Zig Ziglar Dies - What We Can Learn!

This week, Zig Ziglar died from pneumonia at 86.  Sadly, I’d never met Ziglar, one of the finest motivational speakers ever, although I’ve read several of his books and listened to many of his motivational speeches.  With a distinctive blend of sound-bite optimism, country wit, Christian faith and good-natured nudging for people to see the bright side of life, I liked him a lot. 

“If you aim at nothing, you will hit it every time,” he used to say. “Attitude, not aptitude, determines altitude,” was another of his mantras.  Coined by him sometime in the 1970’s, they’re still true today.

Ziglar reached people through more than two dozen books with sales well into the millions; through his children, who help run his company; through tapes and podcasts; and of course through personal presentations. At his busiest, he said, he spoke 150 times a year, and well into his 70s he was speaking 60 times a year. His fee was $50,000 a speech, plus expenses.  WOW!

Ziglar stood for 5 things, each one near and dear to my heart:

1.    We generally get from ourselves and others only what we expect.  Bottom line? If you expect to lose, you will. Expect to be average, and then average you’ll be.  If you expect to feel bad, you will and if you expect to feel great, nothing will slow you down. And what is true for you holds for others too. Your expectations for others will be what they deliver and achieve.  Expect mediocrity from your workers?  Well, then that’s what you’ll get.  Ziglar agreed (as do I) with Gandhi’s famous quote, “Be the change you wish to see in the world.”

2.    The difference between good and great employees is training.  The only thing worse than training employees and losing them is to not train them and keep them!  Ziglar said that training is practice and preparation.  Today, it makes me wonder how businesses survive that don’t train their people.   Well, actually they don’t last. They operate from a competitive disadvantage and are eventually gobbled up and defeated. If you want to improve and move from good to excellent, a good training strategy is key.

3.    You’ll find what you look for.  Look for the good things in life, you will find them. Look for opportunities to grow and prosper, you’ll find them too. If you look for positive, enthusiastic friends and associates who will support you, they’ll appear, (seemingly seamlessly).  On the other hand, if you look for ways to cheat, you’ll find them (or they’ll find you).  If you look for ways to justify leaving your spouse, you will find them.  We’re created such that we look for things that will justify what we think we need or want. If you are not living by the foundations of honesty, character, integrity, faith, love, and loyalty, you will be drawn to seeking selfish gratification – that often leads to misery and unfulfilled dreams. The result: whatever you have will never be enough.  And always, and Ziglar meant always – look for the good in others. 

4.   When you make a promise, have a plan. Far too many people make promises they can’t keep. They intend to keep the promise, but without a plan, they won’t be able to. If you make a commitment, you must understand and be willing to do whatever it takes to honour it.  More than 50% of first marriages fail because each spouse does not understand what it takes to have a great marriage. They do not plan for or understand the sacrifices each must make for the other to enable a long-lasting relationship.

5.       Happiness, joy, and gratitude are universal if we know what to look for.  Ziglar believed you can have everything in life you want if you help enough people get what they want. Everyone wants happiness and joy, but you have to know what produces happiness and how to do the things that produce it.  When you worry about the things you want and the things you don’t have, you lose gratitude for what you actually have. Be ungrateful, and you’ll never be satisfied.   Too much won’t even be enough.  Ziglar truly believed the greatest source of happiness is the ability to be grateful at all times.

But I think Zig was most well-known for saying “Among the things you can give and still keep are your word, a smile and a grateful heart”.   

And that folks is how I live my life. 

Rest in Peace Mr. Ziglar.

 

 

 

Getting kicked off a plane is no joke – or is it?

If you're one of some 23 million Americans traveling by air this Thanksgiving - read and heed this!

Ask Alec Baldwin, who was kicked off an American Airlines plane for refusing to turn off his phone – the result.  He stayed in LA longer than planned.  Not known for his overfriendly personality, Alec speaks his mind, both in life and on Twitter without worrying what people think.  think he’s a jerk, but hey, what do I know?

