Problem Solving

Problem Solving
Zig Ziglar

Problem Solving by Zig Ziglar

Fortunately, problems are an everyday part of our life. Consider this: If there were no problems, most of us would be unemployed. Realistically, the more problems we have and the larger they are, the greater our value to our employer.

Of course, some problems are small, like opening a ketchup bottle. Others are monumental like a seriously ill or injured child or mate, which present ongoing, daily complications. Successful living comes when we learn to handle those business and personal problems with as little fanfare as possible.

The successful business executive can handle challenges and solve problems at a remarkable clip. He/she makes quick and final decisions as a result of years of experience. The homemaker with small children at home handles many "catastrophes" each hour with the same dispatch.

Many people use counter-productive methods to deal with problems: They refuse to recognize them, deny responsibility for them, pretend they will go away if they ignore them, or are just flat insensitive to them.

The first step in solving a problem is to recognize that it does exist. Next, we determine whether the problem is our responsibility. If the answer is yes, we must determine how serious and/or urgent it is. When that last determination is made, we either take immediate action if the problem is simple and quickly solvable or develop a plan of action and prioritize it if the solution is more difficult and time-consuming.

Problem solving becomes a very important part of our makeup as we grow into maturity or move up the corporate ladder. I encourage you to take the time to define the problem correctly, learn the skill of quick analysis and remember, if it weren't for problems in your life, your position might not be necessary in the first place. Ironing out the wrinkles and solving the problems is what most jobs are about. Think about it, and I'll SEE YOU AT THE TOP!

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Rules for Success from a Motivating Taxi Driver

Rules for Success from a Motivating Taxi Driver
Zig Ziglar

Rules for Success from a Motivating Taxi Driver by Zig Ziglar

One morning in Houston, Texas, I caught a taxi (to go to a breakfast meeting) and during a short ride I heard one of the finest sales talks on America and free enterprise that I ever heard. The cab driver had been a professional health care provider in his native Nigeria, but he preferred living in a free society, with the opportunity to do what he pleased, and so he was very excited about being a cab driver in Houston.

During our conversation my immigrant friend quickly turned to motivator and his enthusiasm led him to give me some rules for success! I offer them here so that you might benefit from them, too.

1. Pay your bills.

2. Obey the laws.

3. Keep your eyes on God. God is in charge.

4. Run from lazy, crooked people.

5. Make your workplace your home.

6. Love and honor your boss.

7. Keep your promises.

8. Mind your own business.

I was motivated by the cab driver who was excited about his dream and having the opportunity to live it. He had set his goal long ago. He was living his dream. He wasn't waiting until he could get into something better; he was performing with the opportunity he had. He was happy with what he had and was enthusiastically giving life his best shot. That, my friend, is marvelous preparation for a better tomorrow!

-- Zig Ziglar

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Simple Communications

Simple Communications
Zig Ziglar

When I entered the sales world, one of the first things my manager taught me was to keep my presentation so clear and uncluttered that a child could understand what I was saying. This advice has had a lasting impact on my life. I frequently remind my audiences that I speak and write at the 7th grade, 9th month level. I do this because I've discovered that at that level virtually everyone can clearly understand the message--even college professors! I include college professors because they're real people, and they, too, deserve to understand.

As my friend, Dr. Steve Franklin, a college professor from Emory University who taught me this, said, "The great truths in life are the simple ones. You do not need three moving parts and four syllables for it to be significant." He then pointed out that "there are only three pure colors--but look what Michelangelo did with them. There are only seven notes, but look at what Chopin, Beethoven and Vivaldi did with them. For that matter, look at what Elvis did with two!"

Most of us prefer things we can understand. Lincoln's Gettysburg Address is short and clear with nearly 80 percent of the words only one syllable. "God is love"--three words, all of them one syllable.

Seriously, now, when you ask someone what they had for breakfast, would you really appreciate it if they responded that they had the "upper part of a hog's hind leg, with two oval bodies encased in a shell laid by a female bird?" Or would you prefer to have the person answer, "We had ham and eggs for breakfast"?

And remember, language changes. At one time we referred to a person who spread rumors around the office as a "gossip." Now that person is called an "information specialist."

Personally, I prefer simple, clear, direct communications. I'm convinced that most people do. Keep your communications "simple," and I'll SEE YOU AT THE TOP!

Zig Ziglar

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Ten Steps To Goal Getting

Ten Steps To Goal Getting
Zig Ziglar

These ten steps will help you achieve your goals .

1. Make the commitment to reach your goal. "One person with a commitment is worth a hundred who only have an interest." Mary Crowley.

2. Commit yourself to detailed accountability. Record your progress toward your goals every night, and list the six most important things you need to do the next day. Daily discipline is the key to reaching your goals.

3. Build your life on a sold foundation of honesty, character, integrity, trust, love, and loyalty. This foundation will give you an honest shot at reaching any goal you have set properly.

4. Break your intermediate and long-range goals into increments.

5. Be prepared to change. You can't control the weather, inflation, interest rates, Wall Street, etc. Change your decision to move toward a goal carefully--but be willing to change your direction to get there as conditions and circumstances demand.

6. Share your "give-up" goals (i.e., give up smoking, being rude, procrastinating, being late, eating too much, etc.) with many people. Chances are excellent they're going to encourage you.

7. Become a team player. Remember: You can have everything in life you want if you will just help enough other people get what they want.

