily towards them. Often, the difference between the great and the near great is the awareness that making it big means working every day towards our long range objectives. And four, your goals must be specific, not vague or general. If you want a new home, for example, know every detail of that house. How many square feet? Number of rooms and bathrooms. The shape of the living room. The type and kind of lot.

It's location. If it's a car you're dreaming about, picture the make, the model, the color, and every option you want it to have. You see, if you want to reach your goal, you must see it, be able to smell, to touch, and to taste it, know how it looks and what it feels like in your own mind. Before you can reach that goal, you see, it is true that whether you think you can or think you can't, you are generally right. Step number six, you need to feed your mind with the good to clean, the pure, the powerful, and the positive. Let me ask you a question. If I were to come into your living room one day with a pail of garbage and then, Dump it on your living room floor, what do you think you'd do?

I bet I can answer the question. You would either get your gun and say to me, now, Ziegler, I'll bet you can clean that up. Or you'd get on the telephone and you'd call the police. Or you'd whip me as long as I was there. Those are things you would probably do. I mean, and then for much you'd be talking about this crazy guy, came in my own dump garbage on the floor. Oh, to shot him.

As a matter of fact, I wish I had. But we could clean the garbage up off your living. living room floor. But what about the garbage that we dump in our mind every single day? Einstein said that it takes 11 correct inputs to overcome one incorrect input. And a lot of the things which go in our minds and in our children's minds is not a thing in the world but pure garbage. I would ask you to do this. Evaluate what you read and what you view. Evaluated in this light, will this really help me to accomplish my objectives in life? Or is this going to be a deterrent to me accomplishing my objectives in life?

Remember you are what you are and where you are because of what's gone into your mind. And you can change what you are. You can change where you are by changing what goes into your mind. Now, as you probably suspect, I'm an absolute enthusiast about the cassette. recorder. I believe it's the most fascinating educational tool that we have in our country. I was a visiting scholar for the University of Southern California for two years. One of the things they discovered was that if you live in a metropolitan area and drive 12,000 miles a year, that in three years time you can acquire the equivalent of two years of college education.

You can learn virtually anything you want to know about finances, foreign languages, the Bible, how to set goals, how to close sales, how to plan your life. You can learn so many things while you're there in your car. Feed your mind. Second thing I would encourage you to do is start reading something good every day. Does you know if you read 20 minutes a day and you're an average reader that at the end of the year you will have read 20, 200 page books, and that the average American only reads one good book a year, think of what an advantage that will give you over the competition in whatever field you're in.

Now, who does these things? Well, Mary Kay asked if Mary Kay Cosmetics told me that she would never get in her car without a cassette that she could listen to while she was going somewhere. H.L. Hunt worth $3 billion at his death listened to cassette recordings until after he was 80 years old. Wallace Johnson, one of the co-founders of Holiday Inns International, over 80 years old tells me he listens every day and reads at least two good books every month.

Alan Bean, one of the astronauts who walked on the moon, told me that the astronauts on their way to the moon and backing, please understand. These people have the best self-images, the most clearly defined goals, the most positive mental attitude. They're the most confident, competent people as a group, maybe that our country has. But these people were listening to motivational recordings on their way to the moon and back. What a delight it is for me to be able to say that some of the recordings they were listening to were fantastic. You need to feed your mind.

How a lot of times people say, yeah, you know, when I'm down in the dumpsters just a little bit, I really enjoy listening because it gives me a lift. Well, I'm glad to hear that, but let me give you the most surprising news maybe you've ever heard. It's good to listen when you're down. But, folks, the ideal time to listen is when you're sky high. Let me tell you why. When you're down, sometimes you grab its straws, and sometimes you grab the wrong straw. Also, a lot of times, and here's the real benefit to listening, it triggers your imagination,

stirs up all of the stored information which you already have in your mind and a lot of the good ideas then come forth. But if you're too down to accept them, then you turn away the very best ideas of all. Listen when you're up. And then with those endorphins popping, and they do pop as a result of listening

to good motivational recordings, when you listen then and new ideas pop in your mind, it generates even more excitement. Here's what we've discovered. You need to listen at least 16 times to get the complete message. That's the reason I say, listen to this over 16 times because you will get all of it then. It will become a part of you. Let me say it again.

You probably have been in the process of making decisions right now. As you listen, you will make those decisions. But as you listen over and over, the decision changes to come. commitment. And once you've made the commitment, then you will seek the training which will make the difference because that means behavior changes. And when you change behavior, then you start developing winning habits. And that's what this is really all about. Step number seven, if you want to build a winning attitude, you need to take time, and this is probably going to surprise you based on what you've heard me say so far, but you need to take time to be quiet. You know, the average American

and sleeps 30 minutes too late every day. And when that opportunity clock does sound off, they hit their floor, I'm in in a dead run. They scoot past the kiddie's room on the way to the kitchen. They bang on the door, and they say, get up, kids, we got to go to school, and I don't have to tell you again. We were late yesterday morning, don't want it to happen again, and they scoot on back to the kitchen, they plug in the coffee, making the toaster,

and on the way back by the kid's room, they bang again. Now, what I tell you, not going to have to tell you again, they scoot in, they get dressed real fast, you know, they shave and apply their makeup, and by then the kids are up. They hustle them into the den, and they set a bowl of cereal in front of them, and turn the television, sat on, running their mind and their body all at the same time. They gulp their breakfast down, they hop in their car, and won't be to that person

who dares to pull in on them when they've got the traffic jump on them. I mean, it will be too bad for them if they do. They hustle down, they drop their kids out, they rush on down to their work, and they're busy, busy all day, and in the evening they come home and repeat that process, and by the time they get ready for bed, after watching three and a half hours of television, they are exhausted. You know what we need to do, folks? We need to take time to be quiet.

