What's on your card?

Most of us have heard the story of Jim Carey writing himself a cheque for $1,000,000 as a goal for himself. He wrote the cheque when he was an out-of-work actor as a way to motivate and inspire himself to acheive his goals.

When I do my prsentations I get my audience members to write their big dream on an index card and I ask them to put in somewhere where they'll see it everyday. I always HOPE that they will act on my suggestion, but I always wonder if they do. Yesterday I got a great email:

"hey! i thought your presentation was really great, it was really interesting. i thought you were awesome. i still have the card up in my bedroom! i was the one that pu t to make it to the north american track and field finals this summer or something like that. yeah. well i hope you come again sometime." - KaLiE

Is that great or what? I always get excited when I see someone else take their dreams seriously enough to commit them to paper. I believe that I'll be checking on Kali. I'm sure that she'll achieve what she's set out to do. I've used this technique myself at different times in my life and it's always worked. There is incredible power in writing down what you want to achieve.

So what do you want to achieve? WHAT IS ON YOUR CARD? Take a minute today, sit down, and figure out what you want from your life. Then take a minute and write it down. The more concise and specific the better.

Make sure you share with all of us what you've written. We'll be watching...

Mark at the 2006 Ontario Student Leadership Conference

Wow! What an awesome week! I just got back from speaking at the 2006 Ontario Student Leadership Conference! What an event! There were over 800 of Ontario's brightest and best gathered to learn from some of Canada's Top youth speakers. I was honoured to be a part of such a great week.

I had the opportunity to meet and hang out with some great speakerse including: Philly D, Andy Thibodeau, Stu Saunders and David Major. I also got the chance to meet a whole whack of really cool youth from across Ontario who I'm sure will change the world.

During the week we heard from some of North America's leading youth speakers including Phil Boyte and the conference closer, former NFL Super Bowl Champion: Curt Marsh.

Hope you enjoy the pics! To all I met at the conference, leave your comments. I'd love to hear from you and hope to cross paths again one day.

Until then, keep living from the heart!

Mark hangs with some students at OSLC 2006

Chillin in London, ON

Well I made it! After a three-flight journey from Moncton to London, ON I'm finally here and so pumped for this year's Ontario Student Leadership Conference (OSLC 2006).
I'm so pumped to be getting the chance to speak to Ontario's student leaders. It's going to be a lot of fun and a great opportunity for me.

I'm staying with my cousin in town and he asked me if I was nervous. Nervous no. Excited yes. I always feel like big moments in my life, or my career, are exciting! Why get nervous about it? My philosophy is, I prepare as best I can, make sure I'm ready to do my best work, and then, just let it happen.

SO how do you handle the big moments in your life? How do you handle those opportunities that can be so stressful? Do you get fired up and pumped? Or do you get nervous and scared at the bad things that "might happen"? The choice is yours...

Have a great day! I'll be back on Tuesday to tell you all about OSLC 2006! Until then, Go Big or Go Home!

Sometimes we screw up...

The other day I did something stupid... I spoke without thinking. Actually I wrote without thinking. I was writing an email and, without thinking my thoughts through first, I just wrote what I was thinking.

Turns out what I wrote was misinterpreted and I ended up sounding bad. What I wanted to say and what actually was heard were two different things. All because I didn't take the time to think it out before writing first. When I realized how my message was mis-read I felt stupid and embarassed. Then I realized, it's ok.

This wasn't the first mistake I've made in my life, it wasn't even the first I made today, but that's ok. See we learn by the mistakes we make (or at least we're supposed to). I've learned that it isn't in doing things perfectly that we learn or grow. We don't benefit much at all from doing things perfectly (although it feels good on the ego). We learn and grow as people by screwing up and learning from our mistakes.

So the next time you make a mistake, the next time you feel silly for something you've said or done, don't dwell on the mistake. Instead, work on fixing any hurt you've caused and then see what you can learn from your mistake. You'll be a better person for it.

Mark Black - Inspirational Speaker

Hi!

This is Inspiration from the Heart Blog. My name is Mark Black and I'm an inspirational speaker. This Blog is place to find inspiration in all forms. Quotes, ideas, thoughts. It will give you a little boost, and with any luck, give you something to think about, every day.

This Blog will also be a place to read about what I'm up to. You can read, who I'm speaking to, and maybe see some cool pics of some of the cool people I get to meet in my job.

I want you to make this YOUR Blog too. So make sure you participate. Send your thoughts and ideas. Send your comments about my presentations and my entries.

I look forward to seeing what you have to say.