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ZIG ZIGLAR Goals How to Set Them , How to Reach Them

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Ziglar shares his own personal brand of enthusiasm, positive thinking, and common sense while challenging listeners to renew those qualities in themselves.

Unknown Binding

First published July 1, 1988

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About the author

Zig Ziglar

399 books1,365 followers
Zig Ziglar was a motivational teacher and trainer who traveled the world over, delivering his messages of humor, hope, and encouragement. As a talented author and speaker, he had international appeal that transcended every color, culture, and career. Recognized by his peers as the quintessential motivational genius of our times, Zig Ziglar had a unique delivery style and powerful messages that earned him many honors. Today he is considered one of the most versatile authorities on the science of human potential. Ten of his twenty-eight books have been on bestseller lists, and his titles have been translated into more than thirty-eight languages and dialects. He was a committed family man, a dedicated patriot, and an active church member. Zig lived in Plano, Texas, with his wife, Jean.

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5 stars
323 (50%)
4 stars
209 (32%)
3 stars
79 (12%)
2 stars
21 (3%)
1 star
7 (1%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 39 reviews
Profile Image for Vaishali.
1,154 reviews313 followers
January 7, 2018
Insightful and hilarious. Don't miss this vintage book by one of the great masters in the field.

Quotes:
----------

"First pay, then receive the benefits."

"Clearly-defined, written-down goals are only done by the 1%. The rest have poor self images."

"Positive thinking will not work with people who are negative with themselves."

"FEAR = false evidence appearing real"

"There's a difference between 'standard of living' and 'quality of life'. "

"In a 1953 study at Yale, only 3% of graduates had done these necessary steps to set goals... The 3% who had done all seven steps had accomplished more than the 97% who had not.
1. Identify what you want and write it down.
2. Spell out why you want to reach these goals.
3. List the obstacles to overcome in order to get there.
4. Identify the people/organizations/groups you need to work with in order to get there.
5. Identify what you need to know to reach that goal.
6. Develop a plan of action to reach that goal.
7. Put a date on when you expect to reach there."

"Everybody has goals, but we want to really get involved in these goals so that we know exactly what we're doing and why we're doing it… and we can get much better results."

"You cannot make it as a wandering generality. You must become a meaningful specific."

"Direction creates time, and motivation creates energy."

"We have plenty of energy to do the things we really want to do."

"Life is gonna be tough. But when you are tough on yourself, life is going to be infinitely easier on you."

"If you do the things you ought to do when you ought to do them, the day will come when you can do the things you want to do when you want to do them."

"People say 'I don't feel motivated to do this.' That's backwards. You first do the thing, and then you become motivated by it."

"Motivation follows the action… it creates energy."

"Do not confuse activity with accomplishment."

"Japan kept making goals each decade and achieved them. They became the #1 country in the world in these areas:
** Textiles in the 1950's
** Steel in the 1960's
** Cars in the 1970's (actually achieved in 1980)
** Computers in the 1980's"

"Too many Americans spend more time planning the wedding than planning the marriage."

"Give me a stock clerk with a goal, and I'll give you someone who'll make history. But give me someone without a goal, and I'll give you a stock clerk." - J.C. Penney

"How can you hit a target you don't even have?"

"Have you identified the obstacles that will be in the way? If there was nothing in between you and your goals, you would have already have reached them by now."


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Profile Image for Mike Sambuco.
69 reviews9 followers
December 20, 2013
This is classic Zig, and enjoyable in it's own right. However, the majority of the material shared here is also shared on his other later works. I expected more specifics to help dial-down better, but this is more general overview with mind concepts, not close-up specifics. This would be great for those who have never really considered setting goals, to help get started. (Other authors have explored and analyzed to a much deeper level.)
Profile Image for Nitinkumar Gove.
56 reviews3 followers
February 18, 2017
Really good book with amazing pointers for goal setting. Really fixes the thought process.

Here are few points which I liked -

* Direction creates time and motivation creates Energy.
* Don't confuse activity with accomplishment.
* Four reasons why people don't set goals
- Fear
- Self Image
- They don't know how
- They lack belief in the concept

* Every night write down 6 things that you want to get done tomorrow
* To reach your goals you need to change your vocabulary.
* You pay the price for the failure not the success
* When you are tough on yourself life is going to be really easy on you
* learn to respond to the disappointment
* Discipline is the cost of success.
* Share your 'Go up' goals with only the people who you have every reason to believe will give you encouragement.
* Share your 'Give up' goals with everyone.
* Be a team player
Profile Image for John Turner.
166 reviews15 followers
December 22, 2019
Some of the best sales training I ever encountered in my sales career!
Profile Image for Javier Villar.
326 reviews59 followers
January 24, 2020
Full of great suggestions and a boost to confidence.

1. Build a solid foundation.
2. Make the commitment.
3. Break it down.
4. Visualize it.
5. Hold yourself accountable.
6. Expect change.
7. Tell people.
8. Team first.
9. Write it all down.
10. Reflect.

