[Applause]
today I want to talk to you about
becoming the best version of yourself
becoming the best version of you
maximizing who you are and your efforts
and your potential impact now I’m a
person who believes in maximization
personally and I think for you this
could mean a lot of really good things
if you can continue to be the best you
now you don’t have to compete with other
folks I’m not telling you to be someone
else or to become someone else because
we know that’s impossible but it is very
possible for you to be and to become the
best version of you now again I said I
believe in self maximization I think you
should do everything that you can to be
the best person that you can during your
limited time on this earth because I
promise you it is limited now some may
not believe that but as they say keep on
living for as long as you can but there
is an exit plan whether you are
supportive of that exit plan are not so
self maximized every moment that you can
while you’re here and I think that all
starts with for me it starts with health
because if you don’t have your health
you’ve heard this before you don’t have
anything if you don’t have your health
you can’t be the person you need to be
you can’t function properly you can’t
move around in this world you can’t make
the impact that you’d like to make her
med words famous football coach once
said that the most important ability is
availability if you’re not available if
you’re not here doesn’t matter how smart
you are it doesn’t matter how talented
how skilled or any of the rest you have
to have that foundation the next one for
me would be your education I think
that’s very important because you have
to know some things now that
is going to be both formal and informal
your education is critical because
without knowledge you will fall for
anything without knowledge you won’t be
able to do much of anything without
knowledge you lose some of your
potential value after education I think
it’s important to have your social or a
social impact you have to work your help
your society you have to help your
community because if you don’t have a
community around you that’s doing good
things then it doesn’t matter how much
money you might have how many things you
might have how many cars you want to
drive if you don’t have a functioning
community you’ve seen some of the horror
movies about the world coming to an end
and these people you might have all
kinds of cash and all kinds of other
stuff but without your community around
you again you have nothing and then
thirdly in that group for me would be to
make sure that you’re as good as you can
be professionally every day in every way
and on every play as grant Taos talked
about you should give your very best
professionally you should be the best
that you can be you should not have down
days when you’re being paid when you’re
helping the people when you’re helping
your customers you should not be down
ever every day Michael Jordan talked
about this he said there might be
someone in this audience someone in this
arena who does not know that I’m the
best basketball player to ever live so I
have to prove it each and every night
self maximization now one of the ways to
do that one of the ways to continue to
get better is to role model find role
models in your life this is something
that doesn’t cost you a whole lot or it
could cost you something if you’re
willing to invest in it but it doesn’t
have to cost you a lot but you should
find into
find people find companies find
organizations find entities that are
doing things that make you proud make
you listen make you stand up make you
say how do they do that find examples
now when you’re building your pedestals
for these companies or individuals I
would say that you wouldn’t build them
to don’t build them too high okay you
might want to go for the medium size of
the smallest size pedestals that you put
them on because keep in mind they’re
humans but that doesn’t mean that you
can’t learn from them
you can always learn and for this
presentation I would like for you to
think about Apple the company Apple as
an example for all of us now Apple is a
wonderful organization they’ve done a
lot of good work many of you have their
products on you around your wrist in
your pocket etc but while we think about
Apple keep in mind that you can use
preachers or clergy in your area you
could use for it for example as role
models you can use coaches you can use
players athletes performers you can eat
there are all kinds of people who are
around you doing good things as well so
it doesn’t have to be this multi-level
huge company but for this example let’s
use Apple Apple started from humble
beginnings Apple started in a garage a
few guys with some ideas from those
ideas they were able to become wonderful
innovators they did great things they
were they had some really good products
and then they almost went bankrupt they
fired Steve Jobs
they were in trouble
but then they came back because of
innovation because of leadership they
brought Steve back and Steve insisted
that each and everything that they did
had to be the best had to be marvelous
had to be something that would make you
fall in love with the product Apple is
now the largest company in the world
over eight hundred billion dollars in
value so what are some of the things
that we can learn from Apple again back
to health
think about what Apple does in terms of
Health one of the things they do is
inspiration if it through the Apple
watch they remind you to breathe right
something I think most of you are doing
on a regular basis but they’ll remind
you to breathe they remind you to stand
up every hour you need to stand up you
need to move Apple will help you with
