Congratulations [618986]

Congratulations!
You have in your hands Zig Ziglar’s last book Born to Win. All
of Zig’s life changing philosophy is covered in this book and we
believe it will bless you Physically, Mentally, and Spiritually.
Make sure you also get your MP3 audio presentation of Zig
Ziglar’s Spiritual Journey. Enjoy Zig at his finest as he discusses
with importance of the spiritual side of your life. This audio is
free and you can get it using the QR Code or thelink below:
www.ziglar.com/BornToWinSpiritualJourney
“You can have everything in life you want if you will just
help enough other people get what they want.” — Zig Ziglar
Sincerely,
Tom Ziglar
Proud Son of Zig Ziglar

PRAISE fOR BORN tO WIN
“Buy Born to Win before your competition does! Imagine sitting
at the feet of one of the greatest teachers of all time. Born to Win
gives you that opportunity. Success defined from A to Ziglar.
Born to Win; read to win!”
—Michael J. Maher
Author of (7L) The Seven Levels of Communication
America’s most referred real estate professional
LinkedIn.com’s most endorsed professional
“As he has for so many thousands of other people, Zig has positively changed my life. In this book he delivers to you, in
concentrated form, the best of the best ‘Ziglar Gold’ that his
entire family and team have created over the past forty years. Read it and be encouraged by the world’s greatest encourager, Zig Ziglar, to have your life transformed!”
—Rory Vaden
Co-Founder of Southwestern Consulting
and author of Take the Stairs
“Zig Ziglar is one of a kind. My life—and the lives of millions—is better in every way because of the influence and example of
this incredible man!”
—Andy Andrews
New York Times best-selling author of The Traveler’s Gift
“If I could recommend only two books to help you become
more, do more, and have more, the first would be the Bible; the
second is Born to Win. This masterpiece makes it clear why Zig
Ziglar has been the world’s great motivator for five decades.”
—Dave Anderson
President of LearnToLead
Author of How to Lead by THE BOOK

“I have read over five hundred books on life, success, winning,
sales, and personal development over the past twenty-one
years, but Born to Win is the only book that will sit on my desk.
I will read it every day, reading a few paragraphs as a daily
refresher or entire chapters to enhance my skills. Born to Win
is one of the ten books everyone should own and read. No
wonder titans of world business, politics, and sports consider
Zig Ziglar to be the single greatest influence in their lives—and I am no exception. Equally as important are the millions of people around the globe who have experienced the life-
changing wisdom of this living legend; a living legend that
guided this former British solider from failure to success, from poverty to prosperity, and from insignificance to significance.
The advice, content, and material in Born to Win are quite liter –
ally priceless; it is the culmination of a lifetime’s work. If you
are ready to become the person you were born to be (a Ziglar –
preneur), buy it, read it, reread it, and apply it. Do it today, as
it’s never the wrong time to do the right thing!”
—Andy T. Hansen, FInstSMM
UK’s number-one motivational speaker
Sales trainer
Life coach
“Zig has done it again! The hope, inspiration, and proven
principles we have come to expect from the world’s premier
motivational teacher!”
—David Horsager
Business strategist
Author of The Trust Edge
“Zig Ziglar is the real deal, a life changer, an authentic voice in
a wilderness of hucksters. Zig is a light, a mentor, and a model
for millions.”
—Seth Godin
Zig’s number-one fan

“Born to Win is a tremendous testament to the importance of
balanced success—something that is so easy to miss in life. Zig
Ziglar not only addresses the importance of mental preparation
and the behavior commitments necessary to accomplish your goals, he inspires you to want to be better as you read this, no matter how successful you already have been. This is a fantastic
book.”
—Joe Takash
President of Victory Consulting
“I’ve been listening to Zig Ziglar’s teachings and reading his
books since I was twelve years old. His influence and experi-
ence have permeated every business decision I’ve ever made,
and I’m thrilled that Zig has poured all of his best insights into one book, Born to Win. This is absolutely a must-read for anyone
in business or anyone who just wants a better life!”
—Dave Ramsey
Host of The Dave Ramsey Show
Best-selling author of The Total Money Makeover
“Zig has saved the best for last. Born To Win is a must-have and
a must-read for anyone who wants to win in the game of life. I
highly recommend it!”
—Morris “The Miracle Man” Goodman
Author and speaker
“Zig’s books and tapes have been a part of our lives as long as
we can remember. At ages ten and eleven, we attended our first
Born to Win seminar. It was then that we learned how to set
goals and work toward reaching those goals on a daily basis. All three of us set the goal in junior high to attend college on aca-demic and athletic scholarships. Working our goals program on
a regular basis helped us make good decisions on how to invest
our time, energy, and efforts. Adam and Alex went to Abilene Christian University on full ride golf/academic scholarships

and Luke joined us in the fall of 2010 with his own full ride
golf/academic scholarship.
Zig’s motivational talks constantly helped us stay focused
on our big goals. A Born to Win attitude and developing strong relationships have helped us accomplish so many of our goals. If you practice what Zig talks about, you too will be able to achieve more than you ever imagined. Who would have dreamed that Alex, at age twenty, would play in his first PGA tour event? Adam has experienced success on and off the golf course, with numerous state and collegiate golf victories while maintaining a 4.0 GPA. Finally, Luke, at age seventeen, won the Arkansas Overall State High School Championship and multiple other academic high school honors. Mr. Ziglar, we are proud and thankful for your input into our personal lives.”
—Adam, Alex, and Luke Carpenter

zIG ZIGLAR
and TOM ZIGLAR

© 2014 Ziglar Inc.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner
without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in criti-cal articles or reviews.
Born to Win: Find Your Success Code
ISBN : 9781613392324
For more information,
please visit www.ziglar.com/borntowin.This book is dedicated to all who understand
that they were made not with a spirit of timidity,
but with a spirit of power and self-discipline.
They are, in fact, Born to Win!

CONtEN tS
Foreword ……………………………………………… xi
Preface ……………………………………………….. xv
Acknowledgments …………………………………….. xxiii
Introduction ………………………………………….. xxv
Part I: P l a n n i n g t o Wi n
1 Wanting to Win ……………………………………… 1
2
Begin to Win ………………………………………. 17
3
Know What You Want ……………………………….. 37
4
Value and Purpose: The Driving Forces That Fuel Action …….. 53
Part II: P r ePa r i n g t o Wi n
5 You Can Do More Than You Think ……………………… 67
6
Knowledge Gives You Power ………………………….. 79
7
Practice Prepares You for Victory ……………………….. 91
8
Get the Right Advice ……………………………….. 103
Part III: e xPe c t i n g t o Wi n
9 Expect to Win …………………………………….. 121
10 The Power of Encouragement and Hope ………………… 133
11 Don’t Worry About Results …………………………… 145
12 Always Expect the Best—Be a Positive Thinker …………… 157
13 Born to Win for Business Leaders ………………………. 165
About the Authors ……………………………………… 179
The Free Ziglar True Performance Personality Assessment ……….. 182
Addendum ……………………………………………. 183
Testimonials …………………………………………… 205

xifOREWORD
I met Larry Carpenter for the first time in 1981 when he
attended my Born to Win seminar in Dallas, Texas. Fol-
lowing that seminar, Larry moved to Dallas to attend Dallas Baptist University, where I served on the Board of Directors. Every Sunday, Larry was on the front row of my Sunday school
class, usually with three or four of his college buddies. Little did
I realize what a fixture Larry would become and how significant my friendship with him would be through the years. From 1981
to 2007, Larry attended my Born to Win seminar at least once a
year (many times with his wife, Lisa, and their three sons, plus more than one hundred of his employees and friends).
At the final Born to Win seminar, which was held in 2007,
I presented Larry with my chrome-handled pump, which I had used at my live presentations for more than thirty years. The
story of the pump signifies persistence and dedication to hard
work and specific goals, which Larry had personified through-out our thirty-year friendship. When I considered whom to ask
to write the foreword to this book, there was only one name that
came to mind: my student and my friend, Larry Carpenter.
The first year I met Zig Ziglar was in 1981. I had been given a copy of his book See You at the Top by one of

BORN tO WIN
xiimy best friends, Bobby Spain. Bobby had watched me
struggle in an attempt to break away from a blue-collar
work and home environment and suggested my solution
would lie in the hands and philosophy of Zig’s Born to Win seminar, taking place in Dallas, Texas. So, I signed
up! I realized I needed help, but had no idea my entire
perspective on life would change in just four days.
Zig had studied and learned from many of the great
ones, like Earl Nightingale, Dale Carnegie, and many
others. Zig often told me his research always included
a thorough physiological, psychological, and theological review before he felt comfortable sharing his own princi-
ples of success. This statement provided me, as it should
you, an additional level of comfort and trust—a trust he has never broken in our thirty-year relationship.
Zig Ziglar is the most skilled professional in commu –
nications I have ever read, heard, or met, and today he is my friend as well as my mentor. Within hours of my
first encounter with Zig, he began challenging me. Zig
told me I was “designed for accomplishment, engineered for success, and endowed with the seeds of greatness .” Right from
the very beginning I hit it off with him. The “one-on-one” special moments of personal attention at that first Born to Win seminar seemed to be a divine destiny, and his
messages on CDs forever changed my life. It was later
I learned that he’d often speak to twenty-five to thirty

xiiifOREWORD
thousand people at huge events, but at that time the only
one I was aware of . . . was me!
Zig told me there are three things you simply can’t do:
you can’t push a rope, you can’t put toothpaste back in a tube, and you can’t saw sawdust. The first thing I had to
learn was a willingness to let go of the past. Zig taught
me that the key to success was centered in the pursuit of action-oriented goals, and I totally bought into Zig’s
goal-setting philosophy. His seven-step process is incred-
ibly designed with pinpoint accuracy for you, the fortu-
nate reader of this book. I slept with Zig’s Performance
Planner under my pillow for three years, accomplished
more than two hundred major goals, and accumulated substantial wealth as the result of taking his advice and
implementing his principles.
//
I can assure you that Zig’s Born to Win philosophy really
does work, and I especially appreciate the balanced approach to life that Born to Win teaches. Along with finan-
cial wealth, I enjoy good health, a terrific love of my family,
and the spiritual peace of mind that only a life of no regrets
can offer. I have a deep sense of joy living with Lisa, my
beautiful, creative wife of twenty-five years, and my three handsome, energetic sons round out my family heritage.

BORN tO WIN
xivI read this book as it was a work in progress, and I’ve
lived and breathed Zig’s philosophy: “You can have every-
thing in life you want, if you will just help enough other people
get what they want.” This process works! This philosophy is true! And the legend and legacy of Zig Ziglar contin-
ues. As you pick up this book, within the first forty pages
the magic, inspiration, and dream of living a life that is simply awesome will suddenly manifest itself through
your own personality. Good luck, and buckle in for a
7,500-horsepower “fast read” that is totally worth the scare of the ride.
—Larry R. Carpenter
President and CEO
Carpenter Hotel Group, LLC

xvPREf ACE
ZIGLAR PURE AND SImPLE
the Born to Win philosophy is both “profoundly simple”
and “simply profound.” The concept that you have
to plan to win and prepare to win before you can expect
to win is simple, but simple doesn’t mean it’s necessar –
ily easy, and when you dig a little deeper, you understand just how profound it really is.
In my career at Ziglar (I tell people I have been in the
business for forty-six years, since I am forty-six years old), I have worked with many individuals and compa-nies who are seeking a higher level of success. One of my previous roles in the company was to market “success” seminars. Through the years we have come up with many interesting and compelling seminar titles and mar-keting headlines. The idea in a headline is to make it state exactly what the prospects really want so that they take action right away. The following headline is my all-time favorite, although for obvious reasons we never used it:
“Success the Easy Way in 5 Minutes or Less—GUAR –
ANTEED! Or Double Your Money Back.”
Yep, that pretty much sums up what almost every
individual and company is looking for! The bad news

BORN tO WIN
xviis there are no “magic pill” solutions that allow you to
achieve success “fast and easy.”
However, there are several success strategies that
will allow you to achieve a higher level of success
faster and more easily than you thought was possi-
ble—and that is what this book is about, to give you a road map for success in pure and simple language.
Don’t get me wrong, winning doesn’t come without
work, but focusing on the proven steps and processes to winning will allow the journey to be faster and a ton
more fun.
tWO WORDS AND A PHRASE
In order to keep things simple (just the way my mind
likes it!), I want to share with you two words and a phrase
that I use as key points when I explain to people how to
achieve consistent and lasting success.
two Words: Identity and Hope
For many years I wondered why Dad has been so success –
ful at motivating people to change, to take action, to try
something different or new. Growing up, I thought it was
because he was so inspirational, funny, and smart. What Dad says makes sense, and nobody says it better than he
does! Yet all of these things only explain why people like
him, not why they take action. I know trust has a lot to

xviiPRE fACE
do with it, yet many people hear him only one time and
then are inspired to take action. Sure, the foundation for
trust was established, but something more than trust had
to move them to action.
Digging a little deeper and asking the “why” question
(Why do people take action?), I discovered this scarlet thread.
Almost every time Dad speaks, and in almost every book, tape, CD, video, or DVD he has done, he tells his story . In a
nutshell, Dad’s story goes like this: Born in the heart of the
Depression, he was the tenth of twelve children. His dad died when he was five. Dad started working at age six, never
did well in school, married when he was twenty. He started
his sales career and failed miserably for several years. An executive at his company told him he could be a champion
if only he believed in himself and went to work on a regular
schedule. He had always been honest and worked hard, but with this new information he changed his attitude, and
his sales career started to take off. Unfortunately, while he
would achieve momentary success over the next twenty years, he was still chasing the worldly definition of success
and looking for the “get rich quick” solution. Because of this,
he found himself having to start over more than ten times during that twenty-year stretch. Stability was not a word
to describe Dad! Then, when Dad was forty-five years old,
his life totally changed as he discovered his eternal purpose with his faith in Christ. The rest is history.

BORN tO WIN
xviiiSomething very interesting happens when Dad tells
his story. You start to see people’s heads nodding. If
you could read their minds, this is what you would see:
“Wow! I had no idea Zig struggled so much when he was coming up. His dad died when he was five. His mom
had a fifth-grade education. He didn’t do well in school.
When he started in sales, he was horrible.
“He made and lost money numerous times because of
really bad decisions. Wow, if Zig did it, so can I.” Suddenly
they identify with Dad, and hope is born.
Inspiration is powerful, and Dad may be the most
inspirational person on the planet, but inspiration only lasts so long. Hope is much different. When you have the hope that things can change and a plan to make that
change possible, then you can take action. When Dad
tells his story, it literally flips the hope switch in people because they identify with him—“If he can, I can.”
Now, all of a sudden when Dad suggests that people
try something, they do it—not because they like Dad, or because he inspired them or made them laugh, but
because “if he can, I can.”
Next time you get discouraged and caught up in
your circumstances, just remember what Dad says: “You cannot control what happens to you, but you can control
how you respond to what happens to you.” If he can, YOU can.

xixPRE fACE
A PHRASE: WILL , SkILL , AND REfILL
My simple mind really loves this phrase: Will, Skill, and
Refill. Almost every day I get asked the question, “What
are the keys to constantly improving my personal or my
company’s level of success?” As Dad says, “You build a better company by building better people,” so the Will,
Skill, and Refill philosophy is a foundation of all of our
personal and corporate training. This is how it works:
Will—this is the “want to.” This is the heart, the desire,
the attitude, the passion that people have.
Skill—this is the “how to.” This is the skill, the process,
the technical expertise that people have.
Refill —this is reinforcing the Will and Skill. There is no
such thing as “one and done” training and development.
Will and Skill must be developed and reinforced daily. Take the Will away from any person and you will have at
best someone who is just taking up space, and at worst
someone who is a real drain on their company and their family. Without Skill, no matter what you do, you will
create an endless cycle of frustration. Without Refill it is
impossible to maintain the difference-making levels of Will and Skill you need to achieve the level of success
you desire.

BORN tO WIN
xxBE WEIRD!
I love what Dave Ramsey says about being in debt. He
says that “normal” people are broke, so be weird. I agree
100 percent! As Dad says, “I have had problems when I
have had money, and I have had problems when I haven’t had money, and I have discovered that if you are going to
have problems, it’s better if you have money!”
Here is the reality: “normal”
people are not successful in the truest sense of the word. “Normal” people
do not practice Will, Skill, and Refill. I am encouraging you to BE WEIRD.
Choosing to be successful starts with
choosing to do what successful people do. Successful people practice Will,
Skill, and Refill on a daily basis.
Will, Skill, and Refill is simple—
remember, I am a simple person, so it has to be! This concept is based on my
favorite of all of Dad’s quotes: “You
are who you are and what you are because of what has gone
into your mind. You can change who you are and what you are
by changing what goes into your mind.”
Here is how you do it. On a daily basis, even if it is only
for five or ten minutes a day , Refill your mind with material that helps you build your Will, or your Skill, or both. You “You are who
you are and
what you are
because of
what has gone
into your mind.
You can change
who you are
and what you
are by changing
what goes into
your mind.”

xxiPRE fACE
can read or listen to great material. This book is a great place
to start, and as you are reading this very sentence you are
practicing Will, Skill, and Refill. Dad’s favorite example of
Will, Skill, and Refill is Automobile University . When you are driving, pop in a powerful CD that builds you up.
Personally, I have loaded my iPod with hundreds of
hours of life-building material (of course my favorite is Dad) and I listen almost every time I work out.
There is no such thing as the “status quo.” Coasting
in life, in business, or in your family relationships is not an option. All are either improving or getting worse. The
same is true for success. You are either moving closer to
success, or further from it. This is why Will, Skill, and Refill are so critical on a daily basis.
“Encouragement is the fuel on which hope runs.”
—Zig Ziglar
As you plan, prepare, and expect to win in life because you are born to win, never forget that hope is the cata-
lyst that will get you started, and that encouragement
keeps hope alive. The daily dose of Will, Skill, and Refill is where you will find encouragement. Remember, you
were Born to Win! Prepare Yourself! Expect Success!
Change the World!
—Tom Ziglar

xxiiiACkNOWLEDGmEN tS
thank you, Jean Abernathy Ziglar (Sugar Baby), for
being the only girl I’ve ever loved and for believing
I was born to win even when I hadn’t yet realized it for myself.
Thank you to my children, Tom Ziglar, Cindy Ziglar,
and Julie Ziglar Norman, my granddaughter Katherine Lemons, and my son-in-law Jim Norman for helping me bring this book to press. It is my joy to work with my family.
Thank you, Laurie Magers, my executive assistant for
over thirty-four years, for being dedicated to making this book the best it can be and for always doing everything with great care and professionalism.
Thank you, Billy Cox, my longtime friend, Ziglar,
Inc., board member, and exceptional business entrepre-neur, for the incredible amount of time and effort you put into helping me make the content of this book all that it needed to be.
Thank you, my friend Larry Carpenter, for writing
the foreword of this book, for serving on the Ziglar, Inc., Advisory Board, and for being the person who attended my Born to Win course more often than any other! You

BORN tO WIN
xxivhave always championed the Born to Win philosophy, and
you live the philosophy more completely than anyone I
have ever met. Your success in life and in business are
proof that you were born to win!
Thank you, Milli Brown, CEO of Brown Books Pub-
lishing Group, and David Leach for your belief in and contributions to this project. Thank you, Michael Levin, my new friend, for editing my book with a heart of
true understanding about my goals for my reader. Your
insight was spot-on and your input added untold value to the content.
Thank you to my Ziglar, Inc., team! You make my
work sustainable and I am happily indebted to you!
Many thanks to all of you who have read one of my
books or heard me speak, applied what you learned, and discovered that you, too, were born to win! This book is a result of your success in applying these principles.
My deepest gratitude is for the One who has directed
my life since July 4, 1972: my Lord and Savior, Jesus
Christ. Because of my relationship with Him, my mind
and heart are free of fear and worry, and I can look forward in excited anticipation for what is yet to come.

xxvINtRODUCtION
In November of 2011, I celebrated the sixty-fourth
anniversary of my twenty-first birthday, and I’m still
busier than a one-armed man calling on twin sisters! I’m still working on new books and encouraging people everywhere I go. I love every minute of it. Lots of people say they heard I have retired! I always exclaim, “You heard wrong! You should have heard I was ‘re-fired.’ I’m not going to ease up, let up, shut up, or give up until I’m taken up. As a matter of fact, I’m just getting warmed up.”
However, when you get to be my age, you think back
over your life and consider how effective you may have been and what you did that made the biggest difference in people’s lives. For me that is an easy answer. In my own life, my conversion to Christ and my marriage made the biggest difference for me. As for the things I did that had the greatest impact on the lives of others, the first is providing audio products for people to listen to in their cars. I’ve always been an advocate of “Automobile Uni-versity,” and through the years I’ve received hundreds of pounds of mail from people telling me how they take me with them every day in their daily commute and on

BORN tO WIN
xxvibusiness trips. I’m always tickled that I can go just about
anywhere and very few people recognize my face, but
when I open my mouth and start talking, heads turn, and
often I’m asked if I am Zig Ziglar. My voice is distinctive, and when you combine it with my Yazoo City, Missis –
sippi, accent, well, it’s not really stepping out on a limb when folks guess that it’s me.
The second effective thing I’ve done is a three-day
seminar I offered several times a year for more than
thirty years. Originally, the seminar was called “The Richer Life Course,”
but eventually it became known as
simply “Born to Win.” Through the years I’ve come to know thousands
of people whose lives were trans-
formed materially and spiritually as a result of participating in the Born to
Win experience.
Possibly you, my friend, have
contributed to the stack of mail I’ve gotten these past forty-plus years. I
am so grateful for folks like you who
have shared what has been most important and signifi-
cant to them. As I previously mentioned, the Born to
Win seminar and my audio products head the lists, but why have they been so effective? What was being taught You were born
to win, but to
be the winner
you were born
to be, you have
to plan to win
and prepare to
win. Then and
only then can
you expect to
win.

xxviiINtRODUCtION
in those activities that has had such a powerful impact
on people’s lives? The answer to that question is in the
words I’ve used to describe the Born to Win experience:
“You were born to win, but to be the winner you were born to be, you have to plan to win and prepare to win. Then and only
then can you expect to win.” The “Ziglar Gold” is found in
principles and techniques I have taught people that show them how to plan, prepare, and expect to win. This may
not sound earth-shaking, but you must understand that
these skills and attitudes have the power to transform your life.
My own life was transformed by these principles
more than fifty years ago by some tough comments made by one of my mentors, my area sales supervisor, Mr. P .
C. Merrell. I will share more of my experience with Mr.
Merrell later in the book. However, through his instruc-tion and lots of mentoring from others, I learned the
power of planning, preparing, and expecting to win.
When I learned how to plan each day and set specific goals, I became more focused on the things that really
make a difference. When I learned how to prepare myself
and equip myself with the tools and skills I needed to be successful, I was able to execute my plans and turn
them into winning results. Finally, when I learned how to
expect success, it all came together and transformed my life and the life of my family. All this to say that Ziglar

BORN tO WIN
xxviiiGold is captured when you acquire the skill set needed to
plan, prepare, and expect to win.
I’ve always considered myself to be a professional
“encourager,” and my mission was to help people find hope when there didn’t seem to be any. To fulfill that role,
I’ve always tried to give people lots of simple ideas that
will help them change the way they think about them-selves. As I look back over my career I see that just about
everything I taught really can be categorized as planning,
preparing, or expecting to win. Because of that, I have organized this book into three sections that track the best
stories, ideas, and principles that relate to those skills.
When you finish reading Born to Win, you will have the
absolutely very best of the core principles and skills I
have shared with people for the past forty-plus years. Let
me give you a quick preview of what you will learn in Born to Win.
PARt I: PLANNING tO WIN
There are lots of parts and sub-parts you have to put together when you begin to plan your success, but a few
things are foundational. Planning has to be based on
getting a clear vision of what you want, because without
a vision you don’t know which goals to set. Without
goals you have no targets, and without targets you have nothing to measure how you’re doing. So you can see 

xxixINtRODUCtION
how important a vision is. Getting a clear vision for your
future is also important because it plays a huge role in the
creation of desire! Did you know that desire is the mother
of motivation? Desire is the “want to” and the motor that
fuels and powers sustained success.
Desire is important and vision is critical, but there
are some personal qualities you must have or acquire to
get the best possible results. As a matter of fact, there are
six qualities: honesty, character, faith, integrity, love, and
loyalty. I have called these qualities the foundation stones
in the stairway to the top. You are going to learn how
these qualities are critical and how to implement them as
you plan to win.
PARt II: PREPARING tO WIN
At first glance, you might think planning and preparing mean the same thing. I admit they might look like they
are first cousins, but I see preparation as much different
from planning. Preparation is a matter of equipping your –
self to win with the right tools, knowledge, and support
it will take to turn your dreams into plans that will make
your vision into reality. So, this section of Born to Win will
be about how to equip yourself in the best possible way
to ensure your planning efforts will be successful.
Equipping and preparing yourself to win requires
five things:

BORN tO WIN
xxxYou need the right knowledge to win.•
You must continually raise your personal•
performance bar
.
You must acquire tools that help you work better•
and faster
.
You have to practice your skills.•
Y
ou have to surround yourself with positive •
influences and people.
In summary, you have to train yourself to become
a twenty-four-hour champion. Winning involves plan-
ning and preparing. Both are a constant-improvement, never-ending process. When you stop planning and preparing . . . you stop winning. Twenty-four-hour champions continually equip themselves to win!
PARt III: ExPECtING tO WIN
I’ve always said that when you have planned and pre-pared to win, you then have the right to expect to win.
This section of Born to Win is going to show you the power
of expectation and what drives it! The ultimate fruit of positive expectation is hope, and it is hope that pulls you forward in all you attempt to do. I’m always hopeful and I never worry. I can say that because I expect the best 

xxxiINtRODUCtION
possible result in all that I do. I expect the best because
I planned my success, prepared myself to execute my
plans, and earned the right to expect the best.
Desire is the mother of motivation because that is
where your motivation is born. Properly planning and preparing heightens your expectations, which fuels your
desire and drives you to become even more motivated. Through the years I’ve continu-
ally heard from individuals from all
walks of life whose lives were in a downward spiral—until they heard
something in my audio products or
read something in my books that gave them the will and the skills they
needed to change their circumstances
and transform their lives. They testify that by putting my simple sugges-
tions into practice their lives were
transformed. Sometimes the trans-formation was mental, sometimes it
was spiritual, and other times it was material. Whatever
the transformation, there was a commonality to the core changes they made. These people changed the way they
viewed themselves. They became willing to make signifi-
cant changes, and they came to believe they were born to
win! What they really did is develop the skills and take Desire is the
mother of
motivation
because that
is where your
motivation is
born.

