The Resilient Mind - Transform Your Life by Changing Your Self-Image - Zig Ziglar

Episode Date: June 25, 2023

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 will be listening to, transform your life by changing your self-image, with Zig Zigler. Get access to the Mental Mastery Program and other exclusive episodes by becoming a subscriber. Enjoy. Well, I'm sure excited to be here today, and I'm going to start this presentation as I start all presentations anywhere at any time, and that's with questions. Here's my first questions.

How many of you folks have ever either heard me here? before or else this is your first time. Could I see your hand, please? All right. Second question, and this one really requires a little concentration. Now, here's the question. How many of you honestly believe there's something you can do in the next seven days that would make your personal life, your family life, and your business life worse?

Can I see your hand, please? All right. Then by the same token, how many of you honestly believe there's something you can do? in the next seven days, it would make your personal life, your family life, and your business life even better. Can I say your hand? All right. Well, now, if you were serious as you answered those questions, you've just done something very significant. Understanding, of course, the choice is yours as to whether or not you make it better or worse. But the significant, profound thing you've done is simply this. You have said, I don't care how good my life is, or I don't care how bad my life

is there is something I can do that will make it better. In other words, you have assumed the responsibility, and that really where it starts, of making your life a better one. I'll tell you, I'm happy to be here today, and the reason I say that is I was coming in on the plane last night, which is generally the way I fly. And as we were pulling into Dallas, the captain of the aircraft came over the intercom,

and in that deep resonant voice said, are now making our final approach. Scared the wits out of me. I said to the flight attendant, I said, Quick, man, go tell them to make it our next final approach. I got some things I just got to do. Man, I'm so glad that y'all feel good today. I use humor in my presentations for a lot of reasons.

Number one, humor enables us to learn faster, learn more, and it enables us to remember longer. And then there's some new evidence just released that is scientifically validated that if you have a tendency to laugh and repress that laughter, that it reverses itself, comes back inside, and spreads your hips. As you know, obesity is widespread, so we don't want that to happen. All right, on December the 29th, 1984, my son and I were headed back from Phoenix, Arizona. We've been playing in a golf tournament out there.

Weather was beautiful for the tournament. We headed home, and the weather turned absolutely horrible. It was hailing, and the traffic was backed up. We got to the airport, and it was so clogged up, we got soaking wet trying to unload our bags. As we made our way down to the gate agent, it seemed that about 4,000 people wanted to ride the same airplane that we did by the time we got to that gate agent he looked somewhat like the cruise director for the Titanic I mean somebody had leaked all of the red off of his candy well as you know he might have just had

some junk mail post as due or some M&Ms and melted in his hand I mean things were tough so I walked up to him with a lot of enthusiasm as I always do and I said well how you done my guy licked at me and said compared to who I said, compared to that person who does not have a job of any kind, compared to those people who do not have nice clothes to wear and a beautiful building to work in, compared to those people who have no freedom of speech or religion or travel, I said, how are you doing it?

Now, you're talking about a dramatic change in a human being, it was there. The guy grins to why he could have eaten a banana sideways. I'm telling you, he was better. All right. Now, let me ask you a question. How many of you believe that as a direct result of a conversation that lasted a maximum of 30 seconds, that that day he was a better employee for that airline? Can I see your hand, all right?

How many of you believe that if he's married with children that when he got home, he was a better husband and a better father? Can I see your hands, please, all right? Then let me ask you a question. What did I teach him about being a better airline employee? What did I teach him about being a better husband and a better father? I think you'll agree that I taught him absolutely nothing. And yet the truth of the matter is he was very definitely better.

Because all of a sudden, his attitude had changed. Now, why did his attitude change? And you got to understand why if we're really going to be able to accomplish things in life. If you only know how, that'll get you a job if you'll go ahead and do it. But if you're going to get ahead, you got to understand why. The reason his attitude changed was very simple. The input in his mind had changed. You see, you are what you are and where you are

because of what's gone into your mind. You can change what you are. You can change where you are by changing what goes into your mind. Now, what that really says, if you don't like who you are and where you are, don't worry about it. You're not stuck either with who you are or where you are.