that so what can you do for yourself in
the area of help as you’re following
this model one is to always seek balance
in your life always think balance you
need to move you need to exercise you
need to eat right you need to do all
those things if it’s good enough for
Apple it should be good enough for us
you need to greatly reduce your
footprint in the area of health care and
you can do that by first being your own
physician work on yourself education is
next
what is Apple doing in regards to
education they do have a strong position
there in their stores they have Apple
today where you can go in and they will
talk to you about what are you doing
today at Apple what are we what can you
learn what can we teach you you can go
to any of the Apple stores and they’re
always
teaching always helping they have a
program a program called connected where
they reach out and work with schools
trying to share and connecting
technology with education because we
know it’s critical now what can we do
through education one simple thing one
simple thing that we all can do every
day
learn something new every day learn
something new for example did you know
that George Washington was the first
president of these United States you’re
wrong he was actually the ninth now
you’re gonna look that up weren’t you
you’re gonna google that he was actually
the ninth president of these United
States every day learned something new
social impact Apple what do they do in
this category their philosophy is and I
love this we’re all in this together
we’re all in this together
skin color nationality gender who you
like and who you don’t like who you love
who you don’t love we’re all in this
together small planet let’s work
together what’s another thing Apple does
in this category they would tell you to
leave the planet in a better condition
don’t make it worse return something to
the planet if you can don’t hurt the
planet and you know as huge as they are
that’s important and what can you do
socially find a Cause find something
that you can get behind find something
that you care about and support it
professional impact
Steve Jobs Apple I’m really excited
about this concept this was this is
what’s cool Apple had this really really
really good product and they and you
could get music on this product and you
could and people were wearing it on
their bodies and it was the and it
changed the music industry right you
know what I’m talking about it changed
the music industry and many of you had
iPods right iPods were the thing they
weren’t just an mp3 player they were our
pods and then I mean it was the best
change the music industry you can’t I
don’t think you can
I mean Masai said they’re gonna stop
selling CDs because of that iPod and
what they did with iTunes but guess what
they replaced that product in effect
with the iPhone they came out with
another product so good that it’s
stepped on one of the most amazing
products in history now think about that
for a second most of you don’t carry
around in our pod and an iPhone do you
the iPhone has one inside that’s how
amazing Apple is they’re continuing to
try to invent they’re coming up with
that next big thing
what are you doing your professional
impact should be in my opinion to be
indispensable to be irreplaceable
to be so good that your company your
business your school would hate to see
you leave you would leave a void so wide
that it would it would shake the
foundation of where you are that’s the
kind of employee you should be that’s
the kind of business owner you should be
you should be the kind of business owner
where if your product we’re to go out of
business
the community would would would shake
and would know that something is wrong
how can we survive without them we need
a replacement because they are that good
that’s who you want to be for us and for
me here in Odessa Texas I came to work
at Odessa college a little over eleven
years ago and we were at Odessa college
we were okay we were okay we were not
the best and we were not the worst we
were okay and then there was this little
thing called a defunding scare that hit
us a few years back where our existence
was threatened and for me and our team
we decided that it was no longer okay to
be okay we decided that if we’re going
to go away if someone’s going to take
out Odessa college they’re going to take
out the best Community College in the
nation and shame on them if they do it
since that point as many of you know we
have won almost every major award in
this country and in this state little
ole Odessa college from the home of
Friday Night Lights we have become the
most decorated Community College in the
United States because each and every day
each department each person we are
committed to being the best Community
College in the nation why because we owe
the people of this community that if you
fund us if our community invests in us
the way that they have then we should
endeavor to give them the best product
possible no question no excuses we’ve
doubled our graduation rates we’ve we
have we’ve increased our enrollment by
over thirty five or forty percent so
we’ll announce a plan where we will
increase it another 40 or 50 percent yes
the Lowell Odessa college because we
want to be the best in the nation now
for you personally wouldn’t it be a
shame wouldn’t it be a shame to go
through this life being okay when you
have greatness inside of you don’t
settle don’t give in
don’t settle for being okay don’t relax
once you’ve almost done it do everything
that you can to be the very best that
you can be the very best and great
things will come your way thank you for
being here today thanks for being a part
of this event we appreciate you all so
much have a great day
[Applause]
you
