Positive Thinking DOESN'T Matter... But THIS Does | Zig Ziglar

In our society, we get excited about winning a football game, or a baseball game, or a basketball game. And then there are certain elements of the society that seem to think there's something wrong with getting excited about winning in the game of life. I personally believe that we need to get excited about winning. I think we ought to have a mini pep rally in our own minds before we go to work every day. When we get up, you know, and saying, "Oh boy, I've got a good day to get out there and really get after it," or, "Man, I've got an exciting job to go to." And you see, if you get excited about your job, the first thing you're going to know is you're going to find that your job is exciting. If you've got the desire to do the best you can with what you've got, where you are, doing whatever it is that you're doing, then you're going to be an awful lot better at whatever you're doing. See, I have to believe it's all right to get excited, even shouting happy about your job, uh, about making a sale, about getting a raise, about meeting a new friend. I think those are exciting events in our lives. It's all right to get downright excited about being in love with your wife.

Zig Ziggler 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 powerful strategies to fix your beliefs, build perseverance, and transform all challenges into opportunities. Special thanks to the Ziggler family for partnering with us to release this exclusive content on our YouTube channel. Enjoy, and absolutely, you were born to win.

Tom Hartman, whom I mentioned in one of the earlier presentations, pointed out that if you're told something like that often enough, you know, that you were born to win, listening over and over and over, that ultimately you absolutely are going to believe it. As you might recall, when we started "Born to Win," one of the first things I did was give you certain information. And now I'm going to give you some of the same information again. And throughout the whole presentation, I've given you the same information. And the reason I do it is I took the advice of an old minister who was enormously effective. And somebody asked a question, "Why are you so effective?" And he said, "Well, first of all, I tell the people what I'm going to tell them. Then," he says, "I tell them. And then," he says, "I told them what I told them." Now, when you get it there three times, he said, "There's no way they're going to miss the message." So we started by telling you what we were going to tell you. Then we've told you. And now I'm telling you again what I told you.

So here it is. Several years ago, in a football game between the University of Alabama and Auburn University, it was a game for the conference championship. Bear Bryant was the coach of Alabama, and Shug Jordan was the coach at Auburn. And it was one of those close things, last game of the season, and the winner gets the major bowl bid. The winner is a conference champion. I mean, it really has a lot at stake, the winning of this particular game does. With less than two minutes to play, Alabama is leading 19-4, and they've got the ball. They're driving towards the Auburn goal line. If they score, they lock the game up. They're going to put it out of reach. But their first-string quarterback was hurt in the first quarter. And now, on first down, it was, uh, first down, and they were on the 32-yard line of Auburn. On first down, they run for seven yards. So now it's second down and three. But the second-string quarterback was hurt on that play. So Bear Bryant has to send in his third-string quarterback. And as he sent him in, he said, "Now, son, play it cool. Keep it safe. Let's just have simple handoffs. Let's charge right into the line. Even if we have to turn the ball over on downs, we've got a lot of faith in our defense. We know we can hold them. So don't try to be a hero." And so the, uh, young quarterback agreed. He said, "Yes, coach. He said, I'll do exactly what you're telling me to do."

So he goes out, you know, and he hands the first play off, you know, to the halfback, and he knocks him back for three yards. And so on the second play, it was supposed to be a handoff, but all of a sudden, the guy wasn't where he was supposed to be. And here the young quarterback is with the ball. And despite Bear Bryant's instructions, "Under no circumstances do you put the ball up in the air," as he retreated around to the end, he looked up, and there his other halfback is standing all alone in the end zone. The chance to be a hero was too much. He couldn't resist. What he did not see, however, was the cornerback on the Auburn University team cutting across the field at precisely the same moment. He reared back to throw the ball, and the cornerback is by far the fastest man on that football field. And when the young third-string quarterback unloaded the ball, the cornerback stepped right in front. There's a wide-open field, touchdown 100 yards away. And I mean, he took off in a dead run. Nobody, nobody is as fast as this guy. And as he's headed for the end zone, all of a sudden, the, uh, audience there lets out a gasp because cutting across at an angle, here comes this third-string quarterback, and he obviously is gaining on every step. And just as the guy crosses the five-yard line, that quarterback, with a mad leap, dove, and he caught the guy with the ball just as the whistle blew. The gun sounded. The game is over.

Well, when it was all over, you know, the reporters were asking Bear Bryant, he said, "Uh, coach, we had no idea that your quarterback was that fast. How in the world did he ever catch that guy?" And Coach Bryant says, "Well, he said, there's something you've got to understand. He said, that cornerback from Auburn University was running for personal glory. He was running to set a school record. He was running to put his team in a major bowl game. He was running to win the conference championship and the accolades of all of the fans at Auburn University." And he said, "All of those things are important, and that gave him special speed." But he said, "What you've got to understand is that our third-string quarterback was running for his life." Yes, sir. He had a desire to catch that cornerback with that football. And that really is what this wind-up segment of "Born to Win" is all about. This thing called desire.

You see, desire is that extra ingredient that changes the hot water of mediocrity to the steam of outstanding success. You see, 211 degrees gives you a very hot cup of water. Now you can take that water and brew yourself some coffee or some tea, or you can shave with it. But you add one more degree to that 211 degrees. Now you've got 212. That changes hot water into steam. And with steam, you can propel a steamship around the world or a locomotive across the continent. You see, desire is that little bit of extra that makes all of the difference in life. Because, because it's the little things that do make those big differences. So many times, speaking of coaches and Bear Bryant and Coach Jordan, so many times coaches have at the end of a game simply said, "Well, the other team just wanted it worse than we did." Or explaining why they won, "Our guys just wanted to win worse than the other team wanted to win." They put desire up there at the very top of the list.

When I think of desire, I think of a man named Pete Gray. He was a major league baseball player back in 1945. Now, from where I stand, Pete Gray is an immortal. He belongs in Cooperstown. He belongs in the Hall of Fame. And I say that despite the fact that he only lasted one season in the majors. He was not even a regular. He was too slow to be considered a good base runner. But as a young man, Pete Gray had said, "I will make it to the major leagues." And in 1945, playing on perhaps the weakest major league team ever assembled, the war-torn 1945 St. Louis Browns, Pete Gray had made it to the major leagues because he had an overwhelming desire, despite the fact he also only had one good arm. But Pete Gray never looked down and said, "This I don't have." He kept looking up and saying, "This I do have." You see, I believe that's what makes the enormous difference in life. Success is not determined in life by having been dealt the good hand. Success is determined by taking the hand that you were dealt and using it to the very best of your ability.

Good friend of mine, Ty Cobb, who's an outstanding, Ty Boyd, and I hope old Ty Boyd won't mind me confusing him with Ty Cobb. I bet he won't either. Ty Boyd, one of the really outstanding speakers in our country and a television personality in Charlotte, North Carolina, simply says it this way. He says, "You take the hand you were dealt. That's the only one you've got, and use it to the very best of your ability." In a nutshell, desire is your yearning power. And your yearning power, how badly you want it, plays a definite role in your yearning power. You see, yearning has to do with winning. And winning is exciting. And as I mentioned in the previous recording, you know, in our society, we get excited about winning a football game, or a baseball game, or a basketball game. And then there are certain elements of the society that seem to think there's something wrong with getting excited about winning in the game of life. All in our educational background, we have pep rallies and cheering sections and bonfires about "Dear Old Central High, win for the team," you know. And then, for whatever reason, there are some who believe that when we get out in the world of business, that we're not supposed to get excited about winning. Well, folks, let me tell you something. I personally believe that we need to get excited about winning. You see, I think we ought to have a pep rally before we have six-week tests in school. I think we ought to have a mini pep rally in our own minds before we go to work every day. When we get up, you know, and saying, "Oh boy, I've got a good day to get out there and really get after it," or, "Man, I've got an exciting job to go to." And you see, if you get excited about your job, the first thing you're going to know is you're going to find that your job is exciting. If you've got the desire to do the best you can with what you've got, where you are, doing whatever it is that you're doing, then you're going to be an awful lot better at whatever you're doing. See, I have to believe it's all right to get excited, even shouting happy about your job, uh, about making a sale, about getting a raise, about meeting a new friend. I think those are exciting events in our lives. It's all right to get downright excited about being in love with your wife, or in love with your husband. Why, it's even all right to get excited and let everyone know you're excited about loving your God and loving your country. We get excited about a five-yard gain. Why not get excited about the other important things in life?

You know, Knute Rockne was one of the greatest football coaches who ever lived. He was at Notre Dame for a number of years. And of course, I suppose most all of us have seen our, uh, uh, our president playing in one of the movies, you know, where Rockne was talking to the Gipper. We've seen all of those good things, you know. Well, Rockne had an unusual concept about life. He said, "You know, a lot of people get the erroneous idea that you either got to be a bad winner and a good loser." He said, "That's absolutely ridiculous." He said, "I don't ever want to get enough experience at losing to be good at it. He said, I want to, I want to get enough experience at winning so that I can be a good winner." He said, "You give me 11 lousy losers, guys that just play don't want to lose, who have a desire to win." He said, "You give me 11 lousy losers, and," he said, "I'll give you a national championship football team." Show me people in the workforce and in the game of life who are losers who want to win, and I'll show you winners. And you can be good winners. You can be gracious in victory, as you well know. You see, the way a man wins reveals much of his character. The way he loses reveals it all. And if we want to look at it in that perspective, we don't have to make the choice between either being a good loser or a bad winner. We can become good winners. And that really is exciting. I'll guarantee you, becoming a good winner is a lot more exciting and a lot more rewarding than being a good loser. Now, the exciting thing is that when you've given your total effort, regardless of what it is, the fact is that you have become a winner, regardless of what the final score is.

Hey there, it's Mark Tim with the Ziggler family, and I sure hope you're enjoying the video from my mentor, the legendary Zig Ziggler. Because you're part of Evan's audience, we want to give you a special bonus. It's a cool little book called "The Little Book of Big Quotes," packed with awesome content. This book is free, just for you. Check out the description below, and it's yours. Alrighty, let's get you back to Zig.

Dr. Randy Martin, the man, you know, the doctor whom I referred to in one of the early or segments, who examined me over at Cooper Clinic, enters the Boston Marathon every year. Now, he says, "Zig, most of the people who enter the race know they're not going to win it. But," he said, "they also know that when they finish the race, they're going to be given an award because they understand that everybody who finishes that race is a winner because they have done the best they could with what they had." And what I'm saying is, the best you do with what you have is plenty good enough to make you the winner. We believe desire, yes, is tremendously important. But one thing I really want to stress: doing your best is far more important than being the best. You see, we all can't be the biggest, or the fastest, or the strongest, or the smartest. But we all can be number one. And you are number one when you get up every day and say, "Today, I'm going to do the very, very best I can with what I have." And if at the end of the day, you can look in that mirror again and say, "Today, I did the very best I could with what I have," yes, you are number one, the most important person in the world.

If you have enough desire to succeed in life, you will develop from it what we call intelligent ignorance. Now, intelligent ignorance, you see, is critically important. For example, we know, uh, we take the example of the bumblebee. As you well know, the bumblebee cannot fly. I mean, aerodynamically, it is impossible. His body is far too heavy, his wings are much too light. But you see, the bumblebee does not know that it cannot fly. So it just goes flying all over the place. We see it happen. How many of you in this, uh, audience are in the business of selling? I see a number of you who are. Okay, let me ask you the question: Have you ever had somebody join your company who did not understand all of the rudiments and the fundamentals of selling? But somebody told them, "Listen, this is a marvelous product. We have a great territory, and all you've got to do is go out and put the demonstration on and see the people, and I'll guarantee you, you're going to sell more product, or get more listings, or sell more homes. You're going to sell more than anybody. Just go get it." And this person is so intelligently ignorant that they don't know that times are tough. And so they go out and sell more than anybody. Insight, can I see your hands if you've ever had that happen to you? You see, again, it's desire and attitude.

Good friend of mine, Calvin Hunt, lives down in Victoria, Texas. He's in the life insurance business. Uh, Calvin invites in one speaker a year at his own expense as a community service for everyone who is there. Now, Calvin said to me this year when I was down there, he primarily wants it for his clients, of course, but he invites everybody in. And he said to me, "You know, Zig, the life insurance business this year is down about 20%. Now, what that means is that 50% of the salesmen have just about quit working. So what that means is that only half of the people are going after 80% of the business we've always had. And that honestly means that those of us who really want the business and who are working at the business and we have the right attitude are going to get far more than our normal share of the business." And the net result is his business is better and better than ever. You see, your business is not out there, folks. Your happiness is not out there. Your success is not out there. It's right here between your own two ears. That's the reason from "Hello" to "Goodbye" and "Born to Win," we have stressed so much of the "I can." And if you really want something bad enough, you will develop that intelligent ignorance.

As did Henry Ford. You know, Henry Ford, as everybody knows, was an enormously successful man, not a very well-educated man, though. One day he called all of his engineers in, and he said, "Gentlemen, I want you to build for me a V8 engine." Well, these brilliantly educated engineers, you know, their PhDs and degrees from everywhere and all the, uh, skills necessary to be engineers, explain to Mr. Ford carefully, thoroughly, and very, very patiently that the V8 engine was absolutely impossible. He said, "Gentlemen, you don't understand. He said, I've got to have a V8 engine. Build it for me." Well, they decided to humor the old man a little bit, so they went out and they poked around for a few months and came back to confirm what they already knew, and that is that you could not build a V8 engine. He said, "Gentlemen, we must have a V8 engine. Go build it." Well, this time they saw the old man is pretty serious. And so they went out and they worked another longer period of time, spent more money, came back with the same expected results: "There is no such thing as a V8 engine. It cannot be built." This time Henry Ford looked at him and he said, "Gentlemen, you don't seem to get the message. There is such a thing as a V8 engine, and you are going to build it for me, and you're going to build it now." They built the V8 engine. Intelligent ignorance, you see, is so critically important.

When I think of intelligent ignorance, I, I think of a youngster in one of our "I Can" classes up in Colorado. He was labeled as a slow learner. He got involved in the concepts I'm talking to you about right now. He talked to his teacher, who was a marvelous lady, and she became convinced that he really wasn't a slow learner, that he simply had never been motivated. And he went from slow learner to honor roll in one semester. Name available upon request, I hasten to add. And let me simply say that when you have a desire to do things and are willing to work at it hard enough, then it is true, true that you can do an awful lot of things. It's also true that it's not what you have, it's not what you have or where you are that's important. What is important is the way you react to a situation, or the way you respond to a situation. Or earlier, I mentioned that reaction was negative, responding was positive. It's not the situation, it's the way you deal with the situation. Yes, when life gives you a lemon, what you've got to do is make a lemonade out of it.

One of my favorite stories back in World War II has to do with General Craton Abrams. He was involved in the Battle of the Bulge, and he was completely surrounded by those German forces. I mean, it was a desperate situation. He called a staff meeting, got them all together, and he said, "Gentlemen, for the first time in the history of this campaign, we're surrounded on the North and the South and the East and the West. We can now attack the enemy in all directions." Huh. It's not the situation you're in, it's whether you react or whether you respond. To react is negative. To respond is positive. Obviously, General Abrams responded in a very positive way. Do I need to finish the story by telling you we did win the war? It's not the situation, it is the way you look at the situation, which is important. Two men had polio. One became a beggar on the streets of Washington. The other was FDR. What do you do when things do not go your way? When you're given the lemon? Jacob Shi wanted to shave. He was prospecting for gold. It was 40 degrees below zero. You know what happens to water at 40 degrees below zero? He obviously is not going to have hot water to shave in in temperatures like that. And so his response: he invented the electric razor. Goodyear had a lemon. It was a prison sentence. While he was there, he processed or discovered the process for vulcanizing rubber. Martin Luther was confined to Wartburg Castle. The lemonade he made was a translation of the Bible into German. You take the situation, regardless of how dark it is. The darkest night since the beginning of time did not blot out all the stars. And sometimes what appears to be a catastrophe or a calamity can in fact become a tremendous blessing.

I think, for example, of Jean Tunney. You see, Jean Tunney had a lemon. He broke both of his hands in his climb towards the top in the world of fighting. He'd want to be the heavyweight champion of the world. But his manager told him, "You can never make it. Your hands are too brittle." The doctor said, "Your hands are too brittle. You can never make it." But Jean Tunney said, "Gentlemen, I will be the heavyweight champion of the world despite the broken hands. I will become the best boxer who has ever stepped in the ring." And there are many today who believe that Jean Tunney was certainly one of the greatest boxers who ever entered the ring. There are the experts who will tell you in a moment that had he not broken his hands and learned the skill of boxing, had he tried to slug it out with Dempsey as he did in his earlier days when he was just a slugger and not a boxer, they agree unanimously that he never would have had a chance. He became the heavyweight champion of the world because he broke his hands. Yes, take a lemon and you make a lemonade.

