I think we all need a pep talk from Kid President

Restored from the Empower Network archive (2011–2017), lightly edited to meet our current advertising standards. Views are the original author’s.

I think we all need a pep talk

Great inspirational video from kid president.

I stumbled across this video on Facebook and thought it did a nice job of summing up my thoughts of the day.

A pep talk….. Love it

Rocks, thorns, glass … Not cool Robert Frost

Why is it that the things we need to hear as adult always sound so simple, real and easy to accomplish when coming from a child?  It seems so easy to get along, go for your dreams and take on the world when you hear a kid say it.

And if Michael Jordan had ever quit, he’d have never made it to Space Jam!

That’s what it’s all about, never quitting and making it to Space Jam.

I do think we all need a pep talk.

Now how do we overcome our fears and begin our own pep talk? How do we never stop? How do we keep going? How do we get back up and take the next step when you don’t think that you can? You just do it! You just do.

Something amazing happened to our family tonight. We have swimmers. Four boys that swim. If you know anything about swimming, you know that it’s one of the hardest, most technique driven and most easily measured sports. Having 4 boys that all swim and have varying skills makes our house a challenge during competitions.

Tonight we had a race. The race was the 500 Yard freestyle. My 10 year old was excited to swim it. His older brother had swam it at different regional events and always did well, so our 10 year old was excited about it. Now knowing this guy, he’s tough. He doesn’t cry when things hurt and he pushes through things. He’s tough and I think part of it is because he’s the middle child. So, his excitement for this 500 Freestyle was a little surprising. He had never swam it before. As his time to race came closer, he started to get quiet. His excitement started to fade and I could tell that the nerves were setting in. He knew he wanted to swim it, but all of a sudden he was getting concerned that he could do it. (keep in mind he swims about 3000 yards every practice, so I know he can).

I could see his fear as he got on the blocks. He tried to hide it from me, so I just gave him encouragement and told him to do his best. He did need a little pep talk.

As the race started, he took off and took off quickly. If you know anything about swimming, you know that swimming 500 yards is hard, and taking off quickly is like taking off in a 400 meter sprint speed when you start a marathon; not good.

He did settle into a good pace and swam very well for his first time but the race wasn’t the part that brought me to tears. After he finished, he always talks to his coach, which he did and then was making his way back to us. We were grinning ear to ear because of pride. He was too, but his eyes were red. I got down to his level and I said “you did it, didn’t you” And he started to cry. I knew that his tears were not of pain. They were not of being tired and they were not of being sad. I said “it feels friggen awesome to do something that you didn’t think you could do, doesn’t it” and of course he smiled. I think it’s because he was proud too, or maybe it was because I said ‘you friggen did it’

Seeing someone that you care about overcome things that they didn’t think that they could do changes you inside. If you get to be part of that experience, it changes you. This little 10 year old athlete changed tonight. He has more confidence tonight and he’s going to do better the next time he swims it.

As a Dad, I couldn’t be more proud. What he doesn’t realize is that he motivated me. He motivated me to want to give him more. To want to give his brothers and his mom more.

For that reason, I’m sitting here right now, making words on a page to motivate you. To get you to go do that one thing that you don’t think you can do. To do that one thing that you think is impossible. Go do it. You’ll have more pride when you’re done than you do now and you’ll have more confidence!

Like Kid President said, you are breathing and you have a heartbeat so go do something!

If you’re ready to try something new, and start giving others your own pep talk I want you to click this link and enter your email address. There’s a video on the other side that will get you thinking.

Until next time,

TAKE ACITON and Never Stop Learning!
Larry