“The Holstee Manifesto is a call to action to live a life full of intention, creativity, passion, and community. We are amazed to see how rapidly these words have spread across the globe, and are honored by the countless people who have experienced these words to be a source of realization and inspiration in their own lives. We want the Manifesto to hold us accountable to living each day as fully as we can and are so encouraged by the amazing community of people joining us in that journey.” -Holstee

Here’s what I know for sure:

All of us have potential and possibility.

It lies in all of us. The potential to do something that matters. The potential to say something that stirs the mind, heart, and soul to change. The possibility to create something that has never been seen. The possibility to learn something new. The potential to be a better you. The potential to do the impossible. We ALL have it. You. Me. Us.

But for many of us, this potential and possibility remains asleep… just waiting. Waiting on us. Waiting on us to notice our own worth. Waiting on us to challenge ourselves. Waiting on us to care. It lies asleep. Just waiting. And every now-and-then, someone comes along crazy enough to stir their own potential to life. We call these people geniuses, talented, creative, successful, leaders, etc. We label them as if they are a rare breed. And all the while, our own potential remains asleep. Just waiting.

I look at all the people who’ve gone on to do great and epic things in their lifetime, and I think of what would have happened if they hadn’t awakened the possibility in themselves. Who would they be? Where would they be? And who would we be as a result of them not awakening their potential?

Who would we be if people like Oprah, Martin Luther King Jr., Michael Jackson, Mother Teresa, Jesus, Gandhi, Tyler Perry, Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Mya Angelo, J.K. Rowling, S. Truett Cathy, Walt Disney, Billy Graham, and millions of others hadn’t awakened the possibility in themselves? How would our music sound? What TV shows would we NOT have? What freedoms would certain races and ethnic groups not possess? Who and what would we believe? What would technology look like? What would we eat? What would replace all the Disney movies? Who would be the greatest entertainer in history? Who would people look to as great examples of humanitarians?

The world would be different.

We would be different.

 You would be different.

I would be different.

I think we focus so much on the end result of those who decided to awaken possibility in themselves, that we overlook the possibility of what the world would have looked like if they had not. It saddens me that so many people die with their song tucked away in their hearts with them in the grave… never to be heard. I ask myself often, what would the world look like if more of us decided to awaken our own possibility; if each of us decided to really LIVE and SHINE rather than settle for jobs, paychecks, and mediocre lives? How different would we be? How much better would we be? As Oprah would say, “Your purpose is to live out the fullest expression of yourself in the earth.” In other words, GIVE IT ALL YOU GOT!

Think for a second: “How different would the world be without you?”

Stop and actually think about that.

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Better yet, here’s a better question: “How different WILL the world be with YOU?”

This isn’t about going to college, finding a career you like, getting a job that pays well, or how to live happily ever after. This is about YOU. This is about ME. This is about US. NOW. This is about what the world WILL or WILL NOT look like in the next 5 years, 10, years, 20 years, 50 years, 100 years… because of US. Because of you. Because of me.

I’ll leave you with this quote to ponder:

“Whatever we choose or not choose to do today will create our world tomorrow. The choice begins with you. Choose to wake up.”

For those of you who may not know, I’m a big Oprah fan. One of my life goals is to meet her in person. I know, everybody’s an Oprah fan. lol. I do have a logical reason why I admire her though. There aren’t that many people talking about lifestyle design on a major platform right now. Even bigger than that, Oprah’s the only person willing to create an entire network around inspiring people to awaken possibility in themselves and others. So, why wouldn’t I be a fan?! That’s what my entire blog is about! But this post isn’t about that. This post is about how I ended up at an event, only yards away from Oprah without even planning to attend. This post is the blow-by-blow to how I got access to a sold-out event here in Atlanta, GA merely hours before it started. The back-story to how I ended up at this event is beyond my wildest expectations. It just serves to show that you never know what may come along when you are willing to awaken possibility in yourself.

HOW IT ALL STARTED

It all started this past Friday night around 9:45pm while I was watching Oprah’s Life Class Live on Facebook. It’s been my usual routine every night to watch her class on OWN, so I wasn’t expecting anything spectacular other than 2 hours of life-changing insight and wisdom. Close to the end of the class, Oprah announced that she would be in Atlanta on Saturday for their annual O You! event. I had no idea what she was talking about. I was thrilled at the idea that she was coming to Georgia since she rarely comes. So I got on Google and immediately searched for “Oprah Atlanta”. What came up was a link to an article. After clicking on the link and reading through the article, I found a link to the O You! website. Still not fully sure of what it was, I clicked on the link and began my investigation.

