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Overview
Are you frustrated with your job, career, or relationships? Are you unsure if what you are doing right now in your life is the right thing? In this revolutionary new book, success and motivation expert Tom Ziglar shares the good news that you can change and that, in fact, you can win at life.
Choose to Win shows you how to achieve massive change without massive upset. It all starts with identifying your why, which reveals the how that opens multiple doors of what. His revolutionary plan guides you through making one small choice at a time through a sequence of easy-to-follow steps in seven key areas:
- mental,
- spiritual,
- physical,
- family,
- finance,
- personal,
- and career
Ziglar also helps you identify the life-killing, unhealthy habits that cause misery, dissatisfaction, and lack of success—and, more importantly, how to implement positive habits through the trinity of transformation: desire, hope, and grit. The result is a more productive, more fulfilling, and more meaningful life.
You can take control of your destiny and leave the lasting legacy you've dreamed about and deserve. You simply need to choose to do so.
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781400209545 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Nelson, Thomas, Inc. |
| Publication date: | 03/05/2019 |
| Pages: | 256 |
| Sales rank: | 313,221 |
| Product dimensions: | 6.00(w) x 8.90(h) x 1.10(d) |
About the Author
Read an Excerpt
CHAPTER 1
WHAT IS YOUR WHY?
Define Success, Significance, and Legacy
What's your why?
I had just finished speaking at an event when a young man approached me. "I believe what you said is true about goals and finding your why, but I know me, and I know that I will start working on my goals for about three days and then I will get distracted. How can I stay focused on doing what I know I need to do?"
As we began to talk, I asked him questions. I learned that he had four kids under the age of six, was close to thirty years old, had a very good job, and was a high performer. He wanted to take control of his future without being at the mercy of his employer. He wanted balanced success in all areas of life.
Since we didn't have much time to talk, he pressed me again for an answer. "How do I get started so that I can consistently work on my goals?"
"Are you serious enough to start with committing fifteen minutes a day to building the life you want?" I asked.
"Yes," he said.
"Great! Here is what I recommend. You need to develop a couple of foundational habits that will impact everything else you do. I would like for you to start every day by doing these three things. Number one, set aside the first fifteen minutes of the day. Can you do that?"
"Yes," he said.
"Number two, you need to change your mind-set and how you see yourself. We have created Ziglar self-talk cards, found on page 222, that I would like you to read out loud to yourself while you are looking in the mirror. You have all the qualities of success — like discipline, integrity, loyalty, and about thirty-five others — already inside of you; they just need to be recognized, claimed, and developed. This daily practice will change the way you see yourself, and this will change how you behave, which will get you the results you want. Can you commit to reading the card each morning? It takes about three minutes."
"Yes, I can commit to that," he said.
"Number three, I would like you to invest about twelve minutes reviewing the top four goals you are currently working on and then plan and prioritize your day. This is the time you reconfirm your big priorities and goals and commit to doing the things that will create the life you want. Can you do this as well?"
"Yes," he said, "but I know me. I'll start this, and after about three days, I'll go back to my habits of staying up late watching TV or playing video games. How do I stay focused?"
This guy was saying aloud what almost everyone thinks:
I know I should, but ... That plan will work, if only I weren't so ... It surely would be nice, but. ...
You get the picture.
I asked, "If you did these things every day, would it pay off for you?"
"Yes, absolutely," he said.
"How?"
"Oh, it would change my life. I have big things I want to do, and know I can do —"
"Great!" I said. "What do you mean by change your life? Would it mean more money for you?"
"Yes, it would," he said.
"More than $10,000 over the year?"
"Yes, easily," he said.
"That sounds well worth getting up fifteen minutes earlier each day. What do you think?"
"Yes, it does. But I know me. After about three days I will stop."
"I have a proposal for you that I believe will keep you on track. It takes about sixty-six days to form a new good habit and keep it. I propose that you write me a check for $10,000 today, and then for the next sixty-six days you start off each day as I suggested and daily send me a text message telling me you have done the fifteen-minute prep time. At the end of the sixty-six days, if you have done this every single day, I will return your $10,000. If you miss even one day, I get to keep it. Do you think you would do it then?"
"Yes. I know I would. No question about it," he said.
"Why would you do it in the second scenario when you told me the first scenario would make you $10,000 as well?"
"Fear of loss, I guess."
I love honest people.
Here is the point: it's a choice!
Creating the life you want is a choice. The young man was in his comfort zone. He wasn't feeling much pain. Giving me the $10,000 would have raised his pain level enough to motivate him to wake up fifteen minutes earlier every day. Isn't this the way most people live? Coasting along in the slow lane of mediocrity. The only time they change lanes is to avoid an accident or after they have had an accident.
Think about it.
People get serious about a budget when the repo man shows up to take their car.
