Get In School

Dear Young Adults,✍🏼

Nothing about you matters more than your character.

This is the trait that defines everything else.

How you lead yourself through…

Your academic years,

Your professional years,

Your relationships,

And all of your losses and gains,

Shows people who you really are and what, (if anything) you stand for.

People remember how they feel when they are around you.

People pay attention to how you treat others.

Everyone might not accept you or understand you or value you or love you,

But you are viewed from the level you’re actually at.

When you don’t have high standards for yourself and how you choose to move through life,

Because it feels easier to have low standards instead,

You may get agreement,

But not respect.

Honesty, integrity, principles, work ethic, follow through, emotional self regulation, discipline over desires and kindness inspire respect.

Dishonesty, superiority, condescension, all or nothing thinking, emotional reactivity, unreliability, entitlement and impulsiveness do not.

My mentorships extend beyond what you do in your life,

They are about who you become while you do all of the things you wish to do.

If you are willing to look at yourself honestly and discover the parts holding your best,

And release the parts holding you back,

You belong in my world.

“Show class, have pride, and display character. If you do, winning takes care of itself.”
—Bear Bryant

Dear students,✍🏼

Being a good leader doesn’t mean constantly trying to prove you’re the smartest person in the room,

That you have the highest level of intelligence,

Or that you’re the one with all the answers to everything.

You can become a great leader AFTER you drop ALL egocentric baggage,

And understand that there’s nothing wrong with asking for help,

Offering trust,

Taking calculated risks,

Sharing the credit when things go well,

And assuming responsibility when they don’t.

(No blame. No shame).

Anybody can tell others what to do.

Great leadership is the ability to inspire others to rise,

And create something beyond any one of you.

It takes the culmination of know-how, improvement, adaptability, and ever expanding vision.

Learn how to activate and build upon the efforts of all,

Through listening, learning, language, logic and action,

Because organizational excellence is never sustainable if you’re constantly pushing others around or out.

The magic happens when you pull them in and raise them up.

I believe the earlier in your life you can really understand this, the further you will go. 💫

“Leadership is not about title or designation.
It’s about impact, influence and inspiration. Impact involves getting results, influence is about spreading the passion you have for your work, and you have to inspire teammates and customers.”
Robin S. Sharma

Dear students,✍🏼

It took me years to understand how important it is to guard my mind,

With the same level of diligence I guard my valuables with.

I’d bolt my doors so everyone wouldn’t have access into my home,

I’d set up passwords so everyone wouldn’t have access to my data,

I’d activate the locks on my car so nobody could drive away with it.

I thought I was protecting everything of value to me,

Yet I wasn’t protecting my mind.

I was leaving it wide open…

I allowed it to take in all of the thoughts, words and actions of others,

Without asking myself if what I opened myself up to was activating me or draining me.

There were many times when I felt weighed down and out of touch with my own convictions,

Because the doors were open for anyone to come in, take what they want and leave things I don’t want.

I began realizing that guarding my mind deserved the same level of care as guarding all of my other valuable possessions,

Otherwise, parts of my mind could easily be overtaken by the projections of others,

Leaving me feeling doubtful and weighed down,

And unable to lead myself where I’m meant to go.

Your mind belongs to you.

It has tremendous value for you.

Be discerning about who you allow to access it.

“You’re not going to overcome fear and live a victorious life if you’re not disciplined in your thought life. That’s where the main battle is taking place.”
—Joel Osteen

Dear students, ✍🏼

What does the word “intent” mean to you?

I’m asking you because intentions matter.

You see…

Your intentions stem from your character.

Have you noticed that you judge yourself by your intentions while you judge others by their behavior?

And that your perceptions about other people’s intentions affect your ability to trust them?

Other people may not trust you because of the conclusions they draw about what you do and why.

Great leaders actively influence the conclusions of others by clearly and honestly declaring their intent upfront.

They know that how people perceive intentions dramatically impacts their ability to trust their leader.

If you want others to trust your leadership, ask yourself whether your motives serve a purpose higher than yourself.

If they don’t, refine them.

Then declare your intent.

“All great acts are ruled by intention. What you mean is what you get.”
Brenna Yovanoff

Dear students,✍🏼

It’s not just about admissions for me.

Many companies give you a step-by-step on how to apply, what to say, and what to do.

There is more to mentorship with me than that.

I am about helping you learn to see yourself in a whole new way.

I want you to take ALL of your experiences and weave them into a story that is uniquely YOURS.

I want you to understand that your strengths EXCEED what you think you have.

I want you to DROP the self limiting mindset and behaviors that hold you back.

I want you to become the clearest and most EMPOWERED version of yourself that you can be at this stage of your life.

I believe the process of applying to schools and for jobs holds much more inside it than acceptance or rejection.

There is time and space to learn about yourself, understand yourself, recognize what fits, learn how to convey the real you, and grow from the outcome.

My students don’t just learn their “how.” They learn their “who.” And they learn their “why.”

Lasting success is about continuously learning and growing. It’s about committing to principles and believing in yourself through the setbacks and the wins.

This is why I focus on helping you develop lifelong skills that make you an effective professional, an impactful leader, and a person who can hold your success in a way that changes the lives of hundreds, or thousands, or millions, or billions of people.

There’s no limit to what I see for you.

If you want lasting success that comes from inner conviction, self discipline, self awareness, and commitment,

Then you belong in my world.

Dear students, ✍🏼

Someday, you will be in a position to have tremendous impact upon your community, society and the world.

I want you to know the difference between greed and ambition.

Greed serves you.
Ambition serves a purpose beyond you.

Ask yourself who you are serving.

Greed exists to prove something to everyone else.
Ambition exists to prove something to yourself.

Ask yourself who you’re doing it all for.

Greed drives you towards shortcuts.
Ambition fuels you to work harder.

Ask yourself what path you’re taking and why.

Greed can never lead you to satisfaction.
Ambition is the road to fulfillment.

Ask yourself whether you feel empty or complete.

You see…

Either one can lead to accolades and success,

But ambition alone is the cause of all improvement.

“Focusing your life solely on making a buck shows a certain poverty of ambition. It asks too little of yourself. Because it’s only when you hitch your wagon to something larger than yourself that you realize your true potential.”
Barack Obama

Dear students, ✍🏼

Evolution was never about survival of the strongest,

Or the smartest,

It was about survival of the most adaptable.

Being adaptable means being able to pivot and adjust to every situation.

Adaptability is not a character trait like grit or persistence.

It is what ensured the survival of different species across the span of time.

Those who could not do it did not make it.

Animals instinctively know this.

So do highly successful humans.

CEO’s of fortune 100 companies regularly say adaptability is the most important skill of being a successful CEO.

If there were only one skill you could work on,

Your best choice would be adaptability.

When you face changes, your ability to adapt will shape everything….

How you’ll think.
How you’ll learn.
How you’ll work
How you’ll interact.
And how you’ll achieve things

Adaptability keeps you afloat when life’s adversities seep in and try to sink you.

“The strongest will is the will that knows how to bend.”
Alice Duer Miller