You
Hello, I'm Zig Ziglar
And I'm really excited that we're able to spend this time together in a few minutes this empty studio
Will be filled with hundreds of people who just like you believe that to get ahead in life
You got to have goals during this program
We'll look at why goals are important how to set them and how to achieve them the hour you spend with this tape
Maybe the most important time you'll ever spend in your life
Now join me and our studio audience as we take those first steps towards a happier and more productive
Life do this and I'll see you at the top
Wow
What enthusiasm my goodness alive read something the other day you're gonna be enormously intrigued with
read where every third person
was either
Remarkably handsome all
are
Amazingly beautiful
Now what I'd like to get you to do is look directly at the person on your left
No left
Now look directly at the person on your right and if it ain't either one of them
Well, that ought to get that ought to get us off to a good start here
Just as a matter of curiosity how many of you have ever either heard me speak before or else
This is your first time. Can I see your hands? Okay?
Hey, we're with it here tonight. That's great
The name Howard Hill will probably ring a bell in the minds of some of you
But not all of you Howard Hill was a good Alabama boy
He was an archer many people said he was the greatest of all time
He entered two hundred and eighty seven archery tournaments. He placed first
287 times as a youngster. I've seen newsreels of Howard Hill
I've seen him where they were filming him killing a Cape
Buffalo the toughest of all game animals to bring down with a bow and arrow. He killed a bull elephant
He killed a large shark under about 15 feet of water as a youngster
I've seen newsreels where from 50 feet he would shoot at a bullseye and split it
Precisely in the center and then he would take his second arrow and with a second arrow
He would split the first one an amazing
Demonstration of skill now. I have never shot the bow and arrow professionally
But I am an instructor par excellence. I think that's French, which means I'm really good
But I'm not absolutely certain of that as a matter of fact
I am so good as an instructor of archery that I could spend 20 minutes with any man or woman
In this audience this evening and provided your eyesight is normal and your health is good at the end of 20 minutes
I would have you hitting the bullseye more consistently than Howard Hill could have hit it the best day of his life
Provided we had of course first
blindfolded Howard Hill
And then turn him around a couple of times so he would have no idea in which
Direction he was facing and you kind of snicker and you say why Ziegler that's the silliest thing I've ever heard
Why of course we could shoot better than him because how in the world could a man hit a target? He could not even see
That's a pretty good question. Here's one even better. How can you hit a target? You don't even have
The question my friends is do you have?
Your targets have you clearly identified what it is that you want in life
Have you set a date as to when you expect to get it? Have you identified the obstacles you must overcome?
In order to get there have you identified the people the groups organizations you need to work with in order to get there
Have you spelled out what it is? You need to know to reach your objective
Have you developed a plan of action and have you written it down as to what's in it for me?
Why do you want to reach the goal in the first place?
You see the problem with most people is they're what we call a wandering
Generality in life, but the truth is you can never achieve greatness unless you become a meaningful
Specific you see the basic problem is most people when they're working on their job
They get to thinking you know
I really ought to be spending time at home with my family and then when they're at home with the family get to thinking you
Really ought to be out there working for my family and so when they're out there working for the family their mind is back home
And when they're back home their mind is back out there in the field, and then they tell everybody
Well, I don't ever have time to do anything
No wonder you're always traveling
You see the basic problem is not lack of time it is lack of
Direction we all have exactly the same amount of time whether we're a millionaire or a pauper
All of us have 24 hours
every single day
The truth is ladies and gentlemen we must have goals if we're going to do anything goals do a lot of things for example
They enable you to chase the blues away
I've never known anybody who was truly depressed who had specific and long
Range goals and what goals do is they create activity and you see activity as you work towards reaching them
Creates the very excitement which you need in order to accomplish or reach your objectives
The psychologists put it this way
Logic will not change an emotion
But action will and as you get busy working towards of these dreams of yours
And yes, you absolutely must have your dreams ladies and gentlemen and what we're going to do is look at the ways you build a foundation
underneath those dreams
Several years ago. They did an experiment with a number of college students and in this particular
Experiment they let them go to sleep and they hook these brain machines up to them with these brain machines
They could determine precisely within a matter of seconds when the student went to sleep
Then they could tell when that student started to dream and as the student would start to dream
They would awaken him or her and then they let him go back to sleep and that is no problem
But when they started to dream they would awaken them again and with those brainwave machines
They can tell exactly when they start to dream at the end of one night of this kind of treatment
Many of the students were nervous and fidgety at the end of two nights of this kind of treatment where they had a reasonable amount
Of sleep, but no dreaming
They became very irritable and very short and very cross at the end of just three nights of a reasonable amount of sleep
But no dreaming they could tell that some of them were headed for some
Psychological difficulties and so what they did was they aborted the experiment now about 24 hours later
Most of the students were back to normal within a week all of them had returned 100%
But the experiment proved something very conclusively and that's this when you're asleep ladies and gentlemen
You need your dreams
I'm here to tell you that when you're wide awake, you also need your dreams
You must have your goals. You'll never make it as a wandering generality
You must become a meaningful specific if you're going to work tomorrow because that's what you did yesterday
You're not going to be as good tomorrow as you were yesterday because now you're two days older and no closer
To the goal which you do not have you can't make it as a wandering generality
Most people understand you got to become a meaningful specific
It reminds me of an experiment done some little while ago by Jean-Henri Fabre the great French naturalist
He took a number of processionary caterpillars
So named because they follow each other in a procession and he lined them around a flower pot until they formed a
Never-ending circle and they started going round and round 24 hours that first day
And then they went the next day and the next and by the about the third of the fourth day
He put some pine needles into the center of that flower pot
That's the food of the processionary caterpillar
They kept going round and round seven full days and seven full nights. They went round and round until they literally
dropped dead from starvation and
exhaustion
With an abundance of food less than six inches away. They had starved to death because they confused
activity with
Accomplishment you've got some friends that are in the same shape. They're busy busy be all the time
They're going going going going and they're here and they're there and they're somewhere else
But they never really accomplish anything because they don't have those specific clearly
Identifiable objectives you gotta have those goals
Now that you know why it's important to have goals take the next few minutes to prepare a dream sheet write down
Everything you've ever wanted to do or be or have now don't be judgmental
Let your mind run free
Here's a guide to help organize this dream sheet as you write down one idea
It will trigger others no matter how far-fetched are seemingly unrealistic
Be sure to write down everything
begin with travel and
Vacations where you want to go and how you're gonna get there your automobile the kind the color all of the options the house
That the size of it the style and all of the extras the money
savings investments your career the salary of the
Increase the raises and all the benefits which go with it your promotions
The children and your family the education activities the shared time
Friendship the respect the helping of others your health your your body weight the exercise
your religion your church involvement your religious study and your mind
Education reading recalled now if other things come to mind you add them to your list
Take your time to complete this list and when you are finished set it aside for 24 to 48 hours
At that point get out your dream sheet again and after each item write why?
