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By Mary Kelly
The continued push for flexible working hours and locations continues to expand and can be challenging for leaders who want to keep top talent, provide “working from home” opportunities, and stay productive. Leaders know that training and developing their people is a crucial component for keeping them engaged and proficient. Workers claim they want to be both personally and professionally developed to become more successful in the workplace. One way businesses can provide flexibility, even when they have employees back on site, is to create training that can be done from remote locations. Training can be more effective when conducted at a time and place that is most convenient for the employee. It allows workers the flexibility they want, and can be a better experience than the “everyone has to meet in the conference room at 8 AM” approach. How can organizations provide quality training that actually benefits both the employee and the organization? 1. Set expectations for the training outcomes When it comes to ensuring the success of any training, it’s important to provide your employees a comprehensive walk-through of what they should expect to learn. If leaders don’t provide direction and set expectations, workers may think this training is just another mandatory program designed to check a box for compliance or HR. They may not take it seriously. Leaders need to let their people know why they were given the training. 2. Have quality content This is the biggest challenge I see when implementing training. Many leaders delegate the job of finding good topics and programs to the HR department. The HR department is not always clear on the leaders’ goals. Sometimes the HR department finds the cheapest possible option, and the outcome is worse than if they had not done any training at all. For example, I just worked with an organization whose teams loved the prospect of having remote training on Effective Time Management, but they complained about the first series of programs they received. Why? The programs were poorly orchestrated, poorly conducted, and contained out-of-date content. Employees (rightfully) believed that this was a waste of their time, and the irony that the topic was called Effective Time Management was not lost on them. The leader called me to do damage control. Employees were now jaded on remote learning, and they were wildly unenthused about going through another iteration without some kind of guarantee that it would be better. Doing training right means getting it right the first time. 3. Assign group facilitators to hold remote learners accountable Employees who have just started training remotely may find it a paradigm shift. They may try to multi-task the training, such as allowing the videos to run on one computer while they peruse social media on another. To make remote learning successful, assign a facilitator who may be able to be online at the same time and create a more interactive experience. 4. Schedule frequent supervisory check-ins after the event Social isolation is one of the crucial challenges in the virtual world, even if it is only a day or two per week. Employees, including your training staff, may also suffer from this unique challenge. Frequent check-ins give your remote employees a sense of community. It gives them the feeling of being heard and acknowledged. If those workers are left ignored, it could potentially impact their training and learning enthusiasm, which decreases productivity. 5. Keep tabs on the learner engagement and performance When you are providing training to your team, you won’t have the same level of visibility on your remote team as you would if you were in a physical office environment. Ignoring the learners for an extended period leads to poor team engagement and performance. Remember, engagement and performance go hand in hand. To ensure your remote team accomplishes both, help participants understand the objective of the training so that they can comply with their roles. 6. Help people focus The world is full of distractions, your remote learners may get distracted by everything they need to accomplish, both for work and at home. The same task might require more time as your team may struggle in a remote environment. Developing focus and priorities helps people plan their work, track their projects, eliminate what is unnecessary, and meet project deadlines. Great training can help. Planning your next event? Get in touch with us at the Capitol City Speakers Bureau today to schedule your ideal speaker and make your event a success!
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By Kenneth Kaufman
America is changing in too many ways to count. The political and cultural ramifications of an increasingly pluralistic population are harder and harder to predict and make overall governance of complex healthcare organizations an increasing challenge. For starters, the definition of healthcare is fast changing, and it now includes not only inpatient and outpatient clinical care but also the broader demands of public health. And that public health definition gets broader and broader every day, and now encompasses the COVID-induced mental health epidemic and the nationwide accelerating gun violence. This widening definition of healthcare is demanding a new board vision of service to its community and a new associated strategic plan that re-sets the next ten years of American healthcare. In the past, the board’s job was relatively straightforward: to monitor and oversee the internal workings of its hospital and health system. That remains a key board role. But in 2021, the business externalities are in ascendancy. No hospital board can set a correct strategic direction without accurately recognizing and reacting to unprecedented external business conditions. These externalities are remarkable and at the least include:
Finally, every board must recognize the power and influence of a fast-changing stakeholder environment. In the recent past, healthcare system stakeholders included the board, management, and doctors—period. But now, the stakeholders that impinge on health system operations and policy include patients, employees, sub-groups of employees, multiple communities, local government, state government, the federal government, political movements, religious influences, other not-for-profit organizations, BIG media, and social media. It all comes together to form an essentially uncontrollable business environment that seems to change by the day and sometimes by the hour. When you add the external business conditions to the long line of activist stakeholders, you get a rather new list of board challenges and responsibilities that include:
It’s hard to be a hospital board in 2021, and it’s not likely to get easier anytime soon. Planning your next event? Get in touch with us at the Capitol City Speakers Bureau today to schedule your ideal speaker and make your event a success! By Tim Hague Sr.
