My biggest challenge since advancing to the next round of this online contest, has been to forget that it’s a contest. Contests are synonymous with words like competition and winning. I need to keep my focus on my core intention, which is giving. It’s the only reason I applied for the contest.

So while I concentrate on giving, I need your help:

- To win 50 free flights, I have to ask for people’s support.
- To give 50 free keynotes to non-profit organizations, I have to ask people to vote.
- To give my message to students, I have to ask people to ask their friends (who may not even know who I am) to vote.

Thanks in advance for all of you who are willing to take the time to vote for me…

In gratitude,

Justin

You just never know where life will take you. I certainly never saw myself speaking at the US Airways Center (where my favorite team the Phoenix Suns play. Go Suns!)

It just so happens to coincide with my biggest vision ever! You know that vision / dream / goal that you don’t even share with others because it’s that big. Hmmm, maybe life does know where it is taken me. I just have to be present / open minded / and take action on what I know is my truth. (More on this later.)

Special shout out to AZ FBLA Director, Ryan Hamilton as well as the State Officers for a great event!

Found this while cleaning my office and it brought back great memories…

As a teacher, you don’t always see the fruits of your intensive labor. I look back and think of all the people who helped me along my path and the list grows extensively long very quickly.

I am at the final stages of writing a book on gratitude. (Title still TBA.)

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Download File

One key activity that I share is how to create a gratitude time line. When I created my time line of the key people who played a big role in my becoming a Motivational Speaker… Names like Patrick (my mentor), Greg (a business partner) came up… and then popped up Robert’s name. He was just one of 40 teachers from my province who attended a 5-day teacher boot camp in the Summer of 1999.

But the role that he played was vital for everything else to happen in my very blessed life.

So I called him at his school and I will let you listen for yourself the rest of the story.