The book that started it all for me or at least what kept me in the sales profession was “See You At The Top,” by Zig Ziglar. I had forgotten that it was a 400 page book. I remembered it to be a lot smaller for some reason. So I am going to pull a few gems out of this one for you, but before I do consider that Norman Vincent Peale endorsed this book.

I noticed that on the inside cover of my copy I wrote the dates I completed reading it. I read it eight times, the last time being in 1980. Now, I wish I had kept reading it every year. As Zig says in his introduction, “…read it from cover to cover as a way of life. Then you start over.”

The Big Weapon – Six Steps

Zig says there are six steps to everything you want – self-image, your relationship with others, goals, attitude, work and desire. That’s it! He says we all have some of everything we need to be successful.

He says, “winning isn’t everything, but the effort to win is,” and “man was designed for accomplishment, engineered for success and endowed with the seeds of greatness.”

One of his most quoted sayings is, “You can get everything in life you want, if you help enough other people get what they want.”

Your Mind

“Whatever you plant in the mind is going to come up – multiplied.” The reason for this is that between planting and harvesting the imagination gets involved and multiplies whatever you planted. Think about that! Have you ever had your imagination go wild on you after even something relatively minor? I know I have allowed it.

His key idea here is if you plant negatives in your mind you will reap negatives. He says “whatever we put into our minds is going to come out of them.”

The Scariest Disease

Ziglar calls it the “worlds most deadly disease.” It is “hardening of the attitude,” and it is caused by “stinkin’ thinkin’.” I always have loved this.

Have you ever suffered from this not so rare disease? If course we all have and it is deadly, so be careful and recognize it for what it is before it becomes terminal.

So what you should probably get is a “checkup from the neck up” so you don’t get this disease.

Desire

Zig calls it the equalizer. He says “Desire is the ingredient that changes the water of mediocrity to the steam of outstanding success.” “Desire is the extra.” “Our yearning power is more important than our earning power.”So crank up your desire if you want to get somewhere.

Also don’t get bent our of shape regarding “happiness.” I have always just wanted to be useful, but Zig says “happiness is not pleasure. It is victory.”