Now this is crucial if you cannot clearly
Articulate in one sentence why you want to be do or have what you included on your list
It is not something you're serious about so take it off. We'll get back to this later
Yet the truth of the matter is
97% of the people in our great land
Never really set their goals in the proper light in the way that you are going to be taught during the course of this program
97% and one of the major reasons is because of a little thing called fear now you spell fear obviously
F-E-A-R and that really is an acrostic for false
evidence
appearing real
But if it appears real ladies and gentlemen, it's real for example. I could take this handkerchief and
My finger and rob the bank in your town and all probability all I'd have to do is put the handkerchief over my face
put my finger in my pocket and walk up to the taller end of my
Meanest voice say give me your money and chances are superb that they would give me the money
The evidence would be false, but it would appear real and because of that
They would give me the money a young Cuban hijacked an airplane to Cuba with a bar of soap
He took it to the captain of the aircraft and he said let's go to Cuba
I've got a bomb in here though. The evidence was false
It appeared real and they went to Cuba
You see the truth of the matter is a lot of people collect a great deal of false evidence
Evidence and the net result is they never set the goals now
Let me assure you there's a certain amount of danger in setting goals
For example next Monday morning
I get on an aircraft in Dallas, Texas going into Atlanta, Georgia date 45 now
I've got sense enough to know that when I get on that airplane
There's a certain amount of danger when I get aboard that aircraft because some airplanes are coming down faster than to go up
And I'll tell you when those airplanes come down faster than they go up
There's danger for me, but there's more danger for the airplane
You see when an airplane comes down faster than it goes up
You just about can't hardly trade those dudes in at any price. I mean their market value is gone
See there's danger for the airplane, but there's more danger for the airplane if it stays on the ground
Did you realize that according to the engineers an airplane will wear out faster sitting on the ground?
Then it will wear out flying in the heavens. It'll rust out on the ground
It'll wear out in the heavens not nearly as fast in the air as it'll rust out on the ground
Besides airplanes are built to fly
You get on a ship there's danger it might sink
but there's more danger for the ship if it stays at anchor in the harbor experts tell me that it will collect barnacles and
become unseaworthy faster in the harbor than it will if it sails the high seas and
Besides that's what ships are built for now
There's a certain amount of danger in setting your goals because you see you might not reach
Those goals but folks there's danger if you don't set the goal
You see man and nature are a hundred and eighty degrees apart. We use up nature's natural resources by
using them up
But we use up man's natural resources
By not using them at all
Oliver Wendell Holmes expressed it very eloquently when he said the tragedy in America is truly that we waste our natural resources
but one of infinitely greater
Tragedy is the fact that we waste our human resources by not using
What we've got the average person goes to their grave with their music still in them
What a shame you got to have goals ladies and gentlemen
I want to talk a little bit about goals on the light of how do you lose a
37 pounds and write a book
I'm just gonna kind of give you that as an example for 24 years of my
Adult life by choice. I weighed well over 200 pounds
I say by choice because you see I have never accidentally eaten anything. I
Mean it's always been deliberate and when I choose to eat too much today
I have chosen to weigh too much tomorrow
you can choose to set goals and realize your potential or you can choose not to set them now if you choose not to
Set them you got to understand that the consequences are not going to be good down the road
For 24 years. I was going to lose that weight as a matter of fact in 24 years
I lost several thousand pounds of weight how many of you already know exactly what I'm talking about
But it wasn't until I wrote it down
Put a date on it
Listed the obstacles. I had to overcome
Identified the people the groups organizations. I needed to work with
spelled out a plan of
Action set that time limit in there and identified all of the benefits to me
It was only when I did that that the goal became a reality
Reality and I lost the weight for 10 or 15 years. I was gonna write a book
You know anybody who's gonna do just a whole lot of things folks
I was gonna write a book, but it wasn't until I got busy
Writing the book and writing the plans first before the book ever
materialized Yale University
1953 did a study of their graduating seniors
They discovered that only 3% of them had taken all seven of the steps you need to take in setting
Your goals another 10% had taken part of the steps
but the majority 87% beyond graduating from college and
Becoming a professor or a preacher or a doctor or whatever
Very few of the other 87% had taken any of the steps in setting those goals
now
1973 20 years later
They did another study of these graduating seniors and in the area which you can measure which is in your career and in your finances
The 3% who had taken all seven steps that is they had written down clearly identified exactly what they wanted
They had put the date on when they expected to get there. They had identified the obstacles
They had to overcome they had spelled out the people the groups organizations
They had to work with that identified what they needed to know
They had developed a plan of action and they had written it down
Why do I want to get there these 3% had accomplished more than the?
97% combined who had not set those girls goals now
They sound like I'm trying to sell you on having goals
How many of you are getting close already how many of you're being coming convinced right quick like that?
You need to have those goals. There's no question about it
The immortal JCPenney many many years ago said give me a stock clerk with a goal
And I'll give you a man who will make history
But give me a man without a goal and I'll give you a stock clerk
Now the interesting thing is goals do not care who has them
Let me give you a classic example of the way they work in
1950 a war-torn devastated Japan a nation which had lost an incredibly high percentage of its young men
Their cities were in ruins. They had been bombed out, but in 1950 they got together
They meaning industry and government got together and set a goal the goal was we're going to be the number one nation in the world during
the 1950s in the production of textiles in
In 1959 ladies and gentlemen, they accomplished that objective in
1960 they set another goal
We're going to be the number one nation in the world in the production of steel now when you understand
There's no iron ore in Japan of any significance. There's no coal of any significance there
We're going to be the number one nation in the world in the production of steel
It seemed like an absurd goal and yet they reached their objectives. They had taken all of the steps in
1970 the Japanese set another goal
They said during the 70s will be the number one nation in the world in the production of automobiles
They missed it folks
One year it took them until 1980 in 1980
They set another goal and this time their goal was we're going to be the number one nation in the world in the production of
computers and electronics and they're working very very hard to reach their goals. Yes, indeed
ladies and gentlemen, you
Absolutely must have those goals. You got to write them down. You got to put a date on it
You got to identify those obstacles
You've got to identify the people the groups you need to work with you got to find out what it is
You need to know you got to develop a plan of action and you got to write it down
What's in it for me?
