The 5% Difference

Tom Ziglar, proud son of the great speaker and author, Zig Ziglar, had this to say about his dad and the way he approached life on his blog recently:

I am sure you are familiar with the headlines “make this your best year ever!” So how do you make 2009 your “best” year ever?

I think you can learn a lot from how Dad would prepare his speeches. He would invest hours and hours studying (for many years at least three hours every day) and then he would spend three or four hours preparing for and “fiddling” with his next speech. What amazed me is that his next speech would appear to me to be just like his last speech, but if you listened closely there was always a slight change.

No matter how good the reviews from his last talk, Dad always tried new things and customized the next talk. Without realizing it, Dad was benefiting from the 5% difference. Every speech, short or long, was always about 5% different and new from the previous one.

Some of the changes became permanent while others only got prime-time once.So how do you make 2009 your “best” year ever? Determine the three or four things that you do that have the greatest impact in your personal life and your professional life, and every day study how you can make them better, and then put in an extra 5%. Now you have set a new standard for yourself! As the shampoo instructions say: Repeat!

Simple things that demonstrate The 5% Difference
1. Write your spouse or child a love note
2. Go one more minute in your workout
3. Prepare three minutes before your big phone call
4. Get to work ten minutes early
5. Trade a bad food choice for a good one
6. Write a list of seven things you can do this week, and then do one each day

The Magic Pill

Tom Ziglar, Zig's son, recently wrote this regarding how to truly improve:

It seems that when it comes to improvement, almost everyone is searching for the Magic Pill. Give me something I can take, something that I don’t have to think about or even believe in, that will work. And it better be a “one and done” Magic Pill, because if you are talking about commitment or work, don’t even talk to me.

The truth is, the Magic Pill does exist, but unfortunately it is not a pill. It’s called accountability. Crazy as it sounds, being held accountable to what you have committed to do actually works! The problem is, if you agree to being held accountable, that means you have agreed to Personal Responsibility. Yikes! Now that is completely out of the question! How can you actually suggest that people should take Personal Responsibility for what they have agreed to do?

That is a great question.

A few weeks ago I wrote about the Truth At Work roundtable groups that have started in NW Ohio and SE Michigan. These groups are extremely powerful because each member, in essence, has a built in board of directors who can advise them in their business and personal lives.

One of the most powerful parts of these roundtable meetings is the accountability portion. Each member shares one thing he/she would like to start doing or stop doing in their personal lives and in their business. Then a fine is determined for each. So, if they are not able to accomplish their goal, they must pay a fine (or some other penalty) which goes into a fund that will be given away at the end of the year.

Have you ever had a goal to lose weight? Have you ever told someone else that goal? If you did, I bet it helped you to achieve your goal. That is why Weight Watchers is so effective.

So if you truly want to change, find someone to hold you accountable.