People get serious about working on their health as they are being wheeled into emergency surgery to get a heart stent.
People get serious about working on their marriage when their spouse says they are filing for divorce.
Good news. It doesn't have to be this way. We all need what the young man was missing. A clearly defined why. A dream so big and so compelling it draws us like a magnet.
What is your why? What is your dream?
Don't have one yet? That's okay. Get ready. This book is going to take you on a journey from survival to stability, to success, to significance, and finally, to legacy.
Maybe you have a big why and big dreams, but you don't know how to achieve them. Perfect. You are in the right place.
SURVIVAL
When you don't know where you are going, any direction will do.
Survival mode is when you don't know who you are and you don't know the person you want to become. Your goal is simply to make it through another day and pay the bills. People in survival mode will take almost any job that meets their basic needs, regardless of whether they are passionate about it, because they don't believe they have a choice. If others are telling you what you should do and you are just going along with it, you are likely in survival mode.
STABILITY
"I know what I want."
Stability is when you know what you want and who you want to become. You are no longer guided by the winds of life; instead, you are motivated by the desire to become the person God created you to become. You may not know exactly where life is taking you, but you know the direction you are headed, and you are excited about growing as a person. Each opportunity you accept is based on understanding what you want out of life and not just on the opinion of others.
SUCCESS
What is your definition of success?
Unfortunately, too many people have the wrong definition. Success is more than money, or fame, or nice stuff. I heard a radio advertisement for a law firm specializing in child custody cases. It addressed the number of men who had traded their health and family relationships for career success, and even though they now had a lot of money, they couldn't buy back their health or families. If you are going to live to win, you need balanced success in all seven areas of life: mental, spiritual, physical, family, financial, personal, and career. I learned this concept from my father, Zig Ziglar, at an early age, and I grew up watching him work daily on each of these areas.
One of the expectations we set for ourselves is measuring our success against others' accomplishments; but it doesn't take long for us to realize that some people have more than we do in certain areas and other people have less. I love a great success story, and success stories often inspire me, but none of them define my potential for success.
Those with the right success mind-set understand that the way we see our future is much more important than our past, what others are doing, or our current circumstances.
For more than forty years of my life, I had the privilege of watching my father speak countless times to thousands of people. Dad would mesmerize the crowd, and they would laugh and learn and believe in themselves. How did he do it? He gave them hope!
My dad regularly asked his audiences to do two things. First, he said, "Raise your hand if there is anything you can do in your personal life, your business life, your family life, or your spiritual life in the next seven days that would make your life worse."
After the crowd heard the first request, they would murmur in surprise, shocked that the most optimistic and positive man on the planet would ask the audience to consider such a negative question. Of course you can do something that will make your life worse! You can cut off your finger, cuss out your boss — the list goes on and on.
Then he would make the second request: "Raise your hand if there is anything you can do in your personal life, your business life, your family life, or your spiritual life in the next seven days that would make your life better."
After this request, I would scan the audience and see thousands of hands go up! Of course you can make your life better. You can send an "I love you" text to a family member or a close friend. You can exercise, eat a healthy meal, get more than seven hours of sleep — the list goes on and on. Here is the point in the success mind-set. Hope is born when you understand this: you have the power to make things better or worse, and the choice is yours.
The choice is yours. Choose to Win: Transform Your Life One Simple Choice at a Time is about convincing you to use the power you already have to create the life you really want.
"But my situation is unique," you may be saying. "Maybe you have the power, or others have the power, but not me. You don't understand what I have been through."
It's true. A success mind-set is simple to describe, but it's not easy to do. It takes some work. First, you have to believe that you have the power to make things better. Then you have to take action and change the way you see your past.
Reclaiming the Past
When I do executive coaching, I love to use the question "Are you kidding me?" in a strong voice. I learned this concept from one of my mentors, Dale Dodson. Dale is an extremely successful businessman and the chairman of our board, but like everyone I know, he has faced major challenges and setbacks. He often asked me tough business questions, and I would give him a reason why we couldn't do something, and he would say, "Are you kidding me?" And then he would explain that often the reason I wasn't going to do something was the very reason I should.
A number of years ago, I had a coaching call with an individual who was struggling with where he was in life. He had lost all confidence in his ability to do his job. He and his wife were Realtors, and when the housing bubble burst in 2008, their combined income went from more than $400,000 to under $70,000. Financially, they lost almost everything, their marriage suffered, and they almost split up. When I spoke to him, their marriage was stable, but the housing market still had not recovered and his career was at rock bottom.
Here is how our conversation went:
"Tom, I just don't think I can keep doing real estate. I mean, who would want me? We've lost everything. Why would anyone want to do business with me?"
"Are you kidding me?" I answered.
Silence on the other end of the phone.
"Are you kidding me?"
"Tom, I don't understand. Why are you asking me that?"
