Let me begin by saying Zig is the man. The knowledge this man possessed in all walks of life provided (and still provides) so many in the world, like myself, the principles to lead one through life. From a small town in Mississippi, he traveled the world as a motivational speaker spreading his philosophy to anyone willing to listen. Thankfully, his videos are still available online allowing me an opportunity to peek into this man’s mind.
No one has ever been given an instruction manual to life but Zig gets pretty darn close. In every single book he authored, there are dozens of nuggets you can learn or relearn more on and apply to yourself.
While he isn’t alive anymore, his words still live on through his podcast rightfully named, “The Ziglar Show”. Narrated by his son, Tom, and thought leader, Kevin Miller, the Ziglar Show combines personal and professional growth, business success and faith that is broken down into easily digestible terminology for everyone to understand.
With over 40+ books to choose from, “Born to Win: Find Your Success” caught my eye. A title like that could get anyone to stop in their tracks and purchase a copy. It triggered a curiosity within me, “Is every single person born to win?” This question led me down the rabbit hole that I couldn’t wait to dive into.
In less than 200 pages, Zig compiled decades of life-changing tools and practices into a single, easy-to-understand layout for people who want to grow and improve the entire spectrum (or just a part) of their lives today. Zig breaks down this concept into three parts, Planning to Win, Preparing to Win, and Expecting to Win. With the vast amount of aspects he presents, I narrowed it down to the 5 most valuable lessons and how it relates to myself and hopefully my readers as well.
Here is my list of the 5 most valuable lessons from Born to Win: Find Your Success by Zig Ziglar.
1) Desire is the Parent
Desire is considered to be the equalizer equivalent to what a six-shooter was during the old West. An equalizer can even out the playing field when used appropriately. Just as the saying goes, “hard work beats talent when talent refuses to work hard”. It’s that desire that will give a person the edge they need to push an extra 100 yards at the end of a marathon. Someone with a desire to win will outrun the competition simply because they possess a vision.
Zig states desire is created when something happens in your life that suddenly changes the way you see yourself in relationship to your future. In other words, these ‘turning points’ must happen in order for you to realize what direction your present self must align with to attain that future image. This is where the planning, preparing, and expecting to win process stems from.
But desire alone will not will a person to success. Desire drives other key qualities such as commitment, perseverance, and the ability to plan. Commitment produces the focus and consistency to keep your eye on the target. Perseverance smooths out the rough spots and setbacks you will most certainly experience along the journey to success.
The downside of no desire is the inaction to plan. When a desire isn’t realized there is no reason to plan. Instead, the fatal killer of desire, known as “fear”, settles.
This has played true in me creating this blog. It took me over 7 years to finally make the leap into the blogging world. I actually created a WordPress account with no activity for over a year until I finally had the courage to pursue it. All because I was too fearful to put my words out into the cyberworld.
Over 2,500 days, fear killed my desire to build a blog. Every year I’d think about it with no action until I was too tired to give into the fear anymore. Finally the desire became stronger than the fear of not doing it.
2) Clarity is the Compass
After the desire to pursue something kicks in, knowing what you want comes next. Clearly determining the next steps can move you in the right direction. This is the “north star” moving you toward success. The term success is used as an example because I assume no one aims for disappointment. That would be the result of having no clarity. I presume nobody wants that for their life.
Zig compares how clarity will drive a person to become a goal setter. He states that goals bring the future into the present, and the present is the only time we can take action.
I wondered about goals and wrongfully associated them with resolutions, those annual goals promising to change an undesired behavior or create a new habit. Rarely have those worked for me in the past which made me hesitant toward creating goals randomly throughout the year. Little did I know that goals aren’t required to be made only in the beginning of the year.
Goals can, and should, be created once a desire to achieve something is discovered. Time has no hold on the creation of a goal.
Zig introduces his “Wheel of Life”, a way of showing us how we need to distribute our time, our focus, and where we need to set goals. The wheel is broken up into seven spokes. Each spoke is given a grade, on a scale of 1 to 10, providing a visual what areas you are doing poorly in and what areas are outstanding. If the wheel isn’t round, then there is some work that needs to be done to fix that. A goal will assist in improving that area to bring more balance to the “wheel”.
The seven spokes of this wheel are:
- Physical
- Family
- Mental
- Financial
- Spiritual
- Career
- Personal
After rating each area, multiple goals will need to be set in order to achieve a balanced “Wheel of Life”. Zig provides a seven-step process for goal setting.
- Identify the goal
- List the benefits: What’s in it for me?
- List the obstacles to overcome
- List the skills and knowledge required
- Identify the people and groups to work with
- Develop a plan of action
- Set a deadline for achievement
What I value most about this process is how simple and easy it is to use. It is similar to the SMART method of creating goals talked about so often by many others. I’ve taken portion’s of Zigs’ method and paired it with the SMART method to illustrate my plan to become a millionaire in 10 years.
3) Lay the Foundation
Zig speaks on the six characteristics that comprise the foundation stones of life and personal success. The six characteristics are honesty, character, faith, integrity, love, and loyalty. These play a vital role in creating a balanced Wheel of Life worthy of producing success in life.