Now that's a formula that I have just given you pure and simple now if I were to ask you what three times three was
There is that a person here who could not instantly answer it
But if I were to ask you what is five thousand one hundred and twenty eight times two thousand one hundred and sixty five
Odds are enormous that very few of you could pop out the answer that quickly
Buddy if I were to say to you get your pencil and paper out figure it out
Then all of you could figure it out. Why you know the formula now
You see if you know the formula it really doesn't make any difference ladies and gentlemen what the goal
Really is when I started to write the book
I took precisely the same steps that I'm talking about I wrote down the objective
I wrote down the time I completed or expected to complete the book
I identified the obstacles there and yes, I know this is repetitious. It's the mother of learning
I wrote out and identified the people the groups organizations. I needed to work with I
Devised a plan of action to do it. I spelled out what I needed to know and I wrote it all down
What's in it for me? I?
Think most of us would like to be part of that successful group of people with goals
But few of us take the time to sit down and write out our plan for life
The truth is most of us just don't know how to go about doing it
So here are seven steps to help you start setting goals first. You've got to identify the goal
Next you need to set a deadline for achievement number three. You need to list the obstacles to overcome
Number four you need to identify the people and groups to work with number five
You need to list the skills and the knowledge required to reach your goal number six
You need to develop a plan of action and number seven you need to list the benefits. What's in it for me?
These are the seven steps you must take to set your goals
The truth of the matter is you see there are seven types of goals
But the formula works exactly the same whether it's a social goal a mental goal a
Physical goal doesn't make any difference what kind of goal is let me kind of
Alert you and give you a simple example of why we need to be alerted to why we need some of our goals
For example, is there anybody here who has a racehorse worth in excess of a million dollars? Can I see your hands?
Okay. Now if you did have a thoroughbred horse worth in excess of a million dollars
Would you keep him up half the night letting him drink coffee and booze and smoke cigarettes and eat junk food?
Now chances are you'd say Ziegler, that's crazy. Of course not. How about a ten dollar dog? Would you treat him that way?
Five dollar cat
What about a billion dollar body
See we need goals
Identified to take care of our physical body. We need family goals. We need career goals
We need spiritual goals. And yes, we also ladies and gentlemen need
financial
goals
Before going any further it's time to take a personal inventory
Kind of a checkup from the neck up to see how you're performing in various areas of your life
As each area appears on the screen
Evaluate yourself on a scale of one to five five being excellent
Begin with a physical area of your life rate yourself on appearance
Medical checkups exercise programs weight control and nutrition
The next area is the family your listening habits your forgiving attitude of being a good role model
Timed together supportive of others respectful and loving
financial
earnings your savings and investments budget adequate insurance charge accounts
Social your sense of humor your listening habits your self-confidence your manners and caring
The spiritual the inner peace the sense of purpose prayer religious study belief in god
mental
imagination
attitude continuing education
reading and
curiosity
career job satisfaction effectiveness job training
Understanding the job the purpose and your competence
now
Review your performance in all seven areas and determine which areas need improvement
We will use this evaluation later in the program to help you set your goals
Now goals have
certain characteristics
For example, we need some big goals and some multiple goals
We need more than one goal. If you just have one goal, you'll end up being a warped individual
Now if you only have one goal chances are good
You're going to reach it if you really work at it as we've been talking about
But you don't want to be warped. You need the balance that we're talking about
I'd set the goal of losing the 37 pounds now. That is a big
Goal, you need big goals because big goals force you to reach your goals
Goals because big goals force you to reach in and utilize the potential which is there
I love the story of old gentleman jim corbett the former heavyweight boxing champion of the world
Corby was out doing his road work one morning
And he saw a fisherman who was just having a field day
I mean he was pulling in the big ones and he was pulling in the little ones and corby noticed that as he was running past
The fisherman was putting the little fish in his creel and he was throwing the big ones back in
He couldn't resist it. He walked over to him. I ran over to him and said mister
He said i've seen a lot of fishermen in my lifetime
But I believe you're the first one i've ever seen who threw the big fish back and who kept the little ones now
Why in the world would you do a thing like that?