It doesn’t seem possible that ten years has passed since I first heard the words ‘You have Parkinson’s’. In some ways it feels as though little time has passed that it was a mere few months ago. In other ways it feels as though several lifetimes have passed. A lot has happened in ten years: The Amazing Race Canada / the writing and publication of Perseverance / I have traveled the world telling my story / I founded a Wellness Centre for Parkinson’s / children have become adults / grand babies(!) / and I have learned a lot about living in general and with Parkinson’s specifically. A few of those lessons are as follows: This is way harder / easier than I had feared. It is such a long journey. It’s been a long time already and it’s likely never to end. I have often said that this is the most difficult aspect of PD for me – it’s tenacious, it never ends. It never gives up. Day after day it returns to harass my life. It is the first thing I say hello to in the morning, the last thing I say goodnight to and it’s my near constant companion throughout each day. Rarely am I free from the conscious knowledge of PD in my life. But then it’s been way easier than I had feared. In many ways I remain incredibly healthy compared to some, if not most. After all, I just bought a new pair of running shoes…nuff said! I hate PD…still. Yet it remains my Best Friend – Whom I Hate (see my book Perseverance). While I hate that PD never leaves me alone I have learned that I too must never leave it alone. I need to hold it close, learn its ways, and diligently fight back against it. I have come to believe that there’s no reason that we can’t “fix” this thing but I don’t listen too closely to those who say they’ll cure me. The multiple vaccines that have been developed for Covid proves to us that the scientific community can be far more productive than previously believed. If the world felt our urgency in finding treatments I have no doubt that in short order many of us would be back to more normal lives, free of many of the ravages of PD. However, until we can produce this urgency in our government bodies, pharmaceuticals and science in general I fear we will continue to walk with our best friend – whom we hate. The #1 lesson I’ve learned over the past 10 years is this – It’s All About Me. Contrary to what Mom taught us I believe this conversation is all about me. Now let me clarify a bit for you that when I say ‘me’ what I really mean is ‘we’. When I say, ‘we’, I really mean ‘us’, and when I say ‘us’ I really mean ‘you’. Me, We, Us, You, the people living with Parkinson’s are the centre of this conversation, the centre of the Parkinson’s universe. It is not about the next cure – it’s about me. It’s not about the next breakthrough – it’s about me. It’s not about the next great scientific marvel – it’s about me. And…when I say me I really mean we and when I say we I really mean us and when I say us I really mean you. I have come to the conclusion that we will likely do little in my lifetime to end Parkinson’s, thus, the work I do to this end is for those coming after me. This conclusion then begs the question ‘what about me?’. What about those alive who may never see effective new treatments? What is being done to care for those living with the disease today? I believe there is a critical question that each of us needs to ask each time we are presented with some new “thing” and that is “what’s in it for me?”. As self centred a question as it sounds it really is the essential question. If there’s nothing in it for you then why is it so important? If it’s not giving you what you need today to survive with Parkinson’s, to live better with Parkinson’s, if not cure Parkinson’s, then what’s the point? Caring for ourselves, looking after our personal wellbeing, as a first priority, is central to our collective success and ultimate defeat of PD. I have come to believe that the adage, ‘if you don’t have your health you have nothing at all’ is key to our efforts. Ten years in and a lifetime to go I’ve come to see that it really is all about me, we, us…You! Live Your Best! Planning your next event? Get in touch with us at the Capitol City Speakers Bureau today to schedule your ideal speaker and make your event a success! By Laurie Guest
There’s no doubt that the pandemic forced us to adjust how we did business for a time, for everyone’s health and safety. In many instances, businesses were forced to make their services fit into new regulations, which shoehorned both staff and customers into change. This meant sometimes customers had to compromise their expectations on service, convenience and timeliness. These adjustments also revealed opportunities to evolve how business is done in ways we probably should’ve been doing a long time ago. As the world re-emerges in the second half of 2021, it’s time to move on from those pandemic-era adjustments and put the customer first again. Really, we mean it this time! Many changes over the last year will (and should) go away as business returns to a familiar state, much like sliding into an old pair of slippers. But, I bet there are several changes you could consider keeping or implementing in order to really, truly put the customer’s experience first going forward, like:
