the world or welcome to the main event
presented by TEDx so if you haven’t
figured it out yet between what just
came out of my mouth and this tuxedo I’m
wearing I am a professional ring
announcer it’s a very obscure and a
particularly peculiar way for an
individual to make a living and thank
there are probably no more than 10
people on the planet pursuing this is a
full-time line of work my job does
afford me the opportunity to travel to
some interesting places Greece for
example Germany what you don’t see
picture there is pictures of me in
places like Waterloo Iowa or whitewater
Wisconsin sitting in a hotel room afraid
that’s a picture of me at the 2016 rio
olympic games where i actually announced
a basketball that’s a job it essentially
took me five years to get that i got
rejected for basically three different
times along the way did you know popeyes
you also don’t see pictures of me
announcing an event in someplace like
Jacksonville North Carolina in front of
19 people which I did or working in a
nightclub parking lot or one of the
numerous times that I had to change into
a tuxedo prior to an event inside of a
bathroom stall trying my best not to
what I do is interesting not always easy
I’m self-employed so I’m not in a
nine-to-five situation if you will and I
spend much of my time sometimes a
majority of my time actually trying to
obtain work and massage and maintain
current business relationships I
sometimes spend much more time doing
those things and I do actually traveling
and announcing things but no matter what
I do the most important thing about what
I do is the fact that I actually enjoy
it
in America we can do whatever we like be
whatever we like and at least in theory
obtain whatever we need I believe in
this and it’s awesome keeping this in
mind is interesting to note that in 2014
forbes magazine concluded that a
majority of american workers in fact
now they can be many reasons for this of
course maybe a person was in a tough
financial situation and you just need a
job when you got what you could get
maybe you started out doing something
that you thought you would enjoy and
over time you realize that you did not
enjoy it even in those situations it’s
interesting to note that many of these
people consciously or subconsciously
chose the path of least resistance after
the fact they chose to remain in
situations that they were not happy with
instead of making the choice to change
however inconvenient that may have been
at the time there are many reasons why a
person might choose to do something that
they’re not particularly enthralled with
in life and when a person starting out
on that journey in life one of the main
reasons is the influence of well-meaning
friends and family members now if you
have well-meaning friends and family
members in your life of course you’re a
blessed person and I’m not suggesting
that we shouldn’t listen to those people
for example let’s say you think you want
to be a social worker and someone gently
gently points out to you that you’re not
really a people person might want to
keep that in mind on the other hand
generally speaking when you’re making
major life decisions such as what you’d
like to do with your life what you’d
like to do for a living doing things
that make other people happy or
comfortable or going along with the
expectations of others or even society
if those things aren’t consistent with
what makes you happy and what puts a
smile on your face it’s not the best
idea what you don’t want to have happen
is you wake up when you’re 35 or 45
years of age and you think to yourself
why am I here what am i doing I’m just
not happy and unfortunately well-meaning
friends and family members society
nobody else nobody can fix it for you
you have to make decisions on your own I
come from a background of which you
might call educated individuals both of
my parents were schoolteachers my late
grandmother a schoolteacher both of my
in-laws retired schoolteachers my wife
works in the school right now my sister
the salutatorian of her high school
graduating class me on the other hand
let’s talk about you for a second think
back to your first ever day of school
pre-k nursery kindergarten whatever it
might have been your three four possibly
five years of age think about the
pressure the stress the fear the anxiety
that’s sitting on that particular
morning when you realize that your
mother or father was going to bring you
to a place that you had never been
before with people you had never met
complete strangers and they’re just
going to leave you there now I vividly
remember my first day of school it was
Kindergarten I believe I was four but I
suffered from no such separation anxiety
I do however recall dealing with the
frustration and disbelief upon realizing
that out of all the places my
grandmother could have left me that day
a toy store a park my favorite
restaurant maybe popeyes she chose to
leave me at a school well I have great
respect for people who work in education
as I just mentioned many of my family
members have chosen that path the family
business if you will school and I for
one reason or another another never
particularly got along I graduated high
school and I ended up attending three
different colleges and universities in
three different cities i graduated from
none of them I’m not necessarily proud
of that fact but I’m not necessarily
ashamed of it either because for me at
least that was part of the process that
I had to go through to eventually figure
out what I should do in life what that
should look like and where I should go I
trust that your path will be a bit more
when you’re starting out trying to
figure out what you’d like to do or even
if you think you have it figured out and
you’re kind of ready to go in that
direction you typically fall into one of
three groups Group one you’re pretty
certain about what you’d like to do in
life you’re ready to go you’re excited
about it and you’ve got a great support
system congratulations group two you’re
not really certain what you’d like to do
and that’s okay because you don’t have
to figure out the rest of your life
today however as you know sooner rather
than later you’re going to have to start
making some decisions about what your
life is going to look like and what
you’d like to do if you don’t know what
that is and what that should look like a
good idea would be to start here begin
thinking about some of the things that
matter to you the things that are
genuinely important to you the things
that put a smile on your face the things
that make you happy the type of people
you like to be around the type of
environments you enjoy being it start
there and begin researching jobs and
careers that pertain to those things
that can put you in those environments
around those people in those situations
and ideally getting someone to pay you
for something you actually like in a
place that you want to be the third
group and this is a tough one you’re
pretty certain about what you want to do
and that’s a positive obviously but
you’re also fairly certain that there’s
certain influential individuals in your
life that may have some very different
opinions about what you should do people
that you love respect and appreciate and
who love respect and appreciate you
whoever those individuals maybe you can
make a choice to do things that other
people are comfortable with and
satisfied with and if those things are
consistent with your vision for your own
life things that you would actually like
to do fantastic if not you have to ask
yourself where will I be in 10 years 20
years 30 years how will I feel and will
have been the right choice or you can
move forward maybe it doesn’t require
some big announcement or declaration
then again maybe you have to have a very
challenging yet very respectful
conversation with certain people in your
life and simply state that you would
like
the opportunity to move forward and
direction that matters to you doing
something that you believe will make you
happy now I’m certainly not suggesting
that when you do something begin to go
down a path that matters to you towards
things that put a smile on your face
that things are going to be easy if I’m
honest at some point in some shape or
form it looks different for everyone
life is going to punch you in the face
pull you down and trip you up but when
you’re moving towards something that
matters to you when you’re doing
something that actually makes you happy
you get knocked down and you find
yourself in the position of having to
get back up over it and over again when
you’re pushing against that resistance
when you’re moving towards something
that matters to you you’ll have an extra
bit of juice energy inertia to work with
that will help you get up again and
allow you to continue to move forward if
you will put one foot in front of the
other over and over and over again
towards and in pursuit of something that
actually matters to you you will look up
in the not-too-distant future and you
will be shocked pleasantly surprised and
pleased at how far you’ve gotten what
you’ve been able to accomplish and how blessed you are thank you