BORN tO WIN
xxxiithe necessary actions they needed to plan, prepare, and
expect to win!
My son Tom and I are co-authors of this book. Together
we chose the most effective information I have taught in twenty-nine books over the past forty years. After you’ve
read this book and Tom’s contributions, I believe you will
see why I have faith that the Ziglar legacy, along with our pure and simple philosophy, is in good hands for the
generations to come. I’m not the kind of guy who says
anything is over until it’s over, but because of my age, it’s possible that this book may be my last. This is why I
have dotted every “i” and crossed every “t” in this book
to make sure it contains the very best of the best of all I’ve learned and taught in my career. I do believe you were
born to win. But I also know that to be the winner you
were born to be, you have to plan to win and prepare to win before you can expect to win. There are a lot of things
that have to happen before you can change the world!
—Zig Ziglar

part one
planning to win

1CHAPtER ONE
I’ve always said that man was designed for accomplish-
ment, engineered for success, and endowed with the seeds of
greatness. I believe that almost as much as I believe in God. What I mean when I make that statement is that man has the opportunity to achieve greatness and is hard-wired to make it happen. Every person has unique gifts, and those gifts give him or her the power and the opportunity to accomplish great things, if he or she learns how to use those gifts and channel them in the right direction. Now you might say, “Zig, if that’s true, why doesn’t everyone achieve greatness?” Actually, that answer is easy. Every-body doesn’t want to be great, and many people who want to be great aren’t willing to do the work to make it possible!
The great coach of the Green Bay Packers, Vince
Lombardi, wisely stated, “Winning isn’t everything but wanting to win is.” The simple truth is that you have to
WANtING tO WIN

BORN tO WIN
2want to do something badly enough before you have the
slightest chance of doing it! If you don’t want it badly
enough, I absolutely guarantee that you will not be willing
to do the planning and preparing it takes to get it.
Psychologists will tell you in a New York minute
(which, for your information, is thirty-two seconds) that you invariably and inevitably move toward the strongest impression in your mind. The impressions that are most
vivid in your mind are the things you want to do. That’s
why desire is so powerful and plays a big role in plan-
ning. If you really want to do something, it means that
it’s something you are going to think about most of the
time. When you constantly think about something, you talk about it all the time and you get lots of new ideas
about how to make it happen. When you have lots of
ideas about something, it makes planning easier and more enjoyable. Desire also makes you willing to become
accountable for your plan, and that makes you more
willing to create the plan you need to win.
DESIRE IS tHE mOtHER Of mOtIv AtION
In my first book, See You at the Top, I said, “Desire is the
ingredient that changes the hot water of mediocrity to
the steam of outstanding success.” What this means
is that desire is the catalyst that enables a person with average ability to compete and win against others with

3WANtING tO WIN
more natural talent. You see, my friend, being a winner is
much different from having the potential to win. Every-
one has the potential; it’s what you do with that poten-
tial that really matters. Nothing is more inspiring than a person with seemingly mediocre talent rising against the
odds to become a champion by way
of hard work, effort, and persever –
ance toward their goals. Obviously,
raw talent is important, but the differ –
ence-maker between first and the rest
of the pack is usually desire.
I’ve spent my life studying, think-
ing, teaching, living, and sharing moti-vation. I’ve learned why some people
do better than others. As a matter of
fact, I’ve now written thirty books on the subject that have been translated
into forty different languages and dia-
lects, and I’ve spoken to thousands of audiences in front of millions of people. The Ziglar team has created more
than fifty audio programs and hundreds of customized
audio presentations through the years. I’m grateful that I have been able to see so many lives transformed through
these various methods of communication. My core phi-
losophy on winning and motivation is summed up by saying that you were born to win, but in order to be the Desire is the
ingredient
that changes
the hot water
of mediocrity
to the steam of
outstanding
success.

BORN tO WIN
4winner you were born to be, you have to plan to win and
prepare to win before you can expect to win. The playing
field of life is not level, and for you to compete in the
game of life, you need an equalizer of some kind. In the old West, the equalizer was the six-shooter. It enabled a
little guy to chop a bigger man down to size.
Desire is also an equalizer—and nowadays is highly
encouraged over a six-shooter! Desire creates an edge. Desire produces the energy to get out of bed when you
don’t feel like it. Desire gives you the power to run the last one hundred yards of a marathon when you think
even one more step is impossible! Desire gives you the
will to do the tough things your competition may not be willing to do. Desire is the mother of motivation, because
it is where motivation is born. Desire will pull you across
the finish line and give you victory!
There are two questions you might ask at this point:
how is desire created, and what does it have to do with planning to win? Since I’m here to help you with the hard ones, I’m going to answer both of those questions in this
chapter.
DESIRE IS BORN WItH vISION
To understand how desire connects with planning,
you have to understand how desire is created. Desire
is created when something happens in your life that

5WANtING tO WIN
suddenly changes the way you see yourself in relation-
ship to your future. We all have moments in our lives
that are turning points—crossroads where something
happens that can shape the direction of our future. Some of these turning points can be dramatic, and others may
be subtle. I want to encourage you to be looking for these
turning points and seeking out your purpose and passion as you engage
in the planning, preparing, and
expecting to win process.
I vividly remember the exact day
one of these turning points happened
in my professional life. I was one of
twelve children raised by a single, widowed mother in Yazoo City, Mis-
sissippi, during the Great Depres-
sion. We struggled and worked hard to make ends meet, and although we
never had a lot of “extra” things, we
always had what we needed. When I was a young boy I worked around our little home doing chores, and when I
was nine I got a job at a grocery store in town. At that point
in my life I saw myself as a little guy from a little town who would always live in Yazoo City. That type of thinking was
the result of my experience growing up. I had no idea that
other possibilities might exist for me. I entertained the idea Desire is
created when
something
happens in
your life that
suddenly
changes the
way you see
yourself in
relationship
to your
future.

BORN tO WIN
6of owning my own store, or meat market to be exact, but
I never really felt over-the-top excited about it. I wasn’t
excited about it because it was not my vision—it was just
an idea that was presented to me by my boss as a possibil-ity. You might say I was a wandering generality instead of
a meaningful specific. I was wandering around with no
direction and no plan to win.
After I grew up and married my beautiful Redhead,
Jean Abernathy (whom I call “Sugar Baby”), I got a job as a door-to-door salesman in the cookware industry. The first two-and-a-half years I sold a lot—I sold our furni-
ture, our china and silver, the dog . . . just kidding. But it
was no joking matter that we struggled financially and were in hot water all the time. One cold, snowy morning
I went to a meeting where Mr. P . C. Merrell, the divi-
sional supervisor from Tennessee, took an interest in me. Mr. Merrell said, “Zig, you have the ability to be a great
one.” Frankly, I’d never heard words like that. As a child
raised during the Depression, the emphasis was on sur –
vival—not being “great.” Now here was a man for whom
I had the utmost respect, a man who was my hero, a man
of integrity, and he was emphatic that he really believed I could be the best cookware salesman in the country. But
he also had some constructive criticism. He said, “You
know, Zig, I’ve been watching you for two-and-a-half years and I have never seen such a waste.” (Now, friends,

7WANtING tO WIN
that will get your attention!) Somewhat startled, I asked
what he meant. He explained, “You have a lot of ability.
You could be a great one and maybe even become a
national champion.” Naturally, I was flattered, but a little skeptical, so I asked if he really meant it. He assured me,
“Zig, there is no doubt in my mind if you really went to
work on an organized schedule and started believing in yourself, you could go all the way to the top.”
Mr. Merrell’s words gave me hope that I could change
and caused me to believe for the first time in my life that maybe I did have more to offer than I’d ever realized.
Looking back, Mr. Merrell’s words helped me make the
decisions that changed my life. I turned his words over and over in my mind and got more excited by the minute. On
that day , for the first time in my life, I suddenly had a clear
vision of a future I really wanted, and I also noticed that something else was building inside of me. It was desire . .
. the desire to make it happen started to build! Mr. Merrell
planted a seed when he told me I could be great at some-thing, and I believed him. My vision of my future started to
change immediately, and I wanted that new future. As my
desire grew I became sick and tired of being sick and tired. I wanted to change, and more important, I felt empowered to
turn that new vision into reality . I took immediate action.
You may be reading this book and thinking, “Zig, I
don’t have a Mr. Merrell in my life.” Yes, you do. I am

BORN tO WIN
8your Mr. Merrell. I honestly believe I have felt your feel-
ings, I’ve walked in your shoes. You have made some mistakes, and you may not be where you want to be, but that has nothing to do with your future. I’ll say it again and again: you can start from where you are with what you’ve got and go to where it is you want to go.
Yes, you were literally born to win. My
goal is to give you new hope in this game of life and turn that new hope into a brilliant new picture for your future. I want you to know that when you prepare yourself, you can expect
success.
Many decades have passed since
Mr. Merrell’s empowering words gave me a new vision for my life and the powerful desire to become what he said I could be. I see looking back that even though we may have a
vision and a strong desire to attain it, seeing the end of it is not always possible. We can only see so far, because our experience limits us. But I also learned that we should embrace the vision and fuel our desire. As we work with purpose and pursue our passion we will be able to see farther, and when we get there we’ll be able to see farther again!you can start
from where
you are with
what you’ve
got and go to
where it is you
want to go.

9WANtING tO WIN
In my case, I first had a vision of becoming a national sales
champion, and I accomplished that in a few short years. In
the process of accomplishing that goal, I developed another
vision that was even more powerful. I wanted to become a public speaker. That turned out pretty well, too.
COmmItmENt AND PERSEvERANCE ARE POWERED
BY DESIRE
If you could somehow count all the books that have been written on what it takes to be successful, the number
would be astronomical. A significant number of those
books (including several I have written) emphasize the importance of taking action on the ideas and opportuni-
ties that present themselves in life. The fact is that you
can have lots of good ideas and you can be exposed to many great opportunities, but if you don’t do some-
thing about them, they might as well be non-existent.
It’s pretty amazing how most people put off taking the necessary actions to acquire the things they want and
then complain about how they never get a break! There
are many reasons people find to justify not taking action, but the absence of desire is one of the root causes. They
just really don’t want it badly enough. This is a fatal con-
dition when you are trying to be successful.
We all know that life is tough. Many times our best
plans turn sour as we pursue our goals and dreams. For

BORN tO WIN
10that reason, there are two qualities every person must
have to fuel their desire and sustain their pursuit of
success. Those two qualities are commitment and per –
severance. You need commitment to produce the focus
and consistency you need to keep your eye on the target.
Then you need perseverance to make it over the rough
spots and setbacks you will most certainly experience along your journey to success.
Commitment is the solution to help you overcome
the distractions you will face in life and help you stay
focused on what really matters. Today, most of our
society is up to their necks in the Internet and all that comes with it. Don’t get me wrong. I think the informa-
tion we now have at our fingertips is astounding, and
information is a key ingredient in being informed and equipped with the knowledge we need for success. But
the level of information in this day and time is far more
than any one person can possibly handle and process. You might say we live in a time of “information over –
load.” The result of information overload is usually dis-traction, and it dilutes your focus and takes you off your game.
In golf, if you take your eye off the ball, you will flub
it, top it, slice it, hook it, or maybe miss it entirely. Infor –
mation overload has the same effect. It can cause us to take our eye off the small things we need to consistently

11WANtING tO WIN
do in order to get the results we need. Commitment is
about binding ourselves to a specific course of action.
People who are committed realize that they have to do
specific things to get specific results and they know the results they want. Simply stated, commitment—which is
fueled by desire—helps us stay on track to achieve our
goals and ultimately win.
Many of you may have heard me
tell the story of how I was a boxer
earlier in life, but I had to quit because
of my hands. The referee kept step-ping on them. When Muhammad
Ali fought George Foreman in 1974
for the heavyweight championship of the world, he used a strategy he
called “Rope a Dope.” Ali leaned
on the ropes, covered his head, and let Foreman pound on him for
seven rounds in hopes that Fore-
man’s superior strength and punching power would be exhausted and make him vulnerable to Ali’s speed and
quickness. I don’t know about you, but the idea of letting
someone like George Foreman hit me repeatedly is pretty frightening—and I’d feel that way before he threw his
first punch at me. After he actually started pounding on
me, I might have second thoughts about maintaining the Simply stated,
commitment—
which is fueled
by desire—
helps us stay
on track to
achieve our
goals and
ultimately win.

BORN tO WIN
12strategy! But Ali did maintain the strategy, and it paid off
for him in round eight when Foreman was so worn out
from pounding on Ali he could hardly hold his arms up.
Ali suddenly came off the ropes and landed two rights and a massive left hook that sent Foreman to the canvas.
Perseverance on the part of Ali had carried him through
to victory in one of the greatest fights in history.
Many times as we go through life we get pounded
on just like Ali did in the ring that night with big George
Foreman. When tough times happen, we have to per –
severe through those difficulties and keep pressing on
to our ultimate goal and vision. When we get knocked
down, we have to get back up and keep on fighting . . .
we must stay focused and remember our greatest victo-ries are still ahead.
More often than not, too many people give up when
they get more resistance than they bargained for. Things
just seem to get a lot tougher and more difficult than
they are willing to deal with. If they fail to persevere through those times, they will fail permanently! If you
don’t finish something, it won’t be complete, and until
something is completed, it isn’t finished. Much about success is just the result of simply the ability to follow
up, follow through, and finish what we started. You’re
not beaten by being knocked down. You’re only beaten if you stay down.

13WANtING tO WIN
Personally, I believe I quit my sales career (in my own
mind) more times than anybody who will ever read this
book has thought about quitting. It was discouraging to
be broke, in debt, uncertain of what I was doing, and not really knowing from one day to the next whether I would
sink or swim. It’s times like that when faith, hope, courage,
dedication, and persistence are of the utmost importance.
I’ll have to admit it was tough, and discouragement was
a frequent companion of mine. I often had to buy fifty cents’
worth of gasoline at a time, and if I made a mistake in addi-
tion, I would have to place one or two items at the grocery store back on the shelf. I’ve had my lights and telephone
temporarily disconnected when I couldn’t pay the bill, and
I’ve even had to return a car when I could not make the payment. When our first daughter was born, the hospital
bill was only sixty-four dollars. The problem was, we didn’t
have the sixty-four dollars. I had to make two sales in order to get the money together to pay the bill. These were all
embarrassing and humiliating circumstances but, fortu-
nately, they were not the end of the world. I had a couple of things going for me that made the difference. I was commit-
ted to what I was doing, and the desire I had to win gave me
the ability to persevere through the tough times. My dream to be a professional speaker was born in 1952, and though it
was not until 1970 that I could pursue my dream on a full-
time basis, planning for that career began immediately.

BORN tO WIN
14It was 1972 before my speaking career really exploded.
I was forty-five years old. However, during the course
of the preparation for what was to be, I always stayed
grounded in my philosophy and the principles I adhered to. I altered ways in which I delivered my message in those
early years, but I was fixated on the principles because I
had a powerful vision of how I could help others, and I had a powerful desire for it to become a reality. The com-
bination of vision and desire gave me the commitment
to stay the course and the perseverance to keep pursuing my dream.
DESIRE ENHANCES YOUR ABILIt Y tO PLAN
When you spend the time necessary to plan your future, you are actually engaged in a process that is outlining
the things you need to do to fulfill your vision in life.
Is there a possibility that you’re not as far along in life as you would like to be? If so, do you feel it is because
you’re not made of the right materials and do not have
the natural ability to be successful? Or is there more than just a chance that you were born to win but you’ve simply
been following the wrong “blueprint” (plan of action or no plan) for your life? Obviously, I have no doubt you were born to win, but remember that before you can win
you must plan to win and prepare to win. Then—and only then—can you expect to win. Planning to win is

15WANtING tO WIN
the first step in the winning process and, unfortunately,
people resist making a plan. After all, nothing is more
embarrassing than creating a plan and then failing to suc-
cessfully execute the plan. You have to come up with a lot of excuses about why the plan didn’t work!
Fear is the fatal killer of desire. Fear of failure is a big
part of the reason why people procrastinate and avoid putting their plans in writing. Plus,
planning is hard work! Desire is the
difference between you being an enthusiastic planner, passionately
working through all the things you
need to do to be successful, or just going through the motions of plan-
ning like an item on a checklist. I hope
you see that planning can either be embraced as an exciting opportunity
to win, or avoided as an obligatory
exercise or task. When you really want something, when you desire it and you
are excited about it, you look forward to planning and pre-
paring because you get to do it. The key words here are “get
to do”! If you have the kind of desire I’ve shared with you
in this chapter, planning becomes something you get to do,
rather than something you have to do. And we all know
that we do a much better job with a “get to” attitude.Fear
is the
fatal
killer
of desire.

BORN tO WIN
16 WHA t DO YOU REALLY WANt?
Before you go any further in the planning to win process,
it’s a good idea to do a desire inspection on yourself. Why?
Because if you don’t have a real desire to do something,
your heart won’t be in it. The question we need to ask ourselves is, “Why do I want to do or accomplish this?” If
you are unable to answer the “why you want something”
question in one simple sentence, it
probably isn’t a true desire of yours,
so you can let go of that idea.
Weight loss is the simplest example
that I can give you of how this process works. For instance, if you want to lose
weight, your reasons why might be that weight loss will make you health-
ier, and you’ll feel and look better, too.
If you are clear about your vision and you really want to achieve it, you will
know what you want and why you
want it. When you know what you desire, you can enthusiastically create
an action plan to achieve it, and you
will be genuinely motivated to follow through. My friend,
you already have that desire, and in the next chapter I’ll
show you how to take that desire and begin to win!If you are
unable to
answer the
“why you want
something”
question in
one simple
sentence, it
probably isn’t a
true desire of
yours, so you
can let go of
that idea.

17CHAPtER tWO
If you really want to win, you have to begin. I’ve always
agreed with what I heard my friend and fellow speaker
Joe Sabah say: “You don’t have to be great to get started, but you do have to start to be great.” This means you have to be before you can do, and do before you can have. That
probably sounds simple enough, but there is a lot more involved in that statement than you might think. That state-ment really captures the core issues that are connected to being successful. When you understand what these three little words (be, do, have) mean, you will view success in an entirely new way—and ultimately change the world!
As we look at the game of life I want to emphasize a
couple of things. I believe personally that most of us have certain drives, hopes, and ambitions in life. I believe that each of us, whether we are female or male, young or old, black or white, short or tall, big or slim, have the desire to make a difference. I also believe you will agree that
BEGIN tO WIN

BORN tO WIN
18most people are interested in health, prosperity, happi-
ness, friends, peace, and security.
Let me ask you a question. What is your definition
of success? And do you know what success is and what it isn’t? Most people think of success in terms of power
or recognition or the accumulation of money and mate-
rial things. They also try to define it with one sentence or capture it with one central idea. True success has more
components than one sentence or idea can contain.
For years I have been using a graphic to help people
“see” where they are already successful and where they need help. I call it “The Wheel of Life.” I could not write
this book without sharing this graph that has made such a difference in so many lives. This graph will help you “see”
where you really are in the game of life. It gives you a start-
ing point as you move forward. In other words, you have to know where you are in order to know where you’re going.

19BEGIN tO WIN
Each of the seven spokes in the wheel represents a
specific area of life. The seven spokes of that wheel are:
Physical•
Family•
Mental•
Financial•
Personal•
Spiritual•
Career•
You must master some degree of success in each
area of life before you can experience the true satisfac-
tion of total success. Every spoke in your Wheel of Life

BORN tO WIN
20is connected to the other spokes in the wheel. If one or
more of the spokes is neglected, the others are also weak-ened. On the other hand, as you strengthen these weak areas, the other areas become stronger as well. Think of it like each area working together as a team, and the team is only as strong as its weakest link. Let me give you an example. If you just focus on career success and neglect family and spiritual growth, you will not be as successful in your professional life as you hope to be. If you make a lot of money and don’t take care of your health, you might become a chronically ill wealthy person! You will clearly understand what I’m saying by understanding what success is and what it isn’t. Here’s a short list of the characteristics of what I believe success isn’t and what I believe success is. Let’s start with what success is.
WHA t SUCCESS IS:
Success is knowing that you did a great job when1.
you
close the door to your office at the end of each
workday and head for home.Success is having a home and people to love who2.
love you in r
eturn.
Success is having the financial security to meet your3.
obligations
each month and the knowledge that you
have provided that security for your family in theevent of your demise.

21BEGIN tO WIN
Success is having the kind of faith that lets you know 4.
where to turn when there seems to be no place to
turn.
Success is having an interest or hobby that gives you 5.
joy and peace.
Success is knowing who you are, and Whose you are.6.
Success is taking good care of you and waking up 7.
healthy each day.Success is slipping under the covers at the end of the 8.
day and realizing with gratitude that, “It just doesn’t
get much better than this!”
You see from this list that success is more than a one-
sentence definition. Success involves the whole person,
and if you skimp on one area, you will limit your success
in others. Now, let’s take a look at what success isn’t.
WHA t SUCCESS ISN’t:
Success isn’t missing dinner with the family several 1.
times a week because of working excessively.
Success isn’t rushing home from work and hiding 2.
out with the TV thinking, “After the day I’ve had, I
need my space!”
Success isn’t about how to make more money 3.
when you already have more money than you can
spend.

BORN tO WIN
22Success isn’t about going to church and ignoring4.
everything you hear.
Success isn’t all work and no play
. 5.
Success
isn’t about being so busy that you live 6.
on
unhealthy fast food, served to you through little
windows.Success isn’t spending mental energy worrying7.
about
late projects, being home on time, your health,
missing your child’s school play, being able to payyour bills, or finding joy in your life.Success isn’t texting while you drive to catch up8.
on your overloaded schedule.
Do
any of the symptoms on this list sound familiar to
you? Have you noticed one or more of them in your own life? If you answered yes to any of these questions, I can tell you that your Wheel of Life needs close attention and some extra work in those areas!
YOUR RELA tIONSHIP WItH YOU
As you look at the part that relationships play in your life, think about yourself. What is your relationship with yourself? Do you like who you are? If not, what are you doing about it? When I say that you have to be before
you can do, and do before you can have, notice that I said
you in front of be, do, and have. This is because I’m talking

23BEGIN tO WIN
about the relationship you have with yourself and how
it translates into you having the things in life that consti-
tute success. I want to help you get acquainted with who
you really are and share some things with you that will help you grow to like yourself better. It’s important that
you like yourself, because if you don’t, who will?
Your ability to get along with other people is an indi-
cation of who you are and how you feel about yourself. You have to be the kind of person with whom you and
others are comfortable. The more you respect yourself,
the higher the standards you set and the greater your
integrity, which enables you to do the right things. When
you do the right things, you are more likely to have good
relationships with others, and more success in general.
LAYING tHE fOUNDA tION
There are six characteristics that comprise the founda-
tion stones of your life and your success. The six charac-
teristics are honesty, character, faith, integrity, love, and
loyalty. All of these foundation stones are necessary to create a Wheel of Life that is balanced and will produce
the kind of success I’ve described. In my eighty-five years
of living I have learned that people who compromise any
of these principles usually end up with only a beggar’s
portion of what life offers them. I’ve seen people acquire
money through dishonesty and deceit, but their friends

BORN tO WIN
24are few and they lack true peace of mind. The business
professional who alienates his family in his climb to the
top is not a success. People who have no faith in some-
thing greater than themselves can only rely on them-selves in times of great difficulty. The longer I live and
the more successful people I meet, the more convinced I
become that these foundation stones are the most critical
success weapons you have in your
arsenal.
Why are these foundation stones
so important to your success? Well, I’m glad you asked, because I’m
going to tell you! A human being goes through life thinking and doing.
Then they usually do what they think
about most of the time. I want to remind you that you were born to win.
I also want to remind you that you are
what you are and where you are because of what’s gone into your mind, but you can
change what you are and where you are
by changing what goes into your mind. The reason this is so
is because you generally do what you think. Your think-
ing drives your choices. Choices determine the action you
take, and action produces the results of your life. You can only think in ways consistent with the information you I also want to
remind you
that you are
what you are
and where you
are because of
what’s gone
into your mind,
but you can
change what
you are and
where you are
by changing
what goes into
your mind.

25BEGIN tO WIN
have in your mind. So to change what you do, you have
to change the way you think, and to think differently, you
need to change what goes into your mind.
Who we are is determined by the foundation stones
of honesty, character, faith, integrity, love, and loyalty. The six foundational stones essentially provide the raw
material for all your thinking. As such, they become the core characteristics of what you be, do, and have, which
ultimately determines the results you get in life. These stones form your *code for success or failure because your thinking and your actions must be consistent with
the characteristics of the foundation you build.
I wish it were possible for me to introduce you to
the many personable, persuasive, talented—even bril-liant—people I have met in my travels who are gener –
ally just one step in front of the bill collector and some-
times just two steps ahead of the law. They are always
looking for a “deal” and the “fast buck.” They never
build very much or very high, because they have no
foundation to build on. Others don’t realize that the real
opportunity for success lies within the person and not in the job; that you can best get to the top by getting to the bottom of things—and then climbing the stairs of success, one at
a time. Success and happiness are not matters of chance
but choice. The foundation stones provide the basis for making the right choices.
*To find YOUR Success Code visit www.ziglar.com/borntowin.

BORN tO WIN
26tHE fOUNDA tION StONES
Honesty
Many years ago, the Redhead and I went shopping for
a leather sofa at a major store in town that had an enor –
mous inventory. The salesman pleasantly approached us, we conveyed our wishes, and he led us to the sofa depart-ment. When I saw the first leather sofa that appealed to
me, I asked the price. He told me, and I was pleasantly
shocked, because it was only about half as much as I had anticipated. When I expressed my delight that a genuine
leather sofa could be bought at that price, the salesman
assured me that it was indeed a remarkable buy and that was one of the reasons they sold so many of them. I told
the salesman I would take it.
Next I told the salesman we needed a nice coffee table
to put in front of the sofa, so we headed for the coffee table department. On the way we passed another leather
sofa, very similar to the one I had just agreed to buy. If anything, I liked this one slightly better, so I walked over,
looked it over carefully, sat down, leaned back, and was
a little undecided as to which one I truly liked the best. So I asked the price. The salesman told me and again I
was shocked, because this one was nearly twice the price
of the one I had just ordered. I asked the obvious ques-tion: “Why does this one cost almost twice as much?”

