Quote of the day by Zig Ziglar: “What you get by achieving your goals is not as important as...” — Timeless life lessons from a motivational quote on ambition, self-doubt, perseverance, failure, personal growth, purpose and becoming your best

Quote of the day by Zig Ziglar: “What you get by achieving your goals is not as important as what you become,” a thought about the person we shape through our ambitions. The road to a goal can bring setbacks, doubt, hard choices and moments when progress feels slow. Ziglar’s words turn attention from the final reward to the quieter growth that happens along the way. They invite us to value character, resilience, purpose and self-understanding.

Quote of the Day Today: Inspiring life lesson on personal growth, meaningful success and becoming a better version of yourself

Quote of the day by Zig Ziglar: “What you get by achieving your goals is not as important as what you become by achieving your goals.”

— Zig Ziglar


The quote asks readers to look beyond the obvious reward at the end of a goal. A promotion, degree, award or financial gain can matter, but the effort behind it can change a person in quieter ways. Work may build discipline, patience or confidence. A difficult decision may sharpen judgment. Even an unsuccessful attempt can leave someone better prepared for what comes next.

Deeper meaning of the Zig Ziglar’s quote about achieving goals

Zig Ziglar’s point is that an achievement is only one part of success. The more lasting result may be the skills, habits and character developed while working toward it. Someone training for a new career, for example, may gain knowledge and discipline long before the desired job arrives. The final position is valuable, but those abilities remain useful after the immediate goal has been reached.

There is also a visible-versus-hidden difference in how achievement is judged. Other people may see the new job, finished degree or successful business, while they do not see the years of preparation, uncertainty and adjustment behind it. The person making that change knows what had to be learned along the way. That is why the quote shifts attention from what can be displayed to what has been developed privately.

Why does the struggle behind success matter?

Goals rarely unfold exactly as planned. A person may doubt a career decision, reconsider a relationship, struggle with a demanding project or discover that an original plan no longer fits. These internal experiences are often invisible to everyone else, even when the person appears calm and confident.

External pressures can make the process harder. A disagreement with a colleague can affect a major project. Family responsibilities can change someone's plans. A financial setback can delay a long-held ambition. Changing circumstances can force a person to learn new skills instead of following the original route.

What does acceptance have to do with achieving goals?

Accepting the reality of the process means recognizing that growth can happen alongside uncertainty, mistakes and delays. Conflict can be part of a relationship. Doubt can be part of a decision. Failure can be part of learning. None of these experiences guarantees a positive outcome, but they can reveal where adjustment is needed.

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Accepting difficulty does not mean accepting harmful situations or treating every setback as something desirable. A person should not remain in an unhealthy relationship simply because it might teach a lesson. Nor should avoidable mistakes be romanticized as necessary steps toward success. The more useful distinction is between accepting reality and surrendering judgment. Sometimes growth means continuing, and sometimes it means changing direction.

How can this quote change the way we see other people?

Zig Ziglar’s quote can change the way we see other people by shifting our attention from what they have achieved to who they have become along the way. We often judge people by visible measures such as careers, money, status or recognition, without knowing what it took to reach those points. The same is true when someone appears to have fallen behind. Their struggle may have taught them patience, courage or humility in ways that are not immediately visible.

The quote encourages us to look beyond the finished result and consider the experiences that shape a person’s character. It can also soften comparison, because everyone is becoming someone through a different set of challenges and choices. Seeing people this way makes room for greater empathy and respect. We begin to value qualities that cannot always be displayed or measured, including resilience, kindness, honesty, self-awareness and the quiet strength built through difficult seasons.

That perspective fits naturally with Ziglar's own public philosophy. His career was built around goals, sales, personal development and the habits he believed supported lasting success. The quote is therefore closely connected to the themes that shaped his work as an author and speaker.