"Let me ask you another question. Since the real estate bubble burst, do you know more or less about how to do a real estate deal?"
"Oh, I know far more than I did before. I've had to get creative. The easy deals are gone," he answered.
"What percentage of the transactions in the market right now involve people in desperate situations?" I asked.
"Most of them," he said.
"So, you are telling me that you know far more about real estate now than you did a few years ago, and the majority of the people in the market right now are experiencing the same pain you have experienced. They are scared and not sure how to make things work."
"Yes, that is correct," he answered.
"Are you kidding me?" I asked again.
"What do you mean by that question, Tom?"
"You just told me that you know more about real estate today than at any time in your life, and that you have experienced personally the pain and fear of very tough circumstances, and that most of your clients and potential clients are in the exact same boat. The way I see it, you are perfectly positioned to help more people than you have ever helped before. Based on what I know about you, I believe you can help your clients better than anyone else in your market because you live your life with integrity and you have struggled and won the battle for your marriage. The market needs you, your skills, and your experience, now more than ever."
"Okay. Wow! I wasn't looking at it that way," he responded.
We then talked about what he could do to grow his business, focusing on solutions and not on the problem. He had already acknowledged the problem, which was good, but dwelling on the problem didn't solve it. Focusing on solutions and then taking action are the key ingredients to success.
Nothing in his life had changed, but his view of his circumstances had. Before we talked, his circumstances were the reason he should quit. After I spoke to him, his circumstances became the fuel for why he should continue.
About a week after our phone call, I got a seven-page, single-spaced email from him describing a new client. He had been digging into his leads and calling homeowners whose houses had recently been delisted because they were not selling. One woman's response about listing her house was filled with hopelessness because, she said, the market was bad, she was going through a divorce, and her soon-to-be ex-husband wouldn't agree to the sale anyway.
He told her about his experience in the marketplace and a little about his personal family struggles and said he would love to help her. With nothing to lose, she agreed to let him try and said, "You need to get my soon-to-be ex-husband on board."
He described going on a cold call to meet her husband, who was living at a friend's house. He explained that he was trying to help and shared a little bit about his own circumstances. The man's shoulders slumped and he agreed it was time to move on and then signed the paperwork.
He got the deal!
What about you? Are you going to change your mind-set regarding your past? Our Realtor friend got the deal because of what he had been through, and this happened only because he chose to see his past as the reason for moving forward, not the reason to quit.
I share these stories to give you hope and encouragement. No matter where you are in your life, no matter your past mistakes or circumstances beyond your control, you can make things better or worse right now, and the choice is yours. Your past is important because it uniquely positions you to help other people in the future in ways that no one else can. By changing your mind-set regarding your past, you start building your future success today.
True success is spiritual, and it often must be purified in the furnace before it grows into significance.
Success can be described as what we achieve for ourselves. One of the byproducts of success is happiness. If you are looking for another why, then you just found a big one right here. I believe we all want to be happy. Changing your mind-set about success and making daily progress toward a worthy goal or ideal will produce happiness in your life.
Do you want to be happy? Pursue the right kind of success!
SIGNIFICANCE
Without even realizing it, our Realtor friend moved from success to the furnace to significance.
Significance is on a completely different level. Success and happiness are circumstantial, based largely on cause and effect. This is good, but it also can be temporary and dependent upon the next thing you do, and the next thing you do, and the next thing you do.
The why of significance is simple. Happiness is fantastic, but there is something even better: joy. Joy is the by-product of significance.
Pure joy comes when you help other people. Joy is the fruit of your labor when your words and your actions allow others to release the potential inside of them. This is why being a parent can be so fulfilling and joyful and so frustrating and overwhelming at the same time. Our hearts want the best for our children, and there is no greater joy in life than helping your own children unleash their potential. Joy is not dependent on circumstances or how you are personally doing. You can experience joy at any moment.
The why of success is good. The why of significance is better than good!
(Continues…)
Excerpted from "Choose to Win"
by .
Copyright © 2019 Tom Ziglar.
Excerpted by permission of Thomas Nelson.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.
Table of Contents
Section I It Starts With Why
Chapter 1 What Is Your Why? 5
Chapter 2 What Is Your Plan? 25
Chapter 3 Goals 35
Chapter 4 Desire, Hope, and Grit 47
Section II The 7 Choices Plan
Chapter 5 Mental 59
Chapter 6 Spiritual 69
Chapter 7 Physical 85
Chapter 8 Family 107
Chapter 9 Financial 127
Chapter 10 Personal 145
Chapter 11 Career 165
Section III When Do I Start?
Chapter 12 The Perfect Start 193
Chapter 13 Choose to Live a Life of Purpose 203
Addendum 212
Appendix: Ziglar Self-Talk Cards 222
Acknowledgments 226
Notes 228
About the Author 230
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