“Give me a stock clerk with a goal and I’ll give you a man who will make history. Give me a man without a goal, and I’ll give you a stock clerk.”

J C Penny

My dad would have one of Zig Ziglar’s many tapes playing in his car every time we’d get in. It was inevitable that if you got in his car – the moment he turned it on you would hear the click of the tape deck and out would come Zig Ziglar. I don’t think my dad even programmed the station buttons on his radio.

I can almost recite some of his presentations word for word – and I can tell you firmly that they work. I remember being about 10 years old and writing down several goals using his method. The most audacious of the lot involved a goal I set 15 years in the future. And you know what? It worked. Even though I thought it was an impossible goal at the time. It was far too far away, too impossible for a kid from a rural school with a middling education and less than affluent upbringing. I followed his simple plan and led me along the way. Sure enough, it became reality.

I think we give far too little focus or credit in our efforts to help others on how very simple individual habits of success and simple goal setting will change a life. History shows that works infinitely faster and better than someone, some organization, or society to change things for you.