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, 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. 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. Positive thinking won't let you do anything, but it will let you do everything better than negative thinking will.

Zig Ziglar 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 always thought of myself as being an optimist. I mean, I'm the kind of guy that'd take my last $2 and buy a money belt with it. I mean, you know, 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 as 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," he said, "uh, you're staring at me, and it's making me uncomfortable."

She said, "Well, I just can't help it." 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? 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 important, 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 I didn't sell a lot. I did. I mean, 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 the most embarrassing thing that ever happened to me, my first baby was born. Hospital bill was $64. I didn't have $64. I 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 P.C. Merrill. Mr. Merrill 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 envisioned, had a picture of myself as a little guy from a little town who would struggle all of his life. Mr. Merrill 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. Merrill, what do you mean?" He said, "Zig, 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."

I want to emphasize a point: in two and a half years, I had learned how to get prospects. I'd learned how to make appointments, how to conduct a demonstration, how to handle objections, and how to close sales. Technically, I was a trained salesperson. But until Mr. Merrill 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 end 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 for us. 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 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 two 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 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 piece 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 goal setting important? David Jensen at UCLA did a study specifically on the people who come here to me, speak at public seminars where people buy tickets to come in. Now, we have the, we have the smorgasbord of America there. We have psychiatrists 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, salespeople. 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 $3,397 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 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 you're going to do the next day, then you got it organized. This is the first, 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 an old boy down home would say, "Friend, if you're 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 Tuchman, two-time Pulitzer Prize winner, 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 as committed as a kamikaze 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, I wonder what I ought to do now." You get busy on it. I'm here to tell you, the boss likes people that get there 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 I 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. Joyce Brothers says people who talk to themselves are above average in intelligence. U.S. 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, the 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, though 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 caught 75 catfish. They all weighed 75 pounds." "Now, Johnny, son, you know that's not true." "Oh, yes, ma'am, it is!" He said, "My dad is a great fisherman. I'm even better than he is. We caught 75 catfish. They all weighed 75 pounds."

"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 1,200-pound grizzly bear reared up right in front of me, was about to grab me and eat me up, when this little old 8-pound yellow dog appeared out of nowhere, jumped up, grabbed 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 said, "Oh, 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 as 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. 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." 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] jockey. Would you agree with that? I don't care how positive he thinks, he can't do that.

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, 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 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. Positive thinking won't let you do anything, but it will let you do everything better than negative thinking will. Can you intellectually buy 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 had already been generated, and flipping the switch released it to come into this room. That's what positive thinking does.

The youngster who has 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 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 it, 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 Bentsen was Senator, he said that for every 1% increase in productivity, 1 million new jobs were created. When Mosbacher was Secretary of the Treasury, he said that for every $1 billion 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 as normal. What I'm talking about here is one or two percent 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 pass, 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, two, three, go," then I want you to slap your hands. Okay? One, two, three, [Music] go!

Folks, I don't know how I could have made it any clearer. 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, you know, smiles instead of frowns. Sibyl Stanton 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 are 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 doctor still got to go to medical school to acquire the specific skills, 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, you've tried to fool the troops that what you're doing is very important. 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 are leadership qualities? Now, you do understand that I've been talking about you, according to what you 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 Earl Nightingale, to recognize that you have these abilities commits you to use them. So a lot of people deny them. 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 teamwork 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, Zig, 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 is 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 D.W. Rutledge. 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 Texas football, that is almost unbelievable for that to happen. But he's got everybody on the same page. They're thinking team instead of just individuals, with marvelous results.

Let me give you an example that means a great deal to us. Tri-Cities 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 Mesquite 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 increased 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 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 fellow going to stop? When is he going to give me a break?" Isn't that true? Answer is yes. I'll hit you with the tough one 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. Forrest Tennant, 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 of 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 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 psychologically lifted, and you are physiologically lifted. This, 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. Brooke 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'd 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 energy 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 norepinephrine and the serotonin and all of those endorphins 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 two 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 and 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 it would not work every day? I haven't said a word 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 downsizing 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 them, and Jerry Jones owns 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 the 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' average pay is what I'm going to give you, and that's it. It's all over. And oh, I hate it, 'cause I love the Cowboys."

Now, let me ask you a question: if that should happen, how many of you believe there's a reasonably good chance that Troy Aikman and Emmitt Smith and Jay Novacek and Larry Allen and a few of the other fellows 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 company 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 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 stand. 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 one five-year 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 five 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 at 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 realized I didn't have to do it myself.

I close 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 Ziglar 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 watch and say, "Well, at exactly 3:30, I'll be doing super good!"