He explains each foundation stone with additional detail while offering a few examples to better understand how they are used in real life situations. When each stone is applied to life, they provide the basis for making the right choices.
I reflected how these have helped mold my life to what it is today. None of what I have today would be possible without honesty. This has been the cornerstone of everything in terms of personal finance. If I’m not able to be brutally honest with my poor spending habits, address them head on, and change the bad behaviors connected to those habits, I would have never made any changes. That pretty much sums up the birth of this blog.
I wanted to be more accountable to myself and my finances by putting on a blog for all the world to see and critique. There is a certain sense of honesty one must possess to put their business out there like that. I am willing to accept any and all constructive criticism from my peers knowing that it’ll help me in the long run.
As for the other stones, they are equally important in structuring a life geared toward success. A great starting point for any of them to operate correctly is having the mind be consistent with the information in the mind. In other words, input affects output. I’ve found that changing the way I think or view a certain topic expands my view and forces me to think differently. This has helped me to grow in each spoke in the Wheel of Life.
4) Every Small Step Matters
It doesn’t matter how tiny or insignificant something may seem, all of it matters. Zig states that every small step, every small promotion, and every new direction resulted in Dwight Eisenhower’s huge lifetime of success. He accepted every new position, despite how mundane or challenging it was. This led Eisenhower toward his destiny and solidified his name in American history.
This lesson barely composed seven lines in this book but the impact it has on my life is huge. If I compare my own life, it makes perfect sense.
- I am in debt because of every small purchase
- I am unhappy at work because of every small negative thought
- I am overweight from every small bite of food
- I don’t have time for my family because I misuse small minutes of my day
- I am not where I want to be in life because of every worthless input I feed my mind
- I am out of touch with inner peace because of every missed prayer
- I have no success in life because of every missed opportunity
The list can go on and on. The great part about small steps are they work both ways, for positive and negative influence on someone’s life. Allowing myself to arrive at a place in life that didn’t line up with my ideal vision meant that a series of goals was required for me to create that ideal life.
Without any remorse, I took the proper steps to correct these spokes in my life.
- I am decreasing debt balances from every small debt repayment
- I have found happiness at my job by thinking of every small complement it gives my family
- I have lost weight from every small workout
- I make time for my family by creating more small minutes throughout my day
- I am on a certain path in life because of every audiobook, podcast, video, and book I feed my mind
- I am finding more peace through every small prayer
- I am achieving daily success because I am taking advantage of every small opportunity
Sometimes I get caught up in the nitty-gritty of the day to day routines that I forget to take a step back and reflect on how far I’ve actually come. This is especially true as it relates to budgeting. It can be arduous, boring, and sometimes it feels like I’m not getting very far. All those tiny steps, whether good or bad, have led me here to where I am today. If I don’t like the direction I’m heading, then I just need to take tiny steps to a different path. It’s really that simple.
Related article : Are You Making These Common Budget Mistakes?
5) Practice the Little Things
Besides being an author and motivational speaker, Zig started as a salesman. His success from the former came after he became exceptional at his craft. But that didn’t come easy for him. A sale wasn’t complete until both parties signed a contract or an order. Zig knew this was the ultimate goal in sales.
He worked his brain tirelessly on memorizing stories so he could recite them over and over again, placing emphasis on key verbiage. His stories would plant suggestions in the prospect’s mind. In return, they would sign the dotted line. All of this was possible because he practiced telling stories that involved signing things.
He gives an example of the story he used for closing sales. But he didn’t just practice stories as a salesman, he used that same technique when he became a motivational speaker. It was that practice that gave him the confidence to overcome potentially difficult moments, because he had done them so many times before. That’s what made his speeches so captivating.
Just listen to any of his speeches and it’s obvious that he spends time honing his craft to the point that the stories become second nature. They feel natural and unforced, almost as if he is just making them up as he speaks. But he admittedly informs his readers that practicing the little things can make the biggest difference.
Looking at my life, I’ve taken this method of practicing the small things to heart. Listening to my wife just a little more than normal. Being patient with the kids a little more today than I was yesterday. Learning more about my job through reading materials when I have down time. Practicing the small things aligned with my personal goals will give me the confidence to do better next time.
Even if someone is more talented than I am, I can outwork them through hard work. Hard work, in this case, is doing the things that no one else is willing to do like reading more on a subject or networking with others who have the knowledge to share. By setting time aside each day, I can practice the specific things required to improve my skills and become anything I want.
Related article : Build A Habit Of Saving Money With This 5-Step Plan
Conclusion
In Born to Win: Find Your Success, Zig offers his readers a comprehensive yet digestible collection of life-changing tools and practices that have inspired him for most of his adult life. I’m always taken in by his live talks and was not disappointed after reading this book. I hope there are nuggets of wisdom that others can pull from this book and perhaps you would want to add this book to your personal library.
Honestly, I couldn’t just stop at 5 lessons, there was just too much in this book to stop there. Stay tuned for part II where I conjure up 5 more influential lessons from Zig’s book. My hope is you find inspiration from these lessons and apply them in your personal life to accomplish your wildest dreams.
Which lesson impacted you the most? How has Zig affected your life?