Speaker tells USU students to set goals
Nationally renowned motivational speaker Denis Waitley emphasized the importance of being in charge of one’s own life and not being afraid to embark on new adventures as he spoke primarily to business men and women throughout Cache Valley, Salt Lake City and surrounding areas Thursday in the Eccles Conference Center Auditorium.
“In the Olympics there isn’t first a winner who wasn’t a beginner,” he said. He admonished listeners to be curious, make free time for themselves, break out of their regular routine and take control of their own lives.
“You must become the CEO of your life, [remembering] the chairman of the board is God,” Waitley said.
Waitley suggested those in attendance set short-term as well as long-term goals and to find out what drives and motivates each individual to do things.
“It’s amazing how current magnificent obsessions drive our lives,” he said. “People live on purpose. They die when purpose is gone – which is hope.”
Waitley acknowledged that people all too often allow their fears to impede their progress personally as well as professionally. He chastised the group for this and challenged listeners to be willing to risk failure and to conquer their fears.
“Don’t look in the rear-view mirror,” he said. “Look specifically at those things which are not out of sight but within reach.”
Attending the workshop from Cache Valley’s Unitarian/Universalists, David McFarland said he found Waitley’s comment “failure is fertilizer” to be remarkably engaging. To him, this phrase meant failure is the stepping stone to success.
“It’s OK to fail,” McFarland said. “Create an environment where failure is OK, especially with kids and employees.”
Heather Thomas, coordinator and office assistant for Utah State University’s Independent and Distance Education office, said she really enjoyed Waitley’s seminar and especially found interesting his reference to how childhood affects adulthood.
“Learning how your childhood behavior affects your work choices as an adult was really interesting,” she said.
Waitley stressed the importance of interpersonal relationships in the workforce.
“You never close a sale,” he said. “You open a personal relationship. People go back to those they trust.”