Innovative Evolution

Thank you Madam Toastmaster, fellow Toastmasters and welcome guests. You may be aware that I am a massage therapist and holistic practitioner as a full time career; you may not be aware I also have a secondary career with PPL Legal Care of Canada. Last week while I missed our ‘hats’ meeting, I was at our International Convention in Oklahoma City. My innovative company was born in Oklahoma in 1972, nine years before I was born. I was tremendously excited to visit for my second year now. This is not the time to properly share what we do, other than mention we are a massive team network in North America providing what is becoming known as Judicare (a similar idea to Medicare); equal affordable justice for all. I will share with you some of my Ah-Ha learning moments in personal development, something PPL and my own business Dynamic Balance greatly encourages.

I’ll begin with a quote from our host Mr. Jeff Olson, author of The Slight Edge. “What you THINK multiplied by ACTIONS plus TIME equals what you BECOME.”

Our beliefs are nothing more than repetitive thought patterns. We humans have the choice to change our thinking, change our beliefs, and change our lives. The real enemy is the inner me; we are our own worst enemy. Do not wish for ‘no obstacles’, because you won’t learn to overcome them. Turn stumbling blocks into stepping stones.

I am gradually learning to take each step as a calm, cool and collected young business woman. The sky is the limit for each and every one of us. The best way to get there is backwards, while helping people in front of us achieve what they need. Empower the powerless. JC Penney once said “Every great business is built on friendship.”

Experience counts; we must make bad judgements in order to learn good judgements. The only thing that never changes is that things always change. The only thing that is certain is that things are always uncertain. We must fail in order to succeed. Attitude is everything. Mr. Mike Humes tells us “It is impossible to stop a man or woman who will not quit.”

I will share with you part of Ms. Tracy Broughton’s story. She openly shared an audio/video presentation on stage in front of eleven thousand independent PPL associates.

-Born three months premature into a humble life, she was kidnapped while in the backseat of her father’s stolen car.

– In elementary school, her mother was diagnosed with cancer given six months to live. She said she would live to see Tracy graduate high school, and died two months after seeing her do so.

-Tracy was a track star in school; loved running and being an active girl. She is a gorgeous woman, a bikini model in fact.

-In 1996, a car accident left her left side hemiplegic; paralysed in a wheelchair. She modelled for the wheelchair company.

-Tracy started her own small business; Precious Petals Florist. She demonstrated how she would use her mouth to assist in tying bouquets.

-Then, she was sexually assaulted in her wheelchair. In her next breath, she told us she became the single mother of two little twin boys. She eventually became homeless.

-She began her business with our company PPL in 2001, in a few years earning enough to buy a sizable home with a custom pool and two vehicles.

– After ‘a friend’ told her she couldn’t, she won Miss Black California; the only contestant in a wheelchair, that year anyways. She served with Habitat for Humanity. She skydived from her wheelchair.

-Tracy has persevered through physical and emotional hardships. Walking on stage she had no limp; only an arm cane which she didn’t appear to even depend on much anymore.

-Tracy Broughton was recently crowned Miss America 2011. I can clearly see why! She left us by saying “I will until: I believe, I can, I will!”

Ladies and gentlemen, I had a phenomenal learning experience last week. These are only a few symbols, a few words describing how my life has changed. I experienced personal innovative evolution; I changed my mind for the better, and I am not going back.

My business partner Bonnie Lambert kindly gifted me with Excerpts from The Treasury of Quotes by Mr. Jim Rohn. He says “Life asks us to make measurable progress in reasonable time. That’s why they make those fourth grade chairs so small.”

Drive your vehicle of life to your date with destiny. Be sure to keep your appointment. You’re closer than you think. Madam Toastmaster.

~Eleanor Hayward RMT, April 12/2011