My commencement speech

Hi Everyone

I'm back to writing! I've been working with our team on what will likely be the best upgrade to SparkPeople we've ever built. This should launch by the end of August. This is what I've always wanted SparkPeople to be like, but we finally figured it out. I can't wait for you to see this. Don't worry, our nutrition and fitness trackers and other features will still be part of this new project.

About a month ago, I was honored to give the commencement speech at a small university in Cincinnati named Mount St. Joseph. This was an incredible experience trying to motivate the students as they finished college and took a big step to the next part of their life journey. I even earned an honorary doctorate degree for doing this, so now I'm Dr. SparkGuy -- haha!

I thought it would be fun to share my commencement speech if you'd like to read it. As a hint, the new project I mentioned above will strongly connect to this speech.

I do many presentations, but this was a challenging type of speech for me. I understandably had to submit the written text for approval. You can say a LOT OF WORDS in 10-12 minutes. From there, I have a technique where I break the speech down into "lines" to deliver and build a practice sheet for this and then practice like mad both aloud and in my head. I'll share the practice sheet below with each line numbered in each section. Note that for practice purposes, I keep cutting down the speech so this doesn't include all words.

Even though this is spoken to college students, note that in addition to talking about "young people," I also talk about those "young at heart" like me :)!

Let me know on this blog if you have any thoughts on this speech.

Mount St. Joseph Commencement Speech

1. Thank You for that kind introduction
2. I'd like to thank Raye Allen for inviting me today
3. Raye & I have shared passion for motivating people, honored to be here
   
   
4. At my company we like to scream the word "WooHoo" when something good happens.
5. Something good is about to happen for you.
   
   
6. Students please close your eyes. Block out everything for a moment and follow my voice.
   
   
7. Visualize all it has taken to bring you to this moment
8. Visualize all the work, all the fun, all the challenges, all the successes and the failures, and all the tears in some cases
9. You are THIS CLOSE to finishing the marathon!
10. Ok, open your eyes. Now instead of blocking everything out -- soak it all in -- feel the energy of the day.
    
    
11. With this energy, on the count of 3 can everyone scream "WooHoo!" for this very good day.
12. Great! We're ready to begin this very very serious commencement speech :).
    
    
13. Always believed young people -- and those young at heart -- can do amazing things

Today is a unique point in history

1. Today even high school students are sparking a national movement.
2. There is also the #metoo movement & others.
3. Power of social media & cultural forces, there are new ways to drive positive change. More than ever young people are leading the way.
4. I'm not focusing on politics in either direction.
5. Instead, focus on the opportunity -- and in some cases responsibility -- to make a positive difference.
   
   
6. My wife and I took our 2 boys ages 14 and 11 to a recent march.
7. I told them significant changes are likely to happen in the world during their lifetimes.
8. They need to be ready for this and be part of it.
9. Seeing all of this in real life made a big impact on them.
   
   
10. There ARE a lot of things WRONG in America & the world that need your work.
11. There are also a lot of things RIGHT that you can build upon.
12. Hopefully you can lead the charge in being more civil about working together.
    
    
13. This unique point in history isn't just about social movements.
14. It's an opportunity to be the best version of yourself & have more fun than those people who get stuck in a rut.

You are prepared for this opportunity!

1. Your time here at the Mount & other life experience has prepared you for what comes next.
2. Be confident that you are more prepared to take this next step than you might think.
   
   
3. College experiences really do prepare you for later opportunities (your profs are right!)
4. For example, I started a tiny T-shirt company in college
5. It made almost no money and took a ton of time.
6. But this experience helped me learn to do what it takes to be a successful entrepreneur.
7. There are probably dozens of lessons you have learned that will help you in the future.

I know you are prepared because I was just like many of you

1. I was born and raised in Cincinnati.
2. I lived at home while attending some other college in Cincinnati :).
3. I paid my way through college by working in a refrigerator magnet factory (yes, those exist).
4. Plus I had student loans.
5. I was the first person in my extended family to graduate from college
6. There were many challenges along my path just like yours I'm sure
7. As a kid & young adult, I had social anxiety that made just about everything hard.
8. Didn't like this -- led to a burning desire to figure this out & succeed in life.\

All of you could take many of the same steps I took to succeed

1. After college, I worked at P&G here in Cincinnati.
2. I realized corporate life involves: sitting, eating bad food, and low activity
3. A co-worker named Larry said, "I only have 8 years, 7 months, 6 days until I retire."
4. I realized I could be like Larry and I didn't want that.
5. I don't want you to be like Larry either! He was not in great health & not living life to the fullest.
6. I'll show you how to do this the right way today.
7. I had always been a fan of health and fitness.
8. Then I read books like Steven Covey's 7 Habits of Highly Effective People & Viktor Frankl's Man's Search for Meaning
9. Inspired me to build a program that integrates best of health and fitness -- with the best of goal-setting, motivation, leadership, and behavioral psychology
10. Started by setting a goal to do at least 10 minutes of fitness and track the number of days I did this in a row.
11. Averaged more than 30 minutes -- but the simple 10-minute rule got me started & counted as reaching my goal if I couldn't do more than that.
12. Did this 700 days in a row because it was so easy that anyone can do this.
13. Combination of fitness plus goal-setting made me want to reach goals in all areas of life -- nutrition, work, family, fun experiences, & more.
14. Eventually motivated a co-worker to do the same program. She lost 50 pounds and told me this changed her life.
15. She went on to reach many other goals including starting walking group of people who said, "Pat if you can do this; we can do this!"
16. Realized "your daily actions and words impact more people than you realize."
17. All of the graduates here today could impact literally millions of people.
18. Program gave me so much passion and energy that my friend and I built a company that became eBay's first acquisition.
19. Happened when we were only 25-27 years old.
20. That is one reason I KNOW young people can reach big goals that make a big difference -- no matter your field or area of expertise.
21. What big goal would you like to reach?

