Speak from the Heart

Inspiring the youth of Singapore

I had an opportunity to do something a couple of weeks ago that I have not done in a while.  It is something I am incredibly passionate about and fuels me up every time I get the chance to do it.  I had the honor and privilege to stand in front of 250+ students and share my heart with them.  I had the opportunity to share in a way that could potentially shape their future forever.  I had the opportunity to inspire and stimulate their minds to believe that they could create, be, do, and have anything in life that they wanted.  To them it may have just been a presentation that occupied one of their class periods, but to me, it was like having 250 pieces of clay with eyes to see, ears to hear, and a mind to create a vision.  To them they may have just been students, but to me, they were future leaders of families, communities, and companies. To them it may have been a talk about a job and a way to make money, but to me, they were future world-changers and world-leaders. 

How you view people will determine how you communicate with them.  How you view people will determine your ability to connect with them and for them to connect with you.  Believe in people and they will believe in themselves. Love people and they will begin to love themselves. Have a heart for people and watch your heart grow in the process. We begin to receive in proportion to that which we give to others.

Look for ways to contribute to people’s lives and watch your life change in the process. I guarantee it.

Love,

Matt

Perspective is EVERYTHING

This horse understands the power of perspective!

Hard work. Tenacity. Discipline. Passion. Enthusiasm. Charisma. Commitment. Growth. Contribution. Power. Communication. Compassion.  These are all the traits that come to mind when I think of the most successful people in the world.  They ooze these traits.  They live these traits. They structure their lives with these traits as the backbone. They use these traits to get stuff done and inspire others to follow them.  From the most successful leaders of households to the most successful leaders of companies, each carries with them the ability to tap into each of these traits on a regular basis.  As powerful as this list is, I believe the most powerful one of all has been left out – perspective.  Perspective is the ability to create empowering language around any situation.  It is the ability to create empowering language around situations that are pleasurable as well as painful.  Many people are equally paralyzed by pleasurable situations as well as painful ones.  Most people, when confronted with a pleasurable situation such as a great period of time in business, work, relationships, or health, they take their foot off of the accelerator and ride the wave of accomplishment.  They become immobilized from action because they just want to enjoy the ride.  This inevitably leads to a crash and burn which most interpret as pain which then leads to disappointment.  The person then has to make a choice whether or not to swim back out past the break in the ocean and look for another wave to ride in or to admit defeat and sit idly on the coast being an observer in life rather than an active participant.  Everything we do; every choice we make; everything in life we experience is either painful or pleasurable, mobilizing or immobilizing, based on the language we create around the experience. 

Listen, I know we would all love to permanently cruise down the pristine coastline on a permanently exhilarating wave, but the reality is that we are going to crash and burn at times and it is the choices we make while riding the wave as well as when we crash and burn that determines the quality of life we are going to live.  Or you can choose to ride a long, sissy wave but what is the fun in that? LOL

Let’s take a look at this. We paddle to exhaustion past the break and catch this amazing wave.  We have a choice to ride the wave into shore and then create a new plan or create a much larger plan for life that includes riding the wave as a integral part of our life plan constantly evaluating and re-evaluating what made that ride successful or unsuccessful. We understand that crashing is a part of the ride and quicker we get back on the board the quicker we can get ready for the next wave.  Here is a real key to life.  Can you find adventure and fulfillment in the crash? Can you find adventure and fulfillment in the struggle to paddle out past the break? Can you find adventure and fulfillment in the solitude of sitting idly and waiting for the next wave to come?

Love,

Matt