Offer Fresh Options for Your Customer’s Convenience Even if your business was shoehorned into changes you didn’t anticipate having to make, chances are some of them offer your customers a new type of convenience they’ve now become accustomed to. For example, hotels which once served a hot buffet breakfast were forced to substitute bagged or covered pre-plated breakfasts during the pandemic. For someone like me who prefers to grab breakfast then head back to my room to get ready, this change was actually appreciated as it was much faster to obtain and easier to carry. Post-pandemic, bring the buffet back for guests who enjoy dining that way, but keep the pre-plated option and keep other guests (like me!) happy, too. Another example includes the curbside pick-up service many businesses began offering during the pandemic, like libraries that allowed parents with rambunctious toddlers in the car to simply pull up, snag that week’s storybooks and head off again, no muss or fuss getting kids in and out of car seats or keeping them quiet inside. Maybe libraries don’t have the resources to continue this service long term, but could we get creative about how to carry it over into the post-pandemic world somehow? Maybe they offer a handful of slots per day in a certain window of time when there’s staff on hand to implement it. Just because pandemic regulations are relaxing doesn’t mean we can’t keep in place some of the convenient options customers have come to love. Respect Your Customer’s Schedules Pre-pandemic, Apple Genius Bar appointments at the Apple store could be scheduled in advance, but most other tech-help store fronts didn’t seem to do that. Earlier this year, at the height of pandemic protocols, my daughter and I safely booked an in-person support appointment at Verizon where we had the agent’s undivided attention with no waiting. That’s not at all how they provided service in previous years. Respect your customers’ busy schedules by giving them the opportunity to schedule their service calls rather than waiting in line, and then offer focused, direct attention instead of serving multiple customers at the same time. It might mean seeing fewer customers in a day, but each customer’s experience is likely to be exceptional and the ROI on that may in fact prove greater than headcounts. Bonus tip: what virtual customer service tools did you implement during the pandemic that can stick around going forward? Telehealth visits for minor aches and pains? Video chat tech support for the broken printer? Self-service customer tutorials, resources or troubleshooting? I even know of a wine shop that changed to virtual tastings! They shipped out wine and cheese boxes in advance and then held classes online. Brilliant! I hope they continue that long after the in-person tastings have resumed. Minimize Customer Risk with Adaptive Policies I don’t mind sharing one big business change I’ve made as my calendar books up with in-person events in the coming months. I call it the “No Risk Clause” and it’s simple: since event plans are often still up in the air right now, I’m allowing potential clients to lock in time on my calendar with permission to cancel for any reason without financial risk up to 30 days before the event. Not only is this extremely uncommon in my field, setting me apart from others, it means I have removed all the buying hesitation that comes with planning events these days. Is it ideal for me to have a calendar written in pencil instead of pen? Not really, but it’s more important that my customers (like you!) know they have flexibility while our circumstances continue to evolve. Several times, a client has indicated my no-risk clause was the tipping factor in trying to choose between me and another speaking professional. I may not keep this policy around forever, but I might if the feedback from my clients continues to be so positive. By being adaptable and responsive in real-time, customers really understand that they come first, as they should! How can you spot post-pandemic opportunities in your own business to serve the customer in elevated ways? Ask yourself three simple questions:
Let’s get to back work. Planning your next event? Get in touch with us at the Capitol City Speakers Bureau today to schedule your ideal speaker and make your event a success! By Ron Culberson. With a master’s degree in social work, Ron Culberson spent the first part of his career working in a large hospice organization as a clinical social worker, middle manager, and senior leader. As a speaker, humorist, and author of "Do it Well. Make it Fun.The Key to Success in Life, Death, and Almost Everything in Between", he has delivered more than 1,000 presentations to associations, government agencies, non-profit organizations, and corporations. His mission is to change the workplace culture so that organizations are more productive and staff are more content. He was also the 2012-2013 president of the National Speakers Association and is a recognized expert on the benefits of humor and laughter.