Desire is what makes that difference. In 1965, I was in Kansas City. Met a man named Bernie Lopic. He told me an amazing story. And this story really covers all of the concepts, all of the ideas in which we believe. That's the reason we're going to give you the story in the detail which we are. When I met Bernie, he, you know, we had the little discussion about what he was doing in Kansas City. And he said, "I came down to hear the session." And I said, "Yeah, but it cost 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 with David. His little head hung too limp to the right side of his body for it to be a normal situation, and he drooled too much." And so he went to the doctor, and the family doctor said, "No problem, he'll outgrow it." But he said, "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, uh, 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, he has cerebral palsy. He's never going to be able to walk, our 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 Lopic 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. He said, "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 doctor, 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 or another, 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, uh, 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 ever had. When the examination was all over, he said to Bernie, "This boy is a, 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 Lopic said, "Doctor, 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 slow 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 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 Lopic 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 and emotional exertion was so great, there wasn't 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, 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 how to float." On October the 23rd, 1971, my wife and I flew to Winnipeg, Canada, to attend the bar mitzvah of "Little David Lopic." 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 1965, and I'd 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 1,000 push-ups in a single day, that he had run six miles non-stop, that he 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 and a lot of the, 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 with integrity. Of course, means basic wholeness. And they dealt with the entire person of David Lopic: physical, mental, and spiritual, the whole bit. As far as loyalty is concerned, nobody, I mean, those two big sisters and the mother and the dad and the doctors and the therapist, 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 Lopic, I think it's one of the most beautiful love stories I have ever heard. You, 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, coal 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 tonight?" or "Dad, do we have to put them on so tight?" And you parents, obviously, will relate to this. Here's a child whom you love deeply, and with tears in his eyes, he's asking, "Do you have to do it?" But Bernie and Elaine Lopic 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. When you love someone, you do what is best for that person, not necessarily what that person wants to do. Yes, the foundation that they built on was enormously solid. It was there all the way.

Self-image. Now, rather obviously, David could not have a healthy self-image as an infant. Today, of course, it is an entirely different thing. Self-image determines so many things in life. And one of the reasons we put so much emphasis on the "I Can" course, which our Mrs. McCulla developed for the school systems, is this: You see, you say to a youngster with a poor self-image, "Stay away from drugs, man, they'll kill you." And that youngster's automatic response is, "Man, don't give me that stuff. My buddies tell me they're fun. Makes you feel big. Makes you feel important. Makes you feel like one of the gang. Besides, hey, I've got nothing to lose because I'm nothing." You see, that whole image is so important. When David started seeing himself there, he really started doing so many more things. And even as a, a very young child, he had a good image, knowing that he was something and somebody special.

Relationships with others. So critically important because, you see, in your relationships, you treat people like you see them. And you see, parent expectancy has a great deal to do with, uh, their children's performance. Teacher expectancy, as I said in our third segment, has a great deal to do with people performance. The employer expectancy has a great deal to do with performance. Well, parental expectancy for David was so high, and they're so important as they're tied together. And the third thing was goals. And I talked an awful lot about big goals and lifetime goals and long-range goals and daily goals. David Lopic was involved in all of them. But he also was involved in hourly goals.

Ladies and gentlemen, attitude. Listen. Every night, David would have his parents there, and Bernie would hug his son, and Elaine would hug her son, her son, and they would say, "Son, you can go anywhere you want to go. You can do anything you want to do and be. You can move those mountains. There are so many things which you can do with your life. You can do it if you want to do it." When he was just about three years old, they bought him his first cassette player, and he had his own cassette recordings. And while he was doing his therapy and his exercises, David Lopic was listening to powerful motivational messages. They were pumping in the good and the clean and the pure and the powerful and the positive. From "Hello" to "Goodbye," and you've heard me say it a half a dozen times, you're going to hear me say it one more time. You see, you are what you are, and where you are, because of what's gone into your mind. You change what you are, you change where you are, by changing what goes into your mind. They changed and did a lot of things with David because every single day, the good and the clean and the pure and the powerful and the positive was being pumped into his mind. He became to believe he was a winner. He was expected to win. His own expectancy grew and grew and grew.

And then we, we come to this thing called work, which we cover in one of the segments in "Born to Win." I get so amused, and so amazed, and sometimes so irritated at people who look at others who have talent and they always say, "If I had that individual's talent, wouldn't I be able to do a lot of things?" What they don't understand is that every time they see an individual with talent who is succeeding in life, they're seeing a person who has worked awfully hard to perfect that talent. David Lopic became one of the best table tennis players in Winnipeg, Canada. Now, the way he did it was really interesting. His dad bought him a table tennis table, but didn't just go out and buy it. He set a goal for him. "When you do a certain number of this exercise and a certain number of another, and you accomplish this objective, then you get your table tennis table." Well, David reached the objectives. They bought him the table tennis table. He took it down in his, uh, gymnasium, you know, and he stood it up so that one end of one side of it was standing up, so he could stand there and bat the ball back and forth hour after hour after hour after hour. Now, when you have cerebral palsy, you can't jump around as you can otherwise. He can't move laterally as you and I can. He can't go backwards and forwards nearly as quickly. His movements have to be very measured. And so he learned how to do a lot of things with the ball. His buddies, initially, would come down, and David would challenge him to a game, and the guy would clean old David's platter. David would challenge him again and again and again and again and again and again until he physically just wore him to a frazzle, and then he would win a game. And when David ever won the first game, look out. He owned that person from there on in. Was it easy? Oh, it was a tremendous amount of work. But do you pay the price, or do you enjoy the benefits?

David Lopic wanted to skate, but they had told him, "You have no sense of balance, you see, and so you'll never be able to do that." And what did David do? He set his opportunity clock one solid hour earlier than any other member of the family. And he got up one winter, and with temperatures as much as 60, and even on occasion 80 degrees below zero, he would put his skates on, and he would crawl out to the frozen ice. And it literally took him one solid winter before he could even stand up on that pair of skates. Later, he skated on the neighborhood hockey team. No, it wasn't easy, ladies and gentlemen. But their results speak for themselves. You see, he also had an incredible desire for success. I don't know of anybody who ever wanted success in life, in a normal lifespan, as much as David Lopic did, or as much as his parents wanted it for him. Oh, he had that drive in there, which is so critically important. I, I guess I've thought about this a million times since I first met the Lopics years ago, and that is, how much bigger and better and faster and stronger, how much more David Lopic would have been had he been given the same chance in life that you and I were given. That is, being born with a normal, healthy body. Then one day, after several years, it finally broke through this last one quarter of an inch and got into my mind. Had David been given more, he could well have ended up with less, perhaps an awful lot less. I believe that's one of the reasons God tells us in his book so many times to thank him for everything.

Oh, I tell the story of David Lopic with a lot of excitement and a lot of enthusiasm because, you see, one of the concepts we've woven throughout this entire series is the fact that you can get everything in life you want if you will just help enough other people get what they want. Now, you see, when all of this started, the Lopics, Bernie was not at that point exactly flushed with cash. As a matter of fact, in a nutshell, he could not easily afford these enormously expensive treatments which David Lopic had to take. And so what did Bernie Lopic do? Every day and every night for seven solid years, he was out selling. He was in the cookware business. He started his own company. And for seven days and seven nights, for seven years, Bernie Lopic literally took off one Friday night. He was out there earning the money to provide for his son's treatment. Now, in the process, he built an enormously successful business. He built the biggest cookware company in Canada and became financially independent. Today, he's in real estate and is enormously successful, one of the most respected members of the business community. You might say, "Zig, he did all of that because that was his son." Does the philosophy that you can get everything in life you want if you'll help enough other people apply in all instances? I challenge you, show me one where it will not work. Simple example: As a salesperson, if you sell a product that solves a problem, you've helped that person get what they want. You get what you want, which is a sale. As a sales manager, if you can inspire, enthuse, train, motivate your sales people to go out and sell more, that makes them more successful, and you automatically are more successful. Yes, the story of David Lopic, to me, is one of the most inspiring stories I honestly believe that I ever have heard, I ever have been permitted to participate in.

You know, one of the things that I want to kind of wrap this all up with is that as we talk about concepts and philosophies and ideas, the story of David Lopic adds a few extra things. You take this thing called courage. It plays a very prominent part in what we do with our life. You see, David, without that sense of balance, still had a driving ambition to learn how to ride a bicycle. The therapist had literally to run behind him every step of the way and hold it to keep it in balance until he could learn by road exactly how to ride that bicycle. And then, you know how cruel sometimes kids are. Well, a lot of times, David, after he learned, would be out riding by himself, and a youngster would run at him just like this, and David couldn't quickly swerve to the side as most people, uh, can do, and down he would go. Hundreds of times he fell, but he had the courage to stay with it. Persistence. I don't believe you'll ever meet a more persistent young man than David Lopic. David simply stayed with it. Three hours a day. A lot of time, people, you know, would say, "Gee, if I just had more hours than every day." Well, the next time you attempted to make that statement, I want you to remember. Remember that David Lopic works and lives with just 21 hours a day. Three hours every day, he invested in getting to the position he is in today. Where is David today? 195 pounds, a barrel for a chest. He is in commercial real estate and apartment management. An absolutely beautiful young man. You know, the exciting thing is, the best part of the David Lopic story has not been told because the best part of the David Lopic story has not been written. I elaborate because, you see, I believe that if you analyze where

You started from and what you've got. I believe it'll give you more hope and more encouragement than just about anything that you can possibly think of. Because you see, in the free enterprise system, then those things are available. And so, to sum it up, I'll simply say that in the Game of Life, most of us want an awful lot of things. We want health and success and happiness and friends and peace of mind and security, and we want wisdom. I'm going to tell you that all of these, in some degree, are available if you build on the solid foundation and take the steps to get there.

Now, if you start leaving off part of the foundation, then you're going to have to shorten your shopping list and you're going to start cutting some of these things out. For example, if you decide that money is your major objective and you're going to get it regardless of how you get it, then you take out part of the foundation. And that means, though you might earn the money, where is your peace of mind? Where are your friends? How much happiness do you really have?

I urge you to evaluate the program in its entire concept. And one of these days, you and I might well cross paths, regardless of where we are. Whether I'm in England or Germany or South Africa or Edmonton, Canada, whether I'm in Aapa or Los Angeles or Chicago or Yazu City, Mississippi, one of these days, you and I will undoubtedly cross paths. If you come up to me and tell me that you've taken the course, then I'm going to be looking forward to what you have to say about the course.

If you say to me, "You know, I really enjoyed the course," then I'm going to smile pretty broadly because I like to have people say things like that. But I'm going to be expecting more than that. If you come up to me and say, "You know, I really got an awful lot out of that Barn to Wind course, it really was rich, full of meat, I got an awful lot out of it," I'll smile even more broadly because I, you know, that says more. But I will still be waiting and hoping you'll say more than that.

Because you see, if you enjoy it and get a lot out of it, what you're really saying to me is, "Hey, Zig, I got a good warm feeling from taking the Barn to Wind course." And you can get a good warm feeling by taking a bath, and it doesn't take all of this time to get it. But if you come up to me and say, "You know, I really enjoyed that course, it was exciting, I got an awful lot out of it, and since I've taken the course, let me tell you what I've done. My family has gotten back together, or my job is more fun, or I've gotten three promotions, or I've started to teach a Sunday school class, or I'm getting along better with my family than ever before." If you come up to me and tell me all of the things you have done which have made your life richer and better and more exciting and more rewarding, then I'll smile more broadly than you can possibly imagine. And I'll whisper to myself, "Thank you, Lord, commission our mission accomplished. That's what we set out to do, to make it better in life for you." And if you say that last thing, then I know we will have accomplished our objectives because you have accomplished yours.

I'm excited to be here. I read something one time that still fascinates me. I read where every third person is either remarkably handsome or incredibly beautiful. Now, what I'd like to get you to do right now is I'd like to get you to look at the person on your left. I mean, left. Look them over real good, real good. Now look directly at the person on your right. Look them over real good. All right. Now, since it ain't either one of them, now, just as a matter of curiosity, how many of you have ever either heard me before or else this will be your first time? Could I, could I see your hands, please? All right.

Well, you are here. In the next 60 seconds, I will give you a profile thought that can impact your life. In the next 10 minutes, I will give you four thoughts and ideas that can make a significant difference. I start with a question: How many of you honestly and sincerely believe, matter of fact, you're are totally convinced that there's something you can specifically do in the next two weeks that would make your personal life, your family life, and your business life worse? Can I see your hands? All right. Now, how many of you believe there's something you can specifically do in the next two weeks that would make your personal life, your family life, and your business life all better? Okay. How many of you believe that you have a choice in the matter? Can I see your hand? How many of you believe that every choice has an end result? Okay.

Now, let me tell you what you have said. In a little less than 60 seconds, whether you knew it or not, you have just said, "I don't care how bad or good my past has been. I don't care how bad or good my present circumstances are. There's something I can specifically do now that will make my future either better or worse, and the choice is mine." Folks, that's profound. You see, we're not victims. There are things we can do, and we can do them now, that will make a difference not only in our lives but in our family, in our company, in our community, and ultimately make a difference in America. America.

I'm the 10th of 12 children. I asked my mom one time, I said, "Mom, why so many?" And she said, "Well, son, where do you think I should have stopped?" Well, I do, I sure didn't think after number nine. Now, you can, you can absolutely count on that. I was, uh, real lucky. I was born in LA, that's Lower Alabama, and I was raised in Yazu City, Mississippi. Now, Yazu City is not a big place, but it's exciting. About once a month, a train comes through town. And that might not sound like excitement till I explain, we don't have tracks there. And then that puts it in a, in a different situation. Uh, we don't even have a village drunk; we share with a little community next to us.

Now, from time to time, people ask me if I arouse any eye in Yazu City because of my teaser. And I always say no. And let me tell you why. That little town has produced the former president of American Medical Association, former president of American Bar Association, former president of the Southern Baptist Convention, former editor of Harper's magazine, former secretary of agriculture, the current chairman of the Republican Party, a number of distinguished juries. Jerry Clowers. Now, I don't have any idea what happened to the other four. But you see, that little town has been very productive. And if a city is productive, they can take a little teasing, just as an individual who is productive and self-assured, self-confident, not arrogant, but confident, can also, ladies and gentlemen, take a little teasing.

Now, I know most of you, just looking at me, probably figure I'm in my early 30s, but actually, I'm 69. Now, what that means is I was raised during the Depression. We had things kind of tough. Dad died when I was 5 years old. There were six of us too young to work. It was the heart of the toughest depression our country has seen in the last 100 years. But you know, I never looked at the things we did not have. We had clothes to wear, food to eat, and a place to sleep. But what I did notice, and I don't know why I did this, but what I did notice was that there were some people in that little bitty town who were doing quite well. Some of them drove nice cars, wore nice clothes, lived in nice houses, some of them took nice trips, while some of them even played golf at the country club.

You know what I've noticed in every decade of my life, uh, since then? I have noticed, ladies and gentlemen, that many people pay no attention to the economy. As you know, the media has accurately predicted 28 of the last two recessions. Uh, so, so they don't pay any attention. How many of you have noticed, for example, that sometimes when the economy is just booming, I mean, as we'd say down home, "going hog wild," the economy is booming, and some people can't find a job or don't find one and even go bankrupt? How many of you have noticed exactly that? The same thing happening. I've also noticed when the economy was horrible, I mean, inflation over 20%, rate of interest over 22%, and in the toughest economic times, some people were getting rich. How many of you have seen exactly the same thing?

Now, my first point was, there is something you can do now to make your life better, worse, and the choice is yours. The second point I want to make: It's not what happens out there, folks. You can't do a whole lot about that, but you can do a great deal about what goes on in your own mind. In other words, it is up to us to do things with our lives. Now, 300 world-class leaders. See, a lot of people have what we call pity parties. You know, the problem with pity parties is very few people come, and those who do don't bring presents. Okay? A lot of people say, "Yeah, but let me tell you about my problems." Well, no. Let me tell you about 300 world-class leaders. Now, I'm talking about Roosevelt and Churchill. I'm talking about Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King. I speak of Clara Barton and Helen Keller and Mother Teresa. 300 world-class leaders. 75% of them were either raised in poverty or had been abused as children or had some serious physical defect. But they understood. For point number three, you see, it is not what happens to you; it is how you handle what happens to you that's going to make the difference. Do you respond to life, or do you react to life? Respond as positive, react is negative. You get sick, go to the doctor. She gives your prescription, says, "Sam, you..." Tomorrow you walk in, the next day, and she shakes her head and says, "Uh oh, the prescription is not working. Your body is reacting to the prescription. We got to change." You get nervous. But as she smiles and says, "Hey, it's working. Your body is responding to treatment." Then you feel pretty good. You believe everything's going to be all right. Now, we can choose to respond, or we can choose to react. Thomas Edison, for example, chose to respond. At 867, his factory burned down, $2 million loss. And in those years, that was a lot of money. He had no insurance. Now, he looked at that and he said, "In every tragedy, there is much to be learned." He said, "They just burned up all of our mistakes. Thank God, we can start over." Three weeks later, they delivered the first phonograph. Responding to life is so important.

