Choose To Win By Tom ZiglarSample

What is your definition of success?

Unfortunately, way too many people have the wrong definition. Success is more than money, or fame, or nice stuff. I heard a radio advertisement for a law firm specializing in child custody cases. It talked about the number of men who had traded their health and their family relationships for career success, and even though they now had a lot of money, they couldn’t buy back their health or their families. If you are going to live to win, you need balanced success in all seven areas of life: mental, spiritual, physical, family, financial, personal, and career. I learned this concept from my father, Zig Ziglar, at an early age, and I grew up watching him work daily on each of these areas. 

Success and happiness are circumstantial, based largely on cause and effect. This is good, but it also can be temporary and dependent upon the next thing you do, and the next thing you do, and the next thing you do.

The why of significance is simple. Happiness is fantastic, but there is something even better: joy. Joy is the by-product of significance. 

Pure joy comes when you help other people. Joy is the fruit of your labor when your words and your actions allow others to release the potential inside of them. This is why being a parent can be so fulfilling and joyful and so frustrating and overwhelming at the same time. Our hearts want the best for our children, and there is no greater joy in life than helping your own children unleash their potential. Joy is not dependent on circumstances or how you are personally doing. You can experience joy at any moment.

The why of success is good. The why of significance is better than good!

Moving from success to significance often requires spending time in the furnace—and none of us enjoy being in the furnace. How many times in your own life have you given or received advice that was meaningful and helpful only because the advice was purified in the furnace of life? . . . Are you in the furnace right now? Change your mind-set, knowing the time in the furnace is preparing you for significance.