The tale of the one-handed MLB player is astonshing.
Profile Image for Joseph Scaduto.
62 reviews
September 5, 2017
Wow. To be honest, when I first started listening, I was very skeptical. However, I must admit that once I got over the heavy southern accent, the preacher-like style of speaking, the corny musical interludes, and the fact that it was recorded about 30 years ago, I became totally inspired. I am very happy to report that I have found Zig Zigler to be a fantastic storyteller, and a terrific motivation speaker. I thoroughly enjoyed listening to "Goals," as I took my daily morning walk/jog every day for the past 5 days, and in fact I became quite emotional at times, especially when he described in such detail the true meaning of success - of total, balanced success across all dimensions of life. Zigler provides highly specific actions to take to identify, prioritize and accomplish your goals, all of which I would like to put into practice and pass along to my children. His stories were moving, interesting, inspiring, insightful, and filled with life lessons we should all work to learn. Most of all, he helped me rekindle a confidence in my ability to accomplish and achieve whatever it is that I want, to be who I want to be, and to do what I want to do. As he would say, I'll "See You At The Top," the title of Zigler's seminal work, which has just been added to my reading list...
Profile Image for Helfren.
895 reviews10 followers
December 15, 2020
You must become a meaningful specific. How can a person hit a target they cannot see? How can you hit the target you can't see. That's why you must have goal.

When you set a goal - it gives you 3 to 10 hours to reach the goal for the rest of your life.

It is the lack of direction that caused you distracted. Plan what you wanna do them and then the action will follow the plan and the motivation will create energy. A deserved 5 star.
Profile Image for Justin.
275 reviews6 followers
October 3, 2018
2.5 Not what I thought it was going to be.

This was my first exposure to Ziglar. I've heard so much about him. I was excited, but this was a let down for me. It was extremely basic. Most of it was fluffy stories and anecdotes with feel-good one liners. This really felt dated and didn't work much for me.
Profile Image for Alvaro Alcocer Sotil.
159 reviews2 followers
November 18, 2017
Zig Ziglar te enseña a cómo establecerte metas y cómo conseguirlas haciendo un plan para acometerlo con éxito. La actitud es fundamental, primero para definir las metas y luego para lograrlas sin desenfocarte.
Profile Image for Félicette.
431 reviews
August 3, 2017
"You cannot make it as a wandering generality. You must become a meaningful specific."
Profile Image for Christina Adams.
284 reviews
July 7, 2020
Great book, really explains how to set goals and how to put together a plan to meet your goals.
Profile Image for Erin Richmond.
3 reviews1 follower
October 1, 2022
Despite the occasional religious reference I found this to be a motivational and inspiring read.
Profile Image for Ben Andrus.
68 reviews3 followers
August 8, 2023
Classic advice and still true as it ever was. The last two chapters are pretty dated however.
Profile Image for Seemy.
892 reviews10 followers
December 21, 2023
awesome book and course...one of the best pieces of work ive come across in a long time and a classic by zig ziglar, highly recommended!

To Our Continued Success!
Seemy
https://Waseem.tv/Blog

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Profile Image for Anita Ashland.
278 reviews19 followers
March 18, 2016
Zig Ziglar is referenced frequently enough in the business and marketing world that I figured I should finally give one his audio books a listen. There is something almost quaint about these 25+ year old talks. This is only two hours long and sufficiently engaging to listen to while driving. I suspect that in print form this would be not meaty enough and the anecdotes would lose their charm. Overall it's a good introduction to Ziglar.
Profile Image for Joe.
517 reviews
July 21, 2019
Just two hours long I completed the entire program is just two sittings.

I've never listened to anything by Zig Ziglar that I didn't love and this was no exception.

It doesn't go in to a great about of detail about goal setting but it's great to listen to it as afterwards you will probably think you can do anything.

When I feel like I have too much to do and I just can't do anything, I should definitely listen to this again.
Profile Image for Haneen Najeh.
54 reviews70 followers
February 16, 2014
wonderful book, shows you why don't people set goals?how to set your own goals? and how to achieve them?
very helpful in our lives in all levels. as i listened to the book, i can say that the author has a wonderful way of speaking and explaining the book and what is it in. once you listen to it, you would like to repeat it again and again.
i really enjoyed it :)
#Zig Ziglar
Profile Image for Abdul.
149 reviews7 followers
April 30, 2012
Goof book on goals. I wish the author would have stuck to the raw meat of goal setting instead of repeatedly branching off to many a useless folksy anecdote. Other than that i would recommend this. Goals are the important building blocks of any achievement.
Profile Image for Torak.
27 reviews
August 11, 2013
I love Zig Ziglar, (so by that virtue I give it 3 stars) but this is some pretty basic stuff. A book written for people who have no idea how to plan to eat breakfast or use the washroom. You are better served watching the video rather than reading the book. Zig is a master speaker.
282 reviews
June 4, 2025
zig ziglar is the man. awesome book, just like every other book by zig ziglar. great book check it out!

I just finished for the second time. This is the type of book that can be listened to again and again. Great listening content right here!
10 reviews1 follower
March 6, 2009
another set of audio books listen to multiple times
Profile Image for Pamela.
39 reviews10 followers
March 25, 2010
2010.03.25

I have listing down my daily goals for 2 days now. :)

Pam P.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 39 reviews

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