I perused the website and learned that O You! is an annual one-day event hosted by O Magazine that seeks to bring the magazine to life with talks from contributors of the magazine, products offered in the magazine, and more. I found out that he tickets were $125 and were already sold out! My initial reaction was, “There’s no way I’m going to that thing!” Even though I know it’s a life goal of mine to see Oprah in person, I knew I wasn’t able to get a ticket even if I tried. Like most people, my investigation would have ended there. But since I’m on an adventure to awaken possibility in myself, I thought of all of the possibilities one could have to get access to a ticket to a sold out event. Then I had an ‘Aha moment’… Twitter! I knew social networks were great for connecting to people who were attending major events. I figured I would search for available tickets and see what I find. I had nothing to lose, so I tried my luck.

HOW I FOUND A TICKET

To my surprise, I couldn’t hardly find anyone trying to give away or sell tickets. Most of the tweets were people like me who were looking for tickets. After scrolling through past tweets, I found one tweet from one lady who trying to sell a ticket. However, that tweet had been posted 2 days earlier and had already gotten requests from other people. I figured that the ticket may have already been sold since I was 2 days late. Still feeling lucking, I went ahead and inquired anyway. I sent her a tweet and waited for 10 minutes, but I didn’t get a response. I scrolled through her past tweets and surprisingly found her email address that she had posted in one of her other tweets. Building up the courage, I emailed her.

She responded back within minutes saying that she had gotten her money back for her ticket, but her cousin still had a ticket that she was willing to sell. I offered to buy the ticket for $75 and she agreed. Now the problem was verifying that the ticket was real. She wanted me to pay the $75 upfront on Paypal before she emailed me her cousin’s ticket. I wasn’t sure if that was a fair deal. I emailed her back letting her know my thoughts and I decided to turn down the offer because I didn’t want to send money not knowing if it was legit or not. Think about it… I didn’t know this lady from a can of paint, and she was expecting me to pay before I even saw the ticket. Being scared and unsure, I sorta backed out. But it didn’t end there.

HOW I PUNKED OUT

By this point, I felt that I had awakened as much possibility as I was willing to awaken. I had sorta given up. Maybe it wasn’t meant for me to go. I didn’t want to risk paying $75 to a person I didn’t know. What if it was a scam? What if this was a person using Twitter to get money from people looking to get tickets to sold out events? Like any overly rational person, I thought through all the negative “What ifs?”. But then something unexpected happened. She emailed me back saying that she would go ahead and email me the ticket, trusting that I would pay once I was able to see that the ticket was real. Once I got the email and looked over the ticket, I went back on the O You! website to see if I could find some information about the ticket just to make sure the it was real. It was clear that all tickets would be emailed to the recipient and would have to be printed out and brought to the event. There was also a QR Code on the ticket that she emailed me. Being the techie that I am, I quickly downloaded a free QR Code App on my iPhone and scanned the code on the ticket in the email. Surprisingly, my phone pulled up the O You! website. It seemed legit, but I still wasn’t sure.

I emailed her back and asked if she could email me the confirmation email for the ticket so I could verify that the ticket was real. As I was waiting on a reply, I thought about just calling her and talking about the ticket. This would prove that I was actually emailing a woman and help to calm my uncertainty. I sent another email asking if I could call her. By now, it’s almost midnight. She agrees and sends me her number. I immediately remembered that she had told one of the people who were requesting a ticket on Twitter that she lived in Michigan. Thanks to Google, I checked to see if the area code she sent me was a Michigan area code. After googling it, I found out it was. Everything was feeling legit. Now all I needed to do was make that phone call to seal the deal.

HOW I GOT THE TICKET

When she answered the phone, I realized she was really a woman. This helped to easy the uncertainty. She explained why she and her cousin were both not attending the event due to unexpected circumstances. She laughed and told me that she understood why I felt a little uncertain about everything. It was their first time doing something like this. She also said they had a hard time setting up a Paypal account just in case someone was willing to buy the ticket.

Here’s where it gets EPIC…

During our phone conversation, she surprisingly suggests that I go ahead to the event first and enjoy myself. She said this would prove that the ticket was real. Then she said that after I attend, I could make the payment on Paypal. What an offer! Not only was I one step closer to realizing a life goal of seeing Oprah in person, but I was practically given a $125 ticket that I didn’t have to pay for until AFTER I attended the event. Talk about a WOW moment.

I agreed to the offer and tried to maintain my compulsion until I got off the phone. I ran over to the printer and printed out the ticket. I was so overtaken with excitement that I called a friend of mine and my mom, and spilled the news on them at 12 o’clock in the morning. They were excited too, even though it was past midnight. Think about it: Here I was just hours ago, watching OWN like everybody else. And within 3 hours, I’m sitting on my bed with a print-out of a ticket to a sold out Oprah event! The weird thing is that there were SO many other people on Twitter and Craigslist who were still trying to get tickets, and even more who were upset that they couldn’t go. And here I was with a ticket practically handed to me in a matter of hours. I was delirious and humbled at the same time.