Zig Ziglar’s early life and career

Hilary Hinton “Zig” Ziglar was born on November 6, 1926, in Coffee County, Alabama. He was the 10th of 12 children of John Silas Ziglar and Lila Wescott Ziglar. When he was five, his family moved to Yazoo City, Mississippi, after his father took a management position at a Mississippi farm. His father died the following year, and his younger sister died two days later, leaving his mother to raise the family.

Ziglar later attended the University of South Carolina through the Navy V-12 college training program between 1943 and 1945. He served during the World War II era and met Jean Abernathy during that period. After leaving college, he entered sales and eventually built a career in direct selling, where his experience speaking to customers and sales teams helped shape his later work as a professional speaker.

By the late 1960s, Ziglar had moved to the Dallas area. He initially worked in training before turning increasingly toward professional speaking. His sales background remained central to his public work, but his presentations expanded into subjects including goals, personal development, relationships and communication.

How did Zig Ziglar build his career?

Ziglar's publishing career began with Biscuits, Fleas, and Pump Handles in 1974. The book was later retitled See You at the Top, which became one of his best-known works. His speaking career grew alongside his books, taking him to audiences across the United States and internationally.

His work developed around a consistent emphasis on goals, sales performance and personal responsibility. He eventually established the Zigmanship Institute, the organization that became associated with the Ziglar name and continues to operate as a training company. The National Speakers Association honored him with its highest award, The Cavett, in July 2001.

Over his career, Ziglar wrote 32 books, with 10 appearing on major best-seller lists, according to the Zig Ziglar Award organization. His books and speaking programs were translated into more than 40 languages and dialects, helping turn his approach to sales and personal development into an international publishing and speaking business.

Zig Ziglar’s major works and public milestones

• “See You at the Top” — First published in 1975 after the earlier title Biscuits, Fleas, and Pump Handles, the book became a defining work in his career and introduced many of the themes associated with his goal-setting philosophy.

• “Confessions of a Happy Christian” — Published in 1978, it reflected the Christian faith that became an important part of Ziglar's public work after his religious conversion in 1972.

• “Courtship After Marriage” — Published in 1990, the book extended his work beyond sales and achievement into marriage and relationships.

• “Confessions of a Grieving Christian” — Published in 1998 after the death of his eldest daughter, Suzan, it addressed grief through the religious framework that informed much of his later writing.

• National Speakers Association recognition — The Cavett award in 2001 marked one of the major professional honors of his speaking career.

Zig Ziglar’s personal life and other activities

Ziglar married Jean Abernathy on November 26, 1946, after they met during his college years. They had four children: Suzan, Tom, Cindy and Julie. He remained married to Jean until his death in 2012 and was also active in church and community activities.

His personal life also intersected with some of the subjects he addressed publicly. After his eldest daughter Suzan died from pulmonary fibrosis in 1995, he wrote Confessions of a Grieving Christian. Following a serious fall in 2007 that caused a brain injury, he and his daughter Julie wrote Embrace the Struggle, addressing the changes that followed the accident.

Ziglar continued speaking until retiring from regular touring in 2010. He died from pneumonia at a hospital in Plano, Texas, on November 28, 2012, at the age of 86.

Life lessons from the quote

The quote offers several practical observations about how goals can be approached without reducing life to a list of achievement

• Do not assume the reward is the whole result: A promotion, qualification or financial gain may be important, but it is only one part of what the experience can produce.

• Remember what the process teaches: Pay attention to the skills and habits developed while working toward an objective.

• Understand that progress can be uneven: A delayed result does not necessarily mean that nothing useful is happening.

• Accept that goals can change: New responsibilities or information may make an old objective less suitable than it once seemed.

• Give yourself credit for development: Not every important improvement comes with an award, title or public recognition.

• Use setbacks as information: A mistake can show where preparation, judgment or planning needs to improve without making failure automatically valuable.

• Learn to look beyond appearances: Other people's achievements reveal the result, not necessarily the effort, pressure or uncertainty behind it.

• Keep the person in view: A goal matters, but so does the kind of person you are becoming while pursuing it.