DO WHAT YOU LOVE | HAVE FUN
Two Minutes And Twenty Two Seconds
It all began when I sold a balloon bicycle for $495.00.
I was going to Portland, Oregon, to attend the World Domination Summit.
They had an open invitation to all participants to have an opportunity to speak from the stage. “Send us your inspirational story that you want to share. You will have two minutes to speak.”
They chose thirteen speakers out of 364 entries received. I couldn’t believe I made the final cut. I give credit to my Toastmasters training, to be able to put together a concise message in a short amount of time.
I got there on Thursday evening for the opening ceremonies and had a blast making balloons for all the participants. I met many of my online friends face to face for the first time.
The summit began on Friday morning with Dr. Brene’ Brown doing a full hour presentation on vulnerability. She wrapped it up by inviting the first two rows from the audience up on to the stage to make a fool of themselves by singing, “Don’t stop believing,” with her and the host Chris Guillebeau who is well-known as shy and introverted.
Talk about being vulnerable, and I thought I was special when they asked me If I wanted to sit in the front row.
The three-day program featured well know authors, bloggers, podcasters, and thought leaders like Jonathan Fields, Pamela Slim, Cal Newport, J.D. Roth, Chris Brogan, and Scott Harrison, to name a few.
Here is a two and half minutes clip of what it was like.
It was on the last day that I had the opportunity to tell my story from the stage in front of almost a thousand people. There were 13 of us who shared what we had done and what we learned from it.
There was a guy who had walked from the Atlantic Ocean in Delaware to the Pacific Ocean at San Fransisco.
There was a lady who had breast cancer and sang a parody on Ukelele.
A guy wanted to raise funds for girls’ education, so he dressed up in a skirt and blouse to get the message across.
And I talked about Three Lessons from Life.
When our session was over, and I came back to my seat, the guy who was watching my stuff showed me a tweet on his phone. Someone had tweeted one of my life lessons: Always have a big dream that can act as a beacon when you feel lost.
I tweeted back to thank her. She responded, “That was the only thing that spoke to me all weekend.” I was humbled.
You never know whose life you’re going to touch with your words. More importantly, you may never find out how that person used the inspiration gained from your words to change themselves and, in effect, change the world.
In a story I read last night, Amy Marley talked about Charity Water. The founder of that exceptional organization, Scott Harrison, was one of the Keynote speakers at the World Domination Summit that I attended in 2012. Watch his message that Amy has embedded in her story.
The Universe has trusted us by providing a platform. That platform is our life. How we live and interact with the world will determine how well we fulfill that trust.
Today is a new day, a new chance, and a new opportunity to make an impact.
What will you do with it?
As always, thank you for reading and responding.
Here are a couple of related stories:
Rasheed Hooda is a published author who has contributed to many of Medium’s top Publications; The Startup, The Ascent, P.S. I Love You, Rogues’ Gallery, and ILLUMINATION, to name a few. He is also a Top Writer on several topics. If you like his work, buy him a coffee, he drinks a lot of it.
