One of JB’s all-time favorite books is “See You At the Top” by Zig Ziglar. In this article we honor Zig’s memory, and the huge influence that he had on JB. Let’s do a quick “check up from the Neck up,” and get a more positive attitude.

Zig Ziglar was a salesman turned motivational speaker. He had a friendly, nice, energy about him and he was a great story teller. He changed the lives of millions with his stories, speeches, and books.

The Flea Trainer

One of Zig’s famous stories is about The Flea Trainer. Fleas have an amazing ability to jump. They can jump so far for their body size! If you try to put fleas into a box, they’re going to jump out!

However, fleas can be trained. If you put them in a box, and close the lid they will soon learn to stop jumping so high that they hit the lid. Once they’ve been trained, you can take the lid off the box, and the fleas don’t jump out.

People do that, too. We learn to accept limitations, and to give up with we hit resistance. We get tired of “hitting a brick wall” and learn to give up, we train ourselves to give up right before we succeed. 

That’s how most people live. Most people give up just short of success. Most people never jump outside the box. They stop because they hit too much resistance. As you know, we’re going to hit resistance. This story reminds us to keep going, because sooner or later, we can jump out of the box.

Check up from the Neck Up

Zig constantly talked about getting a “check up from the neck up” and “stinkin’ thinkin'”. Zig taught really fun stuff. He taught that we have to stay positive, and avoid the stinkin’ thinkin’. We have to have to keep a positive Mental Attitude.

Zig has some great stories, and he wrote a book called “See You at the Top.” If you have a chance, take the time to read this famous book, and enjoy the stories. Take the time to look for some of Zig’s recordings on YouTube, too.

PMA = OPM

One basic idea for people in sales is PMA equals OPM. PMA is the idea of having a Positive Mental Attitude. OPM stands for Other People’s Money. So, having a positive mental attitude will help you earn other people’s money. This is obvious when you think about it. When someone waits on you, who do you tip more? The happy helpful server, or the dour grumpy one?

But this idea carries over into all areas of our life. A Positive Mental Attitude will naturally attract good things of all kinds into our life, not just money. We’ll have better health, stronger relationships, more friendships, and more career success when we make an effort to keep that Positive Mental Attitude.

Daily Effort Pays Off

From Jim Rohn, JB learned the idea of a daily 15 to 20 minutes devoted to this “check up to the neck up.” The need for a daily motivational practice is really the inspiration for the daily MorningCoach CoachCast.

Take Time For the FUN!

Part of staying positive is making time for FUN in your life. That’s where we get energy for our lives. One of the things that we learn from Zig’s Stories is that he just had fun. He had a wonderful way of seeing the humor in life, and making learning fun.

Who’s Child is This?

Another great story that Zig would tell was about the orphan that snuck into church. Every week he would sneak into the sermon, and sit in the back, and sneak out again before the service ended. One day, he became so caught up in the sermon, that he forgot to sneak out in time. The preacher came down the aisle, and saw him sitting there alone and asked “Who’s child is this? Who’s child is this?”

The orphan boy sat there frozen. He just knew he was going to get into trouble. The preacher looked around and looked back at the boy. Then he said, “I see who’s child this is! You are a child of God! You have a great inheritance, you need to go out there and live up to it!” The boy went out and did tremendous things, and gave the credit to the preacher that believed in him.

We loving sharing these great ideas with you every day and support each other in our efforts to build a daily positive attitude. Let’s have some fun today in honor of Zig Ziglar.