Embrace the Struggle: Living Life on Life's Terms [Hardcover]

Zig Ziglar (Author), Julie Ziglar Norman (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 27, 2009

One of the leading stars in the "positive thinking" movement, Zig Ziglar has made a career out of telling people how to have a positive attitude, no matter what their circumstances are. But when a fall down a stairway onto a marble floor leaves him with a head injury, he is challenged with how to put the principles he'd been speaking about into practice. Ziglar's willingness to be transparent has him back writing and speaking with renewed energy before audiences in the tens of thousands to show that life on life's terms is still well worth living. Embrace the Struggle affirms the validity of the principles Ziglar has held true his entire life and includes not only his account of living positively through difficult circumstances; it also includes heartwarming stories of real people who encouraged him with how they put into practice these vital principles.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"For decades Zig Ziglar has been a champion of positive thinking. On the sixty-ninth anniversary of his twenty-first birthday, he declared he was 'refiring' rather than retiring. And despite a brain injury that's left him with short-term memory loss, he's still fired up. Anyone facing tough circumstances will find comfort and inspiration in Zig's encouraging message." -- Ken Blanchard, coauthor, The One Minute Manager® and Lead Like Jesus

"Zig Ziglar's Embrace the Struggle, written with his daughter Julie, is timely reading for me. As my wife and I grow older we know we will have to leave our home, where we have lived for over fifty years. But with Zig's guidance we can Embrace our Struggle with energy and with hope." -- John Sherrill, roving editor, Guideposts magazine

"My mood-swing patients who listen to Ziglar the most do the best. Embrace the Struggle is for everyone who faces challenges, whether medical or from life's stressors. Facing an unpleasant reality with a positive attitude can make all the difference. Zig explains his highly successful approach to traumatic brain injury with courage, common sense, and his usual humor." -- Leland M. Heller, MD

"Zig Ziglar understands life including its struggles and setbacks. If you want to live an abundant life by embracing all that God gives -- read this book written by one of the greatest Christians I've ever known." -- Jack Graham, pastor, Prestonwood Baptist Church

"Zig has one more valuable lesson to teach each of us. Living in the moment, right now, with the people you love and for a cause you believe in -- this is what matters. He is an inspiration and a national treasure, and each of us is better off because Zig Ziglar cares about making the world a better place." -- Seth Godin, author, Tribes

About the Author

Zig Ziglar has motivated the sales forces of multi-national corporations, as well as the thousands of individuals who have attended his seminars and read his books. He is the president of the Zig Ziglar Corporation and the author of the bestsellers Secrets of Closing the Sale, Success and the Self-Image, 5 Steps to Successful Selling, How to be a Winner, and How to Get What You Want.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 224 pages
• Publisher: Howard Books (October 27, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 143914219X
• ISBN-13: 978-1439142196
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.2 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (23 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #95,943 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Zig Ziglar has given us a timeless gift in EMBRACE THE STRUGGLE, October 31, 2009

By 

Debra Wilhelm - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Embrace the Struggle: Living Life on Life's Terms (Hardcover)

EMBRACE THE STRUGGLE is a most empowering, comforting book! I read it in an afternoon, re-read parts and highlighted quotes to use in the days ahead.

Zig and his daughter, Julie, have written a message which speaks to anyone who is struggling in some way - and who isn't? We can allow events in our lives to overwhelm us, or we can embrace the issue and let God lead us forward. The author's honesty about his head injury and the problems and blessings it has created in his life is a wonderful example for us all. The included stories of others who have faced struggles - health, finances, relationships, family, spiritual - can make us all see the value of facing life's difficulties and unexpected pitfalls with courage, faith, hope, and humor.

His message is spiritual, powerful, and uplifting. "If we accept that the past is the past, yesterday ended last night, and today is a brand-new day, we can have an attitude of hope."

Read this book and be inspired to "live life on life's terms"!

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Although this book is religious, the message is a valuable one to all people, independent of their religious beliefs, November 7, 2009

By 

Charles Ashbacher (Marion, Iowa United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Embrace the Struggle: Living Life on Life's Terms (Hardcover)

Motivational speakers and leaders of motivational seminars have to project a dynamic spirit of positive thinking and energy, for if they don't they will be out of the business very quickly. The cynical among us wonder if that is just their public persona or whether they keep that positive personality in their personal life when things go bad. Zig Ziglar has been working the motivational speaking circuit for decades to great success. However, in 2007 Ziglar fell down the stairs and suffered a head injury that seriously damaged his short-term memory. It is now so bad that in the course of answering a question, at the end of his answer, he will not be able to remember the original question. This book begins at that point in his life and describes actions that he has taken as well as describing a series of cases where others faced medical adversities, both personal and in their family.
The premise is that major difficulties befall everyone, even highly charged and positive motivational speakers and Ziglar is no exception. Adapting his seminars to a format where he is asked questions rather than reading from notes, Ziglar has continued his business of firing up and energizing crowds. The people, including Ziglar, profiled in this book have suffered from injury, serious illness, addiction and loss, yet they persevere, generally due to their faith in the plan of a higher power. Whether you believe as they do or have no time for the hypotheses of religion, the point that you can face adversity and cope with it remains a powerful one.
Getting paid a great deal to deliver positive speeches are one thing, keeping that positive attitude when your private life is going negative is another. In this book, Ziglar shows that he plays both sides of this boundary very well, even when things go bad for him personally, he manages to keep going, adapting to the changes when he cannot correct them.

19 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Torn, November 10, 2009

By 

Kevin L. Nenstiel "omnivore" (Kearney, Nebraska) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Embrace the Struggle: Living Life on Life's Terms (Hardcover)

I'm torn. On one hand, Zig Ziglar says nothing about Christian perseverance in 200 pages that I disagree with. On the other hand, what he says is slapped together with the hasty discontinuity of Lego blocks. This is his first book since he fell and injured his head two years ago, permanently changing his life. His story is inspirational, but it's also really, really long, and held together with little besides good will.

Ziglar is famed for inspirational talks on salesmanship and Christianity. In a way, for him these go hand in hand, since to be Christian is to sell Christ's message. And boy, does he ever. Helped by his eldest daughter and longtime editor, Ziglar uses his own triumph in the face of traumatic brain injury as a springboard into a motivating series of chapters on how to own your adversity and become a better Christian.

But Ziglar ties these chapters together with only the flimsiest of threads. Each chapter is driven by his or someone else's story of victory against long odds, but often, that's all it is, stories. These tales feel like a long string of altar-call testimonies. I'm glad people beat back addiction, injury, grief, marital strife, and other calamities. But if I wanted everyone to regale me with triumph over tragedy, I'd go listen in on an AA meeting.

Ziglar offers up some motivating Christian witness. But I have a hard time thinking that it's likely to change anybody's mind. I suspect that, if you begin reading with a strong faith in Christ, you'll finish up by praising His name, but if you don't, you won't. Perhaps this book will provide the right reader a much-needed kick in the pants, but I'm afraid it left me cold.