Born to Win. Zig Ziglar
almost every individual and company is looking for! The bad news is there are no “magic pill” solutions that allow you to achieve success “fast and easy.”
However, there are several success strategies that will allow you to achieve a higher level of success faster and more easily than you thought possible—and that is what this book is about, to give you a road map for success in pure and simple language. Don’t get me wrong, winning doesn’t come without work, but focusing on the proven steps and processes to winning will allow the journey to be faster and a ton more fun.
TWO WORDS AND A PHRASE
In order to keep things simple (just the way my mind likes it!), I want to share with you two words and a phrase that I use as key points when I explain to people how to achieve consistent and lasting success.
Two Words: Identity and Hope
For many years I wondered why Dad had been so successful at motivating people to change, to take action, to try something different or new. Growing up, I thought it was because he was so inspirational, funny, and smart. What Dad said makes sense, and nobody said it better than he did! Yet all of these things only explain why people liked him, not why they take action. I know trust has a lot to do with it, yet many people heard him only one time and then were inspired to take action. Sure, the foundation for trust was established, but something more than trust had to move them to action.
Digging a little deeper and asking the “why” question (Why do people take action?), I discovered this scarlet thread. Almost every time Dad spoke, and in almost every book, tape, CD, video, or DVD he had done, he told his story. In a nutshell, Dad’s story goes like this: Born in the heart of the Depression, he was the tenth of twelve children. His dad died when he was five. Dad started working at age six, never did well in school, and married when he was twenty. He started his sales career and failed miserably for several years. An executive at his company told him he could be a champion if only he believed in himself and went to work on a regular schedule. He had always been honest and worked hard, but with this new information he changed his attitude, and his sales career started to take off. Unfortunately, while he would achieve momentary success over the next twenty years, he was still chasing the worldly definition of success and looking for the “get rich quick” solution. Because of this, he found himself having to start over more than ten times during that twenty-year stretch. Stability was not a word to describe Dad! Then, when Dad was forty-five years old, his life totally changed as he discovered his eternal purpose with his faith in Christ. The rest is history.
Something very interesting happened when Dad told his story. You would start to see people’s heads nodding. If you could read their minds, this is what you would have saw: “Wow! I had no idea Zig struggled so much when he was coming up. His dad died when he was five. His mom had a fifth-grade education. He didn’t do well in school. When he started in sales, he was horrible.
“He made and lost money numerous times because of really bad decisions. Wow, if Zig did it, so can I.” Suddenly they identify with Dad, and hope is born.
Inspiration is powerful, and Dad may have been the most inspirational person on the planet, but inspiration only lasts so long. Hope is much different. When you have the hope that things can change and a plan to make that change possible, then you can take action. When Dad told his story, it literally flipped the hope switch in people because they could identify with him—“If he can, I can.”
Then, all of a sudden, when Dad suggested that people try something, they’d do it—not because they liked Dad, or because he inspired them or made them laugh, but because “if he can, I can.”
Next time you get discouraged and caught up in your circumstances, just remember what Dad said: “You cannot control what happens to you, but you can control how you respond to what happens to you.” If he can, YOU can.
A PHRASE: WILL, SKILL, AND REFILL
My simple mind really loves this phrase: Will, Skill, and Refill. Almost every day I get asked the question, “What are the keys to constantly improving my personal or my company’s level of success?” As Dad said, “You build a better company by building better people,” so the Will, Skill, and Refill philosophy is a foundation of all of our personal and corporate training. This is how it works:
Will—this is the “want to.” This is the heart, the desire, the attitude, the passion that people have.
Skill—this is the “how to.” This is the skill, the process, the technical expertise that people have.
Refill—this is reinforcing the Will and Skill. There is no such thing as “one and done” training and development. Will and Skill must be developed and reinforced daily. Take the Will away from any person and you will have, at best, someone who is just taking up space, and at worst, someone who is a real drain on their company and their family. Without Skill, no matter what you do, you will create an endless cycle of frustration. Without Refill it is impossible to maintain the difference-making levels of Will and Skill you need to achieve the level of success you desire.
BE WEIRD
I love what Dave Ramsey says about being in debt. He says that “normal” people are broke, so be weird. I agree 100 percent! As Dad said, “I have had problems when I have had money, and I have had problems when I haven’t had money, and I have discovered that if you are going to have problems, it’s better if you have money!”
Here is the reality: “normal” people are not successful in the truest sense of the word. “Normal” people do not practice Will, Skill, and Refill. I am encouraging you to BE WEIRD. Choosing to be successful starts with choosing to do what successful people do. Successful people practice Will, Skill, and Refill on a daily basis. •
Will, Skill, and Refill is simple—remember, I am a simple person, so it has to be! This concept is based on my favorite of all of Dad’s quotes: “You are who you are and what you are because of what has gone into your mind. You can change who you are and what you are by changing what goes into your mind.”
Here is how you do it. On a daily basis, even if it is only for five or ten minutes a day, Refill your mind with material that helps you build your Will, or your Skill, or both. You can read or listen to great material. This book is a great place to start, and as you are reading this very sentence you are practicing Will, Skill, and Refill. Dad’s favorite example of Will, Skill, and Refill was Automobile University. When you are driving, pop in a powerful CD that builds you up.
Personally, I have loaded my iPod with hundreds of hours of life-building material (of course my favorite is Dad), and I listen almost every time I work out.
There is no such thing as the “status quo.” Coasting in life, in business, or in your family relationships is not an option. All are either improving or getting worse. The same is true for success. You are either moving closer to success, or further from it. This is why Will, Skill, and Refill are so critical on a daily basis.
“Encouragement is the fuel on which hope runs.”
—Zig Ziglar
As you plan, prepare, and expect to win in life because you are born to win, never forget that hope is the catalyst that will get you started, and that encouragement keeps hope alive. The daily dose of Will, Skill, and Refill is where you will find encouragement. Remember, you were Born to Win! Prepare Yourself! Expect Success! Change the World!
—Tom Ziglar
THANK YOU, JEAN Abernathy Ziglar (Sugar Baby), for being the only girl I’ve ever loved and for believing I was born to win even when I hadn’t yet realized it for myself.
Thank