Motivational speaker and author to many bestsellers, Zig Ziglar was born on November,6 1926 in United States. He started his career as a salesman and went on to become vice president and training director for the Automotive Performance company. We have listed here a few of his golden rules for success:

 

1. Think Like A Champion

To be successful you need to have a dream. Only your vision of yourself will show you the way when times get tough. It’s an old saying that our thoughts make us who we are. Zig said that you could be number one in your chosen field and all what is required to be at the top, you already have within you. You need to think like a champion and have a deep conviction in your potential. Change your picture of who you are in your mind and visualize yourself achieving all your goals.

2. Be Committed

Successful people have a very deep sense of commitment. He said that when you hit a rough spot, which you will almost certainly do, then only commitment will take you through. Difference between taking a safe road by quitting and trying one more time in face of all difficulties is what makes legends. Only perseverance will make it possible for you to reach your dreams.

3. Do It Right Now

If you give yourself flexibility, you will not be able to get on with your work. At all given times you will have many things to do and as it is said most often the most important things are those which people like to do the least. This will cause the important tasks to be delayed. To avoid this you should never procrastinate. Remember there is a difference between being busy and being productive, you will be always busy otherwise. People who wait for perfect moment to start with something big and important find it very difficult to start altogether.

4. Always Be Prepared

No matter how many times you have done a task and no matter how good you are at it, never underestimate the importance of preparation. Always make it a point to get ready for task at hand. It is highly arrogant when you think that you know it all. Only when one thinks that they don’t need to prepare, that is the time when they are most vulnerable to loose at the hand of the competitors who have been working very hard to win with them on the same front. It is your responsibility to be at your best and your preparations for it is the biggest sign of integrity.

5. Work Hard

For any amount of success to be yours, the importance of being present at the place of action is to be understood with great clarity. Reach where you have to be because no amount of knowledge, preparation or dream will be able to substitute hard work. Keep in mind that hard work beats talent all the time when talent doesn’t work. People say ‘so and so’ got lucky, yes people get lucky when they put in hard labor and efforts. The world of successful people is the world of ‘doers’. Remember if you work for someone you work for them all the way. Leave no stone un-turned in your mission to reach your goals.

6. Set Your Goals

You are today what you have chosen all your life up till now. You are at a place by your choice. If you want to realize your potential then it is necessary that you choose to set goals and write them down. Analyze the difficulty and accordingly put a deadline on the completion for these goals. After all this devise a plan with all the details that you can think of at the moment and then start immediately. Zig said goals don’t care who you are, they just deliver.

7. Evaluate Yourself

Most of the time people are so involved in the daily routines that they don’t evaluate what they have and what they need to do. According to Zig Ziglar, to determine what you want out of life you need to evaluate where you are and this evaluation has to be based on not only tangible but also various intangible things like happiness, health and relations. This will allow you to use your resources properly.

8. Integrity Is Important

For success to be sweet for you keep in mind that your work has to be honest. Importance of integrity in our job makes success more fulfilling. Do something that brings value to others and then do it again and again.

9. Don’t Quit

Perseverance is one of the biggest requirement for achieving your goals. You have to do your work now and get rewarded later. Rewards are minimal if efforts are least. He used to say anything worth doing is worth doing poorly until you can learn to do it well. Many people don’t realize that they might be so close to success, if they stop now they will need to start over again. He used to give example of a hand pump in this regard. You have to pump long enough and hard enough to get water from the ground but once you get that a proportionately small but continuous effort will keep on giving results. There is no thing like to give it try, If you have to do something go all out and don’t quit you might be so close.

10. Read 20 Minutes Daily

A seemingly insignificant 20 minutes reading daily will make a dramatic difference to your knowledge. Read something which is positive, motivational or about human nature. 1 year of reading 20 minutes daily will result in to reading 20 books with 200 pages. This will give a colossal advantage to you in terms of expertise in your field. One book can give you what you may otherwise learn in five years. Be a constant student. Learn from your mistakes, learn from others and keep trying. Don’t fear failure because more you fail more you will learn.

11. Have Gratitude

He used to say eyes are the window of soul. Being grateful is the healthiest emotion, it makes you sleep better. Gratitude increases your excitement and enthusiasm. Change from a fault finder and become a good finder. Keep within you no stinking thinking. Remember you are not going to change others but only you. Change always begins from self. Change your self talk from negative to positive because change in input will lead to change in output.

After a successful career in sales, training and as motivational speaker Ziglar died on November,28 2012. Today he is not between us but his guiding principles will continue to show direction to the coming generations.

Related article: 8 Golden Rules by Steve Jobs