27BEGIN tO WIN
He explained it in one simple sentence: “This one is all
leather.” At that point the salesperson explained that
the other sofa was mostly made of imitation leather, but
nobody would ever notice it.
Which one of the sofas do you think I bought, or do
you figure I walked out without buying anything? If you figured I walked out without buying anything, you hit the nail on the head. Not only did I not buy anything that
day, but I have never been back in the store. The salesper –
son had been dishonest, and I felt cheated and deceived.
The point is that if you are dishonest with others, they
will ultimately figure you out, and when they do, they
will have little else to do with you. That is the effect of dishonesty.
The important point I want to make is that the real
issue was what the salesperson was thinking when he lied about the first couch being a leather couch. He was
thinking about making a sale and was not thinking about
being honest! His motive was to get me to buy something, not to give me the best service and treatment he could
give me. He was thinking about himself more than his
customer, and it cost him the sale when his dishonesty was discovered. I’m sure he was so accustomed to being
deceptive that the issue of honesty wasn’t even on his
radar screen. You need to make sure honesty is a priority in your life!

BORN tO WIN
28Character
Sometimes all it takes is a word, a phrase, or a thought
planted in someone’s mind to change his or her whole life. It truly pays to watch closely what and how you think. Our thinking really does drive our character. Frank Outlaw expressed the power of our thoughts this way:
Watch your thoughts; they become words.•
W
atch your words; they become actions. •
W
atch your actions; they become habits. •
W
atch your habits; they become character. •
W
atch your character; for it becomes your destiny! •
The
point I want to make here is that your character
truly does become your destiny, because your character determines your future. And your character is largely formed by how you see yourself in relationship to God and other people.
In his beautiful book Rising Above the Crowd, Brian
Harbour tells the story of Ben Hooper. This story means so much to me I told it in my book Over the Top, and
I’m going to tell it again here. Ben Hooper was born in the foothills of East Tennessee to an unwed mother. As a result, he and his mother were severely ostracized by their small community. People would say mean things, and the children wouldn’t play with Ben at school. Amer –
ican culture has certainly changed since those days, but

29BEGIN tO WIN
at the time of Ben Hooper’s birth, being an illegitimate
child was scandalous!
When Ben was twelve years old, a new young preacher
came to pastor the little church in Ben’s town. Almost immediately Ben started hearing exciting things about
this preacher, like how loving and nonjudgmental he
was, how he accepted people just as they were, and how when he was with someone, he made them feel like the
most important person in the world. One Sunday, though
he had never been to church a day in his life, Ben Hooper decided he was going to go and hear this preacher. He
got there late and he left early because he did not want
to attract any attention, but he liked what he heard. For the first time in that young boy’s life, he caught just a
glimmer of hope. Ben began to get the idea that he could
amount to something and that God loved him in spite of his not having a known earthly father.
Ben was back in church the next Sunday—and the next
and the next, and his hope grew each Sunday. On about
the sixth or seventh Sunday, the message was so moving
and exciting that Ben forgot to make his early exit. It was almost as if there was a sign behind the preacher’s head
that read, “For you, little Ben Hooper of unknown par –
entage, there is hope!” When the service was over, Ben
suddenly felt a hand on his shoulder. He turned around
and looked up, right into the eyes of the young preacher,

BORN tO WIN
30who asked him a question that had been on the mind
of every person there for the last twelve years: “Whose
boy are you?” Instantly, the church grew deathly quiet.
Then, slowly, a smile started to spread across the face of the young preacher until it broke into a huge grin and
he exclaimed, “Oh! I know whose boy you are! Why, the
family resemblance is unmistakable. You are a child of God!” And with that the young preacher swatted him
across the rear and said, “That’s quite an inheritance
you’ve got there, boy! Now, go and see to it that you live up to it.” Many, many years later, Ben Hooper said that
was the day he was elected and later re-elected governor
of the state of Tennessee.
Our character is formed by who we think we are and
the standards and principles we embrace in our minds
as truth. When Ben Hooper began to see himself as a
child of God, he began to see life differently. He had standards to live up to, and his character had to match
those standards.
faith
In 1972, I met an African American woman by the name
of Sister Jessie. She was a small woman with big faith,
and I invited her to spend the Fourth of July holiday with
me and my family. She arrived talking about Jesus and kept it up for three days! Every word she spoke involved

31BEGIN tO WIN
praise for her Lord and Savior, Jesus. She spoke of His love
and the sacrifice He made on the cross for the sins of the
world—which included all of mine! She convinced me
that I needed to give my life to Christ, and her words fell on the fertile soil of my heart. I went to bed thinking about
all Sister Jessie had said, and that night I became a Chris-
tian. I repented of my sin and accepted Jesus as my Savior and the Lord of my life. There were no big fireworks—
just a deep, abiding faith that I’d never be the same ol’ Zig
again. For the first time in my life, I had acquired real faith in something greater than Zig, and I was forever changed.
As a matter of fact, at the time of Sister Jessie’s visit I was
broke, in debt, and needing a miracle. I got one, but it wasn’t the kind I thought I needed.
You see, up until Sister Jessie’s visit, I had been oper –
ating my life, which included my mind and my body, in ways that were not consistent with the owner’s manual!
If you buy a lawn mower or a car, you get written instruc-
tions about what it takes to make the equipment work best and how to make it last a long time. God’s instruc-
tion manual (the Holy Bible) does exactly the same thing.
If you believe you are a spiritual creature, there are spiri-tual principles that govern the “equipment” you are
attempting to operate. Before I became a Christian, I was
operating my life without an instruction manual, and I was getting the bad results you’d expect.

BORN tO WIN
32To me, the issue of faith and living by spiritual principles
is just a matter of good common sense. I’m not an animal.
I’m like Ben Hooper, a child of God, and I have an inheri-tance to live up to. So do you. I don’t know what you think or believe about spirituality, faith, the Bible, Christianity, or anything else. All I know is that you need to know for your –
self what you believe about these issues if you really want to have the kind of success I’m describing to you in Born to Win.
Integrity
“Integrity is when you are one with God,
yourself, and your loved ones.”
—Dwight “Ike” Reighard
“He who walks with integrity walks securely, but he
who perverts his ways will become known.”
—Proverbs 10:9
Integrity has been described as “doing the right thing when nobody is looking.” When you try to hide your behavior behind a mask of lies, you live with the constant fear of somebody finding out! All of us know this expe-rience to some degree. Some of us stay on track most of the time and only occasionally fear being found out, but others have lied so much to cover their tracks that they don’t remember what’s true anymore.

33BEGIN tO WIN
When the Bible talks about our “heart,” it is referring
to the most inner part of us. Our spiritual heart is a seat of
reflection, and it is the place in which we keep our motives
and the secret thoughts of our life. Our heart enables us to look at our life clearly, without distortion or embellish-
ment—if our heart is pure and seeks to be obedient to God.
The truth about what is really in our hearts is prob-
ably a mixed bag. If we are honest, we have to admit that our motives are not always pure and that we also have big
doses of selfishness that take over our lives from time to time. The key to spiritual growth is being able and willing
to look into our hearts and be honest about what we find
there. Do we find a heart that is focused on spiritual truth, integrity, and honesty? Or do we find something else?
So integrity is a matter of the heart when you get to
the bottom of it. Our integrity is a fruit of who and what we are, and we can no more stop our integrity, or lack of
it, than an apple tree can stop producing apples and start
producing peaches. If you want to know what the status of your own integrity is, just do some serious soul-search-
ing, and that begins by taking a look at your heart, your
motives, and the reasons you do everything you do.
Love
There are many different perceptions of what love is and isn’t. For most people, love is related to attraction to the

BORN tO WIN
34opposite sex. But the kind of love I’m talking about is a
selfless form of love.
We know we genuinely love when thinking about
the needs of others is more fun than thinking about our-selves. There is another thing about love you need to understand. Faking love is impossible.
Love is one of those heart issues we previously dis-
cussed, and like the other fruits that we produce in life, it results from who we are. The Bible has the best definition of love you will ever find, and here it is:
Love is patient,Love is kind.Love is not jealous,Love does not brag,Love is not arrogant.Love does not act unbecomingly or seek its own;Love is not provoked and does not take into account a wrong suffered.
—1 Corinthians 13:4-5
New American Standard (SIC)
Loyalty
The final foundation stone is loyalty, and unfortunately it is in short supply these days. Loyalty is one of the characteris-tics of great leaders, and the reason we have a short supply

35BEGIN tO WIN
of inspiring leaders is because we have a short supply of
people who have learned how to be loyal. People who are
loyal are loyal to the commitments they make, and they
keep their promises. They are loyal to the principles they embrace, and they are loyal to the people who fill their
lives. A person who is loyal does not talk behind the backs
of those he follows, and a loyal person sincerely wishes the best for others. In one sense, loyalty is an expression of
love, because it requires some selflessness.
Few people have become great leaders without first
learning how to be loyal. If a person holds a position of leadership and responsibility, his effectiveness will be
directly related to how well he learned in his formative years to follow others and to be loyal to them. A person
without loyalty will not follow others and is incapable of
being an effective leader.
Now you understand why you have to be before
you can do, and do before you can have. Be, do, have is a
picture of the whole person, inside and out. You become what you are because it is impossible to produce results
that are inconsistent with who you are. As you begin to
plan your vision and your goals, this truth needs to be an integral, foundational aspect of your character. Then,
and only then, can you begin to develop the degree of
clarity, the topic of the next chapter, that you need to keep moving toward the life you are meant to have.

37CHAPtER tHREE
In chapter 1, we covered that you must want to win. In
chapter 2, we boldly presented the case that you must
build a solid foundation to begin the winning process. Now it’s time to get clear about exactly what you want. Clarity will increase your desire and move you in the direction of your goals and dreams. America’s foremost business phi-losopher Jim Rohn said, “It’s not the direction of the wind, but the setting of the sails that really matters.”
I want to remind you that you were born to win, but
to be the winner you were born to be, you have to have a clear plan to get there. This means having specifi c goals that you are shooting for.
I once heard of a book called I’d Rather Eat Nails than
Set Goals. I never read the book, but I certainly under-stand the sentiment. Goals make us accountable, and lots of people avoid setting them for that reason. There are
many good reasons for becoming a goal setter, and here are just a few of them.
kNOW WHAt YOU WANt

BORN tO WIN
38SIx REASONS tO SE t GOALS
Goals bring the future into the present, and the1.
pr
esent is the only time we can take action. Setting
goals makes it possible to do something today to
create the future you want.If you don’t plan your time, someone else will help2.
you waste it.People
get twice as much done on the day before 3.
they
go on vacation, because they plan (set goals)
and prioritize what they intend to do. Thought: ifyou lived every day like it was the day before vaca-tion, how much would you be able to increase thetotal productivity of your life?Goal setters make more money than people who don’t4.
set
goals. When Dave Jensen was the Chief Admin-
istrative Officer at UCLA in 1992, he conducted astudy on goal setting. He learned that people with abalanced goals program earned an average of $7,411per month. In 2011, those numbers showed earningsof $11,632.73 per month. Dave discovered that indi-viduals without a goals program earned an averageof $3,397 per month, or $5,332.13 in 2011 dollars andcents. That’s over $6,000 more a month! Those withgoals programs were also happier and healthier andgot along better with the folks at home.

39kNOW WHA t YOU WAN t
Goals keep you focused on the things that really 5.
matter and help you avoid wasting time on things
that are unproductive. Focus helps you change from
being a “wandering generality” to being a “mean-ingful specific.”
Setting goals gives direction and purpose to all that 6.
you do. Goals are the links in the chain that connect
activity to accomplishment.
NO mORE ExCUSES
People make a lot of excuses for not being willing to set goals, but the benefits of setting goals far exceed the
excuses for not setting them. There
is something about the goal-setting process that makes people approach
it in fear, and they can find lots
and lots of reasons to avoid it. The biggest reason is an unwillingness to
be accountable for results. After all,
if you set a goal and fail to reach it, some people will consider it failure.
But there is an old saying that goes,
“It is better to have tried and failed than not to have tried at all!” I would
alter that concept slightly and say, It is better to set goals
and have direction than to not have goals and wander around It is better to
set goals and
have direction
than to not
have goals and
wander around
in confusion.

BORN tO WIN
40in confusion. Ultimately, people who do not set goals are
just making up their life as they go along, which results
in unreached potential.
Born to Win is a journey, and every journey has a
beginning. When I say you are born to win, I’m talking
about your entire life, not just a piece of it. Remember
the Wheel of Life I mentioned previously? It is a power –
ful tool to help you begin your Born to Win journey, and I
encourage you to make use of it. Before you can prepare to change your life you must have an accurate picture of what your life is like now—and it must be an honest
picture. Remember that honesty is one of the foundation
stones for success, and it begins with being honest about yourself! Unfortunately, people have an uncanny ability
to inflate their good qualities and deflate their deficien-
cies. If you do that in the Wheel of Life exercise, you will get a distorted picture of your starting point that will
impact how well you are able to hit the goals and targets
you plan to achieve.

41kNOW WHA t YOU WAN t
A vISUAL St ARtING PLACE
fOR GOAL SE ttING—tHE WHEEL Of LIfE
Take a look at the following graphic and then do the
simple exercise I suggest.
Read each of the category lists carefully and rate yourself
on a scale of 1 – 10 in each space. Rate yourself with 1 being very poor and 10 being outstanding. For example,
under Physical rate your own appearance. Do you look
fit and well kept? Do this for all of the categories. You may have done this before. That’s OK, you need to do

BORN tO WIN
42it again and again – and every six months for the rest
of your life. Now add up the total of each column and
divide that number by 10. This will give you your per –
sonal score for that particular spoke on the wheel. Now
go ahead and mark that number on your spoke, and
mark the rest of the spokes. Now connect the dots. What
does your Wheel of Life look like? Is it round? Do you have flat spots? Do you have several spokes that need
improvement?
Physical
appearance
regular checkup
energy level
muscles toned
regular fitness program
weight control
diet & nutrition
stress control
endurance & strength
other
TOTAL ÷ 10 =
Spiritual
believe in God
inner peace
influence on others
spouse relationship

43kNOW WHA t YOU WAN t
church involvement
sense of purpose
attitude for giving donations
prayer
Bible study
other
TOTAL ÷ 10 =
mental
attitude
intelligence
formal education
continuing education & training
creative imagination
inspirational reading
compact disc education
inquisitive mind
self-image
enthusiasm
other
TOTAL ÷ 10 =
family
listening
good role model
principled but flexible
forgiving attitude
build self-esteem of others
express love and respect

BORN tO WIN
44 meals together
family relationships
dealing with disagreements
time together
other
TOTAL ÷ 10 =
Let me ask you a question – how smooth is your ride?
If your wheel has flat spots, or it’s a small wheel, that
means your ride is pretty bumpy and you are really not
going anywhere. Now that you know where you are, you have a place to begin when you start setting goals.
If you will make it a practice to follow the steps in this
chapter, it will separate you from the rest of the pack. It will give you the winning edge and move you constantly
in the direction of the dreams you desire.
Once again, knowing where you are is an important
part in the Born to Win philosophy and is absolutely essen-tial to getting where you want to go. When you complete
this exercise, you will clearly see where your life is today and the specific areas you need to address to set powerful
and effective goals that will place your feet on the path of
your Born to Win journey.
Were you surprised by the results of this exercise?
Most people are a little shocked to see that their wheel is lopsided with some flat spots, rather than a nice round wheel that permits them to roll successfully through life.

45kNOW WHA t YOU WAN t
Perhaps you have a fairly round wheel but everything
is a 2 or 3. Your ride may be smooth, but you are not
going anywhere. The Born to Win concept will help you
remove the flat spots and produce a wheel full of condi-
tions that approach or become 10s. It begins with plan-ning your future around the seven spokes of the wheel
and setting the right goals to achieve the vision you have
for yourself.
kNOW WHERE YOU’RE GOING
A young couple, lost on a rural road, spotted an old farmer, so they stopped the car and asked him a ques-tion. “Sir, could you tell us where this road will take us?”
Without a moment’s hesitation the old farmer said, “Son,
this road will take you anywhere in the world you want to go, if you are moving in the right direction.” This little
story makes a big point. From wherever you are, you can
go anywhere you want to go if you pick the right roads to travel. The roads you travel in life are selected and deter –
mined by the goals you set for each area of your life. The key is to pick the right roads!
Now you might be thinking, “Zig, how do I know what
goals to set, and how do I know they are the right goals that will put me on the roads I need to travel to get where I
want to go?” Well, I’m glad you asked, because I most cer –
tainly plan to tell you! I have a proven seven-step process

BORN tO WIN
46you can apply to your goal setting, and if you follow each
step correctly, you will create goals that are tailor-made for
you and what you want to achieve. I’ve been teaching this
process for my entire career, and the proof of its effective-ness is in the lives of the people who have followed my
advice and done it! Before we get started, I want to clearly
say that you must do the seven steps for each goal that you set. You will want to set multiple goals for each spoke
in the Wheel of Life, and you will apply this seven-step
process to each goal.
tHE SEvEN StEPS Of GOAL SE ttING
1. Identify the goal.
If you don’t identify a target, you will never hit it. When you identify a goal, it means that you write it down and
describe it clearly. Don’t set any nebulous targets. If you
want to have specific success, you must have specific targets. A goal “to increase my annual income” or “to
spend more time on my spiritual life” is not specific. A spe-
cific goal would be “to increase my current income by 20 percent” or “to read the entire Bible from cover to maps.”
2. List the benefits: what’s in it for me?
Once you identify a specific goal, you need to list the ben-efits you will receive when you reach that goal. Let’s face

47kNOW WHA t YOU WAN t
it, we only do the things we want to do and are willing to
do. If there are no personal benefits, your motivation for
completing the goal will be diminished. Remember that
changing your life is not always easy, and you will hit some rough spots in the road as you move forward. You
will need all the personal motivation you can muster, and
understanding what’s in it for you is vitally important. Don’t skimp on this step!
3. List the obstacles to overcome.
I believe I just mentioned that there might be some rough spots on your journey as you work to achieve your goals.
Many of them can be anticipated, and if you can antici-
pate something, you can prepare yourself in advance to overcome it. So think it through and make a complete list
of all the things that can prevent you from being success –
ful. Ask a trusted friend who knows you well to help you
finish the list.
4. List the skills and knowledge required.
Knowledge gives us the power to accomplish things we
would not otherwise be able to do, and skills give us the
tools to take advantage of our knowledge. There is a direct
relationship between knowing and doing, and success-fully accomplishing your goals will require that powerful
combination. For example, if your goal is to increase your

BORN tO WIN
48proficiency on the computer, you will need to know specifi-
cally what the computer can do for you (knowledge). Once
you know what you want the computer to do for you, the
skills you will need to be successful must be identified. The skills might include learning to type on a keyboard with two
hands instead of finger pecking. This would trigger setting
another goal of learning to type! Never forget that knowl-edge and skill will be required to successfully complete any
goal.
5. Identify the people and groups to work with.
We do a better job when we have the help of others. They
can help us with knowledge and skill and can offer valu-
able advice we need to be successful. So when you set your
goals, always consider the people and the groups you can work with that can help you be more successful.
6. Develop a plan of action.
This is the most critical step, and it involves thinking
through the details of how you will achieve your goal.
In my younger years I was thirty-seven pounds over –
weight. I had put that weight on one bite at a time, and I
was going to have to lose it the same way. That required
a plan! I wanted to lose my weight over a ten-month
period and that was the first step of the plan. Thirty-seven pounds sounds like a lot, but when you realize it’s only

49kNOW WHA t YOU WAN t
3.7 pounds a month over a ten-month period it sounds
a lot better. So, I planned to lose 3.7 pounds a month for
ten months. Then I included a daily running and exer –
cise plan in the goal, as well as a diet that would limit
my caloric intake. With those details planned, I clearly
knew how I was going to have to live each day to be suc-
cessful. I prepared diligently to succeed. I stuck to my plan (which means I never made the first exception), and
ten months later I had lost thirty-seven pounds. Success
would have eluded me had I not planned the details of what I would do each day to reach my goal. In this case,
reaching my goal may not have changed the world but it
surely did change my world.
7. Set a deadline for achievement.
In the example above, you notice I gave myself ten months
to lose the weight I wanted to lose. I had a great reason
for setting that deadline—I believe in goal setting, and all
goals need a completion date to be effective. I was in the process of writing my first book, See You At the Top, and
I had ten months left to complete my book by my goal date when it struck me that I was not a good example of the very things I was teaching. Nobody who saw me was
going to believe a word I said, because I was not taking
care of the health portion of my life. There was no way an overweight fat boy could effectively tell other people

BORN tO WIN
50how to change their lives without first changing his own!
My integrity was on the line . . . so I sought help at Dr.
Kenneth Cooper’s Aerobics Center, where Dr. Randy
Martin told me the true state of my condition. With his help, I made my ten-month plan.
If you don’t set a deadline for completing your goals,
you will not be accountable to yourself or anyone else. If you are not accountable for your goals, you will not
achieve them.
WHEN YOU “P AY tHE PRICE”—YOU ENjOY tHE
BENEfItS
Some goals require personal sacrifice and a lot of dedica-
tion and effort to achieve. When I was in the process of
losing my weight, it was hard to discipline myself to run
and exercise each day, regardless of the weather or how I felt. It was hard to resist eating all the things I thought
about. In many ways, I felt like a bit of a martyr, denying
myself the pleasures in which others could so freely indulge. I was “paying the price” of achieving my goal.
When I was fifty years old, I was speaking in Portland,
Oregon, and I went for my daily jog at the Portland State University track. As I ran around the track I saw lots of
young students moving about the campus. It suddenly
occurred to me that, at age fifty, I was in better shape than 95 percent of those students. I knew I could outrun just

51kNOW WHA t YOU WAN t
about all of them over a two-mile course. That is when it
became obvious—I was enjoying the benefits of achiev-
ing my weight-loss goal.
The point is that the successful completion of a goal
will produce specific, tangible benefits that will last a long time! Do you remember Step 2 in the goal-setting
process? Identify the benefits and identify what’s in it for you. That is a critical step, and that’s why you need
to identify lots of benefits so you can stay motivated to
maintain the discipline you will need to do the daily things you have to do to achieve your goal. I pursue my
goals because of the benefits I will receive from doing
them. You can do the same.
GOAL SE ttING IS ABOUt BECOmING
I want to be certain you have the right attitude about setting your goals. Don’t think of goal setting as a tire-
some activity that requires you to do things that are diffi-
cult. The real benefit of having goals is what you become by reaching them. When you successfully complete your
goals, you change specific things in your life. Take a look
at the Wheel of Life and think about the new person you will be if you can become or approach being a 10 in every
spoke of the wheel. I can tell you factually that your life
will be radically changed for the better, and the person you become will be highly successful in all that you do.

BORN tO WIN
52Are you convinced that you need to become a goal
setter? Have you started thinking about where you are
and where you would like to be? Have you started listing
the obstacles that stand between you and success? I hope you are sufficiently motivated to begin the goal-setting
process, because goals represent the action tools you
need to be able to plan to win. Do you remember when I said you have to be before you can do, and you have to do
before you can have? Being a successful goal setter is the
process that enables you to be the person you need to be, by doing what you have to do, so you can change yourself
and the world for the better.

53CHAPtER fOUR
So far, we have considered who you are and what you
do.
Now we’re going to examine the why. When we
know why we’re doing something, when we have a clear understanding of the value of our actions and the purpose for those actions, it’s easier to stay motivated even when our energy is fl agging. The “why” in life is your value and purpose. When you’ve got a strong enough why, you can always fi nd the how.
Part of planning to win is developing the fuel that will
drive you to take the daily actions that will move you in the direction of your dreams. When you skimp on plan-ning, the results you get in the end will be reduced. In
vALUE AND
PURPOSE: tHE
DRIvING fORCES
tHAt fUEL ACtION

BORN tO WIN
54this chapter I’m going to disclose what it takes to sustain
your efforts so that you will turn your vision and your
dream into reality. The fact is that diminished effort will
produce diminished results, and it’s human nature to let down a little the longer we do something.
Have you ever noticed that sports
contests are frequently won or lost in
the final minutes of a game? One com-
petitor outlasts and outplays their opponent in the final minutes and is
able to execute more effectively and
move on to victory. Success in life is much the same. You have to have a
plan, and you have to execute that
plan consistently—even when you don’t feel like it. Vince Lombardi
said that “winning is not a sometime
thing . . . it’s an all the time thing.”
If you want to become the winner you were born to be,
it’s going to take changing your daily actions until they
become a habit.
Understanding the power of value and purpose and
how to use it for lasting motivation is essential to main-
taining your intensity level so you will consistently do
what you need to do to gain and maintain a winning edge. The Born to Win process is about being the best If you want
to become the
winner you
were born to
be, it’s going to
take changing
your daily
actions until
they become a
habit.

55vALUE AND PURPOSE
you can be, and to be the best you can be, you must
commit yourself to taking the necessary daily actions
required to make that happen. This means understand-
ing the reasons behind the vision. Why do you want this plan? If you win, what will it accomplish, who will it
help? How will you feel? How will this vision and plan
value others? How will it add value to your life? When you understand those principles and the work you need
to do to build your plan around those principles, the
result will be contentment, happiness, and a mental perspective that will enable you to approach life in a
more enthusiastic and effective way. The fact that you
have created a vision and understand the true value and purpose of that vision will energize you and give you
the personal motivation you need to finish well—and
achieve exceptional results.
COOkED IN tHE SqUA t
When I was growing up, one of our neighbors had a cook, and I had occasion to enjoy her cooking every now
and then. One day when I was there, the cook pulled a
pan of biscuits out of the oven, and they weren’t much thicker than a silver dollar. I asked her what happened
to make those biscuits so skinny. She said, “Sweetheart,
those biscuits squatted to rise, but they just got cooked in the squat!”

BORN tO WIN
56When you make bread, the dough starts out kind of
flat; eventually, the yeast in the dough will make it rise.
If you cook the dough before it has completely risen, it
will get “cooked in the squat.” If you think of the squat-ting time for bread as being the same as the planning
process for success, you will see how this can be a valu-
able lesson. If you don’t take the time to plan properly (and this includes knowing the purpose and value of
what you are working for), chances are you will get
cooked in the squat and will never “rise” to your full potential.
Most people have heard of Mahatma Gandhi, the man
who led India to independence from British rule. His life has been memorialized in books and film, and he is
regarded as one of the great men in history. But did you
know Gandhi did not start out as a great hero? He was born into a middle-class family. He had low self-esteem,
and that made him reluctant to interact with others. He
wasn’t a very good student, either, and he struggled just to finish high school. His first attempt at higher educa-
tion ended in five months. His parents decided to send
him to England to finish his education, hoping the new environment would motivate him. Gandhi became a
lawyer. The problem when he returned to India was
that he didn’t know much about Indian law and had trouble finding clients. So he migrated to South Africa

57vALUE AND PURPOSE
and got a job as a clerk. Gandhi’s life changed one day
while riding on a train in South Africa in the first-class
section. Because of his dark skin, he was forced to move
to a freight car. He refused, and they kicked him off the train. It was then he realized he was afraid of chal-
lenging authority, but that he suddenly wanted to help
others overcome discrimination if he could. He created a new vision for himself that had value and purpose.
He saw value in helping people free themselves from
discrimination and injustice. He discovered purpose in life where none had existed previously, and that sense
of purpose pulled him forward and motivated him to
do what best-selling author and motivational speaker Andy Andrews calls “persist without exception.” His
purpose and value turned him into the winner he was
born to be, and Gandhi became one of the greatest men of history.
Without that new vision and purpose, the chances
are pretty good that Gandhi would have remained a struggling lawyer/clerk and nobody would have heard
of him. He would have been “cooked in the squat”! But
Gandhi was not cooked in the squat because he devel-oped a sense of value and purpose for his life, and based
on that, he was able to set specific goals to turn his vision
into reality! He eventually led an entire nation to inde-pendence without firing a shot!

