Getting our of the hamster wheel
“Ten years ago I was a looser like most of you are today.” That’s how I start most of the speeches I do for high school students. It’s meant as a provocation, but like any good provocation there is a certain amount of truth.
The difference between a winner and a looser, as I mean it in this context, is whether or not you are conscious of about how you are spending your life. It can be a question of taking a twenty minute timeout to do a bucketlist with your dreams. If you do that, you are a winner in my eyes, or at least well on your way to becoming one.
It sounds simple, but it’s really difficult for most people, and for some, like me, it takes a disastrous halt to full stop in life before it happens. Most of us were dragged into the mental hamster wheel when we were kids. Off to school in the morning, then home to eat spaghetti for dinner, and then sleep. The next day repeat. Yes, I know I’m simplifying this, but it’s a picture most people will recognize.
For my last speaking gig I had 800 boys in front of me. I gave them the chance to win a trip in a Ferrari on a racetrack (it’s an experience we sell in my company GoDream). The only thing required to participate was using twenty minutes to think about their dreams, and send them in an email to me.
To provoke them I told them; “I know what will happen when you leave here. You will go home, sit your self down in front of your Playstation, surf some porn, and continue your life in the hamster wheel”. It was my attempt to shake them up a bit.
I received eight emails. But if I created eight winners, it’s enough for me.