8. See the reaching. In your imagination see yourself receiving that diploma, getting that job or promotion, making that speech, moving into the home of your dreams, achieving that weight-loss goal, etc.

9. Each time you reach a goal your confidence will grow so that you can do bigger and better things. After accomplishing any goal, record it in your journal, Weekly Planner or Palm Pilot.

10. Remember, what you get by reaching your destination isn't nearly as important as what you become by reaching your goals--what you will become is the winner you were born to be!

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The Day Before You Go on Vacation

The Day Before You Go on Vacation
Zig Ziglar

How do you achieve employment security in a world where there is no employment security? I start with a question. How many of you consider yourself to be honest and at least reasonably intelligent? Can I see your hands, please? Okay. How many of you honest, intelligent people, as a general rule, get about twice as much work done on the day before you go on vacation as you normally get done? Can I see your hands, please? Well… Glad to see so many honest folks. Now I am going to ask you a long question, so stay with me all the way through. If we can figure out why and learn how and repeat it everyday without working any longer or any harder, does it make sense that we will be more valuable to ourselves, our company, our family and our community? Does that make any sense at all? The answer is "Yes".

I want to make it crystal clear that I am going to be talking to you about you, not going to be talking about anybody that's not here, but to you about you. You have already confessed that you are honest and intelligent. Now how many of you on the night before the day before vacation, got your laptop out or a sheet of paper out and said, "Now tomorrow, I've got to do this and this…" How many of you did that? Can I see your hand? We coined a very clever name for that. We call that goal setting. So, you set your goal. Then you got them organized in the order of their importance.

Let me encourage you to make one slight change there. If you have got to go give Charlie the worst possible news, and he is the 5th on the list of gotta do's, when you finish the first one, the next order on your mind is "Gotta talk to Charlie."

Finish the second one, "Gotta talk to Charlie." See Charlie first. Get the disagreeable things and difficult things out of the way first. Free your mind, so you can concentrate on what else you have got to do. You got it organized. You accepted responsibility. You made the commitments. You know some people are about as committed as a kamikaze pilot on his thirty-ninth mission. They just don't make it a serious thing.

Now commitment is important whether it is to get your education, make one more call, whether it's to keep the marriage together, whatever. Commitment is important because when you hit the wall, not if, when you hit the wall, if you made a commitment, your first thought is, "How do I solve the problem?" If you haven't made the commitment, your first thought is, "How do I get out of this deal?" And we find literally what we are looking for. When you make that commitment, things happen. It shows that you really care about the other people there. It demonstrates that you are dependable. Even though you're leaving town, you're not going to leave an unfinished task for the other people to do. Your integrity comes through.

Now the beautiful thing about integrity, when integrity is part of you as a person and is part of your life, you do the right thing. When you do the right thing, you have nothing to feel guilty about. With integrity you have nothing to fear because you have nothing to hide. Now think about it, with guilt and fear both removed from your back, doesn't it just make sense that you can function more effectively? You will be freer to do the right thing always. Not only that, but that's the way you take steps up. You know Emerson said, "If you would lift me up, you've got to be on higher ground". And truer words were never spoken. You also, when you look at this, what you decide to do is you're going to work smarter; and you're optimistic you're going to get it done.

How many of you ever participated in organized, team sports? Can I see your hands? How many of you ever went home one night and said to your parents, "Mom or dad, you can't believe the game plan the coaches worked out. Man alive, it was incredible. We're going to kill those suckers tomorrow. You can count on it." You were optimistic simply because you had a plan of action and so you were optimistic that the next day you were going to be able to get all of these things done.

Now some of us are born optimistic, and some are born pessimistic. For your information the 1828 Noah Webster does not have the word pessimist in it. It has the word optimist. Now I am a natural born optimist. I really am. I would take my last two dollars and buy a money belt with it. That's the way I'm put together; but the good news is if you are a natural born pessimist, you definitely, emphatically, positively can change. You are a pessimist by choice because you are what you are and where you are because of what's gone into your mind. You can change what you are; you can change where you are by changing what goes into your mind.

Anyway, the next day, you not only got there on time, you were a little early, and you immediately got started. You didn't stand around and say, "Well, I wonder what I ought to do now." You couldn't wait to get after it. You wanted to do the right thing, so you really got started in a big hurry. You were enthusiastic about it. You were highly motivated. You decisively move from one task to another. Now I am going to camp on this one for just a moment.

As a general rule, how many of you have noticed that people who have nothing to do want to do it with you? Can I see your hands? Okay. Now, on this day before vacation, when you finish one task, you move with purpose to another one. And people will not block you for that two-minute gossip session or four-minute or five-minute or six-minutes. I am absolutely convinced, no doubt about it that the listener has more to do with the gossiping than the speaker because if you don't listen, you're not going to have the guy or gal talking to you. They just aren't. When you move with purpose, people will step aside and let you go.

I will absolutely guarantee you, you will save a minimum of an hour a day in two-minute, three-minute, five minute things. An hour a day is five hours per week is 250 hours per year. That is six weeks of your life that you've wasted and six weeks of combination time that you have wasted with the people who were giving the gossip to you. What could you do with six extra weeks every year? You focus on the issue at hand. You are disciplined to stay with it until you finish, and the neat thing about discipline, Cybil Stanton gave me the best definition of it I have ever heard in her book, The Twenty Five Hour Woman. "Discipline isn't on your back needling you with imperatives. It is at your side encouraging you with incentives."

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