~~ A message from my keynote: 

AWESOME Living!

~~ A lesson from the

“Get Out of Bed and Go to Work!” Philosophy

The first step toward being A.W.E.S.O.M.E. is: Acceptance and Awareness of things as they actually are. This is crucial in obtaining a comprehensive and accurate understanding of where you are in your journey forward and in how you are accepted (or rejected) by those around you.

Given your power to Attract and/or Repel opportunity, the most crucial thing to be aware of is; Your Personal BO.

No, we are not talking about Body Odor; we are talking about your personal Blessings and Obligations. This is a twist on the pay it forward/ circle of life theory. Everything you do comes back to you; for every Blessing there is an Obligation and for every Obligation joyfully met you receive a Blessing.

Corny? Yes! But very real…

As a Cancer Survivor and professional speaker I am often asked to do favors by speaking at Cancer-Awareness type of events. Let me be brutally honest: I hate these events! I do not hate these events for any of the reasons you may assume. It is not that I must give of myself and my time on a volunteer basis; I like that part. It is because of my own lack of self confidence that I hate these events.

As a speaker I realize I am being judged, and it is much easier to be judged by people you don’t already know (i.e. “on the road”); and it is much safer to speak at a conference full of healthy people who are primarily looking to have fun first and learn second (i.e. “laugh and learn”); and quite frankly, if you fail in some way, a paycheck and anonymity (or at least the ability to get out of town) helps ease the pain and anxiety that these events can cause. While I want to perform well, I rarely feel a personal anxiety for paid events that include travel; it is not personal.

So, the combination of speaking in front of people I know (in some cases); or people that are, and/or have suffered; as well as doing it all as a favor, is an emotionally tough pill to swallow. Also, I feel like a hypocrite.

Carnegie Mellon Professor Randy Pausch addresses this well when referring to “The Last Lecture” (buy the book, or watch the video here) saying that he has long held his views and values but never shared them until he received his terminal diagnosis. He said his illness did not give him these beliefs, it gave him the moral authority to find and use his voice. My fight, more than twenty years ago with Testicular Cancer, was relatively simple (benign?) compared to some of the people likely to be in attendance at these events, and I am always afraid, like Professor Pausch, of sounding preachy.

In respects to my Personal BO (I was Blessed as a survivor and therefore had an Obligation to share and serve) and in consideration that Acceptance and Awareness are the first step in being A.W.E.S.O.M.E., I agreed to Accept the event and remain Aware of my doubts and fears. Here is what happened:

I openly and honestly shared my concerns with the audience, and I spoke sincerely of Blessings and Obligations. In doing so; in calling attention to the “elephant in the room” as Randy Pausch would say, I was asking those in attendance to help me. And they did. I got more eye content, more nods, more positive body language than any audience had ever given me before. I was stripped of the “burden” to be funny or inspirational and put completely at ease and, given my basic personality; I was funny and inspirational in an effortless and natural way.

As a professional speaker and consultant of common sense on issues such as Workplace Culture Change and Generational Conflict, I often feel a burden to produce results. I am also occasionally challenged that “you are just funny” but what did you accomplish? I am reminded that I cannot teach an expert how to be more expert in any given field, and that it is my blessing to use humor and powers of observation to allow experts to see a better and more practical path forward; to find within themselves the Awareness of their talents and an Acceptance of their responsibilities. For this blessing I also have an obligation to share these talents.

Look within, objectively and honestly, to uncover your own Blessings and Obligations and allow your own natural talents to flourish! Be confident that in sharing honestly your goals and desires with people, they will naturally help you achieve them; the law of attraction.

Immediately after I joyfully fulfilled my Obligation for this event I was approached by a young woman that had flown in for the weekend to join her grandmother for this Cancer Awareness event. It turns out she is the Chair of a Conference Planning Committee for a National Association and she Blessed me by hiring me on the spot for only my second National Convention!

I guess my Personal BO was one of Attraction?