And the fisherman sadly shook his head and he said man, I I hate to do it
But he said I don't really have any choice. I have to throw the big ones back
Because you see all i've got is just this little old bitty frying pan
Now before you laugh too broadly
Let me point out he's talking to you and about you
And he's talking about me so many times we get the big goal the big idea of a big dream
Something that would make a big difference not only in our lives
But other lives and no sooner do we get this big goal and say oh no lord don't give me such a big one
All I got is just this little old bitty frying pan
Give me a little one just a little one don't make me stretch besides
You know if the goal was any good if the idea was any good somebody else would already have thought about it
Just give me a little one
folks you got to have
Some big goals in life because it's the big goals which really make you reach in
And uh and use the resources which are at your disposal and the resources you have are awesome
Emerson was absolutely right when he said what lies behind us and what lies in front of us
Pails in significance when compared to what lies within us
You've got within you the capacity to reach some of those big goals
Now you need to follow the steps we're talking about because that makes them sensible and sound and logical
But we need some dreams. We need some big goals
One of my goals was to lose 37 pounds because I was sick and tired of being
Sick and tired in a nutshell now one of the toughest things i've ever done in my life
Was to discipline myself to get on that exercise program requiring the jogging and requiring the dieting
Up until then you see my idea of exercise had been simply to fill the tub take a bath pull the plug and fight the current
I mean
You know that was it
And
Anyway, you cut it folks. That really is not much of an exercise program
And I finally got on it and I went to work to lose that weight and I took
Ten months that was a big goal. It was a goal which made a definite difference in my life
Writing the book was a big goal. It made a different a definite difference in my life
Now you got to have some long-range goals as well. Ladies and gentlemen now
I don't want to be negative matter of fact
I'll be like the little boy who came home from school one day and said dad
I'm afraid I flunked the rheumatic test his dad said son. That's negative be positive. He said dad
I'm positive. I flunked my rheumatic test
Now i'm absolutely positive folks that you're going to have some difficulties in your life in front of you
Ladies and gentlemen, there is trouble
Some of friends of yours are going to disappoint you your employer or employees are going to disappoint you
There's going to be some setbacks and reversals that you absolutely cannot understand
There are going to be things happen in your future that will frustrate you flabbergast you amaze you
Disgust you and everything else and that's the reason you've got to have
long-range goals
You see if you've got those specific long-range goals, ladies and gentlemen, and then when things don't go exactly your way
You will treat the setbacks as a pebble on the beach
If you don't have those goals, you'll treat it as if it were the whole ocean front
You got to have long-range goals
And the reason you need long-range goals is because the long-range goals help you to deal with and overcome
those short-range
Failures the rule is very simple you go as far as you can see
And then when you get there, you'll always be able to see further
I set my goal to lose thirty-seven pounds in ten months. That was my objective
And as I looked at it thirty-seven pounds in ten months
I knew and I knew in my own mind that I could reach that goal of losing thirty-seven pounds
In the ten months, but we got to break things down
Like when I get aboard that aircraft in Dallas going to Atlanta you see for the first 20 minutes
We'll be headed straight towards Atlanta, but after 20 minutes
We'll no longer be going to Atlanta don't know where we'll be going
But it won't be Atlanta, Georgia because the direction of the wind will change the velocity will change
The gravitational pull of the earth the sun the moon and the stars will all blow that
Airplane off the course and so the captain of the aircraft will turn the aircraft around fly back to Dallas land and start over
Just saying if you're paying attention how many of you
How many of you know perfectly good? Well, he's not going to do that
He's going to make a different heading. Is he not he's going to change the course
You see when you have those long-range goals a lot of things times things happen to you
Well, you don't abandon the goal as my younger brother judge. Ziegler says you don't
Change your decision to go
You simply change your direction in order to get there
See, we can't always predict what's going to be out there when I set the goal of losing the 37 pounds in 10 months
I broke it into 10 parts 10 months. I was going to do it
That's three and seven tenths pounds per month now folks
I knew I could lose three and seven tenths pounds a month. You see that's less than a pound a week
I knew and I knew that I knew that I could lose three and seven tenths pounds a month as a matter of fact
I was so certain that I could that I didn't even bother to get started the first 28 days
I mean if you know exactly what i'm talking about, I mean listen man, the contest is six months
Why get all exercised about it the first week or but mom school just started. We've got nine more months
Why should I knuckle down and study now or look i've got all week to get the correspondence out boss man or boss lady
Why should I have a hustle so hard today? But you know time
marches on
28 days and then I realized what was happening. I was raised in a little town of Yazoo City, Mississippi
Now I know that a lot of folks go around the country trying to impress people by claiming to be from Yazoo City
But I really am now when I was a boy
During the depression we lived next door to some rich folks
I knew they were rich for two reasons number one they had to cook number two the cook had something to cook
and
During the depression that was a sure sign of wealth. I was over there for lunch one day as I tried to be every day
And I don't misunderstand that even though there was a depression on we certainly had plenty to eat at my house
I know we had plenty because if they ever passed my place for seconds that always tell me no you've had plenty
So I know we had plenty now the cook brought the biscuits out and this is not an exaggeration
Those biscuits were not as thick as my wristwatch and I looked at it for a moment
I said maude what in the world happened to your biscuits?
She reared back gave a big old tummy laugh and said well, I'll tell you about those biscuits
She said they squatted to rise
But she said they just got cooked in the squat
You know anybody that's getting cooked in the squat
You know, nobody who's going to do something just as soon as or they're half a mind to do such and such thing
You ever have anybody say well, you know wait till the kids get out of school
And then I'll really get involved in this project. We got so many things going on right now
wait till they're out of school wait till summer time comes and then I'll
really
Get busy the kids get out of school. You know what they say then well, you know, I didn't realize it
But I got to take the kids somewhere every day
I had more time when they were in school waiting to get back in school and then I'll really get busy kids get back
Until you know what they say then well, you know for the first time in 19 years
Dear old central high has finally got a win in football team and you got to support the kids there
Wait after the football season is over. Then I'll really get busy football season. Then you know what they say then well
Here it is. Thanksgiving and Christmas and new years and people don't want to be bothered with this sort of thing this time
Yeah, wait after the first of the year man, then I'll really get busy after the first year. You know what they say?