You can grow or you can change. Now, why did that gate agent change very dramatically? He changed because he was motivated. Now, a lot of people misunderstand motivation. To motivate literally means to pull out or to draw out that which is on the inside. Inside of you, my friend, there really is greatness. What we are going to do here is start to draw out the greatness which is inside of you. In December of 1989, the redhead and I, now when I say the redhead, I'm talking about my wife.

She's a decided redhead, meaning simply that one day she just decided that she was going to be a redhead. Now, when I talk about my wife, at her request, I always simply call her the redhead. when I'm talking to her, it's Sugar Baby, and her name is Gene. We walked into the Prestonwood Shopping Mall in Dallas, walked into a little specialty store, a young clerk walked up to us with a standard question. May I help you? And I said, yes, I'd like a pair of your glare-proof glasses.

He said, oh, are you a photographer? And I said, no. I'm going to be using these glasses for a videotaping for satellite transmission. He said, oh, are you a producer? And I said, no, I'm a speaker. He said, well, what do you speak on? I said, well, motivation, leadership, positive thinking, family seminars, sales training, this sort of thing. He said, oh, kind of like Zig Ziglar.

Well, the redhead said, this is Zig Zig Ziglar. Well, the guy looked me over pretty carefully. I mean, he literally backed up a step or two, and he started shaking his head. He said, oh, no. Oh, no. He said, that is not Zig Zig Ziglar. He said, I have seen a videotape of Zig Zig Ziglar, and Ziglar is always jumping up and down.

He said, oh, no, that's not Zig Ziglar. Well, I kind of grinned. I said, you see, there, sweetheart. I told you we weren't going to be able to fool this guy. He's probably looking for some 40 or 50-year-old codger, and he sees us two youngsters walk in. He looks me over real good, and he knows I could never be Zig Zig Ziglar. And the guy said, that's right.

Well, we went ahead with the transaction, and he got ready to do the paperwork. He picked up his pen, and he said, now, what is your name? And I said, well, I spell it, Z-I-G-L-A-R. The guy literally dropped his pen on the counter, he said, you are, Zig-Zegler. I said, yeah, I have been a long time.

Now, the reason I tell the story is simply this. The young man had a picture of me, and as far as that picture went, it was okay. On occasion I do jump up and down, but the picture was so narrow and so shallow that it literally bore no resemblance to who I am and what I can do. In the last 20 years, I have literally invested an average of over three hours a day in reading and research, mostly about human nature and human development and growth and improvement, and how do you develop and use what is inside of you? If there's anything I've been totally convinced of, it is this.

98% of the people in our Western civilization have a picture of themselves, which is so narrow and so shallow, that it literally bears no resemblance to the real person who is there. So many people have been told so many times what they cannot do, that they have no idea what they can do. They have no idea what they want in life because they have no. no idea what is available to them. The picture they have of themselves will not permit themselves to see some of the magnificent things that are available. One of the most beautiful stories I think I've ever heard about changing the picture and what happens when you do is the story that is told

by Brian Harbor in his beautiful book, Rising Above the Crowd. When little Ben Hooper was born, All of those years ago, in the foothills of East Tennessee, little boys and girls who had no idea who their daddies were were ostracized and treated horribly. By the time little Ben was three years old, he knew he was different. The other children refused to play with him almost completely. Parents were saying insane things like, what's a boy like that doing, playing with our children, as if the child had anything to do with his own. birth. By the time he was six years old and in the first grade, he was a very lonely child. They gave him a little desk as they did all of the children, and he stayed in his desk at recess to study. The other kids wouldn't play with him. They went out to play. At lunch, he literally

went off by himself with his little sack lunch, and he ate his lunch alone. Little Ben Hooper had an enormously tough childhood. Saturday was the toughest day of all. Every Saturday his mom would take him down to the little store to buy the supplies. Invariably, there would be other adults in there. And those adults would say cruel things like, did you ever figure out who his daddy is? It's tough childhood. When Little Ben was 12 years old,