Now, let me ask you, how many of you will admit that on occasion you get stuck in a serious traffic jam, right here in San Antonio, at the worst possible time? Can I see your hands? All right. Now, how many of you will be honest enough to admit that sometimes when that happens, you slap the steering wheel, you stomp your foot, you push the horn, you shake your fist, and demand to know, "What do they going to do something about it?" Oh, how many of you have ever done a thing like that? Can I see your hands? Now, I recommend that. I think it's good procedure, and I'll tell you why. I'm certain you notice that when you do that, the, that the traffic directly in front of you just opens up and permits you to go through. And that's what happens? Yeah, it does, doesn't it? All right. Now, if there were a better way to handle a traffic jam, you'd certainly want to know what it was, wouldn't you? Answer is yes. I'll help you with the tough ones, okay? And no question about it. Well, the next time it happens, not if, but when it happens, what you want to do is try to estimate how long it's going to take you to get through that traffic jam. And then you say, "Oh boy, oh boy, it's going to take me 40 minutes to get through." Now, in 40 minutes, I can build my vocabulary by at least two new words. I can learn something about financial management. I can learn two new sales closes. I can learn something about communication. While I can do those things in 40 minutes. Now, let me give you an interesting fact. Average American spends 500,000, 500 hours a year in a car. That's a lot of time in a car. You can choose to stomp your foot and shake your fist and raise your blood pressure and be in danger of stroke and heart attack, or you can choose to get an education in your car. You can learn everything from Chinese art to foreign language to the Bible to investment techniques and management procedures. You can get an investment education right there. An education, period. A choice. You see, the smart people, not always are the most successful, but those people who really are organized, who make the right choices, who respond instead of react.

Neil Rudenstein is a president of Harvard University. And this is my fourth major point. Neil Rudenstein's mother is a part-time waitress. His father is a prison guard. Doesn't make any difference who your mom and your daddy are. It's who you are and what you do that's going to make the difference. Now, this presentation is about total success. How, how do you win the whole ball game? And in order to win the whole ball game, we've got to have a lot of hope. As a matter of fact, that might involve some change. And as you know, change is always stressful. But then, so is unemployment. And a lot of us are going to be unemployed unless we are willing to make the change. Alfred Adler, the great psychiatrist, said this: "Change is the foundational quality, or hope is the foundational quality of all change." Hope is the action-oriented word. You see, without hope, the unemployed won't go looking for a job. Without hope, the husband and wife in trouble will not seek counseling and try to save the marriage. Without hope, the youngster will not study for the test because they're not going to pass anyhow, so why go through the routine? Hope is important. My friend, Dr. John Maxwell, a leadership expert, says that there's hope in the future, there's power in the present. Now, hope's got to be fed. It needs fuel. And the fuel of hope is encouragement. And we need that encouragement on a regular, regular basis.

Now, if we want to really look at what hope is all about, psychologist C.R. Snyder said, "Hope is not synonymous with intelligence, nor is it the same as being optimistic. It is more." Hope often assures the person of success in reaching goals. High intelligence may only give a person a chance. What is success, anyhow? You know, a lot of people, you win the whole ball game, what is success? I believe that success is getting a reasonable number of the things money will buy. Now, money is not everything, but it's reasonably close to oxygen. I mean, you know, you just kind of got to have some of it. Uh, at Hacker, I've had money, and I haven't had money. I'm here to tell you, it is better to have it. Now, generally speaking, the things I like cost money. See, I like to wear nice clothes, it costs money. I like to drive a nice car, live in a nice house. I like to take that beautiful red-headed wife of mine on, uh, on trips and in nice restaurants. That all costs money. I like to play golf at the country club, costs money. I like those things. But I got to tell you, I love, love the things money won't buy. See, money will buy me a nice house, but it won't buy me a home. Money will buy me a companion, but it won't buy me a friend. Money will buy me a bed, but it won't buy me a good night's sleep. Money will buy me a good time, but it won't buy me peace of mind. I want them all. And I just happen to believe that we can get all of those if we take certain steps and do certain things. I believe, yes indeed, that we can get them all.

Let me tell you one of my favorite stories. The gentleman's name is Vince Robert. 37 years old, how old are you? Drove a taxi. What's your job? He finished the fifth grade. How much education do you have? Now, most people would say, "Well, there's a guy who's headed for the relief rolls eventually. Odds are against him." Well, one day, as he was sitting in his taxi, and he did that several hours a day at the airport and at the hotel waiting on a fare, all of a sudden, lightning seemed to have struck. He went in a bookstore and bought a book. It was a 20-pound book, Webster's Dictionary. You know why Webster wrote the dictionary? His wife kept asking him, "Now, what does that mean?" Well, anyhow, he, uh, he put the Dix in. And I'm glad y'all are having so much fun. You know, we learn faster and we remember longer if we have humor involved in it. And of course, when you really laugh, that's internal jogging. That's good for you. And it'll save you a bunch of money because the, the new research recently validated proves conclusively that if you have a tendency to laugh, I mean, let one go, you know, good old belly laugh, if you have a tendency to do that but suppress it, the laughter comes back inside and spreads your hips. [Music] And, uh, what that means is you're going to have to buy a new wardrobe. So let's, uh, you know, let's have a little fun along the way. Well, anyhow, Vince Robert bought the dictionary. He set it on the front seat of his taxi. Starting on word one, page one, he started learning every word. Now, research at Georgetown Medical School proves that in 100% of the cases, there's no exception, when your vocabulary goes up, your IQ goes up as well. Suddenly, Vince Robert, before he was an eighth of an inch deep in that dictionary, started understanding things he had only been hearing or reading. He started saving every dime he could get. He invested it in the stock market. He lived frugally, and he ended up buying the 19-car cab company. He's from Ottawa. Now, he kept on investing. Today, he's a wealthy man, traveling Canada, telling other people how he did it. You see, he wanted some things in life, but he knew what he had to offer life would not provide him what he wanted. It hadn't in 37 years. And he knew he had to grow and to change. And, and that's what I'm talking about. Vince Robert can do it. And I suspect each one of you, as I was telling this story, I thought to you, say, "Well, you know, if he can, I can." That's what hope is about.

For 24 years of my adult life, by choice, I weighed well over 200 pounds. I say "by choice" simply because I have never accidentally eaten anything. Now, if I choose to eat too much, I've chosen to weigh too much. See, every choice has an end result. Now, 23 years ago, I got on a sensible exercise and eating program. Up until then, my idea of exercise simply was to fill the tub, take a bath, pull the plug, and fight the current. I mean, you know, that was it. I needed to lose 37 pounds. It took me 10 months to do it. Now, what that means is I lost an average of one and 9/10 ounces a day, every day, for 10 months. See, anybody can do that. I calculated that what I did was give up the equivalent of two big bites of ice cream a day, every day, for 10 months, for a lifetime of incredible benefits. Vince Robert gave up some pleasures temporarily for a lifetime of benefits. That's a sign of maturity. But we need to fuel it every day if we really are going to get ahead in life.

Now, the reason I believe you can is because of what Emerson said. He said, "What lies behind you and what lies before you are tiny matters compared to what lies within you." You would hear me say this many times: You've got to be before you can do, and you've got to do before you can have. Now, I want to get you excited about life. I believe excited, and excitement is enormously important. I believe attitude's important, but attitude, as important as it is, is not everything. There's something to go with it. When I was in the seventh grade, as an example, I decided to go out for the boxing team. Now, my opponent, the one we'd be sparring with, was a little guy named Joe Stringer. He weighed 672 pounds. I felt sorry for him. I really did. I mean, I was pretty good on the playground. I weighed 15 pounds. What I did not realize was that he had been out for the boxing team for the last two years. Now, we got in the squared circle, and it took him about three and a half seconds to discover that the shortest distance to the end of my nose was a straight left jab. And he apparently thought I was a slow learner because two seconds later, there it was again, and again, and again, and again. Well, I very quickly decided that I was far too busy to go out for the boxing team. [Music] Anyhow. Now, understand, I walked in the ring enthusiastic, highly motivated, very positive, and very confident. And I just about got killed. It takes more than positive thinking. Coach Pera had mercy, stopped it at the end of the first round, and took, took me aside and started my education in the skill of boxing. Now, a week later, I was hitting him on occasion. And I'm here to tell you, that hit or has more fun than the hit e, that's for sure. In two weeks, we were pretty well even. And in three weeks, I was carrying the day because I had the superior weight. In other words, when you take the right attitude and add the skill, whether the skill is in selling or medicine or administration or whatever it is, you combine those two, and now you've got a winning combination.

We're going to look, ladies and gentlemen, at some of the things people want and some of the things that we can do in order to be more successful in life. Now, we start with the fact that we've got to have a character-based philosophy. I'll talk a lot about philosophy. That's the love of wisdom. That basically is what it means. Form Corporation out of Boston, Massachusetts, did a study on 341 salespeople. 173 of them were superstars. 168 of them were good, successful salespeople. Now, if you put the two groups together and looked at their qualifications as far as experience, intelligence, and everything else, they were neck and neck. But one group sold dramatically more than the other group did for two basic reasons. Number one, they had total integrity. When they said something, the customers, the prospect would absolutely know that is truth. You see, the reality is, the only way you build a sales career, or a career in the Navy, or a career in management, or a career anywhere that takes you to the top, according to the Center for Creative Research out of Greensboro, North Carolina, is you got to build on integrity. Emerson said, "If you would lift me up, you must be on higher ground." With integrity, you have nothing to fear because you have nothing to hide. These salespeople had absolute integrity, and they had developed trust. You see, if there's no integrity, ultimately, there's no trust. And they were able to build their, uh, clients into bigger and bigger clients. Then the second thing that made them significant, and that is they were good people. Common sense, good people. And they understood that the sales process is not complete until the order is signed, the merchandise is delivered and paid for, and the customer is happy. Now, they knew in order for those things to happen, they, as an individual salesperson, could not handle it all. They knew they had the coop, had to have the cooperation of the shipping department, the finance department, the service department, and other departments in the company. So when they called in, they were just as gracious to the switchboard operator and the filing clerk and the shipping clerk as they were the company executives. Bottom line is, they lived a balanced, happy life, had good relationships at home as well, and were dramatically more successful in, uh, everything that they did.

Well, the question is, what can hardworking, motivated, enthusiastic people with integrity, what can they expect to get out of life? Well, the reality is, all of us wants basically the same thing. All of us want to be happy. We want to be healthy. And want to be at least reasonably prosperous. Now, I know some of you folks watching this want to be unreasonably prosperous, and, uh, you know, and that's okay. Everybody wants to be secure, and they want to have friends. They want to have peace of mind, good family relationships, and they hope that the future is going to be even better. Now, interestingly enough, hope is on the bottom because you see, hope supports all of the others. How many happy people have you ever seen that had no hope? Medical science proves beyond any doubt that your emotional and physical health is directly related to your hope. Your prosperity is tied to it. Your security is tied to it. Your friends are tied to, tied to it. How many friends would you have if you walk around looking like a picture on your driver's license? You know, I mean, when you walk down the hallway, you see, you ought to have that smile on your face. Uh, you know, people will wonder what you're smiling about, and let it be kind of a thing between the two of you. We need to look at our personal life, our family life, and our career. Now, USA Today, January 8th, 1990, did a study, and here's what they found. Number one cause of a productivity decline in America: marital difficulty at home. Number two is alcohol. Number three are drugs. What happens at home impacts your performance on the job. What happens on the job impacts what you do at home. But the question is, do you respond or do you react? And then we got to look at the physical, and the mental, and the spiritual. We're tri-dimensional. On the physical, we had a, a lady in Dallas, 65 years old, and she, uh, watched one of those exercise videos. And you know how excited people get about those things. And she was all turned on. See, she called her family together, children and grandchildren, and announced, "I'm going to start walking 5 miles a day, every day, for the rest of my life." They said, "Grandma, you don't start with five miles. You start with one mile, then go to two, and then the three." She said, "Nope, going to walk five miles a day, every day, for the rest of my life." And they couldn't talk her out of it. That lady is now 83 years old, and they don't have a clue as to where she is. [Laughter] [Music] Your physical condition is important. I did a study, large study, top-level executives. 93% of them had extremely high energy. Less than 10% of them smoked. Vertu, all of them could tell you their cholesterol level. They took care of their health. They got energetic as a result of it. At age 9, my resting heart rate is 48. My cholesterol level is 162. When I was 68 years old, I stayed on the treadmill at the Cooper Clinic 5 minutes longer than I had when I was 45 years old and in miserable condition. All it takes is a little bit every day. Now, it takes exercise, it takes eating sensibly, it takes getting a reasonable amount of sleep, and avoiding the poisons: tobacco and alcohol and drugs. When I was 62, I, I stayed on the treadmill longer than any active player in the National Football League who had taken the test, and many of them had. Now, I want to emphasize, I am not an athlete, but I am disciplined, and I am committed, and I do have so many long-range goals. I honestly believe that I'm at least 5 years, maybe 10, could be 15 years away from hitting my peak. I believe, ladies and gentlemen, that we can have a healthy life lifestyle, and it will enable us to extend our career a great deal longer. We need to be growing mentally. Actually, in the last 24 years, I've read an average of three hours a day. Now, I read a wide range of materials. I try to read the Bible every day and the newspaper every day. That way, I know what both sides are up to. And, uh, and you know, I think that's important. We really do. Admiral Hacker will tell you, you better know what the other side is doing, friend, because they might have some big guns out there aiming at you. All right. And then, of course, there is the spiritual side of life. You know, we are going to be dead just a whole lot longer than we're going to be alive. So we need to, uh, uh, we need to look at those things. All right.

Now, as you, as you look at these things that, uh, that everybody wants, what we need to do is examine some of the records and see who accomplishes these things. Can you really get it all? The things money will buy, and the things money won't buy? Well, Psychology Today reported on a study done on 1139 CEOs. Average income $356,000. Their number one asset was their integrity. Their number one priority was their family. Look at the CEOs of the Fortune 500 companies, April 28th, 1986. Here's what they found. 91% of them were either Catholic, Jewish, or Protestant, indicating they were at least semi-active in their faith, meaning they learned their ethics, their morals, and their values out of the Bible or out of church. It seems there is something to the spiritual aspect of life that we really need to look at. Another study was done by, uh, Korn Ferry International in conjunction with UCLA School of Management. 1300, 61 vice presidents were involved. Average income $215,000. What they learned was their number one asset was their integrity. Their number one priority was their family. They also revealed that 89% of them had two, three, four, or more children. 92% of them were raised by two-parent families. And they, in 87% of the cases, also were Catholic, Jewish, or Protestant. Putting it all together, to win it all, that, that's what we really need to do.

Now, how do you win it all? Well, this is probably going to surprise some of you, but you need to be a good scout and go to church. Now, let me, having said that, let me elaborate just slightly. I was recently reelected for the third year to the national board of advisors for the Boy Scouts of America. I'm telling you, it's a fabulous organization, and they're teaching some things that will make a difference. And I'll reveal in a moment what the difference they're making happens to be. Now, when I say, uh, "go to church," let me tell you about an article that appeared in the Dallas Morning News, February 12th, 1996. This is a study done by the Heritage Foundation. Those who attend regular worship service have a greater reduction of far fewer suicides, less drug and alcohol abuse, crime, out-of-wedlock births, and divorce. Therefore, happier, healthier, lower rate of depression, higher self-esteem, longer, happy marriages, and did you see that one? Better sex. Now, folks, I got to tell you, that ain't all bad. Now, let's take a little deeper look. They said this is what helps inner-city youth escape poverty. Those who go to worship service regularly, family income $37,000 plus dollars. Those who don't go, $24,361 a year. That's quite a difference. Perhaps the most astonishing bit of data they revealed, and I'd be more than happy to send anybody a copy of the article if you'd like to see it, but they discovered that in the inner city, the African-American ladies who go to church, teenage pregnancy is almost completely unknown. Maybe the most startling one, even beyond that, was this: almost without exception, the young black males who are imprisoned either never went to church or quit going by the age of 10. There's got to be something there. And folks, faith and encouragement are two ingredients that you pick up at church. You associate with people of like mind who are excited about life and who have hope in the future.

