Charge Ahead

Recently, I was asked to be the keynote speaker at a large conference in NJ. The team there is just outstanding and I was honored and privileged to be asked. That being said, I was little uptight about it. I have spoken to the group a few years back in a breakout session and I know a number of the members who would be attending. Thus, I probably couldn’t use most of my lessons and ‘go to’ stories. They have heard them before. I needed to change it up. I needed to get out of my comfort zone. (More about the outcome of the presentation, below.)

Recently, my little five year old grandson was visiting with his Dad. Mike is teaching my little buddy how to swim. He just hates to get his face in the water! I joined them when I heard their voices outside and I heard Mike encouraging the little guy to jump off the diving board and to swim to the side of the pool. He was so nervous. He just didn’t want to do it. I felt for him.

Last year, my childhood friend died suddenly. He lived about 2 ½ hours away and I was planning to be out of town for his service. I looked for every reason not to attend. It was too far, I wouldn’t know anyone there, I never met his wife, etc. In actuality, I just didn’t want to see my friend laying in the coffin. I didn’t want to meet his wife under these circumstances. It was heart-breaking.

These situations remind me of a saying; ‘If you are struggling to do something and looking for reasons not to do it, you probably should’. You probably should! This is the story of my life. There have been so many circumstances and opportunities in which I didn’t want to do something. But then, once I did it, I was glad I did.

There is another lesson here also. ‘If you have to do it, you may as well nail it.’ There really isn’t a purpose of doing something 'half-hearted' or part way. It really is a waste of precious time and energy to take on something anything less than ‘all of the way’. You are doing it so you may as well give it all you got. Like I said earlier, this is the story of my life. I wish I had learned this when I was a younger man.

I did cancel my plans in order to attend Pete’s service. In fact, when I got to the front of the receiving line, his wife gave me the longest, tightest hug. Even though I had never met her, she knew my name, heard Pete talk fondly of me many times and said that it meant so much to her that I drove down. I drove 5 hours on the NJ Turnpike for a quick visit but it was worth every minute.

Next, I am happy to report that Caleb landed his dive, swam underwater to the side and proudly climbed on the steps to exit the pool. He did it! I was a proud Pop Pop.

And I presented at the conference. I used mostly new material but included one or two of my favorite stories. It seemed to be a hit. In fact, one attendee came up to me afterwards with tears in her eyes and said it was if “I was speaking directly to her and that it was life-changing”. Wow! To think, I was hesitant to use this new presentation and in the end, it worked.

Nike’s trademark is ‘Just Do It’. Barriers exist to be broken. Negative thoughts need to be removed and positive mental pictures need to replace them. We really can do anything. 99% of the battle is really just showing up.

Thanks for reading this and have a great weekend.

With a goal to “help the next guy in line”, Glen Cavallo, a 30+ year healthcare executive has chosen to share the many lessons he has learned with others. Glen does this by serving as a coach/advisor to leaders at all levels of organizations, as a board member and as he presents inspirational speeches at regional, national, annual and awards meetings.