Awesome motivational speakers visit Michiana

Well Michiana, if you were one of the lucky ones sitting in the Century Center this morning listening to the speakers at the Lead Michiana conference, you are probably thinking about work and life a little differently this afternoon.

I consider myself very lucky to have been able to attend the conference this morning, because I got to hear several great speakers including Darren Hardy and Les Brown.  These are motivational speakers who travel all over inspiring professionals to be great and they were right here speaking in Michiana. How exciting is that!?!?

Justin Maust, host and founder of Lead Michiana, is an inspirational speaker and trainer, team-builder and coach in the area. Many of you may be familiar with his company, Leader Legacy, or his involvement with 5Star.  I believe one of his goals today was to get across the message that, “Greatness isn’t born. It’s grown.” And I think there was a lot of growth within the approximately 1,000+ attendees.

Several years ago, I read the book, “The Compound Effect,” by Darren Hardy.  It was a great book that made me think about how making small changes over time can have a great impact.  It was shortly before that or shortly after that I began subscribing to the magazine, “Success.”  It’s a monthly magazine that was brought back to life by Hardy, with inspiring messages about entrepreneurs and tidbits and reminders of how we can improve ourselves.   I highly recommend it. 

He was one of the speakers today.  His words and messages did a great job of keeping my interest for the time that he was up on stage, encouraging listeners to become, “stunningly successful SuperAchievers.” This can be done by finding the kryptonite that threatens our productive futures. Basically, what hinders our productivity? These are mainly distractions including friends stopping by, emails chiming in, phones ringing, etc.

He encouraged us to be world-class at a few things instead of mediocre at many and gave us some suggestions on how to accomplish that task. Did you know that for every distraction we have, it takes us about 23 minutes to get refocused? For those of you who attended, I’m sure you have come to appreciate the new thought of sprint/ recovery!

Les Brown’s message came with moments of contagious laughter; and I couldn’t help but smile when he laughed! He’s one of a kind. His style of mentoring comes in the form of stories, some with a bit of mixed in religion. His message can be wrapped in to two words that when I hear the name Les Brown, I’ll automatically think, “It’s possible.”  After all, born in an abandoned building in Miami and growing up in poverty, he’s decided to create his success instead of blaming his circumstances.

But one of the things that will probably always stick in mind and one that I will probably share with students I work with from now on, is this phrase, “someone’s opinion of you does not have to be your reality.” Wow, what powerful words.  How often do we give others the power to allow their opinions to become our beliefs?

It’s possible to live your dream. It’s a simple message from a man who touched many today.

If you didn’t get the chance to attend the 2^nd Lead Michiana event, you won’t want to miss it next year. After all, how many leaders in Michiana like Justin Maust have the vision to bring these great influential people to the area?