a new preacher came to that little church in the foothills of East Tennessee, and almost immediately Little Ben started. into hearing some exciting things about him, about how loving he was and understanding he was, how when you're with him, you always felt better. He gave you his undivided attention, making you feel like you were the only person around. And Ben decided one Sunday to go to church. Now, I'd never been to church today in his life. He got there late, and he left early. He did not want to attract any attention, but he liked what he heard. He was back there the next Sunday, and the next and the next and the next.

He always got there laid, he always left early. He wanted to attract absolutely no attention. On about the sixth or seventh Sunday, the message was so moving and so powerful and so significant, it was so encouraging and so uplifting that this child of unknown heritage for the first time in his life literally saw a picture of hope. Now, hope is the most important.

imported and greeted we can inject in our lives. My good friend Dr. John Maxwell from San Diego, California says if there's hope in the future, there is power in the present. Little Ben saw hope that day, full-blown for the first time. He was so enthralled with the message. He was so excited about what he was hearing. He became so wrapped up in it and forgot all about the time. And suddenly the services were over. He stood up to leave as he always had, hoping he could He'd be to hasty retreat as he always had, but this time the other people stood up simultaneously, and he was having to deal with a group of people. As he worked his way through the crowd, he felt a hand on his shoulder.

He turned, he looked around, and he looked up, and he was looking directly into the eyes of the young minister. The young minister asked him a question which had been on the minds of every person there for the last 12 years. whose boy are you? Instantly there was a deathly silence in the church. You could hear the proverbial pin drop. Then slowly a smile started to appear on the face of the young minister

until it broke into a huge grin as he said, Oh, I know whose boy you are. while the family resemblance, it's unmistakable. You are a child of God. And with that, the young minister swatted him across the rear and said, that's quite an inheritance you've got there, boy. Now go and see to it that you live up to it. many, many years later, little Ben Hooper

said that was the day he was elected governor of the state of Tennessee and later re-elected. The picture had changed. When the picture changes, absolutely everything changes.

Many years ago, when I was a young man in the sales world, I was in the cookware business. I put on cookware demonstrations. The hosters would invite in several couples. We'd cook, a meal, serve it, and put on the demonstration and sell. I advertised for a lady to help me. I wanted somebody to wash the dishes, to do the cooking, to clean the kitchen.

In other words, I wanted somebody to do the work, if you want to know the truth of it. I wanted to do the talking. A very shy lady named Jerry Arrowwood responded to the ad. In the interview, she pointed out, now I'm a very shy person. I do not like to talk to people. I don't relate well to people. They don't like me. And she said, I would love to cook.

I enjoy that. I don't mind doing the other things, but you must never ask me to participate in the demonstration. Now, to emphasize a point, Jerry had been baking cakes and taken in sewing to earn money up until that point. That says something about the type of personality she was. Well, shucks, I was delighted that she didn't want to participate in the talking, but she wanted to do the other. That was exactly what I was looking for. So I said, Jerry, you and I are going to get along wonderfully well. Well, it worked beautifully for about three months.

And then one night my mouth overloaded my back, literally. I made too many commitments. I made too many promises. And I went through, I said, Jerry, you got to help me. She said, what do you want me to do? I said, Jerry, I want you to deliver the merchandise tomorrow to these people. Show them how to use it on their own stove. Many of you will have trouble relating to this, but sheer terror shone on her face.

She was absolutely frightened. She said, I can't do that. I can't do that. I said, well, Jerry, you've been teaching the hostess every night how to cook on her stove. She said, yeah, but you're always around, and I know if I get in trouble, you're going to bail me out. I said, Jerry, it's no problem. We went back and forth, and she finally, because of her loyalty and friendship for me, she said, I will do it. But before we parted company that night, she gave me a pretty strong lecture.

