Wellness breeds this benefit most never consider

professional speakers
Ballrooms and Boardrooms are a professional speaker’s office

A facilitator’s job is to help others ReThink, UnThink, DeThink. This privilege is bestowed to those who are not afraid to speak in public. Yet there’s a significant difference between good and very good teachers, and the excellent ones.

Calm self-confidence is as far from conceit as the desire to earn a decent living is remote from greed. – Channing Pollock

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Insight: The more confident you are, the better you are at what you do.

Aunt Ruth, by Lorie Sheffer Guest blogger

Aunt Ruth and her husband, 1930's, possibly at Longwood Gardens (PA)
Aunt Ruth and her husband, 1930’s, possibly at Longwood Gardens (PA)

When Jeff Noel and Lorie Gotwalt first became acquainted on the playground of Thomasville Elementary, the year was 1965 and she was 54 years old. One year older than Jeff and I are today.

The year she was born, King George V – the father of King George VI, who was portrayed in The King’s Speech- ruled England.

Penicillin was not to be discovered for another 17 years, or be used to treat bacterial infections for almost 30 years.

The first Indianapolis 500 was held with the winning car reaching an average speed of 74.56 MPH.

Her life spanned airmail through email.

The median household income was $520.00 a year. Milk sold for  $.17 a gallon and a new car cost about $750.00. This was also the time Louis Chevrolet opened his car company and the first public elevator went into use in London, England. Crisco shortening was being introduced to home cooks, and the US Navy acquired its first airplane.

California became the 6th state out in the US to grant women the right to vote, with hopes that the rest of the 40 states would soon follow.

She was born when William Taft was President, and she lived through the Administrations of Woodrow Wilson, Warren Harding, Calvin Coolidge, Herbert Hoover, Franklin Roosevelt, Harry Truman, Dwight Eisenhower, John Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson, Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, George H.W.Bush, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama.

She lived through two World Wars, a Cold War, a Forgotten War, the Vietnam War, Gulf War and War on Terror. She experienced The Great Depression, several recessions, saw people march for civil rights, and tuned in to the TV coverage of the assassinations of JFK, RFK, and MLK, Jr. She read of and listened to her radio, for updates on the attacks on Pearl Harbor and watched TV to see in real time as the terror of September 11th unfolded.

She was able to recall a time when people dressed like the characters on Downton Abbey, and also remember what a man wore to walk on the moon.

In her life, she married and had two daughters and several grandchildren and great grandchildren. She loved animals, and always had pets in the house. She was a wonderful cook and had an amazing sense of humor. If not for the fact that she had passed the century mark with her mind still intact and her wit as sharp as ever, she would have passed through this world as just another ordinary housewife and mother.

She will be laid to rest today. For the first time in 102 years, the world will go on without her.

ReThinking our midlife elevator speech

speaking gigs
you get to speak to a million people, one gig at a time
speaking events
only using a third of the capacity

Yesterday was a travel day, a work day – The Renaissance to O’Hare, O’Hare to Detroit Metropolitan and on to the Westin Southfield.

Four years ago I embarked on a 100-day challenge to leave a trail for our young son in case something bad ever happened to me…

Inspired by The Last Lecture, and determined to fulfill a college promise, the writing began. Never (repeat NEVER) dreamed, not even for a second, it would feel impossible to stop.

So many things in life that should be mandatory we don’t stop. Ever. Are they obvious?

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Four minor midlife miracles from yesterday

living intentionally
live life like you mean it, which includes intentional and unintentional discoveries

Four minor midlife miracles from yesterday:

  1. Watched the final Presidential debate, alone in a hotel room
  2. Got an elusive (and optimal) eight hours of sleep
  3. Wrote the five daily blogs 14 hours later than normal
  4. Exposed to a very positive blind spot

Here’s what those four mean:

  1. Neither candidate inspired me, and inspiration is the real work of leaders
  2. Wanted eight hours so bad I could taste it
  3. One cannot make a claim that is untrue – figure out how to deliver
  4. Intentional living is impossible to disguise (it would seem)

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Thriving anywhere, all day, every day?

wake-up calls
Four car pile up… at first glance, no one was hurt… a lucky break… a “soft” wake-up call?

By the time we reach midlife, we are fully entrenched in our daily habits. It is what is it is. But it does not have to be unchangeable. But if it is to change, there is one person, and one person only who can envision it and carry it out. No matter what. No matter how long.

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