As of June 2021, my upcoming speaking calendar is full for the first time since February 2020. OK, in February 2020, my calendar was not exactly full because most people don’t schedule conferences during the winter. So, let’s just say that my fall speaking calendar is full for the first time since COVID hit. I’m very grateful but also have some trepidation that I may have forgotten how to speak. My wife would disagree. The ironic thing about the last year is that despite all the bad things about it, many of us gained insights that might actually help us in life. For instance, we now know that no matter how much binge watching we do, there will always be more television shows to watch. We also discovered how hard it is to spend so much time with ourselves. Many of us finally understand the qualities about ourselves that annoy our significant others so much. And finally, we now realize that seeing the bottom half of someone’s face gives us a great deal of information about their emotional state of mind. It’s ironic that these valuable lessons came from such a difficult experience. Here are some other discoveries I made over the last year. I can’t see clearly now…even though the rain is gone. As a professional speaker, the amount of hot air I expel is significantly more than the average person. And wearing a mask just complicates the expulsion process—because, I wear glasses. No matter how many times I pinched my mask or adjusted my glasses, I was still in a fog. Once, while on a rescue squad call, I left the frigid outside temperature to go into an over-heated house. My glasses were so fogged up, I couldn’t see the patient who, by the way, was was lying on the floor right in front of me. Luckily, I did not step on him thus preserving the principle of “do no harm.” Virtual calls are miserable. As much as I loved not traveling, I did not love doing Zoom meetings or presentations. For one thing, while I got to stay home, I still had to dress nicely—at least from the waist up. We won’t even get into the waist down situation. Secondly, I did not like the experience of delivering hilariously funny lines during a virtual presentation and hearing nothing but the whir of my computer fan. Of course, some of my colleagues remind me that I’ve had the same experience with in-person presentations. So, there’s that. And lastly, when participating in a Zoom meeting where everyone is visible on the screen, I found it hard to always appear interested. Thankfully, I never dozed off. At least I don’t think I did. Face masks cause nose pimples. Disgusting, but good to know. Eating well is easier. As a speaker and a business traveler, I had grown accustomed to “easy” eating. In other words, when I traveled, it was always easier to grab an airport Cinnabon or slice of Sbarro pizza, hoping that there is nutritional value in the sugar and dough, than it was to find healthier food. But during the past year, I wasn’t traveling at all, so I found myself cooking healthy meals that were also quite tasty. Oh sure, I ate oatmeal cookies as fast as my wife could make them and I probably enjoyed wine a bit too much but overall, I ate better. As a result, my already stunning physique has become Fabio-esque (please understand the use of exaggeration for comedic effect). My knees have improved. In late 2019, both of my knees were achey and swollen. An MRI showed a torn meniscus in my right knee and we assumed the same was true for my left knee. So, I scheduled surgery for my right knee in late April of 2020. However, I had failed to take into consideration that my daughter was scheduled to get married in May of 2020 and I was expected to participate in the likely Tweet-able father-daughter dance. So, I decided to postpone the surgery. Then COVID hit, the wedding celebration was postponed, and if you can believe it, both of my knees improved. Apparently, inactivity agrees with me. Who knew? I’m grateful that I no longer need surgery but I’m a little perturbed about the unnecessary $1,200 MRI—even though the technician did comment on my Fabio-esque physique (please refer to the previous reference regarding exaggeration). Puzzle me this. Years ago, I read that doing word problems can help prevent dementia. I can’t remember where I read that (see what I did there?). But not long after that, I started dabbling in crossword puzzles. I discovered that the LA Times offers a free online puzzle every day. I haven’t missed a day since. I also got a large New York Times crossword puzzle book as a gift. I quickly realized that the New York Times designs its puzzles for Jeopardy contestants and Mensa members but not for Fabio-esque speakers like me. Let’s be honest, I have no idea what rivers dump into the Caspian Sea and I only know letters in the Greek alphabet when they spell out a fraternity name. And in case it’s not obvious, I shan’t be appearing on Jeopardy anytime soon. My reading skills have deteriorated. Even though my crossword puzzle skills have improved, my reading skills have tanked. I read an article that said that our attention span deteriorates as we get older. This is definitely true for me. I just can’t seem to focus like I used to. And now that I think about it, I can’t remember what else I was going to say about that. I can be inactive and lazy. I once told a friend that I was lazy. She said, “You speak, you travel, you write. There’s no way you’re lazy.” A few months later, after we had a number of conversations about new work ideas which I refused to pursue, she said, “OK, I get it now. You ARE lazy.” Oh, I can meet deadlines—as long as someone else sets them. But I have a terrible time setting my own deadlines. So, during