BORN tO WIN
58ANYONE WItH A PURPOSE CAN mAkE A DIffERENCE
Most people are not destined to be as famous as Gandhi,
but everyday people living everyday lives often find themselves at a crossroad where the inward focus of their life becomes others-centered. Once their purpose is defined, their value increases.
This was the case with Mary A. Michel, CEO and
founder of Journey of the Heart Ministries. Mary’s per –
sonal experience of overcoming multiple losses gave her a heart of compassion for suffering women, and in August of 1998, her vision for Journey of the Heart and the Centers of Hope was born.
Mary’s passion drove her to leave her professional
business career and get the training she needed to make her vision a reality. Over the years Mary has been privi-leged and honored to personally mentor more than one hundred women and, through her experience and train-ing, now offers this leadership to Journey of the Heart,
the Center of Hope volunteers, and the community. With
a reputation for having a positive approach to difficult sit-
uations, Mary Michel gives women hope and helps them
discover a victorious life. Her purpose is well defined,
and her value increases with each woman who finds a better way to live and a better life. For more information about Mary and Journey of the Heart, please visit www.
journeyoftheheart.org.

59vALUE AND PURPOSE
HAvING vALUE AND PURPOSE CAN UNLOCk YOUR
POtENtIAL
The idea of value and purpose is linked to the concept of dis-
covering a greater good, a mission, or a higher calling. Some people find their value and purpose in their spiritual faith. I am one of those. Before I became a Christian at age forty-five, I was firmly entrenched in acceptable mediocrity.
By that I mean I was doing some good things and was
impacting a number of people’s lives, but in truth I was broke and in debt. I had a general vision about what I wanted, but the depth of value and purpose was missing. I was doing things because I wanted to do them, and I wanted the results to be for me. After I accepted Christ, I
suddenly had a higher purpose and new values. I wanted
to help others be all they could be, and I wanted it solely for their happiness and peace—not mine. You might say ol’ Zig became “others-centered” rather than “self-centered.”
When that new sense of value and purpose took over
my mind and my heart, I began to have success beyond my wildest dreams. I think I felt much the way Gandhi felt when they kicked him off the train. I could now see
that my efforts up to that point had been based on the
wrong things and why the results I was getting were less than spectacular. When I changed my focus, I changed my motives, and that is when I began my “new career.”

BORN tO WIN
60Shortly after that conversion experience I wrote my sig-
nature book, See You at the Top, and I haven’t had to solicit
a speaking engagement since. For the past forty years my vision of wanting to be a difference-maker and an encour –
ager in the lives of others, and to help people reach their
full potential, has pulled me forward with a laser-like
focus. I never forget the value and purpose of what I do, and that is what keeps me going . . . I love what I do.
UNDERSt ANDING vALUE AND PURPOSE
Value and purpose are about understanding the specific ben-efits you will help people receive if they receive what you
have for them. Three men were busy at the same task, and
a passerby stopped and asked each of the men what they were doing. The first man said, “I am cutting stone.” The
second man said, “I am earning my living.” The third man
said, “I am building a cathedral.” All three of the men were involved in cutting stone. The first man saw no purpose or
value in what he was doing, and my guess is that his days
were long and tedious. He probably went home tired and exhausted every night and dreaded going to work each day .
The second man had a different perspective. He saw cutting
the stones as a means to earn a living and probably had a better attitude than the first man. However, the value and
purpose he saw in his effort was merely about getting his
paycheck. I imagine this man spent a lot of time thinking

61vALUE AND PURPOSE
about other jobs he might be able to get and probably found
his work boring and repetitive.
The third man knew he was cutting stone, and he
knew he was earning a paycheck, but he also saw value
and purpose in his work that transcended those basic
realities. The third man was building a cathedral that would be used by people. The cathedral would be
a spiritual and social center where men and women
could come to worship and fellowship together. That church, when completed, would give people hope and
help them live better lives. What do you think the third
man’s attitude was about his work? My guess is that he couldn’t wait to get to work every day. I imagine he
arrived early and stayed late. He probably talked about
his work all the time and was grateful to be doing some-thing that was so much fun! I’m sure he could visualize
that finished church in his mind and couldn’t wait to
go there.
Do you see how understanding value and purpose
can make the difference in how we approach our lives
and our work? It’s absolutely critical to reaching your
full potential and avoiding being “cooked in the squat.”
fINDING YOUR WHY
Understanding the value and purpose of something requires that you pursue the “why” questions related to

BORN tO WIN
62your vision. In the last chapter I gave you a seven-step
process that essentially walked you through the “why”
questions for each of your goals. Goals are little “mini-
visions” that, when assembled as a total program within your Wheel of Life, will turn your vision into reality. But
you also need to ask another set of “why” questions about your overall vision, as well. When you have stated
your vision in clear terms, I suggest
that you ask yourself the following big question so that the value and
purpose of your vision will be clearly understood.
Here it is: why did you create your
vision? Think about it: why did you create your vision? What was your motivating force for creating your
vision in the first place? Is it some-
thing you really want, or is it something you think you
“should” want? Is your motivation characterized by
what you can get, versus what you can give? Did you
create your vision based on the needs of others and out of a sincere belief that you can help those people get what
they want? Or did you come up with your vision just
to make more money? Don’t get me wrong. I have abso-lutely nothing against making money. I’ve been broke I suggest that
you ask yourself
the following
big question so
that the value
and purpose
of your vision
will be clearly
understood.

63vALUE AND PURPOSE
and I’ve been flush, and I can tell you it’s a lot more fun
to be flush. The undeniable fact, however, is that I made
a lot more money after I began to focus on really helping
other people get what they want.
The answers to these “why” questions will reveal if
your vision is self-centered or others-centered. You recall that I mentioned that my own life changed when my
vision and my goals became others-
centered. If your vision is mostly self-centered, it will have diminished
value, and the purpose of it will be
questionable. Remember, you can have
everything in life you want if you will
just help enough other people get what
they want. That statement captures a
principle that is others-centered. It is
not a self-centered strategy! But it is
a strategy that, when followed, will change your life and the lives of many others along the way.
I am closing this chapter with a special story about
a mother who knows her purpose and the value of her life-changing, life-giving efforts. Sandy Sides has an easy
answer for the “why” question: “Savannah!”
Savannah Sides was only five years old when she and
her mother were in a head-on automobile accident. Sandy you can have
everything in
life you want
if you will just
help enough
other people
get what they
want.

BORN tO WIN
64was seriously injured, and Savannah died of a massive
brain injury within hours of the accident. When told that
Savannah had no brain function, her father remembered
his little girl’s request to be an organ donor and asked the doctor to make the arrangements. Savannah’s spontane-
ous and selfless decision brought some good out of the
tragedy of that day, and at least four lives were changed for the better.
In spite of having more than twenty surgeries, having
to learn how to walk again, and living with constant side effects of the accident, Sandy hosts an annual motorcycle
ride called the “Savannah Faith Miracle Ride.” She does it
for two reasons. First, she wants to honor her daughter’s memory, and second, she wants to continue her daugh-
ter’s legacy of organ donation by raising funds to help
organ transplant candidates.
Sandy Sides is making a difference because she is
passionate about her purpose, and I believe the value of what she is doing exceeds calculation! For more informa-tion about Sandy and the annual ride, please visit www.
savannahmr.org.

part two
preparing to win

67CHAPtER fIvE
Your experience infl uences how high you think
you can go. Preparing yourself to win is crucial to
success. I once heard that preparation is the foundation for any level of achievement. I am totally convinced this is so. Whether you are preparing for an athletic event, an important speech, a sales call, or a camping trip, the better prepared you are, the better the results. The great Tom Landry said, “If you are prepared, you will be con-fi dent . . . and you will do the job.” It’s true: planning and preparing gives you the confi dence you need and the right to expect to win.
What does it mean to be prepared? It means
equipping yourself with the tools, skills, knowledge,
and attitude you will need to achieve all that you planned. I hope you set lots of high goals for yourself after reading part 1 of Born to Win. I know the completion
YOU CAN DO mORE
tHAN YOU tHINk

BORN tO WIN
68of those goals will lead you to the successful attainment
of your vision. But what if your vision is to become a
jet pilot, and you don’t know how to fly? I think you
get the idea. To become a jet pilot you will have a lot of preparation and equipping to do before you have a shot
at turning your vision into reality. So, as we begin this
second stage of the Born to Win process, whenever I say
prepare, just understand I’m talking about equipping
yourself with the tools, skills, knowledge, and attitudes
you need to turn your plans into reality.
One of my favorite stories is about flea training. I’m
going to tell it again here because it is the perfect illustra-
tion of how your experience can limit what you are able
to accomplish. If you put a bunch of fleas in a jar and put a lid on the jar, the fleas will jump up and collide with the
jar lid. They quickly adjust how high they jump so they
won’t hit the lid. After they adjust their jumping power to avoid the lid, you can take the lid off of the jar and
the fleas will not jump out! They will have trained them-
selves to jump so high and no higher. The fleas actually become slaves to their experience and imprison them-
selves inside the jar—even though they could jump out
at any time after the lid is removed.
People do the same thing to themselves. Somewhere
in most people’s experience, they develop the idea that
they can (or should) do only so much and no more. They

69YOU CAN DO mORE tHAN YOU tHIN k
adjust their expectations of themselves accordingly,
and they get what they expect: less than what they are
capable of!
I believe you have the potential to do and accomplish
far more than you believe you are capable of doing and accomplishing! I believe that because history is filled
with stories of men and women who have done just that. If you study the lives of great people, you usually dis-
cover they came from average families, living average
lives, doing very average things. Then, these people have some kind of experience or encounter a turning
point that puts them in position to do more than they
could even conceive. Or possibly they became sick and tired of living the way they were living and finally said,
“Enough is enough!” In every instance they responded
to the experience or opportunity and accepted the chal-lenge to grow.
Former United States President Dwight Eisenhower
was not a high-ranking officer in the years prior to World
War II, but he was passionate about wanting to get out
from behind a desk and fight “his war.” He was a staff officer to General Douglas MacArthur in the Philippines
prior to the war and probably thought continuing in that
role would be the best thing he could do. Circumstances of the war and his excellent organizational skills eventu-
ally resulted in him becoming the Supreme Commander

BORN tO WIN
70of all the Allied Armies in Europe, and after the war he
was elected president of the United States. Eisenhower is
actually quoted as saying, “I thought it completely absurd to
mention my name in the same breath as the presidency.”
The amazing and even startling point of this story is
that there was never one big thing Eisenhower did that
changed the course of his life. Every small step, every small promotion, every new direction his military life
took led to a culmination of events that resulted in his
huge lifetime of success. His willingness to accept every new position, regardless of how mundane or challeng-
ing it might be, moved Dwight Eisenhower toward his
destiny.
ARE YOU WILLING tO tAkE A RISk?
One of the main reasons people fail to reach their full potential is because they are unwilling to risk anything.
They are fearful of losing, failing, or getting hurt and just
want to do the things they believe will keep them safe. They simply want to maintain their status quo and avoid
anything that might upset the mediocre expectations
they have for their lives. Now, I don’t want you to get the idea that I am making fun of people who have medi-
ocre expectations. Most people have mediocre expecta-
tions for themselves, and they come by it naturally. Their experience has conditioned them to believe mediocrity is

71YOU CAN DO mORE tHAN YOU tHIN k
about as good as it gets, so their expectations match their
experience.
What I’m saying is that experience is a great teacher
but we should never let our experience influence what we think about our potential. Did
you know that every human being is
created with a purpose and that they have a responsibility to not only dis-
cover their purpose but also to fulfill
it? I don’t mean that it is every per –
son’s destiny to be rich and famous,
but it is every person’s destiny to do
something that will make a positive difference in the lives of others. That
is one of the reasons I believe you can
have everything in life you want if you
will just help enough other people get what
they want. I love what Joan of Arc said when she stated,
“I’m not afraid. I was born to do this.” If you believe as I do that you were born to win, you’re going to have to find
your fears and start facing them. Face them over and over again until you have nothing to fear but fear itself.
RISk-tAkING
To discover your purpose and act on it, you will have to take risks. What does it mean to take a risk, and how can What I’m
saying is that
experience is a
great teacher
but we should
never let our
experience
influence what
we think about
our potential.

BORN tO WIN
72you overcome the fear of taking risks? First, let’s consider
how you might have become fearful of taking risks in the
first place. Most people become fearful because they have
been hurt by taking risks in the past. That is why our expe-rience contributes to possibly limiting what we think we
can do or are willing to do. The way to correct this thinking is to realize that the mistakes we made in our past are
actually assets that we can use for our
benefit today. It is not that we should stop taking risks. It is that we should
not repeat things we have done in the
past that did not work. There is a big difference between the two!
POSItIvE AND NEGA tIvE CHOICES
Now we come to the real issues regarding risk-taking. As I said
before, it is not risk-taking that is the problem—it is the tendency we may have to make bad choices. I am sure you have known many people who make the same bad
choices over and over again. They almost seem to be in a
never-ending downward spiral of bad decision-making. As a result, their lives are a mess. When we make poor
choices, our circumstances become worse. As our circum-
stances become worse, our choices become more limited. The way to
correct this
thinking is to
realize that
the mistakes we
made in our past
are actually
assets that we
can use for our
benefit today.

73YOU CAN DO mORE tHAN YOU tHIN k
As our choices become more limited, the likelihood of
making more bad choices is inevitable. On the other
hand, when we make good choices, our circumstances
improve. As our circumstances improve, we have better opportunities, and better opportunities make it possible
for everything in our lives to become better.
Once we begin to make certain types of choices, the
likelihood of making similar choices in the future almost becomes a self-fulfilling destiny.
Every time we make a choice, it is either positive
or negative. For example, you have the choice to either smoke cigarettes or refuse to smoke cigarettes. If you
choose not to smoke cigarettes, that is a positive choice. Making that positive choice immediately produces better
health and longer life. You will also smell better and save
lots of money. By making the positive choice to refrain from smoking, the subsequent choices that come to you as
a result of that decision are more positive. We can choose
to be more active, and we can choose to sit in the part of the restaurant that has clean air. On the other hand, if you
choose to smoke cigarettes, your choices begin to move
down a more negative path. You will have to decide on filters or non-filters. Will you smoke openly or hide it?
What brands of cologne and breath fresheners will you
have to buy to mask the odor? Will you choose to have chemo and radiation or surgery—or both? Finally, the last

BORN tO WIN
74choice will be for a metal or wooden coffin! Of course,
someone might have to make that choice for you.
If the fear of attempting to do more than you think
you can do is a problem for you, let me ask you a couple
of questions. Are you afraid to set goals because you
are afraid you might not be able to complete them? Are you afraid of failing in front of friends and family? Is
that what keeps you from making a commitment to try
something new or stretch yourself? I am a firm believer that goals and commitments should be put in writing,
but many people avoid doing that. Somehow, by not
putting their goals on paper, they believe they have a built-in explanation for failure. They can say they did
not really fail, because they never had the goal in the first
place. I hope this is not your approach to goal setting! If it is, it may be safer emotionally and even appear to be
a no-risk approach. However, it is also a guarantee that
you will never achieve a fraction of your true potential.
Playing it safe by refusing to take risks may seem to
be a prudent choice. However, let me point out that it
would be safer for ships to stay in the harbor and for air –
planes to stay on the ground. By not going to sea or taking
to the air, they would be able to avoid the challenges of
bad weather and unexpected conditions. But idle ships
grow barnacles faster, and idle planes quickly begin to rust. Yes, there is danger in setting goals, but the risk is

75YOU CAN DO mORE tHAN YOU tHIN k
infinitely greater when you don’t set goals. The reason is
simple. Just as ships are built to sail the seas and planes
to fly the heavens, so is man created for a purpose. That
purpose is to get everything out of you that is humanly possible so you can make your contributions to mankind.
Winston Churchill said, “Play the game for more than you
can afford to lose . . . only then will you learn the game.” John Sculley, past president of Apple, stated, “People
who take risks are the people you’ll lose against.” The
bottom line is this: the greatest risk is to never take a risk, therefore dooming yourself to a life of mediocrity. On the
other hand, if you take a risk and you fail, what you learn
in the process will help you use better judgment in the future.
CHOOSE YOUR fRIENDS AND
ASSOCIA tES WISELY
Finally, a determining factor that limits our potential and keeps us from being all we can be is the opinions of
other people. It is sad to say but there are many nega-
tive people in this world who are not successful, and they would prefer that nobody else be successful, either.
Has there ever been a time in your life when you shared
a dream with one or more people and they turned on you like a pack of wolves? After hearing your dream
they all began to tell you why it was impossible and

BORN tO WIN
76list all the reasons and obstacles that stood in your way.
Sadly, there are families that behave this way toward
their own flesh and blood. Parents, brothers, and sisters
tell their children and siblings all the things they don’t
believe they can do. Sometimes it seems the only advice
and support these people can offer guarantees failure.
They might as well be saying, “You’re not good enough to do what you think you want to do. Who do you
think you are, dreaming that kind of dream?” If you
have people like this in your life, my advice is to keep your goals to yourself when you are around them. You
do not want to become what I call a SNIOP . A SNIOP
is a person who is Susceptible to the Negative Influ-
ence of Other People. A SNIOP is a person who is more
concerned with pleasing people than living their life to its full potential. In other words, a SNIOP lets other people’s opinions control and limit their success.
As we talk about preparing ourselves to win, a big part
of that preparation is surrounding ourselves with people
who are encouragers. While it is true that there are many
negative people who take every opportunity to encourage failure, there are others who can help you be successful.
Encouragers are people who have been successful
themselves. They are people who stepped up and took risks and were able to accomplish things they may not
have believed possible.

77YOU CAN DO mORE tHAN YOU tHIN k
Encouragers are the kind of people you can share
your goals with and they will encourage you to go for
it. Encouragers will also share their own mistakes with
you and tell you how they overcame them to achieve success.
My youngest daughter is Julie Ziglar Norman. She is
one of the greatest encouragers I have ever known, and
I am so proud she is my daughter. Julie is also the editor
of many of my books, and she traveled and appeared on stage with me for several years when I spoke using
the interview format. Julie and her husband, Jim, faced
a crisis in their marriage about fifteen years ago and decided to separate. They went to counseling and worked
very hard to rejuvenate and restore their relationship.
They were successful, and in 2011 they celebrated their twenty-eighth wedding anniversary. Their four children
and twelve grandchildren are the beneficiaries of their
success. Julie and Jim both believe that bad marriages can be saved if the couple is willing to do what they have
to do to be successful.
During the time of their separation, Julie shared with
me the lack of encouragement she got from many of her friends. Many of them seemed happy she was separated
and told her she might as well just get a divorce and find somebody else. Thank goodness she did not take their
advice! Today, when Julie has a friend who is having

BORN tO WIN
78marital difficulty, she immediately begins to encourage
them to try to solve their problems. She and Jim both
share their experience freely with other people so they
can know there are options that are better than divorce. Julie told me that her friends who have marital difficulty
remark that she is the only person in their life encourag-
ing them to stay married. It is a sad reality that a couple experiencing difficulty will get more advice to end their
marriage than encouragement to fix it. Surround yourself
with people who want the best for you and the people you love!
GO fOR It!
There’s more in store for you in your life than you can possibly imagine. I promise you it is the truth. To reach
your full potential, you have to set goals that will stretch
you. You must not be afraid of taking risks. You must learn to recognize opportunities and have the courage
to pursue them. You have to make better choices that
will provide better results. Finally, you need to avoid the negative influences of other people and surround your –
self with successful people who will encourage you to pursue your dreams.

79CHAPtER SIx
A simple fact about success is that it requires a lot of pos-
itive, personal motivation to achieve. The motivation
is required to get you through the diffi culties and strug-gles that happen along the way. You can be sure that in any effort there will be unexpected, seemingly big setbacks on your journey. Many times these unexpected circumstances can be so discouraging you might even be tempted to give up on your goal or vision.
In my book Embrace the Struggle I state, “Getting knocked
down in life is a given; getting up and moving forward is a choice.” That’s where knowledge comes in. Applied knowl-edge gives you the power to see past today’s challenges. This is why you have to feed your mind with the good, the clean, the pure, the powerful, and the positive. Having a posi-tive attitude can make the difference between success and
failure. Why? Well, I’m here to tell you! It’s because
a positive
kNOWLEDGE GIvES
YOU POWER

BORN tO WIN
80attitude and personal motivation allow you to remain excited
about what you are doing—no matter how difficult the chal-
lenges may be from day to day. Show me somebody who
isn’t excited about what they are doing, and I’ll show you somebody who is going to be “cooked in the squat!”
WHA t’S ExCItING ABOUt kNOWLEDGE?
Have you ever considered what gets you excited? I know you probably get excited when somebody gives you a great
gift or a big raise. You also probably get excited when you
think of something you can do that will help you become even more successful. You probably get excited when your
team gets a big win or you close a deal you’ve been working
on for awhile. Maybe you get excited when you see a new opportunity and are in a great position to take advantage
of it. I remember how excited I got at the opportunity to
marry the Redhead. That was more than sixty-five years ago, and it was possibly the greatest opportunity I ever
had! I think you will agree that recognizing new oppor –
tunities is a source of excitement and also one of the best
ways to remain optimistic and confident about your future.
But let me ask you a question. How can you improve your
ability to recognize good, new opportunities?
The amazing thing about opportunity is that it is in front
of us every day , but it may elude us if we are not careful. For many people, opportunity is difficult to see. Knowledge,

81kNOWLEDGE GIvES YOU POWER
properly applied and acted upon, is the key to lifting the
veil and opening your eyes to the opportunity that is in
front of you. The more knowledge you have about a subject,
the better equipped you become to link your daily experience to new oppor –
tunity. This is true because the human mind is designed to file away informa-tion and then subconsciously produce
connections between seemingly unre-
lated facts. If you haven’t been learn-ing new things and filing away new
information on a regular basis, your
mind will have difficulty making con-nections to new opportunities.
It’s just a basic fact of life that it’s
hard to be positive and enthusiastic about something you know little about. That’s why I have said in the past
that it’s generally true that people are down on the things
they’re not “up on.” However, the worst-case scenario is to
believe you are well versed in something when you are not. That circumstance will set you up for some seriously
embarrassing moments!
Let’s face it. If you don’t know very much about some –
thing, chances are you are not going to be very interested in it. If you aren’t interested in something, you won’t be excited about it. For example, if you do not understand The more
knowledge
you have about
a subject, the
better equipped
you become
to link your
daily experience
to new
opportunity.

BORN tO WIN
82what a Smartphone can do for you or how it works, the
likelihood of you investing the time and energy in learn-
ing to use one is pretty slim.
However, when you understand that a Smartphone
can improve your communication with others, help you become better organized and more productive, and open
the doors to powerful information in an instant, the value of the Smartphone is enhanced in your mind and becomes
personally important. When you understand the benefits
of using a Smartphone, your willingness to become a competent user increases. New knowledge becomes the
motivating factor in learning how to use a Smartphone.
The kind of knowledge you need to become a good rec-
ognizer of new opportunity is not the issue. What matters is that you accept the importance of acquiring new knowl-
edge and make it a life-long practice. As Paul Zane Pilzer, world-renowned economist, wisely states, “Prosperity
belongs to those who learn new things the fastest.” It is
also well known that repetition is the mother of learning. I make it a point to do something every day to continually
learn new things. I have always been a very prolific reader.
As a matter of fact, for most of my life I have averaged reading about three hours a day. Every day I read the daily
paper, and I also read my Bible. (That way I know what
both sides are up to.) I also read great books, informative magazines, and numerous specialized publications. All of
this reading continually adds to the knowledge I have.

83kNOWLEDGE GIvES YOU POWER
As you probably know, I believe that you are what
you are and where you are because of what goes into
your mind. As I mentioned, I am also a strong supporter
of “Automobile University.” Listening to positive, infor –
mative programs and courses as you travel from one
place to another can give you an otherwise unobtainable
education. Thabiti Anyabwile, pastor of the First Baptist Church, Grand Cayman, said, “The use of time is impor –
tant because time is the stuff of which days are made.”
I have told you about the thousands of letters I have
received from people all over the world thanking me for
helping them. The truth of the matter is that I have never
met the vast majority of these people. Most of them received my help by listening to my recorded tapes and CDs in their
automobiles. This is particularly true of businesspeople
and salespeople who travel a lot. They do not waste their time driving without adding to their knowledge base. Do
you see your automobile as a rolling university? Technol-
ogy today is such that you can import just about any infor –
mation you need into your car via CDs, iPods, mp3 digital
audio devices, iPads, etc. So take advantage of that time
and put it to good use by listening to new information.
DON’t W AStE YOUR tImE
Earlier I said, “The kind of knowledge is not the issue.”
I want to revise that a bit, because sometimes we can
fill our heads with knowledge that has very little value.

