How to Measure Success

Hey Team. All right, so here we are again, and it’s another Monday. Zig Ziglar, I don’t know if you guys have ever heard of him, wrote one of his final books in his 80s called “Born to Win.” It was a great book. He’s written many other books and was a phenomenal speaker who did a lot around the sales arena and stuff. I imagine that Codie’s read a few of his books, but again, a phenomenal author and speaker.

One of the things that Zig Ziglar used to say was this: “You measure success by how much good you do for others.” It’s worth repeating.

“You measure success by how much good you do for others.”

How much good you do for others. Be valuable because nothing less will do. If you focus on value, being valuable because nothing else will do, if you focus on being good for others, there is no amount of success that you will have to worry about. Will people try to take advantage of you? Sure, that’s possible, but why are you doing it? Why are you doing what you’re doing? To be valuable. To be valuable to yourself, your family, your community, those around you, that you work with, your state, your nation, your country, your world. Be valuable because nothing less will do.

You can measure your success best by how much value you bring to other people. If you help enough people succeed in their lives for what they want, you will see yourself gaining all the things that you want in your life. That’s backward from the way a lot of people want to teach and train us to think, but it’s really true.

I just read a book by John Maxwell earlier this summer, and it was talking about high-road leadership. Taking the high road. Some of you probably heard the term low road. Low road leaders, low road people, is what can I get out of life? I don’t care who I have to take advantage of, I don’t care what I need to do. I just want something for me, and I’m the only person I care about. Low road-focused.

Many of you right now, as I said, do you know anybody like that? Many of you just had two or three pictures of people in your life flash in front of your eyes. I know I have. I’ve experienced it. Then you have middle-road people. People that are on the middle-road. I will do for others because I want something back.

So if I get, it’s got to be 50/50. I want something from somebody else, so I will give as much as I can possibly get, and I would like to get just a little bit more than I give. If I give 55%, I want 59% back. If I give $100, I would like to get $108 back. I want an 8% rise in my interest rate. Middle-road. I only give as long as I get, and if I don’t get, then I stop giving. Whether it be money, resources, investment, whatever it is, I will only give as much as I plan on getting back. If my relationship with you is at any time I believe that I am giving more than I’m getting, then I will give less. I will stop investing because of it. That is that middle road.

So I agree with John Maxwell on that purpose. High road leaders, high road people, people who take the high road, give not because they expect anything but because they want to see their society flourish. They want to see people thrive, they get joy in watching other people succeed. They get excitement in watching others benefit. That is that high road focus.

It was a great book. I really enjoyed it. John seems to be able to write books faster than I can read them. Amazing guy. I would love to sit down and have a chat with him because he is just an amazing guy. I have benefited so much from his leadership and from his books that he’s written over the years.

But I have to be honest with you. Where do you stand? Are you focused on giving only to receive? Are you focused on giving nothing but just wanting to get, get, get? Or are you focused on helping others? I like what Zig Ziglar said again: You measure success by how much good you do for others. If you help enough people get what they want in life, you’ll find yourself blessed long-term.

In my marriage, I’ve been both low-road, middle-road, and high-road thinker. I think we all have, whether it be marriage, life, parenting, work, society, or church. It doesn’t matter what it is. I think we’ve all been on each of those roads at some point in our life. I know I have.

Even in my marriage, I’ve been middle-road. I’ll give as much to Karen as I think I’m going to receive, and I want a little bit more from her than I can possibly give. I’ve been low road. I only want something, I don’t want to give anything. I just want what I want. I’ve been that in my marriage, and I can tell you both of those roads are sucky. They are covered in mud. You get stuck easily. You find yourself not getting nearly as much as you think you’re going to get. It’s never satisfying.

Then there have been times that I’ve given in my marriage not because of any other purpose but because I just care so much for Karen. Those moments have given me dividends a hundred times what I ever gave because I have received not just the joy in giving, caring, loving, and sharing, but it has benefited me on the back end in so many different ways. I can honestly say that the same is true in work relationships that I’ve had and things that I’ve done with clients. It is a blessing to give more than you receive. It is a blessing to think of helping others succeed in life and benefit long term for them. I have benefited because of my desire to give and help others in that way.

I’ve seen what it does to help others succeed. It’s one of the reasons I do these videos. It’s one of the reasons I care so much about you and the rest of our team. I want you to exercise that faith in helping somebody else not for personal gain, not just to get something for yourself, but to see somebody else get something they need. Help somebody achieve their goal and watch your goals also be met. I promise you it works. Test me on this. You will find it to be very true.

All right, so God bless you guys. Have a wonderful, exciting, and beneficial week long term, and I will see you next week. Remember, let’s be valuable because nothing less will do. See what you can do to help somebody else succeed. Find yourself succeeding in that process. God bless you. See you next week.