Well, it's the weather did you ever see weather like this in Chicago or San Francisco or Dallas or wherever wait
The weather settles down and then I'll really get busy. Oh, I know what you're thinking
You're thinking I've lost interest in it, but that's not the way I do they did
Just let me take the way I do things. Now. Here's the way I am. So this is just the way I do it
See the way I do things is I get everything organized I get it lined up
I have everything in just such-and-such order and then man once I get it all put together
That's when I really get after I mean, that's just the way I've always been that way do things that way
I know some of these other folks are hitting me right now, but you just wait I'll catch them
But this weather it is just so horrible wait till it clears up and the weather clears up. You know what they say then
Well here it is. It's Easter time and Easter time
You know, that's a family time and we always spend a lot of time together and you said so yourself
The family is extremely important to you
You do the work for the family and if you can't spend some time with them, you might as well not do all the work
I mean wait after Easter's over then I'll really get busy and then after you see know what they say at long last
We've got some beautiful weather and I haven't hit a golf ball or wet a hook and I don't know when man
I got to have some R&R. I got to have some rest and relaxation and you know
You said you can't work all the time
I mean an individual needs some time with themselves wait till I relax a little bit and man then I really
Get after it and finally they get after a little bit, you know, or when they have the fun and relaxation then they say well
It's almost time for the kids
To get out of school
And that's where we came in as we say down home folks
You can put this in your pipe and smoke it cause it's the truth
The people who wait for ain't Matilda to move out or John to get on the day shift
Are the new models to come out or the new mayor to come in are for the new advertising campaign to get started
The people who wait on the new senator in Washington or until inflation slows or the rate of interest come down
The people who wait for changes to take place out there before they do the change in in here are
Flat gonna end up getting cooked in the squat
The rule is simple. You do it now
You do it now
When I analyzed what I had to do when I wrote it down and understood my objective
that all I had to do was lose one and
Twenty nine one and twenty nine hundred ounces per day
Then ten months later to the each to the ounce and to the day. I had lost the weight
The truth of the matter is in writing the book. It's a 384 page book. It's entitled. See you at the top
We've sold in excess of a million five hundred thousand copies. I wrote one point twenty six hundred pages a day
For ten months you see to reach your goals. Ladies and gentlemen, it does not involve
Monumental undertakings every day of your life
But what it does involve is a lot of commitment a lot of decision and working on it and a relentless steady
Committed basis you got to do something every day when I broke it down into that specific thing
You see goals. You got to be specific. You can't make it as a wandering generality
you absolutely must become a meaningful specific you can take the hottest day the world has ever seen take the most powerful magnifying glass you
Can buy in any store and hold that magnifying glass over a pile of newspaper clippings on that hottest day and you'll never start
a fire
To keep the glass moving but the moment you hold that glass still
Harness the power of the Sun multiply it through the glass and boom you got a fire
You got to have specific goals. My goal was specific
Write the book by July 4th
Lose the weight at the same time to the inch to the ounce and to the day it all came to pass
You've got to have those specific
goals
During this program. We've asked you to prepare a dream sheet and a self-evaluation sheet
Look at your self-evaluation sheet and determine which areas need improvement set some specific
Goals for these areas now take your dream sheet and itemize only those things which you truly
Want to achieve combine these items with those from the self-evaluation sheet and you will have a
Comprehensive list of your major goals from this new list select at least two goals
You will work on every day. It will be easier to select these goals
If you remember that for each goal, you must answer yes to these five questions
Number one, is it really my goal number two?
Is it morally right and fair number three are my short-range goals?
consistent with my long-range goals number four can I commit myself
Emotionally to complete the project and number five can I visualize myself?
Reaching this goal for each goal you plan to work on daily set a deadline for achievement
List the obstacles you need to overcome
Identify the people in groups you need to work with
List the necessary skills and knowledge develop a plan of action and list the benefits you will receive
then
periodically
Evaluate each of your goals when one goal is reached replace it immediately with another
Your emphasis on certain goals may change so it is critical to review your goals list
Regularly now the question often comes with all of us if we want to reach our goals
How do you go about it?
Do you share your goals with other people that possible is the most often asked question of all to me?
How and who do you share your goals with and the rule is basically fairly simple if it's a give-up goal
You share it with everybody if it's a go-up goal
You share it only with those people
Whom you love and trust and whom you know are going to be supportive of you now for example
I'll give up goal if I'm going to give up eating too much or
drinking too much if I'm gonna give up smoking if I'm gonna give up cussing if I'm gonna give up being mean and nasty and
Ordinary any of the go give up goals like that
I want to share it with other people because others are supportive and they will encourage you in there
But for example if you're a salesperson and your goal is to be the number one sales lady in the organization
Are the number one salesman in the organization and you go to another one of the sales ladies and say hey
I'm gonna be number one sales lady in this whole organization this whole year and that lady's objective was to do the same thing
Do you think she's gonna say to you? Yeah, you can sure do it when all the time she's wanting to do it
Uh-uh, but if you go home and tell your husband or your wife
Yes, indeed. I'm going to be number one this year. You'll get the encouragement and the support there, which is so extremely
important yes, you really have to have that understanding of goals if they're give up goals share them with everybody if they're
Go up goals share them only with the people whom you know will give you the support
Want to reach your goals you got to make a commitment now one of the basic problems in life is so many people do not
Make commitments when I was losing that weight one of the toughest things I've ever done in my life
Was continue to deny myself the food which I so dearly love especially the sweets
And it was really tough to get involved in all of that jogging
But I had made a commitment and because the commitment was made I really
Decided I was going to stay with it
I had another commitment when I wrote the book one of the first things I put in there was that I weighed
165 pounds and that I had a 34 inch waistline
I had it types it now at the time I put that in there I weighed
202 pounds and had a 41 inch waistline
Now the reason that's important is very simply this I could not get a publisher to publish the book initially for me later
There's no trouble, but initially I could not I had to publish the book myself
And in there I decided to order 25,000 copies a friend said if you sell 25,000 copies you got yourself a bestseller
So I ordered 25,000 copies of the book now. Let me tell you something about books
the first copy cost you more than the next
24,999 and those
24,999 ain't cheap I'm talking about a whole bunch of money now. I made a financial commitment to buy those books
I also had read in there that I weighed 165 pounds now
Let me tell you something about human nature if I tell you one lie and you catch me in it from here on in
Everything I say you're gonna put a question mark after it if you tell me a lie
And I catch you in it from here on in everything you say to me
I'm gonna put a question mark in it in my book. I wrote away to 165 pounds
I had 25,000 copies of the book now you can imagine what would happen if I had not lost the weight now
I got a warehouse full of books anyway
165 and I come waddling out at 202 and your next question will be I wonder what else he lied to me about
Friends. I made a commitment. There is no question about it
You got to make a commitment and you got to understand something which is extremely
Important and that is that your vocabulary makes a great deal of difference in your success in life
I got to apologize for those people who've heard me do this
But for years I went around the country and with a strained expression on my face and pain in my voice
I'd say you gotta pay the price
Sound like a dying calf in a snowstorm
And what a bunch of baloney that was I'll never forget
Nine months of hating jogging and hating joggers. How many of you hate joggers? Can I see your end? Okay for nine months
I really hated those joggers
You know every time I saw one he's jumping up and down and said man. It makes you feel so good
It gives you so much energy and there I was hating and hurting every step
I was taking and fussing about it too and then that day in Portland, Oregon
Never forget it if I live to be a hundred and fifty beautiful spring day temperature about 78 degrees
It was high noon. I was running on Portland State University campus had a seminar at 4 o'clock
This was high noon and as I was running out there that day
I noticed a lot of the students were laying on blankets summer reading summer studying summer courting summer snoozing and here comes old
Ziegler running by sweat running down my back sweat running down my legs and all of a sudden it hit me that
For the first time I was really enjoying
Running I was having a ball and that day I changed my vocabulary
The truth is folks. You don't pay the price for good health
You enjoy the benefits of
Good health you don't pay the price for setting goals
You pay the price for not setting those goals. You enjoy the benefits of
Reaching those goals
You don't pay the price for a good marriage
You pay the price for a poor one you enjoy the benefits of the good one
You don't pay the price for good health. You pay the price for poor health. You enjoy the benefits of
Good health. Yes
Your vocabulary really does make a great deal of difference as to whether or not you reach your goals or not
We definitely need to keep it positive
Because you see the mind takes whatever picture you paint in it and goes to work to complete that picture
I want to emphasize that what you get by reaching your goals is not nearly as important as what you become
by reaching them the attitudes knowledge and skills and habits developed by people with goals are of
Infinite value in the tomorrows of their lives with goals
You can more fully realize your maximum potential because goals enable you to know
Be do and have more use your mind and talents fully
Have more purpose and direction in life make better decisions be more organized and effective
Do more for yourself and others have greater confidence and self-worth
Feel more fulfilled be more enthusiastic and motivated and yes
Accomplish some uncommon projects
Want to reach your goals? You got to know how to train fleas now just as a matter of curiosity
How many of you in this audience do not know how to train fleas? Can I see your hands, please?
