The right message

My mother is constantly sending me clippings in the mail about some Celebrity Speakers or Motivational Speakers that are coming to the area that she wants me to go see with her.  Or should I say HEAR with her?  She thinks that motivational speakers are fantastic, and I’ve gone to hear a couple of them with her, but I have to admit that although they do a really good job, the main point of their speech is to keep a positive attitude and how they kept plugging along to get some kind of help through a hard time that they had and they got the help that they needed. 

Most of the time, the help that they needed (and got) was close at hand, provided by someone close to them.  I haven’t heard many motivational speakers talk about how everyone they knew turned their backs on them and a complete stranger helped them out!  Well, notwithstanding the few wealthy people who sponsored entire classes to go to college after they graduate high school (and yes, that is motivational to finish school if you have a wealthy sponsor!)

I’d love to give an aspiring motivational speaker some speaking tips.  Take a good hard look at your speech and ask yourself if the message you are delivering is appropriate to the audience?  Telling someone to pull themselves up by their bootstraps isn’t going to help someone who has no boots! Of course, you shouldn’t tell them to just give up, either. There is a fine line there. If you are going to give someone a pep talk about improving their lives, it would be great if you provided resources to help them, and not just a pep rally.

Pumpkin time

Pumpkin patch time! Today we went to the local pumpkin farm to pick out our pumpkin. They were giving free hayrides and selling hot apple cider. The kids went a little crazy trying to pick out their pumpkins. I told them that they could each pick out a pumpkin for themselves and then we would bring them home and decorate them with markers. We will be decorating them tomorrow!