Now, those are in, this is the Harris poll that was released in 19, the 1995 study released last year. Of the kids who stay in scouting 5 years, 98% finished high school. 40% finish college versus 16% of the general population. 33% of them have incomes of over $50,000 a year as versus $17,000 who do not participate in, I mean, who are in the regular community. 70% of these kids who stay in scouting 5 years make Who's Who in America. 72% of the Rhodes Scholars are former Boy Scouts. 11 of 12 astronauts who walked on the moon, ladies and gentlemen, are former Boy Scouts. Perhaps most significant, when these people became adults, 94% of them said the values they learned in scouting is what has made the difference. When I was a Boy Scout in Yazu City, Mississippi, every Thursday night, I used to go down to Scout meeting and I'd stand up and I would say, "On my honor." Isn't that a wonderful word? "I will do my best." Isn't that a great word? "To do my duty to God and country." There are wonderful things there. And then there was the Scout Law. It said, "To be obedient and help other people. To be clean and reverent." When you put all of those together, you just described a good citizen, you really have. You know what else they teach there? They teach goal setting. You see, I knew exactly what it took for me to be a second-class Scout and a first-class Scout and a Star Scout. And you know, they had Court of Honor every month, and we'd stand up there, and we'd be called up front. The parents were there, you know, and they said, "Look at this guy. Look at what he did." And they pinned the recognition by your peer group. You know why a lot of kids get in gangs? Not accepted at home or at school. Here, they're recognized in scouting. Things, C, things happen there that are absolutely fabulous. But you know, you still got to have a philosophy. What is the philosophy? If you want to get all eight of those things, it's pretty clear: You can have everything in life you want if you'll just help enough other people get what they want.

Well, Zig, in this dog-eat-dog world where it's every man for himself, does that really, really work? Well, I challenge you. Pick up a December 8th, 1989 issue of the Wall Street Journal. They did a study on, uh, Golden Rule companies. That's what that really is. It's a paraphrase of the Golden Rule. Here's what they found. Those people make more money, they grow faster, and have better return on equity. That's an interesting fact. Treat other people like you'd like to be treated. When you're talking to your customers, when you go to see your doctor, your mechanic, your lawyer, your grocer, regardless of who you deal with, don't you like to be treated properly? Everybody is in exactly the same shoes. I have the privilege from time to time of doing some work with Chrysler. Four years ago, they came out with a fabulous new model. It demanded that they retool their factories and build some new ones. They asked the workers, "What should we do to make a better car and make it easier to assemble and increase our productivity?" And the workers said, "Well, you got some ideas. For example, when we have to walk, work on the underside of the car, if we have to walk down in the pit sometimes, we bump our head, and then we sometimes we trip and fall. Why not do this? Why not lift the assembly line? That way, we can walk underneath the car and work on it in safety." You know, when we have to lean way over like that, man, sometimes that really is hard on the back. If you would tilt the assembly line our way, it'd be so much easier. Easier. They gave the workers what they wanted. Let me tell you what happened. Reduced their medical expenses 90%. Dramatically reduced the amount of time lost because of accident and injury. Productivity skyrocketed. The quality of their product improved. Profits went up dramatically. The workers were happy. They were made happy first. You can have everything in life you want if you'll just have enough other people get what they want. Then the managers were happy. Then the company was happy, and the stockholders were absolutely ecstatic. Ladies and gentlemen, it absolutely does work, that particular philosophy.

One other example. There's a wealthy Chinese businessman named Lee Kosing, one of the 10 richest people in the world. He's from Hong Kong. Has an unusual philosophy and applies it this way. He taught his sons, who will soon be taking over the business. They sit in the boardrooms from the time they were 5 years old. And what he does basically is he finances other businesses. When he finds a good company with good management and good ideas, he will put up the money. And he's always said to his sons, "Now, if 10% is the going rate, but you could get 12%, always take nine." He said, "9% of a thriving business will produce more revenue than 12% of one that's struggling for, for survival." But he said, "There's something even more significant, and that's this: When the business community sees that you're not greedy, that you really do want them to succeed, that you really can have everything in life you want if you'll just help enough other people get what they want," he said, "you'll be amazed, but the entire business community, with all of the good deals, will come to you." Unselfishness is what I'm talking about.

As I begin to wrap up this presentation, let me tell you that relationships are the key to virtually everything we do. Our happiness is dependent upon them. You're getting along well with the people you love, love, basically, you're pretty happy. If you're not getting along well with the people you love, then basically, almost regardless of what else the rest of your life is doing, you're not a very happy person. I have access to some of the great minds in America, in the world of theology, psychology, and physiology. And those who are in psychology and theology do a lot of counseling. They tell me that virtually 100% of the counseling they do is the direct result of relationship difficulties: husband-wife, parent-child, employer-employee, teacher-student, neighbor-neighbor, brother-sister. The reality is, ladies and gentlemen, 80% of the counseling is the direct result, according to Dr. Smiley Blanton, of parents not having taught their children manners. Now, manners is more than how do you hold a knife and fork. It's deportment. It is civility. The child who has never taught to say "thank you" has never learned gratitude. And you will never see an ungrateful, happy person. We become a self-centered, "ray from a heck with you, I'm going to do it my way." And if I have to win through intimidation, I'm going to look out for number one, and I'll do it now. And I've just described a completely miserable human being.

Let me explain my philosophy with a little example, a scenario, if you will, and then let's take it from there. And I will leave it up to you if it makes sense that we really should be kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving each other. In this scenario, it's Friday afternoon, it's about 5 o'clock. The husband's been gone all week long. He comes to the front porch, heavily laden with luggage. He's got a bulging briefcase. He doesn't want to set it all down to ring the doorbell, so he kicks the door. Doesn't gently do it, he does it with enthusiasm and force. Bang, bang, bang. Well, his wife, somewhat startled, comes to the door and opens it and is surprised to see him. And he said, "The reason I'm late is I've been to a meeting, and I'm glad I went to that meeting because I learned some things that just bug me no end. I learned, for example, that I'm not getting all of my rights around here. And as a matter of fact, I've made a list of all of them. And the first thing you and I going to do, woman, is we're going to sit down and we're going to go over this list because I'm here to tell you, there's going to be some changes made around here." I can well imagine her saying, "Well, Buster, I didn't go to a meeting. I didn't need to. And I don't have a list written down. I didn't need to do that either. You come on in because there got to be some changes made around here. We are going to talk about it. I'm going to tell you right now, you're not going to like most of the changes that are going to be made." Now, don't you know they had a wonderful, ecstatic, exhilarating, motivating, inspiring weekend? And don't you just know that on Monday morning, they couldn't wait to get out there and change the world, all for the better, because of this remarkable, romantic weekend? Change it just slightly. Same front porch, same husband. This time, he's still laden with luggage and a bulging briefcase. He comes to the front door and he gently taps it. His wife responds, and before he makes a move to come in, he says, "Sweetheart, I, I'm late because I went to a meeting, and I'm ever so glad I did because it's say I learned some things that bother me a great deal. I learned that in all probability, I have not been meeting the needs which you have. And what I'd like for us to do, before we do anything else, is I would like for us to sit down, and I want you to tell me how I can become the husband you thought you were getting and deserve to have when we married." I can well imagine her responding, "Well, actually, I've been extremely happy being your wife. But from time to time, frankly, I've wondered if I've been meeting, if I've been meeting all of your needs. Let's do sit down and talk about it." Doesn't need any elaboration, does it? There's nothing else that needs to be said, except that you really can have everything in life you want.

Today, though, when you look at the stress level, it seems the doctors are talking about stress being at all-time high levels. I mean, what, you know, people are looking for answers, Zig, aren't they? Yes, they are. As a matter of fact, in my Sunday school, recently, I did a two-week series on stress reduction. And this is a place where faith comes in because there's a, there's a Bible verse that says, "All things work together for good to those who love God, who are called according to His purpose." So when bad things happen, I just kind of smile and say, "Well, Lord, I don't like that a bit, but I know You've got something better in store for me." I really don't sweat when things like that happen. Kim and I believe that's made a huge difference in my life.

What happens, Zig, when you get off stage? People will come up to you, they'll just say, "Oh my gosh, you know what you've done for my life." And you know, how do you interpret? Now, understand what I mean by this. You know that you people will say, "Oh my gosh, you've done so much for my life." Do you see a lot of these people later on where they've, where they've applied these principles and just absolutely jettisoned their life to a whole another level? What, what do you experience? Uh, Kim, one of the things that keeps me going is the fact that as I was saying to my son on our way for this interview, uh, this morning, I was reading three significant emails from people who gave wonderful testimonials about how the philosophy has changed their life. One of the huge benefits I had is in my relationship building. Uh, I have people who teach me. I validate things psychologically, theologically, and physiologically before I verbalize them, write them, or record them. So I speak with a lot of confidence, not because of what comes from me, but because of what comes through me. And there's a huge difference. Uh, that lets me know that I'm not the one responsible. I had the help that was necessary to make those good things happen.

To be the speaker that you are, how did you get some special training? I, I literally, Zig, never. I mean, you can talk to anyone out here. They never seen anyone.

Like you, your approach, your style. I mean, you keep people laughing. You're finished laughing, and then you're, then a person is almost ready to cry because then you, you, you take them on a roller coaster. And, and it's all coming from you. I mean, from an audience perspective, you're, you're just looking at this. You're mesmerizing, and you're just saying, "How is he? He's pulling all these emotions out of me."

Well, you know, of course, uh, we are emotional people. We don't make logical decisions. We make emotional ones. Witness the seatbelt in the automobile. For years, people fussed about having to use them. Yet, on an airplane, the flight attendant says, "Passenger seatbelt," and everybody fastens a seatbelt. Now, if you use them in the automobile, the odds are at least three to one better, better that you're going to survive a wreck. I don't care how many seatbelts you're facing on that airplane. When that sucker comes down from 30,000 feet, that seatbelt, it's not going to do you any good.

But what I have tried to do, uh, is to be myself. My nature is that of the optimist. You know, as I tell people, I'd go after mob dick in a rowboat and take the tartar sauce with me. I take my last $2 and buy a money belt with it. But my optimistic nature has been very helpful. And I do know, for a fact, that everybody enjoys humor if it's non-sexist, non-racist, and crystal clean. I tell people I only use adult language like commitment, responsibility, and dedication. And an awful lot of four-letter words like good, and best, and real, and fair, and love, and things like that. You know?

So, number one, the humor keeps the audience attentive. Uh, average attention span is a little less than nine minutes. So, every nine minutes, I have them laughing. I tell folks, "I'm like across our discus throw. Don't set the records, but I do keep the crowd alert." And that's important. Then I know that in that audience, there will be a lot of people who are hurting. So, I like to tell stories of encouragement. So, they get the impression that, uh, if this individual can survive that tragedy, then I can handle my life a little bit better. And I try to remind them that failure is an event. It's not a person. That yesterday really did end last night. That today is a brand new day. So, you can make this a good day. And if you make every day a good day, then you've had a good life.

And one final little thing, uh, I know for a fact that a lot of times an apparent failure can be an outstanding success. For example, most people life at the Edsel automobile that are old enough to remember it. It was ugly, didn't sell many, it was a joke. And yet, it turned out to be the most profitable, uh, car that the Ford Motor Company ever built. Because out of the technology they used on the Edsel came the Mustang. Out of that technology came the Taurus. So, I try to encourage people by telling them, uh, "Don't miss the good in a bad experience. Look for it." And that gets them to thinking. And if we can get people to thinking, then that makes a difference in their lives.

Uh, one last little thing. I discovered quite by accident, uh, doing a seminar where the stage was real high and the audience was large and spread way out. I just instinctively had a feeling that if I got down on my knee, the audience would feel, was feeling that I was trying to get closer to them. Yes, yes. When I set the auditorium myself, myself, I like to have them right close to the stage. I like to almost get in their laps when I talk. Uh, one of the things I enjoy most is shaking hands and having that intimate contact for a moment or two with an individual.

Do you see a difference in people in their 40s versus people in their 20s and how they receive the message? Yes, uh, unfortunately, I do. Uh, you know, when you're 20, you're going to live forever. Uh, you've got, uh, all of the answers. Uh, uh, it's okay for me to do a little experimenting because, uh, you know, I'm bulletproof. Nothing's going to happen to me. And a lot of that, uh, can be traced to two things. Number one, parents have tried so hard to be buddies with their children that they're not becoming parents to them. They forget that the child, the youngster coming on, does not have mature judgment. And when they really love that child, they will say no if it is not in the child's long-range best interest. That's number one. And then number two, the media has gotten so runchy. The things that are on television now, and you hear on the radio, are just, uh, absolutely deplorable.

And one of the things I talked about in my presentation was, people say, "You know, character doesn't count, right?" They've never asked a mother whose husband abandoned her and ran off with another woman and left her with the three children, right? Nor have they talked to the father whose wife ran off with his best friend, right? Uh, does character count? And as I asked the audience today, I said, "How many of you, uh, would hire an accountant, a CPA, or a treasurer who admitted that he or she was only relatively honest?" Right? That's right. Relatively honest. That's right. Things there, some things right, some things are wrong. They're not relative. When I come back from an out-of-town trip, my wife, not one time, has ever asked me if I'd been relatively faithful. You're relatively faithful? I don't expect her to ever to ask that question either.

That is so tough. I don't know what the numbers are. Zig, is it 50% of marriages now ending in divorce? I mean, that seems to be the ongoing number. Is that a fair thing to say? That, uh, that certainly is astronomical. There's no question about that. And one of the reasons is that Hollywood has presented a picture that is so out of touch with reality. In marriage, there are problems that arise. So, if you've made the commitment before the marriage, people say, "Well, I fell out of love." Well, you can fall back in love by repeating the process you used when you fell in love. And like I tell folks, you know, you buy a house, you got a 20-year mortgage on it. But after five years, you don't love it anymore. So, you don't tell the mortgage company, "Look, I don't love this house anymore, so I'm not going to pay for it anymore." See, that's insanity. When we make commitment, accept responsibility, particularly when children are involved. Now, I'm not saying that a wife should stick around if her husband beats her. That's not what I'm saying. And certainly not if he abuses the children. But I am saying that that commitment and responsibility will solve a lot of problems in that marriage if they'll just keep on courting.

Uh, I'm more in love with my wife, as I mentioned in my presentation today, after 54 years, by far, than I was when we first got started. I believe in my, I know in my eyes, she's more beautiful today than she was when we married. And that, to me, is so exciting. I cannot see enough of my wife. I just enjoy being with her. She's fun. But we court each other every day. Every day we court each other.

You know, um, I've been with my wife going on, uh, 23 years. And, you know, when I heard you say that, the first, I remember, I remember seeing you in a presentation. The word was, "I love that redhead." And just, you know, and you, there are certain phrases and things that Zig that you say that I know for me, I have never forgotten. And I know a lot of other people have their phrases that they never forget. But that's one that most people will be able to tell you without even knowing your wife. Would say, "He loves that redhead." Um, but I, I can honestly say that, uh, I've experienced that same feeling of what's happened over time with commitment, of how I see my wife as the most beautiful person I've ever seen. It's, and there is something very magical with commitment. And so many people will never have that chance, will they? They'll never really have that moment to experience what that was to hang in there and work on the relationship.

I can't begin to tell you the number of times each one of my children have said to me, "Dad, I am so glad you love Mom like you do, and that she loves you." Never will I forget a conversation I had with my son when he was a teenager. I said, uh, "Son, if anybody were to ask you what you liked best about your dad, what would you say?" Without hesitation, he'd say, "Dad, the thing I like best is the fact that he loves my Mom." "Son, why would you say that?" He said, "Well, Dad, I know that since you love her, you're going to treat her right. And as long as you treat her right, she's going to be with you because she sure does love you. And I'll never have to make a choice between living with you or living with Mom." Well, Kim, I had no way of knowing it, but that very day, one of his best friends had to make that choice.

I think I want to go back to Hollywood for a second. My goodness, has it changed? I mean, what's going on? I mean, I have a 10-year-old and a six-year-old. Zig, I can't hardly stay television. I can't let them listen to regular radio stations because I can't, you know, I'll hear a song with some rap or not, you know, whatever. It doesn't have to be, I don't mean to indict rap music, but my point of the matter is the lyrical content, everything is sexual in your window. I mean, what am I'm supposed to do with? In fact, I was at on a trip in Las Vegas, uh, recently, and I just, it just stood out to me that there was a big billboard with, you know, the sexy girls on the board. And I'm thinking, if I was a parent, I'm driving down the main drag, and you know, you see it here in Dallas. I, I guess, what, where I'm going with this is, we need to pay attention to these images, both, both visually, audibly. Our parents not getting that? I mean, what's your, what's your read on that? The bombardment of information going into our, our kids and and adults?