"Flight attendant on American reamed me out 4 playing WORDS W FRIENDS while we sat at the gate, not moving.  #nowonderamericaairisbankrupt," he tweeted after being removed.

Former MTV Networks President, Michael J. Wolfe, on the same flight tweeted, “On an AA flight at LAX. Alec Baldwin removed from the plane. We had to go back to the gate. Terrible that everyone had to wait."  Obviously, he did not find Alec’s antics amusing. Maybe funny (at the time) – but I (like Wolfe) would be pissed if I had to spend more time on a plane than necessary because some idiot refused to behave.

Next time you fly, check the airline’s contract of carriage, where you’ll find a list of violations that will get you off the plane – fast. Each varies slightly, but most have some sort of language prohibiting passengers from doing anything endangering the safety/ comfort of passengers or crew.    Problem? It’s all subject to interpretation by airline employees, which is why we see wild stories of passengers getting the boot. So what, specifically, is taboo?  

A crying kid

Loud passengers become aggressive - fast.  And spoiling the comfort of fellow flyers could get you kicked off a plane—even if you’re still in diapers. The crew of a JetBlue flight forced the family of a tantrum-throwing infant off the plane earlier this year. According to Caroline Morse, SmarterTravel editor, "The parents tried holding the screaming toddler down in her seat with the seat belt on, but the pilot and flight attendant decided to kick the family off the flight and leave without them. No question, passengers trapped nearby were grateful, but the family ended up paying more than $2,000 for a new flight and hotel room for the night".  Not sure how the airline handled it, but for sure its PR people would have danced carefully.

Fight

When a man walloped a fellow passenger on a United Airlines flight to Ghana in 2011, the pilot, like a parent driving a car with feuding kids, (been there, done that) promptly turned the plane around. But unlike most other parents, the pilot was so aggravated that he summoned a few fighter jets as backup. On landing a half hour later, the aggressive flyer was removed from his flight. The most incredible part is that the melee started when one passenger reclined his seat into the space of the guy behind him. Some travelers might even argue he deserved the smack.  Dunno – you be the judge!  I’m not going to get involved in this one.

Stink

You don’t have to wear a garish shirt saying “F*&k You” to offend --- just skipping the soap is more subtle, but just as egregious.  A few years ago, a flyer did that, and ended up – well being kicked off.  According to ABC News, when passengers on an Air Canada flight to Montreal complained about a foul-smelling flyer, the stinking man was told to leave the plane and clean up his act.   A fellow passenger told ABC News, "People were just mumbling and staring at him. The guy next to me said, 'It's brutal.'

Be wasted

Visibly wasted flyers are about as welcome on a plane as a rat is in the kitchen.  Pretty much all airline  carriage contracts contain clauses specifically stating this. For example, US Airways' contract, states the airline can refuse transport to passengers who "appear to be intoxicated or under the influence”.  

Seems like some bone-heads not only missed the memo, but lack brains too.  Singer John Rich (of Big & Rich), was removed from a Southwest flight for being too drunk, and an intoxicated Bahraini prince, lost his seat on British Airways. Clearly these airlines offer no special treatment for the rich and famous) .  Good!  And if you appear drunk but are really sober, you’re as idiotic as Rich – and your ticket could be in jeopardy. I read a story about a sober woman, kicked off a Southwest flight because a gate agent thought she was intoxicated. After being hoofed, she got a toxicology test.  Her blood alcohol level was less than 0.003. Nevertheless, she wasn't permitted to board that initial flight.

Seen any idiots on a plane lately?  Let me know – it could be worth a chuckle.

Vegas - Oh so good and Oh, so bad!

The good news? Las Vegas showcases the best the United States has to offer.  The not-so-good?  It also showcases the country’s worst.

I love Vegas.  I’m not ashamed to admit it.  It’s bundles of fun.  The city never sleeps.  You  can do what you want, when you want it – as long as you can pay for it.  It’s perhaps the purest example of capitalism one can find – and there’s nothing wrong with a solid dose of it from time-to- time, just to keep things in perspective.