Boy, it looks like I got to you just in time
And I know you heard the one about the two fleas at the bottom of the hill and one of them said well
Do we walk or take a dog?
Well anyhow
You train fleas by putting them in a jar and you put the top on the jar and those fleas will jump up
They'll hit that top over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over
And you watch them jump for a long period of time
And they'll keep on jumping and hitting and jumping and hitting and you watch him and then all of a sudden you'll notice
That even though they continue to jump they will no longer be hitting the top
Literal truth, then you can take the top off and they'll jump and jump and jump and jump and jump and jump but they cannot
I repeat they cannot jump out and the reason they cannot jump out is because they've been
Conditioned to jump just so high and once they've conditioned themselves to jump just so high. That's all there is there ain't no more
Man is precisely the same way
He starts out in life to climb the mountain to write the book to break the record
To do something with his life and along the way bumps his head
He stubs his toe and it becomes what I call a snap now a snap and that is spelled s n
Iop is a person who is susceptible to the negative influence of other people
Classic example that everybody will instantly recognize is the four-minute mile for years and years and years
At least the world over had tried to run a mile in four minutes
But because they were snaps they could not do it the coach had taken his watch out and said man
There ain't no way you can do it in four minutes
Maybe 402 maybe 405 but not four minutes
The doctors had put their stethoscope on the athletes heart and said a four-minute mile. You got to be kidding man
Nobody will ever do that your heart will come right out of the body
It is impossible and nobody could run a four-minute mile until a fleet trainer named Roger Bannister came along and
Ran a mile in less than four minutes when Bannister ran the mile in less than four minutes athletes the world over
Started running the miles in less than four minutes land of Australia. Did it less than six weeks later?
I was in New Zealand last year and the man over there
Thompson I believe is his name though. Please don't hold me to that had just run his
100th four-minute or sub four-minute mile a
37 year old man ran a mile in less than four minutes there have been four or five
Races were eight young men all broke the four-minute barrier in the same race
Now what am I saying with all this? I'm saying that Roger Bannister got something started and I'm also going to tell you that Roger Bannister
Understood more about gold setting than just about anybody you will ever know
He didn't just train superbly and go run a sub four-minute mile. Yes. He trained
Extraordinarily hard, but he measured his stride. He timed himself for the 100 the 220 the 440
He had pacers who paced him for the first quarter the second quarter the third quarter in the fourth quarter
He did it as scientifically and as carefully as any gold setter I've ever seen in my life
Yes, Roger Bannister is a flea trainer. What's a flea trainer? A flea trainer is a person who's driven from within?
They're not influenced by the sniops and the negative people in life
a flea trainer is an individual who jumps out of the jar a flea trainer understands that you can get
Everything in life you want if you'll just help enough other people get what they want
Flea trainers don't tell others where to get off
Flea trainers show them how to get on
Flea trainers don't try to see through other people
Flea trainers see other people through
Want to reach your goal ladies and gentlemen, you absolutely must become a flea trainer and you've got to build a winning attitude
We could talk three days three weeks three months about building winning attitudes
Harvard University did an exhaustive study on it discover that 85% of the reason
That people get jobs and get ahead in those jobs is because they have the right mental
Attitude the Cox report involving well over a thousand corporate executives
These men and women were asked the question
How important do you think your attitude is in accomplishing your objectives of becoming corporate executives?
49% of these men and women said that their attitudes were extremely
significant 46 and a half percent said they were significant in other words
95 and a half percent of these more than 1,000 executives said their attitudes were
Significant are extremely significant to reach your goals. Yes. Indeed. You absolutely must have the right
Mental attitude and ladies and gentlemen, let me say without any hesitation at all
If you're going to reach your goals, you got to get other people
Involved you simply cannot reach major objectives entirely on your own
You got to understand that the influence other people have and the help they can give you will play a major role in what you
do when I was a small boy down in Yazoo City, Mississippi, I
Never shall forget there was an abandoned section of the railroad track and as boys will do we often went down there
And one of our little games was to see how far we could walk on that railroad track without falling off
And we'd take a few steps and we'd fall and we'd take a few steps and we would fall
Had we only understood that two of us could simply have gotten parallel with each other
Reached across the rails and held hands that we could have literally gone indefinitely without falling off
when business when management and labor
Understand that they're on the same side when husbands and wives and children
Understand that they're on the same side when employer and employee
Understand that they both have the same objectives when they begin to work together
That's when everybody really benefits the most
You look at the Super Bowl teams every year and by and large you're going to have the Super Bowl team
The number one had major objectives. That was it
Nessan and as you realize that they spend over
3,000 hours each team
preparing for
That specific event
Did you realize that the average American spends infinitely more time planning a vacation than they do planning their lives?