I, I think that, uh, what I touched on earlier is that the child needs a parent, not a buddy. And if they don't exercise their authority, you know, they let the kids out talking about, say, "Well, everybody else is doing it." Short story. My oldest daughter was a junior in high school. She came running in the house one day from school. She'd gotten a ride with some of her buddies, and she said, "Daddy, can I go to such and such a place with my friends?" I knew who those friends were because we were close. And I said, "Absolutely not." And she said, "Well, why not?" I said, "Doll, it's the wrong place with the wrong group." "Well, everybody else is going. Now, do you know that's not going to have any bearing on your daddy?" She said, "Why can't you go?" I said, "Do, let me tell you something. Those kids out there are your friends today. They might not be speaking to you tomorrow. I'm your daddy, and there's nothing on this earth that you could ever do that would cause me not to love you. You will always be in my heart, and I love you too much to permit you to go to a place where at least your reputation would be in danger, perhaps even your safety." I said, "Doll, it's the wrong place." And, uh, she stood there, and little lips started to quiver. And then all of a sudden, she almost leaped forward and said, "Thank you, Daddy. I didn't want to go, go anyhow."

Now, Kim, I have no idea what she told the kids out in the car. But a lot of times, these kids have been bowing to the pressure of the peer group, and they use those things. She didn't want to go. She was thrilled that I, as her father, said, "No, you can't go there. It's not in your best interest." That's what parents need to do because you've got to combat what the media says. As I mentioned in my presentation, and we listen to the wrong people. There was this TV show, and this Hollywood starlet was being interviewed, you know, and they asked her the question, "How do you hold on to a man?" Well, here's a gal who's been married so many times. She has rice marks on her face. Uh, she doesn't have a clue. Not a clue as to how to hold on to a man. You need to look at the stable families, the stable marriages. You learn from success. You see, the reality is, it's not just how you live, but it's how you feel. Finish. That's going to make the difference. That's what people are really interested in. But a young person doesn't have the foresight. That's why mature adults need to guide them. Say no at the appropriate time, and give them a reason when they get old enough to understand why no is the proper answer.

What would you say? You're up in a car with your nephew or something, and 20-some years of age, and you say to him, "You know, what kind of music are you listening to?" Just, just out of curiosity. "Oh, I've got, I'm really into this kind of music." Puts on a tape. A lot of profanity. Mhm. You know, he's 20-some years of age. A lot of profanity, a lot of negative stuff. But on the outside, sharp young man, got a good job. Mhm. Because this recently happened to me. Mhm. And, uh, I don't know if I handled this right or not. But I asked him, I said, "You know what?" I said, "Um, you are much too sharp, you know, to be listening to the junk like that." I just, I, I, and I said to him, I said, "You know, I just, you know, look at you and how great you are and how special you are. You deserve better than that." But I didn't, you know, I was just kind. I mean, I really wanted to say, "Are you nuts? What are you?" You know? Because what's your thought about that, Zig? Because kids, you know, parents, teenagers in their 20s, you're faced with that. Yes, you really are.

Uh, number one, uh, parents, uh, should restrict. I think the most tragic mistake we make is to let a child have a computer or a TV set in their private room where they can be exposed to that. In 1702, Andrew Fletcher, a great Scottish Patriot, made this statement, and I'm going to paraphrase him a little bit. He said, "You write the laws, let me write the music, and I will rule your country." And the music in 1702 was quite different from what it is today. See, repetition is the mother of learning. That makes it the father of action. And when you repeatedly hear these things, uh, then you know what's going to happen. You, you, where you are, and what you are, because of what's going in your mind. The mind is the gateway to the heart. And when you put that kind of garbage in the heart, uh, trouble is on its way. The profane language that's used in everyday life, uh, a lot of people don't realize it. Uh, one of my men that I talk with, Rabbi Daniel Lapin, one of my counselors, one of the men I ask questions about in the Old Testament, pointed out to me, there's a verse in the Bible that said, "You shall not curse a deaf person." Why not? They can't hear. Because of the damage it does to the individual. Dr. Les Carter, one of the men also a psychologist I talked with, is involved in a lot of domestic violence. And he said, "Zig, I have never dealt in a case of domestic violence, physical violence, which was not preceded by verbal violence." You said this. I have said this. Everybody said it. Don't get me started to talking about that because the more I talk about it, the madder I get. Well, that person with a short fuse, then acts it out, what they've just been verbalizing. We eliminate. I'm convinced of this. When, if we could eliminate the verbal violence on the radio, on television, on the, we would reduce physical violence dramatically, dramatically.

What is it then? You see some of the Hollywood producers on talk shows, and they really, you know, pooh-pooh the idea that, "Come on, this movie isn't doing it. Come on, it isn't this." Of course, we've got the Columbine shootings and other shootings, you know, Columbine was the shocker. Now we've had all the rest of them. Are that residual effect where you're, well, there was another shooting. Yeah. What is it that they're not getting as a society, Zig? I, I'm, I'm getting it. I hear you loud and clear. Yeah, but there seems to be this, that, that the movie industry, I guess, has to be because of economics, that it's such a strong economic agenda that we'll just keep flushing this stuff down on, uh, on society.

Well, every destructive habit, every destructive habit, whether it's obesity, alcoholism, drug usage, profanity, uh, unfaithfulness. Psychologist, uh, Dorothy Hick says that the, uh, rapist in many cases started out as the peeping tom. It gradually escalated. In my own life, for 24 years, I weighed well over 200 pounds. Now, I didn't gain all of that weight one weekend or one month. Over a period of time, I graduated a little too much, just a little here and a little there, and a little here. Profanity is the same way. As a youngster, I remember when, uh, the movie, "Gone With the Wind," came on, and a lot of folks said, "Oh, did you hear what Clark Gable said there at the end?" And everybody, "Oh, don't be silly. What harm can that do?" Little later, they added another word, then another, and another, and another. And now the most filthy, vulgar language is being seen on television and heard on radio, magazines all over the place. Glamorize the sort of thing. And the impact it has on our character, on our lives, is absolutely incredible. Just creeps right in. That's absolutely right. You don't even realize it, and it's on you.

As I hear so much, and can you help me see a little clearly on this peer pressure with these teenagers? I hear it's just unbelievable. I mean, you know, talk to the PTA president, and they say, you know, "What if you had to name one thing that's the number one thing?" She, "Oh my God, it's peer pressure." If my daughter belongs to one group, but she wants to be friends with another group, she's ostracized from one, you know, like who? You know, all right. And then, so it's kind of a double question. Zig's, I'd like for you, maybe to give me a little bit of insight on what you would tell kids with peer pressure. Now, I see the same pressure in corporate America. I see the same kind of thing, uh, with someone leaving and going to lunch, maybe with the wrong, are you going with the right group? The wrong group? You know, when you look at that, when you look at the, what's going on in schools and peer pressure, what's going on in corporate culture with political pressure? What's your thought about that?

Well, number one, uh, according to a study done in Missouri, two-thirds of a child's working vocabulary is acquired by age three. Psychiatrist Ros Campbell says that 80% of a child's character is formed by age five, and 90% of the personality by age seven. Now, when that youngster is raised on the wrong words and the wrong views and so forth, and so many parents use the television as the babysitter, and the parents, a lot of times, say, "Well, I'm watching it with them, so I guess it's all right." That's pure baloney. Uh, I travel a great deal. Nine times out of ten, when I'm in a hotel room, the television set never comes on. There is so little there that would be of interest to me, which would, uh, give me any added value to my life. I aim everything at learning because I love to teach, and I've got to learn before I can teach. Now, this is my profession. I don't, uh, encourage others to take it to this extent, but for 30 years, I've read an average of three hours a day. Now, I read a wide range of, uh, subjects and books. And all I read, my Bible every day, and I read the paper every day. And that way, I know what both I are up to. And, uh, I think it's important that we do that. So, to begin with, uh, early on, when we do the training. Number two, the parent needs to understand that according to all of the research, though teen pressure or peer pressure is significant, the child much prefers to follow their role model, the example of the parent. The parent has the first shot, the best shot, the most important shot, the most loved shot. Because if that parent, and as I mentioned, uh, in my presentation today, if they will start that child's day kindly and gently, as they did when the child was an infant, waking them up lovingly, talking to them with affection, smothering them. If they will awaken them that way all of their life, tell them what a great day it's going to be, how you can't wait until they get home so they can share with you what you learned that day. And then at night, if bedtime, as I mentioned today, is 9:00, at 8:00, you say, "Okay, kids, now you know you got to put the cat out and bring the bicycle in, called Charlie about the assignment, get both drinks of water, take all three trips to the bathroom. Now's the time to do it. We're going to bed at that point." At 9:00, you turn the TV off. If you've been watching TV, greatest insult to a child just to try to put them to bed during the commercial. Now, we raised four, so we understand that the greatest con artists on Earth are those between ages 6 and 15. They're going to try to keep you there, answering silly questions, right? Let them, because they will soon grow weary of that. Then you can bond with that child more than you've been able to do all day long. They'll open their hearts to you. You can guide them properly, answer their questions. But most importantly, even above that, you can demonstrate to them, "You are my number one project. I love you unconditionally. This time is yours." Start the day right, end the day right. The time in between will be infinitely better.

Zig, I want you to imagine you've got a microphone in front of you, and there are 10 million 13 to 16, 18-year-old youth listening to the radio. Uh, producer says, "Mr. Zigler, we only have time for you to give one statement to these kids. Well, only one thing out of your 40-year, years you've been doing this personal development, helping educate, coaching people worldwide. If there's only one thing that you want them to get that will, that would have the most impact on them, Mr. Zigler, you've got 10 million listening. What would you say to them?"

I say, first of all, you've just asked them an impossible question. We're, we're not one-dimensional people, and one sound bite is not really going to, uh, give that much depth. If I, if you use a word, uh, the word would be character, because out of it comes consistency. Dr. Fukuyama wrote a book called "Trust," where he had studied several cultures over several generations, and he said you can measure the progress based on the level of trust that existed within those cultures. And trust only comes from a character base. So, I would start with that. But there are so many other things, as I talked about in the seminar, that, you know, are involved. Not only that, but you've got to be a smart worker. You've got to learn how to get along with people. Nearly 100% of all counseling is because of relationship difficulties. Husband-wife, parent-child, teacher-student, employer-employee. So, people want to be respected, and they want to be appreciated. And when we understand that, like with my wife and me, you know, we've had disagreements like all married couples, but we've never said to each other, "Well, that was a stupid thing you did," or "That was dumb. What an idiotic move." We've never said things like that. We never felt those things. And so, that character base produces all of these things. And so, I would say to that person, "Be dependable. Be consistent. Build on trust, because that's the way you develop long-term relationships." My executive assistant has been with me 24 years. There's trust. My attorney, before he retired, had been with us, uh, 27 years. Trust was developed. I knew that here was somebody that was reliable. Our CPA firm, same story. We develop that trust, and I don't have to be always wondering if they did this right or that right. Those things are so incredibly important. When I'm on the road, my wife doesn't have a concern about what I'm doing. I can call at 3:00 in the morning, and I know that she's going to answer that telephone. That trust is so important, and we need to build on that. There's nothing that replaces that.

Now, in addition to that, of course, as human beings, we still must be productive. We've still got to work. We've still got to be a contributing member to society. And as you heard me say in the seminar, a couple of three times, you really can't have everything in life you want if you'll just help enough other people get what they want. And let me give you an additional example, which, time didn't permit in the seminar. Lou Holtz is a good friend of mine. He bought this philosophy when he was coach at Arkansas a number of years ago. He said it revolutionized his life, completely changed it. When he was at Notre Dame, he was there 11 years, and in 11 years, he produced 10 head coaches. And people would say, "Well, now, wait a minute. The coaches he produced were his very best assistant coaches. Where does that leave Lou?" Let me tell you where it left him. They have a, a really tight network of assistant coaches in America. When he had promoted, or when the second one got that offer from a for a major head coaching job, other assistant coaches said, "You know, Lou Holtz is training people how to be head coaches. Think I'll apply for a job with him." Bob Davie was the defensive coordinator at Texas A&M. He went to work with Lou for the same, at the same position. Now, guess who's the head coach at Notre Dame today? Absolutely. Well, so, in other words, number one, he was able to replace his best assistant coaches with equally good, sometimes better, assistant coaches. But the huge bonus came in this package. Those new coaches brought all of their high school contacts with them. His recruiting was taken care of. I don't care whether you look at it in your personal life, your family life, or your career. The fact is, that's just the Golden Rule rephrased. You can have everything in life you want if you'll just help enough other people get what they want.

If a person is a 5'6", very unlikely they'll play in the NBA. Is that a fair thing to say? You'd be one rare diamond in the rough. If you're 5'6", are there, are there, from a personality style standpoint, Zig, you know, you deal with the, the analytical types, you deal with the, uh, gregarious, you know, uh, socializer type, you deal with, uh, you know, those director types, all these different types of personalities. Do you, and then, you know, if you ask people in the audience, you know, "What do you do? What do you do?" You got, you know, "One might be a doctor, one might be an attorney, one might be," you know what I'm saying? It's just all these diverse different careers. But then you ask them, "If you won the lottery today, how many, if you won the lottery today, would quit your job?" You'd see most of those hands go up. Yeah. Zig, what's the disconnect here? You know, what is the disconnect?

Well, they're living what I would say a life out of balance because they think that money will buy them everything they really want. Uh, I dealt with that rather extensively in the seminar itself. Uh, you know, and, and money is significant. But I guarantee you, I don't accept a speaking engagement for the money involved. And any of our corporate clients who are watching this, don't misunderstand. I'm still going to keep accepting them, uh, those, uh, honorariums. But the reality is, there are a lot of them I won't accept. For example, I won't accept an engagement following a cocktail party. See, I believe I've got something to say. My mail indicates that that's true. I'm not going to go and accept a fee for talking to a bunch of drunks because I do, I know in my own heart and mind I can't earn the fee because I don't have the mind of the people that with me. Uh, you know, you can get everything in life. Money will buy without character, you can't get anything that money won't buy. Without that character, uh, you know, as I mentioned in the seminar, money buys your house, but not a home. A companion, but not a friend. A bed, but not a good night's sleep. A good time, but not peace of mind. Money won't buy those things. Those are the things that ultimately all of us want. And then, you know, as I said, we, one of these days, we will die. And the research clearly indicates that we're going to be dead a lot longer than we were alive. So, I've got a long-range goal, and fortunately, I know that I'll reach that goal. I know where I'll spend my eternity. That enables me to deal with the pressures of the day. I really, uh, I go to the Cooper Clinic about every 18 months for my physical. One of the questions they always asked, Dr. Cooper used to ask this, it said, "You rate your job stressful, not stressful? How do you rate it?" I say, "Not stressful." He just smiles and says, "That, you got one of the most stressful jobs in the world. The deadlines, the travel, and all that sort of stuff." I said, "Ken, I wish hadn't told me that. I didn't realize it was. I'm having too much fun, you know, to to even consider it stressful." These people that look at money as the solution to all of their problems and bringing happiness, research indicates just the opposite. It absolutely does not. Frequently, it causes more problems, you know, than it solves. You get a different class of friends, you live in a different neighborhood, in many cases, your lifestyle, uh, is different. And yet, research on millionaires, the people who are worth over a million dollars and have a lot of income, they live in a neighborhood they could afford a much better one. They'll drive a car five or six years, you know, their favorite food is steak. They live a very boring lifestyle. However, they're happily married to the same wife of many, many years. And research, incidentally, is pretty conclusive. 1949, Harvard Business School, their first graduating class only had men in it. Then CNN did a study on them, a book was written about them. 49% of those men in their lives achieved outstanding success, either as Vice Presidents, Presidents, or Chairman of the Board of major corporations. Question was asked, "How do you account for this?" They said three things: Number one, everything we did was with integrity. Number two, our wives were enormously helpful. They're very bright. We could talk about our business. We bounced things off their heads. They gave us different insights, and, uh, it was just very helpful. Number three, they said, "We were risk-takers, but not gamblers." Mhm. And hitch on that. In my own life, my youngest daughter is the editor of my books. She is by far the best one I have ever had. And it's just such, she's so much fun to work with. But being obviously much younger than I and female, you see, she brings an entirely different perspective. And she knows me like the back of her hand, and she knows where my heart is, and I know where her heart is. So, when she softens the edges, I'm on occasion, I have been known to get a little dogmatic. I know you find that hard to believe, but I really am. And she can rough, smooth the edges. Now, I do 95% of all the creative stuff, but the way she smooths it off and brings it down to this generation as well, it's absolutely beautiful. We all need help. On my, uh, I have a wall of gratitude with 25 men and women on it. These men and women were placed in my life by God along the way to give me the guidance and direction I needed. My dad died when I was five. There were eight of us still at home. I'm the 10th of 12 children. But those people came into my life, and I listened to what they had to say. It's been incredibly helpful.