THE EVENT

I arrived at the Georgia World Congress Center at 8am and got in an ultra-long line full of women. I’m pretty confident in my manhood, so I wasn’t worried that I was literally the only young African American male at an event full of 5,000 women. There were maybe 100 men there, but I wasn’t there for them. This was all about impossible becoming possibile for me. Even though I was in line, I was still uncertain if the ticket would work or if I would have trouble getting in. After 20 minutes in line, I finally reached the door. And like clockwork, I handed them my ticket print-out and they gave me my badge. It was official. I was in. It was a smooth entrance.

The event began with an opening talk from Lisa Ling. I really admire her work. Then we had our first session called “May We Help You”  with Suze Orman, Dr. Oz, and Martha Beck. They were all awesome! Then we had another session called “Finding Your Passion” with Suze Orman, Martha Beck, and Donna Brazile. I really like Martha’s style. Suze always kills it. But Donna reminded me of an old time baptist politician. I wasn’t much of a fan of her. lol. Oprah should have switched her out with Iyanla Vanzant  (just saying). Then we had lunch under a big tent between GWCC and the Georgia Dome. After an amazing lunch, we had another session called “Your Stuff, Your Story” with Nate Berkus and Peter Walsh. They were both really good at giving a new perspective on de-cluttering life and creating a home that reflects your BEST self. And finally, the last session was called “What We Know For Sure”. All of the speakers of the day came up and shared what they knew for sure. (Note: I’ll do another post with some of my takeaways from all of these sessions.)

Then came the finale… Oprah!

Oprah walks out on stage, and we all stand, excited to see her. To my surprise, she gives an almost sermon-like heartfelt message that lasted for 30 minutes. It was ummm-good! She made a lot of references to God and Jesus Christ, and talked a lot about being truly connected to God – The Source. She inspired us. Challenged us. Enlightened us. And Awakened us. It’s a moment I’ll never forget. (Note: I’ll give some of my takeaways from her talk in my next post.)

THE AFTER EFFECT

The event ended around 4pm. We were each given a bag of goodies. Most of that stuff was for women, so I’ll be giving that bag to my mom. lol. But what I did take away was a phone full of pictures, 17 minutes of Oprah’s talk that I captured on video, and memories that will stick with me forever. As I reflect over this unplanned day, it hit me: Over 5,000 of us (mostly women) showed up at an event with one goal… “To awaken possibility in ourselves and to help others do the same”. That’s my life-mission. And I was at an event where everybody in the room aspired to do the same. Talk about EPIC! And what’s even more cool is that I was only yards away from one of my biggest role models and mentors. Seeing Oprah in person isn’t about seeing her, it’s about proving to myself that anything is possible. That I can aspire to meet someone like her and literally end up yards away from her at an event I didn’t even plan to go to.

I left with joy rising. Hope. Happiness. A since of knowing that I am a part of something great. Possibility. And an inner certainty to run, fly, soar, higher, Higher, HIGHER!!!!

This event was all about one thing for me. The certainty that…

A N Y T H I N G   I S   P O S S I B L E .

I left with a greater sense that I am on the right path spiritually, mentally, and financially. I’m pursuing my dreams and accomplishing my life goals. This event served as affirmation and inspiration to continue to awaken possibility in myself, to live my BEST life everyday, and to help others do the same. I am. And I will.

WHOOT!

Oh yeah, I did send that lady the $75 after the event by the way (just in case you’re wondering).

It’s 9 in the morning, and I’ve been up watching videos on Youtube from guys who’ve worked in investments and banking. Though this is not my space or expertise, I’m always curious to learn from as many  people as I can. After watching a detailed interview from a former European broker, I began my usual search to better understand this industry. What I discovered was a fresh perspective on our financial markets, the economy, and technology through the lens of bankers and brokers.

One perspective in particular that caught my attention was the insight given by Simon Dixon, a young millionaire who has gone on to start his own boutique bank. He posted a series of videos from a workshop he developed for aspiring banking and investing students. While in the middle of giving his talk, he begins to hit on some of the ideas that I support. His perspective on business, the state of the economy, and education were so much in sync with mine that I thought it would be cool to share. Below are a list of 5 key points that he makes with some additional insight and r-wording from myself. Let me know your thoughts:

1. Get in the game.

The global economy has hit a ceiling, and the old-heads that have been in control have ran out of gas driving this world on status quo and on auto pilot. This is exciting news! Why? Because the way we will do business going forward will evolve. Peer-to-Peer business will become a new model as we begin to see mass business-to-consumer models decline. We’re beginning to see small niche businesses come on the scene with massive influence and reach because of the Internet and the ability to connect directly to the customer. For example, more boutique banks and boutique hedge funds will pop up as people continue to realize and embrace the idea that they no longer have to depend on major banks like Bank of America or Wells Fargo to handle their money. With the Internet, banks like ING Direct, HSBC, and others are totally redefining how we invest, save, and handle our money. This type of shift from the big old-heads to the startup new-comers is happening and will continue to happen in every industry. It has never been easier for people to get in the game thanks to this shift and the Internet. As more and more tools become available through the web, we will continue to see an increase in outsourcing, contracting, freelancing, entrepreneurship, and innovation. It’s happening now, and a lot of information and tools are available on the web for FREE. We are alive during one of the greatest times of creative entrepreneurship and innovation on an individual and micro-level. And if you’re young like me, this is the BEST time to get your sneakers dirty. So get in the game!