BORN tO WIN
84Many years ago (when it was less risky than it is today), I
had the opportunity to pick up a hitchhiker. When he got
in the car, I began to believe I might have made a mistake,
because he had obviously been drinking alcohol. He was also talking a lot. Eventually, the story came out that he
had been recently released from prison. He had served
eighteen months for bootlegging whiskey. Trying to be polite, I asked him if he had acquired any knowledge he
could use when he was released. He assured me that he
had. He said he had memorized the name of every county in every state in the United States. In addition, he had
memorized all of the parishes in the state of Louisiana.
I had a difficult time believing what my hitchhiker
had said to me so I decided to challenge him on his knowledge. Because I had lived in South Carolina and
was familiar with many of the counties in that state, I asked him to name all the counties in South Carolina.
My hitchhiker proceeded to systematically recite all
of the South Carolina counties. Now, I have no idea why this man selected this particular area of knowledge as
something worth learning.
Maybe a bootlegger needs to know all the county
jurisdictions of the sheriffs he is running from!
That’s possibly useful for the bootlegger, but from a
practical standpoint for folks like you and me, the infor –
mation is probably useless. It might win you a bet, but it

85kNOWLEDGE GIvES YOU POWER
certainly isn’t likely to help your career. I do not recom-
mend investing the amount of time this man invested to
memorize great amounts of minutiae. The knowledge you
acquire should be relevant to your life and your interests. The key is to study a little bit every day, and this knowl-
edge will help you recognize new opportunity.
I have touted the importance of being a lifetime learner
for as long as I can remember, but the overwhelming majority of people appear to make a decision to stop learn-
ing anything by the time they reach the age of twenty-one and/or graduate from college! By that age, most people
know how to perform the basic tasks of life. They know
how to pay their bills (sometimes on time, sometimes not). They know how to drive a car. They know how to
rent an apartment and carry on relationships with other
people. And yet when it comes to learning anything new, it appears that they are resolutely opposed to reading a
nonfiction book, learning about a new topic online, or oth-
erwise enriching or increasing their knowledge base.
I know that you’re not one of those people, but the
reality is that far too many of us fail to take advantage of the myriad opportunities to keep learning and growing. In a country like ours where there are no limits on what
information we can gain, what books we can read, or
what websites we can visit, it’s tragic that people don’t make better use of their God-given minds.

BORN tO WIN
86I still wish I could sell you your brain for enough
money that you would truly appreciate the incredible
capacity your brain has for retaining and compartmen-
talizing the information you choose to store there. Many years ago, I said if I could charge you $100,000 to buy your
brain from me, you would value it more. These days I’d
probably have to charge you something like $100 million to make you appreciate the true value of your brain.
In fact, IBM spent hundreds of millions developing an
artificial intelligence computer named Watson and then challenged the two biggest Jeopardy! game show winners
to a contest in February 2011. Watson won.
If IBM believes investing huge amounts of time and
money in artificial intelligence is smart and will pay off,
can you imagine what you can do if you invest time to
teach your real, truly intelligent brain new information?
WHO SUCCEEDS?
Individuals who understand the principle of having to make an investment in their lives before they can expect
success are far more productive and proactively seek out
the information and assistance they need to be success –
ful in their endeavors. Individuals who keep growing in
knowledge are the ones who succeed.
Doctors, for example, have to spend inordinate
amounts of time reading and learning new things about

87kNOWLEDGE GIvES YOU POWER
their specialty. You might ask whether you would want to
go to a doctor who stopped learning things twenty years
ago. With the world changing as rapidly as it is, the people
who are the most successful are the ones who have the greatest thirst for knowledge.
A tOOL fOR LIvING
Another fact about knowledge is that you have to under –
stand it as a tool of life, and like any tool, you have to take
care of it. Management expert Peter
Drucker said, “Knowledge has to be improved, challenged, and increased
constantly or it vanishes.”
A friend of mine once told me the
details of the knowledge he gained in college many decades ago have
largely vanished from his mind. He said his geology class was an example
of vanishing information. When he
took geology , he could recite all kinds of facts about the subject. He could identify types of rocks
by sight and name them. Today , he retains nothing specific
because he hasn’t really thought about or used the informa-tion he learned in geology. The typing course he took is a
different story! The advent of the computer age produced
the opportunity to type every day, and for the past twenty Individuals
who keep
growing in
knowledge are
the ones who
succeed.

BORN tO WIN
88years he has been improving and using his typing skills
daily. He said typing may have been the most beneficial
subject he took in college, from the standpoint of daily
use and application.
You may be asking, “Zig, what does this have to do with
me and my ability to win?” Well, the same holds true for
any knowledge or skill you have or acquire in the future.
If you use it, it will empower you. If you don’t use it, you will lose it. So as you are preparing to win, it is very impor –
tant that you understand that learning new things, acquir –
ing knowledge, will make it possible for you to recognize opportunities as they are presented to you.
I have always found the Bible to be a great reservoir of
applicable knowledge. I have also welcomed knowledge
from my mentors like the late Fred Smith; my Jewish
brother, Bernie Lofchick, and many others. Reading great books about great people allowed me to learn the prin-
ciples they embraced that produced success in their lives.
All of that knowledge became the tool I have used to rec-ognize or reject new opportunity. If a new opportunity
violates my principles, it is not an opportunity for me. As
my friend and Ziglar, Inc., board member Billy Cox says, “You cannot go wrong doing what’s right.”
USING kNOWLEDGE tO DO WHA t’S RIGHt
Honesty is about the motives we have for doing things. It is about being faithful in our commitments to others.

89kNOWLEDGE GIvES YOU POWER
It involves what we are really thinking about things and
what we believe about things. This is important because
the knowledge we gain about honesty has the effect of
becoming a filter for our choices about new opportuni-ties. Knowledge has the power to help us avoid making
bad choices that produce bad results. Let’s say that you
are looking for a job in sales and you respond to an ad that claims you can make $10,000 a month, working
at home in your pajamas, investing very little effort.
Because you have previously acquired knowledge that success requires making a real investment of time and
effort, you will immediately recognize that the ad is
deceptive at best and probably dishonest! Consequently, you won’t waste time pursuing an opportunity that isn’t
right for you.
Suppose you have been working for an employer
for a long time. In the course of your employment you have built many relationships with your employer’s
customers and also with your co-workers. Let’s say someone approaches you one day and says they are
starting a business just like your employer’s. They
offer you a big job with lots of money if you will go to work for them and bring a bunch of your employ-
er’s customers and his best employees with you. Does
accepting that job offer violate the principles of loyalty that you have learned and accepted? I would say it
most certainly does. But because you have knowledge

BORN tO WIN
90about loyalty and understand how loyalty contrib-
utes to long-term success, you can filter out the new
opportunity as not being right for you. You may think
this example isn’t very realistic, but I can assure you there are many people who have attempted to start
a new business in exactly this way. There are also a
great number of people who have accepted the oppor –
tunity—if you want to call it that.
Acquiring the knowledge of right and wrong in
advance of the need to make a decision will ensure good choices and help you avoid pain, loss, grief, and
regret.
tAkE tHE tImE YOU NEED tO
GEt tHE kNOWLEDGE YOU NEED
Everybody should set goals that will help them become
equipped with the knowledge they need to be successful.
I believe a specific amount of time needs to be reserved
every day for the acquisition of knowledge. When Theo-dore Roosevelt died, they found a book under his pillow.
As I’ve said previously, I’ve been purposely reading non-
fiction about three hours a day for many decades. The acquisition of knowledge has been a major goal of mine,
and my hope is that it will become a significant goal for
you.

91CHAPtER SEvEN
I love to use sports to teach and make significant
points, and golf has been a sport in which I have
actually participated much of my adult life. The unique thing about golf is that it is an individual sport, and lit-erally anyone can become proficient enough to play a round of golf and enjoy it. Now, I’m not saying every-one will always be happy with the way they played or the score they achieved, but it is a game that can be enjoyable at many different skill levels. Millions of people play golf, and there are many thousands of players who are able to play and compete at the par and sub-par level. Par is the standard number of strokes expected from the best players to complete a round. Even though many people play the game and many people achieve excellence in their skill, only a tiny fraction of golfers manage to gain admittance to
PRACtICE PREPARES
YOU fOR vICtORY

BORN tO WIN
92the professional game, and an even smaller fraction
rises to the very top of the PGA tour.
When you watch a PGA tour event such as the Masters
or the US Open Championship on television, there are
always shots of various players at the practice tee or on
a large green practicing their putting skills. These profes-sionals usually invest multiple hours in practicing before
the actual round of competitive golf begins. They will
practice the same ten-foot putt over and over again, and then they will practice at another distance. The reason
they practice so hard and so repetitively is because they
know they will encounter similar putts during their actual round of play, and they want to be confident of
making them when it matters. They are involved in prac-
tice without pressure so they can be ready to deliver when the pressure of competition is on.
The only thing I practiced more than my golf swing
was the next speech I needed to give. I have been pro-fessionally delivering my message of hope, inspiration,
and encouragement to large audiences for decades. I
actually would be hard-pressed to even guess at the number of times I have made my presentation. But I did
it long enough to know exactly what I was going to say,
and I had the entire presentation burned into my mind. Throughout my career, I was able to give my presenta-
tion in various time frames. I could do fifteen minutes,

93PRACtICE PREPARES YOU fOR vICtORY
thirty minutes, one hour, two hours, four hours, or all
day! Whatever the length of any single event, I was able
to give portions of my presentation word for word, the
same way every time. If you heard me tell a specific story on one occasion and heard me tell the same story a few
years later, chances are it would be almost identical to
the first time you heard it. Why? Well, I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about every word I say and the order of
what I say. I’ve thought about the voice inflections I use
on certain words, and I know I am saying what I need to say in the most effective way possible. My presentation
is polished to a very high level, and it happened because
of hundreds of hours of intense practice!
You may be surprised to know that even though I had
my presentation deeply engrained in my mind, I still prac-ticed for several hours before every speech I delivered. In addition to the stories and examples I liked to relate, I
used current information and material to keep the mes-
sages interesting and relevant. When I traveled, I had all my notes and points in front of me and went over them,
saying the words in my mind and with my voice. I knew
the worst thing I could do would be to think I knew my presentation so well that I didn’t have to practice. That
would be the point at which the quality and effectiveness
of the presentation would have begun to change for the worse—and I knew it. In the same way, if a professional

BORN tO WIN
94golfer stops practicing, his quality of play will begin to
erode and his competitive edge will diminish. Practice
prepares professional golfers and professional speakers
for victory, and practice will prepare you for victory, too!
DOING NEW tHINGS
The Born to Win process will inevitably lead you into
doing new things. Doing new things involves change, and change is something lots of people avoid because of
the fear of failure. In fact, the fear of failure is often strong enough to keep some people from taking the first step.
They get “ cooked in the squat” and procrastinate them-
selves into a perpetual process of just “getting ready” to do what they committed to do. The fear of failure is a
serious condition, and there may be many reasons for it.
Some of them may be complicated, but there is one reason that covers about 95 percent of those fears, and that reason
can be overcome simply, quickly, and effectively. What is
that reason? It’s simply fear of the unknown. This is the fear that results from being unfamiliar with the thing you
are going to be doing.
Think of all the things you do every day that you do
automatically and don’t even have to think about doing. Even though they are easily done today, they began as
fearful experiences. For example, we all remember the fear and trepidation we experienced learning to ride a bicycle.

95PRACtICE PREPARES YOU fOR vICtORY
You may have avoided getting on the bike because you
were afraid of falling off and injuring yourself. Then you
finally got up the courage to attempt your first ride—and
you fell off! Repeated practice allowed you to eventually master your bike-riding skills, and you then became so
confident in your ability you could jump on the bike with
no fear or concern. That principle works in anything we do. We have to practice, and that makes us competent.
When we become competent, we do not fear failure!
Marc Yu is an eleven-year-old piano prodigy who lives
in California. Marc has been playing the piano as long as he can remember. When he was three years old, he could
play a Sonatina in G Major by Beethoven. When Marc Yu was nine, he played a Chopin composition written for
the benefit of earthquake victims in Sichuan, China. This
young phenomenon practices as many as eight hours a day. Marc himself says, “Practice makes perfect.” Marc’s
success is the result of lots of natural ability coupled with
the discipline of daily practice. The 2010 World Expo was held in Shanghai, China. The United States had a
booth there featuring an exhibition on “The Chinese in
America.” Marc was one of twenty Chinese-Americans to be showcased in that venue. He shared the spotlight with
such great people as I. M. Pei, Yo-Yo Ma, and others. Not
bad for an eleven-year-old boy who learned the value of practice at a very early age.

BORN tO WIN
96There are many very successful and famous people
who were born with certain gifts and abilities like Marc
Yu. Most people, however, are not born with skills that
destine them to be prodigies. Most people are born with an average amount of intelligence and an average amount
of ability. I’m included in that group. My wife was ranked
fourth in a high school class of three hundred. I was in the part of the class that made the top half possible! What-
ever success I have enjoyed as a speaker and author was
not the result of some natural talent. My success was the result of hard work and practice, and what I practiced
was very specific. I practiced my speaking and commu –
nication skills for the purpose of being the best speaker I
could be. Malcolm Gladwell in his book Outliers lays out
a compelling case that in almost every instance, it takes ten thousand hours of practice and hard work to be a superstar and an elite performer at the very top of their
game. Three British researchers, Michael J. Howe, Jane W.
Davidson, and John A. Sluboda, wrote a huge report in 2006 that dealt with the causes of excellence. Their study
proved that people who excelled did not achieve their
excellence because they were gifted with innate gifts. In fact, their research exposed that most people can learn
the basics of things fairly quickly, but most of them peak
out at a level of proficiency they are satisfied with. That is what happened to me in my golf game. I got good enough

97PRACtICE PREPARES YOU fOR vICtORY
to make me happy, and that is when my golf lessons got
further and further apart. But the study reported that a
very small percentage of people never peak, and they
just keep on learning and improving for years—those are the people who go on to unique success and eventually
stardom.
YOU HA vE tO PRAC tICE tHE LIttLE tHINGS
Are you convinced that what makes people great is prac-
tice? The question is this: What is the best kind of prac-
tice? I want to help you with the hard ones, so the correct
answer is the “little things.” The little things in life frequently make the dif-
ference in success and failure. If you
are in sales, for example, you are very familiar with the lost opportuni-
ties that may have turned on a single
word or phrase. Or maybe the sale was lost because a point was omitted
or not stated clearly. Because success
or failure frequently depends on the little things, it is imperative that you
practice them.
Since I mentioned sales, let me
give you an example of a little thing I regularly practiced. Every salesperson or entrepreneur understands that sales Because success
or failure
frequently
depends on
the little
things, it is
imperative that
you practice
them.

BORN tO WIN
98are not completed until both parties sign a contract or
an order. So the signing of something is very important,
and as a salesperson you want to plant suggestions that
signing is important. In order to introduce the concept of signing to my prospects, I frequently told stories that
involved signing things. I would practice telling those
stories over and over again, placing emphasis on the word sign. Following are the words that I would practice:
“Many years ago, God gave me a beautiful woman, and I’m one of the truly fortunate men in that I
love her infinitely more today than I did the day I
got her. I got her because one day, in the presence of witnesses, the minister, and Almighty God, I
signed my name. I had four beautiful children—
three daughters and a son. They were all mine, but the doctor would not even let me take them out of
the hospital until I had signed my name. I own a
lot of life insurance. I bought it because I wanted to make certain if anything happened to me my
family’s standard of living would not decline and
my wife would not have to go to work unless she wanted to. I was able to protect my family’s finan-
cial future because on several different occasions,
in the presence of a competent salesperson, I signed my name. As a matter of fact, Mr. Prospect,

99PRACtICE PREPARES YOU fOR vICtORY
I’ve never made any progress of any kind, any-
where, or an acquisition of anything of value,
until I committed myself by signing my name. Mr.
Prospect, if I’m reading you right—and I think I am—you’re the kind of person who not only likes
to make progress but who also likes to do things
for your family. You can do both of those things right now by signing your name.”
If you have ever sold anybody anything, you know
that closing the sale and getting their signature on the
bottom line is frequently the most awkward and dif-
ficult part of the sales presentation. Many salespeople start thinking about the close before they have finished
demonstrating their product. This can create nervous-
ness for them. They might be unsure about what they will say; they might be uncertain about how they will
transfer their customer’s obvious desire for the product
into a signed agreement. Because I memorized and practiced the example I just gave about signing my
name, I always knew exactly what I was going to say, so
I was never nervous about moving to the close. Because I practiced placing emphasis on the word sign, I was
confident my customer would be ready to buy and sign
my agreement. It was the practice that gave me the confidence to overcome a potentially difficult moment,

BORN tO WIN
100because I had done it so many times before. So practice
the little things, because they are the things that make a big difference.
WHA t kINDS Of tHINGS CAN
YOU PRACtICE?
Now you might be thinking, “Zig, I’m not a salesman, so what should I practice?” You might even be think-
ing, “Isn’t there a limit to the kinds of things you can practice?” Practice is simply preparation for success. I want to tell you very clearly and plainly that you can practice anything to create and reinforce good, positive habits. Born to Win is about planning,
preparing, and expecting to win. It is also about being the best you can be, no matter your job or profession.
If you are a flagman on a road construction crew, you can practice to become the best flagman that road crew ever had. Instead of slouching against a pickup truck and frowning at the people passing through, you can practice having a smile on your face. You can stand in front of a mirror with your flag and get a visual picture of the posture you want to have on the job. You can practice waving your flag in a professional, crisp, but Practice
is simply
preparation
for
success.

101PRACtICE PREPARES YOU fOR vICtORY
friendly motion. You can practice tipping your hat and
smiling at your customers as they drive past you. When
you practice those gestures and take them to the road,
you’re going to make a powerful impression on the people driving by and the people you work with. One
of the people you impress will be the boss who assigned
you to flag duty in the first place. Your outstanding per –
formance, based on your practice, might even get you a
promotion.
I hope you get the point that you can practice any-
thing! Perhaps you are a stay-at-home mom, home-schooling your children. Possibly there is a certain piece
of curriculum that makes you uncomfortable when you present it. To overcome that, just practice that portion
of the curriculum over and over again until you have
it down exactly as you want to say it. Literally, if you prepare in advance to succeed by practicing, everything
can be improved.
To determine what you need to practice, take a look at
your goals and identify the specific things that will require you to improve your skills. Pay particular attention to
the items that make you feel a bit uncomfortable because it is something you aren’t used to doing. Those are the
things you need to begin to practice regularly. Make a
list of all those things and then think about creating exer –
cises you can practice that will produce the improvement

BORN tO WIN
102you want. Then set aside a little time each day to practice
those exercises until you have mastered them.
Practice doesn’t just make perfect. Practice also creates
competence, confidence, clarity, certainty, and success.

103CHAPtER EIGHt
As I said previously, there is no substitute for experience,
and there are two ways you can acquire experience.
One is to go out and do things, and the other is to benefi t from the experience of others! It can be a lot less costly to learn from others’ mistakes—and successes! We all need guidance from time to time, and it’s critically important that you keep your mind open to listening to the wisdom of others and have the courage to apply it to your own life for success. For some reason, however, many people have problems taking advice. They are stubbornly com-mitted to their own way, regardless of the results they may be getting.
Milton Dicus, a mentor to my trusted and wise editor
on this book, Michael Levin, says that demigods have yes men, but statesmen have advisors. In other words, despots never take advice from anyone, and anyone
GEt tHE RIGHt
ADvICE

BORN tO WIN
104foolhardy enough to give truthful advice to such a leader
is likely to find himself put to death for his troubles. By
contrast, a statesman or leader is someone who seeks out
wise counsel from others.
Gavin de Becker is one of the leading security advi-
sors in the world. He wrote a book called The Gift of
Fear. In it, he says that we humans only second-guess ourselves when we’re right. When we’re wrong, we get very stubborn, and we won’t take advice from
anybody! The lesson here is that when we feel abso-
lutely certain of our position and we feel we don’t need guidance from anybody at all, that’s the time we most
need advice!
Doris Kearns Goodwin, in her book Team of Rivals,
points out Abraham Lincoln’s extreme humility in that he put the very people who had opposed him the most
vociferously in the presidential campaign as his main advisors, because he knew they had plenty of wisdom
to share despite the things that they had said about him
during the campaign. It takes courage and humility to seek advice, especially from people who might have been
our opponents at one time!
BE AN ADvICE mINER
It’s vitally important that we become skilled “advice
miners” and that we realize that getting advice from

105GEt tHE RIGHt ADvICE
others has a good side and a bad side. It’s kind of like
mining for gold. Most of the material removed from a
gold mine isn’t worth much until it has been crushed,
sifted, washed, and filtered. When that has been done, what is left is the gold. Good advice is like gold and is
just as valuable. But there is a lot of advice that needs to
be discarded like the leftover rocks and mud in the gold mining process. The problem with bad advice is that it
can have a toxic effect on your life and take you down
paths you should not be traveling.
I sought out men with high moral values who put as
much importance on learning as I did to be my mentors. Many of my mentors were known to be top advisors in their field of knowledge. If you want good input, you
need to go to the best. I asked the late Fred Smith to be
my mentor after I had several business meetings with him and saw how he handled all issues with integrity
and an unparalleled sense of fairness.
If you ask someone to be your mentor and they aren’t
able to mentor you, they will let you know. They will be honored that you asked and, in most cases, will agree to
give you enough advice to get you headed in the right direction.
As a young boy, Victor Serebriakoff got some bad
advice from one of his teachers that had a profound impact on his life. When Victor was fifteen, the teacher told him

BORN tO WIN
106he would probably never finish school. The advice given
to Victor was to drop out of school and just go learn a
manual trade or skill. Victor believed the teacher, and for
the next seventeen years he drifted around doing odd jobs, believing he was the “dunce” the teacher had told
him he was.
When Victor was in his early thirties, he happened
to take an IQ test that revealed he was far from being a “dunce.” In fact, he had an IQ of 161! He immediately
started acting like the genius he was and became an author, secured several patents, and was very success –
ful in business. He also became one of the leaders of an organization called Mensa (for people who have an IQ over 140). The point of this story is that some bad advice
caused Victor to fall short of his potential for seventeen
years!
Good advice can have exactly the opposite effect.
I’ve often told the story of how P . C. Merrell changed
my life with some good advice. He told me I could be
a champion if I just applied myself consistently and believed that I could accomplish my goals. That advice
put me on a path that led to everything I have said or
done since. There are many others who gave me life-changing advice. As a matter of fact, I have photographs
of each one of them hanging on the wall of my office that
I call my Wall of Gratitude. Each person on that wall gave

107GEt tHE RIGHt ADvICE
me great advice that I accepted and used to grow my
spiritual, physical, family and business life. Just so you
don’t think all the advice I’ve taken was perfect, I need
to confess that I’ve been given bad advice, too (which I took), and the results weren’t that great—as a matter of
fact, the results were terrible! I say this so you will know
I’ve had good advice and bad advice, and through the years I’ve learned to know the difference. I know how
to spot good givers of advice (often called mentors or,
these days, coaches) and I’m going to tell you how to do the same. I’ve come to see there are seven solid char –
acteristics of good coaches, and when you take advice from someone, be sure they have as many of these char –
acteristics as possible.
tHE SEvEN CHARACtERIStICS Of GOOD PERSONAL
COACHES
1. they have good character.
Good advice is like a good piece of fruit. Personally, I love peaches. Just thinking about the juicy goodness of a
freshly picked, ripe peach makes my mouth start water –
ing. But if, in the process of eating that peach, I find a
couple of worms and a rotten spot, it changes the entire
experience. Advice is the same. If the person doing the
coaching has good character, taking the advice they offer

BORN tO WIN
108can be a wonderful experience. If they have character that
is not so good, their advice can lead to a bad experience.
Character is about the sum total of a person, and it is
the result of the habits a person builds on a daily basis. It reflects their honesty, their dependability, and whether
they are trustworthy. A person with good character keeps
their word, and they want the best for others. They are not self-centered or self-seeking. You can see why advice
from a person with bad character can and should be
suspect. I’ve always said that ability can take you to the top, but it takes character to keep you there!
Good character makes a person dependable and
trustworthy. Those are the kinds of people you want as advisors. The late J. P . Morgan was asked what he consid –
ered to be the best bank collateral. Without hesitation he replied, “Character.”
William Lake put it this way: “One of the most impor –
tant lessons that experience teaches is that, on the whole, success depends more upon character than either intel-lect or fortune.” So, when looking for a good coach, first
examine their character.
2. they have a track record of success.
Taking advice from someone who has no track record
of success is a bad strategy. You can learn from the mis-
takes others have made, but if you want coaching about

109GEt tHE RIGHt ADvICE
positive things you can do to be successful, look for that
advice from people who have been and are successful.
If you want to know how to win at something, talk to
people who have been winners doing the same thing. I know this seems obvious, but sometimes it can be tricky
to determine if a person really has a track record of
success. I am generally pretty suspicious of people who blow their own horn trying to convince me how success –
ful they have been. I’m talking about the kind of person you meet who immediately starts dropping names and going on and on about all the great things they have done.
Self-proclaimed success is not a reliable measuring stick
to determine if a person really has a good track record.
People who are successful do not have to sell them-
selves that hard. You hear of their success from others, and you see it as you learn more and more about their lives and their circumstances. What this means is that
you need to get to know someone pretty well before you
start taking their advice.
Through the years we’ve learned the importance of
fully checking out resumes and even digging deeply enough to learn if someone has actually graduated from the university they list on their job application. I have
been surprised at the number of jobs people leave off
of their applications and how easy it is for someone’s effervescent personality to make you doubt the truth of

BORN tO WIN
110anything negative you might discover. It’s easy to be
drawn into liking someone immediately and then find
yourself trying to justify hiring someone who has not
been completely honest in their interview.
Let the evidence speak for itself. If you are taking
advice from or considering working with someone and you learn they have not been honest about themselves, please understand this is a character flaw that you are not
likely to change any time soon. The moral is to look beyond
the surface and what people say about themselves.
Facebook has brought this stark reality home to far
too many people already! Personal behavior and pho-
tography that seemed fun and silly when posted by
a twenty-year-old can become the stuff of missed job opportunities further down the road. Smart employ-
ers are increasingly looking at Facebook and other
social media tools to help them make decisions about hiring.
3. they are good listeners.
You have heard the saying that “God gave us two ears and one mouth for a reason!” Did you know you don’t learn
a thing when your mouth is moving? That may sound
funny coming from a guy who consistently speaks at the rate of two hundred fifty words a minute with gusts up
to four hundred, but it’s true.

111GEt tHE RIGHt ADvICE
What you may not know is that I’m a pretty good lis-
tener, and the things I’ve learned listening through the
years have given me the ammunition I need to talk so
much. I really love to listen to smart people, and I spend much of my time doing just that. I always carry a notepad
and a pen so I can write down the good information I
hear.
It is important that your advisors/coaches be good
listeners. A wise man once said, “Talking is sharing but listening is caring.” You want your advisors to really care about you and your success, so it’s important that
they be good listeners not only to get to know you but
also to understand what you really need and how they can help you. A good coach is really an encourager,
and to be a good encourager, you have to be a good
listener.
Identifying a good listener is pretty easy. They main-
tain good eye contact, and their facial expressions dem-onstrate interest in what you are saying. They are not rolling their eyes and looking all around the room. They
are not texting on their phone or answering email. If
their phone rings while they are in a serious conversa-tion with you, they ignore the call. Good listeners are
also interested in learning from others, and they know
that the first step in that process is to shut their mouth and open their ears.

