Zig Ziglar on Goals

August 2, 2011 9:38 AM

Motivational speaker Zig Ziglar on goals (Youtube videos: part 1, part 2, part 3)
posted by shivohum (33 comments total)

I have a new goal now: never listen to Zig Ziglar again.
posted by jewzilla at 9:41 AM on August 2, 2011 [3 favorites]

I use that exact same voice when my goal is to seriously irritate my wife.
posted by DU at 9:45 AM on August 2, 2011 [4 favorites]

Zig Ziglar should have a goal more appropriate to his name, such as "being a glowing, mischievous sprite played by Wallace Shawn, introduced into the 10th season of a show, his gimmick being that he can grant wishes, but that he always twists the wording of the wishes in some pun-filled way, his catchphrase being 'that's now how do they do it on Zerplon!", followed by a close-up on his eyes rapidly crossing and uncrossing".
posted by Sticherbeast at 9:50 AM on August 2, 2011 [14 favorites]

He is like a minister right out of the church of corporate culture.
posted by TwelveTwo at 9:52 AM on August 2, 2011 [1 favorite]

Unfortunately I kind of needed this.
posted by coolxcool=rad at 9:56 AM on August 2, 2011 [3 favorites]

tl;dw: The immortal J. C. Penney many many years ago said "Give me a stock clerk with a goal and I'll give you a man who will make history. Give me a man with no goals and I'll give you a stock clerk."
posted by Obscure Reference at 9:58 AM on August 2, 2011 [3 favorites]

Motivational Speaking should be an official psychological disorder.
posted by longsleeves at 10:00 AM on August 2, 2011 [9 favorites]

Is he the cousin of Dirk Diggler?
posted by yoHighness at 10:02 AM on August 2, 2011 [5 favorites]

America likes goal-porn almost more than it does standard porn.
posted by jnnla at 10:04 AM on August 2, 2011 [3 favorites]

If you flip over that scripty "Zig Ziglar" logo in the background it kind of looks like two bunnies squirting a tube of toothpaste.
posted by mintcake! at 10:08 AM on August 2, 2011

I want to see Tommy Lee Jones play this dude
posted by asockpuppet at 10:08 AM on August 2, 2011

Dolph Ziggler?
posted by pyrex at 10:09 AM on August 2, 2011

I like Zig Ziglar. Thanks for posting this.
posted by Daddy-O at 10:12 AM on August 2, 2011

Years ago, my uncle told me about going to see this Zig Ziglar guy, and in part of his, um, "show", he had two very similar looking white plates, and said (and I'm obviously paraphrasing, here), "This plate here, in my right hand, is fine China, and cost twenty dollars. This one here, in my left hand, cost me fifty cents. Which one's worth more?"
Folks indicated the expensive one.
He smashed the expensive plate on the stage, and said: "Now which one's worth more?"
posted by Mister Moofoo at 10:22 AM on August 2, 2011 [1 favorite]

Can we start posting Tony Robbins and Werner Erhard videos too? How about some $cientology? Or if you prefer the more honest pyramid-type scams, how about Amway? Never heard of Amway? My friend, let me introduce you to a product so revolutionary it will change your life..
posted by doctor_negative at 10:24 AM on August 2, 2011 [10 favorites]

When I was in sixth grade, someone on the school board was chums with Ziglar (who lived 30 miles away, in Dallas). The middle school formed some sort of contract with his company. The first five or ten minutes of every class in sixth grade was devoted to some sort of Ziglar exercise. We had motivational worksheets to fill out, we sang along to recorded songs ("...because toDAAAAAY is the first day / of the rest of your life!", sung to the tune of Happy Birthday), etc. The thing I remember most was having to do "I Likes."

The "I Likes" were little scraps of paper with "I like __________" written on them. We had to fill in the blank with something we liked about someone else. We then gave the I Like to the person we wrote about.

I tell you what, sixth grade is hard enough on its own. And I understand trying to instill some positivity in kids during the absolute ugliest part of late childhood/early adolescence. I mean, these are the years when you're still worried about getting picked last for the kickball team, when you worry about how the other girls are developing into their bras faster than you are -- stuff like that. But while positivity is one thing, it was absolutely unconscionable for the school to codify that crap into its curriculum. The I Likes, a purported Ziglar motivational tactic, only made the importance of one's popularity explicit, condoned, and official.

I think I only ever got one, by the way. It said "I like your red suspenders." I still have it somewhere.

