"Why Not You?"

This weekend I went to a conference in PDX for business leaders with the company I intern for. It was my first conference of this kind and WOW! It was great! If you're interested in being successful in your business career I'm going to sum up for you, the inspiring advice I was given (bullet points included of course!).

Even without the exceptional speeches and public speaking skills, the success that the speakers personally earned in their careers, spoke for itself. Each of them had started at entry level and worked their way up to the top. I'm not nearly as successful or charming as the individuals who spoke, but I will do what I can to convey their messages. Using the notes that I was frantically jotting down as they spoke, here is some of the advice I was able to retain:

• Terminate your limiting beliefs. Empower yourself and believe without limiting yourself. As the great Russell Wilson said, "Why not you?" (GO HAWKS)

• People buy people, not products. A product can't really sell itself. You have to sell it and someone is going to buy you and your help as well as the product. 

• Live your life with integrity-do the right thing when no one is watching. Sometimes that entails doing the exact opposite of what you don't want to do. Sorry!

• Understand the goals and fundamentals of your business to be successful.

• Focus on controllable factors when an uncontrollable happens. Create a solution from there.

• Stay ahead of your competition.

• It's not what you say, but how you say it.

• Manage your state-if you feel like shit, you'll perform like shit. So change your attitude if you need to. You are the one that controls your state of being.

• Visualize your goals. One of the speakers in the conference, Ali Alami, said, "see things as they are, not worse than they are and visualize things better than they are."

• Be committed to your goals instead of just interested in them. Be willing to endure adversity. Bad days define you; embrace them and learn from them.

• A goal without a plan is just a dream.

Losing is unacceptable

Passion is unquenchable

Quitting is unthinkable

Committment is unquestionable

Victory is inevitable 

Here's one last message from the great Super Bowl Champ DangeRUSS Wilson that can change your life:

The Big Climb Seattle 2014

Last Sunday, the 23rd, I participated in The Big Climb Seattle. This is a climb of 69 flights of stairs in the Columbia Center in downtown Seattle to support research for blood cancers. I have to admit I was tired when I arrived that afternoon and didn't really feel like going through with The Climb. Within the first 20 minutes of walking in the door tears were brought to my eyes when I listened to the stories of those affected by Leukemia and Lymphoma and I was immediately reminded of why I signed up for The Climb. I climbed in honor of my Aunt Diane who lost her short battle to lung cancer at too young of an age.
If you want to learn more about The Big Climb you can look at www.bigclimb.org
You can check out this video about The Big Climb also:
http://youtu.be/FwXejFOVdDc
It was emotional for me to push myself up each step and see the faces of those who have fought or are currently fighting a type of blood cancer, but I am SO glad I did it.

When we reached the top of the Columbia Center, we were able to soak in the beautiful view of Seattle while I came down from the brink of cardiac arrest ;)

My team raised almost $500 and I raised $170 myself, but seeing large teams that had raised hundreds of thousands of dollars was very inspiring. I would advise everyone to donate to a charity of their choice at least once a year. Even if you are skipping your $5 coffee each day for just one week, that's $25 towards a charity. That could be the $25 that funds the cure for everything.