BORN tO WIN
1124. they are good decision makers.
I’m amazed at how little thought is given to making deci-
sions. How decisions are made, why decisions are made, and when decisions are made is often taken for granted. Everyone expects to think seriously about decisions like
marriage, having a child, or accepting a job offer that
moves them hundreds of miles away from family, but they give little thought to the actual process of decision-making and the basis for making good decisions. It takes time to learn to consistently make good decisions, because good decisions require a certain amount of wisdom. That’s why a good decision maker can offer you advice that you can trust.
Great advisors and coaches consistently make good
decisions and good choices because they have acquired
a good deal of wisdom throughout their lives. How do
you acquire wisdom, and how does it work in the deci-sion-making process? Wisdom is acquired by gaining knowledge and learning to apply that knowledge to the daily events of life. The daily events of life are filled with decisions, and these choices create the results of our lives. The kind of knowledge that creates wisdom is informa-tion that is true and correct. Information that is false is
not authentic knowledge, and because it is false, it is
not wisdom. Lots of people acquire false information,

113GEt tHE RIGHt ADvICE
believe it is true, and make bad decisions as a result of
that information.
People who make good decisions have the ability to
test the information they get and filter out the parts that are not true. This ability leads to the skill of good decision
making. These are the kinds of people you want as advi-
sors and coaches. People who are good decision makers can help you develop the ability to test bad information
and reject it. When you develop this ability, you, too, will
become a good decision maker.
5. they tell the truth (even when it hurts).
A good coach cares more about giving you the right information you need than worrying that what they say
might offend you or hurt your feelings. After all, you
don’t look for advice for the purpose of getting compli-ments and accolades (although some people do exactly
that). A good advisor must be truthful with themselves
and others, and the inability to do that makes for someone you absolutely don’t want advice from.
One of the greatest advisors I had in my life was my
mother, and she had some strong opinions about telling
the truth. She also taught me the importance of abso-
lute integrity, faith, hard work, responsibility, love, and commitment. She was actually my first and greatest role
model. She had many life-shaping sayings that remain so

BORN tO WIN
114fresh in my mind that I can recall them in the sound of
her very voice. Concerning telling the truth I can still hear
her saying, “Tell the truth and tell it ever, costeth what it
will; for he who hides the wrong he did, does the wrong thing still.” Then Mama would slap her hand down on
the table and say, “If a man finds out that your word is no
good, he’ll soon know that neither are you!” Now, that’s the kind of advisor you need to help you succeed in life
and in business.
6. they have good personal relationships.
Nothing says more about a person than the quality of
the relationships they enjoy. When you see someone who
has great relationships with their family members and
they have friendships that have survived through many years, it means they have been doing lots of things cor –
rectly. Good advisors don’t mind investing their time and knowledge in you because they have a history of long-term relationships built on a foundation of caring for and
helping others. Unfortunately, the availability of good
advisors may be more limited now than it has been in years past. The inability to have good relationships has
escalated dramatically in the last thirty years. Modern
American society has become rude and self-centered; its philosophy has become, “Hooray for me, to heck with you,
I’m going to do it my way. I’ll win through intimidation.

115GEt tHE RIGHt ADvICE
I’m going to look out for Number One, and I’m going to
do it now.” That philosophy quite accurately depicts a
miserable human being. I, personally, have never met a
happy self-centered person, and I’ll bet that you haven’t, either.
Misery is the only emotion left for people who
have alienated everyone around them. Manipulating and intimidating people, disregarding their needs, and
always putting yourself first will make you a lonely
person. People who have trouble fostering relationships spend a lot of time alone, and quite simply, lonely people
are miserable people. You don’t want an advisor who is
miserable and self-centered. Look for people who have lots of good relationships, because they probably care a
lot about others, and they will care about you, too.
7. they celebrate the success of others.
Why would you want to take the advice of someone
who would enjoy watching you fail? They are the kind
of people who would put a tax on the milk of human
kindness! Believe it or not, there are lots of people who find satisfaction in the failure of others, and they actively
try to help others fail. I have written before about my
youngest daughter, Julie, who became separated from her husband, Jim. Of all the women she knew, only one
encouraged her to do the hard work of trying to fix their

BORN tO WIN
116marriage. All the rest advised her to go ahead with her
life and move on without him. Fortunately, Julie took the
advice of the friend who encouraged her, and in 2011, she
and Jim celebrated their twenty-eighth wedding anniver –
sary. Their success at healing their marriage has been an
inspiration for many others, and whenever Julie or Jim
encounters someone considering divorce, they encour –
age and advise couples to stick it out and work through
their issues. They want others to be as successful as they
were in overcoming adversity and problems.
You do not want to become a SNIOP (once again, a
person Susceptible to the Negative Influence of Other
People). Let’s face it, people who are unable to encourage you in your vision or dream and instead tell you all the
things they don’t believe you can do or accomplish are
negative influences. Run from those folks as fast as you can, because they do not wish the best for you. Instead,
look for advice from people who celebrate the success of
others. They are natural cheerleaders and get a real kick out of seeing anyone do well.
It would be an ideal situation if all of your advisors
and coaches could be credited with all seven of these characteristics I’ve shared with you. This is why Jim Rohn
said, “Everyone should have at least six mentors.” Pick
out their best qualities and implement them into your own life; build others and use them to help you become

117GEt tHE RIGHt ADvICE
the winner you were born to be. What you don’t want
to do is to take advice from anyone who doesn’t seem to
have any of the seven characteristics we discussed! Don’t
look for people who will tell you what you want to hear. Look for people who will truthfully share their wisdom
with you, because they want you to succeed as they have
succeeded.
To become willing to seek the advice you need to help
you may be one of the greatest skills you can acquire in your life. No person has all the information or skill they need to maximize their potential. We all need help and
assistance from others in some way. As a matter of fact,
you would be hard-pressed to think of anything you have that did not involve help from another person. If
you have a job, someone hired you. If you drive a car,
someone probably made you a car loan to finance it. If you own a house, someone gave you a mortgage. If you
have a great wife, she had to agree to being your life
partner. I think you get the point. We all need the coop-eration and assistance of others, and good advice is part
of that assistance. If you want to be all you can be, take
good advice from good people. When you do that consis –
tently, you will be equipped to win!

part three
expecting to win

121CHAPtER NINE
Have you ever wondered about the difference between
people who win consistently and people who lose
consistently? Some of it relates to the talent they have (or don’t have). Some of it relates to how well they planned and prepared to win. But much of the difference relates to how convinced they become about their ability to win! To be really clear about this, winners expect to win, they expect victory, and they expect success! Expecting to win is not just a matter of thinking you will win and willing it to happen (although that is important). Expecting to win is a right that must be earned, and there are some things you must do to earn that right.
There is a signifi cant difference between people who
do great things and people who don’t. People who accom-plish great things work toward their objectives every day. You see, planning, preparing, and expecting—all three work together to create winning results. Expecting
ExPECt tO WIN

BORN tO WIN
122is not the ending . . . it’s simply the third ingredient in
winning. And it’s something you must do and improve
on constantly. Stop planning, stop preparing, and you stop
winning. Very simply put, a competitive weight lifter who chose to lie on the beach for six months could not show up
at a competition and legitimately expect to win.
No, they must plan to win by setting their goals and
getting a plan of action. They must prepare to win by fol-lowing that plan and working daily to strengthen and
build their muscles. Then they can legitimately expect to have a shot at winning. A parent cannot ignore the behav-
ior of their children, fail to discipline them or fail to reward
them, and expect to produce a disciplined, loving, respon-sible adult. A daily investment must be made in the child’s
life to prepare them by teaching them and guiding them
into becoming all they can be. To earn the right to expect success (in anything you do), you must have a daily objec-
tive to make an honest effort to continue to plan better and
be better prepared for today than you were yesterday. If you pay that price daily by planning and preparing and
working to become the right kind of person, then you can
legitimately expect to have all that life has to offer.
tHE tHREE DImENSIONS Of LIfE
There are three dimensions in every person’s life that must be nurtured and disciplined daily if you hope to

123ExPECt tO WIN
earn the right to expect success. The first dimension is
spiritual, the second dimension is mental, and the third
dimension is physical. Each dimension is separate from
the others, but they all work together to make up the total person. If any of these dimensions is neglected in
the planning and preparing, the right to expect success
will be limited.
the Spiritual Dimension
The spiritual dimension of your life is the most important, but it is frequently the most neglected. It is so important
I can state with confidence that your
spiritual condition is the controlling factor behind all that you will be or
become. For it is out of our souls that
our attitude flows, and your attitude will determine your altitude in life.
The depth of your spirit will deter –
mine the height of your success. How
do I know this is true? Before I began
to concentrate on my own spiritual
condition, I was broke and in debt. I had periods of limited success but
could not sustain them and build
anything meaningful. After I discovered my spiritual needs and began to take my faith seriously, everything For it is out of
our souls that
our attitude
flows, and your
attitude will
determine your
altitude in life.
The depth of
your spirit will
determine the
height of your
success.

BORN tO WIN
124changed. My speaking career took off and everything in
my life took on a deeper, more meaningful purpose.
Why is your spirituality so important? It’s really simple.
You are a spiritual creature at the core of your being, and
there are specific guidelines for operating your equipment
(your life). Many people believe that humans are just a more intelligent form of animal life, but that isn’t very logical,
based on the observable facts and the track record of human
beings. The difference between human beings and animal life is profound. Animals are driven and motivated by two
things: survival and reproduction. Human beings break
the mold of this model because our behavior is driven as much by what we believe as what we need. The things we
believe drive our thinking; our thoughts produce emotions that influence our choices; and our choices determine what we do and how we live. In this respect, people are primarily
driven and motivated by faith (what they believe).
Human beings have a deep, basic need for hope and
love. Human beings will give their lives for intangible ideas and principles. Human beings spend their lives
seeking things that will make them “happy” and provide a state of internal peace and serenity. Animals don’t
behave that way.
These intangible qualities and needs move the human
being out of the animal kingdom and add another dimen-sion to existence. These are spiritual qualities, not biological

125ExPECt tO WIN
traits. During the earthly ministry of Jesus Christ, He con-
firmed this idea and said we are capable of attaining and
receiving eternal life. A biological organism will not live
forever. All biological creatures die, because the physical body eventually wears out or is destroyed. Only the spiri-
tual part of a person has the potential to transcend death
of the physical body. If you believe you are a spiritual crea-ture and are more than an animal, it’s pretty important
that you begin to nurture your spiritual dimension and
operate your spiritual equipment the way it is supposed to be operated. That’s just basic common sense. When you
buy a new car, you get an owner’s manual with it that
explains in detail how to take care of the car, keep it in top condition, and what to do when it breaks down. If you
follow the maintenance schedule in the manual, your car
will operate smoothly and efficiently for many years.
In much the same way, we need to understand how
to take care of and nurture our spiritual equipment. Since our spirituality is the most central component of our exis-tence, it’s easy to see that a well-maintained spiritual life
will produce a better life overall. Otherwise, you will
wind up living and thinking like an animal!
the mental Dimension
The human mind is an amazing machine, but it must be cared for and given a lot of attention. As a matter of fact,

BORN tO WIN
126you are what you think, and you become what you think.
If you want to change your life, you have to change what
goes into your mind! In other words, if you want to be a
winner, you have to think like a winner.
Our mental abilities are housed in our brains, and
if you think of your brain as a muscle, you can see the importance of exercising it daily to keep it in top condi-tion. The best exercise for the brain (and your mind) is
to force it to think! Thinking may sound like something
that is easy, but the kind of thinking I’m talking about requires effort. Let’s go back to the muscle concept, and I
believe you will completely understand what I’m talking
about.
When you go to the gym to exercise your body, a
good trainer will tell you that your exercise program
should be designed to build up your cardiovascular
(heart and lungs) system and to build muscle. Cardio-vascular improvement comes by way of elevating the
heart rate for longer and longer periods of time. Each
day, the goal is to go a little longer on the treadmill or the stair-climbing machine. You may start out with a
ten-minute routine before you are exhausted, but before
long you can easily go thirty minutes or even an hour at faster and faster paces. If you have ever done cardio
work, you also know that it is uncomfortable when you
begin to reach your point of exhaustion, but when you

127ExPECt tO WIN
push through the pain, you always achieve a higher level
of endurance.
Muscle building also requires some pain and exhaus-
tion, because muscle tissue builds through repetitive
lifting of increasingly heavy weights. The interest-
ing thing about muscle building is that it doesn’t hurt while you are doing it. The soreness is an after-effect,
as the muscles actually tear a little in response to the
exercise and begin to rebuild even stronger new muscle. In this case, the time-worn saying “no pain, no gain”
certainly holds true. Exercising your brain muscle is
much the same from the standpoint of the daily need to exercise. The pain of exercising your brain comes in the
form of being forced to think in ways that might be a bit
uncomfortable.
To exercise your brain and challenge it to think, there
are two things you need to do daily to be successful. The
first is to continually add new information that your brain
can process. New information comes by way of listening and observing. It also comes by way of reading. So the
first step of brain exercise is to spend a little time each day
soaking up new information through reading some good material or listening to audio messages by people who
have knowledge you don’t have. This is why “Automobile
University” (listening to audio material while commuting) is such an effective way to get new information.

BORN tO WIN
128The second objective in brain exercise is process-
ing all the new information you gain and applying it
to your life. This happens as you think about all you
have learned and force yourself to use that information to set goals that cause you to stretch out of your comfort
zone and take new actions that will make a difference in
the way you live. Because information today is literally at our fingertips, lots of people believe they suffer from
information overload. They have a lot more informa-
tion than they can possibly use, and they invest too little time and effort in the thought process of how to apply
what they have gleaned in their lives. For this reason we
need step two in our brain exercise program: spending quiet time with yourself solely for the purpose of think-
ing and meditating. It is during this quiet time that you
should focus on new, creative ideas and solutions to the problems you may encounter. Take this time to clearly
visualize the desired outcome and results you want in
all areas of your business and personal life.
My friend and mentor, the late Fred Smith, planted this
thought in my mind (the need for daily quiet time), and as a result I made a significant change in my daily routine. Interestingly, it involved my daily exercise regimen. For
many years I ran, jogged, and walked daily based on the
advice of my doctor friend, Dr. Kenneth Cooper. Before Fred Smith planted the idea of having some daily time

129ExPECt tO WIN
to just think and meditate, I listened to cassette record-
ings while running or walking. After Fred’s suggestion, it
occurred to me that I could turn my walking and running
into a time of focused thinking. I can tell you that once I started doing this I began to develop some of my most
creative ideas. However, no matter how you find and
allocate the time, just be sure to set aside time daily to be quiet and think. It can be early in the morning, during
the day, or late at night. You can be walking, sitting, or
lying down, but you need a specific thinking agenda. Think about projects or problems you are working on
and explore how the new information you have acquired
can be applied to those situations. You will be amazed at the immediate increase in not only your creativity, but in
your productivity as well.
the Physical Dimension
It probably seems like I covered much of the physical
dimension during the segment that discussed exercis-
ing the brain, and I did. But there is more to the physical
dimension than just exercise. While it is the mind and spirit that make human beings unique in creation, they
require a biological container in which to live. You can
have the greatest mind in the world and you can be spiri-tually fit, but neglect of the physical body can cut short or
limit your effectiveness and your success.

BORN tO WIN
130I’m not saying that people who have physical limita-
tions won’t be successful. Countless thousands of
physically impaired people do extraordinary things
every day and serve as an inspiration to others. Achil-
les International, for example, makes it possible for disabled runners, including blind, deaf, quadriplegic,
and paraplegic athletes, to complete the New York
City Marathon and other distance events around the world. The individuals who compete with the help
of Achilles International complete a physical act of
endurance and courage that most able-bodied people never accomplish.
What I am saying is that care of your physical equip-
ment is a choice, and if you choose to care for your body
and keep it healthy, you will be in a much better position
to maximize your potential and therefore your success. The person who makes a million dollars and ruins his
health along the way is not a success.
How important is your health to you? If you’ve always
had good health, it is far more important than you might know! You’ve probably heard it said that our health is
our greatest wealth. Many people give up their health to gain wealth. Having done so, they quickly realize that
they would gladly exchange all their wealth to regain
even some of their health. When we are young and vigor –
ous, we frequently take our good health for granted and

131ExPECt tO WIN
believe we will never face serious illness, injury, or some
other debilitating condition. When many people think of
success, they think of money and the things that money
can buy. Well, money can buy you a bed, but it won’t buy you a good night’s sleep. Money can buy you a house but
not a home. Money can buy pleasure but not happiness.
Money won’t buy you good health either, but is good health a priority in your life? Would you trade places
with a person who was severely injured in an accident,
lost their legs, and received a $1 million insurance settle-ment? If you answered “no,” then you obviously value
your health more than money!
When I was a younger man, I weighed well over two
hundred pounds and was really out of shape. When the day came that I fully embraced the need to lose weight
and start taking care of myself, it was hard to change the way I had been living but well worth the effort. In 2010, I
celebrated eighty-four years of life and I was still traveling
and speaking to large audiences. My short-term memory failed me, and my body failed me too at times, but I still
enjoyed my life and the things I was doing. Even though
I no longer travel and speak publicly, I am still able to do much of what I do as the direct result of the diet and exer –
cise program I have followed for the past forty years. The aging process is unstoppable, and someday we will all pass from this world and meet our Maker, but the quality

BORN tO WIN
132of life for an aging person is directly related to how well
they cared for their bodies in their younger years. I am so
grateful I am now reaping the benefits of my decision all
those decades ago to change my lifestyle.
Do you have a good eating and weight control plan?
Do you do some physical exercise every day? If you want to provide your spirit and your mind a top-notch house to live in, you will do both! I urge you to set some
goals today to give your body the attention and care it
deserves.
tHE RIGHt tO ExPECt tO WIN
I promise that you will have earned the right to expect to win if you understand the tridimensional nature of your
life. Daily attention to the spiritual, mental, and physical
areas of your life will pay huge dividends over the long haul. You will be more confident. You will be at peace
with yourself and with others. You will have boundless
energy to tackle the challenges of life and overcome them. With all that going for you, it is no wonder that you will
have earned the right to expect to win!

133CHAPtER tEN
Let me ask you a question. Do you believe that I have
been relatively successful in my speaking career? I
don’t want to be guilty of tooting my own horn, but it is a fact that I have had the privilege of making live presenta-tions to literally millions of people around the world over the past forty years. I have also authored thirty books, many of which have been translated into different dialects and languages. Those accomplishments and facts about my career far exceed any dreams I may have had as young boy growing up in Yazoo City, Mississippi, during the Great Depression.
Let me ask you another question. If you could make
one statement that describes what I have been able to
tHE POWER Of
ENCOURAGEmENt
AND HOPE

BORN tO WIN
134do in my career that led to my success, what would you
say? Would you say it was because of my ability to speak
at the rate of two hundred fifty words per minute with
gusts of up to four hundred? Would you say it’s because I taught great sales programs to salespeople? Would you
say it’s because of what some call my sparkling person-
ality? I hope at least a few of those things are true, but
the real accomplishment of my career
was to be an encourager to others. As
I am in the ninth decade of my life, I clearly see today that encouragement
and hope are the two most powerful
qualities any person can provide to others. This is true because encour –
agement and hope are critical to success: they are the fuel of confi-dence and the engine of positive
thinking and attitude.
During my career I have had the
pleasure of meeting thousands of
people who have been encouraged by my books and
audio recordings. For years I have received personal letters from many of them sharing how encouragement
changed their life. Each of them has a similar story, and
their story of success begins with being encouraged and given hope that they might be able to accomplish more This is true
because
encouragement
and hope are
critical to
success: they
are the fuel
of confidence
and the engine
of positive
thinking and
attitude.

135tHE POWER Of E NCOURAGEmEN t AND HOPE
than they thought possible in their lives. I’ve seen and
met people who have been pulled from total disaster
because of encouragement. By being encouraged, they
came to see and believe that they had hope for a better life, a better physical condition, better personal relation-
ships, and a better spiritual relationship with God. In
some cases, encouragement can be elusive, and it is hard to identify the specific thing that gave encouragement to
someone who did not have it. But it is usually nothing
more than a person being able to completely change a fundamental belief about himself and then allowing that
belief to blossom into full-blown hope!
WHA t IS HOPE?
Hope is the power that gives a person the confidence to
step out and try.
Understanding hope is really pretty simple. When
you have hope, you believe that something good is going to happen in the future, even though it seems unlikely.
Hope is a unique human emotion that has the power
to transcend grief, disaster, and calamity. Hope has the power to change your mind and your thinking and
produce new optimism where none had existed. Hope
is the intangible quality of human existence that has the power to revive and give you the strength to do what you
must do, in spite of circumstances. Without hope, there is

BORN tO WIN
136depression, stagnation, and negative thought processes
that can paralyze you emotionally.
In my book Confessions of a Grieving Christian, I shared
the most catastrophic event of my life. I wrote that book out of grief for my oldest daughter, Suzan. She died of
pulmonary fibrosis at the age of forty-six, and it was
the toughest experience of my entire life. But her death was also one of the greatest stories of hope I have ever
experienced.
During the last two weeks of Suzan’s life she was
in the intensive care unit (ICU) at St. Paul’s Hospital in Dallas. Virtually all of the patients in that unit were in
life-threateningly critical condition. Our family stayed together and was present in the ICU for the entire ordeal
of Suzan’s last days, and we had the opportunity to meet
and observe other families who were also in the waiting room under similar circumstances.
There were two kinds of people in that waiting room.
The first kind: the people who had faith in God and knew that their ailing loved one also had that same faith. They
were secure in knowing that their loved one would go
to a far better place if they did not survive. These fami-lies shared their concern, but they also shared a common
love in the hope they had for the eternal condition of
their loved one, should they not survive. These families, although very sad, were not bitter, and you could see the

137tHE POWER Of E NCOURAGEmEN t AND HOPE
power of the hope they had in the way they spoke and
loved each other.
The other people in that waiting room were those who
did not have a faith in God, and their perspective and countenance were very different. In other words, they had
no hope about the condition of their ailing loved one after
death. It impacted their entire grieving experience. Many of them were very bitter, and their tears were based not in
love but in anger and resentment. The contrast between the
families with spiritual hope and those without was strik-ing and very obvious. I have read and heard that hospice
workers have experienced the same contrasting attitudes
of the families they serve in the last days of life of a family member. This kind of hope is spiritual and heavenly, but
we also have earthly hope that has the same kind of effect
on our thinking and our attitude. People who have hope think differently and act differently.
I shared this story of Suzan’s death for the purpose
of illustrating just how powerful hope can be and how it can transform your attitude. If you can find hope, even
in the darkest of events, your attitude will be better, and
if your attitude is better, chances are you will perform better and have a superior chance for success. This is a
basic truth about the human condition.
Hope is the reason some people do well in bad eco-
nomic times and others fall into disastrous conditions.

BORN tO WIN
138Hope is the reason that a person who has lost their job
gets up every day and works hard to find another job.
Hope is the reason a parent perseveres in training a
troubled child and is willing to invest the time it takes to shape them into a responsible adult. Hope is the engine
of your attitude, and your attitude determines your
altitude.
ENCOURAGEmENt CREA tES HOPE
The power of hope is incredible, but how can hope
be created where there seems to be none? The answer
is that hope springs from the kind of encouragement that helps you believe there is an opportunity
for something better to happen.
Amazingly, the kind of encourage-ment I’m talking about can be very
simple, and sometimes it can come
from a single principle or phrase—if the principle or phrase is what I
call “self-evidently true.” Self-evi-
dent truths are based on common sense, and when you hear one, you
just know it is true—it requires no
proof or justification to convince you. This kind of
truth can be quite profound and may produce one of Hope is the
engine of your
attitude, and
your attitude
determines
your
altitude.

139tHE POWER Of E NCOURAGEmEN t AND HOPE
those “aha” moments of life that can be transforming
in its effect.
I’ve had many of those aha moments in my own life,
and I’ll bet you have, too. The thousands of letters I have
received through the years are almost identical in what
they say.
Typically, people will write and tell me that at some
point in their lives they were down on their luck and
their lives and they had reached the end of their hope
for the future. Then they say they either heard me speak, listened to my tapes, or read something in one of my
books that had a powerful impact on their thinking and
their lives. The letters always point to a single concept or thought that impacted them in a powerful, transform-
ing way. The thing the ideas had in common was that
they spoke to these people in their current condition, and they related to it. They found encouragement and
hope in what they heard me say. Following are just a few
of my quotes people have told me helped them develop hope and put them on the path of better thinking:
Failure is a detour, not a dead-end street.You can have everything in life you want if you will just
help enough other people get what they want.
It’s not what you’ve got, it’s what you use that makes a
difference.

