Forget Your Ego, Take Good Advice
By Zig Ziglar
As I mentioned earlier, my career - especially until I reached age 45 - has been a roller coaster. I had an extraordinarily difficult time getting started in the world of sales, but after P.C. Merrell inspired me, my career took off big-time. For the next four years, my success was unbelievable.
Then I stopped growing and started swelling. The results were catastrophic. In the following five years, I was in 17 different companies. Some of those companies were just slick new deals, but others represented real opportunities. However, my ego had reached the point where I actually believed that I had the answer to everything.
If the company I was working for didn't buy into my brilliant suggestions, I said, "I don't have to put up with this!" And off I went to a company that appreciated me. As I left, I predicted failure for that company, though it may have been in business for 50 years.
Seventeen deals in five years. Many of them were "get-rich-quick" deals, but after five years, not only had I not gotten rich quickly, but I hadn't gotten rich at all. As a matter of fact, I was getting deeper and deeper into debt. Finally, I decided to do something that I had vowed that I never would do: get back into the cookware business, where I had earlier enjoyed remarkable success.
The president of the Saladmaster Corporation in Dallas made me a significant loan, bailing me out of a really tight spot, and I was back in the cookware business. I was a franchise dealer in Columbia, South Carolina. Soon after I joined the team, the division supervisor came to visit with me and offer some suggestions. He had been a preacher all his life and had gotten into the cookware business to pay his daughter's medical bills.
To be honest, I thought that I knew more about the cookware business than this man did and that I should be the supervisor. Consequently, I didn't like the fact that he was my boss, and my ego and attitude stopped me from being in much of a listening mood. However, as he talked, I realized that in the last five years I had jumped from pillar to post and had less than nothing to show for it.
One of the man's statements made a great deal of sense. He said, "Zig, you are an excellent salesman - one of the best I've seen. But your ego makes you vulnerable to being manipulated. People brag on you, feed your ego, and lead you to believe that you can do things that simply are not doable. You've tried virtually everything that's come down the pike, and your results have not been very good." Then he said, "Now, Zig, I'm going to give you some advice. It's free... And as you know, most free advice is worth about what it costs, but let me offer a suggestion: "You've set some records in this business. You've gained some national respect as a result. But, Zig, the next time one of these 'good deals' comes your way, why don't you put the blinders on. Tell the person that regardless of how attractive the offer is, you've made a commitment. You're going to stay in this business until you stabilize yourself from a financial point of view and rebuild your reputation as solid and dependable, instead of just flashy and always looking for a 'deal'. Zig, if those deals are all that good, they'll still be good a year from now. And if they're not good a year from now, they're not good now.
Though I hated to admit that I had an ego problem, I recognized the wisdom of what my supervisor was telling me. Things were tight for a number of months, but thanks to much hard work and that commitment to stabilize myself, I managed to finish fifth in the nation out of over 3,000 franchises that year. The following year, I was number one in personal sales in the United States.
Regardless of what you may think of the messenger, listen to the message. My supervisor gave me some of the best advice I've ever gotten, and over the years, we developed a genuine friendship. I would have missed a great deal had I not swallowed my ego, put my nose to the grindstone, and gotten back on sound financial ground.
I sincerely hope that hour haven't missed great opportunities because of a swollen ego, and I sincerely hope that if you have, you recognized your ego as the culprit of your demise. Nothing knocks you down a notch quicker than an inflated opinion of yourself. Don't get me wrong; being proud of your accomplishments is good, but when you start thinking that you know more than the next person, watch out!
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Zig Ziglar (Dallas, TX) is an internationally known authority on high-level performance. He is chairman of the Zig Ziglar Corporation, which is committed to helping people more fully utilize their physical, mental and spiritual resources. His I CAN course has been taught in more than 3,000 schools, and hundreds of companies use his books, tapes and videos to train their employees. Zig has traveled more than 5 million miles throughout the world as a speaker and lecturer. He addresses over 300,000 people every year at the Peter Lowe Success Seminars and at businesses, sales organizations, schools and church groups. He also reaches countless numbers through television and radio appearances. Zig is the author of several best selling books, including Zig Ziglar's Secrets of Closing the Sale, Raising Positive Kids in a Negative World, See You at the Top, which has sold over 1.5 million copies, and his two most recent books, Over the Top and Something to Smile About. He also develops and markets training audio and videocassettes and other motivational and selling tools for worldwide distribution. His works have been translated into 32 different languages.
From Success For Dummies by Zig Ziglar. Copyright© 1998 Hungry Minds, Inc. All rights reserved. Used here by permission. For Dummies is a registered trademark of Hungry Minds, Inc.
Reprinted with permission from MentorsMagazine.com
I think this article says it all. A man that was already at the top of his field started sinking c'os he thought he knew it all and was better then every body else.
Things only turned around for him after he decided to take good advice from a mentor and take back control of his life.
Hope you enjoyed the article.
Best wishes & Shalom,
Peter
Mentors Club