Did you realize that more people spend more time planning the wedding than they do the marriage?
You see we need
Ladies and gentlemen, we need those specific objectives and we need to work together on these things
If we really are going to work at our maximum and the most people benefit the most you need to work together
It's a matter of curiosity. How many of you have ever seen a flock of Canadian geese flying overhead?
Can I see your hands? Okay, if you have you will notice three things about those Canadian geese number one
They always fly in a V
Formation number two if you will notice them one leg of the V is always
Longer than the other leg of the V and number three if you follow them carefully enough
And long enough you'll notice there's a considerable amount of confusion in the flock
Now just as a matter of curiosity
How many of you have ever wondered why one leg of the V is always longer than the other one?
Can I see your hands, please?
Well, let me explain that the longer leg is longer because it has more geese in it
You know, I don't know why but that silly thing just really grabs me I can't wait
I can't wait to get to that particular one. Okay. Now the reason there's confusion in the flock
Is that periodically they change the leadership of the flock of geese
Now the reason they fly in a V formation is because in wind tunnel tests
They've discovered that the flock of geese can fly 63% further than the individual goose could fly
What they do the lead goose in fighting the headwind creates a partial vacuum off either wing
And those other geese are flying in a partial vacuum
He grows tired very easily or more quickly than the others
And so they replace leadership real often to give the leader a rest
But by working together they can fly 63% further
In reaching your objectives, yes indeed you really do need to work with other people
If you want to reach your goals ladies and gentlemen, you got to get in shape
Now I want to emphasize something here which I believe is enormously important
In order to reach all of our goals we need to get in shape spiritually
Because that is a very definite factor in our life
We have spiritual goals but we need spiritual help a lot of times to reach all of the other goals
It requires study, it requires prayer, it requires involvement there
We need to get in shape physically ladies and gentlemen
Because I don't care what your objective is
I can share this with you without any reservation
When I got in shape physically I was able to do a lot more things with my career
Because the energy level increased rather dramatically
I have far more energy now than I had when I was 25 years old
They tell me, the psychologists do for example, that when I make a one hour presentation
That I burn more raw energy than a laboring man does in a ten hour day
So when I do six and eight hours a day or even three or four hours in a day or even one hour in a day
I have burned some energy
As you can tell I speak at about 280 words a minute with gusts up to about 550
I mean, you know, I burn some energy
I move it on out
Now you also need to understand that if you're going to reach your goals
You've got to become attentive to the details in your life
A lot of little things that many people overlook
And you need to become aware on a daily basis of what you're doing towards those goals
Now I'm not trying to get you to be as detail oriented as the executive vice president of our company
I mean, he proof reads the Xerox copies
I don't think, you know, that's what we're talking about
But it is the little things that make the big difference
You call a girl a kitten, for example, and she'll love you
Call her a cat
You see, you got a problem there
You can say she's a vision, you score all kind of points
Call her a saint, you're in bad trouble
It's one thing to tell a young lady that she looks like the first day of spring
It's another thing to tell her she looks like the last day of a long hard winter
I mean, there is a difference
It's the little things
Fellas, if you look at your wife and say, you know, honey, when I look into your eyes
The wheels of time just stand still
That's beautiful, that's portrait, that's motivating, that's exciting
But can you imagine what would happen if you were to look at her and say, you know, honey
You got a face that'd stop a clock, I mean
It's the little things
If this watch of mine were four hours wrong, I wouldn't have any trouble with it
I can tell you instantly if my watch is four hours wrong
But if it's four minutes wrong, I'm in trouble
For example, tomorrow morning I catch a flight at 8.20
Now, if my watch is four minutes wrong and I get there at 8.24
See what the problem is?
I made a deal with the airlines that, you know, if I was not there when they got ready to go
That they were destined to go ahead without me
And I found out last year that they live up to their end of the agreement
I found out also it's easier to catch those dudes before they leave the ground
All of that to say it's the little things that make a big difference
If you want to reach your goals, ladies and gentlemen
Not only must you be detail-oriented looking after the little things
But you also must literally be able to see the reaching
When I had my physical examination at the Cooper Clinic
Preparatory to losing the weight and getting on the exercise program
One of the things I did over there, and this is kind of ugly
But I had not read Anne Lanner's at the time, and I'll use it as my excuse
Although I really knew better
You know, Anne says you're not supposed to steal pages out of other folks' magazines
There was a magazine in Dr. Cooper's office
It was an old magazine now
And there was a picture in it advertising jockey shorts
Now, I don't know if you folks read the jockey short ads or not
But if you don't read the jockey short ads the next time you see one
You ought at least look at a picture
You'll find out in a hurry they don't put jockey shorts on fat boys
I mean, they just don't
At least they don't have a good year
Now, I took that picture of that fella in those jockey shorts
And I hung it up in my bathroom and I said, now there's my hero
That's the way I'm going to be
That's the way I am going to look
Well, the next morning at 5.30
The opportunity clock sounded off
Negative people call them alarm clocks
You know, the opportunity
I mean, if you can hear it
That gives you an opportunity to get up and go
You know what I mean
Opportunity clock sounded off
I rolled out of bed, put on my fancy running outfit
I just got and hit the front door and ran a block, literally
Did better the next day
I ran a block and a mailbox
Did better than that the next day
I ran a block and two mailboxes
I'll never forget what happened
Then finally one day I ran a half a mile, then a mile, then two miles
Then three, then four, then five
But every time I went in the bathroom, ladies and gentlemen
I saw the picture of that guy in the jockey shorts
That became my goal right there
I visualized myself as looking just like that guy right there
I'm going to look like this man in the jockey shorts
The truth of the matter is we really do need to have a clearly defined target
We need to be able to literally see ourselves as reaching that objective
For many, many years before I ever succeeded, quote, on the platform as a speaker
It was my dream to do exactly that
I cannot begin to tell you the tens of thousands of speeches I made in my mind
In order to reach that particular goal
I visualized every speech imaginable
And the beautiful thing about imagination, you see
Is you can visualize any kind of speech and any kind of response you want
In these speeches which I made in my mind
And boy, do I ever wish we could have recorded just one of them
You talking about speeches
You've heard about speakers having folks rolling in the aisles
I had them rolling up and down the steps