Finish this sentence. Most people would be surprised to know that Zig Ziggler, there was a very conservative lifestyle. I haven't bought a new car in years. I let somebody else drive it the first couple of years, and then I take advantage of that. I'm uncomfortable paying as much as $25 for an entree. I'll wait until the suits go on sale. Uh, now, because of that, in one small incident, several years ago, I was buying shampoo by the gallon. I was in the bathroom, getting rid of, had to take a shower. I was pouring the shampoo into a smaller bottle, and I spilled some of it there in the laboratory, and I reached down, I picked it up, and I put it on my hair. About that time, my son came in. He said, "Dad, what happened to your hair?" And I said, "Well," and I told him what I'd done. You know, he said, "Dad, one thing about it, nobody will ever accuse you of being wasteful." I said, "Son, let me tell you something. You know that little Thunderbird automobile you got out there parked in the driveway? You drive it because of little things like this." I still turn the lights out in a hotel room when I leave. Uh, I just don't like waste. I don't think that's the wise thing to do. And if every citizen in America followed the same process, we wouldn't have the power shortages we've got today or the fuel shortages we've got today. Uh, we really wouldn't. We waste more than we use.

Zig, what do you hope to accomplish with your presentation?

Kim, without, uh, even having to think about it or hesitate in answering, any presentation I give, my major objective is to give every person in that audience hope. Legitimate hope, with instructions. I never make a promise unless I give a plan that their future can be infinitely better than their past. Alfred Adler, the psychiatrist, said that hope is the foundational quality of all change. Hope's a great activator. The youngster with no hope of passing won't study. I mean, why bother? The salesperson with no hope of making a sale won't make the call. I mean, what's the use? The couple whose marriage is in trouble and they have no hope of salvaging the marriage won't go to counseling or do anything else. I mean, why waste that time? So, hope is the activator. Dr. John Maxwell says, "If there's hope in the future, there's power in the present." Dr. Tony Kola says that, "Your past is important because it brought you to where you are, but as important as your past is, it is not nearly as important as the way you see your future." And I understand. I know that you were brutalized as a child, you were mistreated, you were raised in poverty. I mean, I know all about all the terrible problems you've had in the past. But let me say it again, as important and as traumatic as those things were, they're still not as important as the way you see your future. Because the way you see your future determines your thinking today. Your thinking today determines your performance today. And your performance today is going to determine your performance performance tomorrow. And you put them all together, and that's what determines your future. And the bottom line with all of this is the fact that encouragement is the fuel upon which hope runs. So, on a daily basis, you need to listen to the good, inspirational messages in automobile university. Automobile, absolutely. Because see, tomorrow's headlines will drown out today's inspiration. So, you need that inspiration every day. So, the next time you're caught in a traffic jam, instead of stomping your foot and slapping the horn, and complaining at the traffic, you'll say, "Oh boy, look at that traffic jam. Man alive, that's going to take me 20 extra minutes. And in 20 minutes, I can pick up five new vocabulary words. I can learn a new investment strategy. I can learn a new management technique. Man alive, what an opportunity." I was a visiting scholar at the University of Southern California for two years, and they were doing some studies. And here's what they found: Three years in your automobile, if you drive 12,000 miles a year and you live in a congested area, in those three years, you can acquire the equivalent of two years of college education in your automobile. So, yes, I try to generate hope and give them examples which will give them that encouragement. Then I encourage them to take these steps to keep the hope going, primarily because Stanford University, and I learned this in automobile university, their study showed that 95% of all of the people who buy ideas, concepts, and so forth, are unable to follow through because they do not have the resources. The resources are the books, the tapes, and the seminars. One nice thought: we literally get over a hundred times as many letters and emails and faxes from people saying, "Listening to your tapes and reading your books changed my life," as we do from people who say, "Your speech changed my life." Yes, because that repetition. When you listen to something enough times that you can finish the sentence, then it becomes self-talk. That's when it has power. Boy Scouts, who I'm privileged to serve on their Board of Advisors for several years now, are dramatically more successful than the general population because, you know, every meeting, "On my honor, I will do my best." The Scout Law, the Scout Oath, the Scout Motto. All are self-talk that really makes a difference in a person's life. When they understand, "Yes, you can handle your own attitude. That's up to you. You can do something about that attitude. You can change it for the better. You can grow." And I always say, "And you can make radical changes in my steps. New word a day. In five years, you can talk to just about anybody about just about anything." Georgetown Medical School did a study and learned that in 100% of the cases, there's no exception, that when your vocabulary goes up, your IQ goes up. Those are the things I share with every audience.

That's powerful. Zig, I appreciate this time. Your insights are just tremendous. Thank you for so much. Let me say on behalf of millions of people, so much for what you've brought to all of our lives. You're a tremendous inspiration, and we appreciate you more than you could possibly fathom.

God's been awfully good to me, Kim. And, uh, I think the reason God let me struggle for 45 years is so that when things started to happen, I wouldn't be confused about who was responsible. And Kim, I really am not.

Welcome to the lunch. And, um, what I'd like to do is to say we're going to start a few minutes early because Zig needs to catch a plane. So, we're going to go for about 15 minutes. And what I've done is collected some questions. Thank you for those of you that turned those questions in. And we'll just have some casual conversation. Uh, I'd like to just start off by saying, I think we have today two of the most brilliant minds in personal development living today. Would you all agree with that? And what I'd like to do is to to start off with one question for Jim and then one for Zig, and then we'll kind of go back and forth. And, you know, if you guys both want to answer the questions, you can.

First question to Jim is, what is true success?

Wow. Somebody once said to me, you know, "Success isn't everything." And I think what they meant was money isn't everything. But, uh, that's a good note to make. Success is everything. First, to succeed, to survive. And then to succeed, to flourish in every part of your life. So, success is everything. First, we must take the seasons and learn how to use them with the seed, the soil, the sunshine, and the rain to, you know, sustain ourselves and our family. Then we must use the economy to succeed. We must use, uh, the community, whatever is around us, gather up all the education we can in order to succeed. Good question to ask mature people. If you could do better, or should you? And I think almost everybody would answer that question in the positive. If you could improve your health, shouldn't you do that? If you could learn more, shouldn't you do that? If you could earn more and share more, shouldn't you do that? And I think that's really what success is all about. It's not just a destination that's set for everybody to try to go for. It's like Zig said today, improving in every area of your life to see if you can't, with satisfaction, at the end of the day, at the end of the week, at the end of the month, at the end of the year, say, "I have made excellent progress this year for myself, my family, my business, my career, my health." And I think that kind of success, everybody realizes, is legitimate. It's something we should strive for. There's an interesting phrase in the Bible that says, "Strive for perfection," not quite giving us the idea that we could reach it, but the key is in the striving to be better today than yesterday, better this year than last year. Our speech, our language, our health, everything we can possibly think of. So, good. It is good to succeed. Thanks, Jim.

How about this one for you, Zig? Uh, how do you know you have a good goal? How about that one?

Well, a good goal, number one, is your goal. You don't let somebody else set it for you, as so often happens. Number two, you ask the question, uh, "How does this goal fit in with the rest of my game plan? Will this take me closer to or further from my major objective?" Number three, you would ask the question, "Is it morally right and fair to everyone concerned?" Then I always ask an additional, uh, question. I have a little acrostic, G.A.L.S., and it simply says, "Godly objectives assure lasting success." So, I always, uh, do a lot of praying. If it's, you know, I don't pray about which clothes I should wear today. I just ask a redhead about that. Uh, but, uh, I do pray about those things that, you know, really are significant. And if you can't commit yourself emotionally to reach that goal, then it is not a good goal. Good.

How about one for either one of you? If you had one wish for mankind, what would that be? Either one of you want to take that one?

Well, I think the greatest wish for mankind, and each individual included in mankind, is to have a sense of awareness of both things physical and things spiritual, so that you could combine all of your learning into a lifetime and see what all you can become. I think that's it. The gift of awareness, the gift of discovery, the gift of finding out more and more about life, life about God, about people, about politics, and about economy. Possibilities, opportunities. So, probably the greatest gift is the gift of discovery.

Any thoughts on that?

Well, you know, I'm, of course, I'm highly prejudiced. You know, as a Christian, if I were to wish anything, it would that others would come to know and experience the joy, the excitement, the satisfaction, the peace, the security that I feel. The Bible says, "All things work together for good to those who love God, who are called to serve according to his purpose." And what that enables me to do when I stub my toe, when the quote, "things happen" that I don't like, I instinctively think, "Well, I wonder what God's got up his sleeve for this. I know it's better around the corner." Traditionally, sometime we think failure is a failure when it's not. For example, the Edsel motorcar, and everybody thought it was a failure. But the technology that came out of that produced the Mustang, and then later the Taurus. So, a failure.

Well, you know, I'm, of course, I'm highly prejudiced. You know, as a Christian, if I were to wish anything, it would that others would come to know and experience the joy, the excitement, the satisfaction, the peace, the security that I feel. The Bible says, "All things work together for good to those who love God, who are called to serve according to his purpose." And what that enables me to do when I stub my toe, when the quote, "things happen" that I don't like, I instinctively think, "Well, I wonder what God's got up his sleeve for this. I know it's better around the corner." Traditionally, sometime we think failure is a failure when it's not. For example, the Edsel motorcar, and everybody thought it was a failure. But the technology that came out of that produced the Mustang, and then later the Taurus. So, a failure.

Of time when we belittle ourselves, you know, we haven't really failed. It's just a different direction we're going to be successful in. As you know, I'm The Optimist. And how about this one, Jim? What keeps expanding your vision for the future?

Well, for me personally, it's just to keep doing what I've, you know, been called to do or found the opportunity to do. Both Zig Ziggler and Jim Ran have this incredible, unbelievable opportunity from where we came from to where we are to, uh, spend a big share of our lives, you know, touching somebody else's life, making a contribution, writing books, putting it on video, putting it on cassettes, CDs, whatever manner possible, because ideas can make such an incredible difference in someone's life. And then we have the unusual opportunity of having our name appear in someone's testimonial. And already today, someone says, "You know, Mr. R, 5 years ago, 10 years ago, 30 years ago, I attended your seminar, sat in a class, talked to you personally, and here's what's happened to me, my family, my future, my health." And for Zig and I, I, I think that's almost overwhelming in terms of, um, opportunity to, uh, make a contribution to somebody else's life. Investing life into life, you can't have a better experience than that. And for me, it's just, uh, hopefully it'll continue, you know, forever and ever. My father lived to be 93, and so Zig, I'm going to try to sail right on by that, see if I can't, uh, have a good long life sharing ideas, talking about things that matter with people who care.

I got one for you, Zig, on kids. How about this one? What are the best ideas you have for raising kids today? Today? If it's this on today, okay. What the best idea ever to raise them again? No question about it in my mind. Number one, you love them unconditionally. Uh, number two, you start each day with them properly and end each day with them properly. By that, I mean, you awaken your children as you awakened your newborn babe, lovingly, kindly, gently, affectionately, talking to them every step of the way. And when the kids get older, we have a tendency to bang on the door and say, "Get up, time to go." But waking them slowly and gently and say, "You're going to have a wonderful day. You're going to learn some things. I can't wait for this evening when you can tell me all the fun you had and what you learned today." Then at night, if bedtime is 9:00, at 8:00, you say, "Okay, 9:00 we go to bed. You need to put the dog out and bring the bicycle in. Call Charlie about the assignment. Get both drinks of water. Take all three trips to the bathroom, because at 9:00 we go to bed. At 9:00, you cut the TV off. You lead them to the bedroom and you spend a precious few moments with them. You bond with your child more the last few minutes than you have all day long. And if you start the day right and end the day right, the time in between is going to be a lot better. You're demonstrating your love for them by giving them your time."

I got a question from both of you. How about this one? If you had to live your life over, what's one thing that you would do differently?

I want to think about that one for a minute. One thing you'd do differently. Jim, you know, I'd try to learn a lot quicker than I did. I mean, some things, uh, some things came a little slow. Um, I caught on the goal setting right away, but some things on personal development, you know, giving up my blameless, really taking a look at myself, making all those changes, uh, I would have hoped I could have accelerated a lot faster than I did. But then, once you reach a certain place, as Zig knows, you finally start gaining momentum. And Zig talked about all those years, right, the struggling years, then finally when the breakthrough came, uh, the momentum and the success after that would just come piling out, right? Things just started incredibly happening. So that's one thing I would change. I should have listened to my mother and my father earlier, sooner, and I think I could have had, you know, about another 20 extra glorious years.

How about you, Zig? One thing you would have done differently? Fortunately, a lady answered that question for me a number of years ago. I wish I'd remembered her name. Uh, I wouldn't do anything differently because what she said was, "If I change anything, I might not be where I am, and I really like where I am." I'm more excited about my life than I've ever been in my life. Somebody asked me the other day, he said, "What keeps you going?" And I said, "The US mail." I said, "What?" I said, "I get the letters, I get the email, I get all of those things, and that's the reason I would not change anything." Uh, I love my relationship with my family. I love my profession. What I'm doing, I love to speak, I love to write, I love to do the research, uh, I love to interchange with people. So, no, I wouldn't change a thing.

Okay, last question. What would you say, Jim? What's the basis? What basis does one use to create their major definite purpose?

On what basis? I think that, you know, that gathers up over time. You ask kids what they want to be at first, right? And it's, you know, a whole, whole variety of things. And after a while, that says, "Well, no, I'm not that interested in that." You know, that sort of slips away. So it takes a while to finally develop an ultimate purpose in life. I think the brand purpose is to be, you know, uniquely successful in every area of your life. But I would say, let it unfold. You might spend several years doing one thing, and certainly a door of opportunity will open, and now that becomes something big. You couldn't have seen that purpose 10 years earlier, and now suddenly, by circumstance and by meeting someone, doors open that you never thought were going to open. Now some even larger purpose than you dreamed of before is now available.

How about you, Zig? What's the basic? Get it. My mission statement is rather presumptuous to be the Difference Maker in the personal, family, and professional lives of enough people to make a positive difference in the world. Now, that does sound presumptuous until you remember the story of the grandfather walking his grandson on the beach, and every few steps, he would reach down, the grandfather would, and throw a sand dollar out to sea. Did that quite a little while. And the grandson said, "Granddaddy, what are you doing?" He said, "Well, uh, Grand..." He said, "Son, these sand dollars are living organisms. If I don't throw them out to sea, they will die in the hot sun." Grandson said, "But Granddaddy, there's so many of them. What difference does it make?" The grandfather reached down, picked up one, threw it out to sea, and said, "For this one, it makes all the difference in the world." I have 25 people on my wall of gratitude who made a difference in my life, and I like to be the Difference Maker. God's blessed me incredibly. My works are now in 37 languages. Uh, my tapes are all over the world, my books are all over the world, almost. And, uh, it's just such an unbelievable thrill to, uh, to be able to do what I'm doing. Uh, mine is just to keep on studying, keep on learning, keep on trying to get better at what I do.

Let's give these two gentlemen a round of applause, right? Thank you. Two are the greatest. Two the greatest. Two of the greatest. Thank you.

I was coming in on the plane the other day, which is generally the way I fly, and I was sitting next to an old boy, and I couldn't help but notice that he had his wedding band on the index finger of his left hand. And I looked at him, I said, "Hey partner, you got your wedding band on the wrong finger." He said, "Yeah, I married the wrong woman." Well, of course, you know, I have no way of knowing whether in fact he did marry the wrong woman or not. I'm just delighted to be able to say that I did not marry the wrong woman. As a matter of fact, as some of you know, just last week, my redhead and I celebrated our 50th wedding anniversary. So, rather obviously, I did not marry the wrong woman. Now, don't misunderstand. I know there's a couple of you look a little bit skeptical. I did not say we'd been married 50 years, chaps. I'm only 55 years old. What I said was, we celebrated our 50th wedding anniversary, which we did. You see, we had heard so much about that 50th wedding anniversary that we just decided to go ahead and celebrate early. And folks, I'm here to tell you, that is some more celebration. As a matter of fact, we're going to repeat it this year. Now, I want to emphasize a point. One of these days, if we're both here, we definitely will celebrate the 50th. And one of the reasons I'm confident that we will is because the night we said "I do," we planned someday on celebrating the 50th. You see, ladies and gentlemen and students, we discovered a long time ago that things happen to people when they plan for those things to happen. And in the "I Can" presentation, in the "I Can" course, in the "I Can" concepts, we have a plan which you're really going to get all motivated and excited about.