2. Create a personal brand.

The need to create a personal brand has never been more important. Why? Because in the near future, your social network will define how powerful you will be, what job opportunities you get, and who you will meet. The power is shifting back to the individual; not to your degree or resume or company. The everyday person now has the ability to carve out their own space and make themselves known online. It’s an amazing time for those who are thinking outside of the freaking box. The social web is rapidly becoming the new playground. This is where you will come out to play. This is where  we will come to make our individual voices and personal brands known. This is where we will each have an opportunity to create a platform around who we are and what we do. This is where the individual will shine. We’re all connected, and soon, we will all be competing. It’s a smart idea to get a head start by using the web to create a personal brand in what is becoming the world of tomorrow.

3. Stop looking for a job.

Over the next decade, the concept of “career” will become obsolete. Since things are changing so fast, the way we used to work and pursue jobs are also changing. Just look at how this recent recession effected the job market. Things will never be the same. Sorry. Depending on the old model of going to college, getting a job, working 40+ years, retiring, and living off of your pension is long gone! The sad part is that our educational system is still preparing us for this model. College students are still paying an obscene amount of money every semester to learn an outdated model that is already proving not to work for them. And tuition is steadily increasing as more high schoolers graduate without a plan, hoping college will save them. Studies are already showing that 70% of college graduates are unable to find jobs. Research has revealed that more than $830 billion is owed in student loans in the US alone. We now owe more in student loans than in credit card debt. Things aren’t going to change any time soon. So, you have to change your strategy or finally get off of your lazy bum and create one. Stop looking for a job.

Instead…

4. Create your own opportunity.

DECIDE what your ideal job looks like and what your ideal life looks like. And design that. Create your own opportunity. Decide what you want to do and do that. Now! Draft your evil plan. Whether you’d like to believe it or not, we are all entrepreneurs now. The way you’re going to get noticed is not hiding behind resumes and college degrees anymore. Everybody has than now. You gotta device your own plan of success. Companies aren’t just looking to hire subpar employees anymore who are in need of a job. Instead hey’re looking for people who know how to create opportunity. We’re entering an Entrepreneurial Revolution, or a DIY (Do It Yourself) Era where people will have to create their OWN personal brand and opportunities. We’re all gonna be suppliers and contractors. Either we’re going to be supplying a product, skill-set, service, or idea, or we’re going to be contracting someone who can. It’s never been easier to align your passion with your plan for success. Identify your unique contribution – your value proposition. What can you offer? What can you do? When you know your value, your income will soon follow. When people are pursuing their passion, they get exponentially more opportunities than those who are just working jobs or doing things they don’t like.

5. Become indispensable.

Once you’ve identified what it is you do and why you do it, become a BEAST at it. Become indispensable. The more specific you get to what lights you up, the more you can become a key person of influence. People will seek to find you, work with you, hire you, and pay you because of what you bring to the table. Become that indispensable person where the job or opportunity finds YOU. When you create opportunities that add value, you’ll always be wanted! You’re indispensable! Stop searching or settling for just a job you hate or just kinda like. Why? Because you will be replaced by someone who’s gonna be indispensable anyway. Companies are getting smarter and more agile. They’re no longer gonna hire people just to take up space. In the end, you won’t have a choice but to be remarkable, indispensable, and valuable. So you better make that decision NOW. Whether you’re working a job currently or need employment. Create opportunity and become indispensable. When you have a skill set or way of thinking that offers value at a premium level, people will notice.

HERE ARE MY TWO CENTS:

It’s no longer about securing a job. It’s no longer just about paying bills. It’s no longer about just going to college because it’s the happening thing. It’s about matter… “Being someone who matters and doing something that matters”. When you bring your gift, your art, your ideas, your passion, and ultimately YOURSELF to the world, you get more than just a job and money. You get opportunity. You get people wanting to work with you, hire you, and pay you. You get the chance to make a difference. You get the chance to do make a purposeful contribution in YOUR lifetime with YOUR life. You get to wake up everyday, knowing that what you do and who you are actually MATTERS. And at the end of the day, you get the true experience of being alive. What idiot wouldn’t want that? I guess an idiot. lol.

I know those 5 points are sorta all over the place, but I’m sure you get the idea. I’m inspired. I hope you are too. WHOOT!