BORN tO WIN
140Remember that failure is an event, not a person.
You are the only person on earth who can use your ability.
If you learn from defeat, you haven’t really lost.
Success is not a destination, it’s a journey.Those who wait until all the lights are on green before start-
ing will never leave home.
It’s your attitude, not your aptitude, that determines your
altitude.
All of these quotes and principles represent simple
ideas that are self-evidently true and easily believed.
The positive result of believing any of them and apply-
ing the principle in your daily life is hope. Hope gives you the ability to open your eyes and ears to the world
around you and helps you become a recognizer of new
opportunity.
RECOGNIZING NEW OPPORtUNIt Y
People with hope are constantly looking for the opportu-nity in every situation. Those without hope are looking
for the reason any opportunity won’t work. Guess what
either person finds?
As we established earlier, learning to become a good
recognizer of new opportunities is a specific skill you need
to develop to keep moving down the path to success. I have
compared hope to a fuel and said it is the fuel that runs

141tHE POWER Of E NCOURAGEmEN t AND HOPE
your attitude engine, and it is true. But your hope tank can
be slowly drained over time, and it must be replenished
by encouragement and the discovery of opportunity. This
encouragement doesn’t have to come from someone else. You can encourage yourself. Look in the mirror each day,
put your shoulders back, and say, “Today is my day, there’s
opportunity everywhere, and I’m going to take advantage of every situation.” Show me someone who never sees a
new opportunity and I’ll show you someone whose hope
tank is being depleted or may even be empty. When I hear someone say, “There is nothing I can do to (fill in the blank),”
I know it is being said by a person who does not know how to recognize opportunities and whose hope tank is low. I’m not saying that people don’t experience tough
times and that during those times things don’t become
more difficult. I’m talking about the problem of thinking, “There is nothing I can do!”
My fellow speaker, the late Earl Nightingale, told the
story of an alcoholic father who had two sons. One son
became an alcoholic and reasoned, “With a father like
that, what else could I have done?” The other son made a commitment never to drink alcohol and went on to have
a highly successful career and family life. “With a father
like that,” he reasoned, “what else could I have done?”
I have another question for you to consider. Do you
believe there is something you can do right now that

BORN tO WIN
142would make your life much worse? I’m sure you can
think of several things. Well, if you can do something to
make your life worse, you can do something right now
to make your life better. You can keep doing the same things and you’ll keep getting the same results. For every
action you take, there is a result that follows. So take a
different action and new opportunities will appear.
I believe “the immigrant attitude” is the best example
I have of recognizing opportunity, and it has to do with belief. Have you ever wondered why there exists such a long list of people who want to enter America? It’s
because immigrants believe there is unlimited oppor –
tunity for them in America and they can pursue their
dreams here. Many of them come to America from
countries where opportunity is really in short supply—
or non-existent—and they know the difference. When they come to America, they see beauty and opportunity
everywhere—beyond their ability to imagine. They are
amazed by the sheer number of jobs advertised in the papers. They understand many of them are “minimum
wage” jobs, but those jobs are better than they could have
ever obtained in their home country. They are willing to live as cheaply as possible and save their money so they
can afford to invest in their education or a new business.
A very high percentage of legal immigrants become self-employed. Amazingly, before they discover the problems

143tHE POWER Of E NCOURAGEmEN t AND HOPE
and challenges other Americans gripe about, they are
already a great success! They discovered how tough it
was too late. All they could see when they arrived was
the ability to live, work, and grow in the world’s great-est country. That is the immigrant attitude, and it is the
attitude you need to embrace, too.
Once you become a true believer that opportunity
exists, the next thing you need to do is open your eyes and ears and soak up everything that is going on around you.
I have found that avoiding negative people and associat-ing with people who have been successful is the best way
to recognize new opportunity. I’ve had many friends and
a few family members through the years who have strug-gled with addiction issues. I have seen them recover and
permanently kick the addiction issue that held them. One
of the most powerful solutions they found was partici-pating in some kind of recovery group and learning from
others who had also overcome the same addiction. What
they found in those groups was success and a positive hope that their lives could be changed and they could
be happy without participating in their addiction. They
associated with people who could give them practical advice and the daily tools they needed to be successful in
their recovery. They also were given insight into oppor –
tunities that existed for them when they believed they
had none.

BORN tO WIN
144Opportunity is walking through your life every day
in the form of people you meet. Avoid reading their
minds and pre-judging them. Every person you meet
represents the possibility of discovering a new oppor –
tunity. For those people to show you that opportunity,
you must listen and learn from them. Every success I’ve
had in my life has begun by asking someone to teach me and help me do what I needed to do. I am not a mind
reader. I listen to others who have been successful and
evaluate their words. If what they say makes sense, then I follow their advice. It is from people and their success
that I have been encouraged and given hope. Out of that
encouragement and hope, I have always been able to find opportunity. You can do the same, and when you
have that kind of hope and the ability to recognize new
opportunities, you can certainly expect to win!

tHERE IS HOPE IN tHE fUtURE
Dr. John Maxwell says that if there’s hope in the future, there is power in the present. The reason is simple: if
there is hope in the future, that has a dramatic impact
on your thinking today. Your thinking today determines your performance today, and your performance today
has a direct bearing on your future.

145CHAPtER ELEvEN
Have you ever watched people bowl? Many of them go
through a little ritual before they actually get to the
point of hurling their bowling ball in the direction of the pins. They carefully lace up their bowling shoes, and then the hunt for the perfect bowling ball begins. They may put on a bowling glove as well as an elbow brace. As they step to the line they glare at the bowling pins and get into their approach posture. Then they step forward and release the bowling ball down the alley. That’s when it gets interesting. As the ball rolls toward the pins the bowler starts deploy-ing facial expressions, body language, and hand signals to “guide” the ball into the best impact point on the pins. As they see the ball drifting into a less-than-perfect point of impact they begin to give voice commands to the ball to correct its course. Of course, once the ball is released
DON’t WORRY
ABOUt RESULtS

BORN tO WIN
146it is on the way, and there is nothing the bowler can do
to change what is going to happen. The bowler could just
as easily release the ball, turn around, and not even look
at the impact of ball and pins. The results would be the same.
The bowling illustration demonstrates the futility of
“worrying” about results. When you have set your goals properly and planned the action you need to take, as I
have suggested in this book, it’s a waste of time, energy,
and emotion to worry about the results of what you have set in motion. When you execute an action step, it is like
releasing a bowling ball. The results ball is rolling, and
there is little you can do to change the point of impact. Worrying about where the ball will impact the target
won’t improve or change what happens. The results will
be the fruit of how well you prepared and planned and executed the action.
WORRYING mAkES PROBLEmS WORSE
Worrying about the results will not change them.
I certainly recognize that a certain amount of worry
is just part of being human. People have concerns about many things. There are legitimate concerns about money and financial security. There are legitimate concerns about
health issues, and there are concerns about our personal
and professional relationships. People want all of these

147DON ’t WORRY ABOUt RESUL tS
things to go well in their lives, and a certain amount of
worry and concern is normal. But there is another kind
of worry that is not only dangerous to your health, it is
dangerous to your success. The kind of worry I’m talking about is “imagined worry.” Imagined worry is when you
spend a lot of time thinking about the future and what
might happen in your life that could be terrible. My late friend Mary Crowley said, “Worry is a misuse of the
imagination,” and she hit the nail on the head with that
remark.
Now you might be wondering why I’m so concerned
about worrying and what it has to do with success and expecting to win, so I’ll tell you. Worry is the most signifi-cant factor that relates to the root of negative thinking.
As a matter of fact, worry just might be the engine that
starts negative thinking, and if you are involved in nega-tive thinking, you will not expect to win. If you spend an
excessive amount of time imagining all the bad things
that can happen in your life, you will become a person who is problem-conscious, not solution-conscious. There
is perhaps no greater example of how this can be so dan-
gerous than when it involves worrying about health issues.
I have known many people who receive bad medical
reports, and when they hear the news, they begin to worry so much about it their life may as well have ended at that

BORN tO WIN
148moment. We all know people who suffer this way and we
suffer with them. There doesn’t seem to be a single thing
we can do or say to encourage and lift them up.
On the other hand, we all know people who suffer in
the worst way and never make mention of their struggle. In fact, they seem embarrassed if we catch them grimacing
in pain or taking a bad step. They don’t want attention focused on what they can’t do or how they hurt and suffer;
they want to be “others” centered and get their mind off
of their disability. These individuals have accepted their issue as a part of life and have decided to make the very
best of their circumstances. They are an encouragement
and example to everyone blessed enough to know them! Yes, they have bad days, but they choose to focus on the
good days and what they can still do. They live in the
moment and know full well that tomorrow will be what it is and they can deal with it when it arrives, not before.
StOP WORRYING . . . St ARt ExPECtING
Worry is the result of thinking and imagining what might happen in the future. I want to stress the word “imagine.”
The only reality people have is what is going on in their
lives today. It is in the events of the day that life tran-spires, and anything based on tomorrow is pure specula-
tion. I’ve learned that if you have planned and prepared,
you can have reasonable expectations about the future. If

149DON ’t WORRY ABOUt RESUL tS
you take care of your health through a good diet coupled
with exercise, you can reasonably expect good health in
the future. If you save and invest your financial resources,
you can reasonably expect to have financial security in the future. If you live by principles of love and service
to others, you can reasonably expect to have good per –
sonal relationships in the future. Good action today will
produce good living tomorrow. Reasonably good expec-
tations for tomorrow are based on positive thinking and
prudent action today. Try this: instead of imagining all the bad things that might happen to you in the future based
on your fear, start imagining things working out. There’s
a song titled, “What If It All Goes Right?” by Melissa Lawson. The second line of the chorus is, “What if it all
works out, what if the stars all line up . . . ” You have to
develop a what if it does go right and work out expectancy if
you want to be the winner you were born to be.
LIvING WItH ExPECt ANCY
Throughout my career I have shared the story of Bernie Lofchick and his son, David. Bernie has been a lifelong
friend, and we have been so close I refer to him as my
brother even though we are not related. When David Lofchick was born, he was diagnosed with cerebral palsy,
and doctors predicted he would be chronically crippled
his entire life.

BORN tO WIN
150The only thing wrong with their prediction is that they
did not know the positive optimism of David’s father
(my brother Bern). The Lofchicks did not throw up their
hands and accept the idea that their son had no hope of a normal life. They did not worry and begin to imagine
all the bad things that could result from David’s disease.
They immediately began to look for solutions and posi-tive alternatives that would give David a good life. After
many consultations with experts on David’s disease, they
found one doctor who gave them some positive hope for David’s future. That doctor told them if they would begin
a rigorous, daily exercise regimen for David, and consis –
tently maintain that exercise program, his life might be
saved from the gloomy forecast predicted for him.
Bernie and his family took the doctor’s advice, set
up a gym in their home, and hired a physical therapist to provide the type of exercise David needed. The daily
regime began so David’s body could learn what it needed
to know to make all of his tomorrows better. As David grew into a man, he continued on his own to follow the
daily exercise routine prescribed for him. It had been
predicted by most of his early doctors that David would never be able to walk, or talk, or count to ten. However,
because his parents refused to worry about all the bad
things that might happen to David and found things they could do to give David a different future, his life

151DON ’t WORRY ABOUt RESUL tS
was changed. David certainly learned to walk and talk
and count to ten. He also grew up to become a success-
ful businessman, a wonderful father, and a reasonable
golfer, capable of shooting a score in the eighties. All of this happened because his parents refused to worry and
did what they needed to do each day to produce the
positive results they wanted for David’s future. They did not worry about the results. They just did what
they knew they had to do and expected good things to
happen.
As I stated earlier, worry is the engine of negative
thinking. Once you start imagining all the bad things that may possibly happen in the future, you lose sight of the good things going on around you today! When alcohol-
ics and drug-addicted people enter a program of recov-
ery, one of the main things they must learn and begin to practice is the need to take each day as it comes and
“live in the now.” It is when addicted people learn this
simple skill that their lives begin to change. They learn that most of their thinking and worrying about the future
are imagined, and their imagination produces a tremen-
dous amount of fear in their lives. The fear produced by worry is described as “False Evidence Appearing Real.”
When your thought life becomes dominated by imagin-ing the disasters that may befall you in the future, you become a person without hope today.

BORN tO WIN
152The truth is that worrying creates extreme physical
stress on your body. As a matter of fact, worry actually
causes your body to generate hormones that create real
anxiety. And it all comes from sitting around thinking about all the things that went wrong, are wrong, or could
go wrong. A great solution for this condition (if you find
yourself in it) is to get up out of your worry chair and do something. Many times just moving around will take
your mind off some persistent, negative thought and
help you correct your thinking. Do some laundry, call a friend, go for a long walk, or engage in some other form
of physical exercise. The important thing, as my friend
Andy Andrews says, “is to just do something!”
Did you know that indecision is also one of the main
causes of worry? When you are unclear about taking a specific action, you are constantly tempted to think about the problem or challenge you may be facing, and that’s
when you begin to imagine all the bad things that can
happen. The solution to this situation is to do the plan-ning and preparation you need to do to make a deci-
sion. Don’t be afraid of making a wrong decision, either.
Once you make a decision you can stop worrying about the problem and move ahead. Winston Churchill said,
“I never worry about action, but only inaction.” Harry
Truman said, “Once a decision was made, I did not worry
about it afterward” (emphasis mine). Even if the results

153DON ’t WORRY ABOUt RESUL tS
of your decision turn out to be less than you hoped for,
you will learn from your mistake and be able to make a
better decision next time.
Another source of worry you will want to avoid is
what I call “perfectionistic thinking.”Many people think if they are not perfect they will be considered a failure.
This kind of attitude makes it difficult for a person to experience the normal setbacks in life and walk through
them. An example would be that just because you failed
to get a particular job or position, you develop the atti-tude that you will never get a job or a position. Remem-
ber, failure is an event, not a person.
In his book I Can’t Accept Not Trying: Michael Jordan on
the Pursuit of Excellence , Michael said, “I’ve missed more
than 9,000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games.
Twenty-six times, I’ve been trusted to take the game-win-ning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over
again in my life. And that is why I succeed.”
My granddaughter DeDe Galindo, a talented speaker
if I do say so myself, bases her talk on a philosophy she calls “The Power of Next.” DeDe says if you attempt some –
thing and you fail, you can always count on pulling your –
self back up with the power of what you are going to do next. It’s the next opportunity that keeps us motivated.
Mind reading also creates unnecessary worry about
personal and professional relationships. If you are a

BORN tO WIN
154reasonable student of human nature, you might be able
to anticipate what people will do in specific situations.
However, that is not mind reading. Mind reading is when
you believe you can accurately discern another person’s motive and intent based on something they may be think-
ing. Your relationships with others should be based on what they actually do, rather than what you believe they
may be thinking! When you start reading people’s minds,
you are setting yourself up for a lot of worry and unnec-
essary concern.
The solution to a potentially bad relationship is to
have a direct, open, honest conversation with whoever is involved. Remember, mind reading opens the door to unfounded speculation about the motives and inten-
tions of others. And chances are you will be wrong. Mind
reading is a great waste of time and energy and some –
thing you should avoid at all costs. It’s better to confront
a situation peacefully and directly. The truth is seldom as
awful as imagined.
I DON’t WORRY
Worrying is something I quit doing many years ago, and today I can honestly tell you that I don’t worry about
anything—period! In fact, when the terrorist attack hap-
pened on 9/11 and I had to find a way to travel back home, I did not worry about the possibility of another

155DON ’t WORRY ABOUt RESUL tS
attack. I believe if it is not my time, there’s not a terror –
ist on the earth who can change the will of God about
what my lifespan should be. I never worry because I
know who I am and I know Whose I am. I know that the
principles I live by are true and correct. I also know that
I always try to do the right thing, and when you do the
right things in life, you don’t have to worry about results. As a matter of fact, if I’ve done the right thing every day
I’m not even responsible for results. I just get the benefit
of what I do, and the benefits are usually better than I could have hoped for.
Finally, remember that if you have planned and pre-
pared yourself to win, there is no need to worry about the results. Like the bowler who has released the ball down
the alley, you must learn there is nothing your worrying
can do to change anything. If you have planned well and set good goals, you can have confidence that you know
where you want and need to go. If you have done what
you need to do to prepare yourself to win, you do not have to worry. You will have no justification to worry
about failure. You can expect to win!

157CHAPtER tWELvE
throughout my career I have heard people make less
than complimentary remarks about the long-term
impact of motivational messages and positive thinking. They say, “It’s a waste of time and money because it doesn’t last.” They say, “People might be charged up temporarily, but they always drift back into their old habits and ways.” People who make these kinds of remarks don’t under-stand the power of thinking positively and what it takes to maintain a positive attitude and become the winner they were born to be.
I’ve frequently said that motivation is not permanent,
but neither is bathing or eating! If you eat and bathe every day, you’ll live longer and smell better in the process.
ALWAYS ExPECt tHE
BESt–BE A POSItIvE
tHINkER

BORN tO WIN
158Some things just need to be done regularly! Or better
yet, all the time, like I pointed out with Coach Vince Lom-
bardi’s quote about winning being an “all the time thing.”
Even winning is something you need to be motivated enough to do every day. Staying motivated enough to win
is the only way I’ve found to achieve long-term winning
results. Do we all backslide? Of course! Can you have
a bad day? You bet! Is life going to
knock you down? Sure it is. Are you
going to keep getting back up? Did you just hesitate? Like I said earlier,
I’ll help you with the hard ones. Of
course you’re going to get back up!
CHOOSE POSItIvE tHINkING
Positive thinking won’t allow you to do anything, but it will allow you
to do everything better than nega-
tive thinking will. Doesn’t that make
sense? Sports provides some of the
best illustrations to support this idea. What would you think of a sports team where the players were convinced of defeat before the game even began? What if the players
sat around thinking and talking about how much bigger,
faster, and more talented their opponent was and that they just didn’t have even a hope of winning? What if Positive
thinking won’t
allow you to
do anything,
but it will
allow you to
do everything
better than
negative
thinking will.

159ALWAYS ExPECt tHE BESt
the coach said, “Well, I don’t even know why I’m asking
you people to show up for this game, because they are
just going to whip us all over the field!” If this were the
attitude of the coach and the team, they wouldn’t stand a chance of winning the game. They would live down to
their own expectations.
When a person or a team or a business is character –
ized by negative thinking, they will always live down to their negative expectations. Positive thinking, on the
other hand, will lift them to higher levels as they live up
to their positive expectations.
So if positive thinking is the best way to go, why
don’t more people pursue a positive attitude? Why don’t
more businesses and organizations invest more money
in helping their teams learn to think positively and get better results? Here’s the answer: positive thinking and
what it takes to remain positive are misunderstood.
At the beginning of this book I said, “You were born
to win, but to be the winner you were born to be, you have to plan to win and prepare to win. Then and only then can you
expect to win!” In that statement you will find the com-
plete formula that will take you to the top. And repeated
daily throughout your life, it will keep you there.
The preceding chapters have discussed the elements of
planning, preparation, and positive expectation and how to approach each of those areas. It’s really very simple. You

BORN tO WIN
160plan your tomorrows by understanding the vision you
have for success, and you set your goals to accomplish your vision. Then you prepare and equip yourself with the knowledge, support, and tools you need to execute your goals. When you have planned and prepared, you will earn the right to expect to win, and expecting to win means
doing what it takes to recognize hope and opportunity, which will support a great, positive attitude about your life and how you live it.
It’S ALL ABOUt PERfORmANCE
Much of success is about performance. It’s about what we do and what we are able to inspire others to do. There are some simple performance princi-ples I have learned in my life, and it’s appropriate to wrap up Born to Win
with a brief discussion of each. They
really bring success, and what it takes to be successful, into sharp focus. They are also the basis for developing and maintaining an expectation of success.
the Six Principles of Performance
We generally get from ourselves and others what1.
we
expect. I made this point earlier, but it is a hugeYou plan your
tomorrows by
understanding
the vision
you have for
success, and you
set your goals
to accomplish
your vision.

161ALWAYS ExPECt tHE BESt
fact that you will either live up or down to your own
expectations. If you expect to lose, you will. If you
expect to be average, you will be average. If you
expect to feel bad, you probably will. If you expect to feel great, nothing will slow you down. And what is
true for you is true for others. Your expectations for
others will become what they deliver and achieve. As Gandhi said, “Be the change you wish to see in
the world.”
The difference between good and excellent compa-2.
nies is training. The only thing worse than training
employees and losing them is to not train them and keep them! A football team would not be very suc-
cessful if they did not train, practice, and prepare for
their opponents. When you think of training as prac-tice and preparation, it makes you wonder how busi-
nesses survive that do not make significant training
investments in their people.
Actually, companies that do not train their people 3.
and invest in their ability don’t last. They operate
from a competitive disadvantage and are eventually
gobbled up and defeated in the marketplace. If you
want to improve and move from good to excellent, a good training strategy will be the key to success.

BORN tO WIN
162You find what you look for in life. 4. If you look for
the good things in life, you will find them. If you
look for opportunities to grow and prosper, youwill find them. If you look for positive, enthusias-tic friends and associates who will support you, youwill find them. On the other hand, if you look forways to cheat, you will cheat. If you look for waysto justify leaving your spouse, you will find them.If you look for justifiable reasons to hold a grudgeagainst another person, you will find those, too. Itis a natural tendency of us all to look for things thatwill justify what we think we need or want. If youare not living by the foundation stones of honesty,character, integrity, faith, love, and loyalty, you willbe drawn to seeking selfish gratification, and thatleads to misery and unfulfilled dreams. Whateveryou have will never be enough. Always look for thegood and for ways to help others.
Never make a promise without a plan.5.

Far too many
people make promises they can never keep. They may
have the best intentions in the world to keep theirpromise, but if they have not made a plan to keep it,they will not be able to do it. Business leaders whomake promises to their employees will not honor themif they do not create a plan on how the promises will

163ALWAYS ExPECt tHE BESt
be kept. If you make a future commitment, you must
understand and be willing to do whatever it takes to
complete that commitment. One of the reasons mar –
riage commitments fail so frequently is because the
husband and wife do not understand what it takes to
have a great marriage. They do not plan for or under –
stand the sacrifices each must make for the other to
enable a long-lasting relationship.
Happiness, joy, and gratitude are universal if 6.
we know what to look for. I believe you can have
everything in life you want if you will just help
enough other people get what they want. All people want happiness and joy in their life, but you have to
know what produces real happiness and how to do
the things that produce it. The moment you begin to worry about the things you want and the things
you don’t have in life is the moment you will lose
your gratitude for what you actually have. If you are ungrateful, you will never be satisfied or content or
joyful about your life. The greatest source of happi-
ness is the ability to be grateful at all times.
tHE RIGHt AttItUDE
Obviously, the right attitude to expect the best in your life is a positive attitude. But I want to be very clear that

BORN tO WIN
164the kind of positive attitude I describe is not one that is
contrived or falsely manufactured to impress or manipu-
late others. The positive attitude I talk about is one that
you are filled with, and when you are jostled, it just spills out! What I’m saying is that a genuine positive attitude is
part of who you are at your core.
If you have a bad attitude, it is a reflection of who you
are, as well. It’s a “heart condition,” and to get rid of that bad attitude, you need a change of heart. I would be remiss
if I did not acknowledge that God is the most amazing heart surgeon available to us all. He does not just repair
a bad heart, He can give you a new one that your body
will not reject. The new heart He provides will produce love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithful-
ness, gentleness, and self-control in your life. When you
have those characteristics and qualities in your life, you will be rightfully positioned to know beyond a shadow of
a doubt that you are truly born to win.

165CHAPtER tHIRtEEN
One of the reasons I love the Born to Win concepts we
are covering is that they perfectly tie together your
personal life and your business life. It doesn’t matter if
you are a business owner, a sales professional, a corporate executive or a team member, you can use these principles to plan, prepare, expect, and achieve success in your busi-ness life while at the same time creating a fulfi lling personal life. To achieve balanced success, everything you do must support everything else you do, and your daily actions must propel you toward your life vision and goals.
My good friend Howard Partridge has a powerful
quote that connects your business life to your personal life.
If you are not a business owner you can easily sub-
stitute “your career” for “your business” to fully under-stand the impact of this statement. At Ziglar we say we
BORN tO WIN fOR
BUSINESS LEADERS

BORN tO WIN
166are really in the transportation business: We help you get
from where you are to where you want to be. Question: Can
you say without a doubt that your business or career is
the vehicle that will allow you to achieve your life goals and take you to where you want to be? Not sure? That’s
okay! In the next few pages I will
show you a simple illustration that will bring together your personal life and your business life, so that you will know without a doubt what you need to do in order to create the vehicle that will allow you to achieve your vision and life goals.
If I am born to win, what is winning?
Understanding this question is critical to establishing the right kind of life goals. Believe me, nothing is more
frustrating than achieving the wrong goals! In Ziglar’s
forty-plus years of researching this, we have determined that there are eight things in life that everybody wants. No
matter what your specific life goals are, you must also achieve these eight things in order to be truly successful.
Everybody wants to be:
Happy•
Healthy•“Your business
exists for ONE
REASON and ONE
reason ONLY
– as a VEHICLE
to help you
achieve your
Life Goals.”
Howard
Partridge

167BORN tO WIN fOR BUSINESS LEADERS
Reasonably Prosperous and•
Secure•
They want to have:•
Friends•
Peace of Mind•
Good Family Relationships and•
Hope•
Once you understand that these are the eight things
your life goals and vision must include, you can begin to work on the key areas in your personal life to achieve them. (We covered these earlier in the Wheel of Life.)
As you work on each spoke of your Wheel of Life, it is
essential that you do everything with character. Character
allows you to make the right choices in life when things are tough and when temptation comes. Nothing can crush your
Wheel of Life faster than character failure. Character makes

BORN tO WIN
168the toughest, bumpiest ride in life doable. Fred Smith, Dad’s
mentor and the wisest man I’ve ever met, said that every
great failure in life is really a moral failure. Whenever you
encounter someone who seemingly had everything and
then lost it, it is almost always as a result of a character flaw
and a moral issue. On the other hand, men and women who
have great character and suffer a seemingly devastating fall
from the world’s definition of success, almost always seem
to bounce back to a higher and more meaningful level of
success. Why? As Willy Jolley says, their character allows
them to use “the setback as a setup for a comeback.” With
character the eight things in life are probable; without char –
acter they are impossible.
Working on your character and the spokes on your
wheel to achieve the eight things in life everybody wants
creates vision. The V in the diagram below stands for your

169BORN tO WIN fOR BUSINESS LEADERS
vision. Without character and a balanced Wheel of Life,
you are literally unable to focus on the eight things that
really matter. You will not be able to tell the difference
between a house and a home or a bed and a good night’s
sleep. In short, your vision is blurred because you are out
of balance, without stability , and your lack of character fogs your view. Imagine standing on a small boat in very
rough seas, looking through a telescope with the lenses
fogged up. This is exactly what happens when you have an
unbalanced Wheel of Life and an undeveloped weak char –
acter. It is, however, possible to have good character and
an unbalanced Wheel of Life. When this happens you can
see through the telescope clearly, but as the boat rocks back and forth you lose sight of the eight things! Great vision
requires both a balanced Wheel of Life and character.

BORN tO WIN
170Now you need some P .C.! P .C. stands for persistent
consistency . I asked Dad while we were working on this
book what he considered his biggest key to success other
than character and integrity and he said persistent con-sistency was the number one reason for his success in life. Consistency means doing the things that you need to do in order to achieve success every single day. Persistency
means sticking with it and doing the little extras so that every time you do it (consistency) you are getting better and better. An example would be how you get in great
shape. You work out consistently (five days a week) with
persistency (each time you work out you increase your weight, or your intensity, or add a new exercise). Another
definition for P .C. is work ethic. Working hard is impor –
tant. Working with P .C. is a true difference-maker.

171BORN tO WIN fOR BUSINESS LEADERS
the Business/Career Connection
Just like you evaluated your personal Wheel of Life, you
can also evaluate your Business/Career Wheel. For the
purposes of this example, we are going to use a Busi-ness Wheel where you are the owner/operator of the business.
A Business Wheel has five major spokes:
Marketing – how you bring prospects to the •
business
Sales – how you convert prospects into customers•
Operations – how you service and support •
customers
Administration – the systems, processes, proce-•
dures and financial aspects that make things run
efficiently
Leadership – the strategic goals, vision, planning, •
and staff development
Obviously, there are more elements to a successful
business than listed here, but everything can fall under
these five spokes.

