In front of our hotel in Orlando, 3,000 miles and 3 weeks from home
Tonight we are enjoying our first full night’s rest in a hotel on this, our 3-week RV adventure across the US, in Orlando. We will be here a week and then continue the journey back to Utah for another 3 weeks.
It has been a fascinating and powerful learning experience trip (that’s positive speak for “it’s been a disaster” – but since I claim to be a motivational guy I’m not allowed to say reality out loud too often).
This trip has actually turned out to be the toughest we’ve ever done. In terms of the saying, “Everything has gone wrong”, we have lived that on a daily basis. Short of car wreck or health issues, all else has not gone to plan.
In fact, I dropped the family off at our hotel in Orlando and then continued on to Tampa, a good hour’s drive toward the west coast of Florida, to have our RV repaired for the week we’re not using it. There are 906 problems. They said they’d get to at least 7 of them. That will actually make a difference.
And yet, despite the inconveniences, the mishaps, the missed opportunities, the dysfunctional vehicle, all of that aside, it has been the kind of trip that forges your soul to determine what you really give to make something happen.
How much do you give?
At what point do you throw your hands up in despair and give up?
Trust me, there have been moments where I was covered in sewage, mosquitoes, mud, rain, glasses fallen to the ground, in the dark, hitting my head on the bottom of the slide-outs where I considered leaving the RV there and buying us all airline tickets home.
What determines resolve to keep pushing ahead when the world continues to defeat you?
In this case, it has been a commitment, or stronger yet, a promise to my family to make this trip happen.
I also have an obligation to an organization I love deeply, which is why Orlando was our destination in sweltering death humidity heat sweat down every crack of your body while changing a sewer hose of your family’s waste, where I am volunteering as Youth Chair for the National Speakers Association Influence conference.
Yes my friends, I am paying to be here, drove us 3,000 miles, to miss the entire convention of learning from the top speakers on planet earth, in order to spend the entire time with the kids of the speakers, hopefully influencing them in some small way.
We have put together an amazing conference for the youth, I can’t wait to see it all come into play.
And so when I ask how much do you give, the question is really what keeps driving you to give as much as you do?
In community, in profession, in family, it doesn’t matter where, you must understand why you do what you do.
I have given a ton to just get here, let alone my time to now serve, and pay for it, and yet nothing could make me feel this is a bad decision.
It is exactly where I want to be, ought to be, choose to be.
When you give, how much do you really give, and how can you make one small promise today to give just a little more to better the world?
~ jason
Jason Hewlett, CSP (Certified Speaking Professional), CPAE Speaker Hall of Fame, is a Keynote Speaker for the largest corporate events in the world. His primary message, The Promise, is essential for Leadership, Management, Sales, Marketing, Direct-Sales Companies, and is a combination of engagement and entertainment meets inspiration. Jason has even received standing ovations from IT guys. He has been acknowledged as life-changing by Conference Attendees, C-Level Executives and Hollywood Elite. jasonhewlett.com
Please click here to learn about how Jason Hewlett, Speaker Hall of Fame, introduces the opportunity for you, or someone you love, to have the gift of learning how to create a Career From the Stage and begin moving toward fulfilling a lifelong dream as a full-time speaker, performer, or entertainer.
To hire Jason to speak at your next event, inspire and uplift, entertain and engage, please contact Karen Harris at jasonbookings@cmispeakers.com
That’s hilarious that you’re in Orlando! I’m just an hour and a half North of you! On your way back, if you want, stop in St. Augustine, FL. Let me know if you actually make the stop or plan to, my wife would be thrilled to see you and your family!
So, for your question of “how much do you give?” I would like to say I give all I have, everything, to all that I do, but if I’m going to be completely honest with myself, I don’t! Instead, I usually do enough to just get by, maybe sometimes a bit more when I really feel like it. I usually feel that whenever I start something new I have to give myself time to learn the skills and ins and outs of whatever it is, when in fact I’m merely dipping my toe in, testing the waters a bit to feel the temperature of things. Then, if I like it, if it’s not too hot or too cold, then I’ll expend more efforts. Obviously that’s a foolish way of doing things because while adventures take calculated risks, after all the sums are added, the only thing to do is go all in. So, I promise that begininning today and from now on I am going to give more of myself to whatever I am doing, whether that be spending more time and energy on a project at work, more patience with those I work with and am around, or more actual listening to my family when I’m home. Thanks for the challenge Jason…Accepted!
Seriously think about stopping by if you get the chance.
Alex! Congrats my friend, this is exactly what it’s all about. Thank you for the invite to St. Augustine, we were there for the 4th of July and already on our way to Destin, but I truly appreciate the offer and we hope to return to your beautiful city.