I have had the pleasure to be influenced by several people over my lifetime and my mentors have given me the tools to change my life for the better, both personally and professionally.  I live my life by a personal code of conduct to empower, listen to and promote others. I no longer accept negativity in my life and I live a life of gratitude.  I adopted a balance of character, a positive attitude and a skill set that could be applied in whatever I chose to do.

I learned much of this from Zig Ziglar, the undisputed King of Motivation, Inspiration and Education.  Before Podcasts, and DVDs, there was video tape. I watched Zig Ziglar’s video tapes over and over. His words empowered me to excel into management at a very early age. His sayings and theory’s changed the way I thought and how I chose to lead others.  It was Zig Ziglar’s inspiration that made it possible for me to lead every company or department I managed to success, and as a manager to promote my employees at a higher success rate than other managers. The way he influenced my management style made it possible to have a line of employees wanting to work in my departments, so they could also be heard, acknowledge and promoted.  

Zig Ziglar was a best-selling author, he  has written more than 30 sales and motivational books, 10 of which have appeared on best-seller lists and have been translated into more than 36 different languages and dialects worldwide. The first book I read of his was “See You at the Top”.  If anyone has ever talked sales with me, you will certainly have heard me refer to his philosophy.  In fact, I trained new employees by giving them goals others thought were too high. Since the new employees did not know they were high, I would tell them they were low. It was amazing to not only watch them hit the goals, but exceed them as well. In addition, those goals were set on what we called the “dead files”, files that every other person in the office had worked unsuccessfully. Other managers would criticize my method by telling me I was setting my employees up for failure. I however, knew I was setting them up for success. I was not teaching them to be a flea, in a mayonnaise jar with a closed lid. I was teaching them to jump without lids.  They soon learned to not be a flea in a mayonnaise jar.

Some of my favorite Zig Ziglar sayings are:

“Get a checkup, from the neck up.”

“You don’t have to be great to start but you have to START to be great.”

“You can’t change the past but you can change the future starting right now.”

“Of all the attitudes we can acquire, surely the Attitude of Gratitude is the most important and by far most life changing.”

“Look back in forgiveness, forward in hope, down in compassion and up in gratitude.”

“You were born to win, but to be a winner, you must plan to win, prepare to win, and expect to win.”

“This I do know beyond any reasonable doubt. Regardless of what you are doing, if you pump long enough, hard enough and enthusiastically enough, sooner or later the effort will bring forth the reward.”

“Expect the best. Prepare for the worst. Capitalize on what comes.”

“A goal properly set is halfway reached.”

“You can have everything in life you want, if you will just help other people get what they want”

Zig Ziglar passed away this morning. While my heart is heavy with sadness the wisdom of Zig Ziglar will be with my forever.  This legendary icon forever changed my life and I have love and gratitude in my heart and mind because of him.