She said, don't you ever get me in a spot like this again? Okay, Jerry, I promise I won't. Well, the next night she called me, and we had quite a little conversation. She was so excited. She said, you know, Jake, I had a wonderful time. Those people liked me. And I said, Jerry, I told you they would. you're a nice, neat, lackable person.

She said, three of them had coffee made and a dessert for her. She said, I didn't have a bit of trouble. Said, I loved it. Well, it didn't happen that week, that month, or that year. But less than five years later, Jerry Arrowwood was the vice president in charge of sales training of a multi-million dollar cosmetic company. Today, she and her husband, Bob Volverding, are in San Rafael, California, They manufacture cosmetics for a number of cosmetic companies.

I had no idea what I was unleashing on the world when I sent Jerry Arrowwood out to deliver that cookware. You see, that picture had completely changed, but it took an act of courage to get the whole ball rolling. One of my associates, Vicki Hitsky, says that everybody ought to consider this. Instead of having later to say, I'm sorry. I didn't. It's really neat to be able to say, I'm glad I did. Jerry says, I'm glad I did. Her picture had changed. I was speaking the other day, and when I was through, a 16-year-old student came up to me,

and she was so excited, she said, you know, you empowered me today. Now, empowerment is a word that you hear a lot about in the business world today, but rid of the purpose of changing your picture is to do that. Let me tell you about a man who said, I wish I had. His name was Derek Sanderson. He was the first multi-superstar in hockey, the one who brought in one of those huge contracts. He had the charisma and he literally made millions of dollars because of it, but he squandered his money. He got involved in drinking and drugs, and he used to tip automobiles. I mean, buy somebody a new car or a trip across the country. or whatever. His skills soon diminished, and he was in the minor leagues. A reporter was interviewing and said, Derek, do you regret losing all of that money, wasting all of that money? And he responded, no, I really don't regret the money part. But he said, I deeply regret wasting Derek Sanderson. How many times did he say, I wish I had taken that different? route. I understand this, then, that later, Derek became a very productive citizen in helping to

combat the drug and alcohol problem. But when we get new pictures of ourselves, we start setting new goals in our life. Now, when I start talking about new pictures and new goals, I think one of the most remarkable stories I have ever heard is the story of Victor Seri Briochoff. Victor Ceri Briakoff, and I know that's a tongue twister of a name, but Victor, as a 16-year-old, was told by his teacher, you're a dunce. You're never going to make it. Drop out of school. Get you a job.

At least support yourself. Well, here's the voice of authority saying you're not going to make it. He dropped out of school. And for the next 15 years, he was in a tenor at doing dozens of different things. Every morning, he got up and dressed the... dunch, shaved a dunch, went to work as a dunch, performed as a dunce, thought as a dunts, and received a dunch's wages. Then for whatever reason, at age 31, they did a psychological evaluation on Victor, and they came to him and they said, Victor, we got some wonderful news for you. We have scientific evidence that's validated. There's

absolutely zero doubt about it. And you, Victor Sari Briochoff, are not a dunch. You are a genius. You have an IQ. of 161. Now, let me emphasize a point. They did not give him 10 steps to do anything. They didn't give him any magic formulas. They didn't teach him anything new. The only thing they taught him was the most important thing of all. They validated the fact you are a genius.

You are not a dunce. From that moment on, he got up and shaved a genius. He dressed as a genius. He went to work as a genius. He thought as a genius. He performed as a genius. And he backed up. up to the genius's pay window. Since then he's written several books. He's an enormously successful

businessman. One year, he was the international chairman of the Menza Society, and you've got to have an IQ of 140 just to get in that. You see, when the picture changed of himself from Dunce to Genius, his performance changed. When you change the picture, everything about your life will change. I completely relate to that because for 24 years of my adult life by choice, I weighed well over 200 pounds. Now, the reason I say by choice is simple. You see, I have never accidentally eaten anything. It's always been by choice. And when I choose to eat too much today, I have chosen to weigh too much tomorrow.

