Carpe Diem Baby

I am starting to think this is my personal blog rather than a group blog. Either that or everyone else has a life and stuff to do and the best thing I have going on is this blog. However that may be, I just had the most amazing day and I simply have to share it with the world.

Today I attended the "Get Motivated" seminar series at the Austin Convention Center. The event started at 8AM. My friend and I left home at 7:20AM but we got stuck in traffic and circled around a bit trying to find parking so we didn't make it into the hall until 8:40AM. 

The first speaker we heard was Mr.Krish Dhanam. Mr. Dhanam is a trained sales person and a professional motivational speaker. My favorite line from his speech was "Political correctness will be the death of this nation" - the nation in question being America. I also loved his introduction- "I am an Indian by birth and an American by choice". Captures the essence of his mindset very nicely. Suffice to say- he started the day with quite a bang for me. I was captivated.

The next two headliners to speak were Generals Colin Powell and Stanley McChrystal. Mr. McChrystal was interesting and of course he has quite a presence but I do not remember much from his speech. Mr. Powell on the other hand was an impressive speaker. He focused on leadership and his best line for me was "A leader focuses on his follower-ship". Another poignant part of his speech was when he described the mental tribulation that accompanies a step down from power. I had never given much thought to the day after the  Presidential swearing in ceremony. The President and his cabinet are now just common people where they had been the leaders of the free world the night before. Imagine the attitude adjustment that transition demands!

After a lunch break, we got to hear from my top three speakers of the day. First up was Mary Lou Retton. Her speech was preceded by a quick video showing the moments leading up to the first non-eastern European and first American all-around Olympic Gold in gymnastics. I think I would've been hard pressed to find anyone in that room who did not have goose-bumps after watching that video. Ms. Retton's story was just dripping with inspiration. A perfect underdog tale that was delivered with so much passion, I was all choked up when she left the stage. She was followed by the legendary Bill Cosby. Mr.Cosby's theme was Do It. He essentially elaborated on the theme that God helps those who help themselves- the catch being that we must be willing to *do* something other than whining and/or praying. It was funny and absolutely riveting. My list of favorites was rounded up by football coach extraordinaire- Lou Holtz. In terms of delivery and content combined, Mr. Holtz was the leader of the pack today. He spoke about success and what it takes to get to a state of being successful. His simple three point formula- Do the right thing, give your best to everything you do and show people you care- resonated so much with me. I am grateful to have had the opportunity to hear him present it.

The last two headline speakers were Rudy Guiliani and Mary Buffet. Mr. Guiliani's speech was well thought out and well presented. Ms. Buffet's presentation was the most canned of them all but she had words of investing wisdom to share from her famous mentor, Warren Buffet himself.  The only speaker we missed was the former President and CEO of Southwest Airlines- Howard Putnam. 

All in all- a day well spent and truly motivating. I will be back soon with what this day meant to me. I have to rush now to prepare for a work meeting.

Until then- stay inspired...

Dora.. Out.. Woof.