Fuck you, Zig Ziglar.
posted by mudpuppie at 10:37 AM on August 2, 2011 [17 favorites]

Zig Ziglar inspired a down-on-his-luck fellow to change his name to Ziggy and become a beloved comic strip character.
posted by orme at 10:40 AM on August 2, 2011 [1 favorite]

Take off every Zig.
posted by anazgnos at 10:42 AM on August 2, 2011 [5 favorites]

The immortal J. C. Penney many many years ago said "Give me a stock clerk with a goal and I'll give you a man who will make history. Give me a man with no goals and I'll give you a stock clerk."

Give me a man with a lot of money and an audience and I'll give you a man who makes a lot of sweeping generalizations about people and thinks his experience is universal.
posted by Hoopo at 10:47 AM on August 2, 2011 [15 favorites]

Give me a man with a lot of money and an audience and I'll give you a man who makes a lot of sweeping generalizations about people and thinks his experience is universal.

So, Oprah's a fan?
posted by fuse theorem at 10:58 AM on August 2, 2011 [3 favorites]

doctor_negative - funny you bring up amway - i am aware of zig ziglar because he was part of a pack of cassette tapes my parents bought when they were selling amway. i have a hard time separating him from the scam.
posted by nadawi at 10:58 AM on August 2, 2011

> Give me a man with a lot of money and an audience and I'll give you a man who makes a lot of sweeping generalizations about people and thinks his experience is universal.

Well, heck. Who doesn't do that?
where's my money?
posted by ardgedee at 11:07 AM on August 2, 2011 [1 favorite]

Zigged when he should have Zagged.
posted by Floydd at 11:19 AM on August 2, 2011

What on earth is he doing with his hands? "I'm rollllllling my meaning out to you here, then I'm sweeeeeeeping it over to my left--now it's coming right for you look out!"

Also, it's nice to know the phrase "plan of action" sounded just as dreary and hopeless in the 70s as it does today.
posted by mittens at 11:37 AM on August 2, 2011 [1 favorite]

GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAL!!!!!!
posted by Windopaene at 12:09 PM on August 2, 2011 [1 favorite]

He smashed the expensive plate on the stage, and said: "Now which one's worth more?"

Did Zig ever perform with Gallagher? He really missed a trick if didn't. Anyway, Zig can't hold a candle to my man Earl Nightingale.

"Some years ago, the late Nobel prize-winning Dr. Albert Schweitzer was asked by a reporter, 'Doctor, what’s wrong with men today?' The great doctor was silent a moment, and then he said, 'Men simply don’t think!'"

posted by octobersurprise at 1:16 PM on August 2, 2011

Admittedly, my uncle got into a lot of other pop-psychology stuff in the '80s, like NLP and Edward DeBono. I have no idea which of this stuff is crap and which isn't, because it all sort of reads as both to me.
posted by Mister Moofoo at 1:49 PM on August 2, 2011

I like the part where he told the story about how for 10 years he was "gonna" write a book, but the book didn't get written until he wrote it!

I think we've all learned something here, today.
posted by owtytrof at 2:16 PM on August 2, 2011

Man,oh,man I hate Zig Ziglar with the power of a thousand burning suns. He's been the uber- snake-oil salesman sales svengali forever. When I was new in sales in the early eighties, his crap was foisted on me at every turn.

It's all a schtick. It's been done by Dale Carnegie and Tony Robbins and Reverend Ike and lots of other dapper, blow-dried con men. I can spot a Zig Ziglar-following salesbag a mile away, and I have not - and will never - buy anything from one.

Life's not a contest or a sport. If you need a script, you're doing it wrong.
posted by Benny Andajetz at 2:58 PM on August 2, 2011 [1 favorite]

I'll tell you what I want, what I really really want,
So tell me what you want, what you really really want,
I wanna, I wanna, I wanna, I wanna, I wanna really
really really wanna Zig a Ziglar
posted by PeterMcDermott at 4:13 PM on August 2, 2011

Zig Ziglar brings back fond memories; when I was very young, my dad played Ziglar tapes in the car all the time.
posted by 2xplor at 5:26 PM on August 2, 2011 [1 favorite]

What Do You Do Guaranteed?
posted by sweetkid at 7:38 PM on August 2, 2011

If you wanna be successful,
You gotta buy Ziglar's tapes,
Attend Zig Ziglar's seminars,
With all those other apes,
If you wanna make a million,
Ziglar is your man,
Ziggy's got the toolkit,
Ziglar's got the plan

So tell me what you want, what you really really want,
I'll tell you what I want, what I really really want,
I wanna, I wanna, I wanna, I wanna, I wanna really
really really wanna Zig a Ziglar!
posted by PeterMcDermott at 9:24 AM on August 4, 2011