This might stun some of you as you view this presentation, but when my youngest daughter was a little girl, I taught her to call me fat boy. The reason I taught her to call me fat boy was that's the picture I had of myself. Now, let me emphasize a point. I was overweight because I ate too much, but the reason why I ate too much is very simple.

You see, I had to eat too much. And the reason I had to eat too much is because I had a picture in my mind, and that picture simply said, fat boy. Now, when I changed the picture, I took the weight off and kept it off permanently. When you change the picture, everything changes. When you change a picture, you set up new goals. And you see, basically, I believe all of us, want the same things. I believe any person who ever sees this presentation, I believe every

individual in this live audience wants to be happy. You know, thus far in my lifetime, I've never yet met a living, breathing human being who said, no, I want to be miserable. Everybody wants to be happy. Just one word about happiness. There's a dramatic difference between happiness and pleasure. One is much longer lasting, the others of short duration. Basically, other people can give you pleasure. But I'm going to tell you you will never be happy until you do something for somebody else. Everybody wants to be healthy.

Everybody wants to be at least reasonably prosperous. And I know, I know there are a bunch of you who'll watch this who want to be unreasonably prosperous. That's okay. I've had money and I haven't had money and it's better to have it. You know, it really is. Most people don't have it because they don't understand

that they talk about cold, hard cash. That's silly. It's neither cold nor hard. It's soft and warm. It feels good. And it's so beautifully colored. That will go, ladies, with any color scheme you might happen to have on. And it's so neatly packaged.

You can put a bunch of it in a very small area. There was no while somebody said, well, I don't really want a lot of money. And you know, I think anybody that would say that would lie about other things, too. But now, let me emphasize the point. I think this is very important that we understand it. There are a lot of things money will buy. And when you need money, there are very few substitutes. But there are some important things that money won't buy.

It'll buy you a house, but not a home. It'll buy your bed, but not a good night's sleep. It will buy you a companion, but not a friend. It will buy you pleasure, but not happiness. See, I just happen to believe that the picture you have of yourself is correct. You can have the complete success that we're talking about, the whole ball game. Not only happy, healthy, and reasonably prosperous, but you can be secure and have friends and peace of mind, and you can have those good family relationships.

Now, your question might really be, Ziegler, can you really have it all? I honestly sincerely believe that you can, but you got to understand you got to be before you can do. You got to do before you can have. I'm not necessarily going to tell you it's going to be easy, but I am going to tell you over and over, it absolutely is going to be worth it. I'm totally convinced of that. A lot of the music of our time sings that old refrain, I want to be free. But I want you to think about this.

You take the train off the tracks. It's free, but he can't go anywhere. Take the steering wheel out of the automobile. It's under the direction and the control of no one, but he cannot even move. I want you to think about this, and this is so significant here with our whole presentation, the sailor only has freedom of the seas

when he has become a state. slave to the compass. Until he is absolutely obedient to the compass, he's got to stay within sight of shore. But once he has become obedient to that compass, he can take that boat anywhere in the world. You see, discipline and commitment is what I'm really talking about. And if that picture of yours is like it should be, then you are willing to enjoy the benefits. which come from doing the things that are absolutely necessary. But let me say it again. It's not necessarily going to be easy.

I love the story told by my friend Joel Weldon from Phoenix, Arizona, about the Chinese bamboo tree. They plant the seed, they water it and they fertilize it, but the first year nothing happens. The second year, they water it and they fertilize it and nothing happens. A third year, they water it and fertilize it, nothing happens. A fourth year, they water and they fertilize it, and nothing happens.

