I had an uncle named Zig Ziglar. Zig wasn’t technically my uncle, but an uncle that I felt had adopted me when I began my career in direct sales at the age of 19. Millions of people around the globe called Zig “family” in some sense of the word. Zig proved to be a fountain of knowledge filled with an endless supply of ideas, stories, and a perspective that could pull anyone through the toughest of times.

Zig and I would cut through many cold Minnesota nights en route to my next sales call. His tinny Southern drawl booming through my car stereo would make me laugh, would nudge me out of the cab of my Chevy pickup truck to knock another door, and would always remind me that hard work, integrity, and consistent personal development would pave the way for my success in life. I find myself echoing several life lessons when I deliver motivational messages to audiences at conventions and meetings.

Here are my top 10 Ziglar nuggets of wisdom:
1. You can get anything in life that you want…if you just help enough other people get what they want.
2. You are the only person on Earth who can use your ability.
3. God gave you two ears and one mouth…use them accordingly.
4. Sometimes we all need a “Check up from the neck up.”
5. God created your body as a temple…how are you treating yours?
6. Failure is a detour, not a dead-end street.
7. There has never been a statue erected to honor a critic.
8. I’m so optimistic that I’d go after Moby Dick in a rowboat with crackers and tarter sauce!
9. What you get by achieving your goals is not as important as who you become in the process.
10. Many salespeople call themselves sales professionals, but are really professional visitors because they never close a sale.

The true measure of one’s life is not everything that they have done personally, but rather how they have impacted the people who are around after they have gone. By that measure, Zig will be missed, but his impact will be timeless!