You need to do it at least four or five times a week. A lot of people say, well, that guy keeps talking about time for this and time for that. I don't have time for all of these things. Let me tell you how you can create an extra three hours every day of your life, guaranteed. Get your TV guide out on Sunday afternoon. And look at the shows that you really want to see that week. Over 70% of all of the time spent watching television, you're watching things you have no interest in watching.

Let me encourage you to do this. Take a slow, lazy, drifting, absolutely meaningless walk. Just almost go to sleep on the wall. Not an exercise walk. You need to do those, too, but a very quiet. walk. Pick out a place in your home where you can be absolutely quiet on occasion. If you have to get up 30 minutes earlier, that's wonderful. I don't know why, but I seem to wake up earlier in the winter months than I do in the summer months. And when I get up, it's pitch dark. I have a nice little

office. I go in there and I turn on the gas log, and I sit there. And every time I do that, Without exception, I have the most exciting day of my life. I simply run through my mind the things I'm going to be doing. As you plan the day, as you think of all of the things we've got to be excited about, it really does renew your energy, and it gets you excited about the day. Now, let me tell you something. This is going to be one of the toughest things you'll ever do. When you sit down saying, well, I want to sit perfectly quiet for a 20,

or even 30 minutes. You will think of 2,868 reasons are things that you've got to do. You try to decide, do I raise the window or lower it? Do I turn the heat up or down? Do I get the air conditioner off? Or do I turn it more full blast? Do I really need to go to the bathroom?

Am I going to get me a cup of coffee? What is that noise against the outside? Maybe I better check up on that. Resist the temptation. Spend a few minutes in quiet, reflective thought. It does make a difference. Take time to be quiet. Step number eight, take time for those you love.

Dr. Herb True, professor at Notre Dame, outstanding speaker, good friend of mine, suggested this which I really think is so valid. Frequently, every two or three months, you should close your eyes and visualize that everybody whom you love really love were suddenly, completely, totally, and forever taken out of your life. Then ask yourself the question, what would your regrets be?

Would you really regret that you had not picked up the telephone and called that distant cousin or even a brother or a sister or a mother or father or a son and a daughter? Would it be really a heartbreaking experience because you had not called and said, you know, I'm really sorry that we had the problem. I don't know whether it was your fault or my fault, but let's get together and solve the problem. Take time for those you love. Spend time with each other, those of you who are married,

spend time as husband and wife, just enjoying each other, communicating with each other, getting acquainted with each other. Earlier I said all of the studies revealed that if there is that close relationship, then success is more likely to come your way. Corn Ferry International, an executive search firm in New York City,

in conjunction with the UCLA School of Management, did a study on 1,362 vice presidents, men and women who were aspiring to the president's chair. Their average income was $215,000. They spent an average of 15 years working for the company, and the most lucrative of them, those who had the highest paying of all the jobs, had had two or fewer jobs in their lifetime.

They were loyal to their company. 87% of them were still married to their one and only mate. 92% of them were raised by two parent families. But the story has even more. They said they considered integrity the most important characteristic in their success arsenal. 100% of them said hard work was absolutely necessary. Eighty-nine percent of them had two, three, four, or more children. 71% of them also said that if they had more time, they'd spend it with

their wives. 50% said with more time they would spend it with their children. Incidentally, the average one worked a little over 50 hours each week. So they're not working those 80 and 90 hours a week that a lot of people might think they are, and they're living a balanced light. 89% of them also were either Catholic, Jewish, or Protestant, and their faith apparently had some meaning to them. U.S. News & World Report did a study of the millionaires in America. They're now one million of them. They said the typical millionaire has gotten that way because he's earned his money or her

money over a period of 20 to 30 years. They do work about 50 hours a week. They're still married to their high school or college sweetards. In other words, the family is intact. Incidentally, a couple of other little things you'll be intrigued about this, they discovered that less than 1%, less than 1%, and the implication was it was considerably less than 1% of all of the Millionaires in America earned their money in music, radio, television, the movies, and all athletic endeavors combined, considerably less than one percent. Intriguing, isn't it? Also, they discover there are far more salespeople who are millionaires than doctors and me being a salesman. I kind of related to that one. I thought it was neat. Now, what is all of these studies really

say, these studies say that if we can build that relationship with those we love, now your family might simply be mother and daughter. It might be father and son. It might be husband and wife. It might be brother and sister. But you know

who you're close to. The better you get along with the ones you love, the more likely you are to be successful in whatever else it is you do. Thank you for tuning in. Continue strengthening your mind by listening to our other episodes.