today I want to talk to you about
becoming the best version of yourself
becoming the best version of you
maximizing who you are and your efforts
and your potential impact now I’m a
person who believes in maximization
personally and I think for you this
could mean a lot of really good things
if you can continue to be the best you
now you don’t have to compete with other
folks I’m not telling you to be someone
else or to become someone else because
we know that’s impossible but it is very
possible for you to be and to become the
best version of you now again I said I
believe in self maximization I think you
should do everything that you can to be
the best person that you can during your
limited time on this earth because I
promise you it is limited now some may
not believe that but as they say keep on
living for as long as you can but there
is an exit plan whether you are
supportive of that exit plan are not so
self maximized every moment that you can
while you’re here and I think that all
starts with for me it starts with health
because if you don’t have your health
you’ve heard this before you don’t have
anything if you don’t have your health
you can’t be the person you need to be
you can’t function properly you can’t
move around in this world you can’t make
the impact that you’d like to make her
med words famous football coach once
said that the most important ability is
availability if you’re not available if
you’re not here doesn’t matter how smart
you are it doesn’t matter how talented
how skilled or any of the rest you have
to have that foundation the next one for
me would be your education I think
that’s very important because you have
to know some things now that
is going to be both formal and informal
your education is critical because
without knowledge you will fall for
anything without knowledge you won’t be
able to do much of anything without
knowledge you lose some of your
potential value after education I think
it’s important to have your social or a
social impact you have to work your help
your society you have to help your
community because if you don’t have a
community around you that’s doing good
things then it doesn’t matter how much
money you might have how many things you
might have how many cars you want to
drive if you don’t have a functioning
community you’ve seen some of the horror
movies about the world coming to an end
and these people you might have all
kinds of cash and all kinds of other
stuff but without your community around
you again you have nothing and then
thirdly in that group for me would be to
make sure that you’re as good as you can
be professionally every day in every way
and on every play as grant Taos talked
about you should give your very best
professionally you should be the best
that you can be you should not have down
days when you’re being paid when you’re
helping the people when you’re helping
your customers you should not be down
ever every day Michael Jordan talked
about this he said there might be
someone in this audience someone in this
arena who does not know that I’m the
best basketball player to ever live so I
have to prove it each and every night
self maximization now one of the ways to
do that one of the ways to continue to
get better is to role model find role
models in your life this is something
that doesn’t cost you a whole lot or it
could cost you something if you’re
willing to invest in it but it doesn’t
have to cost you a lot but you should
find into
find people find companies find
organizations find entities that are
doing things that make you proud make
you listen make you stand up make you
say how do they do that find examples
now when you’re building your pedestals
for these companies or individuals I
would say that you wouldn’t build them
to don’t build them too high okay you
might want to go for the medium size of
the smallest size pedestals that you put
them on because keep in mind they’re
humans but that doesn’t mean that you
can’t learn from them
you can always learn and for this
presentation I would like for you to
think about Apple the company Apple as
an example for all of us now Apple is a
wonderful organization they’ve done a
lot of good work many of you have their
products on you around your wrist in
your pocket etc but while we think about
Apple keep in mind that you can use
preachers or clergy in your area you
could use for it for example as role
models you can use coaches you can use
players athletes performers you can eat
there are all kinds of people who are
around you doing good things as well so
it doesn’t have to be this multi-level
huge company but for this example let’s
use Apple Apple started from humble
beginnings Apple started in a garage a
few guys with some ideas from those
ideas they were able to become wonderful
innovators they did great things they
were they had some really good products
and then they almost went bankrupt they
fired Steve Jobs
they were in trouble
but then they came back because of
innovation because of leadership they
brought Steve back and Steve insisted
that each and everything that they did
had to be the best had to be marvelous
had to be something that would make you
fall in love with the product Apple is
now the largest company in the world
over eight hundred billion dollars in
value so what are some of the things
that we can learn from Apple again back
to health
think about what Apple does in terms of
Health one of the things they do is
inspiration if it through the Apple
watch they remind you to breathe right
something I think most of you are doing
on a regular basis but they’ll remind
you to breathe they remind you to stand
up every hour you need to stand up you
need to move Apple will help you with
that so what can you do for yourself in
