The Resilient Mind
When Your Attitude Changes, Everything Changes (Original Seminar) - Zig Ziglar
24 May 2026
Chapter 1: What is the importance of a positive mental attitude for success?
Now, folks, I don't read minds. Neither does anybody else. But if I could, as you're listening to this tape, and those of you in the live audience, I'm going to tell you what's on a lot of your minds right now. Well, now, Zig. I mean, fella, that's a little much. I mean, you're making an awful lot of claims. You expect me to make all of those claims?
Why, Zeke, even if I've got the seeds, those seeds are awfully small and awfully weak. I'm so weak in most of them, Zeke. How could I honestly do that? You can honestly do it because in the book of Joel... Old Testament, the book of Joel, the third chapter and the tenth verse verbatim says this. Let the weak say, I am strong. Let me tell you a story. A couple of years ago I was in Las Vegas.
A lady came up to me and she said, Mr. Ziegler, I have three daughters. Two of them honor students. Every year honor students. My other one also went to school. Now, she said she was so overwhelmed by the older two that she just knew she didn't have a chance. And she bought this philosophy that you're talking about right now. She bought this qualities of success idea.
She bought the idea of looking herself in the mirror and claiming these qualities. Mr. Ziegler, I'm here to tell you that last year, by a minute fraction of a point, she beat both of her older sisters. Now, ladies and gentlemen, am I saying this makes you smarter? Absolutely not. But I want you to notice what the qualities are. I'm honest and intelligent, and I'm a hard worker.
As she started claiming these, she started seeing herself in that light. She started visualizing. She started thinking better. She started working harder. And yes, then, she released what was there. Turn of the century, down in Beaumont, Texas, a man had bought some property there. And the oil companies came to him and said, hey, we believe we got oil there. Let us drill for it.
We hit it, we'll pay you royalties. He had nothing to lose, everything to gain. And so they started drilling. And the oil well came in. And the first year it pumped out 18 million barrels out of that field. It was spindle top. Most productive single oil well, oil field in history, oil well in history, spindle top was. And the man became an instant millionaire. Or did he?
You see, he'd been a millionaire ever since he'd acquired the property. But really, until the oil was discovered and brought forth, it had no value. Until you recognize, confess, and develop the qualities you have, you might as well not have them. It's the old story. You know, the person who won't read is no better off than the person who can't read.
The person who won't use the qualities they got is no better off than the person who hasn't got the qualities. And so what I'm really saying here is, yes, there are so many things that can. Now, I'm going to simply give you a couple of other little stories because I think they're so significant. In October of 92, I was in Birmingham, Alabama, doing a public seminar.
A gentleman came up to me and he said, Mr. Ziegler, I was in Montgomery three years ago when you gave this qualities of success talk. He said, you didn't put the card in the tapes in those days, so I put mine on. I've got this 5x7 card here, and he pulled it out, and it was pretty well dog-eared. He said, every morning and every evening for the last three years, I have claimed these qualities.
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Chapter 2: How can claiming your qualities lead to personal growth?
Last year alone, over 300%. Now he sells real estate. Do I need to tell you where the real estate market was in 1990, 1991, and 1992? But he said, let me tell you something else. Every other facet of my life is dramatically better. My relationships with my family. is so much better. My friend, you know, one of the qualities that we put up there is that I am punctual.
He said, when I read that one, I thought that was the funniest thing I'd ever read in my life because he said, you see, I've never been on time for anything. I was late more times for school than any kid who ever graduated from the high school in Montgomery. I was late for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. I was late for church, appointments, a golf game. I was late for everything.
Matter of fact, the joke was, hey, if you want to have lunch with him at 12, tell him it's 1130, and then he'll be there by 12. He said, I'd only been doing this a few days when I realized that that was a choice. But I didn't have to be late. I could choose to be there on time. He said, Mr. Ziegler, I haven't been late for anything in over three years.
And you'd be amazed at how much better I get along with my friends and family as a result of it. There's no question about the effectiveness of what we are talking about. Then the second paragraph, I, John Jones, I'm a compassionate, respectful, encouraging, who is a considerate, generous, gentle, patient, caring, sensitive, personable, attentive, fun-loving person.
I am supporting, giving, and forgiving, clean, kind, unselfish, affectionate, loving, family-oriented human being. And I am a sincere and open-minded good listener and good finder who is trustworthy. These are the qualities which enable me to build good relationships with my associates, neighbors, mate, and family. Now, something interesting about that.
You see, again, Joy's brother says you cannot consistently perform in a manner which is inconsistent with the way that you see yourself.
Well, you see, when you claim to be kind and gentle and loving and affectionate and caring and then chew your wife or your husband out or somebody in a restaurant or somewhere else, the minute you do that, your conscience will be pricked and you'll say, hey, that is not me. And you will change the behavior. I'm talking about something that is psychologically and theologically sound, folks.
Something that will make a difference in your life. There's no question about it. Every day you do this, morning and night. I'm a person of integrity with the faith and wisdom to know what I should do and the courage and convictions to follow through. I have the vision to manage myself and to lead others. I'm authoritative, confident, and humbly grateful for the opportunity life offers me.
I am fair, flexible, resourceful, creative, knowledgeable, decisive, and an extra miler with a service attitude who communicates well with others. I am a consistent, pragmatic teacher with character and a finely tuned sense of humor. I am an honorable person and am balanced in my personal, family, and business life.
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Chapter 3: What stories illustrate the power of believing in oneself?
Wednesday night, it bothered me so badly when I claimed to be a man of integrity, I could not sleep. This morning, when I read it again, Laurie, I knew I had to call you and tell you something. You see, Laurie, I bought the set of tapes and paid for them, his whole How to Stay Motivated series.
And he said, when I got back home, there in the bottom of my bag were the videotapes developing the qualities of success. And he said, I hadn't paid for them. And I'm embarrassed about it. I'm calling you to tell you I want to pay for them. And Laurie said, oh, don't be embarrassed about it. He said, accidents happen to everybody. Long pause. Laurie, it was not an accident.
When nobody was looking, I put them in the bottom of my bag. You see, folks, the eyes are the windows of the soul. You cannot look yourself in the eye and claim one thing and then behave in an entirely different way and it not get to you. I'm talking life-changing stuff. That's what this is all about. Do it every day for 30 days.
Then at the end of 30 days, pick the strongest quality which you have. And let's say that you are a very good positive thinker. But let's say that your organization skills can use some help. You take a three by five card and you write on it the top quality. I am tremendously positive in my thinking. And I'm getting better organized every day of my life. Now, an amazing thing is going to happen.
Every time you see, well, for example, how many of you have ever noticed that when you buy a Green Buick, everybody in town all of a sudden starts driving Green Buicks? Can I see your hands, please? All right. What's going to happen is every time you pick up a newspaper or magazine, there's going to be an article in there. How do you get better organized?
You go to a coffee shop and the people in the next booth are talking about how do you get better organized. Why do you even turn on the television? And they're talking about how do you get better organized. A company calls a meeting. Hey, we're going to have a seminar on how to get better organized.
You're going to become convinced very quickly that there's a conspiracy out there absolutely put together to help you get exactly what you want out of life. And you know what? You'll be right.
Because when you get right and you have direction in your life, you're going to be amazed at the number of people who not only will step aside to let you go, but they will give you a boost and make you get there even faster. When your attitude changes, everything about your life is going to change. Why is it important that this be taught? Not only in our family, but in our companies.
In our companies that we can teach the development of these qualities and values, according to the United States Chamber of Commerce, between $20 and $30 billion worth of merchandise is stolen by employees every year. 50% of the bankruptcies. Now understand, 98% of all businesses have 50 people or less. 50% of all bankruptcies are the direct result of employee theft.
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Chapter 4: How does attitude impact workplace productivity and theft?
She wants me to be spiritually sound and committed and faithful. Now, see, she does not want me to be relatively faithful. You know, you hear a lot about relativity nowadays. She wants me to be faithful, period. Wants me to have integrity, respect her, be unselfish, a good father, sense of humor. I think one of the reasons we get along so well is the fact that I do have a good sense of humor.
She has a fabulous sense of humor. She doesn't tell jokes. She's never told but three since we've been married, and she blew the punchline on two of them. We were on a, but just to give you an example, we were sometime back, we started, you know, every night before we turned out the lights, we'd just spend a moment or two just looking at each other.
A couple of years ago, we were on vacation, and we'd been driving that day a long way, and we got in bed, and a few seconds later, I turned the light out. She sat straight up in bed, turned the light back on. She said, you didn't look at me. I said, sweetheart, I did too. She said, no, you didn't. I said, I promise you I looked at you.
Okay, how did I look? I said, you're beautiful. You're absolutely gorgeous. Your eyes are just sparkling. You're sexy. She said, you did look.
Now... She wants me to be a good listener. Fellas, that's what your wife wants just about most of all, to be sensitive, compassionate, ambitious, considerate, generous, affectionate, gentle, patient. Wants me to have good manners, to be sober, and to be wise. So you know what I do? I put that on my three-by-five card, and I regularly look at it, and I ask myself, did I do it today?
See, it's a reminder, folks. We don't need to be told, but we do need to be reminded how do you get to accomplish those things. Bottom line is, my wife and I are more in love today than we've ever been. As I tell folks, if that woman ever leaves me, I guarantee you I'm going with her. There will be no question about that. Well, the question comes up then.
Ziegler, you talk a whole lot about psychological, theological, and physiological. You've talked about the things that everybody wants. You want to be happy and healthy and reasonably prosperous and secure and have friends, peace of mind, and good family relationships. I can't begin to tell you, folks, as I indicated earlier, I lost my oldest daughter on May 13th of this year.
Toughest thing any father or parent or mother has ever called on. Though the grief is intense, the tears are many. They're bearable simply because we have that peace that passes all understanding. We know where she is, and I equally well know that we will see her again. Psalms 24, 14. I enjoy becoming wise, so there is hope for me, and a bright future lies ahead for me.
Again, as I have said earlier, failure is an event. It is not a person. I believe with all my heart at this moment you have the keys to a much greater and brighter future. I believe with all my heart that if you will claim and develop these qualities and develop the specific skills your job or profession demands, that I really will see you. And yes, I really do mean you. Not just at the top.
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