You heard about standing ovation
My average standing ovation was 11 minutes in my dreams
I mean, listen, I never made a mistake in the speech I had in mind to mind
The audience sat there with incredible rapture and attention
I mean, as if they could not believe that a mere mortal could utter
Such incredible words of wisdom
I mean, the beautiful thing about the imagination is, you see
You can make it absolutely just right
You gotta have your dreams
But let me tell you something, folks
Be careful about your dreams, be very careful
Because you see, when you dream those dreams
When you write them down
When you put a date on it
When you list the obstacles which you have to overcome in order to get there
When you identify the people, the groups, and the organizations
You need to work with in order to get there
When you spell out what you've got to know in order to reach your objectives
When you devise that plan of action, that game plan to get there
And when you write it down, what's in it for me
When you do all of those things, ladies and gentlemen
And follow some of these other steps that we're talking about and are still talking about
You're gonna be reaching some of those objectives
I can honestly look you in the eye and say
That virtually every major objective I've ever set in my life has been reached
And I honestly believe that the rest of them will be reached
When you follow the steps with firm conviction
When you've made your commitment
When you do all the things we're talking about
All of those things are gonna happen in your life
If you'll notice, I've not even hinted throughout this entire presentation
That it is easy because it is not
As a matter of fact, I'm absolutely convinced that life is tough
But the point is you gotta be tough on yourself
And when you're tough on yourself
Then life is going to be infinitely easier on you
I can tell you it's fun
I can tell you it's exciting
I can tell you it's rewarding
I can tell you that when you follow all of the steps we're talking about
That all the goals we've been talking about
The physical, the mental, the spiritual, the social
The career goals, the financial goals
They all come to pass
You see, the interesting thing is as we look at our goals
There's no such thing as an individual goal
When I set the goal, for example, of writing that book
Only about one in 2,600 pages a day
Until I realized that it would have such a bearing on my social goals
You'll be amazed at the people that invite me to a free dinner now
Since I wrote a book
I mean, it affected my social life
But you know what, it also affected my family life
Because I had to do a lot of research to put it together
It improved our relationship
It improved my spiritual life
Because again, I had to do some research there
It definitely improved my physical life because I tied it in
Had a dramatic impact on my career
Had an impact in every phase of my life
Your goals are going to do the same thing
There's no such thing as an isolated goal
They're all tied in to so many of your other goals
In order to reach your goals
We need to be able to visualize all of them
Many years ago in the days of the sailing ship
There was a young sailor who was out at sea for the first time
And he was ordered aloft to trim the sails
Because a squall was coming up
And as he started to climb up
He made the mistake of looking down
And the roll of the ship and the turbulence of the sea
Combined to cause him to become nauseated
And he started to lose his balance and fall
An older sailor underneath shouted up at the young man
Look up, son, look up
And the young sailor looked up
And immediately regained his balance
You see the message is very clear
When the outlook isn't good, try the up look
It's always good
And when things don't look good
Look to make absolutely certain
That you're not facing in the wrong direction
As Helen Keller so eloquently put it
When you're looking at the sun
You won't see the shadows
And when you're looking towards your objectives
Which you've set
You won't be seeing so many of the obstacles
As you reach towards those goals
Many years ago, as some of you know
The great Houdini was in his heyday
Some people said that Houdini was the greatest magician
Who ever lived
He was also the master locksmith
He made the boys that he could get out of any jail cell
In the world
If you'd let him walk in that jail cell
With his street clothes on
He would be out in less than an hour
A small town in the British Isles built a new jail
They were tremendously proud of it
They didn't believe Houdini or anybody else
Could get out of their jail
And so they challenged him to come give it a try
There's a lot of publicity, a lot of money involved
Houdini liked both of those things
So he accepted the challenge
There was a lot of the publicity going in
The drums were beating, the bugles were blaring
And Houdini strode triumphantly into the jail cell
They closed the door behind him
Houdini took his coat off
And secreted in his belt was a 10-inch piece of steel
Very tough, very flexible, very durable
And he went to work on the lock
At the end of 30 minutes the confident
Even arrogant expression on Houdini's face had disappeared
At the end of an hour he was absolutely bathed in perspiration
At the end of two hours he actually collapsed
And fell against the door
Which opened
Because it had never been locked
Anywhere except in Houdini's own mind
Which meant very simply that it was locked more securely
Than if every locksmith in Britain
Had put their best locks on the door
I've got to tell you folks
There are a lot of people who can stop you temporarily
But I'm also going to look you right in the eye
And tell you that you are the only one
Who can stop you on a permanent basis
And I've got an idea as you digest
What we've been covering in this hour together
That you're not going to let anybody else stop you
On reaching those worthwhile goals
And you're certainly not going to stop yourself
But let me say this
What you get by reaching your goals
Is not nearly as important
As what you will become
By reaching the goal that many people said
You would not make when you started out
I close with this
By these ideas
Follow these suggestions
Adopt these procedures as your very own
Follow them right through to completion
And I'll definitely see you
And yes, I really do mean you
At the top
Thank you very much
Thank you
Here are additional audio and video cassette programs
That will give you further insights
On how to become more successful in your own life
To complement this video program by Zig Ziglar
Here is a six cassette audio package
See you at the top
Zig is at the top himself and he shares with you his message
Don't give in to life, dig in
Zig speaks to you as if you were a guest in his living room
And shares the secrets of getting everything you want in life
Zig Ziglar, see you at the top
A must for your audio cassette library
Dennis Waitley reveals the systems and strategies
For always finishing best
In this six cassette audio program The Double Win
Be a better parent, strike better business deals
And feel better about yourself in everything you do
After listening to The Double Win with Dennis Waitley
In his six cassette audio program
Tough times never last, but tough people do
Dr. Robert Shuler shares with you his experiences
As he provides a blueprint to turn what seem like hopeless situations
Into stunning success stories
Tough times never last, but tough people do
A must for your library
For the first time on video cassette
Leo Bascalia opens his arms and his heart to you and your family
In this wonderfully inspirational message entitled
The Politics of Love
Join Leo as he faces an audience of more than 10,000
And embarks upon an hour full of love, laughter, tears, and hope
For more information on any of these albums
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