About 8 years ago, not far from this very studio, they opened a new cafeteria. It was a busy place, and I like to eat in cafeterias, but we passed it by because we just didn't want to wait in a line too long. And finally, one day, the line didn't appear to be so long, so the redhead and I went down to the cafeteria. Now, as we were walking down, I could see what the people were getting and what was available, so I had a chance to kind of decide in advance what I wanted. And so when I got in the serving line, you know, I came walking down and I said to the person, "I'd like some of that, and some of that, and, and some of that, and some of that." Now, the reason I like a cafeteria is because I can see exactly what I'm going to be eating in just a few minutes. And so I can say, "I want that piece of fish. No, the one over there in the corner. That's right. That's the idea." And then I get down to the cornbread line, you know, and I say, "And I want the one that's got all the crust on it. It's, you know, really dark brown. I, I like it real brown." So, I, I just like a cafeteria. I like to pick out exactly what I want. Well, we got down to the end of the line, I reached in my pocket and pulled out my money, and the little lady down there held up her hand and she said, "No, you don't pay for it until you get ready to go." I said, "You mean to tell me you're going to let me eat all of this food before I pay for it?" She said, "Yes, that's the way we do it."

Well, you know, students, I've thought about that, I guess, 10,000 times since then. Because you see, life is exactly like that in one respect, but it's 180 degrees opposite from that in another respect. You see, in the game of life, I absolutely believe that there is a cafeteria line. I believe it's a banquet hall. I believe it's a smorgasbord. I, I believe we can literally choose what we want out of the game of life. But unlike life, you see, there's this gradually obvious difference. Actually, it's not that gradual, but there's this dramatic difference. In the game of life, first of all, you make the deposits, then you get the reward. In the cafeteria, we got the reward and then paid for it. But you see, in the game of life, it doesn't work that way. You go to school, you study your lessons, they give you the test, and you pass to the next grade. You go through that grade and that grade and the next one and the next one, the next one, until one day you walk down the line, they give you the diploma, then you go down and you get yourself a job, and then you work on the job, and after you have worked, then they give you the reward. The farmer clears the land, he plows the soil, he plants the seed, he fertilizes it, he cultivates it, he lays it by, he gathers the harvest, he takes it to the barn, he hauls it to market, and then, and only then, does he get the reward. You see, in the game of life, that's the way it works.

Now, I want to make a couple of points very, very strong and clear right here. I'm going to have a lot of things to say in the "I Can" course, but there are two things I want to emphasize over and over and over. And that is, that you're what you are and you're 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. The second thing I'm going to say to you students, actually, is along those same lines. And that is, as I will say to you in the course over and over, if you don't like you, don't worry about it for the very simple reason, you see, that you're not stuck with you. You can grow, you can change, you can start from where you are with what you've got and become the kind of a person you really want to be. But the second major point I want to emphasize here is simply this: I'll never tell you that life is easy. If you listen to every recording I'll ever make, if you read every book I'll ever write, if you hear me in every speech I'll ever make, you'll never hear me say to you that life is easy, because I don't believe it is. I believe whether you're in the military service, whether you're a student, whether you're a teacher, whether you're a principal, whether you're a parent, whether you're a salesman, whether you are a sales manager, or even a singer, Diane Morgan, I believe that life is tough. But this I do know: I know that if you're tough on yourself, that life itself is going to be much easier on you. It's going to be more fun. It's going to be rewarding. You see, I do believe it's fun. I believe it's exciting. I believe it's rewarding. I believe life is one of those things that we can extract a great deal from, and I believe it offers a lot. I believe that in the tomorrows of our life, that health and prosperity and happiness and friends, I believe all of those things are available. Yes, I, I'm an optimist. I mean, I'm the kind of guy who'd go after Moby Dick in a rowboat and take the tartar sauce with me. I mean, that's my nature. And for your information, uh, students and parents, you might as well understand this very early in my presentations, I tell folks, I'm, I'm like a cross-eyed discus thrower. I, I don't set the records, but I do keep the crowd alert. And, uh, and you know, I think that's going to be pretty important. So, if I say life is not easy, but it is fun, it is exciting, it is rewarding, then let me expand on that just a little bit by simply saying to you that there is a dramatic difference between positive thinking and positive believing. A lot of times, people get the impression that we think that us positive thinkers that can, can just do anything. Had a guy asked me one time, he said, "Do you really think you could whip Muhammad Ali?" Well, you know, that's kind of crazy. Even though I fought in the ring two years. As a matter of fact, the only reason I quit was because of my hands. The referee kept stepping on them, you know. No, I don't think I could whip Muhammad Ali. I'm too old, I'm too fat, I'm too slow, I'm too scared. I have a low threshold of pain. Besides that, the guy never bothered me. But, you know, if I really thought I could, I mean, if I really thought I could, then maybe I'd last 20 seconds instead of just 15.

See, students, here's a critically important point. Positive thinking won't let you do anything, but it will let you do everything better than negative thinking will. I've seen positive thinking and positive thinkers move some mountains. I really have. But positive believing is what we teach in the "I Can" course. Now, what is the difference? The difference is, as I explained to the guy who was asking the question, if Larry Holmes were to say, "Hey, I believe I can whip Muhammad Ali." You see, Larry Holmes has already whipped Muhammad Ali. He's had 37 fights. He's never been beaten. He's at the peak of his career. He has every reason for believing that, yes, he could whip Muhammad Ali. So, you see, the difference is this: positive believing is an optimistic hope, but it's based on reasons for believing that you can move those mountains and do those things. What does positive thinking then actually do? Well, when we walked in this studio this morning, it was completely dark. There wasn't a hint of a light, and the technicians started throwing switches, you know, and as you can see, it's brilliantly lighted now. When they threw the switch, they did not generate any electricity. You see, that had already been generated and stored. When they threw the switch, it released the electricity. That's what it did. That's what positive thinking does. You see, students, it releases the electricity. Now, when we are the knowledge which is in your mind, you see, in the "I Can" course, as a specific example, we discovered that over 90% of the students who take the course improve their grades in at least one other subject. Over 60% improve their grades in all of their other subjects. And, and why would that be? Very simple. We found out something a long time ago. We discovered, you see, that if a student does not believe he or she can pass, they won't even study. We change their attitude, convince them, yes, they can pass, and so they'll study. Now, you see, it was the thinking that opened the books for them, got them to study, but it was the working which got them the results. Remember, I'm not going to tell you it's easy. As a matter of fact, I'm going to tell you the story of the Chinese bamboo tree, because I think that's so critically important that we understand that story. Good friend of mine, Joel Weldon, who's an outstanding speaker from Phoenix, Arizona, tells the story. The Chinese plant the seed, they water it, and they fertilize it, but the first year, nothing happens. And the second year, they water it and they fertilize it, and nothing happens. And the third year, they water it and they fertilize it, and nothing happens. And the fourth year, they water it and they fertilize it, and nothing happens. And the fifth year, they water and fertilize the seed, and the fifth year, sometimes during the course of that fifth year, the Chinese bamboo tree grows in a six-week period, roughly 90 feet. But the question is, did it grow 90 feet in six weeks, or did it grow 90 feet in five years? And the answer, rather obviously, is that it grew 90 feet in the five-year period of time. Because you see, students, had there been any year when they did not water it and fertilize it, there would have been no Chinese bamboo tree. You're going to face that in school. You're going to face that in life. You know, teacher giving you a tough problem in physics or chemistry or algebra or trigonometry or whatever, you know, and you work on it and you say, "I don't believe I can get this answer." And you work again, and you say, "Again, I don't believe I can get the answer." And you work again, and then you say, "Teacher, they made a mistake. They, this is a fouled-up one. There is no answer to this." And the teacher said, "Hey, go try it one more time." And you work at it one more time, and then all of a sudden, you say, "Oh my goodness, how could I have missed it? It's as plain as the nose on my face." You see, students, by hanging in there, and there's not a one of you who hasn't already had that experience, by hanging in there, it makes a difference.

Last May, I went over to Cooper Clinic to take their balky treadmill test. Dr. Cooper's a man who wrote the book "Aerobics," over 10 million copies have been sold around the world. And this is going to sound just a little bit like I'm bragging, because really, I am. I stayed on the balky treadmill test longer than any member of the Dallas Cowboy football team. Now, I mentioned that for a couple of reasons. Number one, incidentally, is also the fact that I have a resting heart rate of 41. Now, students, if that doesn't mean anything to you, let me put it this way: Dr. Cooper has examined 24 world-class athletes. I'm talking about men who have won the gold medal in the Olympics, and the average resting heart rate they have is 44. And I tell this story because, you see, nine years ago, when I started my exercise program, my idea of exercise up until then had been simply to fill the tub, take a bath, pull the plug, and fight the current. And, I, I believe you'll agree that's really not much of an exercise program. Uh, my only, uh, exercise, you know, had been in caution and running down people and that kind of a thing, you know. No, I did not have much of an exercise program. The first day I started their program, I literally ran a block. But I did better the next day. I ran a block and a mailbox. And then it was a block and two mailboxes. Then a block and three. Then one day I ran a half a mile, then a mile, then two miles, and three miles, and four miles, and, and so on. You see, it wasn't easy. It took me nine months before I enjoyed the first run. A lot of times, students and parents are going to be in situations when you're not going to get overly excited about. There's a lot of times you're going to have to do some things you just flat don't want to do. You're not going to feel like going to school, or you're not going to feel like coming down to run the school or to teach the class, but you got to suck it up and tough it out and hang in there. I'll never tell you it's easy because I don't believe it is. But I'll repeat myself: life is fun, it's exciting, it's rewarding. Yes, I do believe that health and prosperity and happiness and peace and friends, I believe those things are available. But in order for those things to be available, I'm absolutely convinced that we must build our lives on a solid foundation. Now, what's the foundation? Well, I believe it includes honesty and loyalty and love and dependability and character and integrity. With that kind of a foundation, you see, you can start from where you are and go after whatever it is that you want.

I was up in Calgary, Canada, here 3 or 4 years ago. Went up on the Calgary Tower to have dinner at 626 feet up in the air. Now, the only way I can relate to 626 feet, that's over two football fields high. Well, as we were going up, the recording was on, and it told us how big the building was, how much it weighed, and I was so impressed. I said, "This building weighs 12,000 tons, but 7,000 of the 12,000 tons are underground." You can go into downtown Dallas or downtown Portland or downtown Chicago or Manhattan, anywhere else, and a good engineer can look at the hole in the ground and tell you how big the building is going to be. You can look at the foundation upon which a person builds their life, or builds their marriage, or builds their family, or builds their school, or builds their career. You can look at the foundation and predict a great deal about what's going to happen to that individual in their career. Honesty is obviously one of the critical areas. There's a book out, and the book is entitled "The Corporate Bigamist." And in the book, the author talks about the fact that they interviewed 100 of America's top business executives, men who are presidents and the chairman of the board of the Fortune 500 companies. And these men unanimously said that if you're going to go to the top and stay there, you've got to build on honesty and character and integrity. They even used a word which I found to be awfully strong. They said, "Anybody who thinks they can get ahead in life and stay ahead who's not honest is dumb." Pretty strong language. Simple example: I have a nephew, his name is Jack Ziggler, who lives in Montgomery, Alabama. When he was 41 years old, the company he'd been working for for 18 and a half years went out of business, and Jack Ziggler was without a job. He has a serious heart condition, and at age 41, because of insurance requirements and all, it was very difficult for him to get a job. One night, he got a call from a man. He said, "I want to talk to you tomorrow." Well, Jack went over there, and he thought he'd recognize the name. And when he walked in and saw the man's name, he remembered he had gone to school with him over 20 years earlier. They'd worked in a grocery store together over 20 years ago. The reason the man called Jack was simply this: he said, "I remember over 20 years ago in the grocery store, you were the only one of the youngsters working who was not ripping the boss off. You're the only one who wasn't stealing." 20 years later, he got the job. See, folks, we believe in "I Can" that you can get everything in life you want if you'll just help enough other people get what they want. You play it straight. You see, the beautiful thing about having a foundation is simply this: if you go somewhere in life and suffer disappointments, you can never fall any further than the foundation itself. You can never go all the way to the basement.

Second thing, simply is character. When I, when I talk about character, I'm really talking about just hanging in there tough. You know, a lot of times when I'm around the country speaking, I'll have young speakers come to me, and they say, "I want to be a speaker. How do I do it?" And I explain to them that I made over 3,000 speeches before I ever received my first fee. I believe you got to hang in there tough. On many different occasions, I would have made 10,000 had it been necessary, because it was a dream of mine, it was a goal. But you, you got to stay with it.

Integrity. When I, when I think of integrity, I think of the immortal golfer Bobby Jones. Bobby Jones, as you know, was one of the greatest golfers, in my mind, the greatest golfer who ever lived. He retired at age 28. In the last 11 British Opens and US Opens that he entered, he placed either first or second in eight of those 11. He won four US Opens. He would have won the fifth except in one of the Opens when he was out in the rough. As he was addressing the ball, and there wasn't another person within 50 feet of him, in all probability, as he was addressing the ball, the ball moved ever so slightly, just a fraction of an inch, and then it simply settled back in the place. The ball, in other words, was never out of the same position it was in. Bobby Jones called a penalty stroke on himself. The officials scoffed at it. They said, "No, we're sure it didn't move." And Bobby said, "That I demand, I insist that you penalize me the stroke." He lost that US Open by one stroke. A lot of the newspapers made a great deal to do about it. Bobby Jones was absolutely incensed. He said, "I can't understand why anybody would get excited or make any comment at all about what I've done." He said, "That's like telling a man he deserves a lot of praise because he refused to rob a bank." He said, "If you don't have integrity, you don't have anything." I believe it's a solid foundation to build on. Then, of course, we've got to throw loyalty and love and dependability in there. We've got to entertain all of these various characteristics. We've got to, we've got to have that solid foundation if we're going to go to the top.

I think of a South Georgia school teacher named Mrs. McCulla. She went to a meeting in Atlanta, heard a speaker named Zig Ziggler, bought a book, "See You at the Top," read it, and said, "This is what education is missing in our school systems today." She went back and, and she taught a course, and the principal of the school wrote me and said it was the smoothest school year he had had in 38 years as an administrator. And, and I got all excited, and, and we started talking. And Mrs. McCulla kept teaching that course, and, and later they made her the principal of that school. They said a lot of it had to do with their attitude. But when I think of "I Can," I think of a story Mrs. McCulla tells about a little black girl named D'Orr Horn. D'Orr was tall, slender, very shy. No member of her class or her family, rather, had ever graduated even from high school. And they worked through the foundation, they worked through the self-image, and they got to the goals. And D'Orr one day said, "Miss Mel, I'd like to stay behind and tell you about my goals." And Mrs. McCulla said, "D'Orr, that's great." But when she stayed behind, then all of a sudden, she seemed to lose her nerve and say, "Miss McCulla, I'm embarrassed. I don't want to tell you." Miss McCulla said, "Oh, D'Orr, I'm interested in, in what you have to say." And D'Orr said, "Miss McCulla, I want to be a medical doctor." Miss McCulla threw her arms around her and hugged her and said, "Oh, D'Orr, that's just beautiful. You certainly have the mind to do it." I honestly do not know if D'Orr will ever be a medical doctor or not, but this I do know: she graduated from high school. She's now in her third year of college. Her objective is to be a medical doctor. I wouldn't bet two cents against it if I were you. A person who has made a commitment, as Mrs. Mary Crowley is inclined to say, "One person with a commitment, one person with a conviction, is worth a hundred who only have an interest." And there's a girl who has a commitment. She has a conviction.