the area of help as you’re following
this model one is to always seek balance
in your life always think balance you
need to move you need to exercise you
need to eat right you need to do all
those things if it’s good enough for
Apple it should be good enough for us
you need to greatly reduce your
footprint in the area of health care and
you can do that by first being your own
physician work on yourself education is
next
what is Apple doing in regards to
education they do have a strong position
there in their stores they have Apple
today where you can go in and they will
talk to you about what are you doing
today at Apple what are we what can you
learn what can we teach you you can go
to any of the Apple stores and they’re
always
teaching always helping they have a
program a program called connected where
they reach out and work with schools
trying to share and connecting
technology with education because we
know it’s critical now what can we do
through education one simple thing one
simple thing that we all can do every
day
learn something new every day learn
something new for example did you know
that George Washington was the first
president of these United States you’re
wrong he was actually the ninth now
you’re gonna look that up weren’t you
you’re gonna google that he was actually
the ninth president of these United
States every day learned something new
social impact Apple what do they do in
this category their philosophy is and I
love this we’re all in this together
we’re all in this together
skin color nationality gender who you
like and who you don’t like who you love
who you don’t love we’re all in this
together small planet let’s work
together what’s another thing Apple does
in this category they would tell you to
leave the planet in a better condition
don’t make it worse return something to
the planet if you can don’t hurt the
planet and you know as huge as they are
that’s important and what can you do
socially find a Cause find something
that you can get behind find something
that you care about and support it
professional impact
Steve Jobs Apple I’m really excited
about this concept this was this is
what’s cool Apple had this really really
really good product and they and you
could get music on this product and you
could and people were wearing it on
their bodies and it was the and it
changed the music industry right you
know what I’m talking about it changed
the music industry and many of you had
iPods right iPods were the thing they
weren’t just an mp3 player they were our
pods and then I mean it was the best
change the music industry you can’t I
don’t think you can
I mean Masai said they’re gonna stop
selling CDs because of that iPod and
what they did with iTunes but guess what
they replaced that product in effect
with the iPhone they came out with
another product so good that it’s
stepped on one of the most amazing
products in history now think about that
for a second most of you don’t carry
around in our pod and an iPhone do you
the iPhone has one inside that’s how
amazing Apple is they’re continuing to
try to invent they’re coming up with
that next big thing
what are you doing your professional
impact should be in my opinion to be
indispensable to be irreplaceable
to be so good that your company your
business your school would hate to see
you leave you would leave a void so wide
that it would it would shake the
foundation of where you are that’s the
kind of employee you should be that’s
the kind of business owner you should be
you should be the kind of business owner
where if your product we’re to go out of
business
the community would would would shake
and would know that something is wrong
how can we survive without them we need
a replacement because they are that good
that’s who you want to be for us and for
me here in Odessa Texas I came to work
at Odessa college a little over eleven
years ago and we were at Odessa college
we were okay we were okay we were not
the best and we were not the worst we
were okay and then there was this little
thing called a defunding scare that hit
us a few years back where our existence
was threatened and for me and our team
we decided that it was no longer okay to
be okay we decided that if we’re going
to go away if someone’s going to take
out Odessa college they’re going to take
out the best Community College in the
nation and shame on them if they do it
since that point as many of you know we
have won almost every major award in
this country and in this state little
ole Odessa college from the home of
Friday Night Lights we have become the
most decorated Community College in the
United States because each and every day
each department each person we are
committed to being the best Community
College in the nation why because we owe
the people of this community that if you
fund us if our community invests in us
the way that they have then we should
endeavor to give them the best product
possible no question no excuses we’ve
doubled our graduation rates we’ve we
have we’ve increased our enrollment by
over thirty five or forty percent so
we’ll announce a plan where we will
increase it another 40 or 50 percent yes
the Lowell Odessa college because we
want to be the best in the nation now
for you personally wouldn’t it be a
shame wouldn’t it be a shame to go
through this life being okay when you
have greatness inside of you don’t
settle don’t give in
don’t settle for being okay don’t relax
once you’ve almost done it do everything
that you can to be the very best that
you can be the very best and great
things will come your way thank you for
being here today thanks for being a part
of this event we appreciate you all so
much have a great day
[Applause]
you
Please follow and like us: