As part of my keynote quest, I have been talking to people and trying to learn everything I can about crafting and sharing an inspirational message. I have watched numerous TED videos and have had wonderful enlightening chats with Patrick Lencioni and Ron Baker. I have talked to event planners and read everything I can get my hands on.
I vacillate from excitement about this project to absolute terror. What do I have to share that is worthy of a main stage? Who do I think I am? I haven't lead an organization, created a new device, built a non-profit organization, or had a breathtaking personal tragedy to overcome. I have never been a CEO or climbed Mount Kilimanjaro. By and large, I have had a pretty ordinary life. Sure there have been tragedies and heartache. I have had to work hard, change direction, start and stop and start all over again. I have lost sleep over finances and children and whether I was doing the right thing. I have struggled in jobs that weren't right for me and I have made tough decisions to walk away. I have spent way too many hours at work and haven't written enough thank you notes (just ask my Mom.) And we won't even talk about those Nuns in my head. But where are the big lessons, the earth-shattering truths?
And then it hit me.
That is precisely the point. The world is full of ordinary people trying to get by every single day. I have a passion for helping those people find their voice. I want to help them believe in themselves and do what they know in their heart is their thing. I want them to overcome their fear and take risks and do the thing they love instead of the thing that pays the best.
Everyone doesn't have to be a rock star or a CEO or the founder of a huge charity. Someone has to be the one cheering from the audience, the staff member who gets the work done, and the person who donates $10 for a worthy cause. You don't have to be bigger than life in order to inspire others, just be whoever and whatever you are.
That's my message. It's all I have. I hope it's enough.
I vacillate from excitement about this project to absolute terror. What do I have to share that is worthy of a main stage? Who do I think I am? I haven't lead an organization, created a new device, built a non-profit organization, or had a breathtaking personal tragedy to overcome. I have never been a CEO or climbed Mount Kilimanjaro. By and large, I have had a pretty ordinary life. Sure there have been tragedies and heartache. I have had to work hard, change direction, start and stop and start all over again. I have lost sleep over finances and children and whether I was doing the right thing. I have struggled in jobs that weren't right for me and I have made tough decisions to walk away. I have spent way too many hours at work and haven't written enough thank you notes (just ask my Mom.) And we won't even talk about those Nuns in my head. But where are the big lessons, the earth-shattering truths?
And then it hit me.
That is precisely the point. The world is full of ordinary people trying to get by every single day. I have a passion for helping those people find their voice. I want to help them believe in themselves and do what they know in their heart is their thing. I want them to overcome their fear and take risks and do the thing they love instead of the thing that pays the best.
Everyone doesn't have to be a rock star or a CEO or the founder of a huge charity. Someone has to be the one cheering from the audience, the staff member who gets the work done, and the person who donates $10 for a worthy cause. You don't have to be bigger than life in order to inspire others, just be whoever and whatever you are.
That's my message. It's all I have. I hope it's enough.
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