I'll never forget a little girl named Marcy Limy. I was speaking up in Rockford, Illinois, and Marcy was one of the students in special ed. And the "I Can" class had been doing so exceptionally well up there that the teacher suggested that a couple of those students needed to come into the class. And they came into the class. One of them was named Marcy Limy. And Marcy was one of these girls they hauled her in there, clawing, kicking, scratching, screaming. She didn't want any part of this crazy class where they were all excited and, and where the students actually stood up when they wanted to ask a question, and they stood up when they answered a question, you know, because that builds the self-image better than anything else can possibly do is learning how to speak. She didn't want any of that class where when you ask somebody, "How you doing?" and the students would say, "Super good, but I'll get better," or "Fantastic, but I'm improving." No, Marcy didn't want any of the class, and she made such a scene, demanded to be taken out. And finally, one day, the teacher said, "Well, Marcy, you're creating such a disturbance, we're going to let you go to the library. But here's the deal I'll make with you: if you will just listen to the recordings of the class, put the plug in your ear and listen, then I'll let you out of the class." Well, Marcy figured it wouldn't hurt her, and so she grudgingly agreed to listen to the recordings. When she heard them the one time, uh, she said, "Well, you know, really, I got to admit, they weren't that bad." "I guess I'll listen to them again." She listened to them the second time and said, "You know, actually, there are some people who would even benefit from listening to this kind of a message." And so she listened the third time and decided, "Hey, it might even be pretty good." She listened the fourth time. I met Marcy when I was speaking at the Sales and Marketing Executive Club there in Rockford. Pretty as a picture. She came up and just hugged my neck and gave me a big old kiss. And I, I kind of relate to that, you know. Marcy Limy, you see, went on to do some amazing things. She's voted one of the outstanding students in the school. She got her letter in track. She managed the basketball team. She plays fourth on the rifle team of seven members. And, you see, the story has more, because Marcy Limy is blind. The only thing she can see is lights and shadows. When she would fire her weapon, the students would say to her, "No, Marcy, you, you need to aim it just a fraction to the left there." You see, folks, you're what you are and you're 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. Any farmer will tell you that if you're going to raise beans, you got to plant bean seeds. If you're going to raise positive, loving, caring, dedicated students, you see, folks, we've got to plant positive, loving, dedicated, caring thoughts. The truth of the matter is, we plant too many of the negative thoughts in our society today. You listen to the conversation around you, it's either unrealistic or it's absolutely negative. You know, an overweight person sits down at the table and says, "Everything I eat turns to fat." That's pretty negative. A parent sends a child off to school, says, "Now, don't you get run over." That's pretty negative. I have a wreck right out here on the streets of Dallas, and 2 minutes later, somebody else is saying, "Call the wrecker." And you, you've already had the wreck. See, what you need is a tow truck. We've got to change our terminology, is what I'm saying.

Why, they, you know, most people wake up in the morning with an electronic rooster. And what does the average person call that electronic rooster? Anybody in the audience? What do they call it? An alarm clock. See what I'm talking about? They sound an alarm when somebody's robbing the bank, 'cause the building's on fire. If you wake up scared, that's enough to make anybody negative, is it? You see, the truth of the matter is, it's an opportunity clock. Well, now, you think about it. You see, if you hear it, that means you've got an opportunity to get up and go. If you don't hear it, that might mean you done got up and gone. And I'll tell you, that can be pretty serious. Why, they bring out a loaf of bread, and what do they call the first slice on that loaf of bread? Anybody? The heel or the end. See what I'm talking about? I've never seen a loaf of bread in my life that didn't have two beginnings. We, we, we've got to change our terminology. That's really what we do in "I Can" is we change the terminology, and that is so critically important. Why, right here in Dallas, certainly one of the most positive cities in the whole world, I was coming in on the plane just the other day, yesterday to be specific, and as we approach Dallas, the captain of the aircraft, I mean, the head honcho, the man in charge, as we'd say over home, the daddy rabbit, got on the telephone and in a deep, resonant voice said, "We are now taking our final approach." Scared me half to death. I, I told the stewardess, I said, "Would you please go tell him to make it his next to final approach? I got some important things that we got to get done." Yeah.

You see, there is a positive approach you can take. For example, when I think of the positive approach, I think of a principle up in our, an assistant principal up in, uh, Indianapolis, Indiana, a man named Charlie Fluger. Well, Mr. Fluger, last year, was in a school which was closing down. That was to be the last year. Well, you know, we've been saying for a long time that there are four groups of students who get a lot of attention in school. Well, the first group, you know, is the athletic hero. There's nothing wrong with that. And the second group that gets a lot of attention is the beauty queen, and there's certainly nothing wrong with that. And the third group of student who gets a lot of attention is the A, the scholarly student who makes exceptionally good grades. There's nothing wrong with that. But there's a fourth group of students who get a lot of attention, and that's the loudmouth troublemakers, and there's a whole lot wrong with that. So Mr. Fluger came up with an idea. And he would see a student pick up a piece of paper, or erase a board, or return an item, you know, that had been lost. Mr. Fluger would say, "Hey, what you need is an 'I Can'." And he literally gave them a simple little piece of paper like this. It must cost about a fourth of a penny, you know. He would give them an "I Can," and all the other teachers would give the students "I Can," you know. And when the student accumulated, I believe it was 100 "I Can"s, he gave them a T-shirt, an "I Can" T-shirt. Last year, they gave out 587 "I Can" T-shirts. That sounds kind of expensive because, you know, they are not inexpensive. But when you realize that drug abuse dramatically dropped, violence almost became non-existent, vandalism, not a single case. And Mr. Jim Acer over here with Lake Dallas High School can kind of relate to that, because in the two and a half years they've been teaching the "I Can" course, there's not been a single case of vandalism there. And, you know, his teacher, Mrs. Randol, can also relate to that, because let me tell you a little story. I might be talking out of school here just a little bit, but you, you see, she used to smoke cigarettes. Now, I know some of you folks won't believe that, but for over 20 years, as a matter of fact, uh, she smoked cigarettes. And, and they started talking about goals one day, and, and the student says, "Right now, we got a goal for you. We want you to quit smoking." She said, "No, no, this is for you. I mean, this is what you need to do." Well, you know how students are. Some, they said, "No, it's not for, uh, just us. It's for you too." And after over 20 years, she was affected dramatically by the class itself and no longer smoked cigarettes. You see, folks, that are the people who benefit the most from all of this, literally are the teachers. Because you see, the teachers are so critically important in our society today. It's been demonstrated so that there no longer is any question about it, that teacher expectation has a direct bearing on student performance. And when you start pumping in the good, the clean, the pure, the powerful, and the positive every day, not only in the minds of the students, but in the minds of the teachers, then some amazing, beautiful, critical things happen in that society.

Yes, in the "I Can" course, we follow. After we build our foundation, we follow some interesting steps. You see, in the course, we tell you without hesitation, you got to have a good, healthy self-image. Then we explain to you why you must have a good, healthy self-image. And then the most important step of all, we tell you how to build that self-image. In the "I Can" course, we never make a promise unless we give you a plan so that you might fulfill that promise. In "I Can," we tell you, you got to know how to get along with other people. And we say, "Here's why you do have to get along with other people, and here's how you do it." We say, "You got to have goals." "Here's why you got to have goals." "Here's the way you set those goals." We tell you, "You got to build a winning attitude." "We say, 'Here's why you got to have a good attitude.'" "Here's how you build them." Harvard University did a rather extensive study, came to the conclusion that 85% of the reason people get jobs and get ahead in those jobs is because they have the right mental attitude. But folks, you know, as far as I can determine, and as far as Harvard could determine, in the public school systems today, less than 1% of our educational time and dollars are spent teaching how to build a winning attitude. And yet, one of the things I'm privileged to do, I work with a lot of the corporate giants around the country, the Chevrolet division of General Motors, Phillips Petroleum, I work a lot with all of the direct sales companies, I work with people like McDonald's and Jack In The Box and Chick-fil-A and any number of others. And what these managers, I mean, the top echelon, tell me over and over and over, they say, "If you can send us a youngster who is enthusiastically courteous, whom we can depend on, and who understands the basic principles of communication, reading, and writing, they say, 'We can teach him the other things they need to know.'" You see, in America today, teenage unemployment is a national scandal. In reality, over 20% of our white teenagers and over 50% of the black teenagers and other minority groups are unemployed. And many of them want to get a job. Now, let me insert something right here, students. And that's this: if your reason for wanting to get a job is so you can buy yourself a car and buy yourself a lot of records and, uh, buy yourself some fancy clothes, I'm going to tell you those are the wrong reasons for getting a job. That might well interfere with your education. If you need to get a job to help support the family, help make certain that you do have a place to stay, make certain that you can secure an education, that's the right reason for getting a job. So, assuming that you've got the right reason for getting a job, let me stress here that we now are teaching a sales presentation in "I Can" about how to get those jobs. You see, let's visualize a 16-year-old who's never worked before. Under the present setup, without "I Can" training, which incidentally is now available from kindergarten on through graduate school and college, let's assume, just for a moment, that you've not had the training, but you go to apply for a job. And the employer says, "What experience?" You're likely to say, "Well, I've never worked before." And you know what your chances are of getting a job then? Here's the sales talk we teach. Based on the assumption that you've learned the principles in the "I Can" course, we say the youngster ought to say to the employer, "Well, I've had a lifetime of experience in telling the truth. I've had a lifetime of experience in knowing that if I'm going to get a job and keep that job, I've got to be here on time and do what I'm supposed to do. And state of the job is finished. I've had a lifetime of experience in knowing that if I'm going to get a job and keep it, I got to know how to get along with people. So I've been making a study of how to get along with my fellow human beings. And I've had a lot of experience in knowing that the only way you're going to be able to keep me on the payroll is for you to make a profit. And sir, I'm going to work awfully hard to help you make a profit so I can keep my job. And I believe that's the kind of experience your company needs. I need a job. I want a job. I'm ready to go to work right now. And this I promise you, will not be disappointed to someday be able to say, 'I was the man,' or 'I was the woman who gave that young person their first job.' I won't let you down. That's a promise. Can I start today?"

See, folks, I just believe that with a talk like that, I know if somebody, you know, goes to the average employee like that, listen, I don't believe you could get out of there until they had you signed up and ready to go to work. Well, that kind of gives you some idea about what all this is about.

And so many times the question then, uh, comes up, "Well, how's the course taught and who teaches the course?" Well, that's the exciting thing about it. We have here, we think, the most outstanding approach to education, and educators unanimously agree to it. Somebody a long time ago said that if you hear something, you forget it. If you see it, you remember it. But if you see it and you hear it and you do it, then you understand and hence will succeed in whatever you're doing.

So, we start with a textbook. This is an abridged edition of "See You at the Top." This is what the students read. Then we have a series of 12 sets of recordings, or 12 recordings, which contain the same message as the book. You see, when you see it and hear it, you really dramatically increase the impact. And then, of course, you know that some students who unfortunately cannot read, or they're in the lower grades and have not learned to read yet, and so they get a tremendous benefit from hearing the message. In addition to that, we have the workbook, the student manual, and the students work the exercises in the course in the manual. Also, there are 15 games which you are going to be playing, which are learning experiences, in addition to the speak experience which I made reference to earlier in this presentation. So, what you do is, you hear it, you see it, and you do it.

Now, the other nice thing about it is that we have a series of teaching tapes which teach the teachers how to teach public speaking. For example, Dr. Ken Cuper has given us a tape on how to take care of your body physically. We think that's critically important. And then we have a series called "Zig Ziggler Lift for the Day." It's a 60-second presentation, so that over the intercom, once or twice, or in many schools, five times a week, there's a 60-second motivational lift, and all of the students, and all of the teachers, and all of the administrators in the school will get to participate in the class. That's the reason the class goes so much beyond simply the students who are in the class. That's the reason Doug abuse is down. That's the reason violence is down. That's the reason attendance is up. That's the reason grades are better.

Now, a lot of times, after people say, "Well, what do you teach, and how do you teach, and what's involved in the course? Uh, who do you select to teach that course?" They, they visualize somebody having to be 10 feet tall, you know, and a, uh, a brilliant individual to teach the course. Well, now, I'm not going to kid you. As you will know, Dr. Lindsay, since you're in charge of the educational development in our course, the teacher is the key issue. And if you've got an outstanding teacher, then you're going to have an outstanding class. But the way it's structured, I'm going to, without equivocation, say that this manual, which has been put together by Mrs. McCulla, by Dr. Lindsay, by Dr. Velma Walker, a psychologist, by Don McCulla, uh, who also is a psychologist, and by a battery of teachers and several years of experience, I'm going to tell you, this is the finest teacher's manual of any kind I've ever seen anywhere under any circumstances. Now, folks, in the business community, I've seen an awful lot of manuals. I'm going to tell you that if you'll follow this one, that you cannot miss.

So, what kind of teacher do we need? Well, the teacher should have about four outstanding characteristics. Number one, they need to be reasonably outgoing. Now, as we say over home, we don't think they have to be a tub-thumper. Uh, that means they, they don't have to be somebody quite as enthusiastic as I am, or as Miss Mulla, uh, might be or is. We do need Dr. Brown Lee, somebody who's excited about teaching the course. You know, having been in education all of your life, you can understand and know better than most people I've ever seen that in teaching, if the teacher's excited about the class they're teaching, the students are going to get excited. I'll never forget when I was a junior in high school, I had to take a summer course because I wanted to get in the Naval Air Corps. Had to take a course in history. I just couldn't understand why anybody would want to learn about history. What good is it going to do me? That I have to learn something that happened 200 years ago? But Coach Harris at Hines Junior College in Raymond, Mississippi, spent the first hour selling me on why I had to know my history. Had I not been in that class that day, I would not be in front of you today. It changed my total perspective on life, and I clearly then understood why, why I had to know my history. It was dramatic, the impact it had. Teachers are so critical, they're so important. He needs to be excited about teaching this course.

Now, the teacher also needs to be non-hypocritical. That's one of the reasons I, you know, was so enthusiastically impressed about Mrs. Randolph in that smoking bit because, you know, in the course, we talk about not smoking. We really do. We talk about discipline, and we talk about the fact that you've got to suck it up and tough it out and hang in there. And if the teacher is teaching one thing and doing something else, then, folks, that's not going to be effective. And then the fourth quality, she needs to love kids. That's the most important, in my mind, and it needs to show. Now, it's a special kind of love. I have a close friend named Bernie Laitic from Winnipeg, Canada, whose son had cerebral palsy. Every night for something like three years, they had to put heavy steel braces on his legs. And every night for something like three years, David Laitic, a beautiful child, dark brown eyes, coal black hair, olive complexion, every night with tears running down his cheeks, he would say, "Mom, do we have to put them on tonight? Or do you have to make them so tight?" But his parents loved him so much that they said no to the tears of the moment so they could say yes to the laughter of a lifetime. There. A lot of times, teachers, when you've got to tell the students not what they want to hear, but what they need to hear, you've got to love them enough to do that. And if you do that, if you have those four qualities, I believe that's going to make you an outstanding teacher.

I have two more points I want to make, and then we're all through with "Introduction to the I Can Course." In a large Southern city, there is a large shopping center, a beautiful place, it's magnificent. But about 40 years ago, it was a city dump. For hundreds of years, or over a hundred years, rather, they had been hauling the garbage out there and dumping it in that one specific spot. It was really a mess. Then one day, a builder said, "Hey, the city is growing this way. Let's eliminate the garbage dump." And they got the local builders to take their excavated dirt, as they would build new buildings, and go out there and they would dump the excavated dirt over the old garbage dump. They dumped tens of thousands of loads. And finally, one day, the builder looked at it and said, "Well, the foundation is solid. Let's build our shopping center." And they did, and it's beautiful. But you know, folks, that shopping center is built, well, it's really built on garbage, isn't it? I tell the story to students and teachers and parents. I tell the story because, you see, I don't care how much negative, I can't garbage has been dumped into your mind over the years. I'm going to tell you that is pure garbage. You are what you are, and you are where you are because of what's going into your mind. You change what you are, you change where you are by changing what goes into your mind. You start today with what you've got, and you start pumping in the good, the clean, the pure, the powerful, and the positive, over and over and over. Feed your mind with good stuff just as regularly as you feed your body. Then I can guarantee you, you can become the kind of a person you want to be.

Now, I'm going to give each one of you something which we give every member of our "I Can" class because this is something which literally will change your life. It's my business card. Oh, I know that doesn't sound like a life-changing experience. But you see, on one side, it has my name and my address and my phone number. On the other side, it has one word, and that's "Tui T." Now, as you can plainly see, it's round. And since it has "to it" on the other side, that means this is a round to it. So many times you've told your parents, or your teachers, or you've told your boss, or somebody else, "Hey, I'm going to do something just as soon as I get around to it." Well, never again will you be able to say that. When you start to say, "I'll do it when I get around to it," you'll be reminded you've already got your round to it. So you'll just go, go ahead and do it. What do you say to watch another amazing Zig Ziggler 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 you do more than you're paid to do. Ultimately, you're going to be paid more for what you do. If you get a job, if you show up on time, do what you're paid to do.