A fifth year, they water it, and they fertilize it, And sometimes during the fifth year, in a period of approximately six weeks, the Chinese bamboo tree grows roughly 90 feet. But did it grow 90 feet in six weeks? Or did it grow 90 feet in five years? When you think about it, we understand it grew 90 feet in five years because had there been no year or a year when they did not watered and fertilize it, there would have been no Chinese bamboo tree. Life's pretty much like that. A lot of times we will

work and work and work and nothing happens. We'll work and work and work. Nothing happens. We work some more and some more and some more and nothing happens. And one one day, all of a sudden everything seems to explode and all your friends will say, you always were one of the lucky ones. but the reality is the only way you're going to persist is that picture of you simply says I am a winner here's what I've got to do in order to win

and like the Chinese bamboo tree story you keep watering and fertilizing it one of my most pleasurable experiences occurred in Atlanta, Georgia I'd spoken over there and when everyone else had made their departure there was still one lady and her husband seated, and they stood up and came forth.

The lady stuck her hand out and said, Mr. Ziegler, I'm Janet McBarran. This is my husband, Duke. I'm the one who wrote you the letter. I said, yes, Janet, it's an absolute delight to see you. She said, I just wanted to elaborate on what I said. Like you, I, too, weighed well over 200 pounds. And as you can clearly see, I'm no longer overweight, and she was not.

She said, unlike you, I see. smoked two to three packs of cigarettes a day and I no longer smoke. Unlike you, I used to drink. I no longer drink. She said, I was a nurse and had been a nurse for over eight years, and I loved being a nurse. But Mr. Ziegler, my self-image, the picture I had of myself, was absolutely at the very bottom. And then I started listening over and over. I believe you're absolutely right when you say that repetition is the mother of learning. That means it's the father of action. That makes it the architect of accomplishment.

My husband, Duke, built a little shelf in every room in our home right underneath the light switch. When I would walk in and flip the switch to turn on the light, the cassette player automatically came on. And over and over, I listened to those image-building, picture change and goal-setting attitude concepts that you have, and the input kept coming in. And I want to tell you what I appreciated most about what you said.

I loved it when you quoted Dr. Joyce Brothers. You know, Dr. Brothers says, you cannot consistently perform in a manner, which is inconsistent with the way you see yourself. She said, I loved it when you were so honest and said, life is tough. But when you're tough on yourself, life will be infinitely easier on you. I heard you quote over and over that when you discipline yourself to do the things you need to do,

when you need to do them, the day is going to come, when you can do the things you want to do, when you want to do them. You said it's going to be tough, Mr. Ziegler, and it was, and I'm so glad you emphasized that, but you also promised the rewards would be enormous, and they are. Let me reintroduce myself, Mr. Ziegler. I'm Janet McBeran, MD. I'm one of six women in America who has their specialty in bariatrics, weight management, weight control. She said, I worked my way through medical school as a full-time nurse.

That's like climbing Mount Everest backwards, folks. It really is. I can look at you right now and tell you that of all of the seven things people want in life, I can look at you and say that Janet McBerrin is a very happy, happy lady. I can say she's a very healthy lady. I can because of the relationship she and her husband have established with my wife and me. I can tell you that she is a prosperous lady, a secure lady. I can tell you she has lots of friends. I can tell you she has tremendous peace of mind, and I can tell you she has marvelous family relationships. Janet McBaron is a published author.

She has three clinics. She travels all over the country lecturing. The thing is a thing. The thing is, however that she gets the biggest charge out of, the greatest personal enjoyment is the fact that she still regularly takes time one-on-one to teach the functionally illiterate how to read. You cannot imagine the joy that comes when you take a 50 or 60-year-old adult and open to them the understanding of the written word and to watch the excitement as they read things for the first time in their lives and they no longer have to be always asking other people about everything. Yes, she's one of those people who is one in every phase of life. How do you change the picture?

Well, one we just discussed, the positive input in your mind over and over and over. You see, you are what you are and where you are because of what's gone into your mind. You can change what you are. You can change where you are by changing what goes into your mind. mind. How do you change a picture? You listen to others. Let's listen to what Emerson had to say. He said what lies behind you and what lies before you pales insignificance when compared to what lies within you. Thank you for tuning into this episode. If you're enjoying the content, you can access exclusive material by becoming a subscriber. Continue strengthening your mind by listening to our other episodes.