BORN tO WIN
172As in your personal Wheel of Life, you can also rate
yourself in your Business Wheel to determine how smooth
your ride is. The illustration below gives an example of
how typical business operators may rate themselves on
both wheels.

173BORN tO WIN fOR BUSINESS LEADERS
(In the Addendum of this book we provide a sample
Business Wheel where you can rate your own business
and connect it to your personal Wheel of Life, which you
completed on page 41.)
Now, as you look at these wheels you can tell the ride
is going to be bumpy as the rider rolls down the road! The
goal now is to improve your rating on each spoke, eventu-ally moving everything out to an 8, 9, or 10. Now when you
connect the dots you can see the rider rolls much better!
The only way to achieve balanced success in your busi-
ness and your personal life is to connect all of the compo-
nents. Your Business Wheel and your personal Wheel of
Life are connected. Your vision must be supported by both
wheels. Don’t forget Howard Partridge’s quote: “Your busi-
ness exists for ONE REASON and ONE reason ONLY – as
a VEHICLE to help you achieve your Life Goals.”

BORN tO WIN
174Character is the foundation upon which you sit that
gives you sustainable leverage as you apply persistent
consistency. Character allows you to handle the bumps
in the road so much better. It provides the cushion that
separates you from the seatpost!
Now we have a vehicle that is almost ready to roll. If
you start pedaling this bike down the road, it’s not going anywhere just yet! It needs a chain. Goals are the links
in the chain that connect activity to accomplishment. As
you work on each spoke of your wheels, you will deter –
mine and set specific goals. As you apply P .C. to each
goal, this chain of energy will move your bike! As long-
time Ziglar sales professional Michael McGowan says, P .C. really stands for Pedaling like Crazy!

175BORN tO WIN fOR BUSINESS LEADERS
If you are like me, not only do you want to win but you
want to win faster, and you want to win more easily. This is
where gears come in. Don’t settle for a one-speed bike when
you can just as easily have a 10-speed, or even a 20-speed
bike. Gears are simply the outside resources of knowledge
and support that you need to go faster and to keep you going when you have tough hills to climb. Gears include
things like books, CDs, online learning, coaching, seminars,
and professional development training. In my experience,
nothing keeps your bike moving forward on a daily basis better than listening to personal and professional develop-
ment audio programs every day. If you are experiencing
frustration in your current situation or want to take your
business and personal life to the next level of success, you
seriously need to consider adding the gear of coaching.

BORN tO WIN
176Dad’s Secret
Through the years, many people have asked me, “What
has allowed your dad to achieve so much success and to
sustain it for so long?” My answer includes everything
pictured in this diagram, plus one more element. Years
ago, when Dad was forty-five years old, he changed his gear ratio and added a “super charger” to his bike. That is
when he became a Christian and made God the center hub
of his Wheel of Life and Wheel of Business. This became
Dad’s “why” and gave him fuel and wisdom far beyond his own to keep on pedaling. In order to go as far as you
want to go in life—and for me I want to ride into eternity—
I challenge you to consider your why in life. When you
find the answer you will discover, just like I have, that it makes the ride incredibly amazing and worthwhile!

177BORN tO WIN fOR BUSINESS LEADERS
I want to share with you an “inside funny” between
Dad and me. Several times in my life I have come up with
an idea or thought that was pretty good, and Dad has
looked at me and with humor in his voice said, “You’re just not that smart!” Of course, I have said the same
thing to him on several occasions after he has had one of his brilliant thoughts or concepts. The “inside funny”
is this. We both realize we are not that smart! That idea
came out of the hub! It’s Dad’s secret. I work on my hub
every day, and I encourage you to do the same thing. I
can prove it’s true as well. Dad created a mathematical
formula that proves it: YOU + God = Enough
My attitude about our company (you know I believe
without a doubt that I was born to win – after all, it’s part
of my genes!) is so positive that our mission statement
is to make a positive difference in the personal, family,

BORN tO WIN
178business, and spiritual lives of enough people to make
a positive difference in the world! Make it your mission
right now, at this very moment, to make enough posi-
tive changes in your personal, family, business, and spiri-tual life that you can ultimately make a difference in the
world! Change starts with you, but it doesn’t start until
you do. What are you waiting for? Go! Prepare yourself! Expect success! Change the world! After all . . . you are
BORN TO WIN!

179ZIG ZIGLAR
the “Master of Motivation,” Zig
Ziglar has been described as “one of
America’s icons,” “the salesman’s sales-man,” and “a legacy that will forever impact our history.” Helping people to
achieve long-term balanced success based on his philoso-phy of character, attitude, and skills, he has impacted more than a quarter of a billion people and continues to make a
difference in the lives of those who act on his philosophy.
As a best-selling author, Zig Ziglar has written more
than twenty-nine sales and motivational books, ten of which have appeared on best-seller lists and have been
translated into more than forty-six different languages and dialects worldwide. He’s been featured in numerous
publications including the New York Times, the Washington
Post, Fortune magazine, the Dallas Morning News, Success
magazine, and Esquire magazine. Ziglar motivational
books and programs are widely distributed through
multiple channels, including the Ziglar website (www.Ziglar.com), www.Amazon.com, and the world’s largest
producer of audio programs, Nightingale-Conant.

180tOm ZIGLAR
As CEO of Ziglar, Inc., Tom Ziglar
not only shares a last name with
his father, Zig Ziglar, he also carries on his philosophy, which is simply, “You
can have everything in life you want if you will just help enough other people get what they want.”
Prior to being named CEO, Tom began his career in
retail and direct sales. He joined the Zig Ziglar Corpo-ration in 1987, learning every aspect of the business as he climbed from working in the warehouse to sales, to seminar promotion, to sales management, and then on to leadership.With the Ziglar name, Tom has had a lot to live up to, but rather than try to fill his father’s shoes, Tom has created some of his own. He is boldly taking Ziglar, Inc., into the world of social communities, Twitter, blogs, and live video webcasts to present the tried and true message of hope, integrity, and positive thinking to a whole new audience. He keeps Ziglar, Inc., ahead of the times with his innovative leadership.
Tom enjoys golf (when time permits) and working
out. He resides in Plano, Texas, with his wife of twenty-three years, Chachis. They are the proud parents of one

181daughter, Alexandra, and the whole family is owned by
one goofy dog named Max.
Tom shares his Ziglar writing flair in his core mes-
sages and beliefs about business, family, success, and the keys to a fulfilling life the pure and simple way in his blog
at www.TomZiglar.com, as well as in live appearances.

182HOW SmOOtH IS YOUR R IDE ?
take the free Ziglar true Performance
Personality Assessment
We each have our own Wheel of Life, but all of
our wheels are not the same. Do you have thriv-
ing friendships but struggle financially? Or perhaps you are excelling quickly in your career, but your poor physi-cal condition sometimes makes it hard to get up in the morning. These are examples of an unbalanced wheel. While everyone will experience fluctuations in their wheel from time to time, the ideal wheel is balanced, cre-ating a smooth journey through life. The first step to cre-ating balance is to find out where you are right now!
Ziglar has developed a short, free assessment so
that you can see which areas of your wheel need a little pumping up. In just five minutes or less you will:
Rate yourself in the seven key areas of life•
See your wheel as it is • now
Learn how to get wher
e you want to go— • faster
By
identifying where you are and setting the goals for
where you want to be, you can achieve a healthy, happy, balanced life.
Simply go to www.ziglar.com/borntowin and see an
actual depiction of your wheel!

183PUttING It ALL tOGEtHER – BUILD YOUR OWN BIkE
Is your business the vehicle that is allowing you to achieve
your life’s goals? If not, or you’re not sure, let’s fi gure it out and do an assessment on your Business Wheel. As a business owner/operator, your business has fi ve key components or spokes.
What is your rating for each one of the spokes? To fi nd
out, rate yourself on a scale of 1 to 10 for each item listed under each category on the following pages. When you have done that, add up your total score for that category
ADDENDUm

BORN tO WIN
184and divide by 10. That will give you your rating on
that spoke. Then, mark the numbers on your spokes
and connect the dots. This will tell you where you need
to improve and how smoothly your business is rolling down the road!
BUSINESS WHEEL
Category Assessment Sheet
marketing
Meeting or exceeding my sales goals through
effective lead generation and promotion strategies
We have a clear position in the marketplace
We have clearly defined our prime target market
We have clear definitions of our products and/or
services
We have a pricing strategy that is profitable
We are consistently marketing to our house list (client
base)
We have an effective referral relationship program
We have an effective referral/affiliate reward system
We have a written, posted marketing calendar
We have an effective Internet marketing system that includes websites that clearly communicate what we do, and utilize SEO, and we are consistently capturing e-mail addresses and using them to communicate to
our e-mail audience, and we have a strong presence
on social media.
TOTAL ÷ 10 =

185ADDENDUm
Sales
We answer the telephone live
We have an effective telephone answering/
transferring system
We have an effective sales script that appeals to our
target market and closes the maximum number of inquiries
We have an effective system for responding to Internet leads
We have an effective sales process for each of our profit centers
We have an effective up-sell and down-sell process
We have effective processes and scripts for overcoming objections
We have an effective process for identifying ongoing and changing customer needs
We have clearly defined account management
policies and procedures
We have effective customer management software in place
TOTAL ÷ 10 =
Operations
We have developed our unique service experience
We have clear-cut service systems in place that are exceeding our client expectations
We respond immediately to client concerns
We have clear-cut return policies
We get customer feedback on a regular basis to ensure we are exceeding expectations

BORN tO WIN
186 We have regular production meetings to ensure on-
time delivery
We have a key customer appreciation process
We have effective project management processes in place
We have inventory management and office supplies/
equipment processes in place
We have the latest, most effective equipment to
deliver our unique service experience
TOTAL ÷ 10 =
Administration
We track and report total sales daily
We track and report sales by profit center weekly,
monthly and annually
We track and report sales by referral/affiliate/ad
source weekly
We track and report sales closings daily (# of calls vs. # of sales)
We track and report number of returns or re-services as often as they occur
We track and report our profit and loss weekly
We track and report our balance sheet monthly
We have a cash flow management process in place
We plan our taxes annually before year end
We review our legal and insurance exposure annually
(or as often as required)
TOTAL ÷ 10 =

187ADDENDUm
Leadership
We have a one-sentence mission statement that
everyone understands and follows
We have effective management systems in place that include recruiting, hiring, orientation, training, coaching, employee reviews and termination
processes, and have ensured they are legal
We have an up-to-date employee handbook
We have a written business plan that includes our
vision, goals, a marketing plan, sales plan, operating
plan and administration plan that is reviewed and
updated quarterly
We have a written and posted organizational chart
We have regular team meetings
We have written position descriptions for every position
We have a training system in place for every position
We have policies and procedures for all areas of our
business
We have an effective compensation plan in place that
includes attractive pay and benefits that create high
employee morale and retention
TOTAL ÷ 10 =
Now that you have completed your Business Wheel, let’s
take a look at your bike. Connect the dots on each of
the wheels below using your score from above for the
Business Wheel and your scores from page 41 on your Personal Wheel of Life.

BORN tO WIN
188Now that you can see YOUR BIKE, you have a great place
to start planning your goals. Look at your spokes and determine which ones you want to start working on. Once you have identified one, you can turn that into a goal using the Ziglar Goal Setting System in the next section.
Would you like more information on how to make
your business the vehicle that allows you to achieve your life’s goals? (Call us at 1.800.527.0306 and ask about Ziglar Business Coaching!)
The Ziglar Goal Setting System; “Goals are the links
in the chain that connect Activity to Accomplishment.”
—T
om Ziglar

189GOAL PLANNING SHEEtS AND StEP-BY-StEP
PROCEDURES fOR SEttING AND REACHING YOUR GOALS
The Chinese say that the journey of a thousand leagues
begins with a single step. Commit yourself to take these
goal-setting steps NOW.
BAD NEWS: To properly set your goals you will need to
invest a minimum of ten hours and possibly as many as
twenty hours. That’s one of the reasons only 3% of the
population have clearly defi ned their objec tives in life.
GOOD NEWS: By following these procedures and
working on your goals every day, you will have several
extra hours each week to pursue your own business,
family and personal interests. Just remember, “When you
do the things you need to do, when you need to do them,
the day will come when you can do the things you want to do, when you want to do them.”
MORE GOOD NEWS: When you learn the formula for
setting one goal, you will know how to set all goals, whether it is a physical, mental, spiritual, social, family,
career, recreational or fi nancial goal.
tHE ZIGLAR GOAL
SEttING SYStEm

BORN tO WIN
190Now for the action steps:
ACtION StEP I
On your Dream List, let your imagination run wild and
print everything you want to be, do or have. (When you
print, your concentration is greater and you burn the
idea more indelibly into your subconscious mind.) If you have a family, be sure to include your mate and children
when you set your goals. This entire goal-setting process
helps channel your logical left brain and frees your cre-ative right brain for more effective use of your imagina-
tion. NOTE: “You gotta ‘be’ before you can ‘do,’ and you
gotta ‘do’ before you can ‘have.’”
GO AHEAD – DO IT NOW. A major reason you are
setting your goals is to gain some benefit, but these come
only after you have taken action.
ACtION StEP II
Wait 24-48 hours then answer the question “why?” for each item you have printed on your Dream List. Space is
provided for you to do this on your Things I Really Want
To Be, Do or Have sheet. If you can’t verbalize in one sen-tence why you want to “be, do or have,” then it truly is a
dream and not a real goal. At this point, you should cross
it off your list.

191ADDENDUm
ACtION StEP III
Ask these five questions, all of which must have a “yes”
answer:
Is it really my goal? (If you’re a minor living at 1.
home, an employee or a team member, some of your
goals will be set by the coach, director, parent or
employer.)
Is it morally right and fair to everyone concerned?2.
Is it consistent with my other goals?3.
Can I emotionally commit myself to finish this goal?4.
Can I “see” myself reaching this goal?5.
NOTE: Answering these questions will further reduce the
number of dreams on your Things I Really Want To Be,
Do or Have sheet, so scratch them off as well. Answering questions #2 and #3 will be very helpful in making impor –
tant decisions in all areas of life, especially financial.
ACtION StEP Iv
After each remaining dream ask yourself these questions:
Will reaching this goal make me happier?1.
Will reaching this goal make me healthier?2.
Will reaching this goal make me more prosperous?3.
Will reaching this goal win me more friends?4.
Will reaching this goal give me peace of mind?5.

BORN tO WIN
192Will reaching this goal make me more secure?6.
W
ill reaching this goal improve my relationships 7.
with others?
If
you can’t answer “yes” to at least one of these questions
eliminate that item from your list of dreams. Careful:
Don’t confuse pleasure with happiness. Be sure to con-sider your family when you answer these questions.
ACtION StEP v
Divide the remaining goals into three categories: Short-range (1 month or less); Intermediate (1 month to 1 year); Long-range (1 year or more), and mark them SR (short-range), I (intermediate) or LR (long-range) on your Things I Really Want To Be, Do or Have sheet. GO AHEAD – DO IT NOW. By taking this step you will be able to quickly determine whether or not you have a balanced perspec-tive between what needs to be done now, versus your dreams for the future.
Remember:
SOME goals must be1.

big (out of reach – not out of
sight) to make you stretch and grow to your full
potential.SOME goals must be 2.
long-range
to keep you on
track and greatly reduce the possibility of short-range frustrations.

193ADDENDUm
SOME goals must be small and 3. daily to keep you
disciplined and in touch with the reality of “nitty
gritties” of daily life.
SOME goals must be 4. ongoing.
SOME goals (sales, educational, financial, weight loss, 5.
etc.) might require analysis and consultation to deter –
mine where you are before you can set the goals.MOST goals should be 6. specific. A “nice home” is
not as good as “3,000 square foot, Tudor-style home with 4 bedrooms, 3 full baths, 2 living spaces,” etc. Some goals, like improving your self-image,
becoming a better parent or getting a better educa-
tion, are more difficult to pinpoint. Those that are less specific should be broken down into specific,
tangible steps. For instance, a step to becoming a
better parent could be “spend one hour per week one-on-one with each child.”
ACtION StEP vI
From the remaining goals, prayerfully choose the four goals (remember, balance is the key) which are the most
important things you need to work on right now and
record them. If this is your first organized goal-setting
experience, you may want to start with two or three
short-range goals.

BORN tO WIN
194IMPORTANT: As you set a new goal, also record it in a
journal or a place you will review several times a year. You
will be encouraged tremendously as you record the goals
you reach throughout the year. Your confidence, self-image and goals-achieving ability will improve dramatically.
ACtION StEP vII
Record these four goals (at least the ones that are Inter –
mediate and Long-Range) on a General Goals Procedure
Chart, and work each one of them through the process as
shown in the examples.
ACtION StEP vIII
Take the additional goals you have listed on your Things I Really Want To Be, Do or Have sheet and record each
on a General Goals Procedure Chart. Work each goal
through the process as you did in Action Step VII. Refer to the examples for a format to follow.
DO IT NOW. Remember, motivation comes after you
start the project.
CONGRATULATIONS! You have invested more time in
planning your future than most of your friends, relatives and associates will ever invest!

195ADDENDUm
DREAm LISt
EVERYTHING – I even think I want to be, do or have

BORN tO WIN
196tHINGS I REALLY WANt tO BE, DO OR HA vE
After each item on your Dream List, articulate in one sen-
tence why. This will eliminate those items which are frivo-
lous whims but leave intact your serious goals and dreams.
Goals Why

197ADDENDUm

Goal #1 Goal #2
Step #1
Original Goal 165 lbs. – 34” waist Get a “Better” Education
Step #2
More energy – less illness
Look and feel better Longer life span Better endurance More productivity Better attitude and disposition More creativity Better exampleBroaden and increase opportunities Improve self-image and increase relationships Increase income Improve security and knowledge Broaden personal, business and social life and
contacts
Improve discipline – peace of mind Increase happiness – confidence Enhance sense of accomplishment
Step #3
Lack of discipline Bad weather – irregular schedule Love for sweets – lack of time Unhealthy eating habits Poor physical conditionLack of patience – physical Exhaustion – financial costs Heavy family demands – lack of confidence (out
of school 15-20 yrs.)
Step #4
Dieting knowledge and techniques Exercise and jogging proceduresTime management – positive attitude Patience – persistence – discipline Better money management Effective study procedures
Step #5
Dr. Ken Cooper, Dr. Randy Martin, Program Chairman – Laurie Magers, The RedheadFamily – employer – academic counselor – financial consultant – mentor
Step #6
Make commitment No bread or sweets except on Sunday Jog 125 minutes weekly Good breakfast – only fruit or healthy snacks
after late seminars
Eat well-balanced diet Drink 8 glasses of water daily Eat slowly and only at the tableMake commitment – organize time Practice self-discipline (cut TV time) Secure family support – schedule significant
family time
Listen to educational, inspirational recordings
while driving
Attend seminars Reduce meaningless activities Schedule study time daily Shape up physically for increased energy
Step #7
July 1st None – on-going goalCOMPLETION DATE PLAN OF ACTION TO REACH THIS GOALINDIVIDUALS, GROUPS, COMPANIES AND ORGANIZATIONS TO WORK WITH TO REACH THIS GOALSKILLS OR KNOWLEDGE REQUIRED TO REACH THIS GOALMAJOR OBSTACLES AND MOUNTAINS TO CLIMB TO REACH THIS GOALMY BENEFITS FOR REACHING THIS GOALIDENTIFY YOUR GOALSGENERAL GOALS PROCEDURE CHART

BORN tO WIN
198Goal #1 Goal #2
Step #1
Acquire a new black SUV with leather seats Be a loving, attentive, involved parent
Step #2
More dependable transportation
Raise my sights and standards Improve job reliability Better attitude Increase travel opportunities Enhance social status Greater safety More comfort and funMore happiness and peace of mind More stable marriage Better relationship with children, friends,
neighbors and relatives
Better career opportunities More old age security Enjoyment of future grandchildren Increase potential of children
Step #3
Short of cash – Poor money management Present car has low trade-in valueIncome stabilized – inflation – mate disagreesHigher payments and insurance costsLimited experience – Tight budget
Heavy workload – Lack of patience Inadequate help or no help Alcoholic parent
Step #4
Money management – Automobile knowledge Dollar stretching techniques Information on how to buy and tradeMental, nutritional, spiritual and physical
information
Read books on common sense, diplomacy,
communication skills, time management, organizational skills
Discipline Know something about being a “fixer”
Step #5
Family – Banker/Financier – Insurance agent –
Employer – Investment counselor – Part-time employer – Automobile dealerMinister – Employer – Family physician – Mate –
Youth leaders – Educators – Parents – In-laws Neighbors – Parent support groups
Step #6
Get financial statement Record expenditures for 30 days Skip vacation and deposit savings Follow ads and bargain hunt Establish and control budget Get family involved in their new vehicle Take family “window shopping” to see dream
vehicle
Deposit savings every week in interest-bearing
accounts
Take temporary and limited part-time job Read books on positive parenting methods Assign daily responsibilities Provide daily mental and spiritual input and
direction
Spend time daily talking, directing, teaching and
encouraging
Accept and love my kids unconditionally Give them daily doses of affection and approval Expect, teach and require them to do their best Discipline properly and consistently Admit when wrong and ask for forgiveness
Step #7
January 1st IntangibleCOMPLETION DATE PLAN OF ACTION TO REACH THIS GOALINDIVIDUALS, GROUPS, COMPANIES AND ORGANIZATIONS TO WORK WITH TO REACH THIS GOALSKILLS OR KNOWLEDGE REQUIRED TO REACH THIS GOALMAJOR OBSTACLES AND MOUNTAINS TO CLIMB TO REACH THIS GOALMY BENEFITS FOR REACHING THIS GOALIDENTIFY YOUR GOALSGENERAL GOALS PROCEDURE CHART

199ADDENDUm

Goal #1 Goal #2
Step #1
Step #2
Step #3
Step #4
Step #5
Step #6
Step #7 COMPLETION DATE PLAN OF ACTION TO REACH THIS GOAL
INDIVIDUALS, GROUPS, COMPANIES AND ORGANIZATIONS TO WORK WITH TO REACH THIS GOALSKILLS OR KNOWLEDGE REQUIRED TO REACH THIS GOALMAJOR OBSTACLES AND MOUNTAINS TO CLIMB TO REACH THIS GOALMY BENEFITS FOR REACHING THIS GOALIDENTIFY YOUR GOALSGENERAL GOALS PROCEDURE CHART

BORN tO WIN
200Plan your goals weekly and work on them daily! Ziglar
has an incredible tool called the Performance Planner™ that helps you set, record and achieve your goals. You can learn more at www.ziglar.com.
REACHING YOUR GOALS
(to be carefully read at the end of every week.)
Make the commitment to reach your goal. “One1.
person
with a commitment is worth a hundred who
only have an interest.” – Mary CrowleyCommit yourself to detailed accountability. Record2.
your
weekly activities and list the six most impor –
tant things, in the order of their importance, whichyou need to do tomorrow. Daily discipline is the key
to reaching your goals.Build your life on a solid foundation of honesty, char – 3.
acter
, faith, integrity, love and loyalty. This founda-
tion will give you an honest shot at reaching anygoal you have properly set.Break your Intermediate and Long-Range goals into4.
incr
ements. Examples: I lost 37 pounds by losing 3.7
pounds each month for 10 months, or just 1.9 ouncesper day. I wrote See You at the Top (348 pages) by
writing 1.26 pages per day, every day, for 10 months.(By the mile it’s a trial, by the inch it’s a cinch!)

201ADDENDUm
Shape up mentally, physically and spiritually. It 5.
takes energy, mental toughness and spiritual rein-
forcement to successfully deal with life’s opportuni-
ties, and to reach your objectives.
Motivation is the key and a positive attitude a.
is a must, so on a daily basis you should feed your mind with good, clean, pure, powerful and positive material by reading good books
and listening to motivational, educational and
inspirational recordings. Regularly attend per –
sonal growth seminars or industry-related train-
ing lectures and training programs. Remember,
what you do off the job is going to be a deter –
mining factor in how far you go on the job.
Take care of your physical health – proper diet, b.
reasonable sleep, exercise, and eliminate the
poisons (alcohol, drugs and tobacco).
Don’t let others rain on your parade – or don’t c.
be a SNIOP (Susceptible to the Negative Influ-
ence of Other People).
Be prepared to change. You can’t control the weather, 6.
inflation, interest rates, Wall Street, etc. Just remember
that, at this point, your goals have been carefully (and,
I hope, prayerfully) set, so change your decision to go, carefully , but be willing to change your direction to get there as conditions and circumstances demand.

BORN tO WIN
202Share your “give-up” goals (give up smoking, being7.
r
ude, procrastination, being late, eating too much,
etc.) with many people. Chances are excellent they
are going to encourage you. Share your “go up”goals (be #1 producer, write a book, graduate withhonors and be the class valedictorian, etc.) only withthose rare people you strongly feel will give yousupport and encouragement.Become a team player. Learn to work with a team,8.
such
as your family, corporate associates, etc.
Remember, “You can have everything in life youwant if you will just help enough other people getwhat they want.”See the reaching. In your imagination, see yourself9.
r
eceiving that diploma, getting that job or promo-
tion, making that speech, moving into the home ofyour dreams, achieving that weight loss goal, build-ing that financial nest egg, etc.Each time you reach a goal, your confidence will grow10.
that
you can do bigger and better things. After accom-
plishing the goal, record the event and cross it off yourThings I Really Want to Be, Do or Have sheet.
CRITICAL: Immediately set a new goal and work that new goal through the General Goals Procedure Chart.

203ADDENDUm
Remember that what you 11. get by reaching your des-
tination is not nearly so important as what you will
become by reaching your goals, because what you
will become is the winner you were born to be.
NOTE: Since motivation is critical in the goal-setting and
goal-achieving process, it would be helpful if you had our series on goals or our complete “How To Stay Motivated” series.
If YOU WANt tO REACH YOUR GOAL,
YOU mUSt fIRSt SEE tHE REACHING IN YOUR OWN mIND
BEfORE YOU ACtUALLY ARRIvE A t YOUR GOAL.

Need a good reason to go online? Interested in how Zig
Ziglar’s life’s work has impacted our world over the years? Would some positive, inspiring video messages help spark up your day?
Here’s where you can view dozens and dozens of
incredible video testimonials for Born to Win. Check
them out. Some of our contributors include:
Seth Godin
Dave Ramsey
Pat Williams
Coach Lou Holtz
ken Blanchard
…and many, many more people from all walks of lifewhose lives are better because of Zig Ziglar and the Born
to Win philosophy.
tEStImONIALS