Vegas is built on illusion, trickery and facades to survive– and that it not only is surviving, but thriving - is proof positive the city’s on to a winning formula.  That also means the tricks and illusions have to get more impressive year-after-year.  It's city where we all go to be wowed.

I can hang, eat, drink, gamble and be merry with the best of them, (my close friends can attest) but this last week, I smelled, saw and heard some stuff during my 4-day stay there, that frankly, is disturbing.

Remember the lovely coconut aroma permeating the air in the Mirage and Mandalay Bay, or the old-lady perfume smell in the Venetian.   I asked employees at each of these hotels if they pump this scent through the air system.  The answer?  Nope!  Well, a little research revealed otherwise.  Aroma Systems Inc. manufactures the devices that do just that. And they list these and other Vegas resorts as their clients. Visit their website and see for yourself.

Vegas is so unreal and so far from the general populace’s reality that it’s actually dangerous.  A few years ago, one of the think-tanks surveyed ten-thousand tourists, each of whom had been to Paris, London, Sydney and the Vegas strip for vacation, (there’s nothing slouchy about any of these places).  Three guesses which city caused each tourist to be most depressed when leaving?  Well – you won’t need three guesses silly – Vegas caused more depression than the other three cities – combined!  Here’s why:

1.      The Vegas strip is to civilization what North Korea is to human rights.  In other words, there is no notion of civilization on the strip.  Yeah, there are world class shows like numerous Cirque Du Soleils, famous magicians, singers and celebrity chefs, but that’s about as close to civilization as you’ll get on the strip.  It’s uncivilized that you won’t find a clock in a casino.  That’s because the passage of time represents reality – and who really wants that.  It’s even more uncivilized that you cannot find a newspaper on the strip --- again, newspapers are harsh bitter reality – reality that’s about as welcome as a festering rash on a baby’s bum. 

2.      It’s all – and only about the buck.  Think watching an iPad disappear before your eyes is neat?  Well, no need to pay Kris Angel or David Copperfield two bills.  Just leave yours unattended for 4-6 seconds.  Poof – t’will be gone. Everytime! 

3.      Everything is fleeting.  I was in the Mirage on election night --- what was on the hundreds of TV monitors scattered throughout?  Not the election results, but college football.  Am I kidding?  Hell no!

4.      The strip is designed to consume your mind, body and soul, (not to mention your pocketbook).

a.      I almost lost my mind walking down the strip when I ran into two (obviously very very inebriated) middle-aged women physically entangled with one-another in an awful cat-fight.  Trust me, it was not a pleasant sight – but that was nothing compared to a bunch of 6 twenty-something testosterone-filled young men, egging them on.

b.      It’s hard on the body knowing The Bellagio, Caesars Augustus Tower and Treasure Island all have an architectural feature designed to trick the eye into seeing the buildings as smaller (thus closer) than they really are. Each window covers four rooms on two floors. Wynn Las Vegas uses the same trick, in that there are two floors between each white stripe. Click here to see some examples. 

c.       The soul?  There ain’t no soul on the strip baby!  It’s best summed up in a song by Sheryl Crow.  “Leaving Las Vegas” one of my favorites --- “Life springs eternal on a gaudy, neon street. Not that I care at all. Spent the best part of my losing streak in an army Jeep from what I can recall. Oh, I'm banging on my TV set.  And I check the odds and I, and I place my bet.  Pour a drink and I pull the blinds.  I wonder what I'll find”.

The bottom line.  It’s a city you either love or you hate.   Personally, I love it – I can draw the line between the artificial bling on the strip and my life - I know full well Vegas represents the diametric opposite of everything the mind, body and soul of John Sacke stands up for and believes in.

Meanwhile, I’m gonna get to rounding up a bunch of friends so we can plan our next trip back.  Viva Las Vegas!