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WANTING TO WIN

I’VE ALWAYS SAID that man was designed for accomplishment, 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. Everybody 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 want 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 planning. 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 MOTIVATION

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 more natural talent. You see, my friend, being a winner is much different from having the potential to win. Everyone has the potential; it’s what you do with that potential 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 perseverance toward their goals. Obviously, raw talent is important, but the difference-maker between first and the rest of the pack is usually desire.

I’ve spent my life studying, thinking, teaching, living, and sharing motivation. 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 dialects, 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 philosophy on winning and motivation is summed up by saying that you were born to win, but in order 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. 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 suddenly changes the way you see yourself in relationship 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, Mississippi, during the Great Depression. 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 of 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 possibility. 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 furniture, 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 divisional 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 survival—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 twoand-a-half years and I have never seen such a waste.” (Now, friends, 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 something, 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 your Mr. Merrell. I honestly believe I have felt your feelings, 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. Looking back, I see 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!

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 opportunities 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 something 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 condition 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 that 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 perseverance. 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 information 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 overload.” The result of information overload is usually distraction, 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. Information overload has the same effect. It can cause us to take our eye off the small things we need to consistently 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 stepping 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 Foreman’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 strategy! 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 persevere 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 victories 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.

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 addition, 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, fortunately, they were not the end of the world. I had a couple of things going for me that made the difference. I was committed 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.

It 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 combination of vision and desire gave me the commitment to stay the course and the perseverance to keep pursuing my dream.

DESIRE ENHANCES YOUR ABILITY 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 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 successfully 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 planning 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 preparing 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.

WHAT 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 healthier, 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!