Posts By Author » Zig Ziglar
‘You Make Me Sick’
4 Jan 2012 
12:01 am
We’ve all probably said it — or at least heard others say it — many times throughout our lifetime experiences … “You make me sick.” There is now evidence that this is more than just a statement — it is a truth.
Research conclusively proves that when we get into strong or violent arguments and become angry, our immune system is negatively impacted and we are far more likely to fall victim to a number of ailments. Neurotransmitters and stress hormones like cortisol and norepinephrine flood the system and reduce our …
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Is Motivation Permanent?
28 Dec 2011 12:01 am
Many times, I’m asked the question “Is motivation permanent?” and my standard response is “No, but then, neither is bathing.” However, in view of a recent letter I received, I’m going to change my answer to “No, motivation is not permanent, but the impact can be permanent, depending on what the motivation is.”
For example, several years ago, April Delashaw, a 6-year-old first-grader, was considered for retention because she was making a few C’s and mostly D’s, which was unsatisfactory. However, Jim Delashaw and his wife, Verbina, got motivated by listening …
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Christmas and Hanukkah
21 Dec 2011 12:01 am
It’s that time of year when everybody puts on their holiday face and demonstrates a friendlier, more upbeat attitude. For the Christian, it’s Christmas; for the Jew, it’s Hanukkah. For everybody, the first of the year is just around the corner.
In many ways, it’s ironic that we wait until the last part of the year to put on our best faces; give everyone our friendliest smiles; meet others with upbeat, warm greetings; and bid them goodbye in the same way. That’s one of the reasons this time of year is …
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The Integrity Approach
14 Dec 2011 12:01 am
Fortunately, in our society today there is a hue and cry demanding that we return to ethical standards. It’s a “buzzword” in our society — and it’s about time. Unfortunately, they’re using the wrong word. The word we should be concerned about teaching is “integrity,” because people with integrity will behave in an ethical manner.
Dr. Jay Strack says that “integrity involves realistic harmony of our talk and our walk. Integrity shines in the congruity of our behavior with our belief.” Dr. Stephen Carter, in his book “Integrity,” writes that it …
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Your Opinion, My Opinion
7 Dec 2011 12:01 am
A friend of mine frequently says that “everyone is entitled to his own opinion — but no one is entitled to the wrong facts.” Yet it seems to be universally true that confidence seems to go with ignorance; the less we know, in many cases, the more dogmatic we are in our statements.
I love the observations that Lawrence Fargher makes concerning differences of opinion. He points out that friendships have been broken, families disrupted and civil wars incited because of those differences of opinion. He says, “The blame does not …
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An Interlude With a Message
30 Nov 2011 2:37 am
Several years ago, on a cold, drizzly morning, I was working in my office, when I heard a strange noise in the chimney. After several minutes, my wife heard it too and thought it might be a bird or a squirrel. I realized it was a bird and that it was trapped, so I opened the damper, and in a few minutes, the bird made his appearance on the hearth.
I walked over to pick it up, but it flew toward the window. Fortunately, it got into a corner and I …
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Look and Relax
23 Nov 2011 12:01 am
We live in a stressful world, and stress has been identified as a prime health culprit. It reduces productivity and often brings illnesses — including high blood pressure and palpitations of the heart. The experts tell us we should relax, but the question is: how?
You might not be able to relax where you are at the moment, so a short walk to a quiet or secluded spot will put you in position to “slow down” both physically and mentally. If there’s not a quiet spot nearby, you can create one …
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Stretching the Soul
16 Nov 2011 12:02 am
“I was just a kid,” said Mr. Sharpe. “One spring day, Father called me to go with him to Old Man Trussell’s blacksmith shop. He had left a rake and a hoe to be repaired. And there they were, ready and fixed like new. Father handed over a silver dollar for the repairing, but Mr. Trussell refused to take it. ‘No,’ he said. ‘There’s no charge for that little job.’ But Father insisted that he take the pay.
“If I live a thousand years,” said Mr. Sharpe, “I’ll never forget that …
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Teaching by Parable
9 Nov 2011 12:01 am
The parable has always been my favorite method of teaching. The reason is simple: People remember the story, and when they remember the story, they remember the lesson the story provided. As an example, the greatest storyteller of all time, the Carpenter from Galilee, told parable after parable. Incidentally, two-thirds of them had to do with our physical and financial well-being.
One of my favorite parables is that told by Dr. Dale E. Turner, titled, “The Lamplighter”: “Some people come into our lives and quickly go. Some stay for a while …
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We All Live in a Small Town
2 Nov 2011 12:01 am
Chances are excellent that when you read the heading on this column, you thought to yourself, “Man, what’s he talking about? I live in Chicago, New York or Los Angeles! That’s not a small town!” You’re right. However, in every big city there are lots of “small towns.” The place you work, the neighborhood in which you live, the local church, etc., are small towns in many ways.
I was literally raised in a small town, and in an issue of The Executive Speechwriter Newsletter, I read an excellent definition of …
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Happiness Is …
26 Oct 2011 12:01 am
Many years ago, Abraham Lincoln said that most of us are about as happy as we make up our minds to be.
Somewhat more recent studies done by David Meyers of Hope College in Holland, Mich., and Ed Dyner of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, indicate that happy people have four things in common: First, they have a support system. For a long time, a popular song was “People Who Need People.” All 12-step programs are based on the concept of having a support group, someone we can count on …
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The Truth About Family Values
19 Oct 2011 12:01 am
One of the ongoing discussions we hear is that of family values. There are some who try to identify them; others say there are no established family values.
The reason people have been unable to isolate and identify family values, in my opinion, is very simple: There are no “family” values because the values that make for a strong family are exactly the same values that make for a good student, good employer/employee, military person or, for that matter, scientist.
The fact is that honesty, character, integrity, discipline, responsibility, hard work, kindness, …
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You Can Make a Difference
12 Oct 2011 12:02 am
In March of 1993, a 14-year-old student from Haltom City, Texas, killed a policeman and seriously wounded three of his neighbors. In the exchange of gunfire, he was killed.
There has been much speculation about this tragedy. Outwardly, things seemed normal. His father was on the police force. They were a middle-class, law-abiding family. The reality is his classmates made fun of his clothing and called him a nerd, and he did poorly in school. That Saturday, his parents had disciplined him and made him stay home to study. As a …
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The 80/20 Rule
5 Oct 2011 12:03 am
In the early 1900s, Vilfredo Pareto, an Italian engineer-economist-sociologist, developed what he called the “80/20 rule.” His research indicated that in a business, 20 percent of the items accounted for 80 percent of the business and that roughly 20 percent of the population controlled roughly 80 percent of its wealth.
Since then, others have incorrectly stated, “Twenty percent of the workforce contributes 80 percent of the results, and 20 percent of the sales force produces 80 percent of the sales.”
In most cases, this is not true. At The Zig Ziglar Corp. …
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Lois Lerner Sued Christian Coalition In Largest FEC Action in History — And She Lost
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