Brace For Impact

Humans are the only beings on earth that can even conceive the past or the future.
We spend much of our brief time on earth fretting about upcoming presentations and dragging the events of our past along like a trailer behind our car. Our need to be right, our bloated egos, our chase for finances will mean nothing on that inevitable day.

On January 15. 2009, U.S. Airways Flight 1549 experienced a catastrophic explosion three minutes after take-off from La Guardia Airport in New York . Three minutes later, the plane was in the Hudson River and all 155 occupants survived. Six minutes to sum up your life. One tenth of an hour to make sense of what you've done right and what you will miss. The unimportant things with which we fill our minds become irrelevant.

Passenger Ric Elias explains what he learned about his life
during those six minutes. [video]



Kneale Mann

video credit: TED

Remember | Never Forget

Remember those who have fought with their most precious gift of all.

Remember fathers and mothers, sisters and brothers, cousins and friends who did not come back and have the time to cherish the freedoms we enjoy.

Remember that our problems pale in comparison.

Remember women and men who continue to defend our right to say and do what we want.

Remember those who helped shape our ideals and freedom.

Remember souls who give us hope and perspective
to what is really important.

Remember to say...

Thank You

Motivation: It's Different For Everyone

A King Is Born

From your earliest memory, life is filled with every possession you desire. Your destiny is to become the king of a nation and you will never know life as a 'commoner'.

The Reluctant Hero

From the ashes of a relationship at the hand of an abusive husband, you raised your son on welfare and a part-time job at the gas station. You put yourself through university night school and achieved a bachelor degree in business administration. Your company now employs three people. Your son has been accepted on a full university scholarship.

Silicon Son

You were a smart kid with a penchant for numbers. You saw a chance to revolutionize the personal computer. Forbes Magazine names you the richest person on earth.

Green Thumbs Up

After declaring bankruptcy for the second time you discover your love of gardening. Leaving the fast lane of stock trading and money management, you open a local nursery with two high school friends. Life couldn’t be better.

Chicanes and Hairpins

Some say you were born in the cockpit of a race car. With almost flawless technique you become world champion seven times and the highest paid athlete on the planet for over a decade.

Fear Of Nothing

After working hard for more than twenty years to make money for the corporation, you are handed a severance package and a box under your arm. On the first day of freedom you begin to do all those things you were afraid to try. First on the list: skydiving.

A Living Inspiration

You lived your life helping the poor and helpless. You won the Nobel Peace Prize. You were beatified by the Pope and given the title Blessed Teresa of Calcutta.

Flying High Again

Faced with unthinkable odds you endure four agonizing years of reconstructive surgery. The plane crash almost ended your career, your private airline business and most certainly your life. Earning your pilot’s licence again and buying your new Lear Jet feels like a new beginning.

Success: Earned and Replicated

Your parents divorced when you were seven years old. You brought yourself from the brink of personal bankruptcy to a current annual salary as a motivational consultant of $30 Million.

Thanks Dad!

Your wife was diagnosed with a rare blood disorder a year after your second son was born. The company you built for eight years is going under. Twelve months later, the company is profitable again and your wife is fine. The talk with your dad about staying positive and focusing on the good stuff seemed to work.

Born Leader

Your mother struggles to put food on the table. Before his death, you met your father once. You become the first African American President in U.S. history at the age of 47.

What is your motivation?

image credit: examiner.com