Now I will share 10 Tips from the program I used that has now been used by millions of people:

1. You can find free mini-book I wrote on my LinkedIn page.
2. I don't want you to have to remember much today -- classes are finished, right?? Can I get a woohoo for that?!
3. Tips are broken into 4 Cornerstones of life: Focus, Fitness & Health, Fire, and Positive Force.
4. Motivator in me: living like this could help you more than you realize
5. Realist in me: NOT living like this could hurt you more than you realize
6. Some people think these tips are trite -- when I get to tip #9, I'll show an example they are not trite

First, The Focus Cornerstone helps you Get Clear about your Goals

1. Tip #1: Know what you are working towards -- align most of what you do to core values -- this may be more important than ever with so many distractions out there
2. Tip #2: Set goals and plan your days
3. Reach one small goal at a time to build momentum.
4. Leads to Woohoo moments to celebrate
5. Leads to breakthrough points that change the trajectory of your life.
6. Living these tips, I went from a shy kid in Cincinnati to having meetings in Washington DC with people like General Colin Powell.
7. You can do this too!

Next is The Fitness & Health Cornerstone -- this is where you get in the best shape possible both mentally and physically to reach your goals

1. Tip #3: Make healthy food choices -- this is hard in our fast food culture, but so worth it
2. Tip #4: Do at least 10 fitness minutes most days -- this will help you stay consistent
3. Tip #5: Control stress -- stress leads to both underperformance & health issues
4. Tip #6: Get enough sleep -- health experts know this is more important than it might seem

Next is The Fire Cornerstone -- this helps you stay motivated along your adventure

1. Tip #7: Figure out how you stay motivated
2. Keep goals in front of you -- literally
3. Vision collage -- photos that represent your goals -- in seconds these can change decisions
4. Other motivators include songs, quotes, movies, and support from friends
5. Motivators can keep you going when times get tough
6. Tip #8: Make your life like a game
7. If you go through life improving one step at a time like advancing in a video game, this will help you reach goals and have a lot of fun.
8. Tip #9: Believe in yourself & believe in this process
9. A woman named Elle joined SparkPeople. She was overweight and depressed. She had written 3 books. None had been published.
   • Elle set & reached one small goal at a time -- including taking walks in the hills by her home near San Diego.
   • She recorded ideas for her next book during walks.
   • With her self-confidence from losing weight and getting fit, she self-published her book and landed a 2-jbook deal for more than $1 million from major publisher.
   • Elle spoke at one of our events and said in front of hundreds of members, "I never imagined my life could be like this before this program!"
10. No matter your age (Elle was about 60 at the time -- she was very young at heart!), you can reach amazing goals you may have never thought possible
11. I like sharing this story because a lot of people think some of these tips are trite. But when you smash them all together and LIVE them, the results can be life-changing.

Finally, the Positive Force Cornerstone -- This is when you Share your energy with others & get more in return

1. Tip #10: Be a Healthy Leader
2. This is when you reach goals yourself -- leading by example
3. It's also when you directly help motivate and support others.
4. This will keep you on track because it wouldn't be authentic to motivate others if you aren't living this yourself
5. When I did this program, I felt happier than I'd ever been. I felt unstoppable -- like I could do anything & have fun doing it.

1. That's what I want for you...
2. For you to take the vast canvas of life that's open before you
3. And paint a beautiful life -- one brush stroke at a time.

To close this speech... and to open the next chapter in your life, I'd like to leave you with four points:

1. Point #1: you are probably more prepared for success than you realize
2. Because of the guidance from everyone here & your experiences.
3. You have a great deal to celebrate today
4. Point #2: If you build on this preparation by following the program I shared
5. Including setting and reaching one small goal at a time in all areas of life
6. You might reach goals you've never dreamed possible!
7. Just about anything is possible with your Mount St. Joseph diploma as a launch pad.
8. Point #3: Commencement speeches often focus on achievement (which is great).
9. Don't overlook that living like this will also lead to more fun than you might be able to imagine as well!
10. Finally: you are part of a unique time period in history for young people.
11. The world needs all of you now.
12. I think you are ready.
13. Can you show me you're ready with one more woohoo on the count of 3?
14. You're definitely ready. Congratulations and have fun!

**

Thanks for reading my speech and have fun continuing to reach your goals!

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SparkCheers!

Chris "SparkGuy" Downie



Chris (SparkGuy)

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