Keynote Speech for Ohio Pupil Transportation

This morning I keynoted a conference in Columbus Ohio for the Ohio Pupil Transportation. It was really very rewarding for me and certain the audience got a lot out of it. Besides the standing ovation, the hugs and accolades, I walk away with a revelation that I will never forget.

I was hired by a woman through a Speakers Bureau to keynote the conference. The woman's name is Sharon. Sharon introduced me. But you should be very mindful of what I'm about to share with you now. I was amazed and dumbfounded. To say the least, I was not prepared for happened to me.

Sharon went to the podium with my introduction. The moment she started reading the first sentence, she broke in the tears. From that point on, she kept crying and barely got through the introduction. I stood in the back of the room speechless and I was supposed to be the keynote speaker.

Up to that point, I was wondering why she was crying. Then she paused and said, "I knew she was going to be able to read the introduction without crying. This man changed my life three years ago."

She had seen me speak at the Oprah Land Hotel. And what I said resonated so well with her that she took immediate action to change her life. Now, this is not to brag about myself. It is rather to make this point...

With words we can change the world. Remember this: In the beginning was the word. We have to carefully choose what we say. Sometimes we may not be aware of the impact we are making on others. And part of the reason is because the impact is slow.

At the time when Sharon heard me, I was making a point in my speech about how some of the people in my tiny and impoverished village in Haiti used to tease me. Because I was so sick and deprived as a child, most of the people didn’t think I was going to survive. I remember I was six years old and I was fanning flies off my face and hardly breathing. A man came by to see the lady I was staying with.

The man told her that she was wasting her time me. And that I was not going to make it. Well, he was dead wrong. That was his prediction. God had a better plan. You see, there are people out there who will do or say anything to make you feel little about yourself. They will kiss you all over when you are around them. Then once you turn your back they begin to stab you.

I am sure you know some of those people. I am telling you, don’t let them get the best of you. Their predictions about you are out of pure jealousy. Do NOT internalize what they are saying about you. Besides, those people who don’t believe you are going to make it have never been there in the first place. Chances are if they have walked the path before, they would never try to discourage you.

Alright, that’s just a small segment of my entire speech. I covered many other points. In my book No Condition is Permanent (the title of the speech), I go into more details about how to create your own success.

How To Get Others To Remember You For A Lifetime

Have you ever met people who were so mean that you hated being around them? I bet if I ask you to think of people who really made you feel good in the past, you would immediately come up with some names.

Well, if I ask you to remember people who have hurt your feeling in the past, you'd be just as fast to come up with some names. I bet it woul be even easier for you to remember those people.

My question to you is this: Do you know why you can remember thoses names? It's because ten years from now, others will not remember what you said or did. But they WILL remember how you made them feel. We instinctively remember feelings.

Our feelings are very fragile and important to us. Unfortunately, there are those out there who feel good by making others feel bad. So, I'm challenging you to get into the habit of making others feel.

If you want to be memorable or be a part of someone's life forever, make them feel good. If you want it to be the other way around, it's your choice.

Quit Doing Things Right…Instead Do The Right Things

I am going to challenge you today to get into the habit of doing what brings results. It is crazy how we log on the internet and in a matter of a few minutes, we are lost. The very best thing to do is to turn off your email, instant messenger and browser while you are working on an important task.

There are many activities that we engage in that don't bring any results. But for whatever reason, we just can’t stay away. If you are a small business owner, there are hundreds of tasks calling for your attention. But to be successful, you don’t have to focus on all those tasks at once. Your focus should always be on three things at a time. It’s easy to get distracted and start engaging in trivial activities. Don’t let that be you.

Here’s how you can become a very highly productive individual:

Take a sheet of paper and draw a line in the middle. On the left side put “things to start doing” as a heading. And on the right side put “things to stop doing.”

Write down your daily activities and challenge yourself to stop doing the things that are not critical to your success. In order to save money and increase revenue, accountants practice zero base thinking. Whenever something is not critical to the company’s success, they get rid of it. You too should get into the habit of eliminating annoying tasks. It’s you may enjoy doing those tasks. But do they bring in revenue? Are they helping you to produce results?

And finally, go through your day thinking that at the end of the day you will have to tell an imaginary board of your corporation what you did to bring revenue to the company. Trust me, with that kind of attitude, you will achieve more in one month than an entire year.

Go ahead start putting this strategy into practice. It’s not about doing things right; it’s rather about doing the right things. I wish you incredible success!