the past year, when my workload lightened up and I didn’t have as many external deadlines, I found myself looking at my to-do list and saying, “I’ll work on that later. Now, where’s my crossword puzzle?” That being said, I do have a knack for rearranging the items on my to-do list so that their either in alphabetical or priority order. So, perhaps my strength is not in getting things done but in preparing to get things done. I’m content with me, myself, and I. Most people believe that speakers are extroverts. On personality inventories, I usually score high on the extrovert scale. And I do love being on a stage in front of thousands of people. But I also enjoy being by myself or alone with my wife. COVID made that happen. It also caused me to appreciate the value of being home. I know this drove many people crazy. And when I say “many people,” of course I’m referring to my wife. But for an introverted extrovert like me, it was Nirvana. Was the last year a challenge? Absolutely. But maybe, if we paid attention to how we handled it, we might just benefit from what we learned. I hope to see you in person soon. You’ll recognize me by my physique. Planning your next event? Get in touch with us at the Capitol City Speakers Bureau today to schedule your ideal speaker and make your event a success! By Josh Linkner
Behind only water, concrete is the second-most used material on our planet. It’s low cost, durable, and beneficial in a variety of construction applications. As our population continues to swell, demand is expected to skyrocket. But there’s a problem. As useful as concrete may be, the production of this sturdy material is responsible for eight percent of the world’s total emissions. To make matters worse, the water needed to make concrete each year is enough to fill a million Olympic-sized swimming pools. Yet with the obvious environmental concerns of polluting the atmosphere and consuming too much fresh water, concrete has been made about the same way since the Roman Empire. Enter an everyday innovator named Vahit Atakan. Sitting at the bar having a beer one day, Vahit was mesmerized by the fizzy beverage. Those bubbles got him thinking: If CO2 works in beer and soda, what if it could be used in place of water in the concrete manufacturing process? Vahit got to work, eventually co-founding a company called Solidia Technologies. He swapped out water for CO2 which reduced emissions dramatically. In layperson’s terms, he created carbon eating concrete while reducing the demand for fresh water. This substitution is so effective, it can reduce carbon emissions by up to 70%. If Vahit’s technology was applied to the entire concrete industry, it could reduce annual worldwide emissions by over 5%. That’s the equivalent of removing all the emissions from the UK, Italy, France, Poland, and Mexico combined. Talk about a breakthrough innovation! Yet words like ‘breakthrough innovation’ can seem overwhelming, risky, and out of reach. We all want and need fresh ideas but discovering them is often elusive. As someone who is fascinated with human creativity, I’ve searched high and low for simple ways to demystify the creative process to make it far more accessible to us all. Vahit used one of my favorite approaches: swapping. It involves deconstructing a product, system, process, or approach into its core components and then substituting one thing for another. He swapped water for CO2, but you could exchange any compound for another in your own field. Maybe you swap team members’ job responsibilities, or the order in which a technique is performed. Physical or procedural, swapping one component for another is a simple way to open your mind to fresh possibilities. Coca-Cola swapped out sugar to create the wildly popular Diet Coke. DoorDash swapped the idea of a customer driving to pick up carryout tacos for having them delivered from a mobile app. Tesla swapped out a combustion engine for an electric one, and Disney+ swapped paying one-at-a-time for movies to a monthly subscription. In our highly competitive business environment, we must find new ways to deliver value. Try swapping out old components for new ones, and you’ll be well on your way to the breakthroughs you seek. If you’re looking to innovate, swapping is certainly a ‘concrete’ approach. Planning your next event? Get in touch with us at the Capitol City Speakers Bureau today to schedule your ideal speaker and make your event a success! By Kristin Baird
Over the past year, family members were banned from hospitals and restricted during clinic visits. During that time, staff and providers became accustomed to focusing mainly on the patient, and not the bedside conversations with concerned family members. This was necessary for infection control. But now family members are back and expect to be involved with the same high-quality service shown pre-pandemic. During the peak of COVID restrictions, staff were not only caring for patients in beds, they were setting up virtual visits [i]and clinical updates for the good of patients and families. But now families are back and their expectations haven’t changed. They still expect to be informed, included, and respected. It is your job to engage families for higher quality safety and service. The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ)[ii] encourages family involvement in patient care for better outcomes. They give four strategies for involving patient and family members. They include:
I haven’t always felt welcomed as a family member at the bedside. There was one time when my 86-year-old mother was admitted to the hospital with dangerously low sodium levels. I tried to be at the hospital early in order to meet with the doctor making rounds. I had already checked with the nurses about mom’s most recent lab work and learned the lab still hadn’t been up to draw blood. When the doctor arrived, she told me that they were not seeing any improvement based on my mom’s latest lab results. I pointed out that the lab values she was referencing were from 24 hours ago and that no blood had been drawn yet today. She got visibly angry with me. She pointed at my mom and said, “She wouldn’t know if blood was drawn today or not. These labs are from this morning.” Was this higher quality safety and service? Ouch. First, my mom was aware when people were jabbing needles into her arms. Second, the doctor totally dismissed me and was preparing to write orders based on old lab values. When I asked her to please check with the nurses, she stormed out of the room, and I could hear her screaming at the nurses. I wasn’t surprised when she didn’t come back to speak with me, but at least action was taken because of my involvement. New lab work was drawn which was significantly different from the previous day changing the mode of treatment. We had a good outcome, but that isn’t always the case. Angela Fieler wrote about her care team experience with her mother here. Had the doctor engaged me and focused on higher quality service and safety, I would have entrusted my mothers care to her team and felt valued. Patient and family members must be included in the care plans and deserve to be heard and respected. Planning your next event? Get in touch with us at the Capitol City Speakers Bureau today to schedule your ideal speaker and make your event a success! By Marilyn Tam
What is the meaning of life? Why am I here? What am I striving for? During these challenging times, such questions come up in many people’s minds. If we knew our life purpose and the meaning of life, the stress of our day to day trials would be easier to understand and endure. The heavy pressure, physical, emotional and financial strain we are feeling under the current health crisis, travel restrictions and political uncertainty could be converted into motivation if we can see the bigger picture. My dear friend, Glenn, is an emergency room physician and medical director. In the 30 years he’s been practicing medicine, he has seen many near-death situations and many people die. It has given him an interesting perspective on our culture’s attitude toward life and death. He says that we put the dates of a person’s birth and death on a gravestone with only a dash in between to denote their life and contribution. For example, all we know from a gravestone inscribed with the words, Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865), is that Abraham Lincoln was 56 years old when he died. We do not know that he literally held the United States of America together when it might have split apart, that he freed the slaves, and that he was a powerful orator whose vision and speeches moved a nation. The dash symbolizes our entire lives — the time we have to create meaning for ourselves, our families, our communities, our country, and the world. We are the ones responsible for what we do with our lives. We are the ones who will one day look back and determine whether the life we lived was happy, fulfilling and if it was one we are proud to have lived. Like Abraham Lincoln, we do not know when our lives may end, so we need to ask the question now: “What is the purpose of my life?” For an individual or a company, the answer to that question determines the mission and purpose. Each day you have the choice to begin again. Choose wisely. When you think about that dash — the length of your life between your birth and death — what do you want it to say about you? Ask yourself what is most important instead of what is most urgent. What gives you joy and a sense of satisfaction? These are the big questions that you need to answer in order to proceed with inner peace in your life. Some people find it by taking time to meditate and reflect. Other people find it after encountering some life-threatening incident. And others find it after being hit by some emotional or financial disaster. The key to finding it is to ask yourself honestly and fearlessly: What really makes you happy? What gives you inner peace? Ultimately it is usually the relationships that you make with yourself and with your family and friends you value that are most important. It is about contributing to the wellbeing of the greater whole, to using your talents and gifts to help make the world a better place. Make a commitment to yourself and to your loved ones that you are going to devote your time to what is going to make you happy and proud of your “Dash.” Knowing the meaning of your Dash makes it less trying to deal with the onslaught of challenges you are facing today. Your dash; it’s yours to determine how you play it out. Make it one that you are happy to live. Planning your next event? Get in touch with us at the Capitol City Speakers Bureau today to schedule your ideal speaker and make your event a success! By John O'Leary. This was originally posted on JohnOLearyInspires.com. When John O'Leary was 9 years old, he suffered burns over 100% of his body and was expected to die. He is now an inspirational speaker and bestselling author, teaching more than 50,000 people around the world each year how to live inspired. John's first book, ON FIRE: The 7 Choices to Ignite a Radically Inspired Life was published March 15, 2016. John is a contributing writer for Huff Post and Parade.com. John is a proud husband and father of four and resides in St. Louis, MO. Order John’s book today anywhere books are sold.
Recently, I had the pleasure of spending a morning with a group of children from all over the country galvanized by a single, unifying commonality. It was not that their families all leaned politically Republican or Democrat. It wasn’t that they all came from broken homes or perfect families. It wasn’t that they were all Black or White; all affluent or impoverished; all male or female. No, what coalesced these wonderful kids was something both painful and empowering: They all had been burned, bore the scars of that event, and longed for a place where they could simply be themselves and feel completely accepted. They found that love at camp. After a couple days getting to know one another, becoming comfortable with the surroundings, trusting the camp counselors and generally having fun as kids, they experienced a remarkably powerful activity. Because one of the most difficult aspects of being burned – other than the indescribable physical pain of recovery – is the reminder of that time that remains embossed on the survivor’s skin, it’s essential to learn to fully accept ourselves. The scars serve as a constant reminder not only of the agonizing struggle endured, but of how different we remain from others because of it. For burn survivors, the scars can make us feel less than, set apart, totally isolated. This painting activity from a burn camp will help you see the beauty within your own scars and past traumas. With that in mind, these kids are encouraged to view their scars differently. Vibrant water-color paints are provided to the kids. They are then encouraged to paint over the scars. Brushstroke by brushstroke, they paint over all the parts of their body that they often try to cover up with makeup or long sleeves or pants. These kids are encouraged to take their time and paint something beautiful where previously they’d seen only brokenness. When they’re finished, they’re encouraged to look at the vibrant colors and rejoice in the new beauty of what they see. And then the most powerful aspect of the activity occurs. As beautiful as whatever they painted on their body might be, the kids are encouraged to recognize the true beauty hiding just below it. Clean rags are soaked in warm water and distributed. The kids are encouraged to take their time slowly revealing something far more beautiful than what they had just painted. Gradually, messily, wipe by wipe, they gently remove the paint revealing the unmitigated splendor of what was already there… and all it represents. We then talk about real beauty, real courage and real vulnerability. We talk about overcoming, enduring, and authentically living forward. We talk about the scars existing because the wounds are now healed. Don’t wish away your scars and past traumas, do this instead. This is a powerful exercise for these brave kids at camp. It’s also a necessary reminder we must all embrace. The mistakes, missteps, bumps, bruises, brokenness, ugliness, and scars from our past are simply one part of the story. Rather than wishing them away or covering them up, why not begin seeing the beauty of compassion, faithfulness, and courage they reveal? Rather than desiring to be different than we are or angry at the past, why not celebrate the splendor of the life we have today and the limitless possibility that remains for tomorrow? It is true that in order to truly give light, we must endure the burning. And it is in that burning experience that the freedom exists to choose between two opposite outcomes: A life muted by pain, rejection, and challenge or one radiantly on fire with hope, perspective, and the conviction that even better days are yet to come. My friends, it’s okay to get out the paint, cover it all up and strive to make things beautiful. Just recognize true, real freedom is found in grabbing the rags, cleaning off the paint and learning to embrace what is already there. This is your day. Live Inspired. Planning your next event? Get in touch with us at the Capitol City